Hi yall! This is the trip report of the first part of our Asian vacation. We are in Tokyo visiting my brother who is currently working here. Our itinerary includes a week in Tokyo, 4 days in Beijing and 4 days in Hong Kong. We are in the middle of our first week in Tokyo and have already visited Tokyo Disney. While in Hong Kong we are planning to go visit Disney there.
First let me catch everyone up on the trip so far. Coming from the U.S. is my DW, DS (9), DS (6), DM and of course me. In Tokyo is my DB, DSiL, DN (10) & DN (3). My brother's family will be going with us to Beijing and Hong Kong.
We flew Delta connecting at LAX and ultimately to Narita. Wow, LAX is a DUMP!!! Luckily our flight into and out of LAX used Terminal 6. But that terminal was one of the worst that I have ever been in. It was under construction, congested and hot. The restrooms are on the first floor and there is no signage directing you there. I would say you need to leave bread crumbs to mark the trail back, but you couldnt see the crumbs on the dirty floor.
The flight to Narita was on an A330 and was relatively smooth and enjoyable . . . for an 11.5-hour flight. In the first 2 hours they give you snacks and then feed you a dinner. Then they darken the lights and instruct everyone to close the window shades to encourage everyone to sleep. Except on this flight one person kept their window shade open aargh. Toward the end of the trip they served us ice cream and then later breakfast.
After landing in Narita, we went through immigrations and customs. As we have never traveled out of the U.S., filling out the necessary forms, especially with the language differences, was a challenge. There was one lady who was the Visa Nazi, but other than that everyone else tried to be helpful.
DS & DS were excited to see their cousin!
Im glad my brother lives here and he could guide us through the train ride back into Tokyo. It wasnt that difficult but I didnt do enough studying to do this on my own.
Here is the view out of my brothers apartment window:
Getting to Tokyo Disney was easy once you found the correct subway line. Use the Keiyo Line and ride 6 stops to the Maihama Station. We loaded up PASMO cards to pay for multiple trips on the subway.
The subway lets you off in front of the Disney complex. To the left is the Welcome Center and Ikspiari (their version of Downtown Disney dont waste your time there). To the right is the way to Tokyo Disneyland. My oldest DS already has the Japanese peace symbol pose.
Since we arrived at 9:00 and the rooms are not available until 2:30, we went to the Welcome Center to check our luggage. This welcome center is for all of the hotels. We were able to leave our bags and buy park tickets so that we could immediately go into the park. We are DVC members and used our points for the rooms. We just presented them with a printout of the confirmation and we were set. Since we were staying at the Disneyland Hotel, we opted for the 3 Day Multi-Day Passport that allows for park hopping everyday instead of day 3 and beyond. They also gave us passes to the monorail. The rear of the Disneyland Hotel is 100 yards from the entrance of Disneyland which was great since my brother has a 3 yr old. This is a pic of the rear courtyard of the hotel.
The rooms are very nice.
First we went to Disneyland. It is currently decorated in a Easter theme which is curious since Japan isnt a Christian country and its been several months since Easter. At the parades and other announcements we heard a stream of Japanese with Happy Eeeeeaaaastahhhh in every other sentence. My kids are still going around saying Happy Eeeeeaaaastahhh.
The parks were empty for the 3 days we were there. I think the combination of Mon-Wed plus the forecast for rain (start of the rainy season) kept a lot of people away. Regardless of the reason, it was great basically walking on every ride. The longest we waited on any ride was 40 min for Poohs Hunny Hunt. Also, they gave us 2 fast passes for each person staying at the hotel actually they messed up and gave us 4 per person. And with only 4 of us going on the busier rides and the no wait times, we didnt even need to mess with the regular fast passes. We rode Pirates and a couple of other rides before deciding to eat, check-in and let the little one take a nap.
more after the nap. . .
First let me catch everyone up on the trip so far. Coming from the U.S. is my DW, DS (9), DS (6), DM and of course me. In Tokyo is my DB, DSiL, DN (10) & DN (3). My brother's family will be going with us to Beijing and Hong Kong.
We flew Delta connecting at LAX and ultimately to Narita. Wow, LAX is a DUMP!!! Luckily our flight into and out of LAX used Terminal 6. But that terminal was one of the worst that I have ever been in. It was under construction, congested and hot. The restrooms are on the first floor and there is no signage directing you there. I would say you need to leave bread crumbs to mark the trail back, but you couldnt see the crumbs on the dirty floor.
The flight to Narita was on an A330 and was relatively smooth and enjoyable . . . for an 11.5-hour flight. In the first 2 hours they give you snacks and then feed you a dinner. Then they darken the lights and instruct everyone to close the window shades to encourage everyone to sleep. Except on this flight one person kept their window shade open aargh. Toward the end of the trip they served us ice cream and then later breakfast.
After landing in Narita, we went through immigrations and customs. As we have never traveled out of the U.S., filling out the necessary forms, especially with the language differences, was a challenge. There was one lady who was the Visa Nazi, but other than that everyone else tried to be helpful.
DS & DS were excited to see their cousin!
Im glad my brother lives here and he could guide us through the train ride back into Tokyo. It wasnt that difficult but I didnt do enough studying to do this on my own.
Here is the view out of my brothers apartment window:
Getting to Tokyo Disney was easy once you found the correct subway line. Use the Keiyo Line and ride 6 stops to the Maihama Station. We loaded up PASMO cards to pay for multiple trips on the subway.
The subway lets you off in front of the Disney complex. To the left is the Welcome Center and Ikspiari (their version of Downtown Disney dont waste your time there). To the right is the way to Tokyo Disneyland. My oldest DS already has the Japanese peace symbol pose.
Since we arrived at 9:00 and the rooms are not available until 2:30, we went to the Welcome Center to check our luggage. This welcome center is for all of the hotels. We were able to leave our bags and buy park tickets so that we could immediately go into the park. We are DVC members and used our points for the rooms. We just presented them with a printout of the confirmation and we were set. Since we were staying at the Disneyland Hotel, we opted for the 3 Day Multi-Day Passport that allows for park hopping everyday instead of day 3 and beyond. They also gave us passes to the monorail. The rear of the Disneyland Hotel is 100 yards from the entrance of Disneyland which was great since my brother has a 3 yr old. This is a pic of the rear courtyard of the hotel.
The rooms are very nice.
First we went to Disneyland. It is currently decorated in a Easter theme which is curious since Japan isnt a Christian country and its been several months since Easter. At the parades and other announcements we heard a stream of Japanese with Happy Eeeeeaaaastahhhh in every other sentence. My kids are still going around saying Happy Eeeeeaaaastahhh.
The parks were empty for the 3 days we were there. I think the combination of Mon-Wed plus the forecast for rain (start of the rainy season) kept a lot of people away. Regardless of the reason, it was great basically walking on every ride. The longest we waited on any ride was 40 min for Poohs Hunny Hunt. Also, they gave us 2 fast passes for each person staying at the hotel actually they messed up and gave us 4 per person. And with only 4 of us going on the busier rides and the no wait times, we didnt even need to mess with the regular fast passes. We rode Pirates and a couple of other rides before deciding to eat, check-in and let the little one take a nap.
more after the nap. . .