Tokyo Disney travel companies?

[mikeishere]

Hi,

Thinking of doing Tokyo Disney with a friend next year. It looks a lot more complex to book and organise than say booking a Florida package deal with WDW/virgin etc or Paris, does anyone know of any travel companies who I book with from the Uk who can organise the whole process/holiday for me? Or has anyone who’s been used a travel company before they can recommend? Ideally want a company who can also add on stays in Tokyo city centre before or after Disney also.

 

[steve_rob]

OK, it's been 15 years since I was in Tokyo, but I went through the same questions you have at the time and could not find anywhere that would be able to book it all at once in the UK and even the bits companies could do for me, they certainly weren't doing it with any expertise (or any more than I already had). So I ended up doing it all myself, which was initially intimidating, but eventually became something I appreciated because I was able to do so much more that was fully customised to my needs.

One thing I will say is that I stayed in Tokyo first and then moved out to TDR later - given the horrible jet-lag after-effects I had, that turned out to be a real boon. Turns out you can wander around Tokyo at 2am and still see cool things; Disney - not so much!

 

[mikeishere]

OK, it's been 15 years since I was in Tokyo, but I went through the same questions you have at the time and could not find anywhere that would be able to book it all at once in the UK and even the bits companies could do for me, they certainly weren't doing it with any expertise (or any more than I already had). So I ended up doing it all myself, which was initially intimidating, but eventually became something I appreciated because I was able to do so much more that was fully customised to my needs.

One thing I will say is that I stayed in Tokyo first and then moved out to TDR later - given the horrible jet-lag after-effects I had, that turned out to be a real boon. Turns out you can wander around Tokyo at 2am and still see cool things; Disney - not so much!

Thanks for this and great tip about Tokyo city first.

It just seems to annoying and tricky booking by yourself as I see things like cannot get Disney tickets till like a couple of months out and Disney hotels the same etc, which does not seem good when your an international visitor and wanna guarantee your Disney tickets and hotel as a package like a year out. Then do you buy fast passes when there do you need to at Tokyo Disney? So many questions hehe I wish it was as easy as booking WDW as a package with virgin holidays for example hehe

 

[steve_rob]

Yeah, remember what it's like coming back from Florida (same west to east jetlag) and then multiply that by two! About three days in, having struggled for the first few, both me and my wife were starting to feel sleepy at about 9pm and thought, yes that's it, we've almost cracked it, as we're maybe only an hour or so away from our normal bedtime. NOPE. We both woke up at 2:30am and were WIDE awake like we'd just had a ten hour sleep or something and there was no way we were getting back off again! But another day or so and we did eventually adjust.

Obviously my TDR knowledge is way out of date (e.g. when I was there it was still paper fastpasses) but if you have any questions, I'd be happy to give any advice I can, whether regarding the parks or even about the city itself. I definitely hear you about the on-site hotels - I think we were able to book that about 4 months before, but in those days we had to wait until we got there to get the park tickets (bought them from the concierge at the Miracosta reception desk) because you couldn't buy them online in advance if you didn't have a Japanese address. It's not quite as bad as that now, but it is still way more complicated than it needs to be.

 

[mikeishere]

Yeah, remember what it's like coming back from Florida (same west to east jetlag) and then multiply that by two! About three days in, having struggled for the first few, both me and my wife were starting to feel sleepy at about 9pm and thought, yes that's it, we've almost cracked it, as we're maybe only an hour or so away from our normal bedtime. NOPE. We both woke up at 2:30am and were WIDE awake like we'd just had a ten hour sleep or something and there was no way we were getting back off again! But another day or so and we did eventually adjust.

Obviously my TDR knowledge is way out of date (e.g. when I was there it was still paper fastpasses) but if you have any questions, I'd be happy to give any advice I can, whether regarding the parks or even about the city itself. I definitely hear you about the on-site hotels - I think we were able to book that about 4 months before, but in those days we had to wait until we got there to get the park tickets (bought them from the concierge at the Miracosta reception desk) because you couldn't buy them online in advance if you didn't have a Japanese address. It's not quite as bad as that now, but it is still way more complicated than it needs to be.

Thanks for advice much appreciated. I need to look into it all more