Japan Trip Update/Report

Did you win the lottery for those seats? Or did you just get in the "standby" line? The standby line always seemed to be crazy long (and cut off) whenever we have considered seeing Big Band Beat without tickets.

I wouldn't worry too much about the students - we had buses and buses of them arriving at the Hilton when we were there in May. I didn't notice them too much in the parks as they don't all travel together in huge groups. And I find their enthusiasm endearing (especially as they're teenagers) - most of them will wear ears or hats - the crazier the better!

The one major drawback is when they arrive and flood the convenience store in the Hilton. It took me a LONG time to buy an ice cream one night as they'd obviously just arrived and were all buying a late dinner.
We won the lottery for our seats
 
Can't you just sit on the ground? Or is it because you're in Japan and people sit on those sheet things? So confused, it's just pavement and it's probably cleaner than WDW and DLR both of which I'd sit on the pavement or a curb if necessary.
I just didn’t want to sit on the ground *shrugs*
 
I have to say that the Early 15 is probably one of the greatest benefits by staying at a TDR hotel. I literally walked out of the hotel under the monorail station and straight to the gates with no one in line. Everyone else had to enter and wait at the far left side. BUT I would still stay at the HTB over the DL Hotel.
I think we would stay for one or two nights just to try it out
 
Not a great start to the morning....Pooh is down, monsters inc is down, space was down but is back up now
 


Not a great start to the morning....Pooh is down, monsters inc is down, space was down but is back up now
I was following wait times using the TDR Dash App. I noticed no wait times for these rides and wondered whether it meant they were down. Thanks for confirming it! Hope you still have a magical day despite the minor hiccups. Have fun!!
 
Not a great start to the morning....Pooh is down, monsters inc is down, space was down but is back up now

What a shame. I hope that your day improves. A day at Tokyo Disneyland or DisneySea, even in poor weather or with many ride closures, is still a pretty magical and wonderful day!
 
I was following wait times using the TDR Dash App. I noticed no wait times for these rides and wondered whether it meant they were down. Thanks for confirming it! Hope you still have a magical day despite the minor hiccups. Have fun!!
What a shame. I hope that your day improves. A day at Tokyo Disneyland or DisneySea, even in poor weather or with many ride closures, is still a pretty magical and wonderful day!
Thank you both. All three rides opened up and we were able to get on them all. Right now we’re waiting for the electrical parade to start.
 


I’m gonna type a tiny rant about other tourists. I absolutely love the Japanese people and you can for sure tell who is a native Japanese person. Now the tourists here (I don’t want to mention a certain nationality but there’s one in particular) that is completely rude and ruining many of our experiences. I won’t go too into detail about it but they push and shove their way in everywhere and yell constantly. We didn’t see this in Tokyo so it’s just a little different here in Kyoto.
Reading this while waiting on the parade. I’ll say it since I’m here with you- Chinese. You don’t even have to guess, really. And saying Chinese (from China, of course) are bad tourists is like saying the sky is blue. Every single country knows it, it’s not even Politically Incorrect to say it. :)

Nara was my least favorite part of our trip too. Miyajima Island is much better for deer without the throngs of rude foreign tourists. The deer also seem much calmer and don’t beg. It’s a better “deer experience” overall IMO.

I will say that I absolutely loved Kyoto though. Possibly because we were at the Ritz which is in a fantastic, very clean, very uppity district. And the hotel itself was absolutely mind blowing. Best hotel service I’ve ever had.

We have the ordinary pass and the seats are great. I’m really not sure what the benefit of the green car would be. I guess it’s more comfortable but we were very comfortable in the ordinary cars.
We had green (Thanks Barclays Arrival+). With our 5 year old not needing a ticket and being a “lap” child, green always had empty seats next to them so it was worth it to us for that alone for her to have her own seat.

If we didn’t have her and need that extra (unpaid) seat, I wouldn’t get it.

It’s 2-2 seating instead of 3-2 like the main “regular” cabin. So a smidge wider (doesn’t matter) and better recline (doesn’t matter). Each seat had an electrical plug also instead of just the window seat like in regular cabin (doesn’t matter). Bathrooms in green are a bit nicer but you can also use those from any cabin (so... doesn’t matter). So all in all, well, it doesn’t matter. :)


In other news: Paint the night- take a seat. You have been dethroned as the best nighttime parade (by a small margin).
 
