I'm starting my research for a late-spring TDL trip, and have a few questions:
Best online TDL resources for planning, besides DIS?
Three TDL ranked in order of convenience? Accommodations?
Number of park days recommended, and hopping on third/fourth days?
End of May/early June OK as far as crowds go? (I'll try to avoid weekends.)
Thanks so much!
I'm so excited for you, TDLR is such a great park! I was there in November and had a great time.
It looks like you've already locked in your accommodation, and good for you if you can afford to stay in one of the Disney hotels! I was there alone, so wasn't going to pay for a room there myself. FYI, or anyone else who might read this, I stayed at Hotel Okura and it was pretty awful. The room was huge, a little dated, nicely laid out, but my god the bed was horrible. I'm pretty sure the worst one I've ever had to (try and) sleep on. On the plus side, all the 'official' Disney hotels are very convenient. They are all across the road from the monorail station. Okura is *literally* across the road, which is why I picked it over the Hilton or Sheraton (if you read Tripadvisor, etc, you'll see that none of them get particularly good reviews, so location was my main basis). So walk from the station to Okura took five minutes, if that. They still run a shuttle bus, though...! The idea baffled me but yeah, they do.
I would recommend four days, if you have the time. I actually did four and a half days. Because the monorail stops every 4-6 minutes, you can very quickly switch from one park to the other, so hoppers are a good idea. Be sure to get your hand stamped if you do decide to leave a park but want to come back. I missed this the first time and it was just lucky I had a fastpass to prove that I had been at the park earlier that day.
It's good that you're looking at crowd calendars and have found that you're arriving in a slow period
just keep in mind that the Japanese are very patient people, and don't mind queueing at all. And sometimes queue for things you wouldn't expect (so long lines for popcorn and churros while some rides are walkons...
) also, your experience might be different, but I got to the park just before opening each day and was met with deep lines of people waiting to get in. So if you want to go on TSM, you may need to be there well before 'rope drop'. I didn't have a problem with Pooh or Monsters Inc, but the first time I tried for TSM, I turned the corner of the long street your walk down to the ride entrance and was met with a sea of heads as far as I could see. I didn't bother lining up or even trying again (I just couldn't get myself out of the hotel room early enough lol)
Let me know if you have any other questions.