AbD Japan April 2019 Inaugural Trip

[WeLoveABD]

Cool! Sounds like the transfer was pretty smooth. Awesome that the guides came along. Did the majority of the guests go to TDR after the ABD? Also, thanks for including the times btw! I know it may not be exact but it helps when planning activities or meals OYO.


For anyone choosing between the ABD add on and doing it OYO, the packages purchased through TDR also include park hoppers from the first day on. It’s only non packaged tickets that limit park hopping. I think the main advantage with the ABD add on is more Fastpasses than the TDR packages offer. Can’t remember how many. That and it sounds like expedited check in with the guides’ help and transfers to the airport.

Correct

 

[Cousin Orville]

@Mathmagicland
Do you remember about what time the group finished up at Takeshita Street for lunch on the last day? There’s a nearby cafe that makes 3D latte art but it’s very popular and reservations are recommended.

 

[Mathmagicland]

@Mathmagicland
Do you remember about what time the group finished up at Takeshita Street for lunch on the last day? There’s a nearby cafe that makes 3D latte art but it’s very popular and reservations are recommended.

We got to Takeshita st around 10:45 and had 30 minutes to walk around as the bus was leaving back to the hotel at 11:15. We got to the hotel around 11:30-11:40

Some left the group here and got back to the hotel on their own as they wanted to start their afternoon early, others went back to the hotel & started their free time there. So your free time can start as soon as you get to Takeshita or else later. If you’re booking a reservation I’d suggest no earlier than 11, as traffic is heavy in Tokyo & arrival times for Takeshita can vary.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Friday April 26 -

This is our check-out day. Our flight home is not until 00:30 Saturday morning so we have a 9:00 pm pickup time for our airport transfers. This gives us the whole day and early part of our evening to be in the parks. For our AbD group, there were varied pickups from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00pm and a few who are not leaving until Saturday.

We plan to store our bags with Bell services. A note in our hotel check-in materials requests that we call guest services to request a pickup of our luggage for storage if bags will be stored later than 1:30 pm. We did this and the process went smoothly - made the call, left the luggage in our room, checked out on the TV since we had no room charges ( if there are any charges to your room then you must check out at the front desk) and we are off to the parks.

We decided we wanted to be back in the lobby an hour before pick up as we didn’t know how long it would take to get our luggage. No worries - it was only 5-10 minutes, and they took the bags to the front of the hotel to wait for our transfer, so we did not have to sit with them.

I should note that we were the only departure at the hotel that time of the evening; it might take longer If things are busier with more people leaving around the same time. The hotel note about checkout also said their busiest times are around 8am and again around noon or so and to allow extra time if needing the front desk or bell services around those times.

We were not sure how we would find our driver for the airport transfers but no worries - he came into the hotel lobby with the familiar orange AbD sign and a paper with our names on it, same as had greeted us upon arrival. He was there 15 min ahead of our scheduled pickup time so I was glad we had come back to the hotel a bit ahead and had already retrieved our luggage.

Transfers were slick - no traffic at 8:45 pm, & we were at Haneda Airport about 30 minutes later. The driver got a luggage cart for our bags, gave us directions to the checkin floor of the terminal, and we were on our way.

At the airport, we checked our luggage, got our boarding passes, and then went through security - no TSA PreCheck here, we didn’t have to remove shoes but did need to pull out info the bins any liquids as well as laptops & tablets, and had to remove jackets. They do have the same size restrictions for liquids on toiletries, and we could not take a large bottle of water through with us.

If you have purchased any items that were eligible for tax-free, stop by the customs counter to have the paperwork removed from your passport. Then go through immigration where you get your exit stamp & you can head to your gate or lounge. Whole process from checkin and luggage drop to our gate was less than 30 minutes.

At our departure gate, we were asked the questions we can get at checkin in US airports about contents of carryon, have we left our bags unattended, are we carrying anything for anyone, etc. We were also asked about electronics and whether we had purchased them in Japan. We got a blue sticker on our boarding pass. There was a gate announcement that some passengers might be flagged for additional TSA screening prior to boarding, so this may be where TSA PreCheck comes in handy as our boarding passes here have TSA PreCheck on them.

