thndrmatt
Real Life Mickey Wannabe!
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2005
- Messages
- 799
Our family is myself (43M), DW (44F), DS (9M), and DD (8F). All pricing below is based on that 2 adults/2 kids total. Plan was touring all the asia Disney theme parks, starting in Hong Kong, then Shanghai, then Tokyo. I'd rate myself as a theme park commando, love to be first in, completionist, do all the things, and also love surprises and hate spoilers.
For the TLDR types, assuming you've ridden everything at the USA theme parks, my recommendations for absolutely not to be missed attractions of all types which you should ride without spoilers or pre-watching any videos are: HK: Mystic Manor, Big Grizzly Mountain, Iron Man Experience, Jungle Cruise; Shanghai: Zootopia Hot Pursuit, Pirates of the Caribbean, Camp Discovery Challenge Trails, Voyage to the Crystal Grotto, Once Upon a Time Adventure, Roaring Rapids; Tokyo DisneySea: The entirety of Fantasy Springs, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Indiana Jones Temple of the Crystal Skull, Leonardo's Challenge, Believe! Sea of Dreams; Tokyo Disneyland: Enchanted Tales with Beauty and the Beast, Monsters Inc Ride and Seek. For many of these it's like they showed the Imagineers the US versions and said "do better, one-up that" and they absolutely did. Some of the technology is truly impressive, straight out of the "how did they do that" category even as a grown adult.
Also TLDR, "thing I wish I knew most" was you could book DPAs at Tokyo parks for any time of day, more on that later.
Through my military career and then additional federal civilian work I do a lot of traveling, earning a lot of frequent flier miles, and also funnel a lot of our typical bills through a miles earning card as well. As a result all our tickets were purchased through American Airlines/Oneworld alliance miles rather than cash. All on nonstops for convenience, although for us that meant driving 5+ hours to JFK from the DC area. We used Spothero to park at 1725 Village Ln, which came out to $116 for the 10 days, vs the hundreds more at the airport, big savings even if you factor in the two Ubers (~$30 each).
Luggage wise we hauled our BOB Duallie double stroller, checked zero bags, and had four carry ons and four personal items stuffed full (no airline weighed them, which is good because they usually state 15lbs as a limit and at least one was twice that). Cathay Pacific let us gate check the stroller at JFK, then the same airline made us check it as baggage at HKG. Japan airlines made us check it on both flights to HND and back to JFK. However at both HND and JFK it arrived at baggage claim about the same time we did, only at PVG did it take a while before being brought up to us directly on a cart, although it might have been sitting at the oversized area for a while whereas we were at the main carousel. We did have it airtagged just in case for checking issues as well as the unlikely event of theme park misplacement/theft, highly recommend everyone do that with any piece of checked luggage.
Cell wise we just activated the international service on our Verizon plans. A bit pricier than other options at $12/day/phone, but that meant we just used data/calls/texts on our phones like normal every day, and it was completely transparent to us that we were in another country, the ultimate in convenience since we didn't have to do anything with eSIMs or anything else, and it was just ready to go upon landing in any given country. This was especially necessary since one of my credit cards would at least once a day send a confirmation code to confirm a purchase that I'd have to receive via text and input in order to process the purchase.
JFK-HKG nonstop 11/20 departed at 0135, about 16 hours inflight with a +13 hour time change, so you arrive 11/21 at 0635. It left from JFK Terminal 8 where we used the Greenwich Lounge as Oneworld Sapphire with a good food spread before boarding. They also let all four of us in even though the rule is typically 1 guest for Sapphire, the only lounge of the trip to do so. We were staying at Disney Explorers Lodge so it was a blue Lantau taxi (~$20 USD, exchange rate for us was ~7.8 HKD to 1 USD) from the airport. We withdrew cash from the ATM to pay the taxi, it was 220HKD on the way there and under 200 on the way back. The trains in general to get from place to place are cheaper than taxis, but longer and involve two transfers, one between trains and then one to the hotel shuttle from the main Disney resort station, adding up to likely over an hour vs the 20 minute taxi.
We also used taxis to/from the Ngong Ping 360 skyliner to the Big Buddha, under 200 each way for that as well. That experience was $160 USD for all of us for the crystal+ cabin where all the walls and floor were see-through. The views are truly impressive though, and you're in the cable car for something like 20 minutes each way up and over massive mountains with views of waterfalls and the sprawling airport with planes taking off and landing. The buddha itself is also quite the destination.
