A few questions on booking Tokyo Disneyland

[Madred]

Hello! We are planning a trip to Japan in March, just prior to spring break. I’ve tried to search out some answers, but want to make sure I understand correctly.

1) Booking windows open 90 days prior to the first day of stay? So if we were to arrive March 13, reservations would open on December 14 for vacation packages and for regular hotel stays?

2) When doing some test bookings, it only allows you to select two nights of stay for the vacation packages. If we are staying four nights, we would have to make two separate bookings? If so, why the limit of two days?

3) If the limit is two days, and we book checking in Wednesday and ending the package on Friday, are three days of tickets included, or only two?

4) I saw a little information about VIP availability. Do I understand correctly that you have to book a suite at a Disney property hotel, and once that is booked, you can book a VIP tour?

5) Do the hotels have a luggage storage area? If we were to instead do two nights at the Disney hotel, then switch to the Sheraton or Hilton, will they hold the luggage?

Thank you!

 

[dunkindonut]

I'm not sure if hotels work different, but for restaurants I would book technically 13 or 14 (depending on Daylight savings) hours before the booking time in Japan. So for your example, you would actually book on December 13th at like 9pm EDT. Although I could be wrong depending on how they take February into consideration.

Well the tour is only in Japanese, so unless you're fluent in Japanese, I'm not sure if that would be a deal breaker or not. Although, I think the adventures by Disney includes an English translator, but normally you won't have one. According to their site: https://www.tokyodisneyresort.jp/en/tdl/guide/guidetour.html it seems that you get an extra hour to book the tour a month prior with a Disney hotel reservation. Which yes, that hour can be a massive advantage because otherwise you have to battle for a reservation if many others want it.

I think the packages have always only been 2 days, you might be able to book as many packages as you want though? I'm not sure, I've never done the package, but perhaps someone has more insight into that.

I think the current package is only for two days, so you would have to transfer to another hotel.

I have never had luggage issues in any of the hotels I stayed at in Japan, they all had luggage storage.

 

[wanderlust7]

5) Do the hotels have a luggage storage area? If we were to instead do two nights at the Disney hotel, then switch to the Sheraton or Hilton, will they hold the luggage?

When we stayed at the Sheraton some years ago, they were able to send our luggage to TDH (no charge).

 

[gelatoni fan]

My understanding is that the vacation packages are always 2 days of tickets. If you want more, you'll have to book your own additional tickets and accommodations separately.

The previous person was talking about the Dream go round guided tour which is a one hour experience where a CM tells you things about the park in Japanese which is different from a VIP tour.

In order to book the 6 hour private VIP tour, you must have a Japanese address and phone number and potentially a Japanese credit card as well. You need to book your suite at the Disneyland hotel, Miracosta or Ambassador hotel on the Japanese website using a Japanese Disney account. After that, you'll get an email offering the VIP tour but the exact timing depends on the suite type you booked with cheaper suites only allowing you to book one month in advance. Everything related to the tour is conducted entirely in Japanese.

 

[MimitoAlex]

DH and I stayed at Hilton Tokyo Bay in May of this year, for 4 nights and could not have been happier with the room, the service, we included breakfast which was really Fantastic and Delicious each morning. They have a bus that runs constantly between the hotel and resort line, as well you can walk maybe 5 to 7 minute walk. We loved the Disney Store as well as a Lawson that are both inside the hotel.

I did the numbers, hotel cost, perks of staying on site ~vs ~ off site, food options, I threw in everything in the pot and staying either at the Hilton Tokyo Bay or the Sheraton, far out weighed the price point of staying on site. We went with Hilton as we are honors members which added value to stay there.

We have friends that stay at the Disneyland hotel and while the themeing was great, really beautiful and service was stellar and location was really wonderful. They had to book 2- 2 nights packages, they did get to stay in the same room, yet that might not be the case always. They said that the perks of and early entrance wasn't really all that, as they let in the main gate early as well. Another concern for them was finding breakfast each morning. There are health issues that they both have with the medicine they take - a proper breakfast is a must for them. Which was hard find and use the early entrance. They did have their Son, Daughter in law and grand-kids with them, which they headed out super early used the early entrance and in his words "grazed around each morning between rides". he did not mention anything about the ride perks?

I always look at the whole picture, throwing everything into the pot so to speak, Plus there is jet lag to think about which I can tell for us was a reality, as well if you are doing Disney at the end of your trip how tired are you going to be.

 

[Madred]

My understanding is that the vacation packages are always 2 days of tickets. If you want more, you'll have to book your own additional tickets and accommodations separately.

The previous person was talking about the Dream go round guided tour which is a one hour experience where a CM tells you things about the park in Japanese which is different from a VIP tour.

In order to book the 6 hour private VIP tour, you must have a Japanese address and phone number and potentially a Japanese credit card as well. You need to book your suite at the Disneyland hotel, Miracosta or Ambassador hotel on the Japanese website using a Japanese Disney account. After that, you'll get an email offering the VIP tour but the exact timing depends on the suite type you booked with cheaper suites only allowing you to book one month in advance. Everything related to the tour is conducted entirely in Japanese.

Thanks for the info. Why do they require an address in Japan for the VIP tour? Will they accept a forwarding address from a site like Tenso?

Also, I’m a bit confused about the timing for when vacation packages go on sale. On the website it seems like it is 6 months prior, but in some test searches, it also shows zero available for the most recent postings. Do they truly sell out that quickly, or do I have the timing wrong?

Thank you.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Thanks for the info. Why do they require an address in Japan for the VIP tour? Will they accept a forwarding address from a site like Tenso?

Also, I’m a bit confused about the timing for when vacation packages go on sale. On the website it seems like it is 6 months prior, but in some test searches, it also shows zero available for the most recent postings. Do they truly sell out that quickly, or do I have the timing wrong?

Thank you.

I can't speak to why they require an address for VIP tours but at least for Japanese vacation packages they do send stuff to you. I use a blackship address to receive photokeycard CDs but I don't know if Tenso would work for VIP tours. One blog I read said that in July of this year, they actually had to call and a person would verify all the information (in Japanese of course). Since I actually haven't done a VIP tour, it may be better to try to contact Japanese bloggers who have done a tour or ask on chiebukuro for more details. Things may also change because I believe in the past, they actually had an English website where you could book a VIP tour.

Right now, vacation packages are only bookable through the end of September. It's unclear when you'll be able to book later vacation packages but I can see both English and Japanese vacation packages available on some dates in September.