Sept touring plan - questions

[loladelorean]

Hello Japan experts!
I can't believe it's June already, and we head to Japan on 6th September. So this week I've been trying to pin down our touring plan and get hotels booked etc.
Here's our plan so far - i'd really appreciate any advice on whether we are missing a must-visit location, and whether the order we're thinking of makes sense in the time we have.

Sept 6th - Full day travel from UK to Tokyo
Sept 7th - Tokyo
Sept 8th - Tokyo
Sept 9th - Day trip to Mt Fuji from Tokyo
Sept 10th - Day trip to Kamakura from Tokyo
Sept 11th - Tokyo - train to Kyoto in the evening
Sept 12th - Kyoto
Sept 13th - Day trip to Nara from Kyoto
Sept 14th - Kyoto
Sept 15th - Nagoya, train to Tokyo in the evening
Sept 16th - Disneyland park
Sept 17th - DisneySea
Sept 18th - Fly back to UK

Hotels:
So far I've booked the following - all fully cancellable in case I find better alternatives!
Nishitetsu Inn Shinjuku, Tokyo
Kyomachiya Ryokan Sakura Urushitei, Kyoto - this is a newly opened Ryokan that is getting great reviews
One night in a pod hotel in Tokyo - just to try it!
Hilton Tokyo Bay

Some questions:

• Is the standard 7 day Japan Rail pass the best way for us to do our journeys? (Tokyo-Kyoto-Nara-Nagoya-Tokyo?)
• Has anyone done the Viator Mt Fuji day trip? Is this a good way to visit Mt Fuji or should we go it alone?
• Should we do a guided tour in Kyoto, and if so can anyone recommend one?
• Should we buy our Disney passes before we go?
• How easy is it to get from the Disney resort to Narita airport? What's the best way to do it?

Really grateful for any and all help/advice over the coming weeks - i'm very excited but also a bit nervous as this trip is totally out of my comfort zone. Cannot wait to experience it all though!

 

[Agent 86]

It looks pretty good to me.

I sometimes find back-to-back day trips a little exhausting, so you could consider spacing out your trips to Mt Fuji and Kamakura.

As for your questions:

- To my knowledge, the 7 day Japan Rail pass is the best way to do your journeys. It's cheap, easy and the trains are absolutely fantastic. They're on time. They're clean. They're fast. They're spacious.
- From memory, we did the Viator Mt Fuji day trip from Tokyo. It was a long day and the weather wasn't awesome, although the clouds did part a little to allow us to see the "top" of Mt Fuji. I personally would have liked a little more time to do some walking/hiking on Mt Fuji, but it was already a long day. I'm not sure how easy it is to get to Mt Fuji by public transport. I think we looked into it, but decided that an organised tour would be easier.
- We've never done guided tours in Kyoto. But, if it included transportation, then it might be worth it. The various temples are quite far apart in Kyoto and although we managed to walk everywhere we wanted to go, it was exhausting. Our one attempt to catch a local bus was a comedy of errors due to the language barrier which we didn't try repeating. Some friends hired bicycles when they were in Kyoto and said it was an awesome way to get around to all of the temples. It's something that we would consider the next time we're in Kyoto.
- We normally buy our passes before we leave, but I'm pretty sure that you can buy them from Disney Stores in Tokyo, so you could simply plan to visit a Disney Store on one of your days in Tokyo.
- I've never travelled directly from Disneyland to the airport, but I would assume that the train will be the best way to do it. Unless your hotel offers a free or cheap shuttle to the airport, as it can be a little bit of a pain hauling luggage around the train stations and on and off trains. If you do catch the train, I would try to avoid travelling at peak times/rush hour as you'll probably have to change trains at some point and the train stations will be organised chaos!

I'm pretty sure there are discount tickets for entry to the parks after 6pm. Although you'll have plenty to do in Tokyo, you could consider having a "teaser" of the parks one night during your original stay in Tokyo. It really depends upon how much you love all things Disney!

There's no need to be nervous. Japan is a wonderful country and although I can barely say hello, goodbye, thank you, excuse me, yes and no in Japanese, it's always been a pleasure travelling throughout the country.

 

[scrump]

Hi loladelorean,

Our trip is later this month, so I'm encountering a lot of your questions in my current planning.

Regarding the 7 day Japan Rail pass: without having priced out the individual legs of your itinerary, my gut tells me that the pass would be the way to go. If you go on www.hyperdia.com, you can research the individual prices of the tickets, and see if it would be worth the price of the pass. Keep in mind that the pass does not include the super express trains.

