Help me Plan my Trip to Tokyo Disney

Here are three posts we've got that might help you:

• 'I'm going to (Tokyo) Disneyland!' - Planning a trip to the Tokyo Disney Resort
• Think you know how to use Disney's Fastpass? Try getting a Fastpass in Tokyo
• What are the best snacks at the Tokyo Disney theme parks?

I would say stay at either the Sheraton or Hilton. We stayed at the Sheraton Thanksgiving week for about $170 per night. You can also buy your tickets to Disney at these hotels. The official Tokyo Disney web site will show you how busy the park is projected to be on your visit. Ride everything! Best advice for planning is read trip reports on the internet.

Sadly, I didn't get a chance to hit the Disney parks on my visit to Tokyo, but I fully recommend seeing as much of the city as possible. Also, I wouldn't worry too much about staying at an on-site hotel. The train system in Tokyo is super intuitive and pretty cheap.
Unless money is no object, of course. In that case, stay on-site and, uh, take me with you?

I stayed at the Hilton because it was far cheaper than the three Disney hotels, I get points with Hilton, and I wanted to be near the parks to minimize travel time on my two-day visit. In addition to having more English-speaking staff than the four "non-Western" on-site, non-Disney hotels, I found that the check-in lines for the Hilton and Sheraton at the welcome center were empty, while the lines for the other hotels were packed -- like an hour long.

The welcome center is great because you can check into your hotel and drop your bags in the morning without having to go to the hotel. The welcome center is located near the train station in the center of the resort, on your way to either park.

I stayed at the HIlton and it was very nice and super convenient. My room was a standard size American room and had every amenity. It was a two minute walk to the Disneyland Resort Line monorail and a short ride around to the parks. But once I saw the Mirra Costa I kicked my self for not staying there. It is truly beautiful. And truly expensive.
I would allocate one day for Disneyland and the rest of your life for Disney Sea. I totally fell in love with that park for it's beauty and charms. As far as rides go, Journey to the Center of the Earth was the big draw for me as it was totally new. I had already been on Toy Story and Tower of Terror, so I wasn't worried about those.
One big thing to consider is crowds. I went this past week during one of the least busy times of the year and it was still pretty crowded. Even if it was crowded you would probably get to ride all the big rides at least once using Fastpasses and advance tacticts and planning. Forget about Toy Story unless you want to waste time and risk your life trying to race for the line or Fast Passes.

Can't comment on hotels, but we went a few years ago and found the original park to be crowded and I mean CROWDED - shoulder to shoulder with people virtually right across the park. This was in March and as far as my brother's wife (who is Japanese) was aware there were no public holidays. If you want to see everything you are going to need 2 days+ just for this park, but bear in mind the rides here are much the same as Disney parks elsewhere so if you have been before you may skip some. The second park, DisneySea, was much quieter and we did this easily in a day. I would highly recommend a visit to Disney Sea, this is the best of the best and has some rides that are not elsewhere like Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Storm Rider, Aquatopia, Sinbads storybook and the original 20,000 leagues under the sea (now gone in its original form at other parks)