greenkai3000

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 10, 2011
Ok folks. I got back from Tokyo last month and wanted to tell you a bit about my trip to the TDR.

Yes, the Resort is beautiful, and CMs are A-MA-ZING. Many, if not the majority of them. went above and beyond the call of duty to make our stay more than magical.

We spent our first night in Japan at the Miracosta Hotel, and boy were we blown away by the service there! The Front Desk CM was awesome. He told us in perfect English (he lived in Chicago for a year) all about the perks we'd be getting, such as Happy 15 (when you get into the parks 15 mins before opening time), the free 3 day monorail passes, all the amenities waiting for us in the room, park hours, etc.

The next morning, he even was gracious enough to have the bellhop walk with us to show us where the special park gate for hotel guests was, with a complimentary umbrella in hand (it rained for a few mins). It felt like having our very own Concierge!

Day 1 TDS (Thursday after Golden Week was officially over)

We got up way early fearing there was going to be a large crowd left over from Golden Week, but were glad to find out we were going to be about #4 or 5 at the gates! When the CMs let us into the park , half the people who had run ahead of me did not even head towards American Waterfront. Instead they all decided to veer right towards the lake, to wait for the 1st show at Mediterranean Harbor ???!!! I, the FP runner, was the 1st one to make it to the TSM FP line!!!! I didn't even have to run the rest of the way there since I was the only one going in that direction. Word of caution to those who do not speak Japanese though... You are walked to the very front of the FP machines, and are told to wait until exactly the time when the park officially opens for everyone else. I mistakenly thought I was allowed to get my FPs as soon as the CM stopped talking, and was able to get them before opening time. This confused every single CM and one of them had to talk to their Supervisor over her radio to find out if I could keep the FPs I had, and wait behind the FP machines until 9am (Opening time that day) Apparentely the CM got the OK to do so, since she looked right at me and smiled, but motioned for me to wait until exactly 9AM. MY BAD!!! Thank you CMs though!!! Anyway, everything else was a breeze for us since I was able to get us enough FPs to ride most of the attractions we wanted to ride by NOON!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a link to my pics of Day 1.
https://www.facebook.com/Greenkai3000/media_set?set=a.10155575162805613.1073741845.500960612&type=3

To be continued if y'all are insterested.
 
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Only a couple of months away from my trip now so I'm hungry for trip reports! Sounds like you had some serious pixie dust, and it's great to hear that the park wasn't as busy as you feared. Great photos too, you've taken lots of shots of things I hadn't seen before - TDS looks so stunning. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!
 
Only a couple of months away from my trip now so I'm hungry for trip reports! Sounds like you had some serious pixie dust, and it's great to hear that the park wasn't as busy as you feared. Great photos too, you've taken lots of shots of things I hadn't seen before - TDS looks so stunning. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!


Pics can't even describe how awesome the parks are. Thanks for the comment. Now on to ...

Day 2 TDL

Since we had plans to stay at all three TDR hotels during our stay, the CMs back at Miracosta were gracious enough to arrange to have our luggage delivered right to the DL Hotel for our second night at the resort, free of charge!! How awesome is that! This also meant having access to the parks 15 mins before everyone else for the entire 3 days we were there. Every Disneyland Hotel guest gets a piece of paper, or pass, which has all the info for Happy 15 / Early entrance, the time the park is set to open, and where to line up to get in. You are to turn in all of your tickets to the CMs at the security check point. This is how your prove you're a DH guest, and how they do a head count I guess.

The special entrance for DL Hotel guests is literally across from the DL Hotel, right down the middle of the gates, facing the monorail Station for those interested in knowing. Please be advised that people aren't allowed to hop over any of the railings around the areas near the gates. CMs will literally run up to you, and give you an earful if you break the rules. It actually works for hotel guests since it keeps non Disney hotel guests from accidentally (or intentionally) getting in the special entrance queue. If you need to go back to your room, or use the facilities at the Monorail station before the gates open, all you have to do is let the CMs know so. They'll give you your passes back, so you can get back into the special entrance area when you return.

Anyway, we made plans to leave our room about 1 hour before the park was set to open just in case of large crowds, but were glad to find there were only a handful of people waiting to get past security to be led to the special entrance queue. We were 1 or 2 in line, I forget, and we were literally inches away from the gates. SCORE!

Unbeknownst to us, there is a pre-show at DL before hotel guests are let into the park. All the Disney characters come out to the main plaza to greet and wave at guests. Then they go back and position themselves where all the meet and greet spots are, so you can take pics with them. It was so much fun watching all the little kids run up to the gates to say hi to Mickey, Minnie and everyone else. The pre-show is about 5 mins long or so but it felt a bit longer. Not that that was a bad thing at all. It got everyone pumped up and ready for the "running of the bulls."

I, once again, was the FP runner, and first in place at the Monsters Inc FP machines. It was shocking to see everyone run either towards the castle, or to get in the stand by line for Monsters and Pooh. Having created a plan of attack earlier, to get as many fps as possible, worked out great for us though. We were able to grab FPs for Monsters, ride Pooh as a walk on, grab FPs for Space Mountain, and ride Star Tours all within the first hour we were there!!

