First Time to Japan and to Disneyland/Disney Sea - Need Planning Help!!!

[lat]

I plan to take my 2 girls (by then, they will just turn 9 and 6) to Japan for up to a week for last week of June in 2007.

Since it will just be me and the 2 kids. I would like to find out and start planning ASAP

We will be arriving in Japan probably on a Saturday. I checked Hotel Mira Costa's website for rates, and would prefer checking in there on a Monday. So that leaves me with Saturday and Sunday open.

I am a platinum member with Starwood, I can use my Starwood points to stay at any Westin or Sheraton hotels and be upgraded to even suites if they are available and get either club level room or free breakfasts.

We don't speak Japanese and will have jet lag since coming from the East Coast in the US.

Should we go to Tokyo - if so, what are the places that are good for kids to visit? Which Westin has a better location?

Is it worth it to spend the money to stay at Mira Costa vs. using Starwood points to get a club level room at the nearby Sheraton?

How many days do we need to visit both Disneyland and DisneySea, not commando style?

We love Disney and have been mostly annual passholders at Disney World and visit 3-4 times a year. I am also a Disney Vacation Club Member and can use my points at Mira Costa. But the point value is just not a good deal.

When we stay at WDW, we spend time at the pools at the resort, rent bikes, rent boats, do minature golf, go fishing. What are the things that are fun in and outside the parks?

Any other places woth visiting in Japan?

This will be my first time ever travelling with my 2 kids (hubby cannot come).

I really appreciate any suggestions you can provide. TIA!!!

[Bel]

Hi,
We have just come back from 8 days in Japan. I have three children,they are 2,4 & 6 years of age. They absolutely adored Tokyo Disney, They learnt two words before we went (Aragato - Thankyou and Konichiwa - Hello) and with just those two words, they got by fine. I had heard that the language barrier was difficult, but if the person you were speaking to didnt understand you, they always found someone who could!

We arrived in Tokyo (Narita) at 7am on a Friday. We were planning on visiting Disneyland on the same day but the kids were not up to it. We visited Disney Sea on the Saturday and we spent 10hours there (we tried to get them to go back to the hotel for a rest, bit they refused). The kids didnt complain once because there is so much to see and do. The smount of the shows that were on was amazing! I have been to bothe DL and WDW and do not remeber there being that many shows.

We spent the Sunday walking around and looking through Japanese Malls, hardware stores, parks etc.

We visited Disneyland on the Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday. It rained every day we were there but the kids didnt mind. The best days in my opinion were the Tuesday and Wednesday. The lines were alot shorter and in some cases we didnt wait for more than 2 minutes. On each day, I think the longest we waited was 25 minutes. (We returned to Disney land on the Friday we left and the lines were out of control! People were waiting for upwards of an hour on nearly every ride and Poohs Hunny hunt fast pass had a return time 6 hours later!)

I dont know if you have been to Japan before, but I found changing travellers cheques outside the hotel to be very difficult. I also only found 1 ATM in the 8 days we were there that would accept our ATM card (despite the assurances of our bank manager before we left that our card would be fine!)

We really went to Tokyo just for the Disney Resort, but we have come home wanting to return to see more.

I hope you and your girls have a great time. My kids have started saving because they want to go back!

All the best with your planning
Bel

[lat]

Bel,

Thanks for the reply. No, this will be our first visit to Japan, and the kids' first trip outside the US!!

Did you stay by Disneyland area? Did you spend your entire week at Disney? I almost want to do this just because it will require the least amount of transportation and planning. However, I somehow feel we should at least visit Tokyo or Kyoto or something since we are in Japan.

Given that, I am leaning towards staying in Tokyo for Sat and Sunday to adjust for the jet lage and get a free stay at Westin Tokyo, and then move to Mira Costa on Monday for 4 nights. Will 4 days be plenty for these 2 parks?

Thanks so much!!!

[JoeInJpn]

Hello lat. If you just wait a day or two, a friend of mine will have a detailed trip report available on my site at http://www.jtcent.com. And just like Bel, my friend is from Australia too!

In the meantime, I have other trip reports available here:
http://www.jtcent.com/extras/reports.html

JoeInJpn
http://www.jtcent.com

[Scott in LA]

Given that, I am leaning towards staying in Tokyo for Sat and Sunday to adjust for the jet lage and get a free stay at Westin Tokyo, and then move to Mira Costa on Monday for 4 nights. Will 4 days be plenty for these 2 parks?

When I went a few years ago, I did a few days in Tokyo, and then four days at the Resort, and that seemed just about right to me. I had intended to split it half and half between the parks--ended up spending a bit more time at Tokyo DisneySea, but the four days still was plenty.

[COOOOLkid]

Your kids might be a little bored if you actually go to downtown area of Tokyo. I'm very sure your kids will love TDR, but I'm not too sure about other places in Japan... I may be wrong, but Tokyo is more for adults, and not for kids that young to hang around and look around. Oh, and make sure to bring lots of drinks and snacks!

[dizfan]

YES! It's worth the extra money to stay at the MiraCosta. It's a Disney Hotel experience unlike any other. I really do not think my trip to TDR would have been as great had I not stayed at this hotel, it is SPECTACULAR.

[Sore de?]

Kamakura is right outside of Tokyo if you wanted to soak up some history. It's a really nice alternative to Kyoto if you don't want to travel to much out of your way.

Your kids might enjoy visiting the Ueno Zoo and the museums in that area and Odaiba might be fun for them also. Right next to TDR you have the Kasai Rinkan Aquarium and they just opened up a really neat onsen theme park with more of them on the way since found natural hotsprings in the area. One nice point of the onsen theme park is the restaurant which offers a private bath for your family.

[pumba1]

Sounds great - wish I'd known that. Didn;t see old Tokyo and an onsen would have been cool.....

[COLUMBIAD]

I am a Disney Vacation Club Member too and I will be using my points to stay at the Mira Costa and Ambassador Hotels this September. Well the value may not be there as compared to Orlando but personally I still find great value in staying on property and not putting this vacation on my credit card.

Plus member services was able to smooth over some rough edges due to the 5th Anniversary Celebration while I am visiting. Overall DVC was in my opinion a win/win for this trip.