The hotel itself was $699USD for the three nights total, think it was a 30% discount offer they had going when booking. Breakfast was at the hotel buffet, while pricey it was easy, convenient, had a large variety, and was a huge hit with the kids, particularly the customized french toast. With later park openings (0900 early entry, 1000 normal) there was plenty of time to eat.
Early entry (edit: entry for that is an umbrella on the far right side of the entry plaza. If you arrive later as a hotel guest, that line is in the middle and may seem as long as the other turnstiles, but in fact it splits into several turnstiles at the end and as a result the extension line for it moves 4 or 5x as fast). got us on both World of Frozen rides multiple times as well as the other few rides they had open (Winne the Pooh, Carousel, Dumbo) during that hour. Low crowds in general for the two days (Fri 11/22, Sat 11/23) had us easily covering 80% of the park the first day along with the fireworks, and finishing up the rest the second day and then some heading back before dark. Splurged for the Momentous and semi-dinner buffet package on the first park night, that was $241USD for the four of us, but meant prime night show viewing. The meal itself was priced about $100 less so you're paying that difference for the view and the privilege of being able to walk up to the fireworks last minute right in front of the castle instead of well in advance to be several rows of adults deep.
HKG-PVG nonstop 11/24 departed at 1045 and arrived 1330, same timezone. We were traveling through China using the Transit Without Visa program, where if you're staying under 144 hrs, not traveling to multiple areas, and connecting to and from countries that don't include the US (HKG and HND in our case), you don't need a visa. This was seemingly processed almost entirely at the desk in HKG upon check in where they were also checking in our stroller. We had printouts of the outbound flight information from PVG-HND as well as info on where we were staying in Shanghai. I think we pulled up to the airport about 0730 and this processing took until about 0800. Then came a passport check in a separate line for kids 11 and under, then full security, then customs around 0820, then headed to the Pier lounge at gate 65 for munchies since we hadn't paid for breakfast, then it was a long walk back to gate 7 for departure. The kids played at the playground at gate 11, before boarding at 1015.
Upon arrival strangely there was a suited man holding our names on a sign right outside the plane, and we were personally escorted through the entire customs/transit without visa/fingerprinting/baggage claim/to the taxi process. I ended up getting an e-mail later that "special assistance required" had been included with my flight reservation, seemingly at the same time we were at the counter in HKG, so not sure if they added that as a courtesy or what. It was initially odd, but ultimately very convenient, although there was a definite language barrier. He led us past the normal fingerprinting machines to a special line at the customs booths where I guess they process all the transit without visa paperwork. They again asked for outbound flight information and asked the same questions about our plans then moved us along.
We taxi'd from PVG to the Toy Story hotel (prebooked for ~$332 for two nights total), about ~20 min. I withdrew local Chinese currency as a "just in case" tactic but I'd set up the Alipay in advance, and used this for literally everything the entire time we were in China, and used zero cash. Taxis, hotel, food carts, whatever. You bust out your QR code they scan it and it goes on your credit card just like Apple Pay (but Apple Pay isn't available, hence the requirement for Alipay). These were the cheapest taxis of the trip though, exchange rate of 7.1 Chinese Yuan to 1 USD meant something like $12 for one taxi each way. Check in at the Toy Story hotel didn't open til 3pm, but by the time we got there it was about that time anyway. They have an after 5pm pass for the park that is only ~$35USD, so I went in that night to scope the place out and figure out logistics and test payment methods while the rest of the fam continued the "rest day".
Lines were luckily again light on Mon 11/25, perhaps due to some drizzle in the morning and forecasted rain that never really materialized. Got on probably 95% of the park, skipping only the attractions we weren't interested in (like an all-Mandarin Stitch Encounter). With early entry included with the Toy Story hotel we saw the first bus wasn't supposed to leave until 0705 for a no later than 0800 early entry, so we walked over at 0645 or so to get ahead of them. The shuttle really only gets you about halfway there distance wise, from the dropoff through Disneytown to the entrance is still a good ways. That put us about 10th in line for the hotel guests only entrance at the end of DisneyTown, which dumps you into the park close to the Tomorrowland entrance in close proximity to Tron, a destination for many to start the day. At the turnstile (which is immediately behind the security/xray machines) they take your passports and ticket confirmation number and look you up by the former, take pics of you, print your actual paper tickets, and off you go.
