aussiecookfamily
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2012
Having just returned from 5 nights/6 days at Tokyo Disney staying at the Hotel MiraCosta I though I might give a little info on the Hotel as a number of people have mentioned coming visits.
Firstly, why Hotel Miracosta? Yes I know it isn't the cheapest option, but I always stay onsite. Being based in Australia it takes so much time and money to get to any Disney property that once I get there I want to have my Disney 24/7. It was difficult to choose between Hotel MiraCosta and the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel (the Ambassador Hotel was closed for renovations), they both have similar price points, but the uniqueness of staying "inside" the DisneySea Park won out. We did go and visit the Disneyland Hotel and I have to say the public spaces are very impressive and I would like to stay there sometime in the future.
The advantages of staying at MiraCosta:
. You really are "inside" the park, we stayed on the Venetian side and had a fabulous view, and although we didn't spend a lot of time in our room it was lovely to open the curtains in the morning and see the view (sorry had photos to post but as I haven't ever posted on DIS before I can't add the photos? If anyone has a solution to this let me know and I will put them up);
. staying at any of the 3 Disney Hotels allows you to buy a special ticket that allows park hopping from Day 1, I have to say we park hopped everyday and loved the flexibility of moving between the parks, which are only a 5 minute monorail trip apart;
. early park entrance, for DisneySea we had our own special entry direct from the hotel, we headed down 45mins before official opening time, and our entrance opened 15 mins before official opening time, with this timing we were always within the first 50 or so people into the park. Then you run to Toy Story Mania, which is currently the number one interest. We were off Toy Story Mania by about 10.05 (opening time was 10) and then we had plenty of time to do all the other popular rides while the general public were still queuing for Toy Story!
. we also got vouchers for priority entry to Tokyo Disneyland (again 15 mins early). Here Monsters Inc was already operating, so you could get that ride in and still be first in line for Winnie the Pooh before the gates had opened officially.
. we also got complimentary use of the monorail, although that only equated to a saving of around $5 per day.
As has been recognised elsewhere, the majority of visitors to Tokyo Disney are Japanese, and the relatively small number of tourists are mainly from Korea and China. So don't expect to see a lot of other American/Australian/European tourists. Most Hotel staff had quite limited English, but they would always get someone to assist if you need to ask something more complex (like organising the limo bus back to the airport). We certainly didn't have any problems, but in the parks we were glad we knew the general "rules" with each ride, ie loading, bags etc.
The rooms: As to be expected the rooms were full of disney theming - essentially Pinocchio. The rooms are very large for Tokyo standards, but also large in Disney standards, they do though appear even more spacious as the beds are so small. Where we would expect 2 Queen size beds there are instead 2 beds more like King Singles, and rooms are designed to sleep one person per bed with a trundle bed for a third person. We were only a two (Mother & Daughter) so this was perfect for us. Bathrooms were great, separate toilets (with all the push buttons and heated seats!), a spacious vanity with nice products (although no body lotion), and a great bathing room, with a deep bath and a shower over what we would think of as the floor area. Once you got over the oddity of just showering in a room (rather than in a cubicle or over a bath) it was great, lots of hot water and great water pressure. There was a good size mini fridge and a kettle (of sorts) for boiling water. They also supplied pajamas as well as slippers and dressing gowns.
Eating: We didn't end up eating in any of the 3 hotel restaurants, prices were expensive (although in line with what you would pay in a 5 Star Australian Hotel). By the time I thought about treating us it was the weekend and prices had increased again, over AUS$100 for a set menu. So I can't comment on quality or value. But as we were only a few steps from all the restaurants within DisneySea eating dinner was never a problem. Breakfast was potentially more problematic as the parks didn't open until 10am, and we didn't want to waste our precious early entry by eating. But we quickly solved that by buying up some yummy pastries from the bakery inside DisneySea and having them for breakfast the next day.
Can't think of what else might be of interest. But if anyone has specific questions feel free to respond.
For background we spent 5 nights at the Hotel and 6 days in the parks (having to buy a 4 day pass, and then a 2 day pass, as 4 days is the maximum they sell). We were never bored!
