Japan Trip Report-May 2024

[soniam]

I love 20,000 Leagues. I’m so excited to do it. I haven’t done it since I was a kid and it was at WDW. Very good memories of my grandpa.

 

[Haley R]

TDL-Day 2
Today our main focus was to repeat any rides we really liked and to hit anything we missed (mainly ToonTown). We looked out our window and noticed the Happy Entry line was a lot shorter and started later compared to our first DL day. We were through security and waiting at the entrance around 8 am so still 45 minutes before the Happy Entry time.

Ds mentioned he liked Space and Splash the best so those were our top priorities. We booked the earliest priority pass for Space we could get and then bought an 11 premier access for Splash. I also entered into show lotteries and we won two different shows at DL but we only made it to one. We had really good luck with show lotteries on this trip but didn’t always make it to the actual shows based on how our day went.

9 am-Rode Space standby as a walk on

9:10 am-Went to ToonTown since we missed it on our other day. This was a great time to come here. It was so empty. We rode Gadget Go Coaster twice with no wait then headed to Roger Rabbit and rode that twice. Dh went and bought normal popcorn and corn pottage while ds and I rode. The corn pottage tasted exactly liked corn on the cob and I thought it was gross lol

10:03 am-Used our priority pass for Space and I was able to book another one for later that night.

10:28-Saw the marching band come through in front of the castle and Cheshire Cat behind the castle. We also rode Pinocchio.

11:03 am-Premier access for Splash. Booked another one for later that day. I didn’t think we would buy a premier access more than once for this but ds loved it so much.

11:55 am-Picked up mobile order from Camp Woodchuck. We couldn’t get an earlier time. They definitely could use more seats at this restaurant. It was packed and lots of people were having to eat on the ground. I was lucky enough to grab a bench a little ways down the path from the restaurant. We ordered ds the combo plate, Dh and I both got the onigiri sandwich, and then we got a crème brûlée churro. The onigiri sandwich was really good and I loved the creme brûlée churro.

12:30 pm-Grabbed some Minnie popsicles on our way out of the park but got distracted by the games in Adventureland. I wanted to try playing them with ds so dh headed back to the hotel to do laundry while we stayed. We tried both the log game and the ball roll. We didn’t win either but they still give you a keychain even if you lose which is nice.

After the games ds and I rode Pirates. It was a 10 minute wait. I like the one at wdw a lot more than the one at Tokyo Disney. We headed back to the hotel for a nap after that.

5:18 pm-Showed up to the theater in Tomorrowland to watch Club Mouse Beat (this was one of the show lotteries we won). We had no idea what to expect from this but loved it! It was so much fun and there were a ton of characters. Ds was so excited when the villains came out and had their own song. He loves villains and always asks me why you don’t see them at the parks.

5:58 pm-Used our priority pass for Space

6:43 pm-Premier access for Splash. We were kind of all over the place at this part of the night because we had our pass at space, then went all the way to splash, and then back to Tomorrowland for dinner and other rides. It was a lot of backtracking but we didn’t mind too much.

7:27 pm-Mobile order from Plasma Rays. We did this same thing on our other DL day and decided to do it again. I wanted those green tortilla chips We were able to get a good spot to watch the parade in the outdoor seating. I’ll post a picture that shows our view of the parade from the outdoor seating.

8 pm-Rode Star Tours twice. Both times there was maybe a 5 minute wait.

We ended up not staying all the way until 9 pm but we were close. Ds was pretty tired and we knew we had to get up early the next day for DisneySea. We had a really fun day redoing all of the rides we loved most. I’m glad we got to ride Splash and Space so many times.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

I love 20,000 Leagues. I’m so excited to do it. I haven’t done it since I was a kid and it was at WDW. Very good memories of my grandpa.

It is a totally different ride.

 

[Haley R]

DisneySea-Day 2
Today we decided not to get to Happy Entry quite as early after how awful the security was the first day. They ended up doing a much better job this day. Instead of letting everyone through security at the same time they only let in Happy Entry guests and it went much faster. We waited maybe 30 minutes at the ticket gate and there weren’t very many people ahead of us. By 8:07 we were in the park and booking things for Fantasy Springs. First we bought a premier access for Frozen (late afternoon) and then got Peter Pan as standby for around 9:30 am. We won two show lotteries this day but only had time to do one of the shows and also entered the standby queue for Emporio to buy Fantasy Springs merch. I did a really early time for this hoping the wait outside the store wouldn’t be too long.

