Hi all,
I have a trip planned for my young family (3yo, 5yo, husband and my mum) to visit Japan for 2 weeks next March (late feb/early march). It will be the first time for my kids but my mum and I have been to Tokyo before, and my hubby used to do work trips to Japan. Our days will be relatively relaxed, doing 1-2 things per day as it's too much with toddlers.
Can you please review my draft itinerary?
4 nights in Osaka – day trips to Nara, Kyoto, and Kobe and explore Osaka. Planning to skip Universal studio it's quite costly and we will already be doing 2 Disney parks in Tokyo
2 nights – Train to Tokyo Disneyland resort area and stay in one of the nearby or official resorts – 1 day visiting DisneySea, and 1 day visiting Disneyland
4 nights – Train to Shinjuku and stay in the area, visit things like Teamlabs, Shibuya sky, Harry Potter experience, Harajuku, Fish Market and other local attractions etc (we probably won't do a trip to Mt Fuji as all the adults have been to Mt Fuji before – can save it for when kids are older)
4 nights – Train to Nozawa Onsen, mainly snowboarding/snowplay, Onsen and a half day trip to see the Snow Monkeys. My mum will help play with the kids whilst we are snowboarding. (only bringing our snow clothes/gloves and boots, renting everything else)
1 night – Train back to Tokyo stay one night near Tokyo station, and fly out the next evening – explore surrounding attractions.
I also have a few questions:
I couldn't decide between how many nights in Tokyo vs Osaka. Do you think my split of time between each is ok give the things we want to do?
Are there any other attractions you think we should visit whilst we are in the area?
Tokyo Disneyland resort/hotels: we definitely want to stay onsite or nearby Tokyo Disneyland because with two young kids it will be hard lining up for long. I know some official hotels have early entry so I assume we won't need to do too much lining up. Is Tokyo Disneyland hotel worth it? or should I opt for a cheaper one like Toy Story or Tokyo celebration hotel? Happy to spend a little more if it's a lot more convenient?
We want to use the Bullet train to get around to places especially from Osaka>Tokyo Disneyland resort, Tokyo Disneyland > Tokyo central, and Tokyo>Nozawa and Nozawa>Tokyo – we do plan to bring our luggage with us – do most people use the luggage forwarding service or is it ok to bring it with us on the train? I was thinking maybe from Osaka I could send it to our Tokyo central hotel in Shinjuku whilst we stay 2 nights at Disneyland, is that generally acceptable? Is it safe? Just worried about losing things but also conscious we will have 2 toddlers, 2+ big luggage plus 3 x carryon luggage with us
Thanks and any feedback you have will be appreciated!
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