Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel

Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea Using Points!

• Raya & Duane

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Things we referenced in this episode:

Adventuring With Annie - How to Skip the Lines at Tokyo Disney in 2025 

In this episode we share how we tackled two Tokyo Disney parks as a family of five using points, paid and free fast passes, and strategic timing. From cheap-ish tickets and popcorn hunts to a Frozen ride breakdown with a fast refund, we lay out what worked and what we’d change.

• using a Hyatt cert and points to stay near the parks
• shuttle loop logistics and why early entry matters
• buying discounted tickets on Klook and linking the app
• mixing paid and free priority passes to skip lines
• Disneyland ride highlights and Japanese audio notes
• food costs, popcorn flavors, and quick bites
• DisneySea scale, Fantasy Springs, and two‑day advice
• locker strategy for luggage on checkout day
• Ariel’s underground playground for kids and heat relief
• Uber costs, speed, and car seat choices
• the Frozen ride breakdown, refunds, and staff efficiency
• tools we used and what we’d do differently next time

Give us a follow @travelpartyof5 for more behind the scenes videos/content! 


SPEAKER_01:

In today's episode, we are sharing all the details of our visit to Disneyland Tokyo and Disney Sea Parks, including how we stayed nearby using points. So listen in for all the fun. Hi, I'm Raya.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'm Dwayne.

SPEAKER_01:

And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world.

SPEAKER_00:

We will also share how we use points and miles to travel as affordably as possible and sometimes even completely free.

SPEAKER_01:

So if you're wanting to travel more with your family, but you're not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in.

SPEAKER_00:

So welcome to our podcast where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for tuning in.

SPEAKER_01:

Hi friends. Welcome back to Travel Party of Five Podcast. Today we are sharing all the details of our couple of days we spent at the Disney parks while we were in Tokyo.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

It was quite the long days. Let's start there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, it was.

SPEAKER_01:

So we visited Disneyland starting on day three, I think, of our trip. So we were still pretty jet-lagged.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. I think we got up that morning. Well, I was up at like two. And everyone else got up at what? Like four?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, three or four in the morning. So we made kind of a last-minute decision around Disney to originally we had booked the Hyatt Centric Genza for five nights, and we were just going to travel from there to the Disney parks and back in the same day. And I knew that that was going to take like an hour to get there one way using the metro. And I also knew that we had to be there fairly early, and we'll talk about why. And I knew we would also be there fairly late. So we had I had a Hyatt category one through four certificate that was going to expire at the end of this year. It was one that I earned from like the Hyatt Milestones. As you stay so many nights, you earn certain milestone rewards, and this was one of them. But for some reason, it only has a six-month expiration date. So I earned it in like June, and it expires in December. And we didn't have any other use for it. So it was going to expire, anyways. And there is a Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay that is pretty close to the Disney parks, and it is a category three Hyatt. So we made the decision to use that certificate plus some points and book two rooms there for one night.

SPEAKER_00:

So we didn't have to travel.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. So we could go back to our hotel, go to sleep, and then wake up next the next day and do the second park. But we did not check out of the Hyatt-centric Ginza. So we left most of our stuff there. We packed one suitcase for the five of us.

SPEAKER_00:

And we Ubered from the Hyatt Centric to Tokyo Bay. Yes. Which we didn't even get into Ubers the first episode, but we'll we'll mention that in this one. Anyway, we took that to the hotel, dropped off our luggage.

SPEAKER_01:

At like well, first, okay, first of all, we went to McDonald's.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah. We went to McDonald's at like five in the morning.

SPEAKER_01:

Dwayne found a 24-hour McDonald's and it was maybe a 10-minute walk from the hotel, but we needed something to eat because we had already been up for several hours.

SPEAKER_00:

And we had a long day.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And we couldn't we knew we couldn't wait for the breakfast buffet to open because we planned to be gone by then and headed towards Disney. So we went to McDonald's. It was fine. It was tasted just like McDonald's in the US, quite frankly. Um I don't know. Did you think it was I mean it's better than the US? There were people sleeping in there. It was kind of funny. Um and so we had like homeless people, but oh no, no, no, just like tired people.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. It was early.

