1-Day Yokohama day trip itinerary check

Hello all,

I am planning a trip to Tokyo for my family this November, and one of the day trips that everyone wanted to do is Yokohama. The group is myself (35), my brother and SIL (42 & 40), as well as my two nephews (16) and my niece (10). I am curious if the day is unreasonable or feels too rushed to anyone? Is there any changes to it that you would make or suggestions for alternatives? Also, is it alright to leave at this time on a weekday or will there be difficulty with rush hour interfering with traveling at least somewhat comfortably?

7:30 am - Leave Ueno station, where we are staying.
8:50 am - Arrive at Sankeien Garden main gate.
9:00-11:00 am - Tour the garden grounds/historical buildings/take family photos.
11:30 am - Arrive in China Town, briefly stroll around the area.
12:00-1:00 pm - Lunch in China Town. I am hoping to eat some good char siu bao, so any recommendations are highly appreciated!
1:30 pm - Arrive at Gundam Factory after walking from China Town via Yamashita Park.
3:00 pm - Leave Gundam Factory and walk to the Cup Noodle Museum via Yamashita Park and stopping briefly at the Red Brick Warehouse.
3:45 pm - Arrive at the Cup Noodle Museum and (hopefully) do the experience where you make your own cup noodle (which is 45 minutes).
5:30 - Leave the Cup Noodle Museum and spend the rest of the evening in the Minato Mirai 21 area. This is the area where I am most unsure about, as my nephews both want to check out Cosmo World, my niece wants to eat at Leonard's in World Porters and shop in Landmark Plaza, while us adults most want to go to the Sky Garden Observation deck. We would love any advice on how to spend our last few hours in Yokohama.
8:30 or 9:00 pm - Leave Yokohama and travel back to Ueno in Tokyo.

Thank you!

The schedule seems especially tight between 3pm and 3:45pm.
For example, when I looked up the route on Google Maps, it took 27 minutes to walk from the Gundam Factory to the Cup Noodles Museum.
I recommend walking along the Yamashita Rinko Line Promenade, as the view is nice, but you may not have the time to tour the Red Brick Warehouse inside.
Edosei's pork buns in Chinatown were good.
https://www.edosei.com/view/company
For dim sum, I like Saiko Shinkan, but it takes a long time to get in.
It seems like you can make advance reservations, so if you have limited time, I think it's better to make a reservation.
It seems that it is closed every Tuesday.
It seems that you can also reserve a seat and order a la carte.
http://saikoh-shinkan.com/menu/other/food/
https://www.tablecheck.com/en/shops/saikoh-shinkan/reserve
At the Cup Noodles Museum, reservations are required for the Chicken Ramen Factory, and My Cup Noodles Factory is available on a first-come, first-served basis, but it is better to make a reservation.
https://www.cupnoodles-museum.jp/ja/yokohama/attractions/cr-factory/
https://www.cupnoodles-museum.jp/ja/yokohama/attractions/mc-factory/
When I went to Sankeien Garden last year, I didn't stop by the teahouse inside the park, but it took me about two hours to tour.
I didn't go in front of the tower.
Gundam Factory seems to be able to make reservations for the Moving Gundam from about two weeks in advance.
https://gundam-factory.net/en/
I think it's a good idea to pass by, especially at night, as the view from the train road(Kisha michi,‹DŽÔ“¹�j from World Porters to Sakuragicho Station is beautiful.
Alternatively, it might be a good idea to travel in the recently built air cabin.

20-year Yokohama resident here.

The itinerary is doable, if a little fast-paced. Your schedule might be being a little optimistic on the amount of travel time between places, though. In particular, Sankeien is in sort of a remote area 0 - it's in a non-tourist neighborhood and sort of far from the nearest train station, so you'll either need to wait for the bus or to catch a cab when going to/coming from the garden.

Depending on the day of the week, arriving at the Cup Noodle Museum at 3:45 p.m. might be too late to make your own Cup Noodle. It's the most popular activity at the museum, and slots tend to fill up early in the day on weekends (not sure about weekdays).

Arriving at Minato Mirai in the evening should work fine. The World Porters Leonard's is a take-out counter with a few tables. The line can sometimes be a little long, but nothing crazy, so it shouldn't take too long, and it's on one of the main street that connects Gundam Factory and Cosmo World. Cosmo World doesn't close super early, so getting there after sundown will still give you enough time to ride some of the rides. Cosmo World is right across the street from Landmark Plaza/Landmark Tower/the Sky Garden, and the observation floor is open fairly late and has really nice views at night too, so your Minato Mirai plan sounds great. If you get jammed up for time and won't be able to do both Cosmo World and the Sky Garden, Cosmo World's Ferris wheel also offers nice views.

Char siu bao (called nikuman) stands are all over Chinatown, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding one. They're all pretty consistently tasty, but when in doubt, if a place has a line of people waiting to buy them it should be good.

As for rush hour, leaving at 7:30 a.m. will probably get you some crowdedness on the trains, especially as you're going through downtown Tokyo on your way south towards Yokohama. 7:30 is a little on the early side of rush hour, though, so it won't be the peak crowdedness at least, though. Also, in the morning there's usually more passenger traffic heading into Tokyo than out of it, so things should get less crowded once you pass through the Tokyo city center. Likewise if you're headed back to Ueno from Yokohama after dinnertime, the trains won't be that crowded.

Kudos for including the beautiful Sankeien Garden - it truly is one of the finest in the region.
https://youtu.be/rmEcl4_fZZs
You could in late afternoon or evening walk a bit around Yamashita Park and the Kishamichi Promenade.
One other sight I enjoyed there was the Yamate western quarter and cemetery - lots of history from when Japan opened up to the world again.

I agree that it's fast paced.

The tricky bit is likely to be finding the bus stop at Yokohama Station, which is sprawling and busy. It would be worth knowing what bus number/s you want and having a look at a station map to figure out where in the station your train will arrive and how to get from there to the bus platform you want. If you wanted to get there quickly a taxi would be convenient but check the opening times so you don't arrive too early.

Sankeien is a beautiful garden, with interesting buildings from around Japan as part of the attractions.

I'm not much of a fan of the Red Brick Warehouses-lots of touristy shops when I was there earlier this year-though I do enjoy a walk in Yamashita Park.

The viewing tower at Minato Mirai is spectacular, it will be dark or close to it by the time you get there so you'll be enjoying the lights of the cities rather than the landscape. If you wanted to see the view in the daytime you could take the bus from Sankeien to Sakuragicho Station which is very close to Minato Mirai, and go up the tower then on to your other activities from there. If it's rainy weather you might not enjoy the view so much and could skip that in favour of something else.

Have a great day in beautiful Yokohama!

After November 27th, this event will also be held in Minatomirai.
https://yorunoyo.yokohama/
An illumination show will also be held once every 30 minutes.
Details are expected to be decided around the end of October.