Next post, some additional observations, hints, tips, etc.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

@Cousin Orville If you are able to make reservations (at Reissue?) successfully please let me know! We would love to join you (if it's okay). There's just 2 of us so we won't slow you down too much!

 

[Cousin Orville]

We got to Takeshita st around 10:45 and had 30 minutes to walk around as the bus was leaving back to the hotel at 11:15. We got to the hotel around 11:30-11:40

Some left the group here and got back to the hotel on their own as they wanted to start their afternoon early, others went back to the hotel & started their free time there. So your free time can start as soon as you get to Takeshita or else later. If you’re booking a reservation I’d suggest no earlier than 11, as traffic is heavy in Tokyo & arrival times for Takeshita can vary.

Perfect! That’s very helpful.

@Cousin Orville If you are able to make reservations (at Reissue?) successfully please let me know! We would love to join you (if it's okay). There's just 2 of us so we won't slow you down too much!

Sure! Yes, it’s Reissue. I contacted the Peninsula concierge and requested 11:30am that Tuesday for both our families. I’ll message you once I hear back.

BTW, for others the Concierge at both the Hyatt in Kyoto and Peninsula have been very helpful in securing reservations that would have been challenging to get otherwise.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

@Mathmagicland
Do you remember about what time the group finished up at Takeshita Street for lunch on the last day? There’s a nearby cafe that makes 3D latte art but it’s very popular and reservations are recommended.

Perfect! That’s very helpful.



Sure! Yes, it’s Reissue. I contacted the Peninsula concierge and requested 11:30am that Tuesday for both our families. I’ll message you once I hear back.

BTW, for others the Concierge at both the Hyatt in Kyoto and Peninsula have been very helpful in securing reservations that would have been challenging to get otherwise.

Thanks so much! Reissue looks very unique and since we'll already be so close, it's the perfect time to go!

 

[Mathmagicland]

How big is that adorable Mickey lanyard? It's hard to tell. Did it take you much time to go get it?

The lanyard is 5x5, here is a pic of both front and back of it. There is a clear sleeve for the park ticket and a small zipper pocket that expands on one side, it could hold a few fast passes or maybe the resort monorail pass.



Update - forgot to respond re the time, it was quick to redeem the voucher in the hotel Gift shop, as there were not a lot of people there that early (approx 8:30 a.m.). It took longer to find the gift shop - haha! It is down the stairs to the first floor & on the right. Hours when we were there was 8 a.m. to 11p.m.

 

[Mathmagicland]

This is another random collection of some additional things and some final thoughts that might be good to know, now that we are at the end of our time in Japan.

Hotels -

• the hotel rooms all have a deeper, soaking type bathtub, much deeper than found in standard US bathrooms. This could make it a bit more challenging to get in and out for some folks or kids.
• The hotel rooms all provide bottled water, even the Tokyo Disneyland hotel. For all rooms but Tokyo Disneyland the water bottles were the 500ml/16 ounce size; at Disneyland the bottles were a smaller maybe 10 or 12 ounces size. Disneyland Park tip - we kept a few of the larger bottles provided along the way so we would have bottled water for our park days in Tokyo Disneyland parks. We didn’t know at the time that we’d have the length of visit drink coupons, but since those are for fountain drinks we were still glad to have the water.
• All hotel rooms provided both the standard toiletries and enhanced amenity items mentioned in my first random hints post. At Tokyo Disneyland hotel, their bath soap was a larger pump bottle.

ATMs -

• while ATMs were very plentiful in Kyoto, about one every 50 feet or so, they became sort of a “where’s Waldo” or hidden Mickey scavenger hunt for the rest of the trip. We never saw one in Takayama, and were not off the hotel grounds in Odawara. In Tokyo, we looked for one as we walked around the area of the hotel and did not find any close by. When we stopped at Takeshita street on Tuesday morning before our free time, we finally found a 7-11 with an ATM. A few of us in our tour group stopped for an additional withdrawal. I’m sure there are ATMs in Tokyo but they do not seem to be as obvious or plentiful as in Kyoto, so you might want to make another withdrawal before leaving Kyoto if you think you might need more cash
• There is a bank with an ATM on World bazaar (think Main Street) in Tokyo Disneyland. (Retro note - this reminds me of when there used to be a Bank of America branch inside Disneyland, located where the Disneyana store is today.). The bank also offers counter service for foreign exchange daily from 9:00-3:00. If you have too much remaining yen you could change it back to dollars here. I’d suggest you avoid doing so at the airport as the exchange rate there was the worst we saw the entire trip.

