Anyone been to Toyko Disneyland?

Tara2004

Mouseketeer
Joined
Apr 17, 2011
Messages
437
Has anyone been and if so have you got any tricks or tips for Japan?
What was it like? and how long do you need for Japan trip. I am thinking a week.
Also where did you stay and how much is it. Flights to Japan are pretty good price with Jetstar, so we are fishing for ideas and may make a trip there this year.

Any ideas at all would be welcomed
 
How exciting!

I'd check out Aussie Wendy's TR in the Tokyo Disneyland section of the boards. Lots of gorgeous pictures there.

I believe that the seminal TR was written by Lurky Loo. I'm up to page 20 or so. Happy reading! :rotfl2:
 
I have! Pick me! Pick me! - LOVED it.

We did the same thing as you back in 2008 - saw the 2 for 1 jetstar deal and that prompted a Japan trip.
Japan is fantastic - I highly recommend it for a holiday. We stayed 21 nights and it wasn't enough. We went in and out of Osaka - so we saw Kyoto and Nara - which were the most beautiful cities. Caught the train up to Tokyo and stayed at Mira Costa for 3 nights.
Hotels are outrageously expensive in Japan (compared to Australia). Everything was fine (shopping, transport food etc - same as here).
If you can go during spring or autumn it is astonishingly beautiful.
Mice Chat has a very active TDL chat board and there are a couple of old but very detailed reports on Laughing Place and Theme Park Review has several photo heavy trip reports and reviews
 
We're going for 2 weeks in July. A week in Tokyo and a week in Osaka, with of course some Disney days :goodvibes
 

Oh I"m so glad you asked this question. I would love to go to Japan and have been thinking about it lately. With Jetstar flying direct from the Gold Coast it is an affordable (flight wise) way to go :thumbsup2
 
Sugar Glider :rotfl2: yes you have been chosen :thumbsup2

I am looking into this serious now, gotta do some sums on it all, but the flights are really good to get to Toyko. I am thinking of only doing a week there as we want a big 4 week trip to WDW next Oct. This is just to get our Disney Fix:lmao:

How was the Disney Sea park? I dont think there is another Disney Park like that one anywhere is there ? Could be a good fun time, and time for another Video series trip report Japan Style should be fun:thumbsup2
 
Just seen that Universal has just opened a new park as well for the younger kids. This trip could be a blast. Universal Wonderland brand new. Gotta check this out.:cool1:
 
I have! Pick me! Pick me! - LOVED it.

We did the same thing as you back in 2008 - saw the 2 for 1 jetstar deal and that prompted a Japan trip.
Japan is fantastic - I highly recommend it for a holiday. We stayed 21 nights and it wasn't enough. We went in and out of Osaka - so we saw Kyoto and Nara - which were the most beautiful cities. Caught the train up to Tokyo and stayed at Mira Costa for 3 nights.
Hotels are outrageously expensive in Japan (compared to Australia). Everything was fine (shopping, transport food etc - same as here).
If you can go during spring or autumn it is astonishingly beautiful.
Mice Chat has a very active TDL chat board and there are a couple of old but very detailed reports on Laughing Place and Theme Park Review has several photo heavy trip reports and reviews

Did you take young kids with you ? or would it be ok for us to take 2 young children aged 4.5 and 8 ? How was the language barrier for you?
 
I went a looong time ago, when I was 17, so no good advice. Have been back to Tokyo a few times since but it was always for work and no time for DL. I love Tokyo as a city though, always felt completely safe walking around by myself at night, and plenty to see. Kyoto was lovely as a taste of the Japan of old.
 
Did you take young kids with you ? or would it be ok for us to take 2 young children aged 4.5 and 8 ? How was the language barrier for you?

No - I don't have kids - just my partner and I. Language was not a problem. Turned up in Tokyo and everyone automatically spoke English to us! Down south in Kyoto and Nara we had a mixed experience - and was glad to have some Japanese.

In TDL everything is bi-lingual Japanese/English - all the signs etc. They have english language cards and for shows you can get a english headset . Most staff had some English - some were excellent.

the only problem where language was a barrier were the Kyoto taxi drivers. Known for not speaking english - and none of ours did. We carried a card written in Japanese with the address of our townhouse on it.

Disney Sea in my mind is one of the best theme parks in the world - it is certainly the most beautiful. You've all read my posts before about TDL!

re: Kiddies - well - It is the same experience as WDW. I don't know how picky your kids are with food. Japanese food is FAR less sweeter than US. And obviously traditional Japanese may be a bit unusual for a child (tofu, mushrooms, smoked fish, seaweed, etc) Some is good fun though!

