2 Days at TDR- so jetlagged, but still magical! Except for the missing Chandu tails...

Westcoastwild

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Thanks, everyone! I got some great information on this board, so here's a quick trip report...

Landed at Haneda at 430, but the first bus Disney runs at 730. Not ideal, but that was fine. Haneda is fun to explore even when nothing is open, and I desperately needed to wipe down and brush my teeth. Breakfast at 7-11. I have a feeling I may be in 7-11 a lot this trip!

The bus was easy to catch and it dropped off at both the parks and the official Disney Hotels. It took about an hour. I checked into the Sheraton. It's a decent hotel. It's about what I would expect a slightly aged Sheraton to be, except possibly it has four star service. I was in the penguin floor, and it was definitely showing it's age. I don't know if all the floors are like that; there may be refurbished floors. The penguins were one of the cheaper options and I am cheap- although of course I also like penguins! However, the room was spotless and the shower was amazing. The latter is pretty much all I care about in a hotel. The beds were on the firmer side, which was also nice.

I went to Disneyland until I could no longer stay awake, and that was about 4 PM. I got a lot done, though. Everyone is completely right about Winnie the Pooh. Make it your priority. It's so fantastic. The park in general is more like DL than MK. It's fairly compact.

The lines really weren't too bad- I would definitely go at this time of year again. They make fast pass easier than CA, and they don't overdo it like MK. So they're easy to grab and the lines move faster because not everything is fastpassed. Single rider is great- again more along the lines of CA.

For my fellow Pooh sized folks-

I am pear shaped, meaning that I'm relatively small chested with large thighs and hips. If you have a similar build, I would give Splash Mountain a miss unless you really love that ride. The restraints are different and horrible. Feet jammed up, thighs in a vice, a crotch bump. Why, ride designers, why. I do love Splash but I would not willingly do that again. It was like mine train except exponentially worse.

Space Mountain is the same ride system but better because it has just a smidge more leg room, so at least I didn't feel like it was going to hobble me.

I wasn't pulled by staff in DL, but I was once in DisneySea and that was for the raging spirits roller coaster. The tester chair is private and they were so nice about it. But they aren't very good at judging size. I could have told them that Raging Spirits would be fine. If there had been a tester chair in front of Splash, I would not have gotten in line. Raging Spirits is a great little coaster, but if you have a generous chest and have had trouble in the past with the pull down shoulder thingy, it may be a no go. But it's a comfortable, well padded restraint and definitely worth trying.

So, I went back to the hotel to sleep. I didn't get to ride anything in adventureland; the jet lag was hitting pretty hard and I finally had to admit my thunder mountain fast pass was not getting used.

12 hours later....

I get up and eat the set japanese breakfast at Sheraton's sushi restaurant. It was basically what I needed. Bought a latte afterwards. Not great but okay. And then I headed to Disney Sea!!!

Part 2 coming soon....
 
The saga continues...

Disneysea was considerably more crowded than DL. But what a wonderful park! I thought parts like the American Waterfront and Venice would bore me, as I've been to (and love) their real counterparts. But they are so, so well done. This is what DLP wants to be, and this is what Epcot should be. There have been several threads complaining about IP in world showcase, but I think Disneysea makes an excellent case for how it could be done. Just hang out at the Arabian coast at dusk and ride Jasmine's flying carpets, and then tell me that IP can't possibly fit. The ride itself is a work of art, but the land is simply amazing. This is the very best of imagineer design (even if the imagineers were probably not involved).

I unfortunately cannot tell you much about fastpass strategy. It was that time of the month and I was dragging. But I can tell you it is an efficient system, and if you don't get fps for the headliners, single rider queues work well.

Rides:

Sinbad's journey is now at the very top of my list for dark boat rides. This is what FEA should have been. It's like floating through a story book, and it's wonderful.

Indian Jones queue is the BOMB. The ride itself is pretty much DL's version with the Crystal Skull as the theme. CS was a so horrible it was hilarious movie and that is coming from a die hard Ford fan. I love the DL ride though, and this version of it is more monumentous in terms of design.