Buying the disney passes before our arrival: I am contemplating that one as I write this. The big advantage of buying beforehand (I am told) is that you have the tickets even if the parks were to temporarily suspend park entries due to overcrowding (would be a concern during peak season, which I don't believe September is). This is especially key if you are not staying at an official disney hotel. I don't think Hilton is considered an official hotel for this purpose, but I could be wrong. We are actually staying at the Sheraton (neighbors!) so am curious to find this out myself.

Getting from Disney to Narita airport: there is a bus service, which I think is the best way. You could take the trains, but it involves transfers so I always like to take the bus. https://www.limousinebus.co.jp/en/bus_services/narita/tdr.html Last time I went to TDR was about three years ago, but back then they only accepted cash.

As an aside, Kyoto is one of my favorite cities in Japan. If you only have a day, I would consider getting the guide. But it's such an international city, and many people speak english, that it could be fun to just wing it as well!

Good luck!

 

[MouseEXP]

Some questions:

• Is the standard 7 day Japan Rail pass the best way for us to do our journeys? (Tokyo-Kyoto-Nara-Nagoya-Tokyo?)
• Has anyone done the Viator Mt Fuji day trip? Is this a good way to visit Mt Fuji or should we go it alone?
• Should we do a guided tour in Kyoto, and if so can anyone recommend one?
• Should we buy our Disney passes before we go?
• How easy is it to get from the Disney resort to Narita airport? What's the best way to do it?

Really grateful for any and all help/advice over the coming weeks - i'm very excited but also a bit nervous as this trip is totally out of my comfort zone. Cannot wait to experience it all though!

1) I just bought a pass day to day. At the time three years ago it seemed like the better deal than to get a pass.
2) I have done this tour. You basically get a nice lunch, bus ride up to Mt Fuiji, a cruise at a nearby lake, a gondala ride up a mountain, then a bullet train ride back to Tokyo. http://www.japanican.com/en/special/tours/mt_fuji/index.aspx?aff=GMT
3) Haven't been there yet.
4) Disney to Narita is a pretty close bus ride. Hoever, I have only taken the trains from Tokyo to the TDLR. Then buy my park and monorail tickets underneath the train station

 

[tinibee]

We used volunteer guides in Kyoto and loved them! You pay their transportation and take them to lunch. You are supposed to pay their admission but they had passes to get into everything but the arashiyama monkey park. They took us to restaurants I would never have found without a local. I met some really great people and highly recommend using one of the volunteer services.

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/travel/guide/list_volunteerGuides.php#kyoto

 

[Corbisblue]

As already mentioned, you can take a bus from Narita directly to the resort. We wrote about it in detail, along with your other options to get there.

 

[loladelorean]

Wow thanks everyone for your helpful replies. Really helpful to know we can get a bus easily from Disney to narita ,will look into this so we know exactly where to go.
I think we will book the Mt fuji day trip and Disney tickets soon, it will make me feel good to have something sorted out!
Will also follow up on that link about tour guides, sounds like you had a great experience.
Thanks again!

 

[loladelorean]

We've just found out that there's a Harry Potter World at Universal Studios Osaka so we absolutely need to visit! Being in the UK, we haven't yet had the chance to visit the Florida version, and we really don't want to miss this opportunity. Sooo, I think we will spend a day at the park and an evening in Osaka and cut Nagoya from our itinerary

 

[Agent 86]

I *think* the Harry Potter World is extremely crowded. To my understanding, they actually limit entry to that part of Universal Studios because it is so stupidly, incredibly popular.

As such, I would recommend doing some research to ensure that you can make the most out of your visit to Universal Studios. I last visited Universal Studios in Osaka before Harry Potter World opened and it was still awesome, although nowhere near as good as Tokyo Disney. If their Harry Potter World is anything like the one in Florida, then it would definitely be worth the visit. My partner and I had a good argument about whether or not the Harry Potter World in Florida was better than the theming in DisneySea.

 

[tinibee]

A few of my friends have gone to Osaka Universal Sudios for Harry Potter recently and they all told me the extra cost express pass is a must because it's still crazy busy! I'll get over there one of these days...

