AZMama2017

Thanks for your lively trip report - glad you made it through despite the hiccups. We just booked the Millenium for next year in Japan, which we’ve been wanting to return to since our last trip in 2019. Normally we sail smaller ships (Crystal “refugees”, have SS and Regent cruises booked) and prefer that type of experience, however we have a school age kid and finding Japan cruises is tough for the times we want to sail. X had a pretty good option, but I have some reservations about it. We’ve done one X cruise before and aside from a couple of highlights, we didn’t enjoy it at all (4+ hour embarkation, meh food and service, etc.). It was bad enough that my TA got us compensatory OBC from the cruise line while we were still onboard. We did book a Retreat suite and the 2019 refurb looks nice, but I’m worried about the rest. Maybe not enough to cancel as the itinerary is the most important, but some of your comments hit home for me.

Sorry for the slow response, I’ve been out of town.

 

For Shanghai, it really depends when you go. We went Easter weekend on a Saturday so of course they ran out quick. You might Be able to grab the Fp primer access or paper Fp if you are going on a less busy time. Paper Fp do run out on busy days just like at WDW.

 

Tokyo: both of those hotels seems amazing! We stayed in the TDL hotel the cheapest room they had and it was amazing. We had a view of the Sea, monorail, and Space Mountain. So whatever you pick I’m sure you will love it.

 

They have a bus that goes from the park to Yokohama station. It’s takes 1 hour and then a taxi from the station to the port (it’s a short taxi ride to the port) if thats the port your ship is leaving from. Yes the taxis are small. We only had 2 suit cases so it was not a problem. The charter bus had plenty of space underneath it.

 

What ship and cruise line are you taking? Also when does it leave?

 

 

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For Shanghai, we might just have to go with the flow and hope we get in enough of the experience in the limited time we’re there. FPs would be awesome but it might be out of my control. Hopefully having the native guide will help keep the confusion to a minimum though.

We will be on the Crystal Symphony, arriving Sunday, May 26. The plan is two nights at TDL, with three days and two nights at the parks. We are then transferring for three nights to a hotel in the Ginza, then flying out of HND on Friday.

I’m considering buying the hotel package for Tokyo. I can probably get the hotel and tickets cheaper if buying separately, but the convenience of the whole package and the extras like the FPs may be worth it. I will be able to book six months out as well. I just need to determine ahead of time what I want as I know the hotels book fast.

The challenge will be getting us and our luggage from the port to the first hotel, then to the second hotel, and then to the airport. Taxis are small and expensive, not sure how much luggage we’ll have, and we’ll have a 6 year old in tow so the trains aren’t ideal. But at least I have 8 months to research and somehow we’ll figure it all out!

Thanks much for the advice.

Yes we got Visas. They actually collected our passports when we boarded. Those without Visas were not allowed to leave the ship in Xiamen, Shanghai, or Beijing. There were about 80 very upset people. No one knew for sure if we need a visa before the trip. We all keep getting very mixed messages. So we got one just in case and we were glad we did.

 

 

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Thanks. We only have one stop in China (about 30 hrs in Shanghai) and I think we can get that 144 hr visa waiver thingy. I agree, best to have something rather than nothing. Assuming our passports will need to be turned in upon boarding, we’ll need to get them for the Shanghai tours.

This is a VERY helpful thread for us, so thanks in advance for the info shared! We are heading out in mid-Sept on the Coral Princess for a 60-day cruise around the North Pacific Rim. ONE of the reasons we chose this cruise is so we can visit the Asian Disney properties. We've been to Tokyo before, but not Shanghai nor Hong Kong. Hubby's dad was an Imagineer and did some planning for Tokyo and was asked to go there, but declined (had retired by then). He was also involved in some preliminary planning for Hong Kong. He wasn't involved with Shanghai. We've been to Anaheim a LOT (starting the year it opened, our Grad Nite, etc), Dad was involved with projects there, too, including the fountains in Toontown, and he did the facilities engineering, electrical, for the original Star Tours ride, while my hubby did the mechanical design (so you can thank him for the air conditioning and that water fountain as you come down the ramp at the end of the ride - LOL!)