Bathrooms and trash cans -

• all along the way, we had western style toilets. In some public restrooms there would be both squat and western toilets so there might bit of wait time at those for the western style. Sometimes the doors are labeled with type of toilet and other times not.
• The Japanese toilets have lots of buttons! Sometimes the flush mechanism is one of the buttons, sometimes it is a sensor on the wall, and sometimes it is a standard flush lever on the side of the tank as is seen in the US. For the majority of the time, the info and instructions on the toilet operation were in both English and Japanese. The one exception, interestingly enough, was at Tokyo Disney resort in both the parks and the hotel. There, the toilet buttons were labeled only in Japanese. So, it would be good to familiarize yourself with the Japanese characters for “flush” before you get to TDR so there are no toilet surprises with the buttons.
• Some restrooms also had child-size seat adapters if needed for smaller kids. A few also had lower child-level urinals in the ladies restrooms, easier for the boys when mom needs to take them to the restrooms.
• Restrooms were always clean with plenty of toilet paper.
• The restrooms do not have paper towels for the most part; the only restrooms with paper towels were those in the hotel lobbies.
• Some restrooms had soap; others did not. Some had the air hand dryers, others did not. So, stop by Costco or Target for lots of travel-size hand sanitizer.
• Public Trash cans are truly rather elusive in Japan. This was the case even in public places like museums, restrooms, parks, temples, train stations, etc.
• The only place I could pretty much guarantee finding a trash can was in the ladies restroom stalls, where there would be a very small receptacle for sanitary products. After Day1, our AbD busses had two trash bags, one for recyclables and one for regular trash, which was very helpful.
• I asked our AbD guides about the lack of trash cans, yet the city streets are so clean; she explained that Japanese are taught from an early age to pick up after themselves, and when out & about they will carry their trash with them for disposal at home. We also saw or had some shopkeepers offer to take trash from people passing by. This now brings a lot of clarity home for me when we see the Japanese fans with trash bags cleaning up their section of the stadiums at World Cup soccer matches.

KitKats warrant their own section here as there is a lot of interest in them due to the various flavors unique to Japan.

• yes, it is true - Japan has more unique flavors of KitKats than than anywhere else. There are also some unique styles & packaging - ie KitKats nuggets, sake flavored in a box with a bottle on the front, individual bars, bars with toppings, etc. One guy in our group was on a mission to see how many different flavors of KitKats he could find and try - he was up to something like at least 15 or 20 by the time we got to the end of the AbD.
• Green tea flavor is everywhere they are sold; the other flavors can vary by store or location. For example, there was an apple flavor unique to the Takayama area we did not see elsewhere.
• The Tokyo KitKats chocolatery shops were a disappointment to a few of us, me included. I was expecting a store with shelves and bins of every type of KitKats, in every form - bags, boxes, gift boxes, assortments, etc. Those shops are not like that at all. The best way I can think to describe them is like an upscale or gourmet shop - the store was very small, with maybe 8-10 foot shelf space and very few flavor options. Though the flavor options did include some volcanic chocolate flavors not found elsewhere and one unique boxed flavor. All packaging was in small gift type boxes or individually boxed bars, no bags and pricier than other places.
• If you see a flavor you want, pick it up right then as you may not see it again. I made the mistake of thinking the Tokyo KitKats store would have every single flavor of KitKats I’d seen along the way when this is not the case at all, and scrambled to find the the two flavors I’d passed on earlier. Fortunately I finally found them on Takeshita street,,and never saw them elsewhere in Tokyo.
• Kyoto has the best selection of different flavor varieties of KitKats. The Don Quijote store in Kyoto has the best oversell variety and selection, but other stores seemed to have random flavors not found elsewhere.
• The KitKats connoisseur on our tour also found unique flavors on Miyajima, Nara, and Takayama.
• The Don Quijote in Akihabara had very few flavor options compared to the Kyoto store, but did have one unique option.
• The Tokyo Disneyland hotel has some different flavors and options in their food mart gift store that we had not seen elsewhere.
• The Tokyo Haneda Airport has 5 flavors unique to the airports in the duty free shop, nothing in bags and only a couple of the other flavors we saw elsewhere.

