Welcome to part five of my Tokyo Disney Resort Summer Trip Report. In this report I am going to discuss Tokyo Disney Resort’s transport including the buses and monorails, and also some other random things I missed from my other reports so far.
To recap or re-read the previous posts, Part One can be read here; Part Two can be read here; Part Three can be read here; and Part Four can be read here.
I warn you now, this part is especially long, and you may want to return to this when you have time!
To begin with I need to make an addition to something I mentioned previously regarding photography. After reading my blog post, Jon pointed out that although I was correct in my observations about the bizarre photography rules in Tokyo Disney Resort, I didn’t mention the fact that these rules were not posted anywhere. The reason this is important is because when you are at a park, and you have a camera, what are you most likely to do? Take a photo of course (or many in our case, but anyway). So when there are no signs posted anywhere telling you about the whole no pictures in queue areas and shows, well to be honest you’re not going to automatically assume you can’t, right? So yes, the photography thing is stupid, but what is more stupid is that they don’t make this clear, and you can get in trouble when you DO take pictures… even though there is noting posted telling you not to! Ok, that’s that dealt with!
I would also like to add at this juncture, that while Japan has a reputation for being ultra advanced and glowing with electrical supremacy, we discovered that actually this was not really the case. We were some what disappointed by the lack of technology actually. In particular, air conditioning! Now I realise that not everywhere in the world has the same priorities as the US (I myself am not American), but when it comes to public places and theme parks and other areas used frequently by massive amounts of people, you would think that air conditioning would be a basic amenity, no? In Europe we don’t have AC in homes and many smaller shops like is the normal thing in the US, but it does exist in newer buildings, larger buildings and offices. But Japan is a country, as I discussed in an earlier report, where the summer temperatures can exceed 35C/100F. To not have AC in a boutique in a theme park where there are 100 people trying to cram into a space the size of a living room, really does not do much for Guest comfort. The lockers and the restrooms were the worst culprits. If you need the bathroom, make sure you visit the ones inside the counter service restaurants in the parks, and not the ones that are dotted around the parks. They tended to have some form of AC. As for the locker storage areas, well unless you want to die of over heating then try to avoid going in there! The temperatures in those places must have reached in excess of 100F quite easily.
While we are talking about lockers, I want to mention the difference between the Tokyo Disney Guest storage, compared to the US and Paris parks.
In the US Parks, you can rent a locker starting at about $7 a day depending on the size. You can go back and put things in and take things out as many times as you like. The main difference between WDW and DLR is that you can pay cash in WDW because they still dish out keys, but you have to pay with credit card in DLR as the lockers are all automated.
In DLP they no longer offer a traditional locker service, but do still have Guest storage. You go to the window, give your things to the CM and they give you a ticket for your items. You may go back and rearrange things at your leisure, just as you do in the US. I don’t recall exactly how much it costs, but it is about the same as the US (we use it all the time, but never have to pay because AP holders get it free!).
Now to Tokyo. Tokyo, being apparently most technically advanced city on Earth, still has coin operated lockers. Yes, you heard me - coin operated. To begin with, the prices are much the same as the US, but the problem that is one time use. To continue usage after opening you need to pay over again! Bear in mind that all the time you messing around trying to find more coins, you are probably melting into a pool of sweat due to the excessive heat.
Now we come to Tokyo Disney Sea (TDS), or more accurately, how to get to TDS.
Tokyo DisneySea is the second gate at Tokyo Disney Resort, after Tokyo Disneyland. It physically joins on to TDL, but is not as easily accessible as the DLR and DLP parks, where they are just a short stroll.
To get to TDS you have four options. You either take the monorail, you get a bus, you can walk, or you stay at the Hotel Miracosta.
Let us begin with the monorail. The Disney Resort Line is TDR’s very own monorail system that makes four stops around the Resort. The stations are conveniently placed, are large and airy, and offer a number of amenities, such as restrooms (albeit still not air conditioned, despite being relatively new).
The four stops are:
Resort Gateway Station, situated right in the middle of Maihama Station, Ikspiari and Bon Voyage.
Tokyo Disneyland Station, situated right outside TDL Park and the TDL Hotel
Bayside Station, for Guests of the numerous onsite partner hotels
Tokyo DisneySea Station, situated at the entrance of TDS Park, and easily accessible to Guests of the Miracosta.
