Short trip to Tokyo

[natalieno]

This is my first post! Konichiwa everybody!

 

[natalieno]

This is also a silly question: is tokyo stroller friendly? With all the walking we'll be doing, I was thinking about getting a cheap double umbrella stroller for the two littles, but if it's more annoying than anything, I'll just skip it

 

[tim123]

This is my first post! Konichiwa everybody!

 

[shelemm]

The subway system is not friendly to strollers. Sometimes many stairs with no easy elevator option. You shold do a search . I think maybe about.com or other websites have extensive info about the subway system.

Parasols are a must - the summer sun is a killer.

In terms of other thigns to do in Tokyo.... most people will want to go to Asakusa- it is one of the few areas that are kind of like Old Tokyo. Then there is somethign uniquley Tokyo - Sunshine City. This is a multi-skyscraper complex that has an indoor aquarium and zoo, shopping. planetarium, a 6oth floor observation level and an indoor theme park called Namjatown which is very fun to look at. Namjatown is also a terrific to place to eat gyoza and ice cream with exotic Japanese flavors. You will not understand some of the attractions, so just pay for a basic admission. We had an awesome time there.

 

[Nannylisad]

Welcome to Dis. Glad you are going to Tokyo Disney. Fun! Beware July is rainy season and very hot! Avoid weekends! As for strollers, I didn't see to many of them when I was there in March on a 70 crowd day. But I would if the kids are small and ya need to keep em shaded. A half day each park is possible with the emphasis on SEA because it is unique…theres lots there for kids to do. After 6 at Disneyland will find you viewing the great Dream Lights! Its right before that parade is over that you wanna get in standby for POO….about 45 minutes..Otherwise you are out of luck. The park mellows out later at night if the kids make it that long. You can get to rope drop by train from downtown no prob but with three kids and a stroller its gonna be a pain but you can do it. Since you are not staying onsite which I recommend you'll miss early entry…so its hit or miss after that depending on the day you go but the July calendar is around mid 40s which is good so thats your call. Beware that Toystory sells out at 9ish ..Journey to the center is the next biggest ride…long wait but fun cue…not very kid friendly…other wise just enjoy the park and characters. In Disney land to answer fast passes will mostly be sold out by 6 for the day but take advantage of single rider lines in both parks. All of SEA is 'must sea'..Disneyland is basically like MK and DL but Tokyo style….Poo is unique and worth it for kids and they have Toon town etc…I have lots of info about blogs and movies Ive made and other helpful stuff if you need just PM me if you like… I recommend staying at Amassador its the nicest hotel for the least expensive of the three and very kid friendly..why not stay the night there and save the commute and do two days to see it all. Tim

Thanks. We are just staring a trip as well. I would love if you can point me to anything helpful.

 

[natalieno]

Welcome to Dis.
Glad you are going to Tokyo Disney. Fun! Beware July is rainy season and very hot! Avoid weekends! As for strollers, I didn't see to many of them when I was there in March on a 70 crowd day. But I would if the kids are small and ya need to keep em shaded. A half day each park is possible with the emphasis on SEA because it is unique…theres lots there for kids to do. After 6 at Disneyland will find you viewing the great Dream Lights! Its right before that parade is over that you wanna get in standby for POO….about 45 minutes..Otherwise you are out of luck. The park mellows out later at night if the kids make it that long. You can get to rope drop by train from downtown no prob but with three kids and a stroller its gonna be a pain but you can do it. Since you are not staying onsite which I recommend you'll miss early entry…so its hit or miss after that depending on the day you go but the July calendar is around mid 40s which is good so thats your call. Beware that Toystory sells out at 9ish
..Journey to the center is the next biggest ride…long wait but fun cue…not very kid friendly…other wise just enjoy the park and characters. In Disney land to answer fast passes will mostly be sold out by 6 for the day but take advantage of single rider lines in both parks. All of SEA is 'must sea'..Disneyland is basically like MK and DL but Tokyo style….Poo is unique and worth it for kids and they have Toon town etc…I have lots of info about blogs and movies Ive made and other helpful stuff if you need just PM me if you like…
I recommend staying at Amassador its the nicest hotel for the least expensive of the three and very kid friendly..why not stay the night there and save the commute and do two days to see it all.
Tim