Margaret
Firstly, why Hotel Miracosta? Yes I know it isn't the cheapest option, but I always stay onsite. Being based in Australia it takes so much time and money to get to any Disney property that once I get there I want to have my Disney 24/7. It was difficult to choose between Hotel MiraCosta and the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel (the Ambassador Hotel was closed for renovations), they both have similar price points, but the uniqueness of staying "inside" the DisneySea Park won out. We did go and visit the Disneyland Hotel and I have to say the public spaces are very impressive and I would like to stay there sometime in the future.
The advantages of staying at MiraCosta:
. You really are "inside" the park, we stayed on the Venetian side and had a fabulous view, and although we didn't spend a lot of time in our room it was lovely to open the curtains in the morning and see the view (sorry had photos to post but as I haven't ever posted on DIS before I can't add the photos? If anyone has a solution to this let me know and I will put them up);
. staying at any of the 3 Disney Hotels allows you to buy a special ticket that allows park hopping from Day 1, I have to say we park hopped everyday and loved the flexibility of moving between the parks, which are only a 5 minute monorail trip apart;
. early park entrance, for DisneySea we had our own special entry direct from the hotel, we headed down 45mins before official opening time, and our entrance opened 15 mins before official opening time, with this timing we were always within the first 50 or so people into the park. Then you run to Toy Story Mania, which is currently the number one interest. We were off Toy Story Mania by about 10.05 (opening time was 10) and then we had plenty of time to do all the other popular rides while the general public were still queuing for Toy Story!
. we also got vouchers for priority entry to Tokyo Disneyland (again 15 mins early). Here Monsters Inc was already operating, so you could get that ride in and still be first in line for Winnie the Pooh before the gates had opened officially.
. we also got complimentary use of the monorail, although that only equated to a saving of around $5 per day.
As has been recognised elsewhere, the majority of visitors to Tokyo Disney are Japanese, and the relatively small number of tourists are mainly from Korea and China. So don't expect to see a lot of other American/Australian/European tourists. Most Hotel staff had quite limited English, but they would always get someone to assist if you need to ask something more complex (like organising the limo bus back to the airport). We certainly didn't have any problems, but in the parks we were glad we knew the general "rules" with each ride, ie loading, bags etc.
The rooms: As to be expected the rooms were full of disney theming - essentially Pinocchio. The rooms are very large for Tokyo standards, but also large in Disney standards, they do though appear even more spacious as the beds are so small. Where we would expect 2 Queen size beds there are instead 2 beds more like King Singles, and rooms are designed to sleep one person per bed with a trundle bed for a third person. We were only a two (Mother & Daughter) so this was perfect for us. Bathrooms were great, separate toilets (with all the push buttons and heated seats!), a spacious vanity with nice products (although no body lotion), and a great bathing room, with a deep bath and a shower over what we would think of as the floor area. Once you got over the oddity of just showering in a room (rather than in a cubicle or over a bath) it was great, lots of hot water and great water pressure. There was a good size mini fridge and a kettle (of sorts) for boiling water. They also supplied pajamas as well as slippers and dressing gowns.
Eating: We didn't end up eating in any of the 3 hotel restaurants, prices were expensive (although in line with what you would pay in a 5 Star Australian Hotel). By the time I thought about treating us it was the weekend and prices had increased again, over AUS$100 for a set menu. So I can't comment on quality or value. But as we were only a few steps from all the restaurants within DisneySea eating dinner was never a problem. Breakfast was potentially more problematic as the parks didn't open until 10am, and we didn't want to waste our precious early entry by eating. But we quickly solved that by buying up some yummy pastries from the bakery inside DisneySea and having them for breakfast the next day.
Can't think of what else might be of interest. But if anyone has specific questions feel free to respond.
For background we spent 5 nights at the Hotel and 6 days in the parks (having to buy a 4 day pass, and then a 2 day pass, as 4 days is the maximum they sell). We were never bored!
Margaret
) and we've booked a Venician side room for one night. You can read my pre-trip report thread link in my signature below for the craziness we experienced booking a room at the Miracosta - did you experience problems? We are now booked in a different room every night 
(1st night - Porto Paradiso - Piazza View, 2nd night - Port Paradiso - Harbour View - 3rd night Porto Paradio - Piazza View and 4th night Venetian Side View) ... I'm not sure why, but it was so hard to get a room - perhaps because we were trying to get the most converted room in the place - the Porto Paradiso Harbour View room which has central lagoon views....Hey, at least we got it for one night right! 
