6-7 week itenarary march-april

This us a very rough draft but wanting some help with my 6/7 week itenarary
- This will be my 2nd trip to japan
I have purposefully left Kanaza out as I visited last trip
- I travel with my 7 YEAR OLD son so that is why i am staying in some towns for lengthy periods
-Tokyo stay included 2 days spent at disneyland and disney sea and 1 day studio ghibli
-Planning on flying into tokyo and out of osaka

Thanks for looking interested in any advice also have a couple of days npt allocated so after suggestions thanks

7/3- Tokyo
8/3- Tokyo
9/3- Tokyo
10/3- Tokyo
11/3-Tokyo
12/3- Tokyo day trip kamakura
13/3- Tokyo
14/3- Tokyo
15/3- Tokyo
16/3- Tokyo- Nikko
17/3- Nikko
18/3- Nikko- Tokyo
19/3- Tokyo- Hakone
20/3- Hakone
21/3- Hakone- Matsumoto
22/3- Matsumoto day trip Jigokudani
23/3- Matsumoto
24/3- Matsumoto- Takayama
25/3- Takayama
26/3- Takayama day trip to Shirakuma-go
27/3- Takayama - Magome walk to Tsumago
28/3- Tsumago
29/3- Tsumago- Kyoto
30/3- Kyoto
31/3 - Kyoto day trip Nara
1/4- Kyoto
2/4- Kyoto day trip Nagahama
3/4- Kyoto
4/4- Kyoto day trip arishiyama
5/4- Kyoto
6/4- Kyoto day trip fushimi & uji
7/4- Kyoto - Koyasan
8/4- Koyasan - Kinosaki
9/4- Kinosaki
10/4- Kinosaki - Himeji
11/4- Himeji - Kurashiki
12/4- Kurashiki
13/4 - Kurashiki day trip Takahashi
14/4- Kurashiki day trip Okayama
15/4- Kurashiki - Onomichi
16/4- Onomichi - Takehara - Hiroshima
17/4- Hiroshima
18/4- Hiroshima - Miyajima
19/4- Miyajima - Osaka
20/4- Osaka
21/4- Osaka
22/4- Osaka
23/4- Osaka

Hi!

Is this your child's first trip or their 2nd?

I travel to Japan once a year with my child, so I am just throwing this out there.

The only things my daughter liked about Hakone was feeding the koi fish, walking around the gardens at our hotel and watching the Tozan line go past our hotel.

Tokyo Disney is going to be crazy crowded. March is one of the peak months for visiting and it is going to get crowds. This is the best crowd calendar:
http://www15.plala.or.jp/gcap/disney/

There is also one for USJ should you plan to visit it.

It's not been updated with March/April 2020 predictions. You can go back and see what March/April 2019 were rated and March was just really crowded. If you are determined to go, if you are willing to stay on property the 15 minute early entry helps more than you would think. If not get there very very early because the Japanese will be lining up early. Even on blue and green dates, people will line up a good hour + before the parks open. I went with my daughter to TDR (both parks) in June 2017 and (Sea) June 2018 and we're going back to Sea in a few weeks. We stayed the first time at the Disneyland Hotel and this time we are trying the Ambassador. In 2018, we went with an afternoon ticket and people lined up a good hour before they were allowed in. It was an "orange" day and I found it unpleasantly crowded. All the Fastpasses were long gone and everything had a minimum 30-40 minute wait including all the kiddie rides in Ariel's Playground.

I think it makes more sense to visit Magome and Tsumago when you are in Matsumoto before crossing over to Takayama. It's a really long (I think 4 hours) trip from Takayama and is much closer to Matsumoto. While Magome or Tsumago to Kyoto is closer, I think it still makes more sense to do Takayama afterwards. Heck, if you can make the 10:08 or its equivalent Hikari out of Odawara, it is a faster trip to Tsumago and Magome from Hakone and you could actually start there and then move onto Matsumoto so there is no back tracking.

I think Shirakawa Go is extremely boring. It's tourist shops and restaurants. I can't imagine a 7 year old enjoying it. My then 6 year old loved Hida no Sato village and if I had known we were not making our Hida to Toyama we could have easily spent more time there.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for your advice I will have a look at your suggestions.

I've actually done Disneyland before so know what the crowds can get like and we'll make it work luckily my son is happy standing and cues for over 50 minutes haha.

He will be 8 of the time and we go traveling and it is his second time in Japan and he is used to the quiet areas so I don't mind it being a bit slow pace sometimes.

Thank you for such a thorough informative response much appreciated

Koyasan to Kinosaki will be one r-e-a-l-l-y long day's travel. Maybe consider two separate trips (Kyoto to Kinosaki, come back to Kyoto for a few days - you can move hotel so that you stay in a different part of town and are closer to different sights - or just leave your bags in the same hotel if you're coming back there later - and then do Kyoto to Koyasan and Koyasan to Osaka.

Personally, I've had no problems travelling with a child and moving every day or three. Our child would be bored and somewhat overwhelmed by spending a week in Tokyo, for instance - but of course all kids are different.

Hi @Winter Visitor,

Yeah, I was wondering about the Koya-san to Kinosaki trip myself, but I was feeling lazy about checking Hyperdia because it was my bed time.

OP, my daughter will be 8 for our trip in about a week and a half. This will be her 4th trip. I travel with just her, my husband stays home.

I too think we would be hard pressed to spend 5 days in Tokyo without any day trips. (The 7 days minus arrival day and the two Disney days and your day trips are on top of the Tokyo time) The Ghibli Museum is really tiny and doesn't have that much to do. I would look into when the new park is opening in Nagoya since it is some time in 2020. Mine loves Miyazaki films but hated the museum. It was crowded and tiny.

The lines will be 50-60 minutes for things like Blowfish Balloon Race and Jumpin' Jelly fish. The lines for Toy Story Mania and Tower of Terror and Journey are going to be more like 120 to 210 minutes. Maybe it's me, but I can't handle waiting in line that long. We waited over 90 minutes for Raging Spirits on an orange day and that was too long for me.

Good luck!

Hi thank you for your help
I revised and have altered things slightly
We have kept the long stay in Tokyo for now is there anywhere that could be added or any extra night spent somewhere else

I will flying around March 9th until the 26th of April.

9th- 12th Osaka

12th- 15th Kobe

15th- 16th Himeji

16th- 20th Kurashiki (day trips to Okayama & Takahashi)

20th- 21st Onomichi

21st- 24th Hiroshima (day trip Miyajima)

24th- 31st Kyoto (day trips Uji & Nagahama)

31st- 3rd Takayama (day trip Hida No Sara)

3rd- 5th Magome & Tsumago

5th- 8th Matsumoto (day trip Jigokudani)

8th- 9th Hakone

9tg- 12th Kamakura

12th- 15th Yokohara

15th- 17th Nikko

17th- 26th Tokyo (Disney x2 and day trip to Kawaguchiko)

Thanks