Are We Finally Going? (A Pre-trip/Trip Report)

[soniam]

Yeah I think my mistake is partly that I’m comparing this to the wrong thing: I did early entry for USH and it was 30 dollars. Sort of different but VERY worthwhile to do everything in SNW with barely any lines.

We did that too. It was so awesome and total steal!

 

[vinotinto]

Hopping in to say that we'll have overlap in our dates in Japan, which would be crazy if I ran into you @soniam, but my Disney dates are right before FS goes live, so we likely won't cross paths.

My story is a lot less organized than yours. I had been talking with my son for years about visiting Japan, he's a big anime fan, but due to pandemic and Japan closing and other things, we had never actually started planning a trip.

Then my son asked me in mid-March, "whatever happened to that idea of visiting Japan?" So, I started looking at plane tickets and purchased tickets at the end of March for the end of May through early June.

• I don't have much booked, but I do have airfare, hotels, and a loose plan. And I got Shibuya Sky tickets and Disney tickets.
• We've never been to Japan, so just being there will be interesting for us. It's 2 adults with grown kids, ages 16 and 19.
• We are coming from the east coast in the US, so we have an overnight connection in the west coast - it was too tight to try to do it all in one day.
• My DH and I both work and we have limited vacation. With travel time, we're taking off 2 weeks. We hope to get a taste for Japan and return in the future!

Itinerary:

• Days 1-3: Tokyo. Staying near Shimbashi/Ginza. Plan to explore: Shibuya, Harajuku, Meiji-Ji, Asakusa, Senso-Ji, Akihabara.
• Day 4: Daytrip to Kawagoe to visit somewhere a bit more traditional. We talked about spending a night in an Onsen / maybe around Mt Fuji/Hakone, but due to the limited time, we could not make it work.
• Day 5-7: Kyoto. Staying at one of the Mimarus. Plan to do all the major sights: Gion, Yasaka, Kodai-Ji, Kijomizu-Dera, Nishiki Market/Pontocho Alley, Fushimi-Inari, Arasyashima, Kinkalu-Ji, etc. A little concerned about the amount of tourists because our trip falls over a weekend (Friday through Monday! ).
• Day 8-9: Disneyland and DisneySea. - Staying at Hotel Disneyland. Our DisneySea day is June 4. Since we've never been, we're OK not seeing FS, but seeing the soft openings, now I am wondering if they will offer soft openings on that date to the public.
• Day 10: Last day in Tokyo. Staying in Shibuya for last-minute shopping, etc. Possibly Teams Labs Borderless.

 

[soniam]

Hopping in to say that we'll have overlap in our dates in Japan, which would be crazy if I ran into you @soniam, but my Disney dates are right before FS goes live, so we likely won't cross paths.

My story is a lot less organized than yours. I had been talking with my son for years about visiting Japan, he's a big anime fan, but due to pandemic and Japan closing and other things, we had never actually started planning a trip.

Then my son asked me in mid-March, "whatever happened to that idea of visiting Japan?" So, I started looking at plane tickets and purchased tickets at the end of March for the end of May through early June.

• I don't have much booked, but I do have airfare, hotels, and a loose plan. And I got Shibuya Sky tickets and Disney tickets.
• We've never been to Japan, so just being there will be interesting for us. It's 2 adults with grown kids, ages 16 and 19.
• We are coming from the east coast in the US, so we have an overnight connection in the west coast - it was too tight to try to do it all in one day.
• My DH and I both work and we have limited vacation. With travel time, we're taking off 2 weeks. We hope to get a taste for Japan and return in the future!

