Japan Trip Report-May 2024

[Agent 86]

So, if you have one window from 10-12 and one from 5-7, you enter at 10, but don’t use the Standby Pass that got you the window and instead exit then they will not allow you to reenter. I think it can read that way. I hope so as otherwise it would be a logistical nightmare with people camping out everywhere.

So, to use your example. You enter at 10am, then decide to leave to get a snack elsewhere, then return at 11am and they won’t let you in to use your Standby Pass before 12pm?

But, they’ll let you back in at 5pm for your paid Premier Access ticket?

I guess I could read it like that. So you can’t exit and renter during your ride window period. I guess we’ll wait and see once somewhat “normal” operations commence after the 6th.

 

[Kwami]

So, to use your example. You enter at 10am, then decide to leave to get a snack elsewhere, then return at 11am and they won’t let you in to use your Standby Pass before 12pm?

But, they’ll let you back in at 5pm for your paid Premier Access ticket?

I guess I could read it like that. So you can’t exit and renter during your ride window period. I guess we’ll wait and see once somewhat “normal” operations commence after the 6th.

I think they just mean that you can't enter twice with the same pass, regardless of what type of pass it is (except for the magic passports that allow access all day). So, as you wrote, if you enter at 10am and leave at 11am, then you can't return using the same pass that allowed you entry at 10am. You need a new pass.

 

[Flossbolna]

So, to use your example. You enter at 10am, then decide to leave to get a snack elsewhere, then return at 11am and they won’t let you in to use your Standby Pass before 12pm?

But, they’ll let you back in at 5pm for your paid Premier Access ticket?

I guess I could read it like that. So you can’t exit and renter during your ride window period. I guess we’ll wait and see once somewhat “normal” operations commence after the 6th.

Yes, that’s what I meant. This is in line what @Haley R reported how it worked for them. Of course no guarantee, but I think the wording can be read that way.

 

[djmeredith]

You probably saw us leaving the park that day lol. I was running and pushing ds in the stroller to get him out of the rain. It was so bad. I almost bought a rain cover for the stroller but didn’t since it was the only predicted bad weather day.

I’m hoping to start typing out our Disney days maybe tomorrow. We all got sick and are fighting that right now while also adjusting back to eastern time.

Sorry to hear that, hope you're feeling better soon. My nephew is also sick from something he brought back. So far, knock on wood, I am healthy.

 

[Haley R]

Sorry to hear that, hope you're feeling better soon. My nephew is also sick from something he brought back. So far, knock on wood, I am healthy.

Have you adjusted back to the time change? We’re all having an awful time. Ds still takes a nap and I have been too but I have to set alarms because we would sleep through like it’s night time otherwise

 

[Haley R]

DL Hotel
We stayed at the DL Hotel for 5 nights and booked a 5th-6th floor Grand Park View Room. The view from our room was absolutely amazing. Being able to watch the monorail go by and listen to the park music was so magical. We left our window open the majority of the time and ds sat at the table. He kept asking to hear the Disney music. We never actually got to watch the fireworks from our room because they were cancelled almost every day and the one day they went off we were in the park but that wasn’t a huge deal to us.

Our room had two beds with a trundle under the one closest to the window. That’s where DS slept and it was great. They gave us cute little plastic mugs in the bathroom, toothbrushes, an amenity kit, and reusable bags. They gave us new bags every single day even if we left the old ones out so we ended up with 10 of those bags

The outside of the hotel is so pretty and we loved the garden to the right of the main entrance. You have to use a hotel key to access the garden which is nice so it isn’t crowded. Ds had a lot of fun running around and smelling the flowers. We weren’t able to see the outdoor pool because they close it off when it isn’t summer. I was surprised by this. I thought we’d be able to walk by it.

The convenience store in the hotel is actually what made us choose this over Mira Costa and it was great. We went daily to get things like yogurt, cheese sticks, onigiri, orange juice, etc. It’s much bigger than the store at the Sheraton and has things like toothbrushes and even some Disney merch.

The only real complaint I have about this hotel is the noise. We may have just been unlucky with our neighbors but we heard banging constantly and it wasn’t just from one room so I’m thinking maybe the rooms aren’t sound proofed well from each other. We couldn’t hear any outside noise, just from other rooms. Some nights it would go as late as 11:30 pm. It really could be just other people opening and closing drawers, the closet, and things like that but it definitely made it hard to fall asleep most nights. We didn’t have this problem at the Sheraton. It was very quiet there.