8:10 am-Saw Daisy, Donald, Pluto, Chip, and Dale walking through the main area buy the front shops. Ds really liked this and got to give some of them high fives

8:16 am-Rode Toy Story and it took about 10-15 minutes so we only rode once

8:45 am-Used our standby pass to get into the Emporio. There wasn’t a line to get in which was what I was hoping for. Inside the store was a little crazy and at times hard to really look but we were able to find a lot of cute things to take home.

We were gonna head to Peter Pan next but it was broken. They gave us multiple experience passes on the app and we decided to wait and see if it would open back up soon.

9:54 am-Ds and I rode magic carpets. It was about a 10-15 minute wait. Then we did the carousel. He was excited that we got to be on the top.

10:43 am-Instead of waiting around for Peter Pan to open back up we decided to do an early lunch. We did a mobile order from Dockside Diner. The food here was okay. Nothing amazing but nothing bad either

11:23 am-Went to Big Band Beat. I didn’t know how this would go with ds but we didn’t stay long. He just wasn’t interested. When I asked him he said he liked the characters but didn’t like the other dancers

12 pm-Rode Tower of Terror with a premier access. We booked this one around 9 after we were eligible for a new pass. We met a family from Texas and they were surprised ds wanted to ride. After the ride we took a picture of the on ride picture and it was so funny. The family in front of us was all screaming and then ds was behind them with this huge smile on his face

After we rode we took the monorail back to the hotel for a nap. We came back to the park around 5 pm and headed straight to Fantasy Springs. We were pretty sick of that walk by this point lol. It’s so far back in the park.

5:39 pm-Rode Frozen with our premier access and waited maybe 5 minutes. Arendelle was my favorite area in Fantasy Springs. It was so well done and detailed. I wish more of the little shops were real or you could walk in and see fake props. We liked the ride a lot. The animatronics are so amazing and WAY better than at wdw

Peter Pan was running again but the wait was 45 minutes and that’s a little long for ds so we decided to use our pass for something else.

6:30 pm-Ds and I did standby for 20,000 leagues and waited 5 minutes. While we were in there dh got two gyoza buns and a potato churro for ds. I love the gyoza buns. Ds was not a fan of the churro.

6:57 pm-All three of us grabbed a normal churro before the cart closed for the night. This was our last churro of the trip

7:25 pm-Rode Aquatopia and walked right on. This was really fun to ride at night with the lights on.

7:48 pm-Rode the electric railway to the American Waterfront. Once we got there ds played around on some of the cars next to the station. It was really fun to be in this area at night because no one was around and we could take our time looking around

7:57 pm-We decided to use our multiple experience pass from Peter Pan to do one last ride on Tower of Terror. This was ds’s favorite ride and since we don’t have that version here we let him ride as much as he wanted. The tower is really cool when it’s lit up at night

Right before we left the park we stopped at McDuck’s Department Store. Ds had been asking the whole trip for the Olu Mel turtle so we let him go in and pick one out. After that we got on the monorail and went back to the hotel to sleep.

We had such a great time at the parks and I’m glad we did 4 days with two at each park. It gave us the chance to slow down on the last two days and take our time. We also got to reride anything we loved. I think staying at a Disney hotel and having Happy Entry was worth it for Fantasy Springs but I would consider staying at the Sheraton next time. The view from our room at the TDL hotel was amazing though. I’m not sure when we will be back but ds hasn’t stopped talking about Tokyo Disney since we got home. When people ask what he did in Japan that’s about the only thing he mentions lol

 

[Disneyhanna]

We were pretty sick of that walk by this point lol. It’s so far back in the park.

No kidding!!! I think I would consider staying at FSH in the future (assuming the hype dies down eventually) just to access the DS entrance on that end, would be so much more convenient. Then monorail to the main entrance instead of walking if I want to do things on the Harbor side

I’m not sure when we will be back but ds hasn’t stopped talking about Tokyo Disney since we got home. When people ask what he did in Japan that’s about the only thing he mentions lol

That is so funny. Glad you had some great experiences at Disney to end your trip with.

 

[Haley R]

No kidding!!! I think I would consider staying at FSH in the future (assuming the hype dies down eventually) just to access the DS entrance on that end, would be so much more convenient. Then monorail to the main entrance instead of walking if I want to do things on the Harbor side


That is so funny. Glad you had some great experiences at Disney to end your trip with.