Rope drop Nemo or something. Don't stand in line. It's cute but not worth waiting even 10 minutes for.

20, 000 leagues is, though. I don't like the sub ride at DL, but this is fun because of the ride vehicle. And the land around is terrific. Very steampunk.

Ariel's kingdom is mostly for the young'uns, but I enjoyed the Jumping Jellyfish, and it's beautiful just from a design point of view. I can't say that enough- the whole park is beautiful.

Raging spirits is great. It does go 360, but it's less intense than either Everest or Screaming. The facade is another thing you want to see after dark!

Went back to DL today, and rode Thunder, Pirates, saw tiki and country bears. Definitely go to Country bears. I'm happy that CA DL has the original Tiki room but I love stitch and got a kick out of his version.


I'm usually not a counter service person, but I didn't have any problem here. The popcorn alone kept me occupied.

Flavors: soy sauce, curry, black pepper, honey, caramel, BBQ. Soy sauce was my favorite. Didn't really care for bbq, but to be fair, I may have just reached popcorn saturation point.

Other snacks: shrimp bun, gyoza sausage. The shrimp was my favorite. Better than anything in the us parks.

One of the chilled tipo things- honey lemon. Tasty.

Tiramisu ice cream sandwich- not great.

Pirates drink of the summer- basically a Shirley temple with mint syrup and tapioca pearls.

The hamburger patty at the red queen's place. Worst thing so far, and be forewarned that the line takes forever. If you're out in the hall with the card guards, you probably have 30 minutes, and it's cute and all, but 30 minutes is way too long for quick service.

Iced oolong tea- great news, it's unsweetened!

And finally...drum roll please...little green dumplings. Those and the soy popcorn are the only thing I bought twice. Yowza. I thought they'd be barely edible but they are chilled and delicious.

Final notes:

Extremely well organized and efficient park. Very clean but I think that may be less customer service and more that the Japanese guests just don't leave things behind.

I would have been fine day tripping, but if you have the money, stay on the monorail. It's pretty much the (cheap) equivalent of being in the bubble and you'll want to come early and stay late, at least in the summer. I mostly did it because of jet lag, but I probably would do so again.

If I did it again, I'd try for 4 days so I could see a few shows. I'm not a show person, but they're unique enough here that I wish I'd had more time. However, if you visit during the week, you aren't jet lagged, you've been to the US parks (at least DL), then do two days at Tokyo Disneysea, and maybe a night ticket to Disneyland. TDL and DL are nearly clones, but TDL has shorter lines on some stuff. I was able to tour a lot faster.

The only reason I would consider staying at a Disney hotel here is to have help with restaurant reservations. If you NEED table service, stay there. I didn't have any luck with the 10 am thing. And that is the only thing that I would say makes TDL complicated. My family wants to know where they'll be eating ahead of time, so I would stay at an official hotel if I came back with them.

You likely won't save money on food and you'll probably eat worse. I ate dinner at the Sheraton's world buffet. It was overpriced but hotel food around here just is in general.

Hope that helps someone! Thanks for reading!
 
Thanks for your review! It sounds like you got so much done in two days. As someone who's been to DLP and WDW how does the Tokyo park compare to Magic Kingdom and Parc Disneyland? I think you're the first person I've spotted who has visited both.

I'm so glad you prefer TDS to Epcot, I was incredibly underwhelmed when I visited the World Showcase. Not sure if it's because I've visited a fair few of the countries there but I found it very *meh*.
 
Loved your review. I thought 20,000 leagues was awesome!

The only thing I'd say is that while the Japanese generally don't litter etc, their customer service is amazing. Cast members were mopping up puddles after rain, and I had 2 cast members phone multiple shops trying to track down some earrings (while apologising every 2 minutes for the wait).
 


Thanks for your review! It sounds like you got so much done in two days. As someone who's been to DLP and WDW how does the Tokyo park compare to Magic Kingdom and Parc Disneyland? I think you're the first person I've spotted who has visited both.