Overall, we had a fantastic time. I would 100% book that room category again and being able to walk straight back from the park was so nice. The price is a bit high especially since we could book other places with points but we thought it was worth it for Happy Entry and being so close to the park.

 

[djmeredith]

Have you adjusted back to the time change? We’re all having an awful time. Ds still takes a nap and I have been too but I have to set alarms because we would sleep through like it’s night time otherwise

So sorry to hear that. We were incredibly lucky to have no adjustment period when we arrived in Japan or returning home. We left Japan at 5:15 pm and arrived home at 8:15 pm EST (9:15 am Japan). I purposely stayed awake during our long flight except for a very quick 15-20 min nap. So I had basically been awake over 24 hrs when we got home and went straight to bed around 10:00. I planned ahead and asked my doc for a low dose sleep aid in case I needed it arriving in Japan or back home. I did take one our first night back just to be sure I stayed asleep, mainly because I had to get up that next morning and work from home. I've used that a couple of other nights proactively just to be sure I slept through the night.

I'm sure its much harder with a little one. There isn't an option to force them to stay awake and then give them a sleep aid according to a clock.

 

[djmeredith]

The exterior of the DL Hotel is beautiful! The pics I had seen did not do it justice. Your view is awesome. If I ever return I will likely stay there. That's a bummer about the noise though.

Not having the konbini at MC was not ideal. I ended up paying for the buffet bkfst our first morning because I was so worried about the food situation in the park. I later discovered the gift shop does sell a few little pastry type items (and a few other snacks and lots of drinks). We bought a couple of the pastries for our flight home and they were actually really good.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Going from the DLH konbini to the MC one was a huge downgrade for real

 

[Kwami]

DL Hotel
We stayed at the DL Hotel for 5 nights and booked a 5th-6th floor Grand Park View Room. The view from our room was absolutely amazing. Being able to watch the monorail go by and listen to the park music was so magical. We left our window open the majority of the time and ds sat at the table. He kept asking to hear the Disney music. We never actually got to watch the fireworks from our room because they were cancelled almost every day and the one day they went off we were in the park but that wasn’t a huge deal to us.

Our room had two beds with a trundle under the one closest to the window. That’s where DS slept and it was great. They gave us cute little plastic mugs in the bathroom, toothbrushes, an amenity kit, and reusable bags. They gave us new bags every single day even if we left the old ones out so we ended up with 10 of those bags

The outside of the hotel is so pretty and we loved the garden to the right of the main entrance. You have to use a hotel key to access the garden which is nice so it isn’t crowded. Ds had a lot of fun running around and smelling the flowers. We weren’t able to see the outdoor pool because they close it off when it isn’t summer. I was surprised by this. I thought we’d be able to walk by it.

The convenience store in the hotel is actually what made us choose this over Mira Costa and it was great. We went daily to get things like yogurt, cheese sticks, onigiri, orange juice, etc. It’s much bigger than the store at the Sheraton and has things like toothbrushes and even some Disney merch.

The only real complaint I have about this hotel is the noise. We may have just been unlucky with our neighbors but we heard banging constantly and it wasn’t just from one room so I’m thinking maybe the rooms aren’t sound proofed well from each other. We couldn’t hear any outside noise, just from other rooms. Some nights it would go as late as 11:30 pm. It really could be just other people opening and closing drawers, the closet, and things like that but it definitely made it hard to fall asleep most nights. We didn’t have this problem at the Sheraton. It was very quiet there.

Overall, we had a fantastic time. I would 100% book that room category again and being able to walk straight back from the park was so nice. The price is a bit high especially since we could book other places with points but we thought it was worth it for Happy Entry and being so close to the park.

Do you get to keep those little cups?

 

[Haley R]

Do you get to keep those little cups?

Yep you do. If you put them away they will give you more when they make up the room. We started leaving the cups there because we didn’t want any more

 

[Haley R]

Tokyo DL-Day 1
I’m gonna try to remember as much as I can but I may forget a few things since we’ve been home for awhile. I tried taking pictures of every ride we went on so I could go back and check what time we rode things.

We saw people lining up for Happy Entry at DL hotel around 7 am for an 8:45 am park opening.

7:15 am-We decided to join the line because we weren’t sure how things would go the first day and we were already up and ready. We were through security and in line at the ticket gates by 8 am. We were maybe 10 people back. Ds did better than I expected waiting in line and didn’t even ask to watch anything on our phones. I think he was excited to be there.

