An Asian Disney & Universal Adventure - A January 2017 Pre-Trip Report includes Shanghai Disneyland

RachelleBeaney

RachelleBeaney

PrincessShelle
Joined
Jun 12, 2012
Introduction

Hi fellow DIS friends, and welcome to my pre-trip report for my upcoming Asian Disney and Universal Adventure. If you’ve ever followed along on any of my previous pre-trip and trip reports you’ll know my husband and I love Disney and Universal theme parks, and we love taking month long trips that involve visiting as many of these theme parks as we can. Together we’ve visited the Disneyland Resort, Universal Studios Hollywood, Disney World Resort and Universal Studios Florida multiple times and Tokyo Disney Resort once, as well as enjoyed a cruise on the Disney Fantasy. On our next trip, Jared and I will be embarking upon an Asian Disney adventure, to visit all the Disney and Universal theme parks in Asia.

A little about us, we live in Perth Australia, the most isolate city on earth (well if it isn’t actually the most isolated one it feels that way whenever you travel anywhere). I’m a 29 year old Disney fan who loves her three cats, music and has a newly discovered passion for ballroom dance. I work as a public servant for the WA Government, which helps fund all our Disney bills (and other bills too I guess). My wonderful husband, Jared is a 31 year old musician and sales rep who is studying web design, and with whom I discovered my passion for Disney travelling. In the last few years Jared has also discovered a passion for photography, and he’s gotten rather good at it (as you can see in the few examples of his work posted below), so expect our trip report for this adventure to have lots of awesome and fun photos!

This is us at Animal Kingdom in February last year on our last Disney trip (for more information see that trip report here)



And here are some examples of Jared’s photography brilliance (yes I like to brag about his talents)
http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/R..._AFRICABRIDGE_7200931996_zpszgaf3zna.jpg.html









































http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/R...tasy - Castaway Cay - 12_zpsytoq5au6.jpg.html
Sorry there are so many pictures, but it was so hard to pick favourites! Ok sidebar done now, back to info about us.

Our favourite Disney park is the original Disneyland (though Tokyo Disney Seas is a very close second for me) and our favourite Universal park is both the Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley sections of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Florida (I am a huge Harry Potter nerd!). My husband’s favourite ride is Splash Mountain (Magic Kingdom version) and mine are Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Island’s of Adventure and Radiator Springs Racers at Disney’s California Adventure (no don’t ask me to just pick one!).

Planning to visit the Asian Disney and Universal parks can be a bit of a scary undertaking for someone who doesn’t speak the local languages and there is much less information in English on the web RE these Asian parks. I’m hoping that through this pre-trip report (and subsequent trip report), I can pass on any useful information I come across relating to planning tips and information on visiting these parks and these cities. I’ve been lucky to come across other people’s trip reports and blogs which have helped me glean lots of useful information about planning this adventure, and using that information, along with our experience on our last visit to Tokyo Disney, I hope to be well prepared for our newest theme park holiday! I hope these reports encourage people to visit these Asian parks and cities too – from all I know about Tokyo Disney and all I’ve read about Hong Kong and the new Shanghai Disney, as well as Universal Japan, they are well worth visiting, especially if, like us, you live and breathe Disney! So if you’re planning to join in welcome and I hope you enjoy coming along on our Asian Disney Adventure.
 
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Contents

See you real soon…for the Trip Report
 
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Itinerary

As I mentioned, we are travelling through Asia for 4 weeks. We leave on Wednesday 4 January 2017 and arrive home on Wednesday 1 February 2017 so we are going for exactly 4 weeks. We are extremely excited to go back to Tokyo Disney Resort, and visit Japan again and are looking forward to visiting some other Asian countries and cities for the first time. Our itinerary has us visiting Singapore and Universal Studios Singapore, Hong Kong and Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai and the soon to be opened Shanghai Disney resort, Osaka and Universal Studios Japan, Kyoto Japan and Tokyo and the Tokyo Disney Resort.

