ej119
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2013
We just got back from our first trip to Asia (Tokyo and Beijing), which of course included at 3-day stop at the Tokyo Disneyland Resort!
I found the Boards incredibly useful in planning, but it seemed like there wasn’t too much to be found online (or in books) on TDR – so I wanted to write my first ever trip report to pay the favor forward. I also get a little bored with very long trip reports, so I’ll try my best to keep this brief.
The Travelers:
Me (right), my DH (left), and my DBFF (future84, center), who lives in Beijing and served as our TDR guide. No kids.
Itinerary:
Day 1 (Tuesday) – Arrive in Tokyo, Explore Resort Hotels and Ikspiari
Day 2 (Wednesday) – Tokyo Disneyland
Day 3 (Thursday) – Tokyo DisneySea
I’ll also do my best to answer any questions people post. So here we go!
Day 1
We got into Narita Airport around 3pm on Tuesday. Customs was pretty easy to get through (no visa needed to get into Japan from the US) and we caught the Airport Limousine Bus to TDR. We couldn’t pre-book, but I printed out the directions to find the kiosk and we were fortunately able to catch the 4:10pm shuttle. One note: I was led to believe the bus would make multiple stops, but our driver had everyone get off at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel stop and so we caught a cab to our hotel.
Like the Disneyland Hotels in Anaheim, the TDR resorts were pretty pricey so we picked an off-property hotel that was very close: Hotel MyStays Maihama. It was a great rate and walking distance to TDR – although, insider tip: take the 5 minute walk to the Disney Ambassador Hotel and catch the free shuttle to the Parks. Our hotel offered a very limited, infrequent shuttle to the Parks as well and there was always a line.
The location of the hotel was convenient and the staff was very friendly, but while we were there it was 90-95 degrees Fahrenheit each day and the air conditioning was very weak with complicated controls that we couldn’t quite figure out. We even switched rooms the first night and had numerous staff members come up to show us how to work the unit. If you are bothered by heat, we were never successful in getting the room truly cooled down. This was a bit of surprise especially since I did a bunch of research on TripAdvisor before selecting a hotel for this portion of our trip.
After checking in, we decided to explore the resort hotels and Ikspiari. We did a full circuit on the Monorail and explored all Disneyland Hotels. Each hotel was gorgeous (really beyond any of my expectations) and had several restaurant options, ranging from a buffet at the Disney Ambassador to a Mediterranean restaurant at the Hotel MiraCosta at DisneySea. Although they all looked appealing, we settled for a simple izakaya (Japanese style pub) in Ikspiari, which again saved us a few bucks over eating at one of the Resort properties. We also knew that we were planning big dinners in the Parks over the next couple of nights, so it was good to have one low-key evening.
One final note on Ikspiari: I expected it to have a layout would be similar to Downtown Disney in Anaheim or Orlando, but it could have been any indoor mall. However, it does have a Monorail stop and a stop on the Japan Railway line that will get you downtown.
After dinner, we returned home for good night of sleep (minus the unexpected room change) prior to an early morning at Tokyo Disneyland!
Next Up: Day 2 at Tokyo Disneyland
I found the Boards incredibly useful in planning, but it seemed like there wasn’t too much to be found online (or in books) on TDR – so I wanted to write my first ever trip report to pay the favor forward. I also get a little bored with very long trip reports, so I’ll try my best to keep this brief.
The Travelers:
Me (right), my DH (left), and my DBFF (future84, center), who lives in Beijing and served as our TDR guide. No kids.
Itinerary:
Day 1 (Tuesday) – Arrive in Tokyo, Explore Resort Hotels and Ikspiari
Day 2 (Wednesday) – Tokyo Disneyland
Day 3 (Thursday) – Tokyo DisneySea
I’ll also do my best to answer any questions people post. So here we go!
Day 1
We got into Narita Airport around 3pm on Tuesday. Customs was pretty easy to get through (no visa needed to get into Japan from the US) and we caught the Airport Limousine Bus to TDR. We couldn’t pre-book, but I printed out the directions to find the kiosk and we were fortunately able to catch the 4:10pm shuttle. One note: I was led to believe the bus would make multiple stops, but our driver had everyone get off at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel stop and so we caught a cab to our hotel.
Like the Disneyland Hotels in Anaheim, the TDR resorts were pretty pricey so we picked an off-property hotel that was very close: Hotel MyStays Maihama. It was a great rate and walking distance to TDR – although, insider tip: take the 5 minute walk to the Disney Ambassador Hotel and catch the free shuttle to the Parks. Our hotel offered a very limited, infrequent shuttle to the Parks as well and there was always a line.
The location of the hotel was convenient and the staff was very friendly, but while we were there it was 90-95 degrees Fahrenheit each day and the air conditioning was very weak with complicated controls that we couldn’t quite figure out. We even switched rooms the first night and had numerous staff members come up to show us how to work the unit. If you are bothered by heat, we were never successful in getting the room truly cooled down. This was a bit of surprise especially since I did a bunch of research on TripAdvisor before selecting a hotel for this portion of our trip.
After checking in, we decided to explore the resort hotels and Ikspiari. We did a full circuit on the Monorail and explored all Disneyland Hotels. Each hotel was gorgeous (really beyond any of my expectations) and had several restaurant options, ranging from a buffet at the Disney Ambassador to a Mediterranean restaurant at the Hotel MiraCosta at DisneySea. Although they all looked appealing, we settled for a simple izakaya (Japanese style pub) in Ikspiari, which again saved us a few bucks over eating at one of the Resort properties. We also knew that we were planning big dinners in the Parks over the next couple of nights, so it was good to have one low-key evening.
One final note on Ikspiari: I expected it to have a layout would be similar to Downtown Disney in Anaheim or Orlando, but it could have been any indoor mall. However, it does have a Monorail stop and a stop on the Japan Railway line that will get you downtown.
After dinner, we returned home for good night of sleep (minus the unexpected room change) prior to an early morning at Tokyo Disneyland!
Next Up: Day 2 at Tokyo Disneyland
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