Booking Tokyo Disneyland hotels from Australia & Mastercard question

I posted this in the Tokyo Disney section as well, but I'm hoping some Australian Disers can give some perspective too.

I'll be be visiting TDL in October 2015. Is there anywhere else to book the onsite hotels aside from the official Japanese TDL site? Expedia/Webjet, etc? (Nothing came up in Expedia during my last search). The TDL site is a pain, and when I got to the checkout it stated that no debit cards can be used, and that payment won't be taken until we reach the hotel. Only Japanese issued Mastercards will be accepted, which I obviously don't have.

I want to book and pay for everything in advance before leaving Australia with my Mastercard debit card (preferably in AUD, but will pay Yen if absolutely necessary).

I've also read on various blogs, sites, etc, that Mastercard isn't widely accepted in Japan. I don't wish to have to get a Visa card just for this trip, nor am I willing to get a credit card. We've done plenty of overseas trips with just our debit Mastercards, so going to a lot of rigamarole just for the 8 day portion we'll be in Japan on this trip seems unreasonable.

Any feedback would be appreciated. TIA.

From my notes from our trip in 2012 I see we found over there very few places accepted credit cards, be they Visa or Mastercard, and we mostly used cash a lot more than we normally do. We don't use debit cards and have no idea how they fare but being a foreign card still it is probably similar. We use pre-loaded Travel Sim cards to get cash out when travelling but I think again for Japan we actually took a lot more cash with us then must have got extra out from a bank ATM using the Travel Sim (sorry I forget now). We booked a Disney partner hotel (the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay) and booked and paid for this through wotif.com. We paid in yen in advance but did have to have a credit card to be swiped at check in for usual "incidentals" just in case which is not charged if there are no outstanding charges. Have also booked Disney hotels overseas through Orbitz and have seen them on Expedia and booking.com. We did find that in Japan hotel rooms only became available for booking much later than other countries - I can't remember exactly but I was panicing as nowhere seemed available then they all came "on-line" about 5 months prior. We booked ours around mid December for a mid April trip. I know of others here who have stayed at Mira Costa and DL Hotel etc so I am sure they can tell you how they booked and paid. Ringing the hotels direct might also be an option?

Thanks for your feedback.

I'm going to give the Sheraton and Hilton a look as they can easily be booked through Australian third party sites by the looks of it. It's so frustrating to know that our chances of staying at the actual Disneyland Hotel are about nil simply because for something as minor as my card not being issued in the same country as the parks. Park tickets are also proving to be a pain to buy in advance from here as well. It's as though TDL doesn't want foreigners to visit.

I'm iffy on the Sheraton and Hilton though as they seem to allow smoking in the rooms, and my number one criteria for hotels is that they must be 100% smoke free - something that seems to be in very short supply in Japan.

I had a similar problem just recently when trying to book the Disneyland Hotel through the TDR Website. It's so frustrating!

In the end I borrowed my mother-in-laws VISA Card as it didn't offer the same hassles as my MasterCard. It kept asking for my MasterCard SecureCode but my bank does not support that feature. Please see a similar thread over in the Japan section here.

Note, that they don't actually charge anything to the card at the time of booking - however, it states that I have to pay by Cash or use the same Credit Card upon checkout. Now, I obviously won't have my mother-in-laws VISA Card when we are at TDR, but I figure I'll try with another card (I could have lost mine or had it cancelled?) or pay with cash. At least I got my booking, guaranteed park tickets, and the option to add dining reservations in advance.

So, if you have a kind mother-in-law, friend, or next-door-neighbour with a VISA Card, it might pay you to ask them to use it so you can book the room! As I said, no charges are placed on the card.

Cheers!

As far as using your debit MasterCard while you are there, I don't remember having any issues using mine for purchases or in ATMs (although admittedly I only used 7-11 ATMs as they had an English option) If you're worried though you could get a VISA travel card and load it up with yen before you go.

we are a bit lost here

lets see if we have this correct:

dont use any form of a debit card...as they are not accepted?

MasterCard is not really accepted ...best not to use any card under the MasterCard brand?

Visa is still accepted as long as it's a visa credit card
or a pre paid visa travel card?

is that correct?

We are in the early planing stages of a trip to Tokyo Disney resorts...and trying to figure this all out

thanks