This is our itinerary for the trip at present:
  • Wednesday 4 January 2017 – Perth to Singapore Flight
  • Thursday 5 January 2017 – Singapore – Singapore Botanic Gardens and Gardens by the Bay
  • Friday 6 January 2017 - Singapore – Universal Studios Singapore
  • Saturday 7 January 2017 – Singapore – Explore Sentosa
  • Sunday 8 January 2017 – Singapore – Hong Kong –lunch at Enchanted Garden Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel and evening at Hong Kong Disneyland
  • Monday 9 January 2017 – Hong Kong - Hong Kong Disneyland
  • Tuesday 10 January 2017 – Hong Kong – Chi-Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Gardens, Victoria Peak and Symphony of Lights Harbour Cruise
  • Wednesday 11 January 2017 – Hong Kong – Poh Lin Monastery and Giant Buddha Day Trip
  • Thursday 12 January 2017 – Fly Hong Kong to Shanghai – Yu Gardens and Bazaar and Shanghai Bund City Lights Tour
  • Friday 13 January 2017 – Shanghai – Shanghai Disneyland
  • Saturday 14 January 2017 – Shanghai – Zhujiajiao Water Torn Tour and Shanghai Acrobatics Show
  • Sunday 15 January 2017 – Shanghai - – Shanghai Disneyland
  • Monday 16 January 2017– Shanghai - – Shanghai Disneyland and overnight flight to Osaka
  • Tuesday 17 January 2017 – Osaka – Siteseeing and Rest day
  • Wednesday 18 January 2017 – Osaka – Osaka Castle, Sumiyoshi-taisha Shrine and Umeda Sky Building siteseeing and rest day
  • Thursday 19 January 2017 – Osaka – Universal Studios Japan
  • Friday 20 January 2017 – Osaka to Kyoto by Train
  • Saturday 21 January 2017- Kyoto – Into Kyoto Tour
  • Sunday 22 January 2017 – Kyoto – Kyoto and Nara Tour
  • Monday 23 January 2017 – Kyoto to Tokyo Disney by Train – evening at Tokyo Disney Seas
  • Tuesday 24 January 2017 – Tokyo – Tokyo Disney Resort – Tokyo Disneyland
  • Wednesday 25 January 2017– Tokyo – Tokyo Disney Resort –Tokyo Disneyland
  • Thursday 26 January 2017 - Tokyo – Tokyo Disney Resort – Tokyo Disney Seas
  • Friday 27 January 2017 - Tokyo – Tokyo Disney Resort – Tokyo Disney Seas (Jared’s birthday)
  • Saturday 28 January 2017 - Tokyo – Robot Restaurant
  • Sunday 29 January 2017 – Tokyo – Mt Fuji and Hakone Tour
  • Monday 30 January 2017 – Tokyo – Tokyo Site seeing including Owl Café, Meiji Shrine and Edo Tokyo Museum
  • Tuesday 31 January 2017 – Tokyo to Perth flight – arriving home 1 February 2017=
Whew, that was exhausting just to write, so like all our trips, it’s going to be pretty full on and exhausting to live. That’s how we prefer to holiday though.
 
Flights

Our major flights are now booked with Singapore Airlines which means the trip is definitely a go (I never feel 100% certain until flights are locked in!).

Because Jared travels frequently with Virgin Australia, and because he knows how to amass Velocity Frequent Flyer points easily he always has A LOT of points (which are transferrable to Kris Flyers, Singapore Airlines reward miles system). Because of this we were able to book our flights from Perth to Singapore and from Tokyo back to Perth (via Singapore) on Business Class! I’m super excited about this, because, as you may have read in our last report, we started flying Business Class (with miles) on the way home from our November 2013 trip and I’ve now decided I can’t fly long haul any other way (yes, I’ve become a travel snob!).

Luckily for us we have the means to travel Business Class inexpensively, in fact it’s been cheaper than paying outright for an economy flight thanks to the use of points and the low taxes Singapore Airlines seem to charge (I think it total all our flights will be costing us about $1400.00, for both of us, and that includes the budget for our soon to be booked internal Asia flights, oh and about 270,000 frequent flyer points!).

If you are thinking, that’s all well and good for you but I don’t travel frequently and don’t rack up points quickly, what I would tell you is that the majority of our points don’t come through redeemed points from flights (though some do) but through spending on our Virgin credit card and for signing up for credit cards when they have deals for frequent flyer miles. For example, we got 200,000 points signing up for a Virgin credit card. While the annual fee on the card is expensive ($300) we see it as a down payment on the flight, so it makes it worth it for us. The reward points for signing up was 110,000 and then we got an extra 20,000 points for every person we referred the deal to who signed up (which was all my family and Jared’s) and we used that card for 6 months to get the points and then cancelled it and came out way ahead! We also did the same thing with a Qantas credit card to get 65,000 frequent flyer miles for our internal flights in Asia. While this system doesn’t necessarily work for everyone it’s definitely well worth looking into. Of course, we are Australian, so if any of my readers are American or UK/European this advice may not be helpful, but I’m sure each country has a similar system of rewards miles linked in with credit card purchases. For my Aussie readers, there is a way you too could be flying business class to Disney just like us in the future! The best advice I could give someone wanting to learn more about how they can travel in style for less it to visit the Australia Frequent Flyer forums. They are packed with discussions about how to make the most of your frequent flyer benefits and of credit card deals and other deals that can help you get cheap flights. Jared loves them! You can find the link to the page here