The parks are very crowded - the Japanese LOVE Disney. Think heavy day at WDW is most days at TDL. Plus they sell an "After 6pm" pass and at 6pm squillions of people come pouring into the park for the evening.

So for kiddies you'll need to keep track of them in the crowds.

go and have a look at some of those other sites which I think are more active re: TDL. Bec's reminder of TripAdvisor is a good one - that is an active board too.

My only reason why I haven't gone back - the exchange rate and cost of hotel rooms. Have a look at the pricing on the TDL official site (and via TripAdvisor) and you'll fall off your chair. TDL doesn't offer discounts.
The absolute cheapest room you can possibly get at a Disney hotel is $330/night - the room I had is currently selling for $725/night:crazy2::sad::rotfl2: After breaking that price barrier a deluxe hotel at WDW seems tame now!
 
Anyone noticed how there is a sudden interest in TDL from the Aussies on here!

BecBennett, Tara2004, Aussietravellers, myself and I believe PIO may even be scheming for a Tokyo trip!!:smokin:


I blame you, Sugarglider and your glowing reviews of TDL and Disneysea!!!!!:stir:
 
Oh, and while the Disney official hotels are ridiculously expensive - the Disney partner hotels can be quite reasonable- at the moment the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay is coming in at 24000yen per night in April2013. (around$280 = eek - that sounds expensive, but we can fit five in the room, so cheaper than 2 rooms elsewhere - but makes the disney hotels seem :faint:)

This is for a room with 2 double beds and 2 singles and is on the monorail line to the parks. :cool1: The Japanese seem to have a funny rule whereby adults cant share beds - so you can fit five in this room as long as the bed sharers are under 17:rolleyes2

(I Just cant commit to booking yet, I dont know why:confused3)
 
only been to Tokyo for 2 days in DEC 2008...loved it, want to go back. fantastic city, safe, clean but expensive..we stayed in a youth hostel.

so please post all your plans, deals and tips......

:drive:
 
The Japanese seem to have a funny rule whereby adults cant share beds

you know, I once heard that the reason there are usually 2 beds in a hotel room is something to do with Asian travellers - I've never looked this up for confirmation, because what on earth would you put as search parameters?? :faint: - anyhoo, apparently there are 2 beds because you do the deed in one, and then move into the clean one for sleeping :rotfl:

So maybe it's not that you can't share a bed if you're an adult, it's that you can't sleep in a "soiled" one, so naturally you need 2 to move about... :confused3:rotfl2:
 
Well Bec, I dont think that there'll be too much of that going on with five of us in the room!

So looks like we can stay in the one bed - and the children can each have their own!! :rotfl:
 
Two words - DO IT. :cheer2:
Japanese make a fuss of kids and plenty of western burgers, chips, hotdogs, crepes stuffed with icecream, donuts....though most children like the noodle dishes anyway. Tokyo and Disney Resort English no probs. Elsewhere Ok but don't expect a high level of English-but everyone will do their utmost best to help.

One week with kids I'd stick to Disney Resort and Tokyo with maybe a day trip out of town-no time to head south to Kyoto. You can do a day trip to Kyoto but as Lurky Loo found (do read her TR) what you see and experience makes you wonder why bother and masks the attractiveness of the town. Kyoto is beautiful (as I hope my pics on my TR show) but you need time there to suss it out.

Lots of day options ex Tokyo (Tripadvisor good here) if you want a day away such as Nikko or Kamakura. We didn't have time. Hikone is popular and the kids would love the gondala and pirate boat options but I read too many TR with bad weather, massive crowds and not really sure what most posters got out of it and with 2 youngies whinging along the way.... I'd prob skip and do new Universal instead or not plan in advance and only go to Hikone on a day when there's good weather (weather forecasts were amazingly accurate btw there-down to rain will start around 8am and it did).

You need really 2 days for DisneySea (but I could easily fill 3) and 2 days for Disneyland. As BattyMum said watch out for cheap deals on partner hotels. We got a room for 3 at the Sheraton Grande (2 doubles and the single... love the explanation for why you need multiple beds....) for $220-prices jumped about all over the place prior though. We ended up with the best deal at that time through wotif.com - elsewhere I mostly used Expedia or VBRO (self-contained private rental).There are also cheaper hotels closer in to Tokyo that are preferred Disney hotels and some run a shuttle bus-could be worth investigating as there are no real "early guest entry" deals other than at Mira Costa.