Itinerary:

• Days 1-3: Tokyo. Staying near Shimbashi/Ginza. Plan to explore: Shibuya, Harajuku, Meiji-Ji, Asakusa, Senso-Ji, Akihabara.
• Day 4: Daytrip to Kawagoe to visit somewhere a bit more traditional. We talked about spending a night in an Onsen / maybe around Mt Fuji/Hakone, but due to the limited time, we could not make it work.
• Day 5-7: Kyoto. Staying at one of the Mimarus. Plan to do all the major sights: Gion, Yasaka, Kodai-Ji, Kijomizu-Dera, Nishiki Market/Pontocho Alley, Fushimi-Inari, Arasyashima, Kinkalu-Ji, etc. A little concerned about the amount of tourists because our trip falls over a weekend (Friday through Monday! ).
• Day 8-9: Disneyland and DisneySea. - Staying at Hotel Disneyland. Our DisneySea day is June 4. Since we've never been, we're OK not seeing FS, but seeing the soft openings, now I am wondering if they will offer soft openings on that date to the public.
• Day 10: Last day in Tokyo. Staying in Shibuya for last-minute shopping, etc. Possibly Teams Labs Borderless.

If I was going to see anyone in Japan, it would be you

 

[soniam]

I decided to try to call Miracosta to confirm if I could stay in the same room instead of moving for our first 4 nights, since it's the same hotel and same exact room type. That was pretty hilarious. My Japanese is terrible; their English wasn't great but was better. I think they confirmed that I could but I'm not sure; they seemed as confused as I was I got a few Japanese phrases in, and I think I did well with months and dates. I decided to use the contact form too, just in case.

 

[YayforMickey]

I decided to try to call Miracosta to confirm if I could stay in the same room instead of moving for our first 4 nights, since it's the same hotel and same exact room type. That was pretty hilarious. My Japanese is terrible; their English wasn't great but was better. I think they confirmed that I could but I'm not sure; they seemed as confused as I was I got a few Japanese phrases in, and I think I did well with months and dates. I decided to use the contact form too, just in case.

Thanks for trying! Many of us want a real answer on that one. Hahaha

 

[Disneyhanna]

I decided to try to call Miracosta to confirm if I could stay in the same room instead of moving for our first 4 nights, since it's the same hotel and same exact room type. That was pretty hilarious. My Japanese is terrible; their English wasn't great but was better. I think they confirmed that I could but I'm not sure; they seemed as confused as I was I got a few Japanese phrases in, and I think I did well with months and dates. I decided to use the contact form too, just in case.

I submitted an online inquiry and they responded in less than a day that it would be no problem to stay in the same room! Hope it’s the same for you!

 

[YayforMickey]

I submitted an online inquiry and they responded in less than a day that it would be no problem to stay in the same room! Hope it’s the same for you!

View attachment 862597

Oh this is wonderful news! This will make our time at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel less stressful if they follow the same procedure.

 

[soniam]

I submitted an online inquiry and they responded in less than a day that it would be no problem to stay in the same room! Hope it’s the same for you!

View attachment 862597

I got this response too I had read of some people not getting responses, so I was very pleased and released.

 

[TwingleMum]

Use the mobile website. I don’t think you can do this in the app easily. Go to Reservations (top right) and My Booking (bottom left). Pick your hotel reservation. Then “Add Online Reservation Privileges/option”. “Add Online Reservation Privileges”, Restaurants. It will list all of the restaurants and when they are available to book.

Thanks for all your helpful suggestions. I was able to book Crystal Palace. I have to wait for Center Street Coffee House, too early. And now I know what a Travel Case is . Because I booked my Hotel stay through DVC Travel Case wasn't showing but now that I have a Dining reservation I can see it.

 

[DCLMP]

I'm interested in how the weather is. The rainy season and all. I currently have flights booked for March, but I think I'm going to switch to June if I can find flights. I'll have more time off and won't interfere with school. I also have a cruise booked not sure if we will still do a cruise I'd like to see more of Asia then Japan I feel like I need a month off. I've got a year to decide so will see. Looking forward to your report. My son is a little older than yours he will be 20 when we go next year.

 

[Agent 86]

I'm interested in how the weather is. The rainy season and all. I currently have flights booked for March, but I think I'm going to switch to June if I can find flights.

Personally, I would avoid summer in Japan (especially June to August) if possible.

We live in a hot and humid climate, but the summer heat and humidity in Japan was next level.