Tokyo Disney Resort - I’m not including a lot of TDR Park strategies because there are other trip reports and websites with a lot more helpful than I could provide from my first visit; I will share some observations that may be helpful to other first time visitors.

• check the park hours on the TDR website, as we did not see hours posted in the hotels. The days we were there, both parks had 9a.m. openings on Wednesday and Thursday but on Friday, Disneyland opened at 9a.m, while Disney Sea opened at 8:30. I’m not sure all hotel guests realizes Disney Sea opened earlier as we left the hotel at the same time before park opening and were a lot closer to the front of the line on Friday.
• Their magic morning is called Happy 15, so best to refer to it as that when asking questions.
• The Happy 15 line is separate for both bag check security and park entrance.
• TDR has an “after 6” ticket, so if you park hop around that time or just before, look for security and entrance line for regular tickets to bypass the after 6 lines.
• The parks seemed emptier starting around dinner time, not sure why but most lines were shorter in the evenings.
• You can double dip fast passes between the provided ones with the AbD package and getting passes from machines in the park at each ride. One suggestion to maximize the package provided fast passes is to pick up a couple of them in the morning at the rides when the return times are not too bad & save the provided ones for the afternoons or for Friday to get the most of your time on your last day.
• In Disney Sea, 98% of the guests head straight to the Toy Story Mania ride, either to get a fast pass or get in line. It consistently had the longest lines and fast passes for the day were gone by shortly after noon so you will want to use your package “A” fast passes for this one.
• If you want to hit Journey to the Center of the Earth first thing at Disney Sea, go to the right & up the stairs through the tunnel to the ride entrance. We could get this one in twice back to back or once and an early fast pass return time from the ride with really no wait because most everyone was at Toy Story.
• There were lots of school groups there. Fewer school groups on Friday and the crowds were noticeably lighter. The parks were not crowded for us, and we would have not used all of our provided fast passes had we not repeated some rides on our last day.
• Some fast pass rides will not take fast passes if the lines are less than 15-20 minutes, so we rarely used a fast pass in the evenings and never in the first hour the parks were open. Also be prepared for a cast member to be helpful with the usage of fast passes - ie we wanted to use one on Buzz Astro Blasters when the line was only 15 min as we were trying to use them all up; the cast member was nice to point out the short stand-by line to be sure we wanted to use one when it might be more beneficial to use at a ride with a longer line.
• They do not do pin trading in the Tokyo parks. I had brought a few Disneyland California pins just in case. Since there was no trading, I wore them anyway and a couple of times when someone in line commented about them, I’d take the pin off the lanyard & give it to them. They’d be surprised to get the little gift. The best reaction was three school girls in the Toy Story line - they reached out from the regular line to say HI to us in the fast pass line with their Duffy hand puppets and were so happy when we said Hi back and shook Duffy’s paw. I responded by giving them each a Disneyland pin with Mickey and Minnie; you’d have thought I’d given them diamonds, they were so excited and thrilled. Spreading a little Disney Magic is fun!
• Not everyone speaks or is comfortable with English at the parks, however if we were trying to ask a question & were not being understood, the cast members would radio for someone who could help & would be over to us quickly. Pointing to what we wanted in the park brochures also helped & the cast members could point us in the right direction.
• Ride the Jungle Cruise at least once. We did not understand more than a couple of words of the Japanese spiel (learned on our AbD tour) the cast member boat driver was saying, but she was by far the most animated skipper we have ever had on any cruise compared to the US parks. And the back side of water is funny in any language. We rode it twice because it was so much fun to watch the skippers.
• If you like/miss the Main Street Electrical Parade, be sure to make time to see their Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade as it is awesome with floats we do not have in the US.
• Japanese guests seem more into characters than park branded merchandise.
  • We found only found one Mickey ears headband embroidered with Tokyo Disney resort, and only in one shop in the Disneyland World bazaar, I think it was in the Grand Emporium
  • Very few t-shirts and no sweatshirts branded with park names. NOTE - many shirts along the way are sized smaller based on Japanese sizing rather than US, so you may want to go up a size on t-shirts. Do not assume all mediums or all larges are cut to the same sizing as US or even the same sizing across Japan. Also not many sizes are found in XL (or LL in Japan) and we saw the 2x and 3x sizing in only one shop & shirt style & that was in Disneyland.
  • There are not a lot of pins and those we did find were mostly associated with rides and not including park name. We found only two pins with some mention of Tokyo Disney - one with Tokyo Disneyland hotel in the hotel gift shop, and a small pewter-look Donald with “Tokyo Disney Resort” in the Disney & Co shop in world bazaar in Disneyland.
  • Pluto is not big there at all - we only saw a couple of small Pluto plush or he might be on a shirt that included a lot of characters. Daisy Duck has a huge presence and a lot of fans and is on a lot of items.
  • Lines for structured character meets were very long.