I'm so glad you prefer TDS to Epcot, I was incredibly underwhelmed when I visited the World Showcase. Not sure if it's because I've visited a fair few of the countries there but I found it very *meh*.


I enjoyed MK but in general I felt WDW's strength is the resort bubble atmosphere. MK is sprawling and kind of ugly in comparison to Paris, DL, and TDL. WDW imagineers have so much space that I feel they tend to get careless about overall design. Paris is pretty and cohesive design wise but has far fewer attractions and feels a bit like a local carnival. Not great shopping or food. TDL is like DL except they seem to have eliminated the bottle necking issue. And it's very, very clean. Decent shopping if you understand the whole Duffy the bear obsession which...I do not. I'm a pin collector and they don't really go for that.

So if lack of understanding shows doesn't bother you, TDL would be the first choice, DL as a close second. MK really only if you love Fastpass plus. TDL doesn't fast pass any of the kiddy rides and the queues are probably pretty bad on high crowd days. I wouldn't go out of my way for Paris, but there, the only thing I really enjoyed was HM, Thunder, and the overall design.

So I guess the easiest way to put it is: DL is the standard, what the other parks tried to be. MK is American gluttony at its finest, and built for that audience. Paris is built for its audience but they didn't aim high enough (probably a combination of climate and budget and poor location. I don't think Parisians see it as anything other than a kiddy carny park). TDL in some ways surpasses DL but it might be because it's a newer, cleaner park. It's a very similar experience. And the roof over Main Street is functional and well designed. It's a locals park much in the way Anaheim is.

I was riding the jellyfish ride in DisneySea and thinking about this. The jellyfish are basically a copy of the parachute army men ride at Paris. The difference is that the parachute ride just gives you a view of the kiddy land at Paris- very primary colored, carny feeling. Cute but basic, you know? Jellyfish is in Ariel's kingdom which is an underwater "cavern" with nautilus lamps and kelp and and a whale mouth gift shop. Stunning. Visual feast. And that summarizes Tokyo Disney- they took into account not just the rides but the setting and how you see something from all angles. SO impressive from a design perspective.
 
Loved your review. I thought 20,000 leagues was awesome!

The only thing I'd say is that while the Japanese generally don't litter etc, their customer service is amazing. Cast members were mopping up puddles after rain, and I had 2 cast members phone multiple shops trying to track down some earrings (while apologising every 2 minutes for the wait).

Yes, the customer service is terrific! The apologizing cracks me up. The first time, I was taken aback- what wait?

the parks are incredibly well staffed- Moreso than the US parks. Still, I certainly think the cleanliness is largely due to the culture. You see little bits of litter in hard to reach spots, like in rides or water features in DL. There is absolutely none of that in TDL. Many of the hassles- if you can call them that- at the US parks are created BY guests. Entitlement, you know. Not something you see here.
 
And I think I forgot to mention- tower of terror ride is not as good as wdw but the queue is excellent, even better than the US versions. Different story. So even if you don't like the ride, walk through and chicken exit if you have time!
 


I enjoyed MK but in general I felt WDW's strength is the resort bubble atmosphere. MK is sprawling and kind of ugly in comparison to Paris, DL, and TDL. WDW imagineers have so much space that I feel they tend to get careless about overall design. Paris is pretty and cohesive design wise but has far fewer attractions and feels a bit like a local carnival. Not great shopping or food. TDL is like DL except they seem to have eliminated the bottle necking issue. And it's very, very clean. Decent shopping if you understand the whole Duffy the bear obsession which...I do not. I'm a pin collector and they don't really go for that.

So if lack of understanding shows doesn't bother you, TDL would be the first choice, DL as a close second. MK really only if you love Fastpass plus. TDL doesn't fast pass any of the kiddy rides and the queues are probably pretty bad on high crowd days. I wouldn't go out of my way for Paris, but there, the only thing I really enjoyed was HM, Thunder, and the overall design.

