Turning Japanese: A Disney Nut Does Tokyo Disney!

[CriminyCrafft]

Yo DIS dudes! Me and my DH are leaving next Friday to go to Tokyo and Singapore, and our Tokyo trip will include two days in Tokyo Disney. Specifically, our trip will include one day at Tokyo Disneyland and one day at Tokyo DisneySea (a super cool-looking park that can be found nowhere else on earth!). I thought everyone would be interested to see what Disney Japanese-style is like, so I've decided to start my first trip report!

A little background first. My DH and I went to Japan for our honeymoon, and spent about five days of it in Tokyo. DH worked at a law firm in Tokyo for a month last summer. Clearly, he's obsessed with Japan, and I'm obsessed with Disney - so when he found a deal with Singapore Air for our spring break I said I would only go back to Tokyo if we could do Disney up right! Marriage is all about compromise, right? Especially if Disney is part of the deal! I've never been to Singapore so I'm excited about that, but sadly not as excited as I am about a whole new unexplored DISNEY!!! I do know that the Japanese LOVE Disney - Tokyo Disneyland is the most-visited theme park in the WORLD, with DisneySea a close second. It's comforting to know that I will soon be surrounded by like-minded people. : )

Here's an introduction to your friendly cast!

ME - Amanda, 31 in years but 12 in mind, third year law student, and general Disney nutbag. I've been wacko obsessed with Disney since early highschool. My last trip to WDW was October 2006 and whooboy was it a blast. But alas, I was too shy to do a TR. Now after many months of reading and lurking, I've decided to take the proverbial plunge! I've already booked a one week trip to WDW for October and I will definitely do a TR for that guy. I'll be there from October 21-28 with my DF, and we're staying at the Dolphin. CAN'T WAIT!

DH - Canon, 28, also a third year law student. I wouldn't say he exactly HATES Disney. He's only been TWICE (the horror!) and the second time was our October 2006 trip. He had a great time on that trip - it was the first time he'd ever ridden Space Mountain (blasphemy!). But he gets very sick of my constant Disney ramblings and daydreaming. He also bought me a very cool and expensive pair of sneakers to wear on this trip - no, not out of the goodness of his heart but BECAUSE HE WAS EMBARRASSED TO BE SEEN WITH ME IN DISNEY CROCS!!! Gawd. But who am I to turn down a free pair of cool shoes. I can run my Crocs into the ground during my October WDW trip.

DF - Asami, 29, Japanese law secretary. I haven't actually met her yet, but she's a friend of DH's from his summer in Tokyo and also loves Disney. Sounds like good people to me! She's taking two days off work to go with us to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea. That's dedication to Disney - Japanese peeps work extremely long hours, and Japanese law firms work absolutely soul-crushing hours with very little vacation. I'm sure she'll forget all her work stress as soon as we cross the threshold into Disney.

We will be spending March 12 and 13 at the parks. Here's a breakdown of my plan, complete with some tiny, fairly crummy Tokyo Disney photos!

DAY ONE - TOKYO DISNEYLAND

ATTRACTIONS! (at least the ones I'm interested in):

Big Thunder Mountain

Enchanted Tiki Room, Now Playing "Get the Fever!" (hopefully they're not referring to bird flu?)

Gadget's Go Coaster

Haunted Mansion

The Mickey Mouse Revue

MicroAdventure! (known to American heathens as Honey I Shrunk the Audience)

Peter Pan's Flight

Pinocchio's Daring Journey

Pirates of the Caribbean

Pooh's Hunny Hunt. This is a ride unique to Tokyo Disneyland, and it's supposed to be the most popular attraction in the park. Can't wait to see what this is all about.

Snow White's Adventures (are they not scary in Tokyo?)

Space Mountain (CLOSED for renovation!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! Oh well, atleast it's not one of the rides unique to Tokyo Disney.)

Splash Mountain

Star Tours

FIREWORKS! Winter Magic in the Sky

SHOW! Cinderellabration: Lights of Romance

PARADE! Disney's Dreams on Parade “Moving On”

DINING!

