Random trip planning questions...

[steve76]

Hi all. I am planning a trip to Japan in 2011, and plan to spend my last few days at Tokyo Disney, for the first time. I have a few random questions that I hope you can help me with...

1. Do they have single rider lines at Tokyo Disney? How long do you usually have to wait in them? (The reason I ask is that the only experience I have of using the Single Rider lines is at Expedition Everest at WDW - and it was so slow, the wait was about the same as the regular queue!).

2. Do they have Photopass out there? (I think that the answer is no - can someone confirm?). What about more traditional photographers? If not, do the characters have 'handlers', and are they willing to take your photo? I'm travelling on my own, so it would be nice to have at least a couple of photos with me in them!

3. Do adults pose with the characters out there, or does it only tend to be kids?

4. I'm currently planning on doing three-and-a-bit days at Disney, where the part day will be either late-afternoon and evening or just the evening. If I want to concentrate on those rides that are different to WDW (and HKDL), do you think that's adequate? I'm not really interested in any of the shows or parades, except for maybe Spectromagic and the shows on the lagoon at DisneySea. I was planning on doing two full days at DisneySea.

5. Current plan is to stay at one of the official hotels, probably the Hilton Tokyo Bay. The Disney hotels are just too expensive for four nights. However, I have been thinking of maybe doing one night (the last one) at the Miracosta, to really push the boat out. Has anyone else done this, or does anyone have any advice on this? Is it worth it for one night, or is it not worth the hassle of changing hotels?

6. I remember reading some time ago that if you stay at the Miracosta, you get entry to the park an hour before the public. But now I can't find any reference to that anywhere. Does anyone know about this? It's quite possible that I dreamt it...! Otherwise there doesn't seem to be many perks for hotel guests.

7. For all you Japan experts - can anyone give me an idea of how long it would take to get from Miyajima island to Tokyo Disney? I will be using the ferry and trains, and since I will have luggage I will want to avoid the rush hour.

Thanks!

 

[jsilvers]

1. Do they have single rider lines at Tokyo Disney? How long do you usually have to wait in them?

Three rides at DisneySea supposedly have them: Indiana Jones, 20,000 Leagues, and Raging Spirits. However, I've never seen them open at Indiana Jones and 20,000 Leagues (although I also haven't been there at the busiest times of year). For Raging Spirits, my experience has been that the single rider line is usually available ... and there is virtually no wait, even when the regular line has a wait of 60 minutes or more.

 

[LeeLeeLuvsDisney]

1. Do they have single rider lines at Tokyo Disney? How long do you usually have to wait in them? (The reason I ask is that the only experience I have of using the Single Rider lines is at Expedition Everest at WDW - and it was so slow, the wait was about the same as the regular queue!).

Some rides do, I don't remember which ones. It was slow when we were there and the single rider lines weren't open.

2. Do they have Photopass out there? (I think that the answer is no - can someone confirm?). What about more traditional photographers? If not, do the characters have 'handlers', and are they willing to take your photo? I'm travelling on my own, so it would be nice to have at least a couple of photos with me in them!

We never encountered PhotoPass or any photographers there. Some of the characters do have handlers, but it's not the same as the U.S. parks...there are not always orderly lines to meet the characters. The Japanese just jump in and bombard the characters...it's kind of chaotic. Especially for popular characters - it was tough getting anywhere near Stitch! I don't recall seeing handlers at TDS, though...maybe they were in the background. We saw Pocahontas, Cruella Deville and some other face characters just wandering around on their own. It's not as crowded at TDS, so we were able to just walk right up to them.

I would ask anyone to take your photo - the Japanese are very accommodating. Also, speaking of photography, don't try to use a tripod in the parks, it's forbidden. We had a mini tripod (Gorillapod) in one of our camera bags and we got a "no" with the dreaded "X" sign from the guard who searched our bags at the entrance. We didn't dare try to use it!

3. Do adults pose with the characters out there, or does it only tend to be kids?

Yes! We saw way more adults at the parks than children (probably because of the time of year and we were there on weekdays)...tons of adults were posing with characters.

4. I'm currently planning on doing three-and-a-bit days at Disney, where the part day will be either late-afternoon and evening or just the evening. If I want to concentrate on those rides that are different to WDW (and HKDL), do you think that's adequate? I'm not really interested in any of the shows or parades, except for maybe Spectromagic and the shows on the lagoon at DisneySea. I was planning on doing two full days at DisneySea.

Three full days is the bare minimum I would recommend. How much you see will depend on the crowd levels. TDS usually isn't too crazy, so two full days should allow you to see everything at a reasonable pace. I'd spend the rest of the time at TDL and make sure you are there from opening to close if possible. It's way busier there. And, some of the rides that "seem" the same as WDW are actually slightly different, so I'd hit the unique stuff, then hit some of your faves from WDW and see the variations! Oh, and the Dreamlights parade is fantastic!