Side note, Monsters Inc is cool, but Pooh's Hunny Hunt was a whole lot more awesome IMO. Pooh's HH in all honesty should deservedly have a 3 hour wait all day...It is THAT cool. DL and WDW need to upgrade their Pooh rides big time!

We also rode Big Thunder Mountain (which is by far, more superior than its California counterpart), and the Haunted Mansion, but failed to get FPs for Splash Mountain. For some reason, that seemed to be a very popular ride that day. All the FPs for it were gone shortly after noon!

We had lunch at Queen of Hearts, which contrary to what some people may say, was a great dining experience. The line was a bit long, but CMs were quite efficient in serving, and seating guests. The wait time seemed minimal too. And yes, we splurged ourselves and ordered the very delicious Unbirthday Cake. We then rode a couple of more attractions, and then headed back to the hotel for a short break.

Later that afternoon we went back to the park to catch the Easter parade, ride Pooh a couple more times with little to no time, and then it was time for the Magical Electrical parade. All in all, we had a great time.

Here's all the pics I took that day.

https://www.facebook.com/Greenkai3000/media_set?set=a.10155575944070613.1073741846.500960612&type=3
 
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TDR Day 3 (Back to TDS)

So after day 2 at DL, we headed over to the Ambassador Hotel for our final night at the TDR. The very gracious CMs had arranged to have our luggage delivered for us before we checked in. Once again, we received passes for Happy 15 / Early Entry for our final day at the parks. Our room was nice, but it felt a bit too small for my taste. To me it looked, and felt a bit like a state room on a ship. Also, the monorail station is a bit far from the hotel. To us, the easiest and quickest way to get to the parks from there , was to take their complimentary Tokyo Disney Resort Cruiser (or as I call it the Disneybus) which was empty both times we rode it.

The next morning, we were shown where the special entrance for hotel guests to get into TDS was. For those of you interested in knowing, both DL and Ambassador Hotel guests have a separate entrance than Miracosta Hotel guests. If you stand in front of the Monorail Station facing TDS, you are to go to the gate that is at the very far left,and line up there. Where as Miracosta Hotel guests have it easier...their entrance is on the far right. Which is located near the Disneybus stop, and main hotel entrance.

Unlike back at DL, you turn in your passes right as you go past security and through the gates. As I recall the CMs wait a bit closer to Happy 15 time, to let people through though.

Surprisingly enough Saturday wasn't a very busy day at TDS either! I was once again the first guest to get to TSM, so the rest of the morning pretty much planned out like the previous two. The only ride that broke down on us was Aquatopia as we were getting ready to get on. Lots of people got stuck on it for a LOOONNG time. They even had to drain the water in the pool to fix the issue. Oh, and I was finally able to find a popcorn stand that had the bucket that I really wanted (Easter 2015) with a decent flavor popcorn in it (caramel), and I didn't have to wait at all to purchase it since the stand I picked had no one in line (The one next to the entrance to Lost River Delta coming from Port Discovery)

Here's some pics of that day...

https://www.facebook.com/Greenkai300...0960612&type=1
 


Oh, and I was finally able to find a popcorn stand that had the bucket that I really wanted (Easter 2015) with a decent flavor popcorn in it (caramel), and I didn't have to wait at all to purchase it since the stand I picked had no one in line (The one next to the entrance to Lost River Delta coming from Port Discovery)

Just a tip for future reference for anyone reading... if you see a popcorn bucket you like but don't want the actual flavor they're selling at that particular stand, you can get a voucher to use to fill it with popcorn from another stand. We did this on our trip last week, and in fact the lady in line in front of us did as well. You just tell them you want the bucket and no popcorn.
 
Just a tip for future reference for anyone reading... if you see a popcorn bucket you like but don't want the actual flavor they're selling at that particular stand, you can get a voucher to use to fill it with popcorn from another stand. We did this on our trip last week, and in fact the lady in line in front of us did as well. You just tell them you want the bucket and no popcorn.

I tried that a couple of times, and the CMs had no clue about the voucher :(
 


Isn't Golden Week in the spring?

Yes it is, the TR is from that time just by looking at the photos on Facebook they linked :). Just a small typo it looks like at the beginning, making it sound like it was November.

Thank you for posting! I enjoy reading TRs from TDR!
 
Yes it is, the TR is from that time just by looking at the photos on Facebook they linked :). Just a small typo it looks like at the beginning, making it sound like it was November.

Thank you for posting! I enjoy reading TRs from TDR!

Oops, where's the typo? I need to fix that right away! Yeah, we were there last May. The first weekend after Golden Week to be exact.
 
I don't think you made a typo. I re-read the thread and I don't know why I thought you had gone this fall. I guess I just assumed it was a new trip report when someone commented on it.
 
I love all of your pictures! Thank you so much for sharing the pics and the tips! I was wondering how obvious the location of the Happy 15 / Early Entry lines are. Glad to know they are pretty easy to find.
 