Haha that’s not a bad idea

 

[maleficent55]

Great report, I read it all in one sitting so it was super fun to not have to wait for any installments lol

I only have one question: mercy release days? How do you know when they are?

 

[Haley R]

Great report, I read it all in one sitting so it was super fun to not have to wait for any installments lol

I only have one question: mercy release days? How do you know when they are?

Do you mean merch release? I use TDR Explorer’s blog for anything related to Tokyo Disney but it was also posted on here

 

[Nakkira]

Neko Neko Inn
This is where we stayed for the Tokyo part of our stay. It was fantastic and I would definitely stay here again. When we came to Japan in 2019 we stayed at an Airbnb called Pippin’s Inn. The lady we rented from (Ushka) has opened a new property called Neko Neko Inn and she is partnered with a YouTuber named Sharla. I booked this almost a year in advance knowing a general idea of the dates we wanted and also knowing it would be difficult to book. They also just recently opened another property. Ushka is such a nice person and extremely helpful and welcoming. She’s actually from New Zealand but her family has lived in Japan for a long time.

This house had an up and down stairs with two bedrooms, a kitchen, washer/dryer, living room, and bathroom. There was also a very cool loft area above one of the beds. It was so great to be able to do laundry and cook our own meals. We like to travel this way and always try booking houses or apartments. It had everything we could need already in the house and even some basic food items already bought for us like milk and bread.

Neko Neko Inn is next to Sangubashi Station and Yoyogi park. It was a great location for us because we went to the park multiple times. We also loved having Sangubashi Station because it’s the Odakyu line so when we transferred to Shinjuku Station (2 stops away) we were always close to the romance cars and we got to see them go by the house a lot. Ds loved watching the different trains. We stopped at the crossing many times to watch trains go by and it was really easy to transfer once we got to Shinjuku. That station is huge!

The area has two grocery stores, a family mart, and a 7-11 all right there. It was very easy to find things to buy and eat. If you want lots of extra space and are interested in this area at all, I highly recommend staying here!

I follow Sharla on YouTube and am totally jealous that you got to stay here.

 

[Disneyhanna]

I follow Sharla on YouTube and am totally jealous that you got to stay here.

I totally missed this in the TR, I used to watch Sharla (and Taylor R!) all the time! I haven't watched her as much lately but I didn't realize she opened an Air BnB, so cool!

 

[Haley R]

I follow Sharla on YouTube and am totally jealous that you got to stay here.

I actually had no idea who she was lol. Dh had to tell me. When we went to Japan in 2019 we stayed with a lady named Ushka at her property called Pippin’s Inn. She and Sharla teamed up to make this new Neko Neko Inn. I think I booked it over a year in advance because I knew we wanted to stay there.

 

[mathgeek]

We’ve been working pretty hard on our itinerary. All we really have left to plan is Shibuya/Harajuku and Tokyo Disney days. We ordered our pocket WiFi to be sent to our hotel. Almost able to buy Tokyo Disney tickets. The plan is to do 2 days at each park. We will probably just alternate between the two. I’m thinking Tokyo Disneyland will have more for ds to do but I also think he’s going to really like the Little Mermaid area at Disneysea

Maybe you said this somewhere, but I couldn't find it skimming through all the pages, but what pocket WiFi did you use, and did it work well in the parks? Thanks!

 

[Haley R]

Maybe you said this somewhere, but I couldn't find it skimming through all the pages, but what pocket WiFi did you use, and did it work well in the parks? Thanks!

Hey we used Japan Wireless and no it didn’t work well at all in the parks for some reason

 

[gelatoni fan]

Maybe you said this somewhere, but I couldn't find it skimming through all the pages, but what pocket WiFi did you use, and did it work well in the parks? Thanks!

No pocket wifi works well in the parks, especially when waiting for the nighttime shows.

Roaming with T-mobile and Google Fi often give the best speeds in the parks because they can bounce between different networks when they're congested. If using a phone rather than a pocket wifi, learn how to turn off 5G on your phone or set it to 4G/LTE and below mode so that you can stop it from trying to 5G when 5G is congested.

 

[fatmanatee]

Roaming with T-mobile and Google Fi often give the best speeds in the parks because they can bounce between different networks when they're congested. If using a phone rather than a pocket wifi, learn how to turn off 5G on your phone or set it to 4G/LTE and below mode so that you can stop it from trying to 5G when 5G is congested.

