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Mommy2PrincessAbby

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 17, 2007
My niece and family just arrived in Japan... stationed there for 4 years. So yeah, we have an excuse to go to Disney!! We are DL pros and addicts, and go yearly... been to WDW once for a week... meh.

Dd is in high school... this limits when we can travel all the way to Japan. Plus is we are in Oregon and there are direct flights! Yay! So I think we are looking at our Thanksgiving break week 2020, or maybe 2021. Likely 2020 because I just don’t think I can wait that long! So the new B&B land will be open, but not the major expansion.

I have just begun my obsessive researching

If we fly out Friday, arrive Saturday... spend the weekend with my niece and adjust to the time change. Travel to the resort on Monday afternoon... we really want to do one of the character rooms at the Disneyland Hotel, do those book up super fast? Spend Monday night enjoying the resort... I need to research, maybe a must do dinner? Tues, Wed and Thu in the parks... I think we have figured out we will want 2 Disneysea days and 1 Disneyland day? And then Friday transfer to Tokyo proper for a day or two in the city... fly home Sunday (where we time travel and arrive at breakfast on the same day!)

Anyone see any major flaws in my plans yet? Other than not nearly enough time? Tia!
 
One thing you might want to consider is the regular closing of attractions. TDR closes their attractions on a fairly regular schedule each year. They announce the dates well in advance, and the schedule does not change once it is announced. So they are generally predictable, and then the upkeep is assured for another year. The good news is that if an attraction is scheduled to be open, it is unlikely they will have a problem that forces a surprise shut down.

The bad news is that you have to be careful when you go.

I do not know when they will announce the schedule of closures for 2020. But I can tell you that Journey to the Center of the Earth in 2019 is closed from September 2nd through Novemebr 30th. Also, Space Mountain will be closed from Novemeber 6 to December 20. SM is not such a big deal IMO because you've probably been on it dozens of times. But Journey is a unique attraction.

The Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday after Thanksgiving are very low attendance days. 27,000 visitors are predicted in 2019. That makes them '27' days. When I've been in summer, twice, they were '48' days. Weekends in the Fall are very crowded, often in the 60s and 70s.
 
Thank you! If we go in 2020, we would be looking at being in the parks Tues-Thu the 24th, 25th and 26th... the 26th being US Thanksgiving. I just learned that Japan has its own Thanksgiving, and it would be Monday the 23rd in 2020. Hoping mid-week would be a little quieter. It would be a bummer to miss Journey, but also a good excuse to go back during a different season. Not too worried about missing Space, I think DL Anaheim has the superior ride from what I have read. Looking around it seems that we might be able to take advantage of the after 6 pm tickets on Monday... would that be worth it for 4 hours, if let’s say we did DL... giving us more than one DL day (1.3 days I guess) and 2 Disneysea days?
 
The character rooms are worth every penny (I stayed in the Alice one and can dig out photos/videos if you're interested). We found some booked out faster than others but the Alice and Beauty and the Beast ones were generally available while Tinkerbell and Cinderella booked quickly.

I would say unless you're planning to skip clone attractions you'll need 1.5 days for Disneyland and 2 for Disneysea. You can get a Starlight pass which lets you in the park for the evening only so maybe that could be a cool option for your first night.
 


The Japanese 'Thanksgiving' is actually a kind of Labor Day, and it doesn't seem to increase attendance for the midweek before or after. US Thanksgiving does not seem to have any effect at all. So I think you are safe in that regard. Looks like it will be very low attendance.

Touring commando is kind of in my blood, so I can do TDR with one day at each park, but that is not for everyone. Any more for me, and I would be thinking of all the other things I would miss out on.
 
The Japanese 'Thanksgiving' is actually a kind of Labor Day, and it doesn't seem to increase attendance for the midweek before or after. US Thanksgiving does not seem to have any effect at all. So I think you are safe in that regard. Looks like it will be very low attendance.

Touring commando is kind of in my blood, so I can do TDR with one day at each park, but that is not for everyone. Any more for me, and I would be thinking of all the other things I would miss out on.

Thank you! We are commando types for DL now... we used to do 6 days, and then 5 when they got rid of the 6 day passes. Our quickest trip lately was 2 full days... that was exhausting but so fun. We don’t take hubby with us these days... dd and I get so much more done just the two of us. But in Japan we will have to bring him lol

From what I have read we will plan on skipping TSM and SM (if it is even open), but will try and hit whatever else we can...
 
We were in the parks in 2018 for the four days (Monday-Thursday, including American Thanksgiving) leading up to "Labor Thanksgiving Day" on Friday. Monday was pretty busy, Wednesday was the best day crowd-wise, Tuesday/Thursday were very manageable. We left the area on Friday morning and there were massive crowds coming in for Labor Thanksgiving Day. So I would guess that Monday will be crazy-busy but the rest of the week would be fine. I would not do the after-6 ticket on Monday, I think that would be a bad start to your experience because I would expect insane crowds and long ride lines.
 


To add to the SM comment above... we are DL regulars and we went on TDL's SM last fall... it was weird. No music soundtrack... just weird. I'm sure it's the way DL SM was when it opened but I only remember it with music so it was very... weird. Just the sounds of the coaster.

For us, we plan to skip SM completely when we go back to TDL.
 
Agreed that the character rooms are expensive, but totally worth it! We've stayed in the Cinderella one as well as the Beauty & the Beast one, and both were really lovely and enjoyable. You have plenty of time before your trip so I am sure you'll be able to get the rooms; they don't sell out in minutes or anything like that, but just book early!

For your Monday day, you can also consider the "After 6" passport which is a cheaper ticket that only lets you in after 6 p.m. The hotel is really lovely but there isn't much to "explore." You should definitely hit up the Disney Store in Ikspiari (their version of Disney Springs). (I'd save the parks merchandise store, Bon Voyage, for another day of your trip!) But in my view, there isn't too much else to see in Ikspiari, so I'd rather be in the parks, even for a couple hours at night!
 

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