Which Winter Illumintations?

Hey,

So one thing I've not really done before is Winter Illuminations. As we will be in Kansai and in Tokyo, should we try for the Nabano no Sato Illumintations or the Ashikaga Illuminations? I don't think we can do both.

thank you in advance!

Aren't they differently themed every year? And both are the best of said regions. Both are good but kinda difficult to compare since they are different every year and/or their respectively best of region.

Both seem to be 2 hours each way and both will require some skinkansen travel if you want the quickest travel options.

Let the itinerary pick for you. personally. Eg, If you are north of Tokyo in your itineray one day, aim for Ashikaga as the choosen option.

You cannot go wrong with whichever you pick.

@h,

Honestly, I don't know which would work better in our current schedule. I am trying to leave a few things open because there is a possibility we are meeting up with family vacations in Japan at the same time.

Outside of our night at a ryokan, we're not really planning to go north of Tokyo this trip. It's a relatively short trip, and the destination we usually visit in Fukushima-ken is closed from the 26th onwards. (And I am unsure when they reopen.) Our Kansai plans are also pretty relaxed.

Are the roller coasters opened in Nagashima Spa Land in December and are they crowded? I've never been, only to TDR and USJ but I have of course heard of Hakugei and Steel Dragon. We could plan to go to Nagashima Spa land on the 27th and overnight in Nagoya and if I can see my brother back track to Osaka and then return to Nagoya for our bags before going onto Tokyo. Right now we are booked in Kyoto the whole time, but I have 1 night separate so it would be easy to switch it out to Nagoya. And if my brother has no availability on the 28th we can just continue to Tokyo or visit Hikone before going to Tokyo.

This is not our first trip so only having 3 days in Kyoto/Osaka is not a big deal for us. We also plan to come back for longer in the Summer assuming nothing closes Japan again.

Thanks!

Both the flower park and spa land have official promo videos on their websites to view. Might be worth sitting down with your daughter and viewing those.

But to me, sounds like spaland might be the better option for you.

I showed my wife these videos last night. They are both on the to-do list if we travel in winter.

@H,

I've watched a few of the videos. Nabana no Sato looks gorgeous though I probably won't get to visit the onsen because my tween is being very American. I did think about the strawberry picking and well the rides. Last trip to Japan, the tween was only 9, so outside of TDR and USJ, I wasn't super keen to visit a lot of the wilder amusement parks, but she's older now and that changes things.

I'm just trying to keep a certain amount of flexibility in case my brother does want to meet up, but still trying to make things super fun for us.

If we went to Nabana no Sato, would it make more sense to stay in Nagoya (at either the Associa or Royal Park or maybe Mitsui) or to go back to Kyoto and stay at the Granvia, since it's right at the station.

If things went well, there is always a chance we could do both light ups or I might try to see the one at Yomimuriland and get in some more roller coasters lol

Thank you! both@H and @h!