Anyway, I’m also excited for my very first trip on an A380 (our flight back from Tokyo will be my first time on one, in the upstairs section in Business class too) and Singapore Airlines widest business seats ever (which my parents enjoyed on their trip to Europe last year thanks to Life Miles – another great way to circumvent the ridiculous cost of Business Class seats – but that’s a story for another time). In addition, I’m excited about that fact that our flight to our first destination will only be 5 hours! Yes 5 hours. For those of you who live in Australia and frequently travel to the Disney parks in the US you’ll know that flying to LA and onto Orlando can feel like some of the longest hours of your life. Not to mention the jetlag that accompanies it. Jared and I also have the added bonus (said with sarcasm) of having to travel 5 hours from Perth to Sydney every time we do it, which makes us even more tired, grumpy and jet laggy (not a word I know but it should be). Business class helped this ridiculously long travel journey feel less like torture on our last trip to LA and Orlando, and this time we get business class and a short flight! In 2013 when we went to Tokyo we were excited we only had a 5 hour flight and break followed by an 8 hour flight. This time its 5 hours and we are done! And in addition there will be no jetlag to contend with as the most we will be out from Perth time is 1 hour during the whole trip! All in all an exciting reason to visit Asia, even without the other stuff (ok I jest, we are not just travelling to Asia because of the lessor flight times and lack of jetlag!).
 


Singapore Planning

We are in Singapore for 3 days and 4 nights. Obviously our main goal in Singapore is to visit Universal Studios Singapore, but we want to see some of Singapore while we are there too.

Hotel
We debated about where we would stay, close in to the city centre, or close to Sentosa Island. After working out we will probably be spending more time on Sentosa Island (where Universal Studios Singapore is located) we decided closer to Sentosa was better for us. The problem is hotels on Sentosa Island are ridiculously expensive, so we found a hotel, Bay Hotel Singapore, that is right at the entrance to the island, near the bridge that connects it to mainland Singapore (and right near the chairlifts over as well according to my mum!). It’s also near to Vivo City, which is a giant shopping complex, so we will be close enough to food and other utilities as well. From the hotel is about a 40 minute train ride into the main bay area and the city, which is a little way but as we won’t be spending as much time there is works find for us. I would have loved to stay at the Hard Rock Hotel on Sentosa (we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando on our last trip and loved it) but it was too expensive. Unlike the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, Singapore (being only 1 degree above the equator and only just in the North Hemisphere), like Australia, has its main school break over the Christmas season (December/January) so January is peak travel time.

Siteseeing
Singapore is such a unique place from what I’ve been able to glean through my research. A city that’s also a country, a metropolis of magnificent proportions in the middle of some of the poorest parts of Asia, it is unique and somewhat a contradiction to its surrounds. From what I’ve seen of Singapore, from the airport trams the 2 times we’ve flown through, it’s a city of high rises and many many uniform apartment buildings, very planned and very clean. If its airport is anything to judge it by (Changai airport is to date the best airport I’ve ever been in) then I know Singapore will be a great place to visit.

Both my parents and Jared’s Dad and Stepmum have visited Singapore before so we got lots of tips of good things to see. As contradictory as it is though the things that interested me the most were less about the city and more about some of the amazing gardens that it boasts so we will be spending our time not at Universal at Gardens by the Bay, and the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Gardens by the Bay, in particular, has an amazing nighttime lights displays, conservatorys, gardens, sculpture displays and more and looks amazing! There is also a lights show each night so looking forward to that. We are going to visit during the day and in the evening – hopefully getting some great nite shots of the area.

Sentosa Island sounds like lots of fun to explore. We obvious plan to visit Universal, and we’d like to visit the Trick Eye Museum, a museum of 3D paintings and optical illusions, the Aquarium and Adventure Cove water park (since I know it’s going to be hot and humid I think we will enjoy this more than we normally enjoy water parks!), visit Festive Walk and watch the two night time light shows that operate in Festive Walk. The first night show, Lake of Dreams purports to include fire, water and light effects timed to music, which sounds like a mini World of Colour (minus the projection screens) and the second, the Crane Dance, combines mechanical cranes (aka the bird not the machinery but the pun is implied here) with light and water effects.

Universal Studios Singapore Planning
Universal Studios Singapore is pretty small compared to the other Universal’s worldwide, from what I can gather so we only plan to spend one day there. I’m excited to visit though, and it has a number of things that the US Universal parks don’t, which include the very cute Far Far Away land, themed to Shrek, the Madagascar – A Crate Adventure ride, a water dark ride which looks interesting , Sci-Fi City, with the duelling coaster Human vs Cyclon and Singapore’s version of Transformers as well as Ancient Egypt, with another unique version of the Mummy Ride. In addition Jurassic Park River Adventure River Adventure is Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure here and is a rapids ride rather than a boat ride, so that sounds quite different. We will be buying Universal Express passes for Universal Studios Singapore because, being school holidays, it will be a busy time of year and we really hate waiting in lines. Other than that Universal Studios planning has been pretty straight forward, as the website info is all in English (Singapore’s official language is English though a number of other languages are spoken to). The only issue I have with the Universal Studios Singapore website is that it’s part of the Resorts World Sentosa website, and so if you don’t know where to look for information it can be a little confusing.

Other Singapore Planning Updates:
 
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Hong Kong Planning

Hotels
After a lot of research I decided to split our Hong Kong stay between the Disney Resort and Kowloon.

