TDR in July

[Sasforex]

Hi there!

we are planning a trip to TDR in July and I am used to the US Disney but this is our first Tokyo trip. We will be travelling with our three and a half year old. I have a few questions which I hope you can help me with!

1. When you book and stay at one of the in resort hotels; we are looking at the Disneyland Hotel; can you gain access to the parks one hour earlier as you can in the US?

2. I think I read with 4 day pass tickets you can only do one park each day for the first 2 days, is that right?

3. In the US you get your tickets when you book your hotel and they mail them to you wherever you live in the world, am not reading this to be the case in Tokyo, how does this work?

4. Can you only buy tickets each day?

5. Do they do Princess character breakfast?

6. How far out of the City is the Park?

Sorry for all the questions, any further advise would be greatly appreciated!

[Duyanh92]

1. When you book and stay at one of the in resort hotels; we are looking at the Disneyland Hotel; can you gain access to the parks one hour earlier as you can in the US?

Im not really sure about this, but last trip I received a pass that I can go directly to the park, without getting the queue (remember the queue at TDR is hugeeeee). I think you are allowed to access 30 mins before the gate opens.

2. I think I read with 4 day pass tickets you can only do one park each day for the first 2 days, is that right?

Yes this is right, but when you stay at TDR hotels, you can buy the magic special passport (park hopper everyday) for additional charge.

3. In the US you get your tickets when you book your hotel and they mail them to you wherever you live in the world, am not reading this to be the case in Tokyo, how does this work?

You can buy ticket after you check-in (or even before). There is a ticket booth inside the hotel and it is located on the right of the front desk (last counter of the front desk).

4. Can you only buy tickets each day?

Yes but it will cost you crazy. Check on the website for price detail. You have to attend to the park on the day you want to go, and it will be 4 consecutive days. And try not to lose the ticket as well because it is really expensive.

5. Do they do Princess character breakfast?

I hope someone can help me to answer this question.

6. How far out of the City is the Park?

Tokyo is really huge, let me know your location so I can do a quick search. Some place takes you 15 minutes to the park and some place takes you more than one hours.

Sorry for all the questions, any further advise would be greatly appreciated

Hope these will help you, feel free to ask

My recommendation:

July is very hot, sometimes it will be higher than 100F with high humidity. Make sure to let you kids drink plenty of water, stay away from sunlight as much as possible.
Dont do park hopper because it wastes of time and you might need to walk a lot during hot weather.

[LizCatMom]

Having 2 little girls myself, I'm fairly certain that there isn't any kind of Princess character breakfast. Honestly, I don't remember really seeing too many Princess interaction options. There is Ariel's Grotto in DisneySea where you can visit with Ariel for a few minutes, but that is the only one I can think of. We happened to stumble upon Belle one afternoon as we were leaving the park (Disneyland) and she was out front right inside the entrance. This is a popular place to find characters, but it is all totally random and you never know who you might come across. I will tell you, Winnie the Pooh is HUGE! As in, the Japanese LOVE HIM and if you see a giant crowd with a long line around a character, don't be surprised to find that it is for Pooh. And these interactions are kind of a free for all; there might be a line, but people typically just crowd around and jump in turns getting in to see the character. In both parks, there is that element of surprise where you can turn a corner and come upon a character. I was riding Tower of Terror with my oldest, leaving DH and my 3 year old to go do something else. When we met back up, they had ran into Mr. Incredible!

Depending on where you want to go into Tokyo, it is very accessible by train. But, let me warn you, the Tokyo station itself is massive. When we used to take the train down to Disney, from the time we got off our local train on one platform, it would take nearly 25 minutes to walk from that platform to the platform for the train that runs out to Disney in Urayasu. Escalators, elevators, long moving sidewalks, lots of people going in a all different directions...it could be a little unnerving if you didn't know where you were going. But, the stop for Disney, Maihama, puts you right at the TDR. From there, you can use the monorail system (there is a fee -- it isn't free like at WDW) or use their very efficient shuttle service.

Tickets are purchased either at the parks or, if you are staying either on property or at one of the nearby partner hotels, can be purchased there. They have multi-day passports for up to 4 days. As mentioned, you can purchase them upon arrival, just indicating what day you want to be your start day. TDR tickets have the dates printed on them.

How will you be getting to Tokyo? Narita? The simplest and probably quickest way would be the Limosine bus at Narita. They make stops at the Disney properties and it takes roughly an hour. There is no advance purchase option, but they have very visible counters right before you exit the terminal. When we flew in back in December, I would say the bus was maybe half full. Don't be tempted to take a taxi. Taxis are crazy expensive. The bus is about $25 per person and I think your 3 year old would be free if you say they will ride in your lap.

I'm happy to answer add'l questions as you can think of them. We started taking our girls to TDR from when we just had the first and she was about 14 months old and have been several times since.

[Roger55]

Just as a reminder... Last bus from Narita to TDR area leaves around 5:00PM so if your flight doesn't arrive before 4:00PM the Limousine Bus to TDR is not always an option. Immigration and customs may or may not be crowded and somtimes can take over an hour just to clear.

Airport Limousine Bus

There are many other discussion threads here that discuss the options if you are flying in after 4:00PM.

[shelemm]

Bring parasols. The sun can be oppressive!