Just got back from my first trip (TDR and Tokyo)

[TomGirl307]

First of all, THANK YOU to everybody here who posted questions and answers that helped me plan my trip. I knew this forum was an amazing resource, but I never knew it more than when I was actually at TDR putting it all into practice. THANK YOU!!

I won’t do a trip report because there have been so many awesome ones done before me and I doubt there’s much I could add. Instead, I’ll list some random thoughts and ideas.

About TDR and Tokyo:

• At first glance, it’ll look like all the stores carry the same merchandise. Not true! In every store I went to, I saw a new product w/the Mickey and Minnie snowman characters or with the Hakura Minnie design. Ditto w/the music CDs. Keep this in mind when making purchases.
• If you’re a Disney pin collector (which I am not), know that TDR does not participate and as a result does not have that many pins offered for sale. I did find a cute one of Minnie in a kimono in a shop somewhere near Pirates at TDL, I believe.
• We took the Friendly Airport Limousine (info found at TDR website) direct to TDR and arrived at the Miracosta around 4 p.m. We opted to explore the hotel and Ikspiari that evening instead of heading into one of the parks, which was a good time for us to explore and be awed w/o having to tear ourselves away from a park later in the trip.
• Cast members do not seem to speak English as well as they do in the city. There’s no reason they should, either, because you’re traveling in their home. But keep this in mind and know a few key words like please and thank you and excuse me. “Toilet” was universally understood, as were my hand gestures and map pointing for more complicated questions.
• The Miracosta is a beautiful hotel. It is also a very expensive hotel. I won’t stay here on my next trip, but am happy to have had the experience. We stayed in partial view rooms on the Port Paradiso side the first night (view of Mediterranean Harbor and part of Mt. Prometheus) and on the Tuscany side the next two nights (view of Aquasphere). The rooms are beautiful, but not very much more so than a Mandalay Bay or Venetian room in Vegas (I know Vegas does have exceptional rooms, however). They are huge by the standards we saw in Tokyo and Kyoto, though. And the service is impeccable. And the atmosphere outside your window is wonderful. The early entry and the ease of returning to your room after a long day of fun was a real luxury!
• The last Airport Bus from TDR’s Miracosta stop to Narita Airport was at 5:47 p.m. We opted to leave the park early to take this bus instead of staying an extra 4 hours and having to transfer twice on the JR with all of our luggage. We spent that night at the Tokyo Narita Hilton. I was NOT impressed, and it wasn’t because we had just come from the Miracosta. Keep the airport bus schedule in mind when you plan your trip.
• If you are going to stay in Tokyo at all, I highly recommend the Oakwood Apartments in Shinjuku for two people. It was new and clean with a free Internet lounge, helpful front desk staff and an awesome location. It was slightly less than $100/night through Orbitz, too.

[TDR_Fan]

Glad you enjoyed the MiraCosta. I personally think it beats any of the Vegas resorts in design and beauty. Having stayed at most of the high-end ones (Bellagio and Venetian in particular), I can say that the MiraCosta's rooms are much more tastefully decorated and far superior in atmosphere. Don't you just love hearing the background music of Tokyo DisneySea right from the comfort of your room? I always leave the window open just so I can hearing the relaxing and immersive music loops, especially Mediterranean Harbor's.

[TomGirl307]

Don't you just love hearing the background music of Tokyo DisneySea right from the comfort of your room? I always leave the window open just so I can hearing the relaxing and immersive music loops, especially Mediterranean Harbor's.

We did enjoy the music very much, but I thought Mediterranean Harbor's was kind of loud (the volume that was set, not the style of the composition). It was great for the evening but a tiny speed bump as we tried to go to sleep around 11 or so. I really enjoyed the Aquasphere music, too. Maybe if I play the CD track on repeat, close my eyes, and snuggle up to my Hotel Collection duvet I can pretend... I can even put on the Mickey Mouse house slippers I used. Nah... my imagination's not that good!