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Reading this while waiting on the parade. I’ll say it since I’m here with you- Chinese. You don’t even have to guess, really. And saying Chinese (from China, of course) are bad tourists is like saying the sky is blue. Every single country knows it, it’s not even Politically Incorrect to say it. :)

Nara was my least favorite part of our trip too. Miyajima Island is much better for deer without the throngs of rude foreign tourists. The deer also seem much calmer and don’t beg. It’s a better “deer experience” overall IMO.

I will say that I absolutely loved Kyoto though. Possibly because we were at the Ritz which is in a fantastic, very clean, very uppity district. And the hotel itself was absolutely mind blowing. Best hotel service I’ve ever had.


We had green (Thanks Barclays Arrival+). With our 5 year old not needing a ticket and being a “lap” child, green always had empty seats next to them so it was worth it to us for that alone for her to have her own seat.

If we didn’t have her and need that extra (unpaid) seat, I wouldn’t get it.

It’s 2-2 seating instead of 3-2 like the main “regular” cabin. So a smidge wider (doesn’t matter) and better recline (doesn’t matter). Each seat had an electrical plug also instead of just the window seat like in regular cabin (doesn’t matter). Bathrooms in green are a bit nicer but you can also use those from any cabin (so... doesn’t matter). So all in all, well, it doesn’t matter. :)


In other news: Paint the night- take a seat. You have been dethroned as the best nighttime parade (by a small margin).
I saw a lot of people on the shinkansens sitting in seats in the reserved car and they clearly didn’t have seats. They kept getting up and moving when the real person came to sit down. They never once checked our tickets. Did they check your seat tickets in the green car?

The Dreamlights parade was amazing! So awesome! We sat on a bench to watch it near the partner statue. Where were you guys at?
 
Trip Report-Day 16
Got to Disneyland at 7:45 am and had about 20 people in front of us in line. The lines were huge by the time we were let into the park. They let us in right at 9 am. I loved that the cms were cleaning off the ticket machines and dusting before people came in. I’m also super jealous of all of the happy 15 people that got in 25 minutes early. If we come back we’ll have to try that. I would suggest getting to the line an hour and a half before opening.

