 | Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Planning - Part Three |
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| DisneyDan
Saturday, March 2, 2013 11:35:24 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Earlier this week I published my two part trip planning guide to Tokyo Disney Resort.
Since then, I have had some questions, and thought of some additional things I think might be useful for you to know.
So, here we have a part three, albeit much smaller than the previous two parts.
I had talked a lot about dining and how to get a better experience from it, but forgot to mention our own recommendations.
At Tokyo Disneyland we found that the Hungry Bear Restaurant in Westernland was nothing like its DL counterpart, and offered some really decent curry meals. I don't eat anything spicy, and was absolutely fine with what they offer.
We also really liked the food at Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall, but that is always mega busy, and probably not worth the hour wait just to get in.
The Sweetheart Cafe in World Bazaar has some good sandwiches and pastries, for those wanting lighter options.
If you're able to get reservations (which is likely to be nearly impossible), I also would recommend the Lilo and Stitch lunch show at the Polynesian Terrace in Adventureland. The food was great, and the show is cute. Plus, the characters come down and meet guests too, unlike any other dinner show I've ever been to.
Popcorn is a BIG thing in Tokyo, and you can find a LOT of really cool, and often disgusting, flavours!
Popcorn buckets are like the Holy Grail, and the Japanese go nuts for popcorn and the buckets.
Expect to wait in very long lines for popcorn at any time of the day, pretty much anywhere across the parks.
In Tokyo DisneySea, I really like Zambini Brothers, which is an Italian counter service place in Med Harbor. Lines can be long, but manageable, here.
We also quite like Casbah Food Court (counter service) in Arabian Coast, which also serves curry. Again, I like it, and don't normally like curry!
Our dining experiences at TDS are a bit more limited than TDL, for a number of reasons. The main one is that, honestly, the crowds and lines to get into most places is beyond what I call acceptable, and we would either go back to TDL, or to some place in Ikspiari, such as the Rainforest Cafe.
Also, dining options, at least I felt, were more limiting in TDS than TDL, with less good counter service, and more exorbitantly priced table service.
We also ate dinner at Oceano at the MiraCosta, which overlooks Med Harbor. It's a really good buffet, with great park views, but very expensive.
If you time your reservation right, you can get terrace/balcony priority viewing of any of the water shows in Med Harbor, for no extra cost. When the show is about to start, the doors will open and you can leave your table, and head onto the terrace to view the show.
The other hotel restaurant we dined at - that is worth recommending - is Chef Mickey at the Ambassador.
It's another buffet, and is a character meal (what did you expect with the name Chef Mickey?).
You'll usually find four of the Mickey and friends characters in attendance, wearing specially themed costumes.
In terms of how many days to spend at the resort, I'd strongly recommend at least three, probably four.
Tickets cost the earth, and you can only visit one park per day for the first two days anyway, which gives you one whole day at each.
Your third and fourth days can be hopper days.
Four days would allow you a solid two whole days at each park. Refer back to my ticketing section in Part One for more details.
For those who love to collect the guide maps and programme guides, Tokyo Disney are really stingy. They don't have the pickup boxes with them in, anywhere.
At the turnstile the CM will give you literally one only, in your own language (pretty much English or Japanese). If you want more you have to go to guest relations at either park, or the Welcome Center in Ikpiari to ask for them.
Jon and I usually go in separately and tell the CM we have four people in our party, and they'll begrudgingly then hand them over!
Lockers are available at both parks, both inside and outside the gates, as well as at the monorail stations and Ikspiari.
The lockers are old fashioned coin operated, meaning they are one time use, then you have to put more money in! Each rental is about the same as the US, but of course you might want to open it a few times, meaning it'll likely cost you three or four times the amount per day.
The parks do offer stroller and wheelchair rental. I don't know how much it costs, but knowing Tokyo, be prepared to pay a fortune.
Park hours are usually shorter than the US, with 9am to 10pm daily being fairly standard on peak days (yes, peak days!)
Only official Disney Hotel guests get in early, and even then, it's only a mere 15 minutes.
Finally, TDR also offers a package sending service, whereby you can have your items mailed home. Useful to know, and a good idea in theory, but again, be warned of the ridiculous costs!
Ok, I think that is everything.
As a reminder, part one of my report can be found here, and covers booking flights, hotels, tickets and transfers.
Part two can be found here and covers attractions, shopping, dining and other things about the parks.
You should also check out our ever growing Tokyo Disney Resort guidebook pages, which have information about nearly all the attractions, shops and restaurants at the parks (it's still a work in progress, but we're adding more and more to it everyday).
Dan. |