Have a plan .. does it make sense?

I just want to firstly say all you guys rock .. thanks so much for taking the time to reply.

Realistically this might be the only time I ever go there, so I really want to maximize my Disney and Tokyo time. Really a good vacation for me is Disney, interesting museums, and just general walking around/taking in the sights of different places/sampling the local cuisine .. though Asia is a bit of a challenge to me in that I have a lot of seafood allergies and really do not like rice . So this is a great chance to do all 3, just need to be careful with the food.

I still think we will do the 3 day pass, just based on maximizing time and when we first get there, Disney is a good chance to acclimate to somewhere different, yet familiar. I fly long distances quite a bit, usually to Europe, so I know I will sleep on the plane and the Disney excitement will keep us up late enough to quickly adjust to the time change. Maybe we do not hop on that 3rd day, but at least we have the option if it makes sense to us.

I think as far as where to stay, the Hilton Tokyo Bay looks good for at least the Disney portion and I can use points for 2 nights there free of charge.

I think we just need to come up with a list of what we want to do in Tokyo and based on that figure out where to stay the rest of the time.

The portable WiFI decices sound good, think I will rent those and we can use Viber to communicate with one another.
 
We went to Tokyo in late June/early July of last summer. At the time we thoguht this was our once in lifetime trip to Japan. Our kids are are still teenagers. We spent 4 nights at the Tokyo Hilton in Shinjukua, and then 4 nights at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. The onsite stay was expensive, but the benefit of the early entry is significant each day.

The Tokyo Hilton is in a great location - lots of activity around the hotel, and very close to a couple of different Subway stations. The hotel is very westernized - the staff speaks impeccable English, and was very attentive. The hotel breakfast buffet is amazing, so if you can get a rate with breakfast its well worth it. They have both Japanese and Western food at the buffet. Also, there is a Starbucks right across the street if you need a morning fix.

We rented two pockets wifi units with unlimited data (one for me and one for the wife in case we split up), and having Google maps available to navigate the subway made the pocket wifi worth every penny. We didn't have a lot of plans for our city visit. We visited a few temples and parks, saw the Shibuya scramble, walked around Akihabra, and spent some time in the amazing stores in Ginza. One caution - riding the subway at rush hour during the week can be a challenging experience. Don't expect any personal space during that time. While touring the city the Japanese people were wonderful, and so happy to see what were very obviously foreign tourists. We thought the language barrier would be an issue, but it really wasn't that bad. Almost every street sign was in English and Japanese, and all of the maps at the Subway stations were in both languages.

Make sure you get some Japanese cash at the airport ATM when you arrive. Though many places took credit cards, not all did, and it was good to have some cash available. We stopped at McDonalds for a quick snack in Akihabra, and of all places, no credit cards there.

When we arrived at TDR, thing became more Japanese than at the Hilton. The staff was okay with English - but not to the level that they were at the Hilton. Even though it was 90 degrees every day, the pool wasn't open (?). The 15 minute early entry allowed us to get a head start on the regular crowds - enough to get a lot more done in the parks each day. The line to enter the park builds early. We would arrive an hour before opening for early entry, and were usually behind a small crowd. The folks for regular entry were already building up at that time as well.

We really enjoyed some of the unique rides to TDR (especially Pooh Hunny Hunt - its so much fun). The old school tomorrowland is awesome, and the atmosphere at TDS is amazing. The lines were long, and we were there at a light time. The park workers are incredibly kind and helpful. We saw one of the folks that was emptying garbage get corralled to take a picture of a family in front of the castle. For 15 minutes people kept asking him to take pictures, and he happily obliged. Character dress in the park is fun to see as well. People go all out to dress as their favorite characters - even in 90 degree heat! The merchandise shops can get crazy busy, but everyone working there was pleasant. One caution - air conditioning at TDR isn't anything like we were used to at WDW - inside was cooler, but not that wave of cold when you enter a building in Florida, so it was hot at times in the shops waiting to pay for something.

Our family had such a wonderful time, that my wife and I are planning a trip back to a place that we thought we would only ever visit once in our lifetimes. Next time without the kids though! :)
 
Yep, we want back to TDR three years after our first visit. I never would have guessed.
 