We hit Zootopia first thing, which meant that main attraction only took as long as it took people to stop bottlenecking the queue taking pictures of all of it, and then we rode it again immediately with still no wait. As that filled up we headed to Tron which we got on twice in a row just prior to the park opening to non-early entry guests. The rest of the day was still pretty smooth with short lines. The hub is massive, you can view the night show from anywhere, we chose the area right near the Disneytown entrance, as that allowed an easy bail afterward directly onto the hotel shuttle with no line.
PVG-HND nonstop was at 0850 and arrived at 1235 after losing an hour time change, so that caused an early departure from the hotel, we left the room about 0630 to be safe. Taxi then took a while because the stroller wouldn't fit in one and they seemingly couldn't order any "big" taxis so we ended up needing two taxis. That meant $24 instead of $12, not a big deal. Again forced to check the stroller at the airport, didn't end up with a lot of free time as a result of this upon clearing security and customs, so had about 5 minutes to fill some napkins with food from the lounge before we had to go board.
Taxi'd again from HND to the Toy Story hotel, the taxi was more expensive at about 12000 yen (153 yen to 1 USD at the time so ~$78) but again was only 20 minutes, whereas the standard bus would have been an hour with several stops and only departing at specific intervals. Historically I do the legwork to go the cheap ways to save a buck, but these days we do place value on our time and fatigue as well and factor that in. Dropped off direct at hotel and check in wasn't stated to open until 1500 so we explored a bit, although they actually opened it about 1430. We'd booked the hotel right at the 4 month point (199k Yen for 4 nights ~$1292), I didn't see any availability for it at all from then until our departure date, it is seemingly one of the first to book up solid (although in general they seemingly all do other than the off-site celebration hotel). Once again I snuck into DisneySea on the after 5pm pass and caught some of the E-ticket rides and the night show.
Worth noting the monorail is not free, requires cash, and there's no ATM in the stations. The one I ended up finding was actually inside DisneySea's turnstiles, although google suggested there were also some in local hotels, but not convenient distance wise. A four day pass on the monorail was 1500Y for adults, 750Y for kids, so you need 4500Y available to buy those. For unlucky reasons I'd changed all the Chinese currency to Japanese upon arrival since it had gone unused, then paid the taxi in that to get rid of most of it, so was left with less than 4500. We ended up just buying one way tickets to get us to the ATM for about $5 combined (and on to our pressing lunch reservation at Miracosta) and then bought the pass cards before returning to hotel.
Our fine dining experiences were Oceano at Miracosta on arrival day, Magellan's on DisneySea day one, Blue Bayou on Disneyland day, and S.S. Columbia on DisneySea day two. We'd recommend any of them to foodies who like to eat multiple course prix fixe meals over a 90-120 min period, but obviously that's not for everyone both time and expense wise. Even the kids had fun with it though, they were given good variety and a couple courses themselves so they were never bored. Food in general is cheap in Japan, along the lines of $2 for popcorn or churros at the stands, so there's plenty of opportunity to save money there if you like compared to what you'd expect in the US.
DisneySea morning was Wed 11/27, and I left the hotel about 0630, caught the ~0640 monorail from Bayside and was over at the DisneySea entrance around 0700 for a stated 0900 opening. Toy Story guests currently do not get happy entry to DisneySea. This put me about 100th in my line. Initially it was very orderly with everyone sitting with lots of space, then a cast member came by and made everyone stand up and crowd toward the security machines so they could fit in more people into the plaza, and this made it pretty challenging to get the fam and stroller to us when they arrived an hour or so later. Security opened on the dot at 0830, the gates actually opened at 0845 to everyone, but by the time we got in it was 0855. We immediately got Disney Premiere Access for Frozen in the first available slot of 1215, and got a standby pass for Rapunzel at 10. We set an alarm to rebook DPA after the hour, and at that point was able to get Peter Pan. Standbys at that point an hour in were completely gone, and we never did get on Tinkerbell even with pretty rampant refreshing of the app on both days we were there. Many times a DPA would show available but by the time you clicked on it, it would say it was gone, even with more than once of us doing it at the same time. We never saw the additional dropping of new slots later in the day that we'd seen reported by others.