[TDR_Fan]

We did enjoy the music very much, but I thought Mediterranean Harbor's was kind of loud (the volume that was set, not the style of the composition). It was great for the evening but a tiny speed bump as we tried to go to sleep around 11 or so. I really enjoyed the Aquasphere music, too. Maybe if I play the CD track on repeat, close my eyes, and snuggle up to my Hotel Collection duvet I can pretend... I can even put on the Mickey Mouse house slippers I used. Nah... my imagination's not that good!

Yep, the AquaSphere loop is great. The daytime version is grand and majestic, while the nighttime version is calm and tranquil. Very relaxing. And I noticed that the background music usually shuts down around 11:30 p.m, followed by the lights shutting down. It's rather surreal to see an empty and silent Disney park, completely dark as if resting. And it's a nice treat to have the background music on already as you wake up. I think I had my window open all night, so that the music acted as my "wake up call".

Oh, and did you enjoy all the free goodies that you were allowed to take home from the room? I still have my numerous towels, tea cups, face cloths, postcards, etc.

[Malin]

Whats the reasoning behind not wanting to stay at the Mira Costa again. I would never stay here as I don't feel its worth the price. Especially when your paying top buck for a room that doesn't even offer the basics like internet services and also charges you an extra fee to use the pool. Nice hotel for sure but your paying mainly for its location and atsmophere. Personally I'd rather save a few $ dollars or £ pounds and get a cheaper hotel room else where that offers everything Mira Costa does minus the location. A hotel room is to sleep in and if I'm not sleeping I want to be out enjoying my limited time, not sat inside of a overpriced room listening to BGM.

[mikeland]

Thanks for the report. I wish you could post a few pictures of your trip though!

[TDR_Fan]

Whats the reasoning behind not wanting to stay at the Mira Costa again. I would never stay here as I don't feel its worth the price. Especially when your paying top buck for a room that doesn't even offer the basics like internet services and also charges you an extra fee to use the pool. Nice hotel for sure but your paying mainly for its location and atsmophere. Personally I'd rather save a few $ dollars or £ pounds and get a cheaper hotel room else where that offers everything Mira Costa does minus the location. A hotel room is to sleep in and if I'm not sleeping I want to be out enjoying my limited time, not sat inside of a overpriced room listening to BGM.

The MiraCosta (and the other 2 Disney hotels) will all have high-speed internet service by next year from what I've been hearing.

[TomGirl307]

Oh, and did you enjoy all the free goodies that you were allowed to take home from the room? I still have my numerous towels, tea cups, face cloths, postcards, etc.

Well I didn't know that the towels were for the taking and I didn't see any postcards, but I did take a full set of the toiletries for my cousin who was unable to come along. I kept a pair of the slippers only for myself. I did enjoy the store in the hotel, though, and all of the exclusive Miracosta merchandise. I was just browsing, however. After spending so much on the room and with Christmas around the corner, it would have been difficult to justify purchases to myself. I picked up a few things, however.

[TomGirl307]

Whats the reasoning behind not wanting to stay at the Mira Costa again. I would never stay here as I don't feel its worth the price. Especially when your paying top buck for a room that doesn't even offer the basics like internet services and also charges you an extra fee to use the pool. Nice hotel for sure but your paying mainly for its location and atsmophere. Personally I'd rather save a few $ dollars or £ pounds and get a cheaper hotel room else where that offers everything Mira Costa does minus the location. A hotel room is to sleep in and if I'm not sleeping I want to be out enjoying my limited time.

Well I didn't say that I didn't WANT to stay at the Miracosta again. Of course I'd love to, but I value my $400/night more than I value what the hotel offered me. Like I said, though, I'm glad to have had the experience. It is a beautiful hotel in a beautiful setting.

Airfare from LA to Tokyo is pricey as it is and I'm aware that being able to travel to Japan at all is a luxury in itself that not everybody has. I'd be happy staying elsewhere as long as it's convenient with a clean room to sleep in and a clean bathroom to shower in. Plus, I never spend much time in my hotel room no matter where I am (and possibly even less time at a TDR hotel than elsewhere!). I don't want to spend excessively when travelling in itself is a luxury, but I don't want to be so careful w/my money that I don't treat myself sometimes. It's just a balance, I guess, and I know that balance is different for everybody.