I knew that I wanted to stay at the Hong Kong Disneyland resort the night before we visited simply because Hong Kong Disneyland is on Lantau Island and is about 30 minutes from the city centre, and I didn’t want to have to travel that far to get to the resort on the day we are visiting. In addition, as we fly in on the morning the day before we can now spend an evening in the park the night before our main park day, and the more time spent at Disney the better right (I know you’ll all agree!). Of course the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel is SUPER expensive, so much so that I almost changed my mind, but I decided that as it is just one night we can splurge so we can stay in our Disney bubble for 2 days.

For the rest of our Hong Kong Trip I decided on a hotel in Kowloon, which is the city centre on the mainland. While Hong Kong Island is the original settlement and the historic and economic centre of the city Kowloon is more of an entertainment and shopping centre and is a bit more tourist friendly. Plus we are right across the river from the Hong Kong Island sites we want to visit. The hotel I found is called the Royal Pacific Hotel and Towers and it is right on the water of Victoria Harbour (it faces towards West Kowloon rather than Hong Kong Island but is still very close to the peninsula and all it has to offer). It was also very reasonably priced.


Hong Kong Siteseeing
I’m really excited about visiting Hong Kong, particularly because, as a British settlement for so long, I have heard it boasts a really interesting mix of East meets West. We tossed around a few ideas for siteseeing while in Hong Kong and had to end up cutting down because of limited time. We ended up cutting out a day visit to Macau. I’m sure it’s great but we aren’t really casino people (we didn’t really like Vegas for example) so we figured this was no real loss for us, in the end. We will be taking a trip to visit the Giant Buddha and Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island. We are also taking a trip to the mid city Chi-Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Gardens, which, according to trip reports I’ve read, show an interesting contrast between old traditional Hong Kong and the bustling city metropolis it’s become (while nestled in quiet gardens the monasteries skyline easily shows Hong Kong’s impressive high rises making for an interesting contradiction – so I’ve read anyway). Of course we will visit that amazing Victoria Peak (well from what I’ve seen of pictures of the view of Hong Kong from the peak there’s no way that wouldn’t have been on our list – we do love photography after all). Lastly I found a tour on Viator called the Symphony of Lights Hong Kong Harbour Nigh Cruise. Apparently each night the skyscrapers of Hong Kong light up in a 20 minute lights and laser show (how cool is that!) and we will be on a cruise boat in the harbour enjoying the show! Overall I think we’ve picked a bunch of activities that will show us both the traditional and the western side of Hong Kong.


Hong Kong Disneyland Planning
A few years ago if you had asked me if I ever planned to visit Hong Kong Disneyland I probably would have laughed and told you it wasn’t worth my effort. The park was so small, had barely any attractions (and certainly no new or interesting ones). While I’m still not sure an international trip simply to see Hong Kong Disneyland is warranted, the park has improved in leaps and bounds with the addition of Mystic Point, Grizzly Gulch and Toy Story Playland. And with Shanghai Disneyland opening up almost next door (well you know, in mainland China) a stop in Hong Kong on our way was super easy and I’m really quiet excited about the prospect now. The Mystic Manor attraction has been hyped as one of the best Disney attractions in years, and Big Grizzly Mountain Railway looks so much fun (like Big Thunder but with animatronics!). I’m also excited for the brand new Iron Man ride which is opening this year and will be open by the time we visit. In addition the shows look great. All the research I’ve done says that Hong Kong’s Festival of the Lion Kong is the best and I’m really looking forward to Mickey and the Wondrous Book – which looks a bit like Mickey and the Magical Map at Disneyland, which I love. We will also be seeing Paint the Night for the first time, having missed it on our last trip to Disneyland in 2015. Probably the best thing about Hong Kong Disneyland though is the crowd levels. From all I’ve read and understand about the park it’s never really that busy, and we are going at one of the quietest times of year so I’m looking forward to not having to fight crowds! Because I’m not expecting huge crowds I haven’t put a lot of thought into my touring plan. I was also pretty amazed to discover that Fastpass is only offered on 2 attractions, Space Mountain and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh! I think probably shows just how quiet the parks usually are!

Other Hong Kong Disneyland Planning Updates:
 
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Sounds exciting! And you are a very organized planner, indeed! It's awesome that you know your trip plans so far in advance. We went to Singapore and visited Universal Studios there on only a week's notice this past Christmas break--it was so much fun, and we really loved all the special Christmas entertainment!

We went to HKDL around Christmas 2014 and loved it, and Hong Kong is a wonderful place to explore! We lived just across the border in China for a year and spent many happy weekends getting lost in Hong Kong! :)

And we'll be visiting Tokyo Disney this summer--I can only imagine how cool it would be to visit all these parks on the same trip. I want to go back to China to see our friends and do more travel in-country so we'll probably be heading there, and to Shanghai Disney, next year. Apparently we go more for the short, spread out kind of trips. You guys must really be full of energy! I think my husband gets pretty tired after a week of being on vacation with me...
 


