TDR 2 day trip report

Ash Derek

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 17, 2019
Hi all,

I used this forum to get some ideas about my trip so thought I would write a few points.

We went to Japan (me, wife and 12 year old twin boys) for 12 nights. First 3 nights in Shinjuku (Tokyo), 3 nights TDR (1 in Miracosta and 2 at Hotel Okura Bay), 5 nights Kyoto and 1 night Hakone.

Firstly Japan is super clean, most people speak at least basic English and are incredibly friendly and they commit to rules and queuing in particular like nothing Ive ever seen. So if you are planning and worried about Japan- please DONT :)

To TDR itself. Booked 1 night in Miracosta coz.. you know..bucket list and we also wanted Happy 15 entry for our Disneysea day. We arrived around 3pm for check in (when you are allowed to) to find the longest line we would encounter in our time at TDR. Guess everyone wanted to use their room as soon as they could.

No surprise the hotel is amazing and worth it for 1 night. Watching Fantasmic from our room, drinking beer (or hot chocolate) was well.... Fantasmic. The angle we had meant we had to strain our heads but it was worth it. And the sound was loud and clear. After the show we kept the windows open so we coudl enjoy the sounds of the park.

Day 1 in the park was Disneysea. It was a Tuesday, the week school went back and was rated a B on the all important crowd calendar. Park opened at 9am (or 845am for us special Miracosta people). I asked the staff when we should line up and they advised 745. I wasnt planning on getting there that early but was glad we did as even at that time there were about 30 people in line already. The non VIP people (getting in at 9am) had a super long line. The Japanese really do plan and arrive early.

We went through bag checks around 830 and then waited at the turnstiles. I was limbering up, ready for the Toy Story dash (we had never TSMM before). Despite lots of staff with signs in Japanese and English saying to Walk, most people jogged or sprinted when the gates opened (this was the only time in 2 weeks i saw Japanese disobey rules). Guess Toy Story overides their natural desire to follow rules

I lost a shoe at one point (luckily my son picked it up) and made it in first place, half hopping, half running. Being first to fastpass machine was amazing.....until the machines were down. I tried and tried and it kept saying NO fastpass. I wasnt alone as all the other machines were doing the same. This caused some commotion and frantic gesturing from me to the staff to try and explain. They merely shook their heads and said sorry. I was upset. Paying for Miracosta...Happy 15... Losing a shoe....I needed that FP! After about 10 minutes the machine started working and thankfully the staff memberI had played Charades with, took me back to the front of a very long line and got me 4 x FP. Success!!

Rest of the day went to plan. We seemed to get FP super quick and through this managed to do every ride at the resort by 5pm. Yay for us. This included time to try lots of different snacks (these had longer queues than the rides), admiring the scenery and shopping. We even stopped for an hour for cocktails at the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge. All in all an amazing day.

After fireworks we headed to Hotel Okura Bay (Miracosta had sent our bags in advance and they were waiting in our rooms) ready for the next day at Tokyo Disney.

Wednesday was rated an A on the calendar and when i looked outside at 630am it was pouring down in a a manner not seen since Noah built his big boat. Unfortunately this continued all day. The plus was our longest wait for a ride all day was 5 minutes and we seemed to get FP every 45 minutes or so. Seriously they banked up so quickly half of them we didnt use. I still have a heap we have kept as souvenirs.

So whilst we were wet and cold all day and didnt get to enjoy the park as much as possible we had ridden on everything by 130pm and spent the next few hours re riding our favourites. (Pooh and Pirates were closed unfortunately). We ended up leaving around 5pm- the earliest we have ever left a park but had done everything and were pretty soaked through. I did say to the kids though a Wet Day at Disney is better than a Dry Day elsewhere!

Happy to answer any questions about TDR, Tokyo or Japan so fire away :)
 
Sounds like a great trip! You’re getting me excited for our trip in a month
 
You will love it! Both Japan and TDR.
I was so worried before hand hearing about the crowds but by using FP sensibly at Disneysea and going on a weekday it was really good.

For Tokyo- if you havent already book tickets for Teamlab Borderless- its amazing. And get there by 915. Although it opens at 10am on most days if there is a line they let people in 15-20 minutes early.
 
You will love it! Both Japan and TDR.
I was so worried before hand hearing about the crowds but by using FP sensibly at Disneysea and going on a weekday it was really good.

For Tokyo- if you havent already book tickets for Teamlab Borderless- its amazing. And get there by 915. Although it opens at 10am on most days if there is a line they let people in 15-20 minutes early.
I’m hoping we still have good luck with FPS. We’re staying at the Hilton so no happy 15 but it should be okay.