AbD trip logistics -

• There was bottled water and snacks on the bus all days.
• The snacks were not filling, so you might want to have some extra snack items from one of the convenience stores for the longer bus ride days of the Kyoto to Takayama day and the Takayama to Odawara day as those bus rides are 4-5 hours long and dinner is very late those evenings.
• For the group dinners, some people changed to business casual type dress for the dinners but most did not and wore their touring clothes. The one exception was the last evening farewell dinner when more folks changed, but still all did not.

Final thoughts - this Adventure was an awesome wonderful experience. Japan is a beautiful country and the people are so warm and friendly.

PS - This trip report does not include any of the surprises along the way, or some of the details, so future adventurers can also be surprised.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

@Mathmagicland Thank you so much for all the helpful tips!

We leave in a month and I am very excited for this trip! I'm also super excited for TDR! I will keep a sharp eye out for pins -- I need to have both Tokyo Disney pins for my collection!

A few quick questions -- was breakfast as the Disney Resort busy? Was the food selection good? How was the food at the parks (any stand-out places you can recall)?

 

[Mathmagicland]

A few quick questions -- was breakfast as the Disney Resort busy? Was the food selection good?

Breakfast at TDR was very busy when we arrived on Wednesday- my DS had gone downstairs to pick up our lanyards & said there was quite a long line to get in; this was around 8:15 -8:30 a.m. Some folks in our AbD group said they were given a specific time for breakfast when they checked in; we were not, I think that may have been the hotel’s attempt to try to manage the lines. Breakfast opened at 6:30; we would be there between 6:30 & 7:00 each morning & there were only a couple of parties waiting, and by the time we left 30 minutes later there were not many more waiting. So, if you get there early it is fine; later & closer to park opening, it is much busier.

Breakfast buffets everywhere were a mix of western and Japanese foods, this includes TDR. It was good food but probably my least favorite in terms of food options - they seemed to have fewer options (ie no grapefruit juice or grapefruits, fewer bread choices) of any of the hotel services we stayed at, likely because volume as the dining room was a lot bigger & there were many more people. So fewer more options means less items to keep restocked, & more quantity available for each item.

 

[Mathmagicland]

How was the food at the parks (any stand-out places you can recall)?

Food at the parks - we did counter service or buffererias only as did not want to take the time for any sit down restaurants. Plus most sitdowns require advance reservations, which can be booked online the day of visit. The park maps also have a Quick Guide to Dining” which was helpful.

They have some fun Mickey-shaped food offerings, some of which we tried. Most quick service offers a “set” that includes main item, side, and a drink- you will want to avoid this & order your items separately because of the free drink voucher; you can ask for this even if the menu board does not show it.