So I guess the easiest way to put it is: DL is the standard, what the other parks tried to be. MK is American gluttony at its finest, and built for that audience. Paris is built for its audience but they didn't aim high enough (probably a combination of climate and budget and poor location. I don't think Parisians see it as anything other than a kiddy carny park). TDL in some ways surpasses DL but it might be because it's a newer, cleaner park. It's a very similar experience. And the roof over Main Street is functional and well designed. It's a locals park much in the way Anaheim is.

I was riding the jellyfish ride in DisneySea and thinking about this. The jellyfish are basically a copy of the parachute army men ride at Paris. The difference is that the parachute ride just gives you a view of the kiddy land at Paris- very primary colored, carny feeling. Cute but basic, you know? Jellyfish is in Ariel's kingdom which is an underwater "cavern" with nautilus lamps and kelp and and a whale mouth gift shop. Stunning. Visual feast. And that summarizes Tokyo Disney- they took into account not just the rides but the setting and how you see something from all angles. SO impressive from a design perspective.

Thank you for this wonderfully detailed answer, it makes me so much more excited to go now.
 
Yes, the customer service is terrific! The apologizing cracks me up. The first time, I was taken aback- what wait?

the parks are incredibly well staffed- Moreso than the US parks. Still, I certainly think the cleanliness is largely due to the culture. You see little bits of litter in hard to reach spots, like in rides or water features in DL. There is absolutely none of that in TDL. Many of the hassles- if you can call them that- at the US parks are created BY guests. Entitlement, you know. Not something you see here.

Interesting because I was really let down by the customer service when we were there in June. Despite staying on property, the shops were not willing to send purchases to our hotel when I asked. I was also less than impressed with the fact Photopass refused to take pictures of us with characters unless we agreed to purchase the pictures ahead of time, they also took fewer pictures of us than the Japanese guests and we got whichever picture they felt was best and never even saw the 2nd one vs. the 5+ they took of Japanese people.
 
Interesting because I was really let down by the customer service when we were there in June. Despite staying on property, the shops were not willing to send purchases to our hotel when I asked. I was also less than impressed with the fact Photopass refused to take pictures of us with characters unless we agreed to purchase the pictures ahead of time, they also took fewer pictures of us than the Japanese guests and we got whichever picture they felt was best and never even saw the 2nd one vs. the 5+ they took of Japanese people.

Do they offer package delivery service? I haven't seen anyone mention it.

I'm not into photopass so even if I'd done it, I wouldn't have anything to compare it to. I will say it's definitely a park that caters to the locals rather than foreign visitors. That may account for your experience. But I get the impression they are generally very polite but very rule bound- without the american idea of "customer is always right".
 
Do they offer package delivery service? I haven't seen anyone mention it.

I'm not into photopass so even if I'd done it, I wouldn't have anything to compare it to. I will say it's definitely a park that caters to the locals rather than foreign visitors. That may account for your experience. But I get the impression they are generally very polite but very rule bound- without the american idea of "customer is always right".

I wouldn't say local so much as Japanese. People come from all over Japan to visit TDR. We got talking to quite a few people because my DD was stopped for photos and autographs by Japanese tourists relatively often

Yes, very polite and rule bound, but I honestly was disappointed, I thought I had better customer service other places I visited and stayed in Japan. We got talked out of buying the right size socks (so that I now have $20 socks that don't fit anyone) because children of a certain age must wear a specific size. And I plan to post this elsewhere for other vegetarians, but no, they're not willing to work with you on meals to make something vegetarian. It made me miss the US parks with their myriad of options and of course the SoCal area is a mecca for amazing vegan and vegetarian food outside of the parks.

We did have some lovely help from the cast members at the Cape Cod QS eatery when we wanted to see the Duffy Show.

And yes, one of the benefits of staying at an official TDR hotel is I am supposed to get package delivery. It's possible it was a language barrier issue, but the person just completely shut me down. It was frustrating because we were getting buckets of rain. Which while really cutting down on lines had me concerned about purchases.

