TDL Resort help needed please

[love disney]

Hey everyone, hopefully someone can give me some advice. My fiance has moved to Japan for a year for a teaching program, and I plan on visiting her in Nov. or Dec., and obviously we plan on going to TDL. I looked at the resort hotel prices and was blown away by the prices! (granted I am shelling out big bucks on a plane ticket there!) It looks like rooms range from about $400-500 per night. Does anyone know if there are discounts available or other places to stay nearby?

Neither one of us has ever been, she isn't living in Tokyo so is unfamiliar with it, and we really want to make sure we have a great time, so any advice anyone could give us would be greatly appreciated. Also, we will probably only have two days there and plan on seeing both parks, will this be enough time or should we just do two days in one park?

Thanks!

 

[coolmark18]

Hey dude,

Sounds an amazing experience for your fiance.

Those prices for the resort hotels sound very expensive. Tokyo Disneyland Resort is very easy to get to on the metro line from the centre of Tokyo. My advice would be to stay in a hotel in Tokyo and just travel. I stayedin the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa and I just looked up prices and the were around $239p/r/n.

One day per park sounds pretty good to me. You obivously wont get to do every attracton but should get most of the major ones done.

Hope you have a great time.

 

[love disney]

Thanks for the info! Can't wait to get there (looks like some time late Dec., early Jan. which probably means big crowds unfortunately). I will definitely post an update when it gets closer and when I get back!

 

[MM4Ever]

We were living in Japan and went to Tokyo Disney 3 times. From the research I did, those hotel prices sound about right unfortunately. Good news is, they have 'good neighbor hotels' which are right at the resort and on the monorail line. We stayed at the Sheraton each time and got the room for no more than $150/night. There is also a Hilton as well.

Yes, the public transportation is good, but that trip was not something I wanted to do after a day in the parks, and especially not appealing if you are planning on spending more than one day at the resort (which I highly recommend).

Any other questions I'll be happy to answer for you. Have a wonderful trip! DisneySea is an incredible, incredible park! I wish everyone could experience it.

 

[DubC444]

I recently returned from visiting both TDL and HKDL. I would definitely spend a day in each park. Like someone said before, you're not going to get EVERY attraction done, but you can get many of them done if you do it right.

DisneySea is one of the best Disney parks IMO; and I would argue, all nostalgia and history aside, that TDL is possibly the best resort for various reasons. Definitely try to hit both parks!

 

[love disney]

Thanks again everyone! I definitely plan on going to both the parks, and will try and do as much as I can at each. Any suggestions on what I should definitely NOT miss? (Granted my trip isn't until late December/early January, but still a lot of fun to start thinking about it!)

 

[Philo]

The partner hotels are pretty much in the resort but can't beat location - the actual Disney hotels are very, very expensive but amazing. You should have a quick walk around them if you get the chance.

When my wife and I visited we stayed in the MiraCosta after spending a few days in Tokyo itself. To get to TDL we just jumped on the subway and headed in the right direction. I forget the name of the line you need but it is marked on the map. Unfortunately we took a very long way round so the whole journey probably took almost an hour but I think you could do it much quicker - it's not unreasonable to make that journey each morning if you'd rather not pay the resort prices.

A quick note about TDL - the monorail will help you to get around but it is not free unless you are a resort guest (I'm not sure if this extends to partner hotels or not). If you pre-book tickets you also need to specify which park you are going to on each date. You are not allowed to park hop. If you buy a three day (or longer) ticket, anything after the second day can be spent where you want and park hopping is allowed.

Things not to miss - Everything in DisneySeas. A truly amazing park where the detail of the landscape is sometimes better than actually riding the attractions. In particular check out Journey To The Centre of the Earth. It's quite fast towards the end but otherwise it's reasonably gentle.

You'll find most attractions in the disney land park familiar - some are done better than other parks, some are identical. The one thing you really, really need to ride is Poohs Honey Hunt. It's absolutely amazing and as the car's don't follow a set track, there is a good chance that the second, third and fourth time you ride it you may get a slightly different experience.

Everything in the resort is written in Japanese and in English so you won't have any problems with menus, directions etc. All maps and showtimes are also printed in English. Most audio is also in English (parades etc) although this isn't true on all attractions but there are often subtitles or some other way to communicate.

I'm sure you'll have an amazing time!

 

[MM4Ever]

the actual Disney hotels are very, very expensive but amazing. You should have a quick walk around them if you get the chance

Yes, definitely!!! The Disneyland Hotel is INCREDIBLE, and the MiraCosta just breathtaking. I'd even suggest a meal at one of them. We ate at the Bella Vista lounge one morning for breakfast and it was perfect. Beautiful view overlooking DisneySea before park opening. Awesome!

I forget the name of the line you need but it is marked on the map.

It's the JR Mihama line, if I'm not mistaken.

A quick note about TDL - the monorail will help you to get around but it is not free unless you are a resort guest (I'm not sure if this extends to partner hotels or not).

It does NOT extend to the partner hotels. We bought 5 day passes each time. Well worth it. The monorails are the COOLEST!!

Things not to miss - Everything in DisneySeas. A truly amazing park where the detail of the landscape is sometimes better than actually riding the attractions. In particular check out Journey To The Centre of the Earth. It's quite fast towards the end but otherwise it's reasonably gentle.

Couldn't agree more! I'm actually very sad to think that I may never have another chance to go back to this park again in my lifetime. It's that well done. Take time for each land and each attraction. If you only do two days at one of the parks, make it DisneySea.

The one thing you really, really need to ride is Poohs Honey Hunt.

I second this! What a cool ride. People don't believe me when I try to explain how awesome a Pooh ride is. No really, it's that awesome.

Cast members are wonderful. They don't all speak English, but they will go out of their way to find one who does that can help you.

Has anyone mentioned the popcorn? Try the soy sauce flavor, sold at Disneyland by the Monsters, Inc. ride. It's my favorite. My boys loved the sea salt as well. If you like curry, they have that as well, and it's very popular (lines always long). Every time I walked by that cart, I got a little nauseaous.

I'll stop now. I could go on and on and on.....