RandomlyrachelG said:
Sounds exciting! And you are a very organized planner, indeed! It's awesome that you know your trip plans so far in advance. We went to Singapore and visited Universal Studios there on only a week's notice this past Christmas break--it was so much fun, and we really loved all the special Christmas entertainment!

We went to HKDL around Christmas 2014 and loved it, and Hong Kong is a wonderful place to explore! We lived just across the border in China for a year and spent many happy weekends getting lost in Hong Kong! :)

And we'll be visiting Tokyo Disney this summer--I can only imagine how cool it would be to visit all these parks on the same trip. I want to go back to China to see our friends and do more travel in-country so we'll probably be heading there, and to Shanghai Disney, next year. Apparently we go more for the short, spread out kind of trips. You guys must really be full of energy! I think my husband gets pretty tired after a week of being on vacation with me...
Click to expand...

Thanks for following along - yes I am a bit of an obsessive planner - I like knowing what we are doing each day and how we are going to get it done - it allows me to relax and unwind on a trip knowing all the planning is done! It must have been awesome to live so close to Hong Kong Disneyland for a while - i would love to have a "local" Disney park close enough for me to visit weekends I'm glad you enjoyed universal Singapore too!

You are going to love Tokyo Disney! It's amazing! Tokyo Disney seas is so beautiful you could spend your whole day just exploring all the little nooks and crannies!
 
Shanghai Planning

Hotels
Our original plan in Shanghai was to stay in the city and spend one day at the new Shanghai Disneyland and the other three days siteseeing in Shanghai. Then I saw the Shanghai Disney plans, not to mention warnings on how busy it will probably get, and I decided one day was not enough, we’d be spending 3 days at Shanghai Disney and upping our time in Shangahi to 5 days overall. After deciding that the majority of our time in China would be spent at Disney I decided we should look into staying at the Disney resort. We had budgeted a certain amount for accommodation in Shanghai and figured if we could get a room at one of the Shanghai Disney hotels for that same amount we’d do just that. There will be a train line connecting Shanghai Disney to the major train stations and airports (I believe it’s going to be a Maglev train too, one of those trains that can go 400km per hour!) and from the main stations it will be easy to get into the city. Of course, the park isn’t open yet and costs for rooms weren’t up on Shangahi Disney’s website until the 28 March, so we weren’t even sure if that was an affordable option. However I began to get my heart more and more set on the idea (being in a Disney bubble rather than everyday China sounded much more appealing to me) but I tried not to get my hopes up too much. I know what Disney accommodation usually costs at any other Disney resort and didn’t think it was in our budget. Low and behold March 28 rolls around, and we managed to book the Toy Story Hotel at Shanghai Disney for LESS than our budgeted hotel in the city. I am super excited! Now Toy Story Hotel is the ‘value’ hotel at the resort. Still it looks awesome and comfortable and close to the park and that’s all we really wanted!


Siteseeing
We have a few siteseeing things planned for Shanghai (other than Disney). I do have to say here that I’ve never really been interested in visiting mainland China, and had it not been for Shanghai Disney I don’t think we would be visiting. That being said I fully believe when you visit a new country you do yourself a disservice to not try and immerse yourself in location culture and history, and so we will be spending a day doing a tour visiting one of the ancient Chinese water towns near Shanghai. In addition we will visit the city centre and some of the temples, and see one of the acrobatic shows in the city.


Shanghai Disneyland Planning
I don’t have a lot to say in this area yet – I will update once the park has opened. I will say though that I am SO excited for Shangahi Disney. Not only are most of the lands unique or completely new spins of existing lands in other Disney parks, it has so many original attractions and new version of beloved favourites. I’m super excited to experience the Tron Lightcycle Coaster, the Roarin’ River Rapids, Voyage to the Crystal Grotto and the new Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. In addition there will be another version of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan’s flight with a new ride system, Soarin’ over the Horizon, which I’m so excited about because I love the original Soarin’, and an amazing looking Tarzan acrobatics show. The park itself also look so beautiful and so detailed, I’m really excited to just soak it all in! The one thing I do know at the moment is how Fastpass will work. It sounds like an interesting mix of Fastpass Plus and Legacy Fastpass. You'll be able to secure Fastpasses for attractions on the day, but only from Guest Services locations in each land. So if you wanted a Fastpass for Tron Lightcycle for example you'd have to go to the Tomorrowland Guest services. It looks as though the tickets will have the classic 1 hour return window, and information on when you can obtain another ticket. An interesting omission from the Fastpass list is the Pirates of the Caribbean ride! It's strange because I'm wondering if this is because Fastpass Guest Services locations only exist in Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and Adventure Isle, but none in Treasure Cove (though how hard would it have been to include Treasure Cove's only E-ticket attraction Fastpass with the Adventure Isle Fastpass guest services!). That being said there are going to be plenty of single rider lines available at Shanghai Disney, which I'm excited about. If the Japanese parks are anything to go on (not sure) then hopefully the Asian audience won't take advantage of the single rider lines and they'll be a lot of use to those of us who do (the Japanese just don't seem to use their single rider lines at all, at least from our experience visiting Tokyo Disney. We walked straight onto Splash Mountain when it had a 70 minute wait as there was NO ONE in single rider!). The attractions with single ride lines are; Roaring Rapids, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, TRON LightCycle Coaster and Pirates of the Caribbean - Battle of the Sunken Treasure, so all in all the major attractions will be covered by either Fastpass or Single Rider and we will take full advantage of both in order to avoid lines!

