Anyone stop at Disneyland (CA) on the way to Tokyo? Is this insane?

[Aimeedyan]

My little boy is over the top obsessed with Casey Jr from Dumbo - it's been his thing for quite some time. Recently, in a YouTube video about Casey Jr he discovered you can ride it at Disneyland. We are very frequent WDW visitors but there is "only" a Casey Jr splash area there.

We are planning a trip to Japan for early spring, including 2 days at Tokyo Disneyland. We are coming from the east coast. I got to thinking that technically, we could fly to LAX, do a day at Disneyland so he can ride it, then fly non-stop from LAX to Tokyo the next day. It would break up the travel day (16 hours with a layover vs 5.5 nonstop on one day and the additional 9/10 nonstop on another day), and the flight(s) would be about the same cost - but, of course, with the added cost of transportation, hotel, and tickets.

Is it insane to consider extending the trip by 2 days to hit Disneyland on the way? I'm guessing jetlag would be a good argument against stopping on the way back. I'm a very YOLO person (and "that mom" when it comes to my kid) but I don't want to set us off on a bad foot before we even get to Japan.

 

[gmi3804]

Nothing's insane that involved a stop at Disney, especially if it's on the way!

In March, we're doing a 12-night Tokyo-Tokyo cruise, with a three-night Tokyo land program before that. Then on to three nights at TDR with four park days. Then we're "stopping" in Honolulu on the way back for four nights to break up the return trip and rest and relax.

We have a 9PM flight out of HND to HNL, and we arrive HNL at 9AM THE SAME DAY! Still trying to get my head around that one.

So you won't get an argument from me!

 

[teawar]

Not exactly the same thing, but We broke up a trip to Hawaii from the east coast with a 1 day overnight layover in Las Vegas. We had lunch, toured the resorts, and caught a show with our elementary school age child. The next day we flew out and everyone was much happier the rest of the trip. I say it’s not crazy and do it if you can make it make sense for your family.

 

[princesscinderella]

I would totally do this as it is nice to break up the flights especially when traveling with kids. We always ride the Casey Jr train and the storybook boats when we go to DL as they are favorites and unique to DL. The cage cars are so fun on Casey.

 

[nono]

I find that when it comes to jetlag, nothing works the same time after time, so the LAX piece is neither a reason nor an excuse. I suggest considering this: your boy won't be little forever, and why not make one part of the trip about him and what he wants to see?

 

[Lewisc]

I don't know if you have an unlimited budget and extra vacation days.

Only 2 days in the Tokyo parks? I'd allocate the time and money to an extra day or two in TD vs rush trip to DL.

Make 100% sure Casey isn’t going to be closed for maintenance if you take that road

 

[gmi3804]

I don't know if you have an unlimited budget and extra vacation days.

Only 2 days in the Tokyo parks? I'd allocate the time and money to an extra day or two in TD vs rush trip to DL.

Make 100% sure Casey isn’t going to be closed for maintenance if you take that road

I agree. It seems a long way to go for just two park days (I guess I didn't see that part), especially when you want to get out of there just to hit DL on the way back.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We're doing something similar except no actual plans made for CA. We're flying from KC to San Jose on October 5th and flying from San Jose to Tokyo on October 6th arriving in Tokyo on October 7th. We arrive in San Jose about 10:30am on the 5th which is plenty of time to go out and do some sight-seeing and we may opt to do something especially as that's pretty early for the hotel room to have a room ready. However, we have left it very flexible with no concrete plans very intentionally.

One thing I would consider is travel time and hassle to get from LAX to Anaheim. LAX is the most advantageous airport in the LA area in terms of flights from my home airport specially as they've just removed the non-stop option to get to Long Beach but it is not the best airport for proximity to DLR. And then there is considering where your hotel would be at, which I think would depend on what time your flight from LAX to Japan is. Our flight on the 6th is at 11:40am which would not be something I'd want to fight traffic morning of my flight trying to get from too far away from the airport if I was in the LA area.

So I think you'll want to look over a few things like what time would you arrive in LAX, what hotel would you stay at, what time is your Japan flight the next day.

 

[nono]

Make 100% sure Casey isn’t going to be closed for maintenance if you take that road

100% on that!

 

[gfsrunxc23]

We did something just like that earlier this year (~May). We flew from the east coast to LAX early on a Friday, got to Disneyland by 11/12 in the morning and spent the rest of the day and the following day at those parks. We left from Disneyland early Sunday for a midday flight to Narita, arriving in Japan in the afternoon. Its definitely doable, and if your time/budget allows I definitely recommend it! As other have said, if possible, spending more time at the Tokyo parks would be preferable (or in addition to time at Disnelyand).
In terms of cost, the flights made sense and we saved money doing the split trip on the way to Japan, and direct back to the east coast. But with the added cost of park tickets + food, etc. I think we ended up with little in the way of cost savings.