Here’s what our day looked like:
  • Got a fp for monsters inc (9:50-10:50)
  • Pooh’s hunny hunt was down
  • Rode Peter Pan (walk on)
  • Rode roger rabbit (walk on)
  • Rode space mountain (5 min wait)-this was also down first thing this morning but went back up so we rode it right when it opened, we haven’t been to Disneyland in CA so this was way different for us, I didn’t like it as much because there weren’t any drops, but syth liked it better
  • Couldn’t use monsters fp because it was still down
  • Rode star tours (30 minute wait-posted at 20 min)
    • This was the most unorganized thing I have ever seen. They had no idea what they were doing and took an extra 10 minutes to get everyone in the right lines, sat down, and buckled in.
  • Checked monsters and it was still down
  • Tried the lottery for one man’s dream and let’s party gras-we lost :(
  • Rode it’s a small world (15 min wait)-so much cuter than at wdw, I loved looking for the Disney characters
  • Got in line for lunch at queen of hearts (11:15)
    • Took us about 10 minutes to get our food. The theming here is so cool! We bought an unbirthday cake and another dessert that came with a souvenir plate. Both were pretty good. They gave us bubble wrap for the souvenir plate.
    • I ate the roast chicken and it was really good. Syth ate the flank steak and said the sauce was good but the steak was mediocre.
    • I would recommend coming early because the line can get long
  • Rode Haunted mansion (13 minute wait)-mostly the same as wdw but some subtle changes, their lighting is much better and they have more sound effects
  • Got a fp for thunder mountain (2:10-3:10)
  • Syth got curry popcorn, he said it has a curry taste without the heat, he’s been craving spicy food and nothing here has really been hot for him, he said if it had heat he would’ve liked it the best
  • Enchanted tiki room with stitch (5 min wait)-this is a million times better than the one at wdw, the songs are super catchy and stitch is adorable
  • Rode jungle cruise (15 min wait)-mostly the same (in Japanese), the effects in the temple are much cooler
  • Played games at jungle carnival near Adventureland bazaar. We each played a game (one trying to win and the other trying to lose). We lost both so got to pick two Winnie the Pooh safari characters. They’re keychains but we are gonna stick pins through them for our pin board
  • Got soy sauce and butter popcorn-this was my favorite popcorn so far, it was so good
  • Rode pirates (5 min wait)-I didn’t follow the rules and ate my entire popcorn during the ride
  • Rode thunder mountain with our fp-about the same as wdw but again basically no drops, there is a difference at the end that I liked a lot
  • Rode monsters inc with our fp from the morning (line was a little long from it being down earlier but moved quickly)-this ride was a lot of fun and we’ll probably do it again on our other day
  • Wandered through world bazaar and played games in the penny arcade
  • 4:00 pm-At this point we weren’t really sure what to do. We had finished almost every ride and wanted to wait for the parade at 7:30. We ended up buying a peach/raspberry popsicle. I don’t normally like peach flavored stuff but I liked the popsicle a lot.
  • We had a fp for Pooh at 5:20 but syth lost his so we just decided to get in line instead (only took 15 minutes, 35 posted wait)-syth said it was his favorite ride so far
  • Walked to Grandma Sara’s for dinner at 5.
    • There was hardly anyone inside, I think because critter country is all closed. The theming is pretty awesome though.
    • The food was alright. I’m definitely ready to get back home to some normal food. I had the hamburger patty with rice. I also ate corn soup. Syth had the omelette with a crab claw. He said it was weird at first but it grew on him. He ate it all really fast so he must’ve liked it.
  • Went near partner statue and sat down on a bench for parade (5:30 pm). The parade wasn’t until 7:30 but we didn’t have anything to do and the break was nice. They started letting people sit on the curb an hour before the parade and it filled up fast. Most of the curb was filled within 15 minutes.
    • This parade was awesome! We aren’t parade people but we both loved it so much. One of the nicest things is how everyone sits so no one is pushing into you and shoving their way forward to see. I highly recommend getting a bench to sit on instead of the ground.
  • Rode space mountain with a fp
  • Rode Star tours (walk on)-much better with less people in line
One thing I’ve noticed is ride lines move way faster here than in the US and I think that’s because there are no scooters. We haven’t seen a single scooter since we’ve been here. Also, we’ve encountered maybe a handful of rude guests. Everyone else has been very polite and kind. I can say I’ve had no strollers clip my heels while here.

We also both decided we like FP+ so much more. We like getting to choose our times so we aren’t constantly running back and forth in the park. Sometimes you want a fp for later in the day and that’s not always an option with paper fp.
 

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Wow another great day... sounds like you guys are really hitting it hard... the soy sauce butter pop-corn sounds right up our alley... this will be something that we will definitely put on our radar to try...

So.... Queen of Hearts and Grandma Sara's are quick serve locations? Overall how are you likely the food in the parks?

As well another question on dinning, we normally eat later, or off hours... are there options to grab a bite to eat up till closing time? and I'm not sure you will know this or not... at Ikspiari are there spots to get a late night meal... more than just snacks?

How does the lottery work for the shows... do you sign up, are you given a ticket... I am just curious on how it all works... Another thought... only guest that win the lottery get in to see it?... so its not like at WDW, where they let the folks in with FP in this case lottery winners, in first... then fill in with the other guest standing in Stand by lines...

So paper Fastpasses - right?... and are they outside each ride... or in a cluster of several rides together, and one more question how many FP's are you allowed at a time? like at WDW 3 then once you use them you can secure 1 at a time after that?
 
Can't you just sit on the ground? Or is it because you're in Japan and people sit on those sheet things? So confused, it's just pavement and it's probably cleaner than WDW and DLR both of which I'd sit on the pavement or a curb if necessary.
DH and I were at TDR last month, and I just sat on the ground. I did see some people (who didn't have the sheets) unfolding a park map to sit on that.
 