8:45 am-They let Happy Entry in right on time. We started by booking a priority pass for Monsters Inc and premier access for Beauty and the Beast while walking quickly to Baymax. Our strategy was to book the earliest possible times for both so we could book our next one asap.

8:51 am-Rode Baymax first. It’s such a cute ride! We had to ride it this day because it closed for refurbishment our second DL day. We’ve been on the Alien Saucers at WDW but Baymax is better. I love that the songs have different dances and everyone knows them.

9:06 am-After Baymax we went to Space Mountain which was maybe a 10 minute wait. We got there right before normal guests started joining the line. I personally like the one at WDW more but ds loved it. He’s not tall enough for the one at WDW.

9:25 am-Used our priority pass at Monsters Inc. This was the only time we rode this because none of us loved it. It’s kind of chaotic and moves through scenes quickly but using the flashlights is fun. After using our pass we booked one for Pooh.

9:44 am-Used our premier access for Beauty and the Beast. The castle is awesome and all of the animatronics are really cool. We only rode this once because we didn’t feel like waiting in line or paying for it again. After we rode we booked our next premier access for Splash.

10:23 am-We were really hungry by this point because we had a small breakfast in the room so we did a mobile order at Tomorrowland Terrace. Ds and I shared Mickey nuggets and fries and dh got the Baymax sandwich. He really liked the sandwich.

10:59 am-Stopped for popsicles and ice cream sandwiches on our way to Toon Town. By this point Toon Town was pretty busy so we didn’t do much. We went in Donald’s boat, Minnie’s house, and the treehouse but they were packed and hard to walk around in so we didn’t stay too long. We had another DL day so saved some of it for then.

11:37 am-Used our Splash premier access. Ds was really excited for this ride and it ended up being one of his favorites. I’m glad we were able to ride it since we don’t have it at home anymore. After riding we booked another premier access for later that day. We went into this trip prepared to pay for any premier access to make our life easier with a 4 year old lol.

12:34 pm-Rode Pooh using our priority pass. We showed up a little early and it was raining so we walked around the gift shop for about 10 minutes before riding. Pooh is cute and better than the one at WDW. After riding we booked a pass for Buzz but couldn’t get one until a lot later in the day. By this point there weren’t many priority passes left.

12:59 pm-We started making our way out of the park to head back to the hotel for a nap. I think we got a small lunch from the store at the hotel but I can’t remember.

5:37 pm-On our way back to Splash we decided to do the Tiki Room. I love this version with Stitch so much more than the one at WDW. Ds thought it was so cool to see Stitch.

6:21 pm-Rode splash for the second time with a premier access and then booked Baymax again.

6:52 pm-Rode Baymax with our pass. We ended up getting the same song but it didn’t matter. It was so much fun.

7:12 pm-We went into the store next to Buzz to look at merch. We found some cute green alien stuff and ds picked out a green alien headband to wear.

7:22 pm-Picked up a mobile order at Plasma Rays and ate outside facing the castle. We started out eating inside and forgot all about the electrical parade. Once we saw it going we moved to sit outside facing the castle and this ended up being a pretty cool spot to watch it from. The one thing I loved from Plasma Rays were the green tortilla chips that came with the chicken tenders lol. They were so good! They tasted almost like cool ranch Doritos.

7:53 pm-Finally got to use our priority pass for Buzz. The lasers and guns are so much better here. I like that you can remove the gun from the vehicle.

8:08 pm-Rode it’s a small world which is also better here and was maybe a 5 minute wait. Ds had a lot of fun finding the characters in each country. I wish they would add them to our small world.

8:56 pm-Rode tea cups with a 5 minute wait. We wanted to squeeze one last ride in for the night. I’m not sure what we did in between these two rides because that seems like a long time and small world was a short wait.

9:05 pm-We started heading out of the park since it was closed. You definitely don’t get an empty park feel like you do sometimes leaving wdw parks at park close but it wasn’t packed.

Overall, we had a fantastic first day. We were able to ride a ton of things using premier and priority passes.

 

[Agent 86]

7:22 pm-Picked up a mobile order at Plasma Rays and ate outside facing the castle. We started out eating inside and forgot all about the electrical parade. Once we saw it going we moved to sit outside facing the castle and this ended up being a pretty cool spot to watch it from.

