aussie shaz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2011
So, as some of you would remember, I've finally booked my trip to Japan. There will be me, hubby and 2 sons, ages 12 and 14 (turning 15 while we're there).I originally thought about going to Japan, only because DS14 has wanted to go for forever. He loves all things anime, manga, robots, weird! At one stage, I stupidly said 'yes, we'll go one day'. Now, any mother knows when you make a promise, even a very vague one, you really need to keep it.
We'd done Bali twice last year, and I had booked a hotel to go again this year, changing things up a bit and doing some places we hadn't done before. I had looked into Japan and thought it was just too expensive, and maybe I could get away with taking him when he could actually pay for himself. LOL.
Where I work, it's really hard to get any holidays, let alone school holidays. Things came into alignment with my leave and hubbys where we could both have Easter off this year. Of course, that means mild weather and cherry blossoms in Japan. I just couldn't let the chance slip by, and maybe not get holidays at this time of year again. So I scrapped Bali and started making plans for Japan.
So, I've booked flights with Jetstar, direct from Melbourne. I'm really not keen on Jetstar, but we prefer to fly direct and they are the only option. The flight over is overnight, so lack of meals won't worry us. The flight home leaves Tokyo at 12.15pm and gets in at midnight. Not sure yet what we'll do for food. I might order something for the plane, or might just get something at the airport before we leave to get us through the flight. What I really hate is the fact that Jetstar have you over a barrel concerning drinks. We can't take our own on the plane, so we have to pay the exorbitant prices that they charge. If the flights were cheaper, I don't really mind, but having paid nearly the same amount as to LAX with Virgin, I'd have loved some free drinks
We arrive into Tokyo at about 8am, and will either take the Airport limobus or the NEX train to Shinjuku. Haven't really decided yet. With the limobus we don't have to worry about working out the train system straight away, but it doesn't drop off to the hotel. We'll still have to walk from the station to our hotel. NEX will also go to the station, but it might be a bit quicker.
Anyway, we'll have 4 nights at the Blossom Hotel near Shinjuku station. It's only a couple of years old, and apparently in a great location. Have booked 2 twin rooms, as doubles are often tiny and the bed is not even the size of a normal double.
In Tokyo we plan to visit Akihabara, which is where all the electronics etc are. Harajuku, which is the young people's shopping and hangout, where we might see some Cosplayers. My son is into Cosplay, and he'd also love to go to a Maid Cafe. We'll see about that! O'Daiba which is on a man made island. There are a few shopping centres, but we're mainly going there for Miraikan (the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation) This is where Asimo lives, and they have an area all about robots. O'Daiba also has Sega Joypolis, which is obviously a Sega theme park type place. They also have the giant Gundam and Gundam cafe. We'll also do the normal touristy stuff in Tokyo like shrines, parks etc.
We then take the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka. I mainly wanted to go to Osaka for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, but of course we'll have to do Kyoto while we're down that way. We have 4 nights at the Hotel Claiton Shin Osaka. I struggled with accommodation here as I was worried about getting to/from the Shinkansen with all of our luggage. I didn't really want to be dragging suitcases on local trains if I could help it. Therefore, I decided to stay at Shin Osaka as this is where the Shinkansen leaves from. Problem is, it's not really near the main area of Osaka. It's only a couple of train stops away, but not walkable to anything as far as I can see. We'll also have to change trains 3 times to get to Universal Studios, which is a pain. Oh well, it was cheap (relatively) and we'll get over it.
Now, as Universal was one of the main reasons we were going to Osaka, I needed to work out tickets. It's all well and good to buy admission tickets (which are date specific), but this doesn't guarantee you entry to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I read that you need a timed entry ticket, or you may not get into the world. 3 ways to do this....1/Be there very early (the locals are there more than an hour before park opens) and RUN to the entry of the world. 2/Buy Express entry tickets at the gate (same problem as No 1, due to the Express passes running out) and 3/Buy Express passes prior to arriving into Japan. Great, you say, why not do that. Well, the only teeny tiny problem is that you have to order them from the Japanese website....and I remember nothing of my Japanese lessons from Year 7. So, what do I do? Yep, that's right, I order them from the Japanese website, praying everything is right. This morning they have released the tickets for April, which is at the start of the 15th Anniversary 'REBOOOOOOOORN' year. They are also opening a new ride called the Jurassic Park Flying Dinosaur. It's apparently the worlds longest flying coaster. So, I purchased the Express 7 pass. This gets you timed entry into Harry Potter World, express pass onto the 2 Harry Potter rides, express onto the new Dinosaur ride, and Express onto 4 other rides.
I am just so relieved I got them as they apparently sell out really quickly, and I just hope that they will let us in with them
Anyway, my son turns 15 while we are in Osaka. I would have loved to go to USJ on his birthday, but the Tuesday on the crowd calendar was much lower crowds, and when I went to buy the Express passes, they were also quite a bit cheaper on the Tuesday. So we'll do Kyoto on the Monday, doing the cherry blossom areas. I think on Sunday we'll spend the day looking around Osaka. We'll also book at half day bike tour on this day which will be something a bit different to just wandering ourselves. Hopefully I can actually ride a bike. I did email them to make sure there's no big hills, and if there are, could I walk up them!! Yep, I'm allowed to walk.
We then return by Shinkansen to Disney! Yay!
We should arrive at about lunchtime on the Wenesday. I was going to buy 2 days tickets for the Thursday and Friday, but decided I would squeeze in another half day (can't we always). This also allows us to go to Disneyland for the first half day, Disney Sea for the next full day, and park hop on the third day. Otherwise , with a 2 day pass, you can't hop, who have to have only one day at each.
I've booked a quad room at the Hilton Tokyo Bay. This was our cheapest hotel by far. I got an amazing price direct with the hotel.
So that's about it. Sorry if I raved too much. Hopefully I'll be able to do a TR when I get home and add lots of pictures, when I remember how to!
