Questions about TDR

[Sk8Leigh]

I'm trying to plan a trip to TDR for early September, and I have a lot of questions. I'm hoping someone can help me with some of them!

1 I'm planning to stay for 6 nights, 4 at the Hilton Tokyo Bay and 2 at either Miracosta or TDLH. I'm thinking I'll do the Hilton the first 4 and then wind up at the Disney hotel for the last 2. The costs should be a lot lower for the Disney hotels after the weekend and availability better. Do you see any reason why I should do the Disney hotel first, as far as anything it could help me get, such as tickets or other reservations, that it wouldn't help as much with later in the week? I'm assuming that the things that it helps with are only good for when I'm actually staying there and wouldn't carry over to later in the week, correct?

2. I'm planning to go for 5 park days (I would only do 4 on M-Th but Journey to the Center of the Earth is going down on M, so I have to go a day earlier and go to TDS on Su if I want to ride it). So I guess I'll have to get a 4 day pass and a 1 day pass and have 3 of the days with parks specified, right? Both the Hilton and Disney hotels would offer guaranteed admission, right? So would there be any advantage to buying them at one over another?

3. I'm looking at 3 choices for the Disney hotels: TDLH Grand Park View, TDLH BATB room, or Hotel Miracosta Venice View. Prices aren't terribly different. Pros and cons?

4. Hilton Park view vs. ocean view? I'm thinking I might do a 2 night stay in each! Would that be too much trouble? lol

5. When I switch between the hotels, will they help with the luggage at all? I figure they would between actual Disney hotels, but maybe not the Hilton.

6. I'm looking at the Hilton and it's really odd. The rate for Saturday is, say, 26,600 yen, then Sunday is about 20,000 yen, but then if I want to book them together they're about 31,000 yen each night? I'm so confused. I emailed the hotel to ask them, but I don't know if I'll be able to get it fixed. I mean, that's considerable, especially for 4 nights! If I were to book on Expedia instead, can you think of any problems I might have? For a Disney hotel I wouldn't have it in their system and might not be able to do certain things in advance, but I don't know if it would matter as much for the Hilton.

7. Lastly, can either or both of the hotels help with dining reservations? Can anyone help with show reservations?

Thanks!

 

[gelatoni fan]

1 It depends on what days you want for Happy 15 and travel. I recommend staying at the Miracosta the days you plan to use Happy 15 at DisneySea or TDL hotel on the days you plan to use Happy 15 at TDL.

2. If you want to buy the Multi-Day Passport Special which allows park hopping on all days, you need to do it at the Disney hotels.

4. Ocean view. Unless you for some reason like looking at a construction site across the street.

5. They should but someone who has done it can probably give more info.

6. That is odd. Assuming you didn't change anything else (number of guests, room type, etc), it could be that you're checking at a time when the lower priced inventory just sold out and the system hasn't fully reflected it. But if it persists for a longer period, you may want to call Hilton's reservations to check what is happening. Booking through a third party means you're generally not eligible to get hotel points, status benefits or upgrades. You also lose cancellation protections. If Expedia is significantly cheaper, I'd first book a refundable rate with Hilton and then submit a "price match guarantee" request.

7. They can help with dining reservations. If you are talking about dinner show reservations, idk because those need to be done in advance. The Disney hotels would probably be more help.

 

[Haley R]

I can’t answer a lot of your questions but I agree with @gelatoni fan and would 100% pick ocean view over park view. Everything is a construction zone and the bay is so pretty.

Idk if you stay at Hiltons often but the Hilton honors program is free to join and earns points for your stay. We signed up for Hilton credit cards and were able to get enough points for 5/6 of our nights in a celebrio king ocean room. If we would’ve picked a standard room our entire stay would’ve been free

 

[MKTokyo]

1. It doesn't really matter unless you plan to book a package, in which case you don't want the last day of the package to fall on your last day at TDR, as then you wouldn't be able to use it to its full potential.

2. You can park hop from the first day if you buy your tickets at MiraCosta or TDLH. If you don't buy this special ticket, you can't hop until the third day.

3. MiraCosta is one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever stayed at, and is located inside DisneySea. It has its own private entrance to DisneySea & faster access to Happy 15 at DisneySea. TDLH is very, very similar to the Grand Floridian (except the character rooms, but those are too OTT for my taste). For a first/only trip, I always recommend MiraCosta + package in whatever configuration suits your budget.

4. No clue about the Hilton.

5. They will transfer luggage between MiraCosta & TDLH. Again, no clue about the Hilton.

6. Hilton is a strange company. Almost every experience I've had with them, worldwide, has been weird in some way. You can probably book the nights separately & have them linked.