I personally love Photopass. It's included for free with my WDW annual pass, and I take full advantage. I love having pictures of me with my daughter.

I think the parks are beautiful and despite preferring wilder rides, Hunny Hunt is worth the price of admission by itself, but there is also so much more I could be doing in Japan that is more unique to Japan and for the price at the TDR official hotels, I could stay in a luxury hotel in Tokyo that is nicer and has awe inspiring service. I'm sure in 2018 we will go back, but I will rethink my hotel and dinning options and if I could drop the parks to 1 day I will. I'd rather go back to Hiraizumi or Nikko or even Kamakura or Hakone.
 
We got talking to quite a few people because my DD was stopped for photos and autographs by Japanese tourists relatively often

Okay, my curiosity got the best of me.

Who is your DD that they're recognised in Japan as a "celebrity" and asked for autographs? Obviously you don't have to name "names", but is your DD a music, TV or movie star?
 
Okay, my curiosity got the best of me.

Who is your DD that they're recognised in Japan as a "celebrity" and asked for autographs? Obviously you don't have to name "names", but is your DD a music, TV or movie star?

No, it's not a celebrity thing, or at least I don't think it is. Pp said photos not autographs right? My Swedish roommate at the Tokyo hostel warned me that Japanese like to get their picture taken with foreigners, and I'm assuming the kid was cute and dressed up in a costume.

Edit: huh. Does say autographs. Well I agree, you've intrigued me too!
 
No, it's not a celebrity thing, or at least I don't think it is. Pp said photos not autographs right? My Swedish roommate at the Tokyo hostel warned me that Japanese like to get their picture taken with foreigners, and I'm assuming the kid was cute and dressed up in a costume.

Edit: huh. Does say autographs. Well I agree, you've intrigued me too!

You are correct, DD is not anyone famous. She's just a super adorable and outgoing 6 year old (mother's bias though I am going to write a trip report and share pictures this week end, but I love reading other people's reports because I just love Japan.) and she does look foreign. We both have very fair skin and her hair is dirty blond. We got stopped in Sea and she got asked for pictures and then was asked for an autograph so the other Japanese tourists could presumably remember her name. It was raining a lot, so we weren't stopped in Sea too often just a few times. At TDL, she wore her Alice costume and made a huge splash. We got stopped quite a bit and had other visitors take her pictures with the characters. A few people also asked her to sign her name there (probably also a way to remember her, it was sort of weird since the Japanese don't go overly in for autographs like that. We were the only people getting character autographs I saw.)

We saw very few obviously foreign children in Sea and just a handful more in TDL. We're also just a mother and daughter vs a larger group of foreigners so not quite so off-putting. She got lots of comments of "Kawaiiii!" throughout Japan and was stopped for pictures other places we visited. We also ran into a Cosplay event in Ikebukuro and some of the cosplayers asked for pictures with her. She was just in normal clothes at the time.

Though DD might be getting her 10 minutes of fame soon. While walking through Takayama station we saw a NHK crew doing a special on Takayama station and she got filmed.
 
Wow. Very interesting. My husband and (blonde) friends have been asked for photos, but I've never heard of a foreigner being asked for their autograph. If your DD was that popular in Tokyo, then I'd dread to think what size crowd she would attract in Shanghai!
 
Wow. Very interesting. My husband and (blonde) friends have been asked for photos, but I've never heard of a foreigner being asked for their autograph. If your DD was that popular in Tokyo, then I'd dread to think what size crowd she would attract in Shanghai!

We've not been to China yet. DD is very enthusiastic about the attention. She specifically asked me which costume would get her the most attention at TDL (and be most comfortable with the weather.) And again, I think it helps we're just two people. We seem a lot less threatening and I understand a smattering of Japanese as well. I can't remember if she was as popular in USJ. We do get a lot of kawaiis though and it does help a lot with foreign face characters who go right up to us.