We’re definitely doing Teamlab Borderless but we won’t be able to get there until later in the day. We’re doing the Ghibli museum first in the morning.
 


I’m hoping we still have good luck with FPS. We’re staying at the Hilton so no happy 15 but it should be okay.

We’re definitely doing Teamlab Borderless but we won’t be able to get there until later in the day. We’re doing the Ghibli museum first in the morning.

They are on opposite sides of Tokyo. You should allow a while to get between the 2. Teamlab is in Odaiba and there is a lot to do in that area. Its actually not too far from TDR. We did Teamlab in the morning and then went to TDR after lunch in Odaiba.
 
Hi! We are heading to Japan (and Hong Kong) this summer with kids ages 11, 14 and 15, so not too far off from yours. What did your kids love in Tokyo and Kyoto? I have a pretty solid itinerary, but am curious. I have decided to skip the Robot Restaurant and the kids agree after watching some YouTube videos on it. What about Odaiba? Was that worth your time to get there?
 
They are on opposite sides of Tokyo. You should allow a while to get between the 2. Teamlab is in Odaiba and there is a lot to do in that area. Its actually not too far from TDR. We did Teamlab in the morning and then went to TDR after lunch in Odaiba.
Yep I know. We are doing the earliest time at the ghibli museum then will go to odaiba after
 


Hi all,

I used this forum to get some ideas about my trip so thought I would write a few points.

We went to Japan (me, wife and 12 year old twin boys) for 12 nights. First 3 nights in Shinjuku (Tokyo), 3 nights TDR (1 in Miracosta and 2 at Hotel Okura Bay), 5 nights Kyoto and 1 night Hakone.

Firstly Japan is super clean, most people speak at least basic English and are incredibly friendly and they commit to rules and queuing in particular like nothing Ive ever seen. So if you are planning and worried about Japan- please DONT :)

To TDR itself. Booked 1 night in Miracosta coz.. you know..bucket list and we also wanted Happy 15 entry for our Disneysea day. We arrived around 3pm for check in (when you are allowed to) to find the longest line we would encounter in our time at TDR. Guess everyone wanted to use their room as soon as they could.

No surprise the hotel is amazing and worth it for 1 night. Watching Fantasmic from our room, drinking beer (or hot chocolate) was well.... Fantasmic. The angle we had meant we had to strain our heads but it was worth it. And the sound was loud and clear. After the show we kept the windows open so we coudl enjoy the sounds of the park.

Day 1 in the park was Disneysea. It was a Tuesday, the week school went back and was rated a B on the all important crowd calendar. Park opened at 9am (or 845am for us special Miracosta people). I asked the staff when we should line up and they advised 745. I wasnt planning on getting there that early but was glad we did as even at that time there were about 30 people in line already. The non VIP people (getting in at 9am) had a super long line. The Japanese really do plan and arrive early.

We went through bag checks around 830 and then waited at the turnstiles. I was limbering up, ready for the Toy Story dash (we had never TSMM before). Despite lots of staff with signs in Japanese and English saying to Walk, most people jogged or sprinted when the gates opened (this was the only time in 2 weeks i saw Japanese disobey rules). Guess Toy Story overides their natural desire to follow rules

I lost a shoe at one point (luckily my son picked it up) and made it in first place, half hopping, half running. Being first to fastpass machine was amazing.....until the machines were down. I tried and tried and it kept saying NO fastpass. I wasnt alone as all the other machines were doing the same. This caused some commotion and frantic gesturing from me to the staff to try and explain. They merely shook their heads and said sorry. I was upset. Paying for Miracosta...Happy 15... Losing a shoe....I needed that FP! After about 10 minutes the machine started working and thankfully the staff memberI had played Charades with, took me back to the front of a very long line and got me 4 x FP. Success!!

Rest of the day went to plan. We seemed to get FP super quick and through this managed to do every ride at the resort by 5pm. Yay for us. This included time to try lots of different snacks (these had longer queues than the rides), admiring the scenery and shopping. We even stopped for an hour for cocktails at the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge. All in all an amazing day.

After fireworks we headed to Hotel Okura Bay (Miracosta had sent our bags in advance and they were waiting in our rooms) ready for the next day at Tokyo Disney.

Wednesday was rated an A on the calendar and when i looked outside at 630am it was pouring down in a a manner not seen since Noah built his big boat. Unfortunately this continued all day. The plus was our longest wait for a ride all day was 5 minutes and we seemed to get FP every 45 minutes or so. Seriously they banked up so quickly half of them we didnt use. I still have a heap we have kept as souvenirs.

So whilst we were wet and cold all day and didnt get to enjoy the park as much as possible we had ridden on everything by 130pm and spent the next few hours re riding our favourites. (Pooh and Pirates were closed unfortunately). We ended up leaving around 5pm- the earliest we have ever left a park but had done everything and were pretty soaked through. I did say to the kids though a Wet Day at Disney is better than a Dry Day elsewhere!

