Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland and Disney sea, Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Paris trip report (ask me anything)

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Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland and Disney sea, Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Paris trip report (ask me anything)

Hi all, so rather then do some huge trip report I thought it might be more fun for everyone and easier on the reader to do a reddit style AMA (ask me anything) about my Disney world travels to get started here are some lose details.

Over the last 2 years we have spent a total of

16 days in Disneyland (Anaheim) over 2 trips we stayed offsite both times on Harbour Boulevard, at the mirage and the main gate. we became annual pass holders and visited for the 60th anniversary and for halloween. We also visited the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank and toured Walts office, the archive and meet Disney legend Dave Smith thanks to D23. We also did a self planed Walts tour of hollywood visiting restaurants and locations important in Disney History. This was Life Changing.

12 days in Disneyland Paris over 3 trips, we stayed at Sequoia Lodge club level over Christmas, The disneyland hotel for a January trip and then stayed at the Disneyland Hotel Castle Club for our VIP 25th anniversary trip

36 hours in Hong Kong Disneyland on our way to Tokyo we stayed onsite at the Disney Hollywood Hotel. and traveled in February.

4 days in Tokyo Disneyland, we stayed at the Sheraton Tokyo Bay which is on the monorail loop and has a theme park view but is not run by Disney. We visited both Disneyland and Tokyo Sea and traveled in February.

While traveling to these parks we made sure to ride every attraction we chose times to go when almost everything was open we had zero closures in HK, Paris and Tokyo. So we can truly compare things, we also ate a lot of new and wonderful Disney food.

So if you have any questions or wanna know more about a certain area please ask away and I'll do my best to fill you in Smile and yes we do have plans for Shanghai. Spring 2018 we are going to try to visit every Asian park in one trip.

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...gathering questions...I'll be back...

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

designedbydisney's picture
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I can wait waiting

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Talk to me about language barrier at Paris and Tokyo. How American friendly is it?
My daughter is learning Japanese, but is far from conversational.

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Okie dokie, Dee...remember, you offered laugh

1. What other Disney history locations did you visit besides the studios? Are you able to (roughly) rank them by which you would recommend first? (I've been to Tam O'Shanter and the Merry-Go Round and I've seen the site of the original studio. Walt's Barn is on the list for January. Is there anything else I should make an effort to check out?)

2. At DLRP, I think our options are going to be Disneyland Hotel and Hotel New York (at a substantial savings). Would you say that Disneyland Hotel is worth the upgrade (I think the cost difference is expected to be around $300) or is Hotel New York decently close? I'm almost certain that I want to do the add-on through AbD to preserve our transportation to DLRP and our airport transportation at the end of the trip, so I expect those to be our only options.

3. What were your top 2-3 positive dining experiences at each international park?

4. What are your favorite non-thrill rides (2-3?) at each international park?

5. How were weather and crowds at each park when you traveled? Do you think you traveled at the ultimate time for each park considering these factors?

6. How did you book your Asian trips? Did you use online resources? An agent? Booked directly through Disney?

7. How are prices on hotels compare to the U.S. for the Asian parks? Is there a U.S. city you would consider equivalent to each park price-wise or are they considerably more/less expensive than domestic hotels?

8. What airline(Drunk do you prefer for international travel?

Thanks so much for doing this. We'll almost certainly be doing DLRP in the spring and I want to do at least Tokyo within the next 5 years as far as the Asian parks are concerned.

__________________

Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcome. --Randy Pausch

Find me on Facebook

Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

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Kristen K. wrote:
Talk to me about language barrier at Paris and Tokyo. How American friendly is it?
My daughter is learning Japanese, but is far from conversational.

There is no language barrier at all in DLP, the rides and shows are all in French but the cast members all speak perfect english and will reply in english even if you try to speak French

In Tokyo Disneyland, menus are in English but that's as far as it goes, rides and shows are all in Japanese and cast members speak very little English, you can get buy with a mixture of pointing and mime, speaking a little Japanese helps, but isn't important.

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Okay Alice this is going to be fun.

1.we did tom o Shanter, patys, the Chinese theatre, the merry go round, the laugh o gram studios, walts grave, the barn. My favourite location was Patsy as the food was amazing and the owner was there to talk about walt. But in all honesty the studio is the best and I recommend visiting Disneyland at Christmas time to go to an open day if you can.

2. The Disneyland hotel is amazing, it's in the park. New York is walking distance like all the dlp hotels but the Disneyland hotel is magical if you can afford it I recommend it, also lookinnto castle club as it includes VIP unlimited fast pass, high tea and hot American style character breakfast in the club lounge we were the only people in there with 6 characters most mornings. You also have a private elevator to the park gates.

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alicemouse wrote:

3. What were your top 2-3 positive dining experiences at each international park?

DLP: Walt's, bistro chef remy, inventions Sunday brunch.
HKDL: the explorers club (only are there sorry)
TDL: queen of hearts banquet hall, camp woodchuck club house, the Indian restaurant in Disney sea.