While all this was happening we high stepped to Soarin, were there by 0857, and the line already showed 65 min and was stretching almost to the entrance to Journey. We got in anyway because I'd been scoping it on previous days and it was regularly above 100 min all day. It took every bit of the 65 min to ride, and then was 140 min when we came out. Only alternative though is DPA which most will want to save for Fantasy Springs access. The queue is unique and neat, but the ride is a near carbon copy from the other parks so it's up to you whether it's a priority. I'd put Toy Story Mania in the same category, same ride experience and typically massive line, so for some might be skippable. Tower of Terror though while mostly the same experience is unique enough to merit a ride I'd say (and has a shorter line and more available DPA access than the previous two).
The melee to get into Fantasy Springs was substantial by the time we got over there at ~1030, wall to wall people stuffed into the tunnel slowly making their way to the few cast members who were scanning the passes. That probably took 15-20 min by itself just to get into the land. Once in there were no issues beyond missing out on one of the rides as mentioned (the only one without DPA). DPA by the way is about ~$10/person/ride, so that can add up pretty quick if you're using a bunch, but the park tickets themselves are $200 total for a family of 4 per day, so again compared to the US you're getting about half off normal if not more.
Disneyland morning was Thu 11/28, I again left the hotel about 0630, caught the 0640 monorail and was over at Tokyo Disneyland by ~0700. Toy Story guests DO get Happy Entry to Disneyland, so you go to the center part of the plaza and in through security right up the middle, which they opened much earlier I think around 0730. This was much less crowded, and the fam more easily got to me an hour later, and we were like 5th in line from the turnstiles.
We beelined to Enchanted Tales with Beauty and the Beast, and were in the first pre-show room, positioned ourselves on the far side of that, and thus were in the front row of the first car for the main ride. By the time we came out, the wait was posted 125 min and stretching through Fantasyland almost to the castle. One thing I wish I'd thought of was the fact that because you can pick your DPA time for any time of day (unlike in the US which is forced to first available) you actually shouldn't pick the 0900-1000 slot that we did for a B&B reride, because you should be going on all the rides with short lines at that point. Pick slots in mid afternoon, and you'll still be able to book another DPA an hour later regardless. So beat the mob to B&B, DPA the stuff you want for later, and stay ahead of the mob to the other E-ticket rides all morning, and when all the lines get long you'll have a string of DPAs to ride after lunch.
Two long days in a row had us running on fumes so we chose to be like normal humans on the third day Fri 11/29, ate the buffet at the hotel together and arrived at DisneySea later, more like 0930 off the monorail with an actual entry into the park at 0945 (0900 scheduled opening again). We then discovered all FS DPAs and standbys were completely gone already. We refreshed all day, and never got any, and never went back in. So yes the rumors are true, if you want to get to Fantasy Springs as a priority, show up early. That said our plan had mostly been to just do everything we'd missed the first day and we successfully did that while the crowds were at the things we'd done the first time through.
In general allowing 2 days each for both Disneyland and DisneySea (and even Hong Kong and Shanghai) will really put you in the drivers seat for being able to do 100% of the park (and some of it multiple times), but we effectively did ~80% or more of all of the Asia parks in a single day each.
HND-JFK flight was at 1105, taxi back to HND airport was handled via the Guest Services desk at the Toy Story hotel at about 0830, they called for it after some translator app back and forth, and it ended up big enough to easily carry us and all our stuff arriving at the airport by 0915 or so. We'd checked in online and actually gotten boarding passes in advance this time, but after clearing security they apparently finally noticed the stroller, and sent an airlines employee through security to tell us we had to go back out to the counter to check it. My wife handled that while we just chilled out beyond security pre-customs for ~15 min, then all cleared customs together and still had a good bit of time in the Sakura lounge (with a good food spread as well as free massage chairs).
That last flight was 12+ hours in the air, landed around 1000, Global entry'd through customs with ease, I headed to get the car (25 min Taxi there and drove back), picked up the fam at 1120, and unfortunately due to various bouts of traffic and stops to switch drivers due to fatigue, the drive back to south of DC was more like 8 hours instead of 5, arriving around 7:15pm.