SPEAKER_01:

And so we had our breakfast and then we went back to the hotel and we basically got our suitcase. We brought a suitcase and a backpack, and we called an Uber. Um we took the Uber over to the Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay. And by now it's maybe 7:30 in the morning, right? And we're there, like, hi, we'd like to check in, please. And they did not have our room ready.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I obviously not.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, or rooms, I should say. And I think I had booked very similarly, like a king bed and a twin bed. Like it was, you know, that's what I book every time because those are the most likely to be connecting. But the girl at the front desk was basically like, we have a room that has three single beds. Sorry, we have two rooms that each have three single beds. Is that fine? And I was like, Well, are they connecting? And she's like, Yes, they're connecting. And I was like, Oh, yeah, that's fine. And Dwayne was kind of like, wait, are you sure? Oh, he's like, single beds is gonna be pretty small. And I was like, it'll be it's one night, like it'll be fine. So I we say yes, that's fine. We store our bags there, and then we wait for the free shuttle that takes you to Disney. And we are we go to Disney and we'll talk about that in a minute. And we're we leave our bags the whole day, and so we don't get them until what, probably 8 p.m. that night, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

At least 8 p.m.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, okay, so the free shuttle to Disney, it goes to three places from this hotel. It goes to the train station, Disneyland, and Disney C. And I I would say maybe it's like a 30 to 40 minute loop, would you say?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, depending on traffic.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it is free, so we didn't pay anything to do this. And the so Disneyland opens at 9 a.m. They both open at 9 a.m. People line up well before that, and you really want to get there around eight and wait in line.

SPEAKER_00:

If not earlier.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. We were there around eight. We waited about an hour to get into Disneyland, and the way that I purchased our tickets was through Kluke, actually, and it was pretty inexpensive compared to Disney in the US. So$66 for an adult ticket into to uh Disneyland, Tokyo, and around$38 for a kid's ticket, 12 and under, I believe.

SPEAKER_00:

Which is cheap.

SPEAKER_01:

It's incredibly cheap, especially compared to the US. Um, prices do vary slightly depending on the day, and you can look on the Disneyland Tokyo website, they have like a crowd calculator, and it will tell you how busy they expect the parks to be, and that's also what determines the price. So it's not a big difference, right? Maybe five or ten dollars, depending on demand for that day. But when we were there, one of the days was a public holiday, and it was projected to be much busier. So I we didn't go on that day. I chose the two days that were kind of lower crowds.

SPEAKER_00:

And keep your expectations low because even the lower cloud crowd days was still busy.

SPEAKER_01:

It was busy, yeah. Yep. So we did Disneyland, Tokyo the first day, and there are I think a few things you should know if you're gonna go there. Number one is there are like fast passes or lightning lanes or whatever you want to call them, and there are free ones and paid ones.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so at Disneyland, there are what three rides you can pay for. It's Splash Mountain, which is still Splas Mountain, because it's not Splas Mountain anymore in the US. Yep. Um Beauty and the Beast.

SPEAKER_01:

Beauty and the Beast, I think, yep.

SPEAKER_00:

And then what was the third one? Was it Peter Pan? Or was that a Universal?

SPEAKER_01:

I mean um Disney City. Oh, yeah, it was the Bay Max ride.

SPEAKER_00:

So the third ride was the Bay Max ride, and why it's a paid ride, I don't understand. But did we pay it? Yes, we did pay it. And you know what's funny is it was a fun ride. All the staff were dancing and like clapping and cheering. I think I think that's what you're paying for. Because the ride itself It was fine.

SPEAKER_01:

I think that maybe the Japanese really love Baymax. I think.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, maybe, but yes.

SPEAKER_01:

It was, yeah, it was cute. We we did pay for it. We don't enjoy waiting in lines. And here's the thing: even if you pay for every single um paid like fast pass at Disneyland plus the ticket price, you're still spending less money than just your ticket at Disney in the US.

SPEAKER_00:

