November 2024 Trip To Tokyo Disney !

[Nakkira]

So excited. Hubby and I are traveling last week in October through the 1st week of November to Japan (our 2nd trip) We are spending the last 3 day in Tokyo Disney Parks! (I didn't get to do Disney last Japan trip)!

We will start in Osaka and be heading to Kinosaki, then Kyoto before heading to Tokyo.

We will have 5 nights Total in Tokyo (4.5 Days when you take travel into account)

Have plans in Tokyo for the 1.5 days including teamLab Planets.

For our 3 Disney days I am planning 1 in Tokyo Disneyland and 2 in Tokyo Disney Sea.
November 5th - Disney Sea
November 6th - Disneyland
November 7th (our Anniversary) - Disney Sea.

I was going to try to book us at the Disney Ambassador Hotel but that put us over budget (still going to price it out when the booking window opens).

However I also priced out a few of the "Tokyo Disney Resort Official Hotels" and the Tokyo Bay Maihama Hotel First Resort came in almost $100 less per night than the competition (including the cheapest rooms at the Ambassador)

Decisions

PRO's to Ambassador:
Early Entry
Theming
Proximity
Disney Bubble
Guaranteed park entry

Okay...

However with Maihama here is what I am thinking in response to those:

Early Entry - Well I could actually show up about a half an hour after park opens and not have to deal with the long lines just to get in. With the money I am saving on the hotel room, I could then afford at last 2 Priority passes (for 2 persons) each park day and still have saved a couple hundred.
The ability to afford the "fast passes" is actually the biggest perk. I would not be able to spend the money on them if I stayed at a more expensive hotel. With only 3 total park days and the notoriously LONG lines I will NEED these if I am going to be able to enjoy any of the best rides. With our spinal issues (and resultant leg and back pain) from a 2020 car accident we will not be physically ABLE to stand in 2+ hour long ride que's.

Theming - There is some Disney theming in the hotel but not the rooms. If I get a Castle room I can still play pretend and There is always the inevitable Disney item I will have purchased at Diaso to add to it. ( I did want the Disney toiletries but really are the worth the $400 - $600 I will have saved on the booking?)

Proximity - This hotel is actually within 1km of the Park

Disney Bubble - I am not sure this is as important as it is in Disney World

Guaranteed park entry - THIS one has me nervous, but it really look like I should still be able to reserve my park tickets well in advance so it might not be an issue.

...

Still a little torn though. This is likely going to be my ONLY chance to go and there is a part of me that wants the FULL DISNEY EXPERIENCE.
My Brain and My Heart are at war.






So for now I have booked the Tokyo Bay Maihama Hotel First Resort with free cancellation up to a week before. (just so it doesn't sell out before the Disney resort booking window opens)

 

[princesscinderella]

Happy planning, its half the fun of traveling for me

 

[Flossbolna]

Guaranteed park entry - THIS one has me nervous, but it really look like I should still be able to reserve my park tickets well in advance so it might not be an issue.

Considering that the tickets for June 6 (opening day of Fantasy Springs, a whole new land) have been available for nearly a week now and the day still hasn’t sold out and neither have any of the days for Golden Week sold out so far, I don’t think this is a deciding factor anymore.

We are going in June and are staying at the Sheraton. We stayed at the Hilton in 2017 and loved it. We hope it works out as well this time. I will try to remember to report back after our trip, if I don’t, feel free to send me a PM or tag me in early July when we are back.

 

[planningjollyholiday]

Early Entry: I think priority passes are more advantageous than early entry.
Themeing:Not the same as the toiletries you get in the hotel, but I have seen the foaming mickey hand soaps in stores you can purchase. You take the same mickey buses and monorail as the official disney hotels.
Proximity: I think the Maihaima first is the same distance or actually closer to disneyland than the ambassador. I think it would take about 7 minutes to walk there as you cut through the parking lot beside the hotel. You would take a short bus ride and then a monorail to disneysea.
Bubble: I feel 100% more in the Bubble staying "offsite" at the non disney hotels along the monorail than I do at the onsite disneyworld hotels.
Guaranteed park entry: Although you may get conflicting answers on this, the official Disney resort website states that you would get this if you book through their website.
If it were me I would not hesitate to stay at the Maihaima First hotel.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Proximity and Disney bubble are not really different as Tokyo Bay Maihama Hotel First Resort is on the Disney Resort Line loop. In fact, it's faster to walk to the Disneyland park entrance from this hotel than the Ambassador. But, for this hotel, I would personally take the resort line to get to Disneysea while from the Ambassador Hotel, a lot of people prefer to walk.