Then we slept, then I compiled all the photos for Facebook, clipped together all the videos for Youtube, and typed all this up for public consumption!
So, questions? Will edit to add more stuff as I remember it...
For the TLDR types, assuming you've ridden everything at the USA theme parks, my recommendations for absolutely not to be missed attractions of all types which you should ride without spoilers or pre-watching any videos are: HK: Mystic Manor, Big Grizzly Mountain, Iron Man Experience, Jungle Cruise; Shanghai: Zootopia Hot Pursuit, Pirates of the Caribbean, Camp Discovery Challenge Trails, Voyage to the Crystal Grotto, Once Upon a Time Adventure, Roaring Rapids; Tokyo DisneySea: The entirety of Fantasy Springs, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Indiana Jones Temple of the Crystal Skull, Leonardo's Challenge, Believe! Sea of Dreams; Tokyo Disneyland: Enchanted Tales with Beauty and the Beast, Monsters Inc Ride and Seek. For many of these it's like they showed the Imagineers the US versions and said "do better, one-up that" and they absolutely did. Some of the technology is truly impressive, straight out of the "how did they do that" category even as a grown adult.
Also TLDR, "thing I wish I knew most" was you could book DPAs at Tokyo parks for any time of day, more on that later.
Through my military career and then additional federal civilian work I do a lot of traveling, earning a lot of frequent flier miles, and also funnel a lot of our typical bills through a miles earning card as well. As a result all our tickets were purchased through American Airlines/Oneworld alliance miles rather than cash. All on nonstops for convenience, although for us that meant driving 5+ hours to JFK from the DC area. We used Spothero to park at 1725 Village Ln, which came out to $116 for the 10 days, vs the hundreds more at the airport, big savings even if you factor in the two Ubers (~$30 each).
Luggage wise we hauled our BOB Duallie double stroller, checked zero bags, and had four carry ons and four personal items stuffed full (no airline weighed them, which is good because they usually state 15lbs as a limit and at least one was twice that). Cathay Pacific let us gate check the stroller at JFK, then the same airline made us check it as baggage at HKG. Japan airlines made us check it on both flights to HND and back to JFK. However at both HND and JFK it arrived at baggage claim about the same time we did, only at PVG did it take a while before being brought up to us directly on a cart, although it might have been sitting at the oversized area for a while whereas we were at the main carousel. We did have it airtagged just in case for checking issues as well as the unlikely event of theme park misplacement/theft, highly recommend everyone do that with any piece of checked luggage.
Cell wise we just activated the international service on our Verizon plans. A bit pricier than other options at $12/day/phone, but that meant we just used data/calls/texts on our phones like normal every day, and it was completely transparent to us that we were in another country, the ultimate in convenience since we didn't have to do anything with eSIMs or anything else, and it was just ready to go upon landing in any given country. This was especially necessary since one of my credit cards would at least once a day send a confirmation code to confirm a purchase that I'd have to receive via text and input in order to process the purchase.
JFK-HKG nonstop 11/20 departed at 0135, about 16 hours inflight with a +13 hour time change, so you arrive 11/21 at 0635. It left from JFK Terminal 8 where we used the Greenwich Lounge as Oneworld Sapphire with a good food spread before boarding. They also let all four of us in even though the rule is typically 1 guest for Sapphire, the only lounge of the trip to do so. We were staying at Disney Explorers Lodge so it was a blue Lantau taxi (~$20 USD, exchange rate for us was ~7.8 HKD to 1 USD) from the airport. We withdrew cash from the ATM to pay the taxi, it was 220HKD on the way there and under 200 on the way back. The trains in general to get from place to place are cheaper than taxis, but longer and involve two transfers, one between trains and then one to the hotel shuttle from the main Disney resort station, adding up to likely over an hour vs the 20 minute taxi.
We also used taxis to/from the Ngong Ping 360 skyliner to the Big Buddha, under 200 each way for that as well. That experience was $160 USD for all of us for the crystal+ cabin where all the walls and floor were see-through. The views are truly impressive though, and you're in the cable car for something like 20 minutes each way up and over massive mountains with views of waterfalls and the sprawling airport with planes taking off and landing. The buddha itself is also quite the destination.