 

[Kwami]

Personally, I would avoid summer in Japan (especially June to August) if possible.

We live in a hot and humid climate, but the summer heat and humidity in Japan was next level.

On the other hand, most of the great festivals are in the summer!

 

[DCLMP]

Personally, I would avoid summer in Japan (especially June to August) if possible.

We live in a hot and humid climate, but the summer heat and humidity in Japan was next level.

Totally agree, but have to do what works best with schedules. It won't be as hot as where I live so I assume I'll survive.

 

[soniam]

Not much left. We leave Saturday. We had our son's high school graduation on Friday and then flew to Indianapolis on Saturday for the Indy 500, so we were really busy this weekend.

 

[soniam]

Suica

We will primarily use the Suica for transportation. Our son just has a debit card, so I think he will use Suica for convenience stores too and other times when he isn’t with us. Since my husband and I have iPhones, we will use the mobile Suica app. Our son has a non-Japanese Android, so he can cannot use the Suica app. We will get him a Welcome Suite or Pasmo Passport card. We will just pick it up at Haneda. I thought about pre-ordering it, since they sometimes runs out, and it is only available in certain places. However, to pre-order, you have to pay and buy a JR line card, which we can’t use. He did order a cheap Japanese cell phone from eBay and installed the Suica app. However, I am reluctant to rely upon that.

I linked my Apply Pay to a credit card via the transit mode for Suica. Easy peasy. Waiting on hubby to do his. I guess we will see if it works.


US Smart Traveler Program

I decided to enroll in this and register our trip, especially since earthquakes/tsunamis are possible. I also decided to create an account. With our son going off to college, we will be traveling more without him.


DH still needs to buy the eSims. I think he's going to do that tonight or tomorrow. I will do the Japan immigration QR code either tomorrow or Friday. I still need to print out some stuff, like tickets. I took a screenshot of our hotel address, name, contact, and little map in Japanese, so that I can give that to the taxi drivers. We will be taking a taxi from Haneda to our Tokyo hotel in Asakusa and from Kyoto station to our hotel, since we will have all of our luggage with this. I didn't want to bother shipping it.

We almost always take a cab from transport to our hotel when we have luggage after an incident on the tram in Amsterdam, where my husband wasn't aggressive enough and didn't get off in time. I managed to get off, but I have really pointy elbows and just keep apologizingHe had to get off at the next stop and walk back.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Suica

We will primarily use the Suica for transportation. Our son just has a debit card, so I think he will use Suica for convenience stores too and other times when he isn’t with us. Since my husband and I have iPhones, we will use the mobile Suica app. Our son has a non-Japanese Android, so he can cannot use the Suica app. We will get him a Welcome Suite or Pasmo Passport card. We will just pick it up at Haneda. I thought about pre-ordering it, since they sometimes runs out, and it is only available in certain places. However, to pre-order, you have to pay and buy a JR line card, which we can’t use. He did order a cheap Japanese cell phone from eBay and installed the Suica app. However, I am reluctant to rely upon that.

I linked my Apply Pay to a credit card via the transit mode for Suica. Easy peasy. Waiting on hubby to do his. I guess we will see if it works.


US Smart Traveler Program

I decided to enroll in this and register our trip, especially since earthquakes/tsunamis are possible. I also decided to create an account. With our son going off to college, we will be traveling more without him.


DH still needs to buy the eSims. I think he's going to do that tonight or tomorrow. I will do the Japan immigration QR code either tomorrow or Friday. I still need to print out some stuff, like tickets. I took a screenshot of our hotel address, name, contact, and little map in Japanese, so that I can give that to the taxi drivers. We will be taking a taxi from Haneda to our Tokyo hotel in Asakusa and from Kyoto station to our hotel, since we will have all of our luggage with this. I didn't want to bother shipping it.

We almost always take a cab from transport to our hotel when we have luggage after an incident on the tram in Amsterdam, where my husband wasn't aggressive enough and didn't get off in time. I managed to get off, but I have really pointy elbows and just keep apologizingHe had to get off at the next stop and walk back.