Guaranteed park entry is also not something most visitors need to worry about.

If budget is a concern, then it would be far more important to buy Premier Access than have early entry into Disneyland. I think in your case, it doesn't really make sense to pay extra for the Ambassador Hotel.

 

[Nakkira]

Happy planning, its half the fun of traveling for me

Same. I love having a trip to plan almost as much as I enjoy the travel experience itself!

 

[Nakkira]

Early Entry: I think priority passes are more advantageous than early entry.
Themeing:Not the same as the toiletries you get in the hotel, but I have seen the foaming mickey hand soaps in stores you can purchase. You take the same mickey buses and monorail as the official disney hotels.
Proximity: I think the Maihaima first is the same distance or actually closer to disneyland than the ambassador. I think it would take about 7 minutes to walk there as you cut through the parking lot beside the hotel. You would take a short bus ride and then a monorail to disneysea.
Bubble: I feel 100% more in the Bubble staying "offsite" at the non disney hotels along the monorail than I do at the onsite disneyworld hotels.
Guaranteed park entry: Although you may get conflicting answers on this, the official Disney resort website states that you would get this if you book through their website.
If it were me I would not hesitate to stay at the Maihaima First hotel.

Thanks! I am feeling pretty good about it and will probably stick to this plan. I am a little concerned about getting my Priority passes booked if I don't turn up with the Early Crowd in the morning, but if this goes poorly the first day I can adjust the rest.

 

[Nakkira]

Proximity and Disney bubble are not really different as Tokyo Bay Maihama Hotel First Resort is on the Disney Resort Line loop. In fact, it's faster to walk to the Disneyland park entrance from this hotel than the Ambassador. But, for this hotel, I would personally take the resort line to get to Disneysea while from the Ambassador Hotel, a lot of people prefer to walk.

Guaranteed park entry is also not something most visitors need to worry about.

If budget is a concern, then it would be far more important to buy Premier Access than have early entry into Disneyland. I think in your case, it doesn't really make sense to pay extra for the Ambassador Hotel.

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah it looked like it was pretty close on the maps I was looking at.

 

[Agent 86]

I'd personally put the money towards paid Premier Access tickets over an official hotel.

The only exceptions to this would be:

- if Fantasy Springs was absolutely essential and you were willing to book a Vacation Package (but that doesn't seem to be the case); or

- you're planning to spend a lot of time in the hotel (although, even then, I personally don't see the value in spending so much extra for a few Disney touches within the rooms themselves).

However, in order to get maximum value from the free Priority Passes (and Fantasy Springs Standby Passes) and the paid Premier Access tickets, it will still be necessary to get to the parks at least one hour early. For the long entry lines, I've seen people use small, folding stools (primarily for their children) to sit while waiting and the use of a leisure mat is very common. Would either of those options be helpful in your instance.

If you get there an hour early, the "waiting" time will probably be at least 30 minutes (if the parks "open" 30 minutes early, which is pretty common). However, even "rope dropping" rides like Monsters Inc or Pooh can still result in waiting / standing times of 45+ minutes depending upon the day (this is because the ride won't start operating until the official park opening time, so you have the 30 minutes "early" entry to wait, plus however long it takes for the people in front of you in the line to ride). In that instance, some kind of small, folding stool may be invaluable.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Might be worth looking into Toy Story Hotel also. It's significantly cheaper than Ambassador and comes with Disneyland happy entry (no DisneySea). The Hilton Tokyo Bay is super popular and was actually more expensive than Toy Story for all my dates. Happy Entry was really important to me as my limit for lining up early is about an hour.

I think some folks said this above but the flaw in arriving late (after opening) is that everyone is "ahead" of you in booking passes, for the entire day. They start making their passes as soon as they get into the parks, maybe 30-60 minutes before you, and thus will generally be eligible to make the next one (or two) before you've even used your first. So the people who get there early (such as via happy entry) might be able to book three passes and ride something with a short standby wait while you only end up with one pass and no short standby waits.

 

[Nakkira]

Might be worth looking into Toy Story Hotel also. It's significantly cheaper than Ambassador and comes with Disneyland happy entry (no DisneySea). The Hilton Tokyo Bay is super popular and was actually more expensive than Toy Story for all my dates. Happy Entry was really important to me as my limit for lining up early is about an hour.