So totally worth it. I mean, I can't say this enough, but the fast pass, lightning pass, premiere pass, whatever, it's totally worth it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. So we watched a YouTube video before we went, and I watched it, and then I had Dwayne watch it because, quite frankly, I don't enjoy being the only one who knows what's going on. And so I was like, I need you to watch this because I need you to also be able to navigate this so that I don't have to be the only one doing it. And so we we both watched this video. It was Annie, something or other. I'll link it in the show notes so that you can have like a good resource on um understanding the passes because there are free ones and paid ones, and you want to utilize both, but there's like rules for each one, and they're different, and there's a strategy behind it. Yeah, so I'll link that YouTube video that was really helpful for us. And I mean, essentially, you can like one of them you can book every two hours, or once you scan into your next ride, and anyways, excuse me. The reason that it's super important to get to the park early and wait in line is because you cannot schedule any fast passes until you have scanned your ticket into the park. So that's what triggers your ability to be able to schedule your first one. And if you're late, then you're not gonna get one until way later in the day. And so we were able, we got there around eight, we went in at nine, we were able to do everything at Disneyland that we wanted to do in one day. Um, so I again I booked our tickets through Kluke, and they were very easily purchased 5x on Rackiton using Kluke, and then I was easily able to download the Disneyland Tokyo app and link my tickets in there. So it was a super simple process to scan in at the entry gate.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. But again, it was still busy on this low crowd day.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes, and so we did all the things we wanted at Disneyland. I would essentially describe this as like it's like a magic kingdom, right? Like it was it felt very similar to like the you know, Disney Disney World Magic Kingdom or Disneyland. Space Mountain was closed, so that was a bummer.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they were renovating it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Our daughter was able to go on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. So those are like her first roller coasters she's ever been on. So that was really fun to say. Like Tokyo was the first time she did that. That's cool.

SPEAKER_00:

And all the rides have like a minimum height. So if you're able to get on, if you're tall enough, they'll just give you a wristband.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So that you don't have to be measured every time. So she and and she was tall enough, and she's not that tall.

SPEAKER_00:

So no.

SPEAKER_01:

So that was that was good.

SPEAKER_00:

Um the rides there aren't, you know, extreme.

SPEAKER_01:

These, yes, this is not the place to go if you're looking for thrill rides, neither Disneyland nor Disney C. Um, but it it's still fun. Um, a couple of things that I wanted to note about the parks. Well, first of all, what was your favorite ride in Disneyland?

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, Thunder Mountain. Just because it's the most extreme.

SPEAKER_01:

That's what the kids said too. I mean we asked the kids and they said Thunder Mountain. Mine was Beauty and the Beast, because there's not there's no ride like that in um in the States.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. I mean the rides are well done. Wait till we get to Disney.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

But I have to add, all the rides in Japan, which totally understandable, are in Japanese. Yes. So, like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So you do lose a little something because you cannot understand what they are saying. So it's like you get the gist, right? Because you know Beauty and the Beast or whatever, but they're all all the audio is in Japanese. So it it does it loses a little bit for that.

SPEAKER_00:

Um it is to be in, I get it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean it it should be in Japanese. It just the experience is is I lost a little bit for me because I couldn't understand them. Um and the kids too. I think the kids were not able to like get engrossed in like the because you know, you wait in the lines and it's like all themed, and some of the rides have like it's like okay, you go into this room and then they play you this movie. It's all in Japanese, so the kids weren't able to really get into it either because they can't understand what they're saying.

SPEAKER_00:

So um the beating and the beast ride was really well done.

SPEAKER_01:

It was very well done, yes. There's like a hologram moment where you're kind of like, wait, how do they do that?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that was really trippy.

SPEAKER_01:

So it was a cool ride. I enjoyed it. Um, the other thing to note is that apparently the Japanese really like their popcorn, and there are all kinds of various popcorn flavors around the parks.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, and I mean we're talking white chocolate flavor to shrimp flavor.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, we tried like six or seven different um popcorn flavors. I have a list, I need to find it.

SPEAKER_00:

White chocolate was my favorite, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, they had soy sauce and butter was one of them.

SPEAKER_00:

They had curry, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Garlic shrimp. That one was pretty good, actually.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, wasn't my favorite.

SPEAKER_01:

They had a milk chocolate, they had um there was one other one.

SPEAKER_00:

They had pepper.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, black pepper. Yeah, black pepper. Yeah, there I'm sure there was a few more we're missing, but yeah, so lots of different popcorn flavors and they change, so you can just walk around and we would just get one and share it.

SPEAKER_00:

And guess how much they cost? Three dollars. Not and you know, in the states it would be like$14 for this thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Wait, it was three dollars? It was$400 yen. Oh, yeah, I guess that is. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00:

It was like three dollars. Yeah, that's true. And it guaranteed you're paying at least$14 in the States.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yep. Yeah, we found the food in the parks also pretty affordable. I mean, I wouldn't say any of it was like the most delicious thing I've ever eaten, but it was all completely fine. Cheap. And it was inexpensive. For sure. Yep. Um, okay, so we spent the whole day at Disneyland, Tokyo, and we left around maybe seven, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

We went back to pick up the shuttle back to the hotel.

unknown:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, let me add before I forget. So there's a fast pass, well, premiere pass, priority pass, but there's also uh request entries for like shows. Oh, yeah. And you can even book seats for the parades using the same like app. Yes, which I thought was really cool because um again, they wouldn't do that in the states. No, like sign seating, no. So, like if you do that, you you get basically like a front row seat to like the parades and the shows and stuff, which I think is great, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep, we did not see any parades or shows really the whole time we were there.