7. Nobody can help with reservations for a show like Big Band Beat. You will need to either hit the lottery or book a package. If you mean the dinner shows, those need to be booked on the Japanese website immediately upon release as they are the first to go.

 

[CarolynK]

When we were checking rates at the Hilton, the more nights we put in, the better the per- night rate was, i.e 6 nights was a better per- night rate than 3 nights.
I have emailed the hotel a few times and found them very fast to respond.

 

[sippican]

I have just a couple of comments to add about Miracosta - it is truly amazing! We have traveled all over the world, and never -paid as much for a two night stay as we did at TDR. Miracosta is worth every penny! We had a Venice view room, overlooking the canal and were very happy with our choice. Since you mention pricing, I presume you already know the rooms are avaialble for your desired nights of stay. That was not so in our case. One of the two nights in our timeframe was a Saturday, and the Saturday night sold out almost immdeiately upon releaasing them at the six month package release date. I reserved a package with every intention of cancelling it at the five month mark if I could get a hotel-only reservation. That did not happen, and I am so pleased we kept the package. Just a hint - the Bella Vista Lounge in Miracosta has excellent viewing for the evening Fantasmic Show, and the food was very good.Happy Planning!

 

[Sk8Leigh]

1 It depends on what days you want for Happy 15 and travel. I recommend staying at the Miracosta the days you plan to use Happy 15 at DisneySea or TDL hotel on the days you plan to use Happy 15 at TDL.

I booked the Venice View at Miracosta today for my last two nights. I would have probably liked to have that for Saturday night to have the Happy 15 for Sunday and Journey at TDS, but it wasn't available. I'll just have to do the best I can and try to get a FP, and there's always standby. That ride will be my top priority on Sunday since that will be my only chance.

2. If you want to buy the Multi-Day Passport Special which allows park hopping on all days, you need to do it at the Disney hotels.

And I'm assuming they'll only sell it to me if I'm currently registered, and not if I'll be registered there in a few days? lol It'll probably be ok. Park-hopping doesn't sound the easiest there. I only do it a lot in California.

4. Ocean view. Unless you for some reason like looking at a construction site across the street.

Oh, I didn't realize it would be a construction site? I am definitely doing the ocean view.

7. They can help with dining reservations. If you are talking about dinner show reservations, idk because those need to be done in advance. The Disney hotels would probably be more help.

When I booked the hotel I saw that you could go in and book dining reservations and the dinner shows. I'll look into what I want to do. If I do those the end of the trip would probably be better anyway because I would have done the rides by then.

Idk if you stay at Hiltons often but the Hilton honors program is free to join and earns points for your stay. We signed up for Hilton credit cards and were able to get enough points for 5/6 of our nights in a celebrio king ocean room. If we would’ve picked a standard room our entire stay would’ve been free

I don't stay at Hiltons a lot but I am working on Hilton Honors before I book. I have an old card and number but it may not be valid anymore. When I tried to set up a new number I get page not found, so I may have to call. Hilton is batting 1000%. lol

1. It doesn't really matter unless you plan to book a package, in which case you don't want the last day of the package to fall on your last day at TDR, as then you wouldn't be able to use it to its full potential.

I might have booked the package with the show passes, but it won't let me because it's only me. Minimum people is two.

6. Hilton is a strange company. Almost every experience I've had with them, worldwide, has been weird in some way. You can probably book the nights separately & have them linked.

I emailed the hotel and got an answer that it happens sometimes, and it sounds like they were just telling me to make each day separately. So that's what I'll do. My credit card will probably start declining them.

When we were checking rates at the Hilton, the more nights we put in, the better the per- night rate was, i.e 6 nights was a better per- night rate than 3 nights.
I have emailed the hotel a few times and found them very fast to respond.

I picked a random US hotel to test it and that's what happened. Either the same as the nights separately or better. Something must just be screwed up with this hotel.

I have just a couple of comments to add about Miracosta - it is truly amazing! We have traveled all over the world, and never -paid as much for a two night stay as we did at TDR. Miracosta is worth every penny! We had a Venice view room, overlooking the canal and were very happy with our choice. Since you mention pricing, I presume you already know the rooms are avaialble for your desired nights of stay. That was not so in our case. One of the two nights in our timeframe was a Saturday, and the Saturday night sold out almost immdeiately upon releaasing them at the six month package release date. I reserved a package with every intention of cancelling it at the five month mark if I could get a hotel-only reservation. That did not happen, and I am so pleased we kept the package. Just a hint - the Bella Vista Lounge in Miracosta has excellent viewing for the evening Fantasmic Show, and the food was very good.Happy Planning!