The hotel itself was $699USD for the three nights total, think it was a 30% discount offer they had going when booking. Breakfast was at the hotel buffet, while pricey it was easy, convenient, had a large variety, and was a huge hit with the kids, particularly the customized french toast. With later park openings (0900 early entry, 1000 normal) there was plenty of time to eat.
Early entry (edit: entry for that is an umbrella on the far right side of the entry plaza. If you arrive later as a hotel guest, that line is in the middle and may seem as long as the other turnstiles, but in fact it splits into several turnstiles at the end and as a result the extension line for it moves 4 or 5x as fast). got us on both World of Frozen rides multiple times as well as the other few rides they had open (Winne the Pooh, Carousel, Dumbo) during that hour. Low crowds in general for the two days (Fri 11/22, Sat 11/23) had us easily covering 80% of the park the first day along with the fireworks, and finishing up the rest the second day and then some heading back before dark. Splurged for the Momentous and semi-dinner buffet package on the first park night, that was $241USD for the four of us, but meant prime night show viewing. The meal itself was priced about $100 less so you're paying that difference for the view and the privilege of being able to walk up to the fireworks last minute right in front of the castle instead of well in advance to be several rows of adults deep.
HKG-PVG nonstop 11/24 departed at 1045 and arrived 1330, same timezone. We were traveling through China using the Transit Without Visa program, where if you're staying under 144 hrs, not traveling to multiple areas, and connecting to and from countries that don't include the US (HKG and HND in our case), you don't need a visa. This was seemingly processed almost entirely at the desk in HKG upon check in where they were also checking in our stroller. We had printouts of the outbound flight information from PVG-HND as well as info on where we were staying in Shanghai. I think we pulled up to the airport about 0730 and this processing took until about 0800. Then came a passport check in a separate line for kids 11 and under, then full security, then customs around 0820, then headed to the Pier lounge at gate 65 for munchies since we hadn't paid for breakfast, then it was a long walk back to gate 7 for departure. The kids played at the playground at gate 11, before boarding at 1015.
Upon arrival strangely there was a suited man holding our names on a sign right outside the plane, and we were personally escorted through the entire customs/transit without visa/fingerprinting/baggage claim/to the taxi process. I ended up getting an e-mail later that "special assistance required" had been included with my flight reservation, seemingly at the same time we were at the counter in HKG, so not sure if they added that as a courtesy or what. It was initially odd, but ultimately very convenient, although there was a definite language barrier. He led us past the normal fingerprinting machines to a special line at the customs booths where I guess they process all the transit without visa paperwork. They again asked for outbound flight information and asked the same questions about our plans then moved us along.
We taxi'd from PVG to the Toy Story hotel (prebooked for ~$332 for two nights total), about ~20 min. I withdrew local Chinese currency as a "just in case" tactic but I'd set up the Alipay in advance, and used this for literally everything the entire time we were in China, and used zero cash. Taxis, hotel, food carts, whatever. You bust out your QR code they scan it and it goes on your credit card just like Apple Pay (but Apple Pay isn't available, hence the requirement for Alipay). These were the cheapest taxis of the trip though, exchange rate of 7.1 Chinese Yuan to 1 USD meant something like $12 for one taxi each way. Check in at the Toy Story hotel didn't open til 3pm, but by the time we got there it was about that time anyway. They have an after 5pm pass for the park that is only ~$35USD, so I went in that night to scope the place out and figure out logistics and test payment methods while the rest of the fam continued the "rest day".
Lines were luckily again light on Mon 11/25, perhaps due to some drizzle in the morning and forecasted rain that never really materialized. Got on probably 95% of the park, skipping only the attractions we weren't interested in (like an all-Mandarin Stitch Encounter). With early entry included with the Toy Story hotel we saw the first bus wasn't supposed to leave until 0705 for a no later than 0800 early entry, so we walked over at 0645 or so to get ahead of them. The shuttle really only gets you about halfway there distance wise, from the dropoff through Disneytown to the entrance is still a good ways. That put us about 10th in line for the hotel guests only entrance at the end of DisneyTown, which dumps you into the park close to the Tomorrowland entrance in close proximity to Tron, a destination for many to start the day. At the turnstile (which is immediately behind the security/xray machines) they take your passports and ticket confirmation number and look you up by the former, take pics of you, print your actual paper tickets, and off you go.
