Japan or China with 3 boys (8, 12, 14)

[spiiffy]

Hello! We are thinking of trying a ABD in 2023. I am trying to decide between China or Japan. It will be myself, DH and three boys ages 8, 12 and 14 at time of travel.

I would love some thoughts and opinions of those who have experienced either or both!

About our family - well traveled, like to be pampered but also happy to stay in an RV as we travel around the US every summer to national parks. Myself, DH and oldest son willing to try new foods, younger two not so much (which is a concern with China). Also, oldest kiddo is slightly special needs with some intellectual issues and tends to function at a lower level then other kiddos his age but still loves traveling and adventures. He actually qualified for a Make A Wish several years ago and chose to learn to make pizza in Italy! It was an amazing and memorable trip for our family.

Our last few adventures have been to Costa Rica and a Mediterranean cruise so the kids are good with travel and flights. Younger two boys are energetic and love to explore and be outside.

Thanks for any help! Also feel free to suggest a different ABD if you think there is a better one for our family. I am curious about Scotland as well but the boys really want to see Asia and I would rather have ABD handle all the details of visiting an Asian country. I feel like I could do Scotland easier on our own.

Thanks!!

~Katy

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Realizing that the specifics of these trips change from year to year, my initial reaction to you question would have you going to China. The main reason I say that is the ABD trip we did to China included both Asian Disney parks (Hong Kong and Shanghei). The Japan trip doesn't include Disney Tokyo, but you could certainly add on - if Disney parks might appeal to your boys. But both trips would be amazing experiences for your entire family.

 

[spiiffy]

Realizing that the specifics of these trips change from year to year, my initial reaction to you question would have you going to China. The main reason I say that is the ABD trip we did to China included both Asian Disney parks (Hong Kong and Shanghei). The Japan trip doesn't include Disney Tokyo, but you could certainly add on - if Disney parks might appeal to your boys. But both trips would be amazing experiences for your entire family.

Thank you for the reply! The parks are a big part for us and we would make sure to add Tokyo Disney if we did Japan. We grew up next to Disneyland and now live by WDW

 

[spiiffy]

After reading more trip reports, South Africa now looks like a contender!

 

[sayhello]

I've done both China and Japan. The China trip, while incredibly amazing, can be exhausting, with 5 internal flights, and a few late nights. We had 2 boys, I *think* they were around 7 and 9, and they fell asleep at dinner more than once. And ate a LOT of rice! But we had a special needs young adult on the trip, and he just seemed to revel in the whole trip.

My Japan trip ended up being *almost* an Adults-Only (one 15-year-old girl who was very mature for her age). So I can't really comment on how suitable that trip would be for kids. But it was a totally fabulous trip, and my very favorite ABD that I have done. I think the food, in general, was a bit more "approachable" in Japan than China. And you can easily add Tokyo Disneyland Resort to the end of the trip.

Either trip is wonderful. I have not done South Africa, but I've heard high praise of that trip.

Sayhello

 

[Cousin Orville]

I’ve done both China and Japan with kids. They’re both great and 2 of my favorites. If forced, I’d probably give the edge to Japan. I liked the food better and really love Kyoto and Tokyo.

 

[ford91exploder]

Hello! We are thinking of trying a ABD in 2023. I am trying to decide between China or Japan. It will be myself, DH and three boys ages 8, 12 and 14 at time of travel.

I would love some thoughts and opinions of those who have experienced either or both!

About our family - well traveled, like to be pampered but also happy to stay in an RV as we travel around the US every summer to national parks. Myself, DH and oldest son willing to try new foods, younger two not so much (which is a concern with China). Also, oldest kiddo is slightly special needs with some intellectual issues and tends to function at a lower level then other kiddos his age but still loves traveling and adventures. He actually qualified for a Make A Wish several years ago and chose to learn to make pizza in Italy! It was an amazing and memorable trip for our family.

Our last few adventures have been to Costa Rica and a Mediterranean cruise so the kids are good with travel and flights. Younger two boys are energetic and love to explore and be outside.

Thanks for any help! Also feel free to suggest a different ABD if you think there is a better one for our family. I am curious about Scotland as well but the boys really want to see Asia and I would rather have ABD handle all the details of visiting an Asian country. I feel like I could do Scotland easier on our own.