SPEAKER_00:

We tried to at Disney C, but we just we couldn't get in.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. Okay, so we take the free shuttle back to the hotel. The one downside about this free shuttle is again, they pay they're picking you up from Disneyland, then we're stopping at Disney Sea, then we're stopping at the train station, then we're getting back to the hotel. So at the end of the day, when you're exhausted, that 30-minute drive feels really long. Two of our kids fell asleep on the bus. And keep in mind, we've been up since like 3 a.m. too, so that didn't help. So that felt really long. Um, but otherwise, you know, the free shuttle is great. And we went back to the hotel. We ended up just eating dinner in the hotel because we were exhausted.

SPEAKER_00:

I thought dinner was fine.

SPEAKER_01:

It was fine, it was completely fine. We actually had pizza and like pasta, and we asked for our kids wanted fruit. And the poor waiter, I think, was number one so confused why we were ordering fruit at 8 p.m. Um, but we also had to use Google Translate, and Dwayne had like suggested some kinds of fruit. Like I think we had said like melon, grapes, like kiwi. That's exactly what they brought to us, very artfully arranged on a plate.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, no, no, no, that's not what happened. He came to us, and I think he was saying, We have kiwi, oh yeah, pineapple, grapes, and I think he was asking, What do you want? and I was like, Oh, yeah, that's perfect.

SPEAKER_01:

That's you know, and he was kind of looked at me weird, like Oh, yeah, and then I told you, I was like, I think he's asking you which one, and you were like, Oh, so then you got up and you went over and told him, like, but he they ended up bringing all for cut up really nicely, and we ate it all too. It was great. Um, okay, but so here's the funny story about the room. So remember, if you remember in the morning, the front desk girl had said, We have two rooms that each have three beds.

SPEAKER_00:

Three single beds.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, three single beds, and they connect. Is that fine? And we were like, Yeah, that's fine. So we go up to our rooms. Each room had four freaking beds, four beds, four beds.

SPEAKER_00:

So we had a total of eight beds between the rooms, yes.

SPEAKER_01:

But so three of the beds are together, like there's no space in between them, you can't walk in between them. And I mean, I think they were like queen, queen-size beds. I mean, they were for sure at least like a double. They didn't, they were not a single bed you would find in the US.

SPEAKER_00:

And then there was a pole like a couch made into a bed.

SPEAKER_01:

Made into a bed, yeah. So we had eight beds for five of us, and we were and the rooms did connect and it was perfect, but we were just laughing, like, why are there so many beds? Like, it was really funny.

SPEAKER_00:

Eight beds.

SPEAKER_01:

And we didn't we didn't um get into the room until after we ate dinner. So this was after we had already asked for fruit, but they had left us some fruit in the room as a little welcome, which I thought was nice. There were little oranges, so that was also kind of funny. Um, the rooms were completely fine. Um, beds were comfortable. This is a room that you can actually book for four people in one room. So if you're a family of four and you want to do Disneyland, Tokyo, the Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay, you can book four people into one room and only need one. So that would be good, a good option. Another option for points stays if you want to um maybe stay even a little bit closer to Disney, would be the Hilton Tokyo Bay. Um, we actually do have a couple of Hilton free night certificates, and when we had originally decided that we were gonna stay one night there, they didn't have standard room availability, so I wasn't able to use them. Otherwise, that was my other plan was I was gonna use those two free night certificates and get us two rooms at the Hilton and we're gonna stay there. The Hilton is actually closer to the parks than the Hyatt. I think the Hilton is maybe the closest you can get without being on property. So that's another points option if you either have Hilton points or have Hilton free night certificates that I think would probably be great. Um, but yeah, otherwise, this this hotel was completely fine. They also covered all five of us for breakfast the next morning. The breakfast buffet was extensive, it was plenty of whatever we needed.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, this buffet was pretty good, actually.