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alicemouse wrote:

4. What are your favorite non-thrill rides (2-3?) at each international park?

Dlp Disneyland park: pirates, phantom manor and Peter Pan
Dlp walt Disney studios: ratatouille, Mickey and the magical map there's not a third
HKDL: Mystic Manor, jungle cruise, iron man
TDL: poohs hunny hunt, monster inc hide and seek, the tiki room with stitch
Disney sea: Sinbads storybook voyage (my favourite attraction in the world) toy story midway mania, caravan carousel.

My top 10 world wide

1. Sinbad (TDS)
2. Mystic manor (HKDL)
3. Haunted mansion (mk)
4.splash (mk)
5. Pirates (dl)
6. Poohs hunny hunt (tdl)
7. Jungle cruise (mk)
8. Alice (dl)
9. Matterhorn (dl)
10. Monster inc hide and seek (TDL)

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alicemouse wrote:

5. How were weather and crowds at each park when you traveled? Do you think you traveled at the ultimate time for each park considering these factors?

6. How did you book your Asian trips? Did you use online resources? An agent? Booked directly through Disney?

7. How are prices on hotels compare to the U.S. for the Asian parks? Is there a U.S. city you would consider equivalent to each park price-wise or are they considerably more/less expensive than domestic hotels?

8. What airline(Drunk do you prefer for international travel?

.

5. the weather has varied paris was freezing in december and colder in january but boiling hot in May. Hong Kong was hot and humidd in february and in tokyo we had snow which was magical and t shirt weather in the 4 days we were there.

6. we booked everything independently using booking.com and sky scanner. foe hong kong and tokyo flights, hotel and park tickets cost us roughly PS1500 for the 2 of us wdw costs us rocky PS3000

7. I have no idea, the disney hotels in honking was very cheap, tokyo we got a great deal.

8. Cathay Pacific and dragon amor are amazing. I recommend if you are flying to tokyo to look in to an extended lay over in hong kong, this cost very little to nothing flight wise.

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and in case any one was wondering heres how I would rank all the parks we have been to

11) Hollywood Studios (wdw)
10) The Walt Disney Studios Park (DLP)
9) EPCOT (wdw)
8 ) Disneyland Paris (DLP)
7) California Adventure (DL)
6) Animal Kingdom (wdw)
5) Magic Kingdom (wdw)
4) Tokyo Disneyland (TDLR)
3) Hong Kong Disneyland (HKDL)
2) Disneyland (DL)
1) Tokyo Disney Sea (TDR)

this are all based on my most recent trips. I think "what if I could teleport to any disney park now! where would it be" and then I think okay then one is closed where is the second choice and so on.

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wow this is such amazing information I don't think I have any questions I just kinda want to know EVERYTHING! I doubt I'll ever go to Tokyo/Hong Kong even for disney travelling east isn't something I really consider doing I mean I get stressed in Spain because I cant speak spanish so any other language im lost!

it sounds like you have had such amazing experiences I'm mega jealous!

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Sorry to correct - but The Disneyland Hotel in DLP is not in the park, it is right on the park gates but not inside. Castle club is really expensive, save your money, you still get a daily fast pass (you cannot use it between 2-4pm) in the normal rooms. New York is closing for the next year as it is being made over to the new Marvel hotel. Mickey and the magical map is not at DLP - there is a show called Mickey and the Magician (which is really cool) The shows at DLP are all in French and English. (Even the Star Wars ones were some in total English, some total French). Some CMs speak English some don't!

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Oh yeah Mickey and the magical map is Disneyland! Duh! I actaully think Mickey and the magician is the best of all the Mickey and the.... shows.

DLP hotel isn't techniqually in the park your right but it's literally built over the turnstiles so close enough right? I mean it's not the Mira costa in Disney sea but it's similar to the grand California over a DCA.

So castle club is expensive but the value is huge, you get VIP unlimited fast pass, and a really cool, castle club lanyard, you get to use the secret lift to the park gates that goes straight to the castle club floor, there is a character breakfast included everyday. While we were there we have some rare characters (at least to American guests) and were the only 4 people in the dinning room most morning just us and 8 characters for an hour, Mickey actaully sat at our table with Minnie and even feed our Adult friend like a baby, we even saw characters getting food for other tables some mornings. The interaction is priceless, then there are the free drinks in the lounge all day and the tea time buffet. You get tea, coffee and cookies in the room, we were gifted plushs, fresh flowers, fruit and soviener cokes. It's the perfect way to enjoy Disneyland Paris. The views from the rooms are also amazing. Waking up looking down Main Street is to die for. As is watching the fireworks in bed.

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FYI I'm not the person in this post. I don't blog or have a travel agency.

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DisneyDee27 wrote:
FYI I'm not the person in this post. I don't blog or have a travel agency.

I don't think Alice thought it was you Dee. I just think she used the wrong name. (I could be wrong though). eek

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MrHub wrote:
DisneyDee27 wrote:
FYI I'm not the person in this post. I don't blog or have a travel agency.

I don't think Alice thought it was you Dee. I just think she used the wrong name. (I could be wrong though). eek

Cool I didn't want any confusion Smile cool post though Smile

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Member of the 6 castle club and working to pay for my next Disney vacations: 1/5-10/18, September 2018 for my 50th and 2018 the year of Disney cruising.