Other Shanghai Disney Planning Updates:

 
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Osaka Planning
Hotels
We are basically visiting Osaka to go to Universal Studios so we decided staying close to the park was the best plan. There are few ‘official’ hotels at Universal Studios Japan. I use official in inverted commas here because they aren’t run or operated by Universal (like most onsite Universal hotels), but are close or onsite at the resort are classified as official hotels on Universal Studios Japan’s website. After doing some research on all of the ‘official hotels’ the Hotel Universal Port looked the best, based on it’s access to the park (a 4 minute walk), English accessibility (I base the hotel’s ability to have some minor level of English speaking staff based on if they have a decent English website or not) and overall amenities (free wifi is a huge perk for me, and this hotel offered it) and price. We also got a really good deal with Hotels.com for the hotel, so we will only end up paying around $245 a night.

Siteseeing
We don’t have a lot of siteseeing plans for Osaka as of yet. On my list of places to visit is the Osaka Castle, the Umeda Sky Building and the Sumiyoshi-tasisha Shrine but to be honest, if we didn’t do a lot of siteseeing in Osaka I’d probably be ok with that – it might be time for a whole lot of napping when we arrive as we will have been go go go since the start of our trip up to that point.

Universal Studios Japan Planning
Other than Shanghai Disney, (which is yet to open or be experienced which explains why there isn’t any good touring advice out there for the park yet, waiting on trip reports from anyone visiting in June please!) Universal Studios Japan was the park I was the most nervous about getting a touring plan together for. There is much less English information on the web about the park (other than the website) and not a lot of trip reports or plans around about what to expect. I did know, from reading a few reports, that Universal Studios Japan is the busiest Universal park in the world, and due to the diminished amount of English information on the web, I was worried about how to plan for this park.


First of all, I knew you could buy express passes (to allow us to skip the dreaded lines) for the parks covering 7 attractions. The particular express passes I was looking at covered Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Jurassic Park – The Flying Dinosaur (the new flying coaster opening this year , The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, Hollywood Dream Coaster, Jurassic Park – The Ride and Termination 2: 3D). These passes are more expensive than the actual tickets for Universal Studios Japan at $230 for 2 people (tickets were around $170 for two people) however overall the cost of tickets for Universal in Japan is cheaper than in the states so we were ok with paying it. However, these tickets have to be purchased on the website in Japanese or at the gate on arrival, and they can sell out easily so I didn’t want to leave this until the day of visit. Also I hadn’t been able to find any reports on anyone who’d visited the park and what attraction strategy they suggested, so was flying a little blind.


Then my favourite Disney blogger, Tom Bricker, posted a Tips and Strategy post on his travel blog (you can read that post here). He advised tips on how he had survived the parks, on how to book express passes online in advance (even using the Japanese language site) and all of a sudden I had some much needed info! We also realised we have a lovely Japanese friend (a work friend of my husbands who works for Casio Japan) who can help us book the express passes online if we get stuck. The best bit of information I gleaned from this post was;

· how insane the crowds are(though going in January it should hopefully be quieter) and so I can prepare mentally for it

· That the Wizarding World of Harry Potter area requires an entry ticket, one you get with your express pass for the Harry Potter attractions, but since we want to go in again in the evening for photos we will need to secure a second entry pass sometime during the day

· That the following attractions have single rider lines which (if our experience at Tokyo Disney on our last trip is anything to go by) the Japanese don’t seem to make much use of. The attractions with single rider are Space Fantasy – The Ride, The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, Hollywood Dream – The Ride, Jurassic Park –The Ride and JAWS. The only ride that doesn’t offer either a Single Rider line or an option to use an express pass is Back to the Future – The Ride. As the Back to the Future movies are Jared’ favourite EVER, we now know which attraction we have to hit first before the lines build.

Other Osaka Planning Updates
 
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Kyoto Planning

Hotels
We haven’t officially picked a hotel in Kyoto yet, because it’s hard! To be safe we generally try and book Western Chain type hotels, as most of the time the language barrier is less of an issue, and you know you will be provided with Western amenities that you are used to (I know, we don’t immerse ourselves in the culture as much, but we do that when we are out and about, and we like a nice comfy King bed and maybe a break from too much Asian food at our hotel!).

The other problem is location. I would like to be right in the Southern Higashiyama area of Kyoto, which is near to the history Gion district and the older parts of town, rather than to the Downtown Business City Centre. There is a Hyatt right in that area, but it is super expensive, and we aren’t sure if we will be able to afford it (it depends on how many more of our other hotels come under budget – so far, so good but we will have to wait and see).