thank you for the info! yes, i'm already dreading the rainy season in Asia. My kids' favorite ride at WDW is Winnie the Pooh, so that is a must do. Perhaps I can stand in line with the infant while the 3 and 4 year old go watch the parade. they're terrible in lines, so we have always used Fast Pass. TSM really isn't a priority since we've done it here, the infant can't accompany us, and my SO will have difficulty handling/assisting both children if he goes by himself. pretty much anything the baby cannot come on is not a priority. my kids are short anyway. if the baby can't come, chances are the 3 year old wouldn't be able to go either.
after discussing it with my SO, i think we might do DL after six one night, spend the night at TDR, then hit DS the next morning. that way we'd get early entry, not have to take the train in before rush hour, and not have to squish everything into one day for the children. thank you for the hotel rec! cost is most certainly the deciding factor for us, so i was hoping to find the cheapest.

 

[natalieno]

The subway system is not friendly to strollers. Sometimes many stairs with no easy elevator option. You shold do a search . I think maybe about.com or other websites have extensive info about the subway system.

Parasols are a must - the summer sun is a killer.

In terms of other thigns to do in Tokyo.... most people will want to go to Asakusa- it is one of the few areas that are kind of like Old Tokyo. Then there is somethign uniquley Tokyo - Sunshine City. This is a multi-skyscraper complex that has an indoor aquarium and zoo, shopping. planetarium, a 6oth floor observation level and an indoor theme park called Namjatown which is very fun to look at. Namjatown is also a terrific to place to eat gyoza and ice cream with exotic Japanese flavors. You will not understand some of the attractions, so just pay for a basic admission. We had an awesome time there.

i was afraid of that. with the three, strollers are invaluable and necessary to us, and taxis are just not in our budget. i've been reading that the employees are more than willing to assist, though, so hopefully that will work out in our favor so it's not too much of a burden.

thank you for the Asakusa rec. we've been debating if we have time to take a trip outside the city solely so we could see Old Japan, but if there is something we can see closer, it makes things so much easier. I've been reading about Namjatown in pretty much every blog about Tokyo I've come across, so we've been looking forward to it. thank you!



can anyone tell me what would be the best way to get from TDR to Shinjuku, not on train? is a taxi the only other option?

 

[natalieno]

I have lots of info about blogs and movies Ive made and other helpful stuff if you need just PM me if you like…

Ugh, I just tried PMing you, but i can't because i haven't reached 10 posts yet

 

[MukilteoSailor]

thank you for the info! yes, i'm already dreading the rainy season in Asia. My kids' favorite ride at WDW is Winnie the Pooh, so that is a must do. Perhaps I can stand in line with the infant while the 3 and 4 year old go watch the parade. they're terrible in lines, so we have always used Fast Pass. TSM really isn't a priority since we've done it here, the infant can't accompany us, and my SO will have difficulty handling/assisting both children if he goes by himself. pretty much anything the baby cannot come on is not a priority. my kids are short anyway. if the baby can't come, chances are the 3 year old wouldn't be able to go either.
after discussing it with my SO, i think we might do DL after six one night, spend the night at TDR, then hit DS the next morning. that way we'd get early entry, not have to take the train in before rush hour, and not have to squish everything into one day for the children. thank you for the hotel rec! cost is most certainly the deciding factor for us, so i was hoping to find the cheapest.

This might be a better plan. I was going to post that with the heat that two parks with the children would be really pushing them. Even when we discuss trying to stay late at a park (we have two kids) from opening making it past 7-8pm is pushing it. Also DisneySea is beautiful but is laid out in a way where you have to walk a lot. The have a boat that takes you to the back of the park but with so many water shows it always seems to be closed when we want to use it. So after walking that all day going to the second park is all the more draining.

For TDS there are a lot of rides you children will not be able to do (pretty much all the E-ticket rides). However there is Sinbad (a boat ride which is one of my favorites), 20,000 Leagues, and Ariel's Undersea area (which has rides for the younger ones and a playground for running around). Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. They also have some great shows to watch if the kids can sit through those.

I haven't been on the Pooh ride at WDW (just DL) but Tokyo's version is much, much better. Monster's Inc ride is also a great one but both are popular with the locals Fastpasses go quickly and standby times stay high.

As I am typing this the better plan may be to go to DisneySea on the first night and do Tokyo Disneyland on the full day. If staying at one of the resort properties you will get in 15 minutes early (it doesn't sound like a lot but trust me it is). You can ride Monster's Inc before park opens and then stage yourself for the Pooh ride at Park opening (either by grabbing FP for Pooh or riding it or better yet both ).

