Planning trip to Tokyo Disneyland March 2010!

[GirlfromTN]

My husband and I will be visiting Tokyo Disneyland in March 2010. We will only be visiting Disneysea and we want to stay one night at a resort hotel (the night before we visit the park). We can't decide between Miracosta (connected to Disneysea, so that is a plus) and the Tokyo Disneyland hotel (newer and we like the style of it more from the pics we've seen). Any opinions? Both hotels are the same price for the night we want to stay.

A few other questions:
1) is it relatively simple to travel to/from Tokyo Disneyland on the train? We'll be going there from downtown Tokyo in the afternoon. Then we will leave the next evening and travel to our next hotel.

2) I am not sure if we will be at Disneysea late enough to see Braviseamo (sp?). Is there any place at the Miracosta or anywhere else where you can see the show without being in the park (in case we want to try to see it the night before we actually visit).

3) Can anyone point me to a good guide of the shopping/restaurants outside of the park? I think there is a large Disney shopping area like Downtown Disney.

4) Is there any kind of guide for Disneysea? We don't know Japanese so would like to learn as much as possible about the park before we go. I don't think there is an English guidebook available but I thought there might be some internet sites that are useful.

Thanks! I have really enjoyed reading the reviews that have already been posted on this board!

 

[teamlouise]

#1, it's easy to get from Tokyo to Disney.
You'll need to get to Tokyo Station and then get on the Keiyo or Musahino line (they both go the same places) and ride it to Maihama Station. Tokyo Station is pretty big, I remember the walk to the Keiyo line being kind of long and involving a moving walkway and a long down escalator. Anyway, the train ride is about a 15 minutes. Maihama station is right next to the Disney Resort Station, which is where you can take the Disney monorail to Tokyo Disneyland or DisneySea. If you're going to Disneyland, you can also skip the monorail and easily walk to the main gate.

#2, Unless you're staying in one of the rooms with a view at Miracosta, I don't think there's anywhere to watch Braviseamo. However, I was able to watch Braviseamo and stay until closing and still make it home (30 minutes beyond Tokyo) before the trains stopped, if that's what you're worried about.

#3, The Downtown Disney area is called Ikspiari and I think it's located at the same place as the Disney Resort Station which you'll encounter when you exit Maihama to get to the monorail. I haven't seen any in-depth English guides for it, but the official Ikspiari website has a link to an English map of all the stores.

#4, I like:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Tokyo_Disney_Resort
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneysea
http://www.mouseplanet.com/tokyo/

 

[GirlfromTN]

#1, it's easy to get from Tokyo to Disney.
You'll need to get to Tokyo Station and then get on the Keiyo or Musahino line (they both go the same places) and ride it to Maihama Station. Tokyo Station is pretty big, I remember the walk to the Keiyo line being kind of long and involving a moving walkway and a long down escalator. Anyway, the train ride is about a 15 minutes. Maihama station is right next to the Disney Resort Station, which is where you can take the Disney monorail to Tokyo Disneyland or DisneySea. If you're going to Disneyland, you can also skip the monorail and easily walk to the main gate.

#2, Unless you're staying in one of the rooms with a view at Miracosta, I don't think there's anywhere to watch Braviseamo. However, I was able to watch Braviseamo and stay until closing and still make it home (30 minutes beyond Tokyo) before the trains stopped, if that's what you're worried about.

#3, The Downtown Disney area is called Ikspiari and I think it's located at the same place as the Disney Resort Station which you'll encounter when you exit Maihama to get to the monorail. I haven't seen any in-depth English guides for it, but the official Ikspiari website has a link to an English map of all the stores.

#4, I like:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Tokyo_Disney_Resort
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneysea
http://www.mouseplanet.com/tokyo/

Thanks for the great info!!! Do you have any opinion of which hotel is nicer, Miracosta or Tokyo Disneyland hotel?

 

[queenie82]

I haven't stayed at Miracosta but I ADORED the Tokyo Disneyland hotel.

The MAIN thing to see would actually be the Legend of Mythica

Here are photos from my trip
Tokyo 1 (some hotel photos)
Tokyo 2
Tokyo

Given you aren't going to Disneyland perhaps a view of the Castle from the DLH might be a nice idea?
Or you can go to the DL monorail station and see from there.
If it is a night with fireworks you will see them too. You CAN see them from both parks. (they shoot between the 2) But I think the Castle is the classic.
Unfortunately the fireworks were cancelled when we were there.

 

[teamlouise]

Thanks for the great info!!! Do you have any opinion of which hotel is nicer, Miracosta or Tokyo Disneyland hotel?