 

[loladelorean]

Thanks guys! I actually realised it was there because one of my friends is in japan at the moment and went to universal a couple of days ago. Said the queues for hp were crazy but they got on near the end of the day and were able to enjoy the area. The extra fastpass ticket seems quite reasonably priced I'm definitely buying one! The only frustrating thing is that it doesn't seem possible to buy advance tickets for universal from the UK

 

[Feilian]

I'm not an active poster here (actually this is my first post), but I just wanted to add my experience for USJ.
We've been to USJ last year at the end of August, we bought our tickets at the airport the day before we planned on going. We had planned on arriving at the park an hour before opening, however due to bad bedding we actually arrived more than 2 hours before opening time. At this time there already was a small queue, getting pretty long while we waited (I would say an hour before opening is already pretty late if you want to go to the HP part first thing in the morning).
Once the gates open (and they seem to open them way earlier than noted on the site) we walked to the HP area and could directly enter (a fast walking pace is enough, you don't need to run). Queues at this time are still pretty doable, and you can take some pictures with no to a few people in the background.
We were also able to do all attractions we wanted and got tickets for the Biohazard attraction.
In conclusion, I would say it is possible to do everything without the extra ticket but you need to get to the park early, very early

 

[loladelorean]

I'm not an active poster here (actually this is my first post), but I just wanted to add my experience for USJ.
We've been to USJ last year at the end of August, we bought our tickets at the airport the day before we planned on going. We had planned on arriving at the park an hour before opening, however due to bad bedding we actually arrived more than 2 hours before opening time. At this time there already was a small queue, getting pretty long while we waited (I would say an hour before opening is already pretty late if you want to go to the HP part first thing in the morning).
Once the gates open (and they seem to open them way earlier than noted on the site) we walked to the HP area and could directly enter (a fast walking pace is enough, you don't need to run). Queues at this time are still pretty doable, and you can take some pictures with no to a few people in the background.
We were also able to do all attractions we wanted and got tickets for the Biohazard attraction.
In conclusion, I would say it is possible to do everything without the extra ticket but you need to get to the park early, very early

Thanks for your advice, it's good to hear it is possible to enjoy HP attractions with an early start. My travelling companion is not quite so much a morning person as I am....but she is even more of a Harry Potter nut than me, so I think for this one day it will be easy to start early!

 

[Tanzanite]

We went 2 wks ago to Universal Osaka while staying Kyoto it was loveley though Harry Potter was packed i sat 2 hours plus while my 3 kids rode one ride .Crowds insane .Its a loveley park but crowds made it difficult to do all .We had a loveley lunch in the park food was in my opinoin better than Disney .

 

[Tanzanite]

Thanks guys! I actually realised it was there because one of my friends is in japan at the moment and went to universal a couple of days ago. Said the queues for hp were crazy but they got on near the end of the day and were able to enjoy the area. The extra fastpass ticket seems quite reasonably priced I'm definitely buying one! The only frustrating thing is that it doesn't seem possible to buy advance tickets for universal from the UK

We got our tickets at the gate arrive an hour earlier than opening and you will be fine the reason we didnt buy fast pass is some of the rides were down check before you buy to see so you dont waste money.

 

[MyYearWithTheMouse]

I also highly recommend the limousine bus, couldn't possibly be easier.

 

[BelleBway]

We went to Universal last Monday; it was my first time there, and I was terrified of the crowds. All the Express Passes were sold out when we got there (over an hour before park opening), so that wasn't an option. However, aside from the Hollywood Dream roller coaster which always had an insane wait even for single rider, we were able to do everything we wanted. The best thing was when we checked the ride board an hour or 2 before the park closed and we saw that Forbidden Journey had only a 30 minute wait- we high tailed it back to the Harry Potter area, rode it a 2nd time (we'd waited 45 minutes at park opening), and had another Butterbeer. They'd been distributing timed tickets to the Harry Potter area earlier in the day, but we never had to use that.

 

[loladelorean]

We went to Universal last Monday; it was my first time there, and I was terrified of the crowds. All the Express Passes were sold out when we got there (over an hour before park opening), so that wasn't an option. However, aside from the Hollywood Dream roller coaster which always had an insane wait even for single rider, we were able to do everything we wanted. The best thing was when we checked the ride board an hour or 2 before the park closed and we saw that Forbidden Journey had only a 30 minute wait- we high tailed it back to the Harry Potter area, rode it a 2nd time (we'd waited 45 minutes at park opening), and had another Butterbeer. They'd been distributing timed tickets to the Harry Potter area earlier in the day, but we never had to use that.

Thanks so much for this insight, makes me feel more confident that we will get to do what we want! So long as we can experience all the harry potter attractions and area, and back to the future, I'll be happy