TDR next week!!

[griffismonkey]

I will be at TDR from 11/11- 11/14 (thurs-sun) and dying to know how bad the crowds are going to be. I have prepared my family for the worst, but actually getting an idea of ride wait times and how crowded it will be would be appreciated!
We are doing Disneyland on Thursday, Sea on Friday, and hopping on Saturday. Also, does anyone know if there is a Mcdonalds close by?
Last, I would love if you have any other tips or favs you want to share!

Thanks!

 

[jsilvers]

We are doing Disneyland on Thursday, Sea on Friday, and hopping on Saturday. Also, does anyone know if there is a Mcdonalds close by?
Last, I would love if you have any other tips or favs you want to share!

The closest McDonalds is probably the one at the Kasairinkai-Kōen station on the Keiyo line - the station before TDR when coming from Tokyo (although not all trains stop there). It's also the stop for Kasai Rinkai Park which includes an aquarium and various other attractions. The web page for the McDonald's is http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/shop/map/map.php?strcode=13899 - if you zoom out on the interactive map, you'll see where it is relative to TDR.

My own page of tips/photos from TDR (not entirely up-to-date, but) - http://www.thirdamendment.com/tokyodisney.html.

 

[griffismonkey]

Thanks! I will be staying at the Sunroute, so I am not going to venture out to have a big mac when it seems there is a ton of great options at the park!
I am currently living in Japan, so this trip is stickly about the mouse! How crowded do you think it will be during our visit?

 

[voleball]

based on a Japanese crowd calendar, here are the expected wait times/crowd levels.

11/11: TDL
Crowd level: fairly low
wait time for most popular rides at most busy time (3:30pm)
Monsters Inc. - 90 ~ 120 min
Pooh - 60 ~ 90
Splash mtn - 60 ~ 90
everything else is less

11/12: TDS
Crowd level: moderately crowded
wait time fo rmost popular rides at most busy time (3:30pm)
TOT: 90 ~ 120
Journey: 90 ~ 120
Indiana: 60 ~ 120
everything else is less

11/13: TDL
Crowd level: Super crowded - possbly reaching the max
wait time for most popular rides at most busy time (3:30pm)
Monsters Inc: 180 ~ 210

11/13: TDS
Crowd level: Super crowded - possibly reaching the max
wait time for most popular rides at most busy time (3:30pm)
TOT: 150 ~ 210

Crowd level will significantly change (less) if it rains that day.

Here is the website I usually check (Japanese).
http://www15.plala.or.jp/gcap/disney/

 

[shelemm]

I didn't even know they had hopping.......

If in doubt, TDS needs a second day to do EVERYTHING, especially for shows. TDL doesn't really.

Tip: ask for front row in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Try to ride this twice of you can.

Pooh's Hunny Hunt also worthwhile doing twice. Maybe the best Disney ride ever. Seriously.

No FP for Aquatopia, so I would do this early before line builds - same technology as Pooh in DL. 20,000 Leagues has single rider, so not as important an FP as Aladdin's Magic Lamp Theatre, which can be a long wait. See the Duffy show at Cape Cod while you eat lunch.

 

[Corbisblue]

The weekends are always super busy, so expect waiting times to be pretty long. Probably best to get there right as the park opens.

 

[scrump]

I will be at TDR from 11/11- 11/14 (thurs-sun) and dying to know how bad the crowds are going to be. I have prepared my family for the worst, but actually getting an idea of ride wait times and how crowded it will be would be appreciated!
We are doing Disneyland on Thursday, Sea on Friday, and hopping on Saturday. Also, does anyone know if there is a Mcdonalds close by?
Last, I would love if you have any other tips or favs you want to share!

Thanks!

Hi there,
I went this past September, during a national holiday plus the weekend. I was told to expect the worst kind of crowds, so I tried to definitely be mindful of everything that could lighten up the pressure of "getting it all done".

Some of the most important things I was told: be there an hour before park opening and use the fastpass system (ie, always have a fastpass in hand).

I think this made a huge difference in how the rest of our days played out. We are not so much into shows, but definitely caught a couple; our main focus was definitely the major attractions, dining and shopping. We were there for four days, but definitely could have managed in three. We were traveling from the States, so wanted to account for jet lag, etc.

Just letting you know what the predominant "locals'" advice to us was, and that it really did work for our purposes. Good luck - you are going to have A BLAST!!!!