Happy to answer any questions about TDR, Tokyo or Japan so fire away :)
Thanks for sharing your trip experiences! It sounds like you had a wonderful time.

For the fastpasses, is there any grace period? Are you able to use it after it’s expired within say 5 or 10 minutes like WDW or DLR?
 
For the fastpasses, is there any grace period? Are you able to use it after it’s expired within say 5 or 10 minutes like WDW or DLR?

It’s hard to say. I suspect that if you were Japanese - there is no grace period given that they’re a stickler for the rules and everyone understands and respects that. But, if you’re obviously a foreigner, they may be willing to forgive some tardiness given that they’re also all about customer service. They definitely don’t let you do anything before the official starting time, whether it’s making a booking at Magellan’s or using a Fast Pass. We’ve been asked to wait when we were one minute “early” for a Fast Pass timeslot.
 
If you Please... could you write about the other cities and thing that you did in Japan on your trip... I know that everyone would be interested in it... We are planning for Nov. 2020...

So was the Happy 15 worth the cost of the room at Miracosta... did you feel that it was a real benefit?..

With a split stay, how did this work with your tickets?

Magellans? did you have luck making dinner reservations? and overall how would you rate your experience?

What was everyone's favorite snacks?
 
It’s hard to say. I suspect that if you were Japanese - there is no grace period given that they’re a stickler for the rules and everyone understands and respects that. But, if you’re obviously a foreigner, they may be willing to forgive some tardiness given that they’re also all about customer service. They definitely don’t let you do anything before the official starting time, whether it’s making a booking at Magellan’s or using a Fast Pass. We’ve been asked to wait when we were one minute “early” for a Fast Pass timeslot.
Thanks for the reply! It helps. I will stick with the rules as well.
 
Hi! We are heading to Japan (and Hong Kong) this summer with kids ages 11, 14 and 15, so not too far off from yours. What did your kids love in Tokyo and Kyoto? I have a pretty solid itinerary, but am curious. I have decided to skip the Robot Restaurant and the kids agree after watching some YouTube videos on it. What about Odaiba? Was that worth your time to get there?

We were 50/50 about Robot restaurant and in the end decided to do it. It was strange, it was crazy but it was a lot of fun. Yes it was aimed at tourists but everyone was having fun and getting into it my kids really liked it. Glad we did it, but if you arent sold on it you could skip it

Odaiba had Team Labs which i think is a must do. Again the kids loved it and rated it as one of the top highlights of our trip. Next door is the Toyota Museum. We arent into the cars but its free and they had some cool fun and FREE activities. We did a couple but if you had time you could spend a while here. Its huge.

There is also the giant Gundam statute, VR centres, lots of activities in the area. You could easily fill a day here. We did TeamLabs from 940 (they let us in early) till about 12, Toyota 12-1245 then went to a conveyor sushi place till about 2 before heading to TDR.
 
If you Please... could you write about the other cities and thing that you did in Japan on your trip... I know that everyone would be interested in it... We are planning for Nov. 2020...

So was the Happy 15 worth the cost of the room at Miracosta... did you feel that it was a real benefit?..

With a split stay, how did this work with your tickets?

Magellans? did you have luck making dinner reservations? and overall how would you rate your experience?

What was everyone's favorite snacks?

Miracosta is obviously expensive but i feel for 1 night it was worth it. Arriving for the first time into TDR and staying inside a park was an amazing experience. The hotel was great and as mentioned having a beer and watching Fantasmic was worth it. The Happy 15 allowed us to get TS FP and then a jump start on the crowds and from there we got to do everything on our list. For us it was definitely worth it for the 1 night.

For our tickets we just got a 2 day pass. Day 1 (the morning we had Happy 15) we did TDS and Day 2 we did TDL. We checked out of Miracosta in the morning and they transferred out bags to Hotel Okura Bay. Was easy and efficient. When we went to Okura Bay that night around 10pm our bags were in our room
 
Magellans- we didnt go to. We looked into it and it looks great but we werent so keen on a sit down meal (or the cost).

Snacks- the kids (and us) loved everything. The food stalls often had longer lines than the rides. We tried 4 popcorn flavours over the 2 days. You can buy tubs to keep (2500 Yen- about 22 USD), they looked great but we didnt buy any. I loved the Chandu tails, kids loved the Toy Story Alien Mochi. Gyozas were good. Overall i found the food a million times better than the US parks. (and cheaper).
 
Magellans- we didnt go to. We looked into it and it looks great but we werent so keen on a sit down meal (or the cost).