The parks do get crowded but like US get there at opening and best for first 3 hours and definately on a weekday. If summer I would be resting at hotel/pool etc in middle of the day and plan on shows, unpopular rides etc in the evenings when the after work/school crowd come in. In contrast Tokyo city is nice and quiet (for Tokyo) weekends for exploring. Just the toy stores will keep your children amused for hours and they will like to ring the bell and participate in the ritual at a shinto shrine. Then there's swan boats at Ueno in summer and some other lakes.

Have fun planning-between Micechat, TA, Theme Parks and Tokyo Board here there is heaps of info about and yes, everyone seems to be going suddenly (its those amazing airfares!)
 
Did you take young kids with you ? or would it be ok for us to take 2 young children aged 4.5 and 8 ? How was the language barrier for you?

ABSOLUTELY you will be fine! We've been to Japan twice. Once in 2006, which was just me and DH, and then in 2010 with our boys, then aged 3 and 16 months.

We both absolutely love, love, love Japan. On our first trip we spent a week based in Tokyo and a week based in Kyoto. We actually didn't see much of Tokyo, as we spent most of our Tokyo time in Disneyland and Disney Sea. Kyoto though, was beautiful. We did day trips from there to Nara and Himeji as well as exploring the city and going to a J-League soccer game (DH is a huge soccer nut).

On our second trip with the boys, we only stayed for a week in Tokyo and only ventured into the city on one miserable, failed excursion, but that had nothing to do with the city or country, and everything to do with two tired babies, a pregnant mummy, rain and a whole lot of impatience. The rest of the time we spent in the Disney parks and again, BRILLIANT.

Tokyo DisneySea is an amazing park. There is no other park like it. The themeing and just the overall atmosphere is magical. The two combined parks are actually DH's favourite, and very close to being my favourite - although I haven't been to Hong Kong.

The language barrier will most likely not be a problem at all if you only plan to stay in and around Tokyo and if you are only thinking a week, that is probably wisest. I did Japanese in Yr 12, but only remember the basics and some odd phrases like "My car is not old", not really helpful :rotfl2: And we didn't have an issue at all. We had one of those billingual dictionaries which helped us in the few instances we encountered non-english speakers. We found that most people automatically spoke to us in English. We even had people come up to us and tell us how adorable our children were in English :thumbsup2

On our trip with the kids we stayed at the Hilton Tokyo Bay. It's on the monorail line (well, a five minute walk from the station) and we found it so easy getting the kids back for mid-day naps. We spent the last night at the Mira Costa overlooking DisneySea and it was A-MAY-ZING. Would love to stay there again, but at $400/night it's a tad on the expensive side. I think we got the Hilton for around $180/night. Try checking out the UK Hilton website, they seemed to have better deals than elsewhere when we were booking.

My kids are notoriously picky but plain eaters so they basically survived on Mickey-shaped nuggets, fruit and sandwiches while we were there. We couldn't tempt them with anything more adventurous. Oh, unless you count the honey popcorn from Disneyland (they also have chocolate, strawberry, coconut, cappucino and some other interesting flavours available in awesome collectable popcorn buckets).

The trips were a bit hard to plan, especially since we were use to the ridiculous amount of information there is available for the US Disney parks. We got it all sorted eventually though, the hardest part to organise was the transfer to our hotel from the airport. We flew Jetstar with the boys and our flight got in in the evening. All the bus transfers to Disney hotels had finished for the day. Knowing this in advance, we organised a private car transfer. We would have gone public transport - which is terribly efficient in Japan, like nothing I've ever seen - but with the two littlies, it was easier to go with a private car. It was a little expensive, but the peace of mind, and having the kids in carseats made us feel a lot better, and I got a little kick out of having somebody hold up a sign with our name on it :)

Seriously Japan is a GREAT place to visit. DH has been trying to figure out a way to make Japan a pitt-stop on our way to the US on our big trip in 2015 :)
 
We went to Tokyo August 2010. We loved it. My DD is obsessed with Japanese culture so that was the main reason we chose to go there. I must admit I wasn't too excited, but I loved it so much.
And Disney Tokyo is AMAZING.
 
I should add, we only had a week there cause DH was between jobs. But we also felt safe everywhere we went. The public transport is amazing. The language was definitely a barrier, but to us, that added to the fun. And there is LOTS of walking.
We did a day trip to Mt. Fuji which was very touristy, but still lots of fun. We definitely will go back one day.
 














Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!

Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer in late summer and early fall. Plus, enjoy other savings for shorter stays.This offer is valid for stays most nights from August 1 to October 11, 2025.
CLICK HERE







New Posts







DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top