SPEAKER_01:

It was good, yeah. So our next park was Disney C, but we also had a checkout of the hotel, and we did not want to have to come like leave our bags at the hotel, go to the parks, then come back to the hotel to get our bags, and then go back to our other hotel. We didn't want to do that at the end of the day. So, what did we do instead?

SPEAKER_00:

So we packed everything up, we hauled the luggage we had, the backpack we had, and stored it in a locker at Disney C. Yeah. Which there was plenty of lockers uh to use, which I found out after I had bought two separate lockers.

SPEAKER_01:

Because the first area you went in, there wasn't any big lockers.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so the the first area was like right outside the park. It was like a separate building. There was only a few big lockers, which was all taken, and then there was a few small lockers available. So I threw the backpack and something else in the little locker. Then I had to go search for another big locker, which I found closer to the park, and there was plenty, plenty of big lockers there, which I could have just paid for one, but I didn't know at the time. So that's what happened.

SPEAKER_01:

So we stored our bags there for the day. Basically, you just get a key, and so we had two keys, and we the kids and I were already in line for the park while he went and hunted down the lockers, and Disney C also opens at nine. They do start letting you in a little earlier 8:45. Yeah, I had read that. Um there's a reason they do that, and it happened, so DisneyC was the most incredible theme park I have ever been to in my entire life. And I lived in Orlando for almost 10 years and went to college there. So I've been to all the Disney parks there many times. Disney C was phenomenal. It felt like you were in a completely different world, and it was so well done.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, as soon as you walk to the gates, you're just like, whoa.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, so Disney C is not owned by Disney, actually, it is owned by a different company, and they licensed the use of the Disney logo, apparently. You can feel that it is not a Disney park, if that makes sense, but it is just as well done, if not better.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, it's definitely better.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Again, not a place for thrill rides, but but all the rides were incredible that we went on. Like they like they were just really good.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah, I mean, the park is just well done. I mean, aesthetically pleasing for sure.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's huge. Huge. So Disneyland is much smaller. This park is massive.

SPEAKER_00:

And if you think Disneyland or Disney World is busy, you have another thing coming to you if you go to Disney City.

SPEAKER_01:

It was very busy and it was a low crowd day.

SPEAKER_00:

So, so packed. So, for instance, we talked about booking passes. You can't do it until you get in the park. So we get in the park around a little before nine, and we go to book our first ride. This is how busy it was. So we go to book the first ride, which was frozen, which is the most popular one there. The first available time slot at 9 a.m. was for 6:30 p.m. Yeah. Meaning that all the times prior to that were sold out. Yeah, that's how popular and that's how busy this place was. Not only that, we get into the park. We're trying to go to Saori, which is a really popular ride.

SPEAKER_01:

It's one of my favorite rides.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's a great ride. We go to get in line there, I mean, right after the park opened, and there's already a 180-minute wait for this ride. Yes. So everyone that was, you know, in line at the park ran to that ride. Not everyone, but most people.

SPEAKER_01:

It seemed that way.

SPEAKER_00:

And it was that I think 120 minute was the least amount of wait for that ride all day.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So, spoiler alert, we actually never made it on that ride. Nope. We don't um so that is actually one of the free passes you can get. So, similar to Disneyland, um, Disney C has both paid like fast passes and free fast passes, and you can use both at the same time, like you can reserve both of them. Um, Disney C has more paid options than Disneyland. So I think Disneyland only had three paid options, and I think Disney C had maybe six or seven, but then they also had free ones. All the free ones sold out very quickly. Sorin never became available like the whole day. So there was no option for us to book it. We were unable to write it, and we were definitely not waiting two to three hours in line for it when we only had one day. So um we uh so I think that Disneyland is a one-day park. I think Disney C is a two-day park. So if you are gonna devote three days to doing Disney here, I would do one at Disneyland and two at Disney C. That way you don't have to rush through everything. And like we we did a lot of stuff, but we we didn't see a single show. And apparently there are several shows that are really good.

SPEAKER_00:

Um we didn't see a single show or ride all the rides, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And we did not ride all the rides, yeah. So um, yeah, I mean, it was just like a whole different world. Um, one of the surprising rides in there was uh the Peter Pan ride.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. That was a really, really cool ride.

SPEAKER_01:

That was maybe the best ride.

SPEAKER_00:

It was, I mean, it was the best ride, and I had very low expectations.