I think the reason there are so few affordable hotels in Kyoto is due to the prevalence of tradition Ryokans throughout the city. A Ryokan is a traditional Japanese style Inn, which originate in the Edo period (1603 – 1868) to serve travellers along Japan’s highways. They are typically small and include matted rooms, communal baths and other public areas. While those Japanese Ryokans do look beautiful, sleeping on a mat and sharing communal areas is not really our thing, in addition I’m sure the English to Japanese language barrier would be worse here (if our Japanese was better maybe we’d consider it). All in all we are just not that adventurous, and would rather stick with a proper hotel.

Still, we may have to settle for a Japanese hotel, as the Western chain hotels in the area are so expensive.

Siteseeing
You may notice that Kyoto is the only city we will be visiting in any of the Asian countries we visit which doesn’t have a Universal or Disney park. The reason for that, I’ve heard Kyoto is insanely beautiful and I’ve wanted to go for a long time. Jared has visited on a work trip once (I know so jealous) and he’s told me only good things. In addition, Kyoto offers a little more history and a few more traditional sites than Tokyo, as it was the original capital city. In fact Tokyo, when it was settled, was named for Kyoto, Tokyo simply meaning East (To) Kyoto (Kyo). Our strategy for siteseeing in Kyoto is to book two tours, as it seems Kyoto may be much less Westernised than Tokyo, and we aren’t sure how the language barrier will be doing it all ourselves. The first tour we will book through Viator and it will be a tour of Kyoto and nearby Nara which includes major tourist sites like the Nijo Castle and Kinkaku-Ji (Golden Temple) and the Kyoto Imperial Palace. In addition we will visit the Nara Deer park, Todai-Ji Temple and Kasyga Shrine in Nara.

The second tour is through a small Western Japanese touring company we used on our last trip, who were amazing, and we can’t wait to use again, the Backstreet Guides to Tokyo. They offer a tour that shows a little more of Kyoto along with some of the lesser known sites around Kyoto, including Kiyomizu-dera (a shrine with a beautiful view over Kyoto), the famous Gion district and Nishiki food markets, Ponto-cho Street, Fushimi Inari Shrine and Senbon Torri Gates.

Other Kyoto Planning Updates
 
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Very excited to read about your trip!

One sad thing I have to report: the Back to the Future ride in Japan closes at the end of May, so I'm afraid it won't be there when you go. :( They haven't announced what it will be replaced with, but the rumor is Despicable Me. (Like the one that opened in Hollywood last year.)

For Kyoto, I would recommend one of the Japanese hotels closer to Kyoto station. I know it isn't your ideal location, but I've found that more of the hotels there have English-speaking staff. When you get to Kyoto, do stop by the visitor's center in the train station. They have tons of bilingual workers and are incredibly helpful in helping you find your way around. (Also super helpful for navigating the bus system in the city.) If you'd like a really fun dinner one night, the Ninja Cafe in Gion is fantastic. :) Kyoto is a fantastic city, and I really hope you enjoy your visit!
 
Kyjin said:
Very excited to read about your trip!

One sad thing I have to report: the Back to the Future ride in Japan closes at the end of May, so I'm afraid it won't be there when you go. :( They haven't announced what it will be replaced with, but the rumor is Despicable Me. (Like the one that opened in Hollywood last year.)

For Kyoto, I would recommend one of the Japanese hotels closer to Kyoto station. I know it isn't your ideal location, but I've found that more of the hotels there have English-speaking staff. When you get to Kyoto, do stop by the visitor's center in the train station. They have tons of bilingual workers and are incredibly helpful in helping you find your way around. (Also super helpful for navigating the bus system in the city.) If you'd like a really fun dinner one night, the Ninja Cafe in Gion is fantastic. :) Kyoto is a fantastic city, and I really hope you enjoy your visit!
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Thanks so much for the awesome info!! That is so sad about the back to the future ride - my husband will be devo! Oh well these things happen!

Thanks for the tips about Kyoto! Hugely appreciated! Will definitely check out the ninja cafe - that sounds awesome - do you have any specific hotels near Kyoto station you'd recommend?
 
RachelleBeaney said:
Thanks for the tips about Kyoto! Hugely appreciated! Will definitely check out the ninja cafe - that sounds awesome - do you have any specific hotels near Kyoto station you'd recommend?
Click to expand...

Here's the ninja cafe site for you: http://www.ninja-kyoto.co.jp/en/
There's also a sweets cafe next to the restaurant if you'd rather just do dessert. (Though the dinner is amazing because your ninja waiter does magic tricks at your table!)

A few years ago when my mom and I visited, we stayed at the Kyoto Tower Hotel: https://www.kyoto-tower.co.jp/tower_hotel/en/ We were in the Annex which is a bit cheaper, but I think the main hotel has more English-speaking staff. Like most Japanese hotels, the rooms are small, but we really only were in the room to sleep, and the conveniences of the staff and amneties won out.
Try to look for rooms via Rakuten (http://travel.rakuten.com/) as they can sometimes help you find cheaper deals.