 

We've visited WDW a few times. Dad was the Electrical Engineer in charge of getting Epcot opened and later worked on Animal Kingdom, as well. We've been to Disney Paris - Disney sent Dad back and forth for a while until Disney moved him and mom there and they spent two years there until it opened! So, we have some special reasons for having these on our bucket list. With only one day in each port... we are not intending to do a FULL "vacation" there, and we hope to cram in some other sights, but if "all" we can see is Disney, we are REALLY good with that! There are just the two of us (late-60's senior citizens), but we are young at heart - especially when doing Disney!

 

We aren't as concerned about doing a LOT of rides but will do a few - "must-do" suggestions are most welcomed to make best use of our limited time.

 

We booked this cruise just about a month ago.... and are now scrambling to figure out 22 ports. These 3 ports are especially important and with ports being not-so-conveniently located, I'm focusing on the" how-to-get there." I've done a lot of searching on Disney sites and elsewhere and although I'd looked here on CC, I JUST now found this POSITIVE and really-current thread - others were not so helpful about getting to Disneyland...

 

I saw information posted here on the bus to Yokohama for Tokyo Disney - thanks, as we'd gone previously from Narita in on train. I'll check that out.

 

In Hong Kong, we tried to figure out how to get to the metro from the port... since we heard that's a very small park, we hoped to see a few other sites, too. A ship excursion has the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus (for the day) picking us up at the port and gets us off the ship early and on our way. We will take in a few sites (viz Victoria Peak) and drive around until we can connect with the metro for the Disney line. So, I THINK we are set for that one. Any additional thoughts, caveats, etc are welcome!

 

In Shanghai... not sure which port is ours; still checking this one out - looks like if we can get to the metro we will be ok... probably a taxi? Any thoughts, pricing, etc would be helpful.

 

We'll buy our tickets online before we go - we get a really good rate for having survived all our years - LOL! And we'll have the app for each park on phone - BTW, what did you do for phone service in each of those? What carrier, international plan or local SIM card? We are hear T-Mobile offers a really good plan for folks 55+ that includes data, text, voice unlimited and international included for super rate. Anyone used that?

 

Thanks, in advance, for any and all additional info you can share. Once we get home and acclimated (and I get back to work) I'll happily share info from our experience with anyone interested.

Just want to say that is so amazing to grow up as part of the Disney Imagineering family!

Another question: did you get a visa or the transit-without-visa for a limited stay? It’s a bit unclear to me what we will need under the circumstances.

Thanks!

@Tniel183 - We are doing all three parks on our cruise vacation next year! We’ve been to the HK park but that was back in 2007 after it opened. We’re staying in the city for three nights before our cruise and are comfortable with the experience there, so no questions.

For Shanghai, we only have an overnight, arriving around noon and departing at 5 pm the day after. We hired a local tour guide to pick us up at the port and take us to the park. Since we will only have about 6 hrs there and it’s the hardest to get around in terms of language, we thought a translator guide would be best, so they will be with us for the duration. It was about $640 for car, driver, guide, park tickets, and their meals -totally worth it, IMO. That gives the second day for sightseeing, and we may even hire the same company to do a private tour.

Unfortunately it sounds like we’ll be SOL on the FP package you mentioned. I would have grabbed that immediately but we probably won’t arrive until around 2 pm and I’m sure they’ll be gone by then. Is our only option paper passes at that point? Do they run out as well, like they do at the US parks?

For Tokyo, I can’t book our hotel until 6 months out, but I’m getting ready to do it! Thinking about a package for the simplicity and early booking. I wanted Mira Costa, but the DLH character rooms look amazing! Price is about the same. What would you recommend? We will be there for three days/two nights, after which we’ll transfer to another hotel in the Ginza for three nights.

Thinking we’ll get a private car transfer to the hotel from the port, and then a taxi to the second hotel. We’ll have three large suitcases, one carry-on and two backpacks - is it difficult finding taxis that can carry a lot of luggage? I was in Japan many years ago and remember most taxis are compact. I suppose the hotel will be able to help with this in case I have any issues.

Thank you for any help you can provide!