I did not do this and my connection (T-Mobile roaming) was frequently in and out, not only at TDL but everywhere in Tokyo, was getting so bad that I ended up getting a pocket wi-fi the next day for the rest of the trip. My best solution in the meantime was flipping airplane mode on and off, the reset would typically result in me catching a signal again. Often lasted only 5-10 min but it worked well enough to get Fantasy Springs rides.

Park wi-fi was basically non-existent. It was definitely there at the front of the park but getting on was a struggle, if you were even able to pick it up, you'd lose it quickly.

 

[afan]

I did not do this and my connection (T-Mobile roaming) was frequently in and out, not only at TDL but everywhere in Tokyo, was getting so bad that I ended up getting a pocket wi-fi the next day for the rest of the trip. My best solution in the meantime was flipping airplane mode on and off, the reset would typically result in me catching a signal again. Often lasted only 5-10 min but it worked well enough to get Fantasy Springs rides.

Park wi-fi was basically non-existent. It was definitely there at the front of the park but getting on was a struggle, if you were even able to pick it up, you'd lose it quickly.

I used my AT&T and didn't have issues anywhere. The only time I used wifi was to stream to my tablet, my phone used cell signal the whole time. In Tokyo, the parks, Osaka, Hiroshima, himeji and on Okinawa.

 

[fatmanatee]

I used my AT&T and didn't have issues anywhere. The only time I used wifi was to stream to my tablet, my phone used cell signal the whole time. In Tokyo, the parks, Osaka, Hiroshima, himeji and on Okinawa.

Yeah I dunno, this was my second time in Japan (last time was 2018 and my plan was under Sprint) and it felt like my cell connection was worse this time. Weirdly it started out decently! That lasted a couple of days. Could be the aforementioned 5G issue. I had a few day trips out of both Tokyo and Osaka after TDL so it was really important that I had a connection, for maps/directions at the bare minimum, so I decided to get the pocket wifi.

Pocket wifi came from Tokyo Wireless btw, no complaints. If you're close to one of their hubs you can pick one up there or they could deliver with a day's notice to your hotel, possibly same day but not sure about that. Obviously can't provide any insight into how it goes for TDL but otherwise it was great.

 

[afan]

Yeah I dunno, this was my second time in Japan (last time was 2018 and my plan was under Sprint) and it felt like my cell connection was worse this time. Weirdly it started out decently! That lasted a couple of days. Could be the aforementioned 5G issue. I had a few day trips out of both Tokyo and Osaka after TDL so it was really important that I had a connection, for maps/directions at the bare minimum, so I decided to get the pocket wifi.

Pocket wifi came from Tokyo Wireless btw, no complaints. If you're close to one of their hubs you can pick one up there or they could deliver with a day's notice to your hotel, possibly same day but not sure about that. Obviously can't provide any insight into how it goes for TDL but otherwise it was great.

It's going to be carrier specific just like it is in the states though. That's why I was providing my dp, not everyone uses tmobile. I doubt they use the same carriers in Japan for their roaming.

I know people that have issues with tmobile where I live and I don't with at&t but I also have issues in some areas.

My trip to wdw last month was the first time I saw 5g, it's always been 4g and fine, but it was nice to finally see the upgrade.

 

[mmmears]

I used my AT&T and didn't have issues anywhere. The only time I used wifi was to stream to my tablet, my phone used cell signal the whole time. In Tokyo, the parks, Osaka, Hiroshima, himeji and on Okinawa.

This is great to hear. Thanks for sharing - I have AT&T as well and was hoping I wouldn't need to mess with an e-sim.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Yeah I dunno, this was my second time in Japan (last time was 2018 and my plan was under Sprint) and it felt like my cell connection was worse this time. Weirdly it started out decently! That lasted a couple of days. Could be the aforementioned 5G issue. I had a few day trips out of both Tokyo and Osaka after TDL so it was really important that I had a connection, for maps/directions at the bare minimum, so I decided to get the pocket wifi.

Pocket wifi came from Tokyo Wireless btw, no complaints. If you're close to one of their hubs you can pick one up there or they could deliver with a day's notice to your hotel, possibly same day but not sure about that. Obviously can't provide any insight into how it goes for TDL but otherwise it was great.

I also experienced some weirdness for a few months this year but things are working for me in Japan right now.

Between April and July, Softbank decommissioned 3G networks so a lot of devices started having issues connecting to their networks. I've read that Android devices released before 2022 and iPhones older than iPhone 8 are more likely to have issues. This is an entirely separate issue from 5G being overburdened in the parks.