SPEAKER_01:

So going in there, we were like, oh wow. Um, they also have Pooh's Honey Hunt, that's like a paid one you can do. Apparently, they do have a similar one in Disney World. I wasn't aware of that until someone on Instagram told me. Um, there is a 20,000 leagues under the sea ride. That one was pretty cool. That was the first one we did.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So we enjoyed that. You're basically like it gives you the illusion of being in a submarine. Um, I mean, I think that the Peter Pan was my favorite ride of that whole thing. For sure. So DisneyCa also has a new area called Fantasyland, and that opened earlier this year, and up until a couple of months ago, you required a separate ticket to get into it. It is now all included within your ticket. Um it's there's an Arendelle, so it's like being in the the town from Frozen, like they have that.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, it's it's so well done. I can understand why it wasn't included before, but now that it is, I mean, it was so packed.

SPEAKER_01:

So packed. Um, if you are wanting to splurge on a hotel and not use points, um, there is a uh hotel in the park. It is the Fantasyland Hotel. It is basically at what like the entrance or exit to Fantasyland, which is at the very back of the park. That's where the hotel is. And so you can enter directly into the park from there, and you're right by like the frozen ride and all of that. Um, the hotel looks beautiful, it is very Disney-ish. It like there are rooms that have balconies that literally look out over Arundel, and like, so you could stay there and like wake up and tell your your kids, like, oh look, here's like here's the town of Arundel, right off out of our balcony. Um, but we looked up the cost of a suite for five people, and it was like expensive three thousand dollars a night or something like that. So, I mean, that's not for us, but you know, you do you.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, the hotel looked I mean, it was grand phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I'm sure it's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00:

Everything in that park was so well done.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Again, we tried more popcorn flavors. Um, also, so towards the end of the day, we were waiting to get on the frozen ride. We had kind of decided, okay, that's going to be our last ride of the day, right? It's gonna be at you know, 6 30 p.m. We're gonna go get in line, we're gonna do that, and then we're gonna leave. And so while we were kind of waiting to kill some time, Dwayne and the boys went to wait in the regular line for raging spirits. Is that?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, that was probably the most extreme ride there.

SPEAKER_01:

And it was not extreme at all, right?

SPEAKER_00:

I mean the kids loved it. It was just really short. It had a loop, you know, roller coaster.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, so it goes upside down? Yeah. Uh that's good.

SPEAKER_00:

So I mean, yeah, it was it was cool, but it was really short.

SPEAKER_01:

And you waited like you waited like an hour, right?

SPEAKER_00:

We waited, yeah, at least an hour. I think it was like, yeah, an 80-minute wait.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And so our daughter was too small for that ride. So her and I went and just kind of explored other areas of the park. And I kept seeing on the map this aerial's playground. And I so I thought, oh, that'll be great. I'll just go there and she can play for a little bit and I'll just sit down and like relax. And I couldn't find it. I kept like I was like, I don't understand. It says it's like right here. Turns out it is literally underground. And so once we found it, you are underground, like under the sea, you know, and it's like a whole nother world down there. There are rides and like food cafeterias and a playground.

SPEAKER_00:

And like it's air conditioned.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, even there's this splash pad. Like, I was just like, oh my gosh. So her and I spent the entire time down there. She was running around the playground. We went on one of the little rides down there, which is just like, I don't know, you sit in like these little buckets and go around. Um, and then we had a great time. Um, we got some snacks, but then when Dwayne and the boys were done, I was like, I don't know how to tell you how to get here, other than we're underground. Like, and this is what it's called. I was like, good luck. And they did end up finding it eventually, but it it took you a minute, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, yes, I was waiting in line for popcorn and I sent our son to look for it, and that's why it took so long.

SPEAKER_01:

He couldn't find it at first. Um, so, anyways, so yeah, highly would highly recommend that, especially if it's super hot when you're there and you're looking for like a reprieve from the heat.

SPEAKER_00:

Or if you have younger kids, it's perfect for them.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, there was a splash pad down there. Like when I saw that, I told my kids, oh no, no, no, you stay away from that. I was like, we're not getting soaking wet at 4 p.m. Um, and so we had like some dinner down there, and then we kind of wandered back to Fantasyland and kind of hung out around the the frozen ride until like literally 6 30 on the dot. We were in line for the fast pass of that ride.