Thanks!!

~Katy

View attachment 576706

Japan, You will find the Japanese polite almost to a fault and much more accomodating and overall more orderly. In China you will find that the people are pushy much like NYC but worse when a train door opens there will be a stampede in China in Japan people will line up to make boarding or debarking from a train an orderly and safe process.

Either trip will be amazing but do you want a orderly trip or a somewhat chaotic trip, ABD will do it's best but the differences are cutural.


If it were me it would be Japan now and China in 4 years or so.

 

[Candycane83]

I will start by saying I have not travelled with ABD to these places. Looking at it from a planning standpoint though, I would say if it’s the one and only trip you go to Asia, pick Japan. If you plan to go back and do something on your own, Japan isn’t hard to plan honestly, very travel friendly in my opinion so maybe do China with ABD. Ive taken my son to Hong Kong and Japan when he was 3, it was easy enough to find food for him, lot of snacks everywhere. China has a lot of great food too but maybe see if they like Chinese food from back home first. either way, enjoy your trip!!

 

[China Expat]

Having lived in China for five years, I would say go to Japan. I loved China, but a lot of the people were a bit rude and unapproachable, and the main sights are always packed. I always escaped to Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand! If you go, you must do Tokyo Disney, Mt. Fuji, ad Kyoto.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I’ve done both China and Japan with kids. They’re both great and 2 of my favorites. If forced, I’d probably give the edge to Japan. I liked the food better and really love Kyoto and Tokyo.

Ditto this. I'd choose Japan for your family over China by a fairly wide margin.

 

[CaptainCook]

I’ll also give the disclaimer that we travel on our own, not with ABD. If you are likely to do both trips at some point over the next few years, I would do China while your kids are younger, and save Japan for when they’re a bit older. China is lovely for families with kids. The Disney theme parks, pandas, acrobat shows, historical sites that they are likely to know about (e.g. Great Wall), scenic sites accessible by cable car - we found all of these things really age-appropriate for our kids when we visited with them at ages 11 and 13. We are hoping to make Japan our next big summer trip, in 2022, and although I’m disappointed that it‘s been pushed back a couple of times now, the more planning we do for it, the more I think they will get out of it as older teens. We‘ll visit Disney there as well, they’ll get a kick out of the pop culture in Harajuku and Akihabara, and they will understand the peace memorials in Hiroshima like they wouldn’t have at a younger age, etc. From a food perspective, I think China’s noodles and dumplings and even the Peking duck were good gateways into more exotic fare; sushi would have been a bit too exotic for them at that age, though it would be fine now. I will say, we went to South Africa in 2019 when they were 12/14 and also loved that! - so many amazing destinations to choose from!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

We've done both ABD China and ABD Japan, and you really can't go wrong. They are fantastic trips. My DS24 is the young adult whom @sayhello referenced with an intellectual disablity--we were all on the China ABD trip together (waving!), and it is right up there with the original Scotland itinerary as my favorite of our ABD trips. My son *loved* China and the people were fantastic to us. As an aside DH is 6'5 and DD21 is a redhead so they garnered some fun attention. We did China in 2017 and Japan in 2019 so my kids were definitely more older teen/young adults than kids. The 5 interior flights in China are a LOT. As SayHello mentioned there were a couple younger kids on the trip and you could see that it was exhausting for them. I would probably hold off a few years on that one and do Japan, which didn't have all the interior flights. It's also a fantastic trip, although a hair behind China for us. But with the younger kids, I think you will have a better experience with Japan.

 

[sayhello]

We've done both ABD China and ABD Japan, and you really can't go wrong. They are fantastic trips. My DS24 is the young adult whom @sayhello referenced with an intellectual disablity--we were all on the China ABD trip together (waving!), and it is right up there with the original Scotland itinerary as my favorite of our ABD trips. My son *loved* China and the people were fantastic to us. As an aside DH is 6'5 and DD21 is a redhead so they garnered some fun attention. We did China in 2017 and Japan in 2019 so my kids were definitely more older teen/young adults than kids. The 5 interior flights in China are a LOT. As SayHello mentioned there were a couple younger kids on the trip and you could see that it was exhausting for them. I would probably hold off a few years on that one and do Japan, which didn't have all the interior flights. It's also a fantastic trip, although a hair behind China for us. But with the younger kids, I think you will have a better experience with Japan.