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind!

I'm planning to also book a tour of Japan starting the Friday I leave TDR. It ends in Hiroshima. The flights back to the US from Hiroshima are terrible because they go into Haneda and then there's nothing nonstop from there. So I think I'm going to book a round-trip from Narita with nonstop flights, book a one-way from Hiroshima to Haneda, and then take the airport limosine from Haneda to Narita. It took me forever to figure that out! lol Does that sound reasonable?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[AngelDisney]

For upgrading the park tickets, I booked a vacation package with 3-day special passport for July 2 to July 4, but Monsters Inc. and Sindbad Storybook are closing on July 2 and July 1 respectively. I needed to add two days of hotel stay before the vacation package stay. I read the FAQ section of TDR webpages and found that if you stay at the Disney hotels, you can upgrade tickets to 5 or even 6 days. I called TDR and was told to pick up my vacation package on June 30 though my package starts on July 2 from the Ticket Center, then upgrade the tickets when I check in at the hotel or Welcome Center. I am staying at Disney Ambassador for my entire stay with 3 reservations: 2 nights before package, 2 nights with package and 1 night after package. I am not sure if the upgrade procedure or eligibility would be different if you are not staying at the Disney hotel for the entire time. After booking your hotel reservation, call TDR and inquire about ticket upgrade. The CM spoke English well when I called.

For dining reservation, I just went into My Booking page to check. You can book restaurants and dining restaurants with shows a month out if you have a Disney hotel reservation in English through the My Booking page.

Hope this helps! Happy planning!!

 

[Sk8Leigh]

For upgrading the park tickets, I booked a vacation package with 3-day special passport for July 2 to July 4, but Monsters Inc. and Sindbad Storybook are closing on July 2 and July 1 respectively. I needed to add two days of hotel stay before the vacation package stay. I read the FAQ section of TDR webpages and found that if you stay at the Disney hotels, you can upgrade tickets to 5 or even 6 days. I called TDR and was told to pick up my vacation package on June 30 though my package starts on July 2 from the Ticket Center, then upgrade the tickets when I check in at the hotel or Welcome Center. I am staying at Disney Ambassador for my entire stay with 3 reservations: 2 nights before package, 2 nights with package and 1 night after package. I am not sure if the upgrade procedure or eligibility would be different if you are not staying at the Disney hotel for the entire time. After booking your hotel reservation, call TDR and inquire about ticket upgrade. The CM spoke English well when I called.

For dining reservation, I just went into My Booking page to check. You can book restaurants and dining restaurants with shows a month out if you have a Disney hotel reservation in English through the My Booking page.

Hope this helps! Happy planning!!

Thanks! I'll look into adding another day onto my ticket. Maybe I can go into the Miracosta before I actually check in and at least ask them about it. You would think if that's something that they do then I would at least be able to do it when I check in there on the last day of my 4 day pass, if not before. (I'm planning to just buy my tickets when I get there, since it will be late Saturday and I probably won't go to the parks that day, so I won't be in a rush.)

I'm going to try to book the two dinner shows, Mickey & Co at the Golden Horseshoe and the Mickey and Minnie Polynesian show. I just put reminder in my calendar! I did go into the booking online and went all the way through it and then it said the date to come back. But at least I know what to do.

It'd all be so much easier if I was staying at a Disney hotel all 6 nights, but that would increase the cost either somewhat or a lot, and also I'm excited about my Ocean View room at the Hilton.

 

[AngelDisney]

Thanks! I'll look into adding another day onto my ticket. Maybe I can go into the Miracosta before I actually check in and at least ask them about it. You would think if that's something that they do then I would at least be able to do it when I check in there on the last day of my 4 day pass, if not before. (I'm planning to just buy my tickets when I get there, since it will be late Saturday and I probably won't go to the parks that day, so I won't be in a rush.)

I'm going to try to book the two dinner shows, Mickey & Co at the Golden Horseshoe and the Mickey and Minnie Polynesian show. I just put reminder in my calendar! I did go into the booking online and went all the way through it and then it said the date to come back. But at least I know what to do.

It'd all be so much easier if I was staying at a Disney hotel all 6 nights, but that would increase the cost either somewhat or a lot, and also I'm excited about my Ocean View room at the Hilton.

I think it’s worth a try to go to MiraCosta when you first arrive. Show them your hotel reservation and ask if you can buy the ticket for your entire stay. If they say no, then you just go with your original plan. Hope you get lucky and it will all work out for you!