SPEAKER_00:

And not only that, we had a fast pass, but a lot of other people had a fast pass, and it was like you had to wait in line still.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so we still probably waited 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_00:

How busy this place was. Usually you fast pass, you'd walk right up, and you're in line no longer than like five minutes.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we still waited a good 20 minutes, and then what happened?

SPEAKER_00:

So, yeah, so we get on this ride after waiting all day to get on it.

SPEAKER_01:

Our daughter was so excited, and in the line, she said, Mom, what do you think Elsa is doing right now? And I just thought, oh my god, she's so precious.

SPEAKER_00:

So, yeah, we were on it almost through the whole thing and it broke.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, we are on the ride. On the ride, and it stopped.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. And we had to be evacuated from the ride.

SPEAKER_01:

I think I do think we got maybe two-thirds of the way through it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think we were almost at the end.

SPEAKER_01:

We were going backwards, about to go over a waterfall. I'm putting amusing air quotes. I don't think it was a very big waterfall.

SPEAKER_00:

And yeah, the rides came to a halt. Yeah. It was silent for a minute. Well, not silent, you know, the music was playing, and then the music stopped. Then the lights turned on and was like, They were like, We're so sorry. The announcer came on and said, Hey, you know, this ride is no longer.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Like, yeah, basically, like something again. Wait and we'll evacuate you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I thought that our daughter was gonna be really sad. Fortunately, we had seen Elsa already on the ride, and Dwayne made a joke that we were frozen on frozen, which the kids all chuckled at. Yeah. So she ended up being fine with it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and they evacuated us and um they refunded us the money we paid for the fast pass and also gave us another pass to use for another ride.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, which we couldn't use.

SPEAKER_00:

We couldn't use because it was already too late.

SPEAKER_01:

It was our last ride. We were leaving. Yeah, the US could never, but yeah, they literally pulled everyone out and basically scanned our QR codes, and then the refund came through like the next day or something, which I was really impressed by. So was really glad that they did that. Um, and so then we just we we left. So we we walked out. The like the light show or whatever was starting as we were walking out. Um, but our daughter fell asleep and Dwayne was carrying her, and we were I had to carry her through almost the whole park. Yes, we were as far in the back of the park as you could be from where from the exit, and Duane carried her the entire way because she was knocked out, like sleeping on him the whole time, and it was not a short walk, so no, shout out to my back. Um, we exited the park, we grabbed our bags from the different lockers, and then we called an Uber.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, so the Ubers in Japan, first of all, very professional. They wear suits. The Uber drivers wear suits, but they are expensive. Yes, and they come with these nice vehicles. We had to get a van every time. And I mean, they were super clean, comfortable, and they fit, you know, five of us and luggage when we needed it. So I mean a totally different Uber in Japan than it is here.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and you forgot to add that they're they're there within a minute. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

We we waited no longer than a minute for this Uber.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so I mean, they're super speedy, they are they look like they're going to the office like with their business suits on. Like, yeah, very professional.

SPEAKER_00:

I it yeah, uh you probably don't remember this, but we were at a castle and you ordered the Uber while we were still walking out. We had like a 10-minute walk, and you were like, I ordered it, and I was like, Oh.

SPEAKER_01:

And the guy was just there waiting for us instantly.

SPEAKER_00:

My head I was like, why did you order it? You know, so we had to rush out of this like castle park we were at.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Um it was hot. I was ready to go. Um, so yeah, so the the really phenomenal part about ordering this Uber is like it tells you where to go and like where to meet your Uber. And it was like I feel like a lot of times you have to walk a really far distance, you know, to like away from the exit to like be able to get into a cart. No, no, it was like 27 steps. It was so close. Yeah, and the Uber just he pulled right up and we got in, and it was super, super simple. Um, in terms of car seats, because people are gonna ask, so we had brought our ride safer vest for our daughter. Um, we actually never used it, not one time. And potentially that was like a parenting fail. Like we probably should have brought it, but we didn't get it out when we arrived at the airport. It was like in her luggage, and I didn't think to get it out until we were already in the van. And then from then on, we just were taking these taxis that were fairly big vehicles, and she just used a seatbelt, and nobody ever said a word. Like the drivers never like mentioned it, and so we brought it, but we didn't use it.