(Do you *believe* it's been 4 years??)

Sayhello

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

(Do you *believe* it's been 4 years??)

Sayhello

You just have been listening to DD and me!!! I said exactly the same thing. I can't believe it's been 4 years. Such an amazing trip and great memories (including our post day line-craziness at Shanghai Disney--I'll never forget you and DS patiently waiting for us to come off 7 dwarves.)

 

[sayhello]

You just have been listening to DD and me!!! I said exactly the same thing. I can't believe it's been 4 years. Such an amazing trip and great memories (including our post day line-craziness at Shanghai Disney--I'll never forget you and DS patiently waiting for us to come off 7 dwarves.)

That post day at SHDL was something else! WAY crazier than expected! But I'm still glad we did it. First off, it really did take the pressure off our ABD day there, that if worse came to worst, we had that second day to do things we'd missed. But it was also a bit of a nice slow-down before heading home, and a chance to spend a bit more time with you four. I'm not sure about how your DS felt about our wait time outside 7 dwarves, but we had water, and the shade from my umbrella, and we chatted and people-watched. I was honestly exhausted at that point, and it felt nice to sit. I think we probably had a better time than you guys in that single rider line! I'm still flabbergasted by SHDL's interpretation of how the single rider line works...

Sayhello

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

That post day at SHDL was something else! WAY crazier than expected! But I'm still glad we did it. First off, it really did take the pressure off our ABD day there, that if worse came to worst, we had that second day to do things we'd missed. But it was also a bit of a nice slow-down before heading home, and a chance to spend a bit more time with you four. I'm not sure about how your DS felt about our wait time outside 7 dwarves, but we had water, and the shade from my umbrella, and we chatted and people-watched. I was honestly exhausted at that point, and it felt nice to sit. I think we probably had a better time than you guys in that single rider line! I'm still flabbergasted by SHDL's interpretation of how the single rider line works...

Sayhello

I KNOW you guys had a better time than we did, LOL. We ended up waiting forever and then having to come back without riding as we hadn't moved an inch. I totally agree that it was a nice break after the tour before heading home that took the pressure off, but next time I hope we don't hit the one year anniversary for park opening LOL!!!!

 

[sayhello]

I KNOW you guys had a better time than we did, LOL. We ended up waiting forever and then having to come back without riding as we hadn't moved an inch. I totally agree that it was a nice break after the tour before heading home that took the pressure off, but next time I hope we don't hit the one year anniversary for park opening LOL!!!!

Amen!! I'm also glad that our ABD day was not the day before the one year anniversary, too!

Sayhello

 

[kmedina]

For those who went to China, did you need a Visa? I was originally planning on getting the 144 hour Visa free exemption and only going to Shanghai, but if I do this China ABD trip instead I am guessing I need it. Is it difficult to get? I've never gotten a visa before.

 

[AquaDame]

For those who went to China, did you need a Visa? I was originally planning on getting the 144 hour Visa free exemption and only going to Shanghai, but if I do this China ABD trip instead I am guessing I need it. Is it difficult to get? I've never gotten a visa before.

Yes, you will need a visa. It is complicated paperwork-wise, so we and many others paid a company to do it for us. I used Peninsula as that is who my work uses, but I believe there is another one that is well reviewed here as well though I don't remember the name.

https://www.peninsulavisa.com/

 

[sayhello]

They weren't the cheapest, but I used CIBTvisas, which is the company recommended by ABD (at least they were in 2017, I have no idea about now ). They were very easy to work with, and really knew their stuff, and once they accepted all my documentation, the next I heard was that I got my Visa. It's kind of frustrating, because there's a window of like 3 months where you can apply, and leaving it to that late was really nerve-wracking for me. But they do that because you don't know how long of a Visa China will decide to give you, and you don't want to get one that will expire before the trip is over. (They can be anything from 6 months to 10 years).