Good luck!
 
Kyjin said:
Here's the ninja cafe site for you: http://www.ninja-kyoto.co.jp/en/
There's also a sweets cafe next to the restaurant if you'd rather just do dessert. (Though the dinner is amazing because your ninja waiter does magic tricks at your table!)

A few years ago when my mom and I visited, we stayed at the Kyoto Tower Hotel: https://www.kyoto-tower.co.jp/tower_hotel/en/ We were in the Annex which is a bit cheaper, but I think the main hotel has more English-speaking staff. Like most Japanese hotels, the rooms are small, but we really only were in the room to sleep, and the conveniences of the staff and amneties won out.
Try to look for rooms via Rakuten (http://travel.rakuten.com/) as they can sometimes help you find cheaper deals.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks for all that info - really do appreciate it. Will definitely have a look at all the information :) :)
 
First of all, I wanted to say that Jared's photography is AMAZING! Beautiful pics! Thanks so much for sharing! Makes me so excited for Disney!

As for your upcoming Asian trip, sounds so exciting! The planning must be so much fun too! I'll be following your report along, since one day, we want to go back to Japan (and possibly visit other Asian countries for the first time!). BTW, my dream vacation (well, other than Disney, of course) is to travel to Australia. I always hoped they would build a Disney resort there! :D
 
momtotaryn said:
First of all, I wanted to say that Jared's photography is AMAZING! Beautiful pics! Thanks so much for sharing! Makes me so excited for Disney!

As for your upcoming Asian trip, sounds so exciting! The planning must be so much fun too! I'll be following your report along, since one day, we want to go back to Japan (and possibly visit other Asian countries for the first time!). BTW, my dream vacation (well, other than Disney, of course) is to travel to Australia. I always hoped they would build a Disney resort there! :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words about jareds pictures - he is very talented and I love he can capture our trip memories like that!
We are so excited about the Asia trip! I hope you get back to Japan at some point too! Australia is a great country, I hope you get here one day - we have lots to offer but I don't think there will ever be a Disneyland in Australia because we don't have the population to support it (our national population is only about 5 million more people than the average yearly attendance at the Magic Kingdom!) but I'm hoping one day maybe Disney cruise lines will devote some ships to Australia/New Zealand and Asia (two more ships are scheduled to be built for 2020/2021 so I'm hopeful about that!)
Anyway thanks for following along - I hope you enjoy the trip report when we get to that next year
 
RachelleBeaney said:
Thanks for the kind words about jareds pictures - he is very talented and I love he can capture our trip memories like that!
We are so excited about the Asia trip! I hope you get back to Japan at some point too! Australia is a great country, I hope you get here one day - we have lots to offer but I don't think there will ever be a Disneyland in Australia because we don't have the population to support it (our national population is only about 5 million more people than the average yearly attendance at the Magic Kingdom!) but I'm hoping one day maybe Disney cruise lines will devote some ships to Australia/New Zealand and Asia (two more ships are scheduled to be built for 2020/2021 so I'm hopeful about that!)
Anyway thanks for following along - I hope you enjoy the trip report when we get to that next year
Click to expand...
Well, I never thought we would ever have a Disney resort here in Hawaii, but we have Aulani. Granted, it is not a theme park, but it is still Disney. :earboy2: I suppose Hawaii is a tourist destination, so even though our population may not support it, we do have a huge tourist population that does.
 
momtotaryn said:
Well, I never thought we would ever have a Disney resort here in Hawaii, but we have Aulani. Granted, it is not a theme park, but it is still Disney. :earboy2: I suppose Hawaii is a tourist destination, so even though our population may not support it, we do have a huge tourist population that does.
Click to expand...

I never thought about an Aulani type resort - a theme park probably wouldn't be profitable but a resort which much less overhead could be! I'd imagine it would go somewhere on the Gold Coast (which is our cross between Hawaii - tropical islands and further north rainforests and Miami - a city strip on the beach) .. Also just wanted to say I LOVE Hawaii - it must be wonderful to live there - such a beautiful and unique place
 
Finally made it over to your PTR :thumbsup2

I grew up in Perth, but moved across the country when I was 24 to be with the love of my life (now my DH, so good move lol!). Funnily enough, I also used to do ballroom dancing over there. We now live in Melbourne with our four beautiful fur babies and like to visit Disney locations around the world as part of other holidays. Perth may be the most isolated capital city in the world, but it's a lot closer to Asia than Melbourne is!

We have also discovered the awesomeness of flying business class on points. We got that great Velocity bonus points offer too! We're happy to fly economy during the day, but always try to fly business on overnight flights. Unfortunately for my solo Shanghai trip I will be flying overnight in economy both ways :crazy2:

Because my DH has his own business, we can only get away for a week or two at a time. I'm so jealous of people who go away for 4-6 weeks or more at a time! Your trip sounds amazing :goodvibes
 
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