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
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