 

[TLPL]

I was trying to read the Japanese crowd calendar, but since I don't know Japanese it doesn't help much LOL. what is "ﾓﾝｲﾝ"? and "ﾌﾟｰ" seems like their FP go really quickly.
Any advices for doing 2 parks in 2 days? A 1/7/11 Friday and 1/8/11 Saturday. I need a game plan to get the most out of my 2 days. Thanks!!

 

[shelemm]

I was trying to read the Japanese crowd calendar, but since I don't know Japanese it doesn't help much LOL. what is "ﾓﾝｲﾝ"? and "ﾌﾟｰ" seems like their FP go really quickly.
Any advices for doing 2 parks in 2 days? A 1/7/11 Friday and 1/8/11 Saturday. I need a game plan to get the most out of my 2 days. Thanks!!

As far as I can tell, the standby chart lists names of attractions (abbreviated) across near the top. ﾌﾟｰ is Pooh's Hunny Hunt and ﾓﾝｲﾝ is Monsters Inc Ride and Go Seek.

I do not know Japanese, but I went to the TDR Japanese language website and did a search using those terms, and that is what came up!

Basically, the most important thing to know is that Friday, Jan 7th is low attendance and Saturday, January 8th is very high, so there will be an enormous difference in how crowded the parks are.

Which park you do which day depends on you:

Scenario one: You've already been to WDW several timed and know it very well. You might even go back in the near future. The pressure to do HM, Splash, SM, BTRR, Buzz, etc will be low as you have done those rides many times before. In this case, I would go to DL on the Saturday. The crowds won't kill you.

Scenario Two: You need to do the maximum number of rides possible or don't care much about shows. In that case, I would do TDL on the Friday with lower attendance.

TDS is unique to the world. For a Disney fan, it will be worth a flight halfway around the world. Its greatest wonder is the themeing. Crowds do not affect that. But it has three big shows, and they are difficult to fit into a schedule, so it depends on your interest in seeing shows. At the least, the Ariel Show in Triton's Kingdom should be a priority. As a fellow North American, I would do TDS on the low attendance day as I can always go back to Florida and do many of the TDR rides there. Also, I would make PHH a priority and plan to do it twice. Probably the greatest ride in the world.

Haunted Mansion, Swiss family Treehouse, and Star Jets will be closed when you are there. IN TDS, the Electric Railway will be closed.

I hope this helps.

PS
The FP/Standby Chart: across the top is listed by attractions in this order:
Monsters Inc, Pooh, Buzz, Big Band Beat (TDS show), Splash, Space, and Haunted Mansion.
Next across the top is probably standby times for those rides.

Going down is the time that FPs run out, and in the white boxes are the probable return times.

 

[TLPL]

Shelemm, I like your ideas!! I have been to WDW and DLR many many times, so seeing things that are unique to Tokyo resort are more important. At first I though DL will be super busy on Saturday so I was planning to go there on Friday. But you are right, I don't need to see everything in DL, it would be better idea to experience DS in less crowded day since that's the main goal of this trip. Thanks for the advise!

 

[shelemm]

We were in the same boat, did TDS on a light day and TDL on a crowded day. If you are not stressed about seeing the same rides as at WDW or DL, then FP works great in Tokyo, much better than in the US. It truly is Front of the Line, no waiting!

Also, I may be alone in this opinion, but Monsters Inc Ride and Go Seek is not worth a long wait.... I would say it is not as good as Roger Rabbit although the lines are extraordinarily long.

Another important tip: on Journey to the Center of the Earth, ask for front row. Each vehicle has three rows of two, and the view is much better in the front row. I recommend doing this ride twice, at least once at night.

 

[TLPL]

I'll be on my own so I will use single rider lines if available. Does Journey to the Center of the Earth has one?

 

[shelemm]

I believe 20,000 Leagues and Indiana Jones have single rider lines, but I don't think Journey does. I am also not sure about the single rider policies in Tokyo. In California, single rider is not always available.

 

[jsilvers]

I believe 20,000 Leagues and Indiana Jones have single rider lines, but I don't think Journey does. I am also not sure about the single rider policies in Tokyo. In California, single rider is not always available.

In my experience, it's always available for Raging Spirits, but only at peak crowd times for 20,000 Leagues and Indiana Jones.

Journey does not have a single rider line. The TDS website claims that Tower of Terror has one, which is news to me, so either the website is wrong (which wouldn't be unprecedented) or it's brand new.