Tokyo Disneymoon

[Disney_Fanatic]

We are finalizing details for our Disneymoon and I can't be more excited!

We are having our wedding at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, and since we are using our mileage points for the plane tickets, we thought "why not add an extra stop for free in Tokyo and visit TDR and Disney Sea?" We will have about a day at home to do our laundry etc before boarding the plane again for our second stop of the Disneymoon - WDW!

DF and I have visited TDR as kids with our own families and we have both been to Tokyo a few times but neither of us have been to Disney Sea. We will be spending about 4 days in Tokyo and here's the plan:

Day 1 - Arrive NRT late afternoon and check-in at Andaz Tokyo. Meet up with a friend of DF (or should I call him DH?) for dinner.
Day 2 - Spend the day at TDR
Day 3 - Spend the day at Disney Sea
Day 4 - Sight-seeing and shopping
Day 5 - Departure in the morning

The goal of this trip is really to check off Disney Sea from our bucket list. We started looking at some of the planning sites and blogs and looks like there's a ton to do at TDR. One thing we are not sure though is if we need to spend a whole day at Disney Sea.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Yes, I would allow yourself a full day at TDS. We were able to do just about everything in one day but that was with following a touring plan during one of the slowest weeks of the year, and we opened and closed the park. We weren't moving at breakneck speed or anything, but we stayed on the go. The second day we went back and wrapped up a couple of small things we hadn't been able to get to the first day and used the rest of the downtime to stroll and shop. If you only want to hit the headliners you might be able to do that in a half a day depending on what fastpass return times you get. Personally, I think it's better to allot the full day.

 

[dimndgal1]

Everyone I have spoken with said that you should devote at least one full day to TDS.
Truthfully, if you want to explore the outside resort area, you could probably do so midday on your TDL day. TDL is smaller than the US counterparts (it's easy to 'lap' it) and when we were there we felt midday was the busy time, especially for food. Our trip in a few weeks our TDL day we plan to get there when it opens, ride for a few hours, leave around lunchtime and hit Ikspiari for a few hours, and then wander back for late afternoon/evening. I can post how that goes for us.

 

[Disney_Fanatic]

Thanks TipsyTraveler and dimndgal1 for your advice!

We are not morning people and it will probably be a challenge for us to make it to rope drop, plus we live in downtown Tokyo so the commute is easily an hour to the parks. I'm sure we'll have to work on some FP strategies this time.

I wonder how big is TDR compare to HKDL? We've been to HKDL a few times and found that a full day is not necessary (unless you go on weekends and holidays).

 

[Agent 86]

I think you need at least one full day at DisneySea to come close to doing everything on a relatively "quiet" day. From memory, the two previous times that we visited we managed to do almost everything in a single day, but only by being at the park from open to close with no rests/breaks and no relaxed dining.

I'm not sure of the specifics, but my impression from visiting both parks is that Tokyo Disneyland is quite a bit bigger than Hong Kong Disneyland. We can easily spend an entire day in Tokyo Disneyland. There may not be quite as much to see and do as in DisneySea, but I think that there is plenty for a single day.

I'm not sure if they're always available, but Tokyo Disney does sell reduced price "night entry" tickets to the parks. So, you could theoretically spend most of the day in Tokyo Disneyland and then, I think it is at 6pm, you could go to DisneySea for the evening. But, since you're a self-described Disney Fanatic, I would really allow at least one full day for each of the parks.

I've been lucky enough to visit every Disney theme park and Tokyo Disney remains my absolute favourite.

 

[Disney_Fanatic]

Thanks Agent86! Looks like we will just spend the full day for both of the parks then. Now that Japanese yen has fallen I am thinking of getting the tickets in advance to take advantage of the exchange rate