Wow! That area was always super packed for the day and night parades when we looked (hoping to be able to sit down, eat and watch all at the same time). Nice work!

 

[Haley R]

Wow! That area was always super packed for the day and night parades when we looked (hoping to be able to sit down, eat and watch all at the same time). Nice work!

We were able to sit down there our second DL day also. The parade started at 7:30 and I think we sat down for dinner at 7:15 maybe

 

[djmeredith]

That's the same rainy day we were there, but it was our only DL park day. We were also able to maximize the Happy 15 with very low waits in Tomorrowland. I highly recommend that approach.

 

[Haley R]

DisneySea-Day 1
Today we had to start earlier because happy entry for DisneySea started at 8 am compared to the 8:45 am at TDL. The forecast for this day was not good; tons of rain and wind. I think we got to the happy entry security around 7 am but I can’t remember. I don’t have any pictures for reference because it rained the whole time we stood in line and ds was having meltdowns. He wanted to hold his own umbrella but kept running into others around us. They did an awful job with security this day. They only had one lane open for all of happy entry guests and decided to let regular day guests also go through security at the same time. We were still standing in that line barely moving very close to 8 am. They eventually opened a second security but we didn’t get into the park until after 8 am. It wasn’t too late but every minute counts with happy entry. Right when we got into the park we booked a premier access for Rapunzel and a standby for Peter Pan. Rapunzel wasn’t until late afternoon but Peter Pan was for around 9:30 am I think. We also booked a priority pass for Nemo and did a mobile order for Snuggly Duckling for around the same time as our Peter Pan standby pass.

8:15 am-Went to Toy Story first and walked on twice with no wait. We were gonna do Tower of Terror first but didn’t realize it didn’t open until 9.

8:45 am-Got in line for Tower of Terror and rode. It was about a 30 minute wait. Once we got off I was able to book a premier access to ride it again later. I thought I heard ds crying on the ride but he was laughing. This was his first time on the ride and I wasn’t sure how he was going to handle it. It was his favorite ride at all of Tokyo Disney.

9:33 am-Bought milk chocolate popcorn at the Cape Cod stand. It was raining so the line was really short. We also bought soy sauce and butter right after. We figured we might as well try them while the lines were short. I didn’t enjoy the soy sauce but the milk chocolate was really good.

9:50 am-It was absolutely pouring at this time so we used our pass for Nemo. Ds loved it and I forgot it splashes you. I don’t think we booked any more priority passes this day because there isn’t much else ds can ride that needs one. Somewhere around this time I saw Peter Pan wasn’t working and that’s why we didn’t rush back to Fantasy Springs.

10:14 am-Finally had a break from the rain and rode Aquatopia. This ended up being one of ds’s favorite rides. It was basically a walk on.

10:33 am-Scanned our tickets to enter Fantasy Springs and walked over to the Snuggly Duckling. Fantasy Springs is so far back in the park. It’s a ton of walking if you have to go back and forth like we did because of having different times for our premier access and standby passes. The entrance to get into Fantasy Springs was packed with people taking pictures but weren’t actually going into the land which was a bit annoying. The pathway was blocked and hard to get past people. Tangled is ds’s favorite movie so getting to go into the Snuggle Duckling was so cool for him. He loved the weapons piled by the front door and Hook Hand’s piano. The food here was just okay. I did like the dessert that came in the frying pan though and we ended up keeping the frying pan for ds to play with lol.

11:10 am-After our early lunch, we wandered over to the Peter Pan pirate ship hoping the ride would open soon. Ds loved this so much but it was packed and hard for him to enjoy it. He wanted to play pretend so bad but there were too many people.

11:42 am-Rode Tower of Terror with our premier access. After riding we booked Soaring for later. Then headed back on the monorail to the hotel to grab something to eat from the convenience store and took a nap.

5:07 pm-Got back to DisneySea and headed to Soaring to use our premier access. It’s not much different from the one at WDW but I liked the Tokyo scene more than the Eiffel Tower scene we have here.

5:44 pm. Walked back and entered Fantasy Springs again to ride Rapunzel. The ride is very short but cute. It has great animatronics and the lantern scene is pretty. I also think seeing Rapunzel in the tower is cool.

6:02 pm-Used our standby pass for Peter Pan. Since the ride was down earlier it turned our pass into a multiple experience pass and listed which rides we could use it on. The only ride in Fantasy Springs we could use it for was Peter Pan. We all loved this ride! I think it was our favorite out of the rides in the new area. I don’t normally love screen rides but it’s very immersive and a lot of fun.

