Short notice trip to Japan this month

[Absimilliard]

I recently decided to take a short trip to Japan this month. It is not my first trip there, so my short 6 day trip will be concentrated around three things: riding the White Cyclone, a roller coaster closing on January 28th, 2018 at Nagashima Spaland, going two days to Tokyo Disney and spending a day in Akihabara and Nakano Broadway. Akihabara for my video game stuff and Nakano Broadway before heading to the resort since there are a few used goods stores that sell Disney stuff there.

At Tokyo Disneyland, my intentions are to score a fast pass for Monsters Inc., ride Pooh in stand-by in the morning. Lunch at the new Camp Woodchuck Cafe, score their awesome lunch bag and dinner as either snacks or another meal. At Tokyo DisneySea, lunch in Lost River Delta and dinner at the Sailing Day Buffet.

I am staying in Nagoya at the Crowne Plaza to collect a ton of IHG points and in Tokyo at the Comfort Hotel Higashi-Nipponbashi. Its a cheap business hotel with breakfast included.

 

[bopper]

How did it go? We are doing a shortish notice trip starting Feb 18th.

 

[Absimilliard]

How did it go? We are doing a shortish notice trip starting Feb 18th.

Things went great, even with the snowstorm last week. Nagashima Spaland was a fun experience and it was special riding White Cyclone a week before it closed. I went to Nakano Broadway and the Disney stuff is now mostly in two stores: Mandarake Special 4 on the 3rd floor and Robot Robot 2. Robot Robot 2 had full bins of cheap Disney stuff and I picked up a nice a Monsters Inc Ride and Go Seek popcorn bucket among things.

Tokyo Disney was amazing as the cold and snow kept people away. I ended up riding Indiana Jones 3x, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3x, Raging Spirits, TOT 2x and other rides in a short 10am-7pm day at Tokyo DisneySea. I had lunch at the Sailing Day Buffet and it was delicious. At Tokyo Disneyland, rode Space Mountain 3x, BTM 2x, Pooh 2x, Monsters Inc 2x, Splash Mountain and others during a 9am-7pm. I had lunch at the Queen of Heart Banquet Hall and had the delicious Flank Steak. I then went to the Huey Dewey Louie Goodtime Cafe and got dessert and a souvenir cup from there. Dinner was at the Camp Woodchuck Kitchen and I found it quite good, but others were not as impressed by the food.

Have a great time!

 

[bopper]

@Absimilliard Do you have experience with WDW? Any thoughts on how to work things in TDL vs. WDW?
We have hotel reservations at Celebrations hotel...do you know how it works with Fastpass?

 

[Absimilliard]

The best way to describe the difference would be: Old School. Its like a trip to WDW back in the 80's-90's where you could just show up and have a great time without worrying about booking a fast pass in advance. When are you going? I would suggest taking a look at this page: http://info.tokyodisneyresort.jp/en/schedule/stop/stop_list.html . It describes the current and upcoming annual refurbishments for attractions and other facilities at the resort.

Fast Pass is still the legacy paper based system. Basically, you show up at the attraction of your choice, scan the QR or bar code on your ticket in the machine and you get a paper ticket giving you an hour window to return. Tokyo Disney is very strict when it comes to those times and unless the ride broke during your one hour period, you can't be late. When you can get another fast pass? Either when your fast pass is valid or a two hour window has passed. I will give you an example: say you score a fast pass for Toy Story Mania! for 12:00-13:00 and it is currently 08:15, you can take another fast pass for a different attraction at 10:15 or wait until 12:15 to get another one for Toy Story Mania! if they are still available. Fast Pass are in limited quantities and they can run out fast for the more popular attractions.

Knowing that nearly everyone at the parks use the fast pass system, you have to play along with it and use it to the max. Say that you are in my previous example, at 10:15 I would be standing near Tower of Terror and as soon as 10:15 comes around, I would score a fast pass for TOT. The highest demand attractions at each parks are:

Tokyo Disneyland: Monsters Inc. Ride and Go Seek, Pooh's Hunny Hunt, Splash Mountain.

Tokyo DisneySea: Toy Story Mania!, Tower of Terror, Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Seeing that currently, everyone at Tokyo DisneySea walks quickly to Toy Story Mania at opening and quickly empty those machines, skip that ride. The only unique part is the beautiful facade outside. Instead, go on the right of McDuck's Department Store and head to Tower of Terror. You can score a fast pass quickly for that and then head toward the center of the park. Ride Journey to the Center of the Earth in stand-by as the fast pass line only opens 30 minutes after the park opens and you will quickly get on. Notice that I don't talk about Raging Spirits and Indiana Jones Adventure. They both have very efficient and fast Single Riders lines and use your valuable fast pass opportunities elsewhere.