Tokyo Disney only has ADRs for a few restaurants, and they can only be made the day of attendance. YEESH. So we'll see what happens. Here's my tentative plan:

Lunch at Grandma Sarah's. This place is a little burrow carved out of a tree near the Splash Mountain area, presumably for woodland animals.

Dinner at the Queen of Hearts Buffet. This place is themed to the extreme.

DAY TWO - TOKYO DISNEYSEA
ATTRACTIONS!

Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster

Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull

Journey to the Center of the Earth. Also unique to Tokyo Disney.

Jumpin' Jellyfish

Raging Spirits (rollercoaster unique to Tokyo Disney)

Stormrider (also unique)

TOWER OF TERROR - YESSSSS! Isn't this one BEEEEYOOOTIFUL:

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

SHOW! The Legend of Mythica

FIREWORKS/WATER SHOW! BraviSEAmo!

DINING!

Lunch at Vulcania - built inside a (fake) mountain!

Dinner (hopefully) at the S.S. Columbia Dining Room. It's inside a SHIP!

There will also be many snacks along the way and some serious shopping for the perfect hokey Tokyo Disney gear!

I'm super pumped about my trip and I hope you all will enjoy reading my TR. I promise lots o' photos!

[PrettyInTink]

subscribing!!!!!

[Eoywin]

I'm subscribing too!

Sounds like it will be a blast!

[WDW Poly Princess]

Oooh, I can't wait! I've hardly seen any Tokyo reports! Hope it's a great trip! Sayonara! ;)

[mlill]

I can't wait to read your TR!!!! I hope you're having a great time! :banana:

-Michelle

[kona-kraft]

OMG, so subscribing.....you are doing the trip of my dreams !!! Can't wait to read all about it :thumbsup2

[CriminyCrafft]

Hi readers. I've been back since Monday but the jet lag and a recurring cold have kept me from updating. Well, those things and how flippin' long it takes to download pictures, resize them, and upload to photobucket! I now have even more appreciation for people who do the long trip reports that I so enjoy.

First things first - can anyone tell me how to move this to the Completed Trip Reports section? I guess that's what I'm supposed to do?

Anyway, I'm back and ready to begin my TR. I hope you enjoy it and that it inspires you to go to Tokyo Disney Resort someday. I really liked Tokyo Disneyland, and I absolutely LOVED DisneySea. So here goes!

Pre-Disney - the Trip and Ticket-getting!


We flew from RDU to LAX on Delta, which was totally crap of course. But then we flew Singapore Air from LAX to Tokyo Narita airport. Singapore Air is AMAZING. Absolutely the best airline I've ever flown. It's one of only 4 airlines in the world to receive a 5-star rating from Skytrax (the others being Malaysia, Qatar, and Cathay Pacific). My other international trips have been via American Airlines, United, and US Air, i.e., pretty miserable flights. Singapore Air has an unparalleled level of service. The flight attendants were so nice, the seats were as comfy as possible (mostly due to extra-strength flaps that keep your head from lolling around and a nice footrest), and the food was better than any flight I've been on. And of course they have a personal video system in every seat with on-demand movies. So, if you get the chance, fly Singapore Air!

We arrived in Tokyo on a Saturday night, and the first order of business on Sunday was - GET DISNEY TICKETS! Tokyo Disney doesn't sell tickets online (why, I dunno) so we went to the Disney Store in Shibuya to get our 2-day passports the day before we went. Here's me outside the Tokyo Disney Store:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/MeOutsideDisneyStore.jpg

You can't tell from this picture but the store is located on a very very busy street. The inside of the store was pretty impressive. Well-themed with a few nice touches:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/MeInDisneyStore.jpg

Note the sparkly lights leading up the staircase.

So we went to the third floor and got our two-day passports - first day would be Disneyland and second day would be DisneySea. Here's the ticket area:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/TicketArea.jpg

I was so pumped...the next day it was off to Tokyo Disneyland!!!