6:34 pm-Picked up a mobile order from Miguel’s for dinner. I got the pork rice roll and the gyoza dog. The pork rice roll was good but the gyoza dog was delicious!

7:08 pm-We finally made it to Mermaid Lagoon. It was sprinkling but not raining too hard so ds and I rode the little coaster outside. I think we rode it 3 or 4 times. The cast members here were so energetic and made it so much fun.

7:28-Rode all of the rides in Mermaid Lagoon and let ds run around the playground. It was a great time for this because nothing was busy.

8:04 pm-Rode 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Ds really liked this one. I’m personally not a fan of it. After we got off it started to rain harder. Ds wanted to ride again and I wanted to ride Journey to the Center of the Earth so we split up. Ds had been super attached to me this entire trip so I was surprised he didn’t make a big fuss about splitting. I waited about 20 minutes. Journey is fun to ride once but not a must do for me.

This is when the weather got nasty. I stood inside the caves waiting for ds and dh to finish their ride (they ended up riding twice). It was absolutely pouring and so windy we couldn’t even hold an umbrella. Ds was in his stroller getting hit by rain because we didn’t have a rain cover. It was really awful. We eventually made it to the monorail station soaked and tired.

Excluding the weather, we had a great day and rode almost everything we wanted in the park in one day. The only area we didn’t get to was the Arabian Coast and we didn’t have time to shop but we knew we had another day.

 

[Disneyhanna]

I thought I heard ds crying on the ride but he was laughing. This was his first time on the ride and I wasn’t sure how he was going to handle it. It was his favorite ride at all of Tokyo Disney.

Tower of terror was my most memorable ride as a kid (though I was quite a bit older my first time, 8 I think). I thought it was pretty spooky so he’s a brave kid!

Rode 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Ds really liked this one. I’m personally not a fan of it.

I went in blind on this one and got off the ride thinking what the heck was that lol. Not what I expected at all, nor do I feel the need to ever do it again. I can see the appeal for kids though! Again, I thought it was a bit creepy!

Journey is fun to ride once but not a must do for me.

I agree it was just okay! Overall DS hasn’t really blown me away. I think I honestly preferred DL, which may be my favorite version so far. Not what I was expecting! I think FS is easily my favorite part of DS but I think I’m just a nostalgic ride person.

 

[Haley R]

Tower of terror was my most memorable ride as a kid (though I was quite a bit older my first time, 8 I think). I thought it was pretty spooky so he’s a brave kid!

I went in blind on this one and got off the ride thinking what the heck was that lol. Not what I expected at all, nor do I feel the need to ever do it again. I can see the appeal for kids though! Again, I thought it was a bit creepy!

I agree it was just okay! Overall DS hasn’t really blown me away. I think I honestly preferred DL, which may be my favorite version so far. Not what I was expecting! I think FS is easily my favorite part of DS but I think I’m just a nostalgic ride person.

I prepared ds ahead of time and showed him Tower of Terror on YouTube. He said it looked fun. I was mostly worried about when it’s pitch black but he really didn’t mind. He loved the tiki guy lol. I’d like to take him on the one here and see what he thinks.

I prefer DL also. DS is very pretty and I enjoy walking around the different areas but I think DL is a lot better for rides. There was a lot more for ds to do at DL.

 

[Disneyhanna]

I prepared ds ahead of time and showed him Tower of Terror on YouTube. He said it looked fun. I was mostly worried about when it’s pitch black but he really didn’t mind. He loved the tiki guy lol. I’d like to take him on the one here and see what he thinks.

I prefer DL also. DS is very pretty and I enjoy walking around the different areas but I think DL is a lot better for rides. There was a lot more for ds to do at DL.

Yes DS was so spread out, even when I wanted food it was like dang I gotta cross the whole park! I can see it growing on me if I was a local as it seemed like there were lots of spots to chill and relax but obviously sad a tourist, don’t really have that luxury!

 

[nono]

5:07 pm-Got back to DisneySea and headed to Soaring to use our premier access. It’s not much different from the one at WDW but I liked the Tokyo scene more than the Eiffel Tower scene we have here.

Yeah, the Premier Access kinda blows the whole difference of what makes Soaring great in Japan (the queue and complete story set up). It'll be interesting to see if standby wait times moderate with FS open.