  • Haley, what type of food are you missing most? I asked my kids what our normal food is and they said Italian, sushi, fish and brew pub food. :crazy: (I am planning to have a fav. Italian meal before our trip to hold me over. )
 
Your posts are so so so helpful for me right now! I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to post your itinerary here. We leave for Tokyo in 12 days!
I am honestly surprised at the low wait times for attractions you are encountering! I was expecting much longer times.
 
I got super far behind (but have been seeing your Instagram posts)!

Too bad about Kyoto! I am doing 1.5 days there, but it will be in the fall before the colors really peak so hopefully fewer tourists?

It's awesome how much you have completed at TDR!
 
Rode star tours (30 minute wait-posted at 20 min)
  • This was the most unorganized thing I have ever seen. They had no idea what they were doing and took an extra 10 minutes to get everyone in the right lines, sat down, and buckled in.

Was that because of the guests or the cast members? When we rode it on our last trip - it was ... amazing / frustrating how many guests didn't know to buckle their seatbelt or, when told, *how* to buckle their seatbelt.
 
Wow another great day... sounds like you guys are really hitting it hard... the soy sauce butter pop-corn sounds right up our alley... this will be something that we will definitely put on our radar to try...

So.... Queen of Hearts and Grandma Sara's are quick serve locations? Overall how are you likely the food in the parks?

As well another question on dinning, we normally eat later, or off hours... are there options to grab a bite to eat up till closing time? and I'm not sure you will know this or not... at Ikspiari are there spots to get a late night meal... more than just snacks?

How does the lottery work for the shows... do you sign up, are you given a ticket... I am just curious on how it all works... Another thought... only guest that win the lottery get in to see it?... so its not like at WDW, where they let the folks in with FP in this case lottery winners, in first... then fill in with the other guest standing in Stand by lines...

So paper Fastpasses - right?... and are they outside each ride... or in a cluster of several rides together, and one more question how many FP's are you allowed at a time? like at WDW 3 then once you use them you can secure 1 at a time after that?
We normally are rope drop to park close kind of people. We haven’t been staying until park close but are still getting a lot done. Having an itinerary beforehand was essential and has really helped. The soy sauce popcorn was sooo good.

Both of those are quick service. I’m doing okay with the park food but I really miss food from home. The portions are really small for what you pay (at least for syth). I’ve been okay with the amount of food.

Idk about in the park. I’m pretty sure you could go on the Tokyo Disney website and it would show restaurant hours. The Ikspiari restaurants stay open pretty late. Idk exact times but again you could probably look it up on their website.

For the lottery you have to go to specific machines and scan your ticket. It’ll tell you if you win or not. The first showing is usually standby (no lottery winners). The other shows have reserved seats for lottery winners and people who booked packages I believe. There were still people waiting for standby for this but they were waiting there for a very long time. I think they sat them all upstairs in the balcony.

The fp machines are outside the rides they’re for, sometimes right next to the ride and sometimes across the street. You can only get one every 2 hours or that’s what they told us. We had planned to get quite a few in the morning but realized it wouldn’t let us get another one for awhile.
 
You can only get one every 2 hours or that’s what they told us. We had planned to get quite a few in the morning but realized it wouldn’t let us get another one for awhile.
Your fp ticket will tell you at the bottom when you can get another fp. It will either be your return time of the current fp, or 2 hours (if return time is more than 2 hours away).
 
  • Haley, what type of food are you missing most? I asked my kids what our normal food is and they said Italian, sushi, fish and brew pub food. :crazy: (I am planning to have a fav. Italian meal before our trip to hold me over. )
The one thing I’m missing most is a peanut butter sandwich lol. Might sound dumb but that’s something I eat a lot of at home. Oh and milk! Milk here tastes terrible. Milk is my favorite drink of all time and I feel deprived. Otherwise, just the way we season things vs how they season them here. Most everything is teriyaki, soy sauce, or vinegar here. I’ve still had lots of things I’ve liked though
 
Your posts are so so so helpful for me right now! I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to post your itinerary here. We leave for Tokyo in 12 days!
I am honestly surprised at the low wait times for attractions you are encountering! I was expecting much longer times.
The waits haven’t been too bad. If you’re comparing to Florida they’ve been amazing. Some things like toy story went up to 100 minutes but they all come back down around dinner time. I think we just had a good plan of attack and getting to the park early helps a lot.
 

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