Need help ... lotta help

[LovesTimone]

Not sure how to reply to all of the kind words. Crappy situation (keeping it G rated) for sure, but we do what we can. That said... How far in advance do you all make your plans? From what i can tell, I can make plane reservations a year out but looks like some of the other stuff has to wait until closer to travel dates. Accurate? Can someone please explain the concept of picking things up at the airport? We have portable chargers etc and phones with data and wifi are you good folks referring to a unique process just with Japan? Seems like the airport is a vacation stop in and of itself ... train tix, hotel etc. How many "travel days" do you allow for? I am most curious about the inbound leg and if there is a recovery day needed?

Hi again..

I started what I call preliminary planning early spring last year... then I got more serious once we decided to go for sure... toward the end of last year... We have all ready gotten airfare purchased ( in January of this year) so that is the biggest thing... now we are looking at Hotels, and waiting for our time frame to open up... I have a folder set on my computer as well as a old school note book on things at we want to do, see, and experience...

You will need to decide if you want to move around Japan and visit different city's and site's... make sure to take into consideration cost of travel and the time it will take to travel there... only you can make those decisions...

Another thing is to long for Japanese holiday... such as Golden week.... as well the Olympic will be going on this year, I think July and August... so that is something you will need to think about...

From what I understand and have gotten good info from the Dis'er ... Is that things like the JR pass, Wifi and extra battery ( you will need this to be able to connect while in Japan) and Sucia passes... You schedule or reserve them on line, and then you will print out paperwork and schedule to pick up at airport, there are desk in the airport for you pick up and drop off things like the WIFI and extra battery on your way home... I know that there are other options... and you will need to check what time you will be landing and open and close times of the desk... For us we are landing at 3:30 ish so the desks will be open to pick up at the airport.. so this work out for us...

For DH and I - we never plan anything on arrival day.... jet lag is a real thing and for us the time change will be a huge factor a 14 hour time difference... Orlando to Tokyo - adding in how early we will have to get up, and layovers... for us it will be a very long day....

As well for DH and I we don't push through it once we arrive... I know most people go for the pushing through.... for us it just doesn't work... once we get into our room we take shower and take a nap for a couple of hours...then get up and head out... for dinner, .... depending on how we feel, we might do a tiny bit of exploring or up to full on checking things out.. then try to get to bed at our normal time in the new time zone

All this is truly depending on actual arrival time, and all that airport stuff, and then travel time to the hotel... and all this is without delays and such... so having a plan B or C... is something I try to have in back pocket... for arrival day... and if all else fail, we will shower, order room service and just straight to bed... which we have done before...

I also like to plan a morning or two to sleep in, or call it day around dinner time... maybe have a early dinner, or bring something back to the room or even room service and go to bed early midway through the trip... ... these are the things that work for us...

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

Read trip reports! That's the best place to decide what you want to do in my opinion and you will read about people doing things you may not have considered. That first-hand experience people write about is so helpful! And pics are nice, too

 

[indoshakespeare]

Read trip reports! That's the best place to decide what you want to do in my opinion and you will read about people doing things you may not have considered. That first-hand experience people write about is so helpful! And pics are nice, too

Good Idea. Check out Haley R's report and vlog
https://www.disboards.com/threads/japan-vlog.3761005/

 

[gelatoni fan]

I was just going to ask about dates. Some folks I have read suggest NOT going in July but along with the school calendar is the fact that my parents typically come for a month from the middle of June to the middle of July making the middle to end of July an "easy" time according to the calendar for us to go. I am sure we can be flexible with my folks but kinda want to make sure it makes sense to avoid mid to late july...

Now to start building a spreadsheet and sharing it here with a rough timeline ...

Crowds aside, I recommend going before June 12 to see the Easter stuff or after July 1 to see the summer stuff. I like Tip Top Easter more than Pirates Summer Battle so before June 12 would be my preference. Late July tends to be rather busy and may especially bad this year due to the Olympics. If you go in the middle of June, you may need to be careful about the 15th which is Chiba prefecture's citizen's day. TDR is located in Chiba and some companies in Chiba will give employees the day off.

 

[Haley R]

Crowds aside, I recommend going before June 12 to see the Easter stuff or after July 1 to see the summer stuff. I like Tip Top Easter more than Pirates Summer Battle so before June 12 would be my preference. Late July tends to be rather busy and may especially bad this year due to the Olympics. If you go in the middle of June, you may need to be careful about the 15th which is Chiba prefecture's citizen's day. TDR is located in Chiba and some companies in Chiba will give employees the day off.

We were in between those dates when we went last year and they had the Tanabata festival. We thought it was pretty cool since it was a Japanese based festival

 

[Counselor99]

Has anyone flown direct on Air Canada? Looks like a LONG haul on a plane (17hours) from Montreal but direct can be both a blessing and a curse. Thoughts? Also wondering about peoples thoughts on seating ... do I spend more on the flights for greater comfort or save that $ and use it while there either at TDL on site or something else that might not otherwise happen...?