Snacks- the kids (and us) loved everything. The food stalls often had longer lines than the rides. We tried 4 popcorn flavours over the 2 days. You can buy tubs to keep (2500 Yen- about 22 USD), they looked great but we didnt buy any. I loved the Chandu tails, kids loved the Toy Story Alien Mochi. Gyozas were good. Overall i found the food a million times better than the US parks. (and cheaper).

Can’t wait to try out all these snacks in July! :love:
 
If you Please... could you write about the other cities and thing that you did in Japan on your trip... I know that everyone would be interested in it... We are planning for Nov. 2020...

S

Here are a few of the things we did.

Tokyo- A Happy Pancake (recommended highly. We went to the one in Shinjuku at 945am - for a 10am opening and were first in queue
Ichiran Ramen. Best ramen ive had- and the experience/process is fun. We went around 515 and had to wait 15 minutes
Pokemon Centre (big one in Ikikeburo). Kids are into this - we also went to ones in Kyoto and Osaka.
They both played Pokemon Go whilst walking around. They hadnt played for 2 years but got into again in Japan and there are so many locals playing. Kept them entertained as there is a LOT of walking in Japan.
Free walking tour of Meiji Jingu and Harajuku. Entertaining and good to get some history and info. Harajuku is fun but CROWDED. At 9am was empty. By midday was wall to wall. Lots of interesting dessert stores there
Conveyor Sushi- kids loved ordering and seeing the dishes come flying on the belt to us
Lots of walking and checking out gacha machines, crazy stores, 7/11s!, VR places
Robot Restaurant as mentioned above
Department store food- fun seeing $250 watermelons!
TeamLab- must do!

Kyoto
Did a cool E Bike Tour we found on Air B n B. Made a break from walking
Nishiki market- great food and samples
Fushini Inari- we did a hidden hike tour on Air b n b. Recommend to get away from the crowds
Philosphers Path was beautiful
Fire RAMEN- google this. So much fun

Went to a baseball game in Osaka- atmosphere was awesome. Singing, dancing, beer! (And we dont really like baseball but worth seeing a game)

Hiroshima. Musuem was interesting and my kids got into it which surprised me. Liked learning a lot.

Miyajima. Beautiful island. Deer were fun. Good snacks and food. We did this and Hiroshima as a day trip from Kyoto.

Hakone- amazing views of Mount Fuji. Stayed in a ryokan was a different experience. Onsen. Nature.

Thats an overview. Can answer detailed questions if anyone is interested!
 
yes you are right we had the head. was delicious. in fact we didnt have one bad meal in Japan!
That’s awesome! Dh is the more adventurous eater out of us two so I did plan some meals at American chains for myself lol. But he got to plan some Japanese meals as well
 
Here are a few of the things we did.

Tokyo- A Happy Pancake (recommended highly. We went to the one in Shinjuku at 945am - for a 10am opening and were first in queue
Ichiran Ramen. Best ramen ive had- and the experience/process is fun. We went around 515 and had to wait 15 minutes
Pokemon Centre (big one in Ikikeburo). Kids are into this - we also went to ones in Kyoto and Osaka.
They both played Pokemon Go whilst walking around. They hadnt played for 2 years but got into again in Japan and there are so many locals playing. Kept them entertained as there is a LOT of walking in Japan.
Free walking tour of Meiji Jingu and Harajuku. Entertaining and good to get some history and info. Harajuku is fun but CROWDED. At 9am was empty. By midday was wall to wall. Lots of interesting dessert stores there
Conveyor Sushi- kids loved ordering and seeing the dishes come flying on the belt to us
Lots of walking and checking out gacha machines, crazy stores, 7/11s!, VR places
Robot Restaurant as mentioned above
Department store food- fun seeing $250 watermelons!
TeamLab- must do!

Kyoto
Did a cool E Bike Tour we found on Air B n B. Made a break from walking
Nishiki market- great food and samples
Fushini Inari- we did a hidden hike tour on Air b n b. Recommend to get away from the crowds
Philosphers Path was beautiful
Fire RAMEN- google this. So much fun

Went to a baseball game in Osaka- atmosphere was awesome. Singing, dancing, beer! (And we dont really like baseball but worth seeing a game)

Hiroshima. Musuem was interesting and my kids got into it which surprised me. Liked learning a lot.

Miyajima. Beautiful island. Deer were fun. Good snacks and food. We did this and Hiroshima as a day trip from Kyoto.

Hakone- amazing views of Mount Fuji. Stayed in a ryokan was a different experience. Onsen. Nature.

Thats an overview. Can answer detailed questions if anyone is interested!
I love reading your review because we are doing so many of the same things on our trip!

Did you did the hakone circle route?
 

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