 

[Haley R]

Thanks! I'll look into adding another day onto my ticket. Maybe I can go into the Miracosta before I actually check in and at least ask them about it. You would think if that's something that they do then I would at least be able to do it when I check in there on the last day of my 4 day pass, if not before. (I'm planning to just buy my tickets when I get there, since it will be late Saturday and I probably won't go to the parks that day, so I won't be in a rush.)

I'm going to try to book the two dinner shows, Mickey & Co at the Golden Horseshoe and the Mickey and Minnie Polynesian show. I just put reminder in my calendar! I did go into the booking online and went all the way through it and then it said the date to come back. But at least I know what to do.

It'd all be so much easier if I was staying at a Disney hotel all 6 nights, but that would increase the cost either somewhat or a lot, and also I'm excited about my Ocean View room at the Hilton.

The ocean view room at the Hilton was awesome!

 

[Kitzka]

You were able to see dining bookings in English? Whenever I go through the steps it’s only in Japanese. Good luck! And thanks for asking these questions. I’m in a similar boat and hope to make reservations.

 

[AngelDisney]

Once uo

You were able to see dining bookings in English? Whenever I go through the steps it’s only in Japanese. Good luck! And thanks for asking these questions. I’m in a similar boat and hope to make reservations.

Once you have booked a Disney hotel reservation, you can go into my booking and book dining reservations in English one month in advance. Have you booked yet?

 

[Kitzka]

Once uo

Once you have booked a Disney hotel reservation, you can go into my booking and book dining reservations in English one month in advance. Have you booked yet?

Ah! That’s why. Have not booked yet. But I didn’t realize it had to be done after you have your hotel reservations. I’m still deciding between doing the vacation package, which hotel etc. but thank you so very much!

 

[LDisney123]

For upgrading the park tickets, I booked a vacation package with 3-day special passport for July 2 to July 4, but Monsters Inc. and Sindbad Storybook are closing on July 2 and July 1 respectively. I needed to add two days of hotel stay before the vacation package stay. I read the FAQ section of TDR webpages and found that if you stay at the Disney hotels, you can upgrade tickets to 5 or even 6 days. I called TDR and was told to pick up my vacation package on June 30 though my package starts on July 2 from the Ticket Center, then upgrade the tickets when I check in at the hotel or Welcome Center. I am staying at Disney Ambassador for my entire stay with 3 reservations: 2 nights before package, 2 nights with package and 1 night after package. I am not sure if the upgrade procedure or eligibility would be different if you are not staying at the Disney hotel for the entire time. After booking your hotel reservation, call TDR and inquire about ticket upgrade. The CM spoke English well when I called.

For dining reservation, I just went into My Booking page to check. You can book restaurants and dining restaurants with shows a month out if you have a Disney hotel reservation in English through the My Booking page.

Hope this helps! Happy planning!!

Did you end up calling TDR and telling them you had three different reservations to combine them? I'm thinking I might have to add a day before and after my vacation package but I'm not sure how that will work, if they will make me change rooms, or move my luggage or something. Also when you call do you get a translator? I've read the site and it says they'll get you a CM that can speak your language or translate it.

 

[AngelDisney]

Did you end up calling TDR and telling them you had three different reservations to combine them? I'm thinking I might have to add a day before and after my vacation package but I'm not sure how that will work, if they will make me change rooms, or move my luggage or something. Also when you call do you get a translator? I've read the site and it says they'll get you a CM that can speak your language or translate it.

I can’t remember much about how I got the English speaking CM when I first called. I believe I called 01181453300101. I booked 2 nights in a standard double bed room. 2 nights with vacation package in a standard twin room and 1 night in a standard twin room after the package. Since the first two nights are in a different room type than the last 3 nights, I had to change room. It’s easy. I packed my stuff and left them in the room. I did return my keys and checked out in the morning of the third day. Then I got the keys to the new room when we took a break in late afternoon from the park to rest a bit. I gave all 3 of my reservation numbers to the CM and she combined them for me.

 

[CarolynK]

Did you end up calling TDR and telling them you had three different reservations to combine them? I'm thinking I might have to add a day before and after my vacation package but I'm not sure how that will work, if they will make me change rooms, or move my luggage or something. Also when you call do you get a translator? I've read the site and it says they'll get you a CM that can speak your language or translate it.

I called TDR a couple of times before our trip. The phone was answered with their automated system in Japanese, but if you keep listening, it repeats in English, telling you which number to choose for English. The CM was easy to understand.