Planning a Journey to the Land of the Rising Sun including a visit to Tokyo Disney!

Probably solo. Mom said maybe she'd be interested and she did get her degree in East Asian Studies and spent time in China in grad school. But I don't think she cares to go to the Disney part, which would make a good amount of solo time, which she doesn't really like either...

Ah, yeah, it is hard when travelling partners want to do different things. It is always nice to have somebody to split the room with though!
 
Wow those themed rooms at the Disneyland Hotel are amazing! I'd have a hard time saying no to the Beauty and the Beast room but I also tend to be out of the room a lot so the less expensive hotels would also make sense.
 


So...I think I've settled on dates and a HalloXmas trip is possible (for me at least)!
Oct 26-27: Fly in
Oct 28-29: TDR for Halloween activities
Oct 30: Travel to Kyoto
Oct 31-Nov 1: Kyoto (it'll be before peak fall color season, but also won't be on a weekend, so hopefully less crowded)
Nov 2: Travel back to Tokyo
Nov 3-4: Tokyo
Nov 5-8: TDR for Christmas activities (official start Nov 7 or 8)
Nov 9: Tokyo? Or just whatever
Nov 10: Fly home

I don't know if any of our TDR dates will overlap though :sad1:
 
So...I think I've settled on dates and a HalloXmas trip is possible (for me at least)!
Oct 26-27: Fly in
Oct 28-29: TDR for Halloween activities
Oct 30: Travel to Kyoto
Oct 31-Nov 1: Kyoto (it'll be before peak fall color season, but also won't be on a weekend, so hopefully less crowded)
Nov 2: Travel back to Tokyo
Nov 3-4: Tokyo
Nov 5-8: TDR for Christmas activities (official start Nov 7 or 8)
Nov 9: Tokyo? Or just whatever
Nov 10: Fly home

I don't know if any of our TDR dates will overlap though :sad1:

The Christmas ones might! Time will tell!
 
Our itinerary choices are starting to come together. We want to see more of Japan than Tokyo and Kyoto so I have been looking at places that will not be too difficult to travel to for a bit more expansive trip. I don't want to spend a lot of time travelling between destinations so ease of transport/length of travel is important. While none of these places are off the beaten path they will add some variety to our trip and give us a break from the big cities.

Himeji Castle

We will probably visit this beautiful castle as a day trip from Kyoto to minimize moving hotels too often. This is one of the few original feudal castles in Japan. Many of the castles I have researched are recreations of castle that have been destroyed in one way or another, often by fire and earthquake. They are all beautiful and we may visit some of them too if we have time but I definitely want to visit picture perfect Himeji.



Miyajima Island

I want to spend a day exploring this beautiful island near Hiroshima. It is famous for its floating torri gate at the Itsukushima Shrine which will look familiar to you all as it inspired the tori gate at EPCOT.





Nikko

This will either will be a long day trip from Tokyo or we may choose to overnight it here, it will come down to how much wiggle room we have in the itinerary. Nikko is north of Tokyo and is famous for its shrine. It is also well-known for its natural beauty and we would enjoy spending a day taking in the surrounding countryside.













In my mind this is how I see our trip itinerary roughly:

Tokyo - 4-5 days
Kyoto and area - 4-5 days with side trip to Himeji
Hiroshima and Miyajima Island - 2 days
Nikko - 2 days
Tokyo Disney - 2-4 days

In other news my good friend told me that she and her husband and child are also planning to visit Japan in the Fall of 2019 and they are hoping to line up our travel dates so we can perhaps fly over together and spend some time touring together. They have friends and family in Japan so their time in the country will be spent with them but hopefully we can find some time to spend together and perhaps we will have some locals to show us around!

 


Our itinerary choices are starting to come together. We want to see more of Japan than Tokyo and Kyoto so I have been looking at places that will not be too difficult to travel to for a bit more expansive trip. I don't want to spend a lot of time travelling between destinations so ease of transport/length of travel is important. While none of these places are off the beaten path they will add some variety to our trip and give us a break from the big cities.

Himeji Castle

We will probably visit this beautiful castle as a day trip from Kyoto to minimize moving hotels too often. This is one of the few original feudal castles in Japan. Many of the castles I have researched are recreations of castle that have been destroyed in one way or another, often by fire and earthquake. They are all beautiful and we may visit some of them too if we have time but I definitely want to visit picture perfect Himeji.



Miyajima Island

I want to spend a day exploring this beautiful island near Hiroshima. It is famous for its floating torri gate at the Itsukushima Shrine which will look familiar to you all as it inspired the tori gate at EPCOT.





Nikko

This will either will be a long day trip from Tokyo or we may choose to overnight it here, it will come down to how much wiggle room we have in the itinerary. Nikko is north of Tokyo and is famous for its shrine. It is also well-known for its natural beauty and we would enjoy spending a day taking in the surrounding countryside.













In my mind this is how I see our trip itinerary roughly:

Tokyo - 4-5 days
Kyoto and area - 4-5 days with side trip to Himeji
Hiroshima and Miyajima Island - 2 days
Nikko - 2 days
Tokyo Disney - 2-4 days

In other news my good friend told me that she and her husband and child are also planning to visit Japan in the Fall of 2019 and they are hoping to line up our travel dates so we can perhaps fly over together and spend some time touring together. They have friends and family in Japan so their time in the country will be spent with them but hopefully we can find some time to spend together and perhaps we will have some locals to show us around!
Joining in Lessa, plans sound wonderful, and glad at leat 1 of the Brothers Grimm is going !!
 
I'm totally following! I'll be going to TDR in May 2019. I even booked my flight already since the airfare was pretty good for a premium economy seat. I live in Phoenix so getting a flight out of LAX is no big deal. I'm looking forward to reading more of your planning. :)
 

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