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Sunday, January 1, 2012

Japan Travel Tips!

Theme Park Review's Japan Travel Tips!
The following pages include our trip itinerary and some of the travel research we did over the prior months before our trip.
Please feel free to use this research as a guide for planning your trip!  I've also included Trip Reports from all the park's we visited.
After reading through this page, you should get a pretty good idea of how to prepare for a theme park trip to Japan!
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them in our forum.
Day One (Saturday)
Fly from Los Angeles International Airport  to Tokyo Nartia Airport - Korean Air Nonstop - 11:30am
Day Two (Sunday)
- Arrive Tokyo - 3:05 pm
- Exchange voucher for Japan Rail Pass at Narita Airport Station
  (Note: The Japan Rail Pass is a special tourist pass you can obtain which will allow you unlimited access to certain
   rail lines, bullet trains (shinkansen), etc during a limited period of time of either one or two weeks.  If you plan on
   traveling around the country by rail, this will save you a LOT of money.  You MUST purchase it before your trip to Japan.  You
   can get more information about it here: http://www.japanrailpass.net/)

- Make reservations for Tokyo to Nagoya bullet train, Nagoya to Osaka, and Osaka to Tokyo bullet train.
 
(If you know in advance the times in which you need to take bullet trains (shinkansen trains) you can make reservations at the JR (Japan
   Rail) ticket office at Narita.  You can check timetables for JR trains here: http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperd01.cgi)


- Take "Limobus" From Narita Airport to Tokyo Disney Resort:
http://www.limousinebus.co.jp/e/index_route.html
- Limousine buses leave from the 1st floor arrival level at Terminal 1 at Narita Airport (from two locations at the north and south exits) - Make reservations +81-3-3665-7220 (Note: Limobus is an airport shuttle with destinations all over Tokyo)
- Back up plan if we can't get the bus: JR Narita Express to Tokyo Station.  From Tokyo Station take the Keiyo Line to Maihama Station (Tokyo Disneland Station)
Here is the bus stop just outside of the terminal:


Upon checking into the hotel:

 - Purchase 3 4-day park hoppers at hotel or ticket booths.
 - Spend Sunday evening at DisneySeas (Park open until 10pm)

Note: If you purchase a 3 or 4 day park hopper ticket, you MUST select a park to visit all day for the 1st and 2nd day.
You cannot park hop until the 3rd day of your park hopper. See below for an example of the Disney tickets:


Stay at Hilton Tokyo Bay hotel at Tokyo Disneyland Resort
(Note: For our visit, the Hilton was $430 for the first night because it was a "peak" day, and $230 the other two nights.  Check with the
Hilton for actual rates, but you can use this as a ballpark when planning your trip.  This was also the least expensive of all the Disney
area hotels that offered "English Speaking Staff.")


Day Three (Monday, 20 September)

2nd Day at Tokyo Disneyland (Park open 8am until 10pm)
Stay at Tokyo Disney until about 5pm then take side trip to Joypolis. The park is only about 20 minutes from Tokyo Disneyland Resort.

Side trip to Sega Joypolis in Palette Town (open until 11pm):
Sega Joypolis offers an after 5pm pass for 2,300 yen.
Walk to Maihama Station (TDL).  Here is an example of what some of the rail maps look like:

There are several different types of rail services, for example "Local" "Limited Express" "Semi-Rapid" "Rapid", etc.  You can see
on this map that not all services stop at all station (different colored bars are the different services).  Make sure the stop you want is
offered on the train you get on.  Each train will say towards which station it's traveling and what kind of service it is.

Travel by train from Maihama Station to Tokyo-Teleport Station (change trains at Shin-Kiba), then walk 5 min to Joypolis:

Above rail Information from: http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/norikae/ 
Once off the train, walk 5 min to Joypolis:
Once off the train, follow this sign:

Joypolis is right around the corner in this building:
After Joypolis walk to Tokyo Teleport Station:
- Take Rinkai Line to Shin-Kiba Station.
- Transfer to JR Keiyo Line to Maihama Station (TDL)
Stay at Hilton Tokyo Bay hotel at Tokyo Disneyland Resort

Day Four (Tuesday, 21 September)

3rd Day at Tokyo Disneyland - (Parks open 8:30 (TDL) and 9:00 (Seas) until 10pm)

Park hop between DisneySeas and Tokyo Disneyland.

Stay at Hilton Tokyo Bay hotel at Tokyo Disneyland Resort
Day Five (Wednesday, 22 September)
4th Day at Tokyo Disneyland - (Parks open from 9am until 10pm)
Park hop between DisneySeas and Tokyo Disneyland until about 6pm.
Head back to the hotel and pick up luggage.
Leave Tokyo Disney Resort and head to Shinjuku (Tokyo).
Take the train from Maihama Station to Shinjuku Station:
JR Musashino Line
MAIHAMA 18:01 18:01   83.2km
SHINKIBA 18:08 18:08   88.5km
HATCHOBORI 18:14 18:14   94.7km
TOKYO 18:15   3 95.9km
Transfer at Tokyo Station:
JR Chuo Line
TOKYO
18:30 2
KANDA(TOKYO) 18:32 18:32
1.3km
OCHANOMIZU 18:34 18:34
2.6km
YOTSUYA 18:39 18:39
6.6km
SHINJUKU 18:44 18:44 10 10.3km
Stay at Shinjuku Washington Hotel
3-2-9 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
+81/(0)3 3343-3111
Note: The Shinjuku Washington hotel was one of the more reasonably priced of the Shinjuku hotels.  It was a great location as there is an
underground walkway that connects the hotel with the Shinjuku rail station.  There are tons of restaurants in the area, and it's in the heart
of Shinjuku.  Expect to pay anywhere between $150 - $300 per night for a Shinjuku area hotel.  If you can split this cost with another
person, it's becomes very reasonable.
  
Click HERE to read our Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Report
Click HERE to see our Tokyo Disney Resort Photos
Click HERE to read our Sega Joypolis Trip Report
Click HERE to see our Sega Joypolis Photos

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