Disneyland - Queen of Hearts banquet hall in fantasyland, recommended by one of our AbD guides, was very good. (No drink vouchers here as it is a buffeteria). Boiler Bites in Adventureland had a good, fun Mickey shaped pork bun sandwich. My DS liked the curry & rice at Hungry Bear restaurant. If you like churros, you should try one as they are Mickey-Shaped, though thinner & not as airy as those at the US parks. One disappointment was the Mickey shaped burger at Tomorrowland Terrace, it was not very good, though the side of Mickey shaped chicken nuggets were pretty good. There were many unique (and good) desserts at the different places, both counter service and buffets; all themed to spring and Easter so later adventures will likely see different choices.

Disney Sea - Curry at the Cabash Food court in Arabian Coast was recommended by our AbD guides and was very good. We also liked the Italian food at Zambini Brothers Ristorante in Mediterranean Harbor, the counter service place. Dockside Diner was also good.

In both parks, you can get these adorable Little Green Men dessert mochis, three (of course since the aliens come in groups of three) with a cream filling, one strawberry one vanilla and one chocolate. These were the best and a lot of fun, and we had them each day. In Disney Sea they are at a food cart just outside Toy Story area across from Tower of Terror. In Disneyland they are at Pan Galactic Pizza Port and one other place I can’t recall at the moment.

 

[Cousin Orville]

That mochi reminds me of the Little Green Alien dim sum in Hong Kong. Love it!

 

[Mathmagicland]

@Mathmagicland Thank you so much for all the helpful tips!

We leave in a month and I am very excited for this trip! I'm also super excited for TDR! I will keep a sharp eye out for pins -- I need to have both Tokyo Disney pins for my collection!

You are welcome - enjoy your adventure!!

The TDR Hotel pins were in the hotel gift section of the shop, closest to the lobby entrance & on the right.

The Donald Resort pin was harder to find, it was not eye level & we missed it the first couple of times we scanned those pins in that shop. It was about 2/3 of the way down, a couple of rows from the bottom & on the right side of the display. The pin is also the smallest we saw and with no color, it is easily overlooked.

 

[Mathmagicland]

I’ve mentioned convenience store food in Japan a couple of times. Here is an article about them that is spot on. The Family Mart stores are the same types & food choices as 7-11’s.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/food-drink/why-my-favorite-food-in-japan-is-from-7-eleven

 

[Mathmagicland]

I forgot one thing under AbD hints and tips - during the AbD portion, we had to take our shoes off at least once a day on most days...at the temples and shrines, a couple of the restaurants, and the tea ceremony. The AbD guides tried to provide a reminder a day before. If you are one to go sockless or wear sandals, it would be helpful to have a pair of socks in your purse or backpack for those times.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

@Mathmagicland thank you so much for the wonderful and detailed report. I'm even more excited for our trip now How would you rank it compared to your other trips (sorry if I missed that earlier), and was there anything you would personally change (or wouldn't be surprised to see changed)?

That mochi reminds me of the Little Green Alien dim sum in Hong Kong. Love it!

LOL, that is exactly what I thought!!!

 

[buteraa]

Following along!

 

[Eastridge]

Thanks very much for the detailed report! It is helpful for those of us considering going on this trip.

Was it warm during this trip? Did the hotels have good air conditioning? I ask because I took a business trip to Japan a few years ago in the Fall and I found it difficult to cool the hotel room sufficiently.

 

[Mathmagicland]

@Mathmagicland thank you so much for the wonderful and detailed report. I'm even more excited for our trip now How would you rank it compared to your other trips (sorry if I missed that earlier), and was there anything you would personally change (or wouldn't be surprised to see changed)?!

You’re welcome! I think you will have a wonderful time. My only other AbD was the long weekend in New York City, but I think this one will be hard to top for the longer adventures. We heard very positive comments throughout from more seasoned AbD travelers.

Re changes, since we were the inaugural group, the timings and durations at stops were the first time through with a large group. I can see some possible tweaks there with timings to fine tune a bit. Our group was prompt at being on the bus at the appointed times; they have allowed a bit of extra time for stragglers and for traffic which is always an unknown. They’d already adjusted the order of activities on our first full day in Tokyo so lunch would not be so late.

I personally wouldn’t change anything - while I could have used a few more minutes at some stops, others were already by the bus when we got back.