Travel with 4yr and 10mth old!

Hubs and i have tix to Tokyo 27 Mar to 8 Apr with our 2 kids, one 4 yr old and one 10mth old at the time of travel. Initially, we intended to tour Hokkaido before coming back to Tokyo for our 1 night stay at Disneyland. But i just found out it may be too cold in Hokkaido. Help! Should we still go? If we do, what's good to do in Hokkaido by ourselves with no knowledge of Japanese language?
Thanks in advance!

Late March and early April is not a very nice time to visit Hokkaido, unless you just want to see cities. Cool temperatures can be taken of by dressing warm.

Thanks Uji. Actually, we don't think our 4yr old will be interested in the lavender fields and such like. We were hoping to catch a bit of the early spring snow and perhaps do some snow mobiling or skiing. you think that's feasible? When you say not good time to go Hokkaido, do you mean there's no scenery?
Thanks!

In winter (where are you from by the way?? ) most trees, except for evergreen ones (they are dark green and have needles instead of leaves), have no leaves at all and there is no grass on the ground and no flowers therefore the scenery isn't that great. Not just in Hokkaido but in most countries in the Northern hemisphere. Lavender fields will definitely not be flowering. If you like snow then you will be fine but bring sunglasses as the sun shining on the snow is blindingly bright. It is warm under the sunshine but as soon as the sun is off it feels very cold. Your children, especially the youngest one, are too young to get any pleasure from that trip. Children have to be at least 7 years old to understand that they are in a totally different place and to form memories. about it. Until then my parents always left my siblings and I with older relatives.

hi sensei 2
thanks for reply. we're fr sg and there's no1 to leave the kids with..hence have to bring them along.
i hope there is enough snow to do some winter activities with the 4 yr old but warm enough for the 10mth old. the 4yr old has not experienced snow before so it should be fun for him.

perhaps it would be wiser to stay aroung tokyo/osaka/kyoto instead...

What i n the world do you mean by do you mean by "we are fr sg"???? Snow can be fun for a kid or it can be a nightmare! it is hard to say. I was 10 the first time we had snow in my then home town--it snows there once every 10-12 years--I knew about snow even if I had no actual experience about it. The good thing is that the school was closed for nearly a week. The bad thing is that after playing in the snow with all the neighbourhood kids for 1 hour we were very wet and very cold and didn't wanted to go out again yet we didn't wanted to stay inside. We were so happy to go back to school and likely so were our families!

I assume you are "from Singapore," where it's almost tropical throughout the year. Apparently you have not experienced snow in your everyday living, so your concerns (and interests) are understandable.

Years ago, when I was 3 or 4, it snowed almost knee-deep (going by adult height that is) one winter. I have a recollection of that with a bit of fun in the snow. So how children react to snow totally depends on the individuals :).

In early Apriil, if in Sapporo city, there should be no snow left on the roads and on the sidewalks; if you go to northern ski resorts (outside the city) there may be some snow still. If your aim is to see snow, Hokkaido might be OK, but actually if particularly it's your first time to Japan, I would not recommend Hokkaido. Maybe, Tokyo (Asakusa, Tokyo Tower, etc.), Shinkansen train to Kyoto (temples, and cherry blossoms, possibly), Osaka (Universal Studio, Osaka Castle, etc.), then back to Tokyo (Disneyland), might simply be easier for you and your kids.

As mentioned by AK, there is not much snow left. And where there is snow left, it probably tends to be of bad quality (wet and dirty).

Early April is too late for winter and too early for spring. That's why I wrote that it is not the perfect timing.