I haven't been to either, but I heard both are very nice. Miracosta, however, is like INSANE. It's beautiful and richly detailed all over and many rooms have views of the park. I was so jealous, during Braviseamo to look back and see all the lucky people watching from their private balconies! Here's a link to the room types: http://www.disneyhotels.jp/dhm/english/room/index.html

 

[GrtWtNorth]

1) is it relatively simple to travel to/from Tokyo Disneyland on the train? We'll be going there from downtown Tokyo in the afternoon. Then we will leave the next evening and travel to our next hotel.

Yes it's simple, but Tokyo station is huge -- I think the walk to the Keiyo line took 15 minutes.

2) I am not sure if we will be at Disneysea late enough to see Braviseamo (sp?). Is there any place at the Miracosta or anywhere else where you can see the show without being in the park (in case we want to try to see it the night before we actually visit).

There's a mostly obstructed view from inside the hotel, on the landing, halfway down the stairs to the hotel guest park entrance. It's not a good spot, but it's better than nothing.
But don't forget the restaurants. Bellavista Lounge is an expensive restaurant that offers a great view. Oceana is a buffet restaurant with side-views of the show. You may need to request a table near the window.

3) Can anyone point me to a good guide of the shopping/restaurants outside of the park? I think there is a large Disney shopping area like Downtown Disney.

Ikspiari is a mall at the Disney Resort. The Disney Store inside is no different than the other Disney Stores around Japan. That's the only Disney shopping -- it's just a regular mall.

4) Is there any kind of guide for Disneysea? We don't know Japanese so would like to learn as much as possible about the park before we go. I don't think there is an English guidebook available but I thought there might be some internet sites that are useful.

I bought and used Tokyo Disney Made Easy, but it didn't offer much information beyond what I could easily find on the web. At the resort, I referred to it once or twice to see which restaurants served what foods, but the park maps were just as informative. I'm used to using the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, and there was no where near that kind of detail in any Tokyo Disney guide I could find.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

My husband and I will be visiting Tokyo Disneyland in March 2010. We will only be visiting Disneysea and we want to stay one night at a resort hotel (the night before we visit the park). We can't decide between Miracosta (connected to Disneysea, so that is a plus) and the Tokyo Disneyland hotel (newer and we like the style of it more from the pics we've seen). Any opinions? Both hotels are the same price for the night we want to stay.

If they are the same price, I would suggest staying at the Miracosta, just to be closer to Disney Sea. That way you can avoid taking the monorail with locals heading to the parks.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

#4, I like:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Tokyo_Disney_Resort
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneysea
http://www.mouseplanet.com/tokyo/

There's also Jack Spence's blog at AllEars.net:
http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2008/06/miracosta_hotel_tokyo_disneyse_1.html

 

[walt's assistant]

1) is it relatively simple to travel to/from Tokyo Disneyland on the train? We'll be going there from downtown Tokyo in the afternoon. Then we will leave the next evening and travel to our next hotel.

Yes, no problem. I recommend the Hyperdia site, where you can view train schedules.


2) I am not sure if we will be at Disneysea late enough to see Braviseamo (sp?). Is there any place at the Miracosta or anywhere else where you can see the show without being in the park (in case we want to try to see it the night before we actually visit).

As mentioned earlier...BALCONIES at the MC are a great vantage point. If you can stay there, do it! It's an amazing property.

 

[ChrisFL]

If I had to choose between the MiraCosta and the Disneyland Hotel, price not being a factor...MiraCosta all the way!! I didnt' get to stay there, but I did get a nice tour of it and it's amazing.

It's just such an incredibly beautiful hotel...the pool areas, the lobby, the floors, tons of very rich, intricate detail, "spared no expense" and its obvious here.

 

[jsilvers]

#1, it's easy to get from Tokyo to Disney.
You'll need to get to Tokyo Station and then get on the Keiyo or Musahino line (they both go the same places) and ride it to Maihama Station.

A word of caution - in the afternoon/evening, there are a handful of "commuter rapid" trains that do not stop at Maihama - and indeed, don't stop until Soga (a long way past TDR). The signs for trains should alternate between Japanese/English, so you should be able to tell. An ordinary "rapid" train will stop at Maihama.

Tokyo Station is pretty big, I remember the walk to the Keiyo line being kind of long and involving a moving walkway and a long down escalator.

Depending on where you're starting from, it can be better to avoid Tokyo station and the looong connection to the Keiyo line altogether - I often take the Yurakucho subway line to its last stop at Shin-Kiba, and pick up the Keiyo line there.