Tokyo DisneySea is beautiful but with so much being not available to your family, viewing the park and getting on some of the rides I mentioned may be better for the half day than the full day. Something also to consider is a two day pass vice an after 6pm and full day ticket, they may be closer in price than you think.

 

[natalieno]

This might be a better plan. I was going to post that with the heat that two parks with the children would be really pushing them. Even when we discuss trying to stay late at a park (we have two kids) from opening making it past 7-8pm is pushing it. Also DisneySea is beautiful but is laid out in a way where you have to walk a lot. The have a boat that takes you to the back of the park but with so many water shows it always seems to be closed when we want to use it. So after walking that all day going to the second park is all the more draining.

For TDS there are a lot of rides you children will not be able to do (pretty much all the E-ticket rides). However there is Sinbad (a boat ride which is one of my favorites), 20,000 Leagues, and Ariel's Undersea area (which has rides for the younger ones and a playground for running around). Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. They also have some great shows to watch if the kids can sit through those.

I haven't been on the Pooh ride at WDW (just DL) but Tokyo's version is much, much better. Monster's Inc ride is also a great one but both are popular with the locals Fastpasses go quickly and standby times stay high.

As I am typing this the better plan may be to go to DisneySea on the first night and do Tokyo Disneyland on the full day. If staying at one of the resort properties you will get in 15 minutes early (it doesn't sound like a lot but trust me it is). You can ride Monster's Inc before park opens and then stage yourself for the Pooh ride at Park opening (either by grabbing FP for Pooh or riding it or better yet both ).

Tokyo DisneySea is beautiful but with so much being not available to your family, viewing the park and getting on some of the rides I mentioned may be better for the half day than the full day. Something also to consider is a two day pass vice an after 6pm and full day ticket, they may be closer in price than you think.

thank you so much for that info!! i thought after six tickets were only for DL. this makes so much more sense then as i've been searching and searching and there's not really a reason for us to be at DS for rope drop, so thank you!

if pricing i found for tickets online is current, i think it's only a ~10 difference. but we don't land at NRT until 3 pm anyway, and having to go through immigration, anything before a six pm entry is futile. unless there's an added benefit i'm not aware of?

after looking at the cost per night, i don't think we'll be able to stay in TDR. it's more practical for our budget off property, so i'm currently eyeing the Hilton Tokyo Bay

 

[MukilteoSailor]

thank you so much for that info!! i thought after six tickets were only for DL. this makes so much more sense then as i've been searching and searching and there's not really a reason for us to be at DS for rope drop, so thank you!

The matrix you see at http://www.tokyodisneyresort.jp/en/ticket/ is for either/both parks.

if pricing i found for tickets online is current, i think it's only a ~10 difference. but we don't land at NRT until 3 pm anyway, and having to go through immigration, anything before a six pm entry is futile. unless there's an added benefit i'm not aware of?

No real added benefit. There will be a small group of locals waiting to get in at 6pm but nothing major. Hopefully customs wont be too bad. They are pretty efficient and quick even with the line (your first in Japan ). Depending on how it goes you could always make the call once you get to the ticket window if things are going smoothly or took longer than expected.

after looking at the cost per night, i don't think we'll be able to stay in TDR. it's more practical for our budget off property, so i'm currently eyeing the Hilton Tokyo Bay

I hear you the on property hotels are pretty pricey. The only reason we are able to use them is our DVC points. Mostly we just drive up and back from Yokosuka, which is about an hour away. Unfortunately I don't have much experience with the other hotels.

 

[natalieno]

what would be the best way to get to Shinjuku from TDR? since we're switching hotels, we'll have all our luggage with the three littles mid to late afternoon, so I think the train is out.

are taxis my only option?

 

[tinibee]

Maybe send part of your stuff via takkyubin then train it over? I fear a taxi would cost an arm and a leg and you often need more than one taxi to carry more than 4 people.

http://www.kuronekoyamato.co.jp/en/tourist/hotel/

 

[natalieno]

Maybe send part of your stuff via takkyubin then train it over? I fear a taxi would cost an arm and a leg and you often need more than one taxi to carry more than 4 people.

great idea! i'll try to contact them and my hotel to see if this will work. i hope it's not too expensive.

i thought my only other option would be to take the NEX back to the airport, then take one back to Shinjuku but i REALLY don't want to do that!

 

[tomoyo]

I don't know if it's too costly to change hotels now, but if you stay at one of the few Good Neighbor hotels, they do have a shuttle bus that takes you to TDR.