We hit Zootopia first thing, which meant that main attraction only took as long as it took people to stop bottlenecking the queue taking pictures of all of it, and then we rode it again immediately with still no wait. As that filled up we headed to Tron which we got on twice in a row just prior to the park opening to non-early entry guests. The rest of the day was still pretty smooth with short lines. The hub is massive, you can view the night show from anywhere, we chose the area right near the Disneytown entrance, as that allowed an easy bail afterward directly onto the hotel shuttle with no line.
PVG-HND nonstop was at 0850 and arrived at 1235 after losing an hour time change, so that caused an early departure from the hotel, we left the room about 0630 to be safe. Taxi then took a while because the stroller wouldn't fit in one and they seemingly couldn't order any "big" taxis so we ended up needing two taxis. That meant $24 instead of $12, not a big deal. Again forced to check the stroller at the airport, didn't end up with a lot of free time as a result of this upon clearing security and customs, so had about 5 minutes to fill some napkins with food from the lounge before we had to go board.
Taxi'd again from HND to the Toy Story hotel, the taxi was more expensive at about 12000 yen (153 yen to 1 USD at the time so ~$78) but again was only 20 minutes, whereas the standard bus would have been an hour with several stops and only departing at specific intervals. Historically I do the legwork to go the cheap ways to save a buck, but these days we do place value on our time and fatigue as well and factor that in. Dropped off direct at hotel and check in wasn't stated to open until 1500 so we explored a bit, although they actually opened it about 1430. We'd booked the hotel right at the 4 month point (199k Yen for 4 nights ~$1292), I didn't see any availability for it at all from then until our departure date, it is seemingly one of the first to book up solid (although in general they seemingly all do other than the off-site celebration hotel). Once again I snuck into DisneySea on the after 5pm pass and caught some of the E-ticket rides and the night show.
Worth noting the monorail is not free, requires cash, and there's no ATM in the stations. The one I ended up finding was actually inside DisneySea's turnstiles, although google suggested there were also some in local hotels, but not convenient distance wise. A four day pass on the monorail was 1500Y for adults, 750Y for kids, so you need 4500Y available to buy those. For unlucky reasons I'd changed all the Chinese currency to Japanese upon arrival since it had gone unused, then paid the taxi in that to get rid of most of it, so was left with less than 4500. We ended up just buying one way tickets to get us to the ATM for about $5 combined (and on to our pressing lunch reservation at Miracosta) and then bought the pass cards before returning to hotel.
Our fine dining experiences were Oceano at Miracosta on arrival day, Magellan's on DisneySea day one, Blue Bayou on Disneyland day, and S.S. Columbia on DisneySea day two. We'd recommend any of them to foodies who like to eat multiple course prix fixe meals over a 90-120 min period, but obviously that's not for everyone both time and expense wise. Even the kids had fun with it though, they were given good variety and a couple courses themselves so they were never bored. Food in general is cheap in Japan, along the lines of $2 for popcorn or churros at the stands, so there's plenty of opportunity to save money there if you like compared to what you'd expect in the US.
DisneySea morning was Wed 11/27, and I left the hotel about 0630, caught the ~0640 monorail from Bayside and was over at the DisneySea entrance around 0700 for a stated 0900 opening. Toy Story guests currently do not get happy entry to DisneySea. This put me about 100th in my line. Initially it was very orderly with everyone sitting with lots of space, then a cast member came by and made everyone stand up and crowd toward the security machines so they could fit in more people into the plaza, and this made it pretty challenging to get the fam and stroller to us when they arrived an hour or so later. Security opened on the dot at 0830, the gates actually opened at 0845 to everyone, but by the time we got in it was 0855. We immediately got Disney Premiere Access for Frozen in the first available slot of 1215, and got a standby pass for Rapunzel at 10. We set an alarm to rebook DPA after the hour, and at that point was able to get Peter Pan. Standbys at that point an hour in were completely gone, and we never did get on Tinkerbell even with pretty rampant refreshing of the app on both days we were there. Many times a DPA would show available but by the time you clicked on it, it would say it was gone, even with more than once of us doing it at the same time. We never saw the additional dropping of new slots later in the day that we'd seen reported by others.