There are a number of drawbacks to the monorail system in TDR though, the main one being you have to pay! It isn’t cheap either. 100 yen is approximately one US dollar (more or less). To get into Tokyo itself, it costs around Y210, or about $2.10. To use the Disney Resort Line it costs Y250 single! The price is fixed and does not change whether you go one stop or three (you could go four, but you‘d end up back where you started!). I should add here that if you are staying for a number of days, they do offer passes which work out at a discounted price, but even still, having to pay is annoying!
Apparently the reason you have to pay is that under Japanese law anything with more than two or three stops (I can't remember which), classes as public transport, and payment is required. You would think that Disney would offer maybe two monorail lines then, with two stations on each. But of course they don't as they use this law to make sure they maximise profits.
The monorails run about every five minutes and are generally better than the ones in the US. They have neat Mickey shaped windows and Mickey grabs for those who stand.
They also have CM’s on board who walk up and down, but there is no driver, and the cockpit is completely open to who ever gets there first. The views from the monorail is pretty neat at times as you pass by some other areas of the Resort and behind the parks, offering a unique perspective.
The other problem with the monorail is that it only runs in one direction. Not all too inconvenient I guess, but a little strange all the same. It makes travelling from Maihama Station to TDS Park in the morning a long trip, but getting back at night easier, as the monorails travel anti-clockwise in the order I listed the stations above.
Do not be fooled into thinking by the way, that you need to use the monorail to get from Maihama to TDL Park / Hotel. As I described in my last blog entry, you can quite easily walk, and it is not very far at all. As for getting to TDS, the easiest option in all honesty is the monorail, but there are two other options (besides staying at the Miracosta, but then you have the reverse problem of having to get the monorail to ALL the other resort areas - Ikspiari, TDL, Maihama etc - as TDS is the ONLY other thing over that side).
You can walk, which to be fair is not that far, but is a fair distance when you are out all day in 100F heat and running round like crazy. When you feet ache and it is 10pm, the monorail is so tempting!
But there is also one other option, slightly less convenient than the monorail but better than walking. The Ambassador Hotel’s bus.
Disney’s Ambassador Hotel is situated just behind Ikspiari, and is easily accessible to anyone arriving at Maihama to visit TDR.
The bus service they provide is actually meant for Ambassador Hotel Guests, and provides transport from the Ambassador to TDL and from the Ambassador to TDS. If you walk down from Maihama / Ikspiari etc to TDL and don’t go quite as far as the park itself, you will see on the left the resort bus station, which I described in my previous post. The buses are really neat looking and are silver in colour. They are free to use, and you do not need to show Resort ID or room keys to use them. So, you board the bus to the Ambassador, and when you arrive you get off and switch over to the next bus which usually arrives within minutes, to get to TDS! They are pretty cool to ride, and you get a different perspective of the Resort areas too. It really does not take too long, and is worth saving the Y250 per person, per trip on the monorail.
You could always walk to the Ambassador, and then catch the bus to TDS also. Either way, it beats walking the whole way, and beats paying over the top prices!
For Guests at the TDL Hotel, you can do much the same as I described above, but your walk will be longer if you decide to walk to either the Ambassador or TDS itself. To use the free bus to the Ambassador, you are actually closer to that than anywhere else in the resort. To use the monorail, you have a station right outside your door. No buses are offered from the TDL Hotel to anywhere else on property, just the monorail or Ambassador bus.
If you choose to stay at the Miracosta, again, no buses are offered at all. You have to walk, use the monorail, or use the free Ambassador bus (but in reverse to how I described), to get to the other resort areas.
For Guests at the onsite partner hotels, to be honest your only option really is to use the monorail from Bayside Station, or walk down to the TDL Park entrance area and do everything I described above. Walking will of course add much more time and effort to the ordeal, and I advise that you probably should use the monorail, as annoying as it is having to pay. Those staying at the Sunroute Plaza are the closest to TDL Park and could probably walk it, but it is still a bit of a distance.
Ok, so we have beaten to death all the transport options, and we have now finally arrived at TDS.
Check back later to read the sixth and final part (promise it will be the last one this time!), all about Tokyo DisneySea.
Dan.