SPEAKER_00:

And I mean, I don't think we used needed it.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I think she would have been a little safer, yeah, but I you know, at the same time, like I think it was fine.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, even when my buddy picked us up, we yeah, we didn't, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So, anyways, um, I think if you are concerned about it, the ride safer vest is what we have, it's what we used in Europe, it's what we use, you know, when we go to Europe in a month or so. And so I would definitely recommend it. Um, we we had good intentions, we brought it, just never made it out of the bag. Um, and again, we didn't take that many taxis, right? A few times in Kyoto for the most part, and a couple times in Tokyo, and that's it.

SPEAKER_00:

Otherwise, we were on the metro, so um, but yes, to recap, one day Tokyo, multiple days at Disney City.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, that's what you want to do. Yeah, if you want to see and do everything without being stressed. Yeah. Um, and then yeah, we just went back to our Hyatt-centric Ginsa like we never left. Here is an interesting fact that I was not expecting to happen though. So normally I was not expecting to get a qualifying night for our stay at the Hyatt Regency because I was already getting a qualifying night for that stay at the Hyatt-centric Ginsa because we never checked out, right? So essentially for one night we had two different hotel hotels booked, but I did get a qualifying night for it, which was very surprising to me. So I don't know if they just don't have a way to like cross-reference the hotel, right? Like for sure, sure, if it was at the same hotel, that would not have happened. But just an interesting data point that I did get a qualifying night for both stays, even though I was not expecting to.

SPEAKER_00:

So we have four rooms one night, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

With how many beds? Wait, eight, nine, ten, carry the two, twelve, twelve beds, thirteen, eleven beds total.

SPEAKER_00:

11.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. A lot of beds for five people. Um, oh, and we just did room service that night for dinner from the hotel. Oh, so our kids were exhausted. Okay, and maybe it's like 9 p.m. by the time we get back to the Ginza district and in the hotel. And our daughter is like, I want spaghetti. I'm like, okay, so we order her spaghetti, and our our eight-year-old, he was like, No, I'm actually too tired to eat. Like, I don't want food, so we didn't order him anything. Okay. And so the food comes, it doesn't take super long, maybe 20, 30 minutes. And our our oldest, Dwayne and I, sit down to eat, and we I go to wake up our daughter to tell her her spaghetti is here, and there is no waking her, she is knocked out. So I'm like, oh well. So our oldest ends up eating her spaghetti.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, we also had to wake him up. He fell asleep. Oh, he was sleeping?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, but he never misses a meal, so he got his butt up to eat.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Um, and so then in the morning, the very first thing that our daughter says to Dwayne is, Where's my spaghetti?

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, the minute she wakes up, where's my spaghetti?

SPEAKER_01:

It's like, you know, she fell asleep dreaming of that spaghetti, and like it probably felt like five minutes had passed by the time she woke up, like eight hours later, you know? It was pretty cute. And then we had to tell her, sorry, your spaghetti is gone. And then, you know, from there we we checked out of that hotel and we headed on to Kyoto, which will be our next episode. Um, anything else that we should cover around Disney?

SPEAKER_00:

No, I think we covered it all. I mean, again, if you have questions.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I'm gonna link the videos that helped us understand the fast passes in the show notes. Um, again, we booked our tickets through Kluke, um, which is similar to like a Viator. It's just more commonly used in Asia. And um was able to easily link it to the Disney app. You will be on your phone a good amount, I think, using the app. That's the one thing that really frustrates me about all the Disney parks, right? It's Disneyland, Disney World, Disneyland Tokyo. It's a lot of staring at your phone, trying to book the next ride or order your lunch or whatever. So I I don't enjoy that part. I wish there was a better way so that we didn't have to stare at our devices all day.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, I I think if you do two days at East Park, it won't be like that because you know you can meander through it. Yeah, but and again, I mean, we were so tired, it was only our third full day there. We were still jet lag, but I think if that weren't the case, we would have watched shows, we would have watched the parades, like yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, we tried to do a show at Disney C, but it was we couldn't get it, it was too late, and yeah, we didn't have a good strategy around that. So I think if the shows are important to you, um you'll want to figure out a strategy for that. I do think that you can like put in a request for the show, and it doesn't count towards like your ride requests, if that makes sense. Watch the YouTube videos, you'll understand what I'm saying. Um and yeah, as always, if you have questions around any of this, um, we're on Instagram at travelparty5. You can DM me there, and I answer every DM that comes through that's not spam.

SPEAKER_00:

And yeah, I feel like stay tuned for the next Kyoto episode.

SPEAKER_01:

Next week will be all about Kyoto. We will see you then.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for tuning in. Have a good one.

SPEAKER_01:

Bye.