I love all of your pictures! Thank you so much for sharing the pics and the tips! I was wondering how obvious the location of the Happy 15 / Early Entry lines are. Glad to know they are pretty easy to find.

They are super obvious for Land and I got confused by Sea but the staff helped me out.
 
I love all of your pictures! Thank you so much for sharing the pics and the tips! I was wondering how obvious the location of the Happy 15 / Early Entry lines are. Glad to know they are pretty easy to find.
Definitely obvious. Worse case scenario, just ask a CM. If they don't know, or don't speak English very well...They'll certainly get someone else to help you.
 
Great summary!
I, the FP runner, was the 1st one to make it to the TSM FP line!!!! I didn't even have to run the rest of the way there since I was the only one going in that direction. Word of caution to those who do not speak Japanese though... You are walked to the very front of the FP machines, and are told to wait until exactly the time when the park officially opens for everyone else. I mistakenly thought I was allowed to get my FPs as soon as the CM stopped talking, and was able to get them before opening time. This confused every single CM and one of them had to talk to their Supervisor over her radio to find out if I could keep the FPs I had, and wait behind the FP machines until 9am (Opening time that day) Apparentely the CM got the OK to do so, since she looked right at me and smiled, but motioned for me to wait until exactly 9AM. MY BAD!!! Thank you CMs though!!! Anyway, everything else was a breeze for us since I was able to get us enough FPs to ride most of the attractions we wanted to ride by NOON!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for explaining this so we can avoid the same confusion!
Question - you ran for the FPs, what did the rest of your party do? Were they able to save you a place in standby for another ride? Were you able to get into the queue, and find them? Or did they just wait by the entrance for you to meet them and you all joined the queue together?

What technique did you use to get so many FPs?
Is the way it works that you can get a new one either 2 hours after the first, or once you've used your current one if that's sooner?

The special entrance for DL Hotel guests is literally across from the DL Hotel, right down the middle of the gates, facing the monorail Station for those interested in knowing.
If you're a Miracosta guest wanting to do Happy 15 at DL - is the special entrance different?
 
meryll83 said:
If you're a Miracosta guest wanting to do Happy 15 at DL - is the special entrance different?

No. Tokyo DL just has one special entrance for all on-site guests while Sea has a special entrance for just MiraCosta guests and another area to queue for other on-site guests.

The walk from Tokyo Disneyland Hotel to the on-site guest entrance is just particularly short and convenient.
 
No. Tokyo DL just has one special entrance for all on-site guests while Sea has a special entrance for just MiraCosta guests and another area to queue for other on-site guests.

The walk from Tokyo Disneyland Hotel to the on-site guest entrance is just particularly short and convenient.
Thanks for clarifying, much appreciated!

I feel like I've read the two parks aren't exactly walkable to each other and the monorail or bus is the best option - is that right?
 
Thanks for clarifying, much appreciated!

I feel like I've read the two parks aren't exactly walkable to each other and the monorail or bus is the best option - is that right?

Technically, if you like to walk, I would think it is walkable, but for speed you're better off just taking the monorail. It's free too if you're staying on property. For us, we were at the Disneyland Hotel and often went to Ikspiari and we did usually walk it. We took the monorail when we went to Sea and then the monorail again when we went from Sea to DL since we park hopped. :)
 
Technically, if you like to walk, I would think it is walkable, but for speed you're better off just taking the monorail. It's free too if you're staying on property. For us, we were at the Disneyland Hotel and often went to Ikspiari and we did usually walk it. We took the monorail when we went to Sea and then the monorail again when we went from Sea to DL since we park hopped. :)
This is useful to know...
Is Iksipiari a monorail option too?
We'll be at the Miracosta - What would you estimate the walking times are from there to DL and Ikspiari?
 
This is useful to know...
Is Iksipiari a monorail option too?
We'll be at the Miracosta - What would you estimate the walking times are from there to DL and Ikspiari?

I think so? I can't remember if it has its own separate one or shares with Maihama. I wasn't paying close attention when I exited Maihama so ended up just walking to the Disneyland Hotel and after the first time, it was easy enough to keep doing it. I find I like to walk after I eat dinner.

I think the walk to Ikspiari is going to be closer to 15 minutes from MiraCosta because I don't think it has the nice walking path that Disneyland has. If you pull up Google Maps, you can get some idea of the walk by looking at Maihama Station. Though to be fair it is hard to estimate your walking speed since I don't know that much about you or your traveling party. I tend to walk a bit slower now because I am with my grade school daughter. I know we walked from entrance gates of Maihama Station to the hotel in 5-10 minutes. I know because I timed it for when we were checking out. The monorail path is Maihama/Ikspiari/resort gateway to Disneyland to Bayside (a station for good neighbor hotels) to Sea and back to the first station. So for us, since we were going the opposite direction as the monorail trying to get back to Maihama, it made sense to walk it. The walk between Disneyland and Sea is around 20 minutes but you need to walk back through Ikspiari because the walk to Bayside and around is much further because it's around the park.

For us it wasn't worth it to walk between the parks since the monorail ran often and was faster than the 20 minutes it would take us to walk.
 

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