 

[Haley R]

Has anyone flown direct on Air Canada? Looks like a LONG haul on a plane (17hours) from Montreal but direct can be both a blessing and a curse. Thoughts? Also wondering about peoples thoughts on seating ... do I spend more on the flights for greater comfort or save that $ and use it while there either at TDL on site or something else that might not otherwise happen...?

I personally would spend that money on comfortable seats especially if you’re doing a 17 hour flight. We had lay flat seats for our flight which was only 12 hours and I can’t imagine flying without them.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Has anyone flown direct on Air Canada? Looks like a LONG haul on a plane (17hours) from Montreal but direct can be both a blessing and a curse. Thoughts? Also wondering about peoples thoughts on seating ... do I spend more on the flights for greater comfort or save that $ and use it while there either at TDL on site or something else that might not otherwise happen...?

Given that this is a once in a lifetime type of trip, I think you could justify splurging for business class. Lie-flat seats in business will make a huge difference in terms of comfort for long haul. Lounge access is also a huge benefit because you can shower at the ANA lounge before getting on the plane on your last day assuming you arrive at the airport early enough. I haven't been to the lounge in Montreal but if it's anything like the one in Vancouver, you could get a decent light lunch before boarding your flight.

If you're only considering premium economy, you'll get a bit more recline and more seat width. The food is also better than that of standard economy. I haven't personally flown on an Air Canada 787 but from my experience with ANA's 787s in a similar configuration, economy class seats feel a bit narrow.

We were in between those dates when we went last year and they had the Tanabata festival. We thought it was pretty cool since it was a Japanese based festival

TDR is not doing a tanabata event this year.

 

[Haley R]

Given that this is a once in a lifetime type of trip, I think you could justify splurging for business class. Lie-flat seats in business will make a huge difference in terms of comfort for long haul. Lounge access is also a huge benefit because you can shower at the ANA lounge before getting on the plane on your last day assuming you arrive at the airport early enough. I haven't been to the lounge in Montreal but if it's anything like the one in Vancouver, you could get a decent light lunch before boarding your flight.

If you're only considering premium economy, you'll get a bit more recline and more seat width. The food is also better than that of standard economy. I haven't personally flown on an Air Canada 787 but from my experience with ANA's 787s in a similar configuration, economy class seats feel a bit narrow.



TDR is not doing a tanabata event this year.

Oh they aren’t? Huh I wonder why not

 

[Linkura]

Oh they aren’t? Huh I wonder why not

Fantasyland expansion+Olympics=They are expecting a ton of visitors and don't need to attract people with a special event that would just complicate the crazy crowds.

 

[trainingupmy4princes]

Sorry for your bad news, I do hope you are able to have a lovely trip. So we went for a couple days at the start and end of our month in Japan. I can say the crowds were definitely heavier the later in July part. The heat was also definitely rough. The Celebration Hotel wasn't bad. The shuttles were frequent and the Happy 15 was really helpful. We needed to start off the trip budget wise a little cheaper we splurged on our last 4 nights with a split between Ambassador and the DL Hotel. Overall if budget were no problem we would have stayed at the Mira Costa so easy access to Disney Sea (my favorite Disney Park now) but we loved the DL Hotel which was a short hop into DL and also to the monorail which went to Disney Sea. The Ambassador was nice but not as easy as the DL Hotel or Mira Costa. If you do go in late July we found the water shows where they spray you quite refreshing to cool us down. My DD was soaking wet but happy as she tended to overheat over there.

We stayed at the Shiba Park and found it a convenient location as I didn't want to stay in Shibuya (not a crowds person) . They also have fun workshops there that our DD enjoyed. We painted a lucky cat, did the Japanese Calligraphy writing, unfortunately missed the origami one. My DD really enjoyed getting to do something hands on in among all the museums etc. and it made a cute souvenir for her to bring home.

 

[Counselor99]

Thank you all! I am currently, attempting to put all of this info together into my planning table ... As we are headed overseas this summer, I have plenty of time to plan as I am thinking the summer of 2021 to do Tokyo. Need to get over my insecurities and fear of the unknown and just start putting a plan together that I can share here to get thoughts.

One thing I was already planning on and was glad to see confirmed here is to do the parks in the middle of our stay ... or at the end but to avoid the weekends. I am not sure I can manage 14 days of travel with my wife and her potential needs, but 10 days should work. Will also be doing 4 park days I think instead of the three I was originally thinking of.

 

[LovesTimone]

Thank you all! I am currently, attempting to put all of this info together into my planning table ... As we are headed overseas this summer, I have plenty of time to plan as I am thinking the summer of 2021 to do Tokyo. Need to get over my insecurities and fear of the unknown and just start putting a plan together that I can share here to get thoughts.

One thing I was already planning on and was glad to see confirmed here is to do the parks in the middle of our stay ... or at the end but to avoid the weekends. I am not sure I can manage 14 days of travel with my wife and her potential needs, but 10 days should work. Will also be doing 4 park days I think instead of the three I was originally thinking of.

We are doing TDR in the middle of our trip, so that we can go during the week days... We are looking at 3 1/2 days in the parks... I think with your wife potential needs, 4 days is the smart way to go... this way you can feel more at ease to take your time...

The Dis'er are always ready to share info, feed back, and lots of words encouragement... what ever you need... we are here for you!!!