Personally, I'm with you: I'd rather save the money next time. I've read wonderful things about the Hilton and I noticed how close it was to Bayside Station so perhaps I'll look into that for my next trip (whenever that is).

When one stays at an official hotel outside of the parks, is it more common to use the buses or the monorail?

[TomGirl307]

Thanks for the report. I wish you could post a few pictures of your trip though!

I'll try to get around to that tonight. My boyfriend and I took more than 1k photos while we were there so it'll take a little while to sort through them. I pulled some favorites and posted them in the TDS version of this post so you can check those out for now. I didn't bother to post any because (1) I wasn't sure how until smarty pants TDR_Fan kindly told me how and (2) I figured everybody was already familiar w/the parks because of all the wonderful trip reports and images that have previously been posted.

I'm happy to oblige, though! Anything specific you want to see pictures of?

[TDR_Fan]

I would like to see some MiraCosta pictures if you have any. It's not very often that we get to see the interior of the hotel.

[TDLFAN]

Tom Girl... I have to laugh. You are having the same reaction to TDR as any american first timer would.. like not being wowed! by BraviSEAmo! (maybe because they expect another Fantasmic!).. the prices of food and souvenirs... I mean, this is Japan, and it is not cheap.
I am sorry you didn't care for the castle's decor. I find it tastefully done. Besides, less is more.

[TomGirl307]

Tom Girl... I have to laugh. You are having the same reaction to TDR as any american first timer would.. like not being wowed! by BraviSEAmo! (maybe because they expect another Fantasmic!).. the prices of food and souvenirs... I mean, this is Japan, and it is not cheap.
I am sorry you didn't care for the castle's decor. I find it tastefully done. Besides, less is more.

You're right. This American girl does love Fantasmic in its home on the Rivers of America. I have a feeling that many overseas visitors love it, as well. But I would have been disappointed by a Fantasmic clone in a lagoon of that size. The scope would have been totally off. But if you mean I would have preferred a show that had more eye candy, then you are correct. The energy of Mythica left me with very, very high expectations for the nighttime show.

I found the rest of Japan to be quite affordable. I ate for less than it costs to do so in LA, and the food was good. Of course Kyoto seemed far less expensive than Tokyo, but even Tokyo wasn't bad at all. I think the stories I'd heard about Japan being exorbitantly expensive were exaggerations, and that was a pleasant surprise for me. TDR souvenirs is the only area where I found prices to be notably high. The food there wasn't too bad and seemed in-line with Disney food pricing elsewhere.

[jedimaster7313]

Hey, I actually have stayed at the Hilton at Tokyo bay in all of my trips to TDR. It is a pretty nice hotel, but the rooms are very costly as well. I believe we did pay around $350-$400 per night there. But beware of some of the rooms, which I found out last week-I've been there 4 times now & basically had the same type of room- 2 full/queen beds. This time my friend booked a delux twin room- which looked nice upon entering, but the 2 beds were very hard & there were 2 small square chairs- which felt like sitting on empty wood crates & the bathroom/bowl was in a small room separately, the dressing area was in the middle and a separate shower/tub in the other room- but the shower head was basically right over the floor & not the tub- well needless to say we spent one night there and requested to change rooms the next day & were accomodated with no problems in the same type of room we were used to.

Also the ocean views & of Mt Fuji were great- when you could actually see it that is.

I had the best time & hope you did as well. It sounds like you did

[TDR_Fan]

I stayed at the Hilton Tokyo Bay during my first visit to the resort. It's a great hotel, probably the best Hilton I've ever stayed at. But being the kind of person who likes to be immersed in Disney magic, I think I will only stay at one of the 3 Disney hotels at the resort from now on. My first visit was kind of unplanned, so the Hilton was the only thing available. I believe several Official Hotels did have rooms available, but I chose the Hilton based on the positive reviews I read. And if I remember correctly, I paid around $350/night for a room.