TDR's 40th Anniversary for my 40th Birthday!

zanzibar138

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Wow it's been a long time since I've been on the DisBoards! I'm back now with some exciting plans in the works for next year. Since TDR and I share a birth year, I've been toying with the idea of going for my 40th birthday for a while, and finally bit the bullet and booked in some flights the other day for me and my boyfriend.

Unfortunately the exact day of my birthday coincides with a large work conference that I am one of the organisers for, so I've decided to go with the JAL flight departing from Sydney a few days after the conference, on Saturday 16 September. I've been saving points for a number of years, and was hoping to book business class with Qantas points, however ended up compromising with premium economy. I've also booked the Rydges at Sydney airport for the night prior to departure, but so far that's it! Still need return flights as they weren't available to book yet - hopefully I can snag business class for those ones! Not sure on timing, what else to do while we're there, how to get around or how things actually work at TDR, so I will be doing lots of this :surfweb:

The plans so far:
  • We want to try to keep the trip to 2 weeks.
  • We will likely just stay somewhere convenient to the airport for our first night since it's a late arrival, and then leisurely make our way out to TDR the following day (a Sunday), beginning our time in the parks on the Monday (assuming that it's still best to avoid weekends). We're planning for 4 full days, likely split equally between TDL and TDS. We'll be splurging on accommodation for this, but not sure whether to try for Miracosta or DLH, or maybe a split stay?
  • There's not much on our list specific to Tokyo. We're interested in parks and gardens (although I understand it may be too early for autumn colour yet), Sumo wrestling, real-life Mario Kart (not sure if that's specific to Tokyo) and general Japanese pop culture. BF also really wants to do a bullet train, but I'm guessing that we'll end up doing that just as part of general getting around.
  • We're also planning to include USJ, but not sure how much time to allow for this - thinking 2 days? Our main focus will be Harry Power and Super Nintento World, but of course we'll also want to explore the rest of the park. Not sure if it's worth staying onsite or just making the trip out from Osaka?
  • I've heard that it's easier to visit Kyoto and Nara from Osaka than Tokyo. Is there anything good to do in Osaka or any other good day/overnight trips?
  • We're a little bit concerned about food since we both prefer pretty simple food and not really huge fans of Japanese food in general :duck: This is something I'll need to look into a bit more before the trip, but hoping we'll still have a few options!
Anyway, just jumped on to share my excitement really :hyper: Looking forward to spending some more time on the boards again!
 
Pretty much all theme park food is Western food. So you'll find things you're used to. Pretty much everywhere you go, it should be relatively easy to find a cafe or something with Western food. Some flavors may just be slightly modified for the Japanese palate like slightly different pasta sauces than what you'd get in the West.

If you're going to USJ then you'd take the bullet train to Osaka and then stay there a few days. From there, you can visit Kyoto for a day trip and Nara for a day trip. Kobe would be the other day trip from Osaka if kobe beef is on your bucket list but otherwise, it's skippable for most people. I would not stay at USJ but instead stay near Osaka station to be able to just go everywhere from there. For Osaka itself, I'd say that Osaka castle and the aquarium with the nearby ferris wheel are the main attractions. Depending on what you mean by "Japanese pop culture", you may have a better time in Osaka than Tokyo. For example, it's generally much easier to get reservations for the Pokemon cafe in Osaka than the one in Tokyo. Akihabara can feel chaotic to first time visitors so Nipponbashi in Osaka may be a better shopping experience.

For parks, there's kasai rinkai park next to Disneyland which has an aquarium and ferris wheel. The palace at Tokyo station and surrounding gardens would be the top recommendation though. Then, there's Ueno park if you want to visit the zoo, and Shiba park which is smaller but will allow you to see Tokyo Tower and a temple.

If you are planning to do Happy 15 in both parks, you'll have to stay at the Miracosta. I generally don't recommend people hotel swap for their first trip to Tokyo Disney.
 
Thank you so much Gelatoni Fan - very helpful information!

My concern about food is less about the theme parks than the broader trip so good to know that there's options available. Actually really looking forward to the theme park food!

By 'Japanese pop culture' I guess I'm mostly meaning Kawaii stuff and street fashion - big fan of the himegyaru style specifically and would love to hit up some clothing stores like Liz Lisa, although I'm not sure anything will fit me 😂 I have some interest in anime and pokemon (although the pokemon cafe might be fun!), but will definitely be interested in some anime and gaming related stuff. I do get anxious in crowded and chaotic places, so would definitely prefer to seek out the quieter places if possible!

The palace at Tokyo station sounds wonderful, and I remember seeing some lovely areas from other trip reports from Kyoto - will have to look that up again. It's been so long since I did any kind of research on this stuff!

Thanks for the advice re: Disney hotels too. Why do you advise against hotel swapping? Is it particularly complex at TDR or just an additional hassle to worry about. I had to google Happy 15 lol! Does 15 minutes make that much difference?
 
Thank you so much Gelatoni Fan - very helpful information!

My concern about food is less about the theme parks than the broader trip so good to know that there's options available. Actually really looking forward to the theme park food!

By 'Japanese pop culture' I guess I'm mostly meaning Kawaii stuff and street fashion - big fan of the himegyaru style specifically and would love to hit up some clothing stores like Liz Lisa, although I'm not sure anything will fit me 😂 I have some interest in anime and pokemon (although the pokemon cafe might be fun!), but will definitely be interested in some anime and gaming related stuff. I do get anxious in crowded and chaotic places, so would definitely prefer to seek out the quieter places if possible!

The palace at Tokyo station sounds wonderful, and I remember seeing some lovely areas from other trip reports from Kyoto - will have to look that up again. It's been so long since I did any kind of research on this stuff!

Thanks for the advice re: Disney hotels too. Why do you advise against hotel swapping? Is it particularly complex at TDR or just an additional hassle to worry about. I had to google Happy 15 lol! Does 15 minutes make that much difference?

Ah... So basically that means clothes shopping in Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku and Ginza.

15 minutes means 2 rides if you are able to get one out of the way during those 15 minutes and get in line for something major. I haven't been back post-covid but in the old days, it was not uncommon for Toy Story Mania and Soaring to hit 2 hour waits shortly after park opening. In general, if you wanted to rope drop those rides, you'd be at the gates over an hour before park opening and still likely wait like 1/2 an hour.

I find that most people who plan to be in the parks on multiple days will be too tired to pack and deal with checking in/out to hotels in the middle of that.
 



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