Suica is sooooo easy with apple wallet. I am loving it as it tells you when a trip is in progress on your Home Screen and then when it’s done so you know you tapped out correctly. I will say luggage shipping at HND was painless though it took me forever to find (despite not being far from where I came out of customs lol). I downloaded the Go taxi app instead of Uber for the day I moved hotels and that worked really well. I did not buy my Shinkansen tickets ahead of time and bought them at the station so I didn’t have to deal with linking anything up and just used the paper ones. In my car I sat behind the oversized luggage row which was full of people with no luggage?

 

[Flossbolna]

Transportation

Trains
I looked into getting a Japan Rail Pass; however, when I priced out the cost of our train travels using the fare calculator on the JR site, the pass would be more expensive than buying the individual trips. The cost has gone up significantly. We plan to take local trains and the shinkansen from Tokyo->Osaka, Osaka<->Himeji, Osaka->Kyoto, Kyoto<->Nara, Kyoto->Ghibli Park, and Ghibli Park->Tokyo Disney.

I then tried to figure out how to purchase tickets ahead of time. I also wanted to try to get oversized luggage storage on the Tokyo->Osaka leg at least. Our luggage won’t be oversized, but the suitcases might not fit in the overhead. There is also only 1 overhead storage per row per side. It can really only hold 1 suitcase. The only other place to put them would be in front of our feet. On certain shinkansen routes, you have to reserve the storage ahead of time and pay extra. It’s required if your luggage is too large. I found a JR app that allows pre-purchasing, but it wouldn’t take any of my credit cards. Klook sells pre-purchased tickets, but they don’t sell the oversized luggage ones and cannot guarantee that you will be seated with your party. So, we will just have to try to purchase the tickets at the station for Tokyo->Osaka when we arrive. This will at least give us several days before we head to Osaka. We will have to wait until we get to Osaka to buy the other tickets, since those locations are all within the Kansai region. Japan Rail is divided into regions. Tokyo and Kansai are different regions.

I finally discovered that JR-West will let you book tickets online for the Tokyo<->Osaka route, including reserved seats, 1st/green class, and oversized luggage. It was very easy, and I had no issues with my credit card. We just have pick up the tickets at a station before we travel. Luckily, Tokyo Station is one of them. We can pick it up at a counter or a machine.

Subways
I think we will wait until we arrive to see if we want a Tokyo Subway pass or just pay per ride with Suica. We will probably end up getting at least one pass, since we will have several days in each city.

Thanks so much for the tip with JR West! I battled with other sites and this one worked like a charm! We will be able to pick up tickets in Tokyo, they gave me plenty of warning that we can't pick them up at Maihama (even though our ticket could start there, very convenient!).

 

[soniam]

This will probably be my last update pre-trip. We leave early tomorrow morning. I will probably just keep this thread for reports during the trip, since it's not too many pages.


eSim

My husband bought his. He tried to set it up, but you can’t until you are connected to their network. He bought from Ubigi. They had the best price for the amount of data he wanted. We are getting one for each of us. I need one, since my phone number is the main contact for things, including my credit cards, which I used for booking. He wanted one as well. Our son will die without internet access

So, my husband didn’t try until the night before we left to set up the eSIM for my phone and our son’s. For some reason, our son’s phone is still locked. It’s a Samsung, and we probably bought it directly from AT&T. It’s going to take 2 business days to unlock it, and we are flying out on a Saturday. Hopefully, they unlock it. Otherwise, I guess we can get him a pocket wifi. In any case, we will have to resolve it in Japan, which is not ideal. Don't wait to the last minute Mine seemed to be fine, but we won’t know if they actually work until we have access to the cell network in Japan.


Japan Immigration QR code

Pretty easy. Taking a picture of our passports was way easier than I thought it would be. Usually, sites complain about not enough light, too much glare, you’re ugly This site worked fine, even with some glare. Be sure to fill out information and travel plan for all members of your party, so that each person has their own unique QR code.

 

[Flossbolna]

Have a great trip!

 

[nono]

Safe Travels!