At Tokyo Disneyland, Monsters Inc. Ride and Go Seek is my first stop for a fast pass and then I quickly walk to Pooh's Hunny Hunt, getting on in stand-by while everyone else is waiting for a fast pass. Depending on how fast you did it and if you use early entry due to being an hotel resident, stay in the area and ride Space Mountain or Buzz if the line is under 30 minutes or its not yet 30 minutes after park opening. Tokyo Disneyland has one single rider line: Splash Mountain. Like at Tokyo DisneySea, walk up to the entrance, hold up your finger in a one pose and ask "Single Ridah?" They will direct you to the right place and if you go into the Fast Pass line, do the same at the merge point.

Priority Seating wise, they take them 30 days in advance, but its online and in Japanese only. I instead waited until the day I visited, got my first fast pass and then at 10 am, went to the restaurant I wanted to eat. You can then make a same day priority seating at the podium if any times are left. Else, you will need to wait in a stand-by queue.

You are staying at Disney hotel and thus, you are allowed a 15 minutes early entry into the parks. Normally, day guests will start arriving 90-120 minutes in advance before park opening and sit down in front of the entry gates. In your case, you can arrive 30-45 minutes and go to the early entry turnstiles. At Tokyo Disneyland, you are allowed to ride Buzz Lightyear during that period and have access to World Bazaar (their Main Street) and part of Tomorrowland. Once the park opens to everyone, you are in prime position to score a very early fast pass for Monsters Inc. or Pooh's Hunny Hunt. At Tokyo DisneySea, its the American Waterfront New York area that is open and you can get on Toy Story Mania and Tower of Terror early. Once the park opens to everyone, you can quickly access Port Discovery for the new Nemo attraction or go to Mysterious Island for Journey to the Center of the Earth.

 

[bopper]

Thank you! This is exactly the type of info i wanted to know!

Any interesting restaurants to check out? Be it cuisine, theming, Japanese version of a WDW restaurant?

 

[Agent 86]

Any interesting restaurants to check out? Be it cuisine, theming, Japanese version of a WDW restaurant?

In my view:

- Disneyland: Camp Woodchuck, Grandma Sara's, Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall and maybe Crystal Palace if buffets are your thing.
- DisneySea: MAGELLAN'S, Ristorante di Canaletto (IF you can't dine at Magellan's), Vulcania Restaurant, Miguel's El Dorado Cantina and Casbah Food Court.

 

[Absimilliard]

The snacks are incredible at the parks and the themes when you visit are the Pixar Fest at Tokyo DisneySea and Frozen Fantasy at Tokyo Disneyland. If you can score a priority seating and don't mind having some unique dishes, I would recommend the Sailing Day Buffet near Tower of Terror. It is only 3070 yens per adult for all you can eat and all you can drink sodas and coffee. Try getting there at 10am to get a priority seating depending on your fast pass return times. This will be your only opportunity to eat there since it is closing forever on March 31st 2018.

Snack wise, I would try the AMAZING Smoked Spicy Chicken Leg at the Lost River Cookhouse near Raging Spirits. Amazing taste and very cheap at 500 yens. It was so good I'd rank it in my top 5 Disney meals. The Orange Roz Mousse at Cafe Portofino is a very cute dessert and only offered until March. Don't forget to have a Gyoza Dog downstairs at the Nautilus Galley.

At Tokyo Disneyland, like Agent 86, I warmly recommend Grandma Sara's for its warm and cozy location near Splash Mountain. Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall is a classic and the Flank Steak is incredible. What I did was have Flank Steak at Queen of Heart and then walked over to the Huey, Dewey, Louie Goodtime Cafe in Toontown for dessert and the souvenir cup. The dessert there is the cute and tasty Daisy Duck Rolled Vanilla Cake and the souvenir cup is incredible.

The souvenir cup from the Goodtime Cafe.

Camp Woodchuck is personally the prettiest restaurant Disney I have ever seen inside a park (still haven't tried Magellan's mind you..), but the food can be hit or miss according to friends. I had the Chicken Maple Waffle sandwich and it was quite good, but messy to eat! The waffles are not our frozen Eggo style ones and more of a european thinner style, so the sauce will go everywhere. The lunch bag you can get is amazing.

The lunch bag from Camp Woodchuck Kitchen.