While all this was happening we high stepped to Soarin, were there by 0857, and the line already showed 65 min and was stretching almost to the entrance to Journey. We got in anyway because I'd been scoping it on previous days and it was regularly above 100 min all day. It took every bit of the 65 min to ride, and then was 140 min when we came out. Only alternative though is DPA which most will want to save for Fantasy Springs access. The queue is unique and neat, but the ride is a near carbon copy from the other parks so it's up to you whether it's a priority. I'd put Toy Story Mania in the same category, same ride experience and typically massive line, so for some might be skippable. Tower of Terror though while mostly the same experience is unique enough to merit a ride I'd say (and has a shorter line and more available DPA access than the previous two).
The melee to get into Fantasy Springs was substantial by the time we got over there at ~1030, wall to wall people stuffed into the tunnel slowly making their way to the few cast members who were scanning the passes. That probably took 15-20 min by itself just to get into the land. Once in there were no issues beyond missing out on one of the rides as mentioned (the only one without DPA). DPA by the way is about ~$10/person/ride, so that can add up pretty quick if you're using a bunch, but the park tickets themselves are $200 total for a family of 4 per day, so again compared to the US you're getting about half off normal if not more.
Disneyland morning was Thu 11/28, I again left the hotel about 0630, caught the 0640 monorail and was over at Tokyo Disneyland by ~0700. Toy Story guests DO get Happy Entry to Disneyland, so you go to the center part of the plaza and in through security right up the middle, which they opened much earlier I think around 0730. This was much less crowded, and the fam more easily got to me an hour later, and we were like 5th in line from the turnstiles.
We beelined to Enchanted Tales with Beauty and the Beast, and were in the first pre-show room, positioned ourselves on the far side of that, and thus were in the front row of the first car for the main ride. By the time we came out, the wait was posted 125 min and stretching through Fantasyland almost to the castle. One thing I wish I'd thought of was the fact that because you can pick your DPA time for any time of day (unlike in the US which is forced to first available) you actually shouldn't pick the 0900-1000 slot that we did for a B&B reride, because you should be going on all the rides with short lines at that point. Pick slots in mid afternoon, and you'll still be able to book another DPA an hour later regardless. So beat the mob to B&B, DPA the stuff you want for later, and stay ahead of the mob to the other E-ticket rides all morning, and when all the lines get long you'll have a string of DPAs to ride after lunch.
Two long days in a row had us running on fumes so we chose to be like normal humans on the third day Fri 11/29, ate the buffet at the hotel together and arrived at DisneySea later, more like 0930 off the monorail with an actual entry into the park at 0945 (0900 scheduled opening again). We then discovered all FS DPAs and standbys were completely gone already. We refreshed all day, and never got any, and never went back in. So yes the rumors are true, if you want to get to Fantasy Springs as a priority, show up early. That said our plan had mostly been to just do everything we'd missed the first day and we successfully did that while the crowds were at the things we'd done the first time through.
In general allowing 2 days each for both Disneyland and DisneySea (and even Hong Kong and Shanghai) will really put you in the drivers seat for being able to do 100% of the park (and some of it multiple times), but we effectively did ~80% or more of all of the Asia parks in a single day each.
HND-JFK flight was at 1105, taxi back to HND airport was handled via the Guest Services desk at the Toy Story hotel at about 0830, they called for it after some translator app back and forth, and it ended up big enough to easily carry us and all our stuff arriving at the airport by 0915 or so. We'd checked in online and actually gotten boarding passes in advance this time, but after clearing security they apparently finally noticed the stroller, and sent an airlines employee through security to tell us we had to go back out to the counter to check it. My wife handled that while we just chilled out beyond security pre-customs for ~15 min, then all cleared customs together and still had a good bit of time in the Sakura lounge (with a good food spread as well as free massage chairs).
That last flight was 12+ hours in the air, landed around 1000, Global entry'd through customs with ease, I headed to get the car (25 min Taxi there and drove back), picked up the fam at 1120, and unfortunately due to various bouts of traffic and stops to switch drivers due to fatigue, the drive back to south of DC was more like 8 hours instead of 5, arriving around 7:15pm.
Then we slept, then I compiled all the photos for Facebook, clipped together all the videos for Youtube, and typed all this up for public consumption!
So, questions? Will edit to add more stuff as I remember it...
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