Tokyo Disney - 3 days enough?

[doombuggy]

we are planning a trip to China and Japan next October to celebrate a milestone birthday for me.
We know to avoid TDR parks on the weekend, especially since it will be late October. We are Disney park veterans with two of us working for Disney (I still do).

Will 3 days be enough to see everything we can? My plan is to use dvc points to stay in an alcove room at the Disneyland hotel, as there are 3 of us. Our thoughts are probably to come over from Shanghai on Sunday or Monday 10/22 or 10/23 and then leave for Kyoto on Friday maybe. Thoughts?

Any advice appreciated, thanks!

 

[Agent 86]

Are all three of you adults? Are you happy to miss some rides and shows, particularly those aimed at children?

If so, three days should be enough. 1.5 days for each park, provided that you visit on weekdays and subject to any special events in Tokyo or at the parks themselves which could increase park attendance (e.g. the costume days in the parks).

Have fun planning!

 

[doombuggy]

Are all three of you adults? Are you happy to miss some rides and shows, particularly those aimed at children?

If so, three days should be enough. 1.5 days for each park, provided that you visit on weekdays and subject to any special events in Tokyo or at the parks themselves which could increase park attendance (e.g. the costume days in the parks).

Have fun planning!

Yes we are 3 adults. We were thinking of Monday 10/23-Thursday 10/26 which would include a day in Tokyo (maybe from our dl hotel, not sure right now) before moving to Kyoto for a couple of days. Note this is 2017.

 

[aschwarz]

@doombuggy I think 3 days would be the perfect amount, especially during the week -- we did 4 on a very low crowd level, and it was more than enough time to see what we wanted to see. Sounds like a fabulous trip!!

 

[wanderlust7]

Monday tends to still be a little busy, so if you do 3 days the Tuesday-Thursday should be better. If you decide to stay in Tokyo, you could do it the Sunday night you arrive, send your luggage to TDH from the airport using one of the delivery services (very reliable and inexpensive), and just take an overnight bag. This may be the best option if your flight arrives after the last limousine bus to TDR (6 pm maybe?) because taking the train to TDR with transfers and luggage seems painful.

Just a side note, I've read that using DVC points for TDR hotels is not a good value. You might want to check what you can get renting them through a broker vs what the cash rate for TDH would be.

 

[aussie shaz]

We did 2 1/2 days and it was plenty. Our day at Disney Sea was very, very wet, so it was very, very quiet. I still think a day there and 1.5 days at Disneyland would be fine.

 

[planningjollyholiday]

I agree with wanderlust7. Using DVC points for TDLH is a bad value. I would just try to stay at the Hilton or the Sheraton. Both great hotels and you will love taking the themed monorail to the parks. If you do use points, with only 3 adults you don't need the alcove room, most rooms are two beds with an additional trundle bed.
You could always do a night pass the day you arrive and then do 3 full days after that if you feel you might need more time. I haven't been during October so I don't know how crowded it is, but I suspect with halloween offerings it would be pretty popular.

 

[NeedsNEscape]

I booked into the Hilton Tokyo Bay which is right on the 'monorail' ride to DS and DL. We had a room with 4 twin beds for me and my three tall (6ft+) family members. I bought the tickets right from the Hilton (had to pay yen though) and it was all very convenient. Hilton was very nice. We spent a full day in each park, however it was the summer and they were open late at night.

 

[doombuggy]

Thanks for the tips. While I realize that using the points this way is not always the greatest, sometimes it must be done. When I went to DLP in 2010, I used my points to stay at the Disneyland Hotel there. Crazy, I know, but I weighed the cost - about $750 for 4 nights at the Sequoia at a discounted rate (post conversion estimate at the time) versus the points (I want to say around 200 or so, but contract already paid for) with a $95 transaction fee and I was required to buy a length of stay pass which I didn't need - total cost around $315.

We will be spending cash to book a room for our stay in Shanghai, probably at the DL Hotel for 3 beds (2 beds and 1 murphy). I am expecting to get a cast discount for those rooms (no DVC point charts as of yet). We haven't decided at this time if we are going to go beyond Shanghai (cost to get there, cost of visa, cost for another hotel) or go straight to Tokyo. We are looking to end our stay in Kyoto (but return to Tokyo to fly home) and incur another hotel expense there. So we are trying to keep to a budget (especially the other two who are going with me - it's my birthday and my dad will be helping me some with the cost, although I expect he will end up paying some for my sister, lol).

Oh, my thing about the alcove room is that I wanted each of us to have a bed. My sister is over 6', I am almost 5'8" while the other adult is a little shorter than me. I wasn't crazy about the idea of a trundle bed, or having to share a bed with my sister....if things change, we will be looking into the Hilton or Sheraton, as I get no discounts at TDR!

 

[wanderlust7]

I was curious, so I looked up the cost difference of paying cash vs using DVC points. It's 63 points/weeknight in regular season for an alcove room at Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. David's DVC rental is offering $11.30/point, so that comes out to $712/night if you rented the points out. To pay cash for the same room is 51,500 yen or $490 in today's exchange rate. So you would be saving $222/night. Yes, it would be more work to rent the points out, but you did say you were on a budget, this would totally help with that.

You may want to look at flying out of Osaka (near Kyoto), it would save you an expensive bullet train ride back to Tokyo. Not sure how convenient flights back to the US are from there, but there are lots of direct flights to Shanghai.