I think some folks said this above but the flaw in arriving late (after opening) is that everyone is "ahead" of you in booking passes, for the entire day. They start making their passes as soon as they get into the parks, maybe 30-60 minutes before you, and thus will generally be eligible to make the next one (or two) before you've even used your first. So the people who get there early (such as via happy entry) might be able to book three passes and ride something with a short standby wait while you only end up with one pass and no short standby waits.

I am going to look at that one too.

 

[pryncess527]

I can't wait to hear about your trip and I look forward to following your planning!! What a fun anniversary!!

I'm planning a trip to Japan for my husband and I for Fall 2025 and am tentatively considering a similar plan - last 3 days at Disney. I'll probably end up setting the trip dates around the best time to be at the park lol.

 

[Nakkira]

Basic Itinerary:

We will drive to JFK and spend the night at a hotel nearby, then Fly out the next morning (VERY EARLY)
We fly Air Canada. JFK to Vancouver then on to Osaka Kansai. (landing Oct 26th)
We have 4 nights in Osaka (last trip we only had one day trip to Osaka but go so delayed we only had time to ride the Tempozan Ferris Wheel and have dinner).
This time we will go to Osaka Castle and see many other things in the surrounding area that we missed last time.



2 Nights at a Ryokan in Kinosaki Onsen (hot spring town) Hubby has booked us at a very nice Ryokan , Nishimuraya Honkan (that's his big spend, mine is Disney) including Kaiseki (Japanese traditional dinner served in our room).




2 Nights in Kyoto (we spent 5 days there last time) and pre-accident injuries climbed to the very top of Fushimi Inari (12000 steps !) in 2019. We will just have 1.5 days there but we mostly plan to wander around. We love Kyoto.

Then we plan to take the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo! (didn't get to do this last trip as we found a flight for cheaper)


Then 5 nights in Tokyo! (as described above) with the last 3 day as Disney Days!
November 5th - Disney Sea
November 6th - Disneyland
November 7th (our Anniversary) - Disney Sea.



Then We fly out of Tokyo Intl Haneda- transfer in Toronto and then onto JFK. (Air Canada).

Still a lot of specific plans to fill in but all of the rooms are booked (although as mentioned in the first post of this thread, when the reservation window opens I will still be pricing out the Disney hotel and deciding if I want to change the Tokyo Bay accommodations)

187 Days (or 185 days if you count the night we leave to head to NY) and counting..


Bonus Pic from our last trip to Japan 2019.

 

[Nakkira]

I can't wait to hear about your trip and I look forward to following your planning!! What a fun anniversary!!

I'm planning a trip to Japan for my husband and I for Fall 2025 and am tentatively considering a similar plan - last 3 days at Disney. I'll probably end up setting the trip dates around the best time to be at the park lol.

I have yet to figure out what the "Best Times" to be at the parks are but heard weekends are the worst. Thankfully our planned days are Tues - Thurs.

 

[Flossbolna]

Sounds like a great itinerary!

On the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo there is now a rule that you have to reserve seats with luggage storage if you bring bigger suitcases. You might be the type who just travels with a carry on, but we aren’t and that new rule has me a bit concerned. But considering how many trains are runnning between the two cities it should not be an issue to get that reservation.

 

[soniam]

Sounds like a great itinerary!

On the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo there is now a rule that you have to reserve seats with luggage storage if you bring bigger suitcases. You might be the type who just travels with a carry on, but we aren’t and that new rule has me a bit concerned. But considering how many trains are runnning between the two cities it should not be an issue to get that reservation.

I checked the dimensions, and they were pretty much what most people use for normal checked luggage, large but not extra large. I was surprised. So check the dimensions before booking the storage.

 

[Flossbolna]

I checked the dimensions, and they were pretty much what most people use for normal checked luggage, large but not extra large. I was surprised. So check the dimensions before booking the storage.

Yes, I think my suitcase would fit into it. Do I want to try to get it into overhead storage? Not really! But you are right, the limits are fairly generous.

 

[soniam]

Yes, I think my suitcase would fit into it. Do I want to try to get it into overhead storage? Not really! But you are right, the limits are fairly generous.

You can keep it at your feet. Not sure how big the overhead is. It probably depends how long your ride is and how tall you are.

 

[Runnsally]

Lazy question …How far in advance can you book the Shinkansen?

 

[soniam]

Also, you can ship luggage, which I’m not very keen on.