5. Current plan is to stay at one of the official hotels, probably the Hilton Tokyo Bay. The Disney hotels are just too expensive for four nights. However, I have been thinking of maybe doing one night (the last one) at the Miracosta, to really push the boat out. Has anyone else done this, or does anyone have any advice on this? Is it worth it for one night, or is it not worth the hassle of changing hotels?

We stayed at the Sheraton and it was great. I've heard awesome things about the Hilton, too. I don't really have advice on staying at the Disney hotels...some people think it's worth it for one night, others don't want to spend time changing hotels when they could be in one of the parks instead. Our personal decision was to spend our money enjoying the parks (food and souvenir shopping) rather than stay in a Disney hotel. But we were on a budget. If we had more money, we probably would have tried to stay at the Miracosta or the Disneyland Hotel, but probably for the whole time, not just one night. But, that's our opinion...

6. I remember reading some time ago that if you stay at the Miracosta, you get entry to the park an hour before the public. But now I can't find any reference to that anywhere. Does anyone know about this? It's quite possible that I dreamt it...! Otherwise there doesn't seem to be many perks for hotel guests.

You didn't dream it, I've heard that, too. I think maybe it's only during certain times of the year, though. Maybe someone else can answer this, I'm curious, too!

7. For all you Japan experts - can anyone give me an idea of how long it would take to get from Miyajima island to Tokyo Disney? I will be using the ferry and trains, and since I will have luggage I will want to avoid the rush hour.

Looks like the ferry is about 10 minutes, then it's a short ways to the Miyajimaguchi Station. From there to Maihama Station (TDR), it looks like 5 to 6 hours by train with 2 changes (there could be a better way, but this is what I'm pulling up on the Hyperdia site). Train from Miyajimaguchi to Hiroshima, then transfer to Shinkansen Nozomi from Hiroshima to Tokyo, then transfer at Tokyo Station to the Keiyo or Mushashino Line to get to Maihama Station. It could be a long walk to transfer at Tokyo Station, that place is HUGE!

Plan your train travel at the Hyperdia web site: http://www.hyperdia.com/ You need to know the names of your starting and ending stations, sometimes the station names are very similar with just one letter difference.

Hope this helps!

 

[walt's assistant]

1. Do they have single rider lines at Tokyo Disney? How long do you usually have to wait in them?
There are single rider lines for most major attractions, such as Journey to the Center of the Earth. Wait time was 5 minutes on average.


2. Do they have Photopass out there? (I think that the answer is no - can someone confirm?). What about more traditional photographers? If not, do the characters have 'handlers', and are they willing to take your photo? I'm travelling on my own, so it would be nice to have at least a couple of photos with me in them!
No photopass.


3. Do adults pose with the characters out there, or does it only tend to be kids?
TDS tends to be very popular with adult couples. So, yes, it was common to see adults posing with characters.


4. I'm currently planning on doing three-and-a-bit days at Disney, where the part day will be either late-afternoon and evening or just the evening. If I want to concentrate on those rides that are different to WDW (and HKDL), do you think that's adequate? I'm not really interested in any of the shows or parades, except for maybe Spectromagic and the shows on the lagoon at DisneySea. I was planning on doing two full days at DisneySea.
I think you have a good plan. We took one day to DisneySea and got everything in, albeit at a quick pace.


5. Current plan is to stay at one of the official hotels, probably the Hilton Tokyo Bay. The Disney hotels are just too expensive for four nights. However, I have been thinking of maybe doing one night (the last one) at the Miracosta, to really push the boat out. Has anyone else done this, or does anyone have any advice on this? Is it worth it for one night, or is it not worth the hassle of changing hotels?
We thought the MiraCosta was very nice but not worth doing what you propose.


6. I remember reading some time ago that if you stay at the Miracosta, you get entry to the park an hour before the public. But now I can't find any reference to that anywhere. Does anyone know about this? It's quite possible that I dreamt it...! Otherwise there doesn't seem to be many perks for hotel guests.
There were early entry hours in effect when we went to TDS. Perhaps it was because their Spring Festival was going on.


7. For all you Japan experts - can anyone give me an idea of how long it would take to get from Miyajima island to Tokyo Disney? I will be using the ferry and trains, and since I will have luggage I will want to avoid the rush hour.
I would go with Lee's advice above...Hyperdia is very helpful with train schedules.

 

[jsilvers]

1. Do they have single rider lines at Tokyo Disney? How long do you usually have to wait in them?
There are single rider lines for most major attractions, such as Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Um ... no. As previously noted, there are only three rides at TDR with single rider lines, and Journey isn't one of them. See http://www.thirdamendment.com/TokyoDisneySeaEnglishMap7.jpg.

 

[walt's assistant]

Um ... no. As previously noted, there are only three rides at TDR with single rider lines, and Journey isn't one of them. See http://www.thirdamendment.com/TokyoDisneySeaEnglishMap7.jpg.

OK, my poor memory. It was 20K that I used FP on, not Journey. Thanks for correcting the record!

 

[steve76]

Thanks so much everyone for all the great information!