I'd never seen a foreigner asked for an autograph before either. It's possible she did something that subtlety hinted she wanted to sign something for them. I'll be honest, I was somewhat distracted by the downpour and keeping us from being soaked while waiting to meet Mickey. I have dark hair, so unless I am somewhere out in the countryside I don't get that much attention and I don't get photo requests, mostly I've just gotten curiosity and friendliness and possibly a few guys trying to pick me up. >>; I have an African-American friend who use to live in Tokyo, and she was positively mobbed when we went to Kakunodate together. I am glad that didn't happen to DD since I think that might have overwhelmed her.
 
Thanks, everyone! I got some great information on this board, so here's a quick trip report...

Landed at Haneda at 430, but the first bus Disney runs at 730. Not ideal, but that was fine. Haneda is fun to explore even when nothing is open, and I desperately needed to wipe down and brush my teeth. Breakfast at 7-11. I have a feeling I may be in 7-11 a lot this trip!

The bus was easy to catch and it dropped off at both the parks and the official Disney Hotels. It took about an hour. I checked into the Sheraton. It's a decent hotel. It's about what I would expect a slightly aged Sheraton to be, except possibly it has four star service. I was in the penguin floor, and it was definitely showing it's age. I don't know if all the floors are like that; there may be refurbished floors. The penguins were one of the cheaper options and I am cheap- although of course I also like penguins! However, the room was spotless and the shower was amazing. The latter is pretty much all I care about in a hotel. The beds were on the firmer side, which was also nice.

I went to Disneyland until I could no longer stay awake, and that was about 4 PM. I got a lot done, though. Everyone is completely right about Winnie the Pooh. Make it your priority. It's so fantastic. The park in general is more like DL than MK. It's fairly compact.

The lines really weren't too bad- I would definitely go at this time of year again. They make fast pass easier than CA, and they don't overdo it like MK. So they're easy to grab and the lines move faster because not everything is fastpassed. Single rider is great- again more along the lines of CA.

For my fellow Pooh sized folks-

I am pear shaped, meaning that I'm relatively small chested with large thighs and hips. If you have a similar build, I would give Splash Mountain a miss unless you really love that ride. The restraints are different and horrible. Feet jammed up, thighs in a vice, a crotch bump. Why, ride designers, why. I do love Splash but I would not willingly do that again. It was like mine train except exponentially worse.

Space Mountain is the same ride system but better because it has just a smidge more leg room, so at least I didn't feel like it was going to hobble me.

I wasn't pulled by staff in DL, but I was once in DisneySea and that was for the raging spirits roller coaster. The tester chair is private and they were so nice about it. But they aren't very good at judging size. I could have told them that Raging Spirits would be fine. If there had been a tester chair in front of Splash, I would not have gotten in line. Raging Spirits is a great little coaster, but if you have a generous chest and have had trouble in the past with the pull down shoulder thingy, it may be a no go. But it's a comfortable, well padded restraint and definitely worth trying.

So, I went back to the hotel to sleep. I didn't get to ride anything in adventureland; the jet lag was hitting pretty hard and I finally had to admit my thunder mountain fast pass was not getting used.

12 hours later....

I get up and eat the set japanese breakfast at Sheraton's sushi restaurant. It was basically what I needed. Bought a latte afterwards. Not great but okay. And then I headed to Disney Sea!!!

Part 2 coming soon....
Hi

You mention the Disney bus that takes you from Haneda to the hotel... Do you mean the airport limousine or does Disney provide any special transportation to the official hotels?
 
Didn't do photos so can't comment.
I had a LOT of shopping delivered to my Disney hotel. Not sure why they'd have an issue with that.
Surprised she was stopped so much. Usually it's the Chinese and the Japanese are too polite.
 
Hi

You mention the Disney bus that takes you from Haneda to the hotel... Do you mean the airport limousine or does Disney provide any special transportation to the official hotels?
Typo in my post sorry. Supposed to say "first bus TO Disney." And yes, airport limousine. Nicer that magical express imo. Stops at all the official hotels.
 

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