I am sure I will want to go back, I went to HK DL and would like to go there again .. but there are a ton of places I want to go (non Disney related) as well ... who knows.
 


Here's another disney fan who went back three years later. We just had to stop off on the way back from Shanghai :) (we have another one planned for 2020).

Just one point, you'll have to use the third day of your pass on Wednesday instead of Thursday. You also might find that you'll need to get one more ride in or shop for something in the other park. We bought full 4 day hoppers as guests of MiraCosta but never used them as we were busy in each park those first two days. Live and learn.

Try and go in on monday after you land as its an easier adjustment to the Japanese Time Zone than reverse. Do what you can while your in Tokyo and enjoy it all. You might find that you'll need to go back for some more and more ....
 
Heading out a week from tomorrow...really excited now for Disney we are staying at Hilton Tokyo Bay. Thoughts on the fastest way ti get there feom HND.

We arrive Monday afternoon, going to MK when we arrive, do Seas Tuesday and probaly MK again Wednesday morning and then heas to the city for the rest of the trip.
 
Taxi will be fastest. It will be about $75 for a 25 minute trip depending upon traffic. For a single taxi.

If you go via public transit, you can get info from this site:

Hyperdia.com

Just plug in your start (Haneda) and your end point (the Disney Resort line station is at Maihama) It will take a little under an hour, but you will have to do some walking between stops which could be awkward and confusing.
 


Heading out a week from tomorrow...really excited now for Disney we are staying at Hilton Tokyo Bay. Thoughts on the fastest way ti get there feom HND.

We arrive Monday afternoon, going to MK when we arrive, do Seas Tuesday and probaly MK again Wednesday morning and then heas to the city for the rest of the trip.

Since you arrive in the afternoon, the limousine bus (just a name not an actual limousine) is easy and inexpensive.

http://www.limousinebus.co.jp/en/platform_searches/index/4/83
 
Cool. Thanks for our trip in whole, we were planning on public transit, but to maximise Disney time ... and just simplicity after nearly 20 hours of travel when we arrive, a taxi seems best
 
We stayed at Celebrations Discovery (A Disney hotel that is a 15minute bus ride away) and it had a family room...2 twin beds and 2 daybeds that turned into twin beds.

One thing to consider is doing two days at DisneySeas...go early and get a fastpass for a desired ride and then go to the next desired FP type ride..after that you get very long lines!
 
So, we are back

Thanks again for everyone's help. We had a really nice time. I'll post a more detailed trip report in a day or so .. tons of work to catch up
 
Took more than a day or two ....

In summary, it was myself and my w kids (ages 24 and 20). We do not all live in the same place, so we all flew to LAX and from there to HND. Out first time to Tokyo. This is part of my "see all the parks mission" Shanghai is the only one I have not been to now.

We arrived around 3:30 and took a cab to the Hilton Tokyo Bay, checked in, dropped our stuff off, and took a shuttle to the train station and walked to DL Park.

The place was really packed, but we had time to walk around the park and go on Pirates, Country Bears, and the Jungle Cruise .. all of which were pretty cool rides. Food was a challenge the whole trip, my 20 year old is a vegan and I have many seafood allergies The first night we ended up just buying some fries to eat. A little disappointing Haunted Mansion and Roger Rabbit was closed ... but still we enjoyed walking around the park after a really long day of flying. We walked back to the train station and picked up some food at a store, went back to the hotel, ate, and pretty much crashed for the night.

Next morning, we planned it out a bit better and bought a monorail pass and took that to Disney Seas .. again, the place was packed, but we had all day and pretty much had a chance to go on everything we wanted. Journey to the Center of the Earth was particularly cool. We did that twice (waited in a long line once and FP later in the day). We ate lunch at Ristorante di Canaletto, food was quite good and it met our dietary needs. The park itself was just fabulous, really interesting walking around.

On our 3rd day, we planned on just doing DL until around noon, then we checked out of the hotel to move to the main part of Tokyo. Again, quite crowded, but we did Star Tours twice, Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain. Plus some more general walking around the park.

We spent 4 days in Tokyo, a lot of general walking around the city, much better eating options for us there. One note, if you are baseball fan at all, go to a game there. Very cool, we saw the Swallows v Carp.
 

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