Tokyo Disneyland


Tokyo Disneyland opened at 8:00 am on Monday March 12. I had the best intentions of being there well before park opening. Then, jet lag hit. To make it to the park by 7:30 am I'd have to get up at 5:00 am. My lazy self got up at 6 am and hurried to get ready. I knew it would take AT LEAST an hour to get from our hotel in Shinjuku to Disney, which is actually a bit outside Tokyo. We had to take the subway to Tokyo station and then another train to Maihama station, which ended up taking an hour and a half because an accident on the Keiyo subway line. ARGH! We ended up getting to Maihama at about 8:20, which I thought was a decent time. Tokyo Disneyland is a very short walk from Maihama station.

Usually I'm very pessimistic, but I figured Tokyo Disney wouldn't be very crowded, even though it's the most-visited theme park in the world, because 1) it was a MONDAY; and 2) because it was pretty chilly outside (in the low 50s). As soon as we got to Maihama station, I knew I was horribly mistaken. The station was SLAMMED FULL of teenagers all trying to get to Disney. Arrrrrgh. We quickly found DH's friend, Asami, who was meeting us there, and sprinted to the gates!

Here's the entrance to Tokyo Disney:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Tokyo_Disney_Resort_Entrance.jpg

Here's a photo looking back on the crowds following us:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Crowds_Going_Into_Disneyland-1.jpg

WHHHHY is it so crowded? I whined. Asami said she had been to Tokyo Disneyland about six times and had never seen it this crowded. Then she said it was a SCHOOL HOLIDAY - spring break, just like us!

We soon passed under the monorail that connects Disneyland, DisneySea, and the Disney Resort Hotels. We would be riding this the next day to get to DisneySea...

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Monorail.jpg

FINALLY we passed security and scanned our tickets (which were crappy PAPER tickets, not the nice credit cards they give you at WDW)...and we were in!!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Disneyland_Entrance_Mandy_Asami.jpg

I was happy to finally meet Asami - she was very nice and we got along swimmingly!

Tokyo Disneyland doesn't have Main Street USA - it has World Bazaar instead. A lot of the same shops but under an "awning," sort of. Here it is:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/WorldBazaar.jpg

Marie from the Aristocats is a very popular character in Japan apparently - note the balloons. I saw loads of Marie merchandise while I was at Tokyo Disney.

And then finally...the castle!!!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Castle1.jpg

I was desperate to get to Pooh's Hunny Hunt - would I find teeming crowds inside???? Would I be able to ride ANYTHING??!!

[CriminyCrafft]

Tokyo Disneyland Continued


We quickly turned left and headed through Adventureland towards Fantasyland where Pooh's Hunny Hunt was located. I was very excited about this ride because I read that it was the most popular in the park and we don't have it in America. I knew I was in serious, serious trouble when we passed through "Westernland" and saw the HUGE lines for Big Thunder Mountain. I couldn't believe it. We couldn't tell where the line began or ended, it was so mobbed. The fastpass line stretched so far back we couldn't see the end of it! I'm upset I didn't get a picture, but we were in such a hurry to get in some lines and get some fastpasses. I resolved then and there to not let the crowds spoil my fun. I adjusted my 'tude and hauled DH and Asami over to Fantasyland. I saw that the wait for the Haunted Mansion (which, yes, is in Fantasyland in Tokyo) was already SIXTY MINUTES, so we went ahead and got fastpasses for that. Here's the Mansion:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/haunted_mansion.jpg

We could use the fastpasses in about an hour, so we hopped in line for Peter Pan. The wait for that was about 30 minutes.

It was in the line for Peter Pan that I noticed something. A TON of people at the park had on Disney character ears. Throughout the day I saw all kinds of folks with ears on, including teenage boys with white cat ears (presumably Marie) and a sixty-something man with Mickey ear barettes on the top of his head. I realized I had a fantastic excuse to look silly, and DH couldn't do anything about it! Remember I said he was embarrassed by Disney crocs? Certainly ears had to be more embarrassing, but not in Japan where everyone has them!

Here's a photo of some Marie ears in line for Peter Pan:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Line_for_Peter_Pan.jpg

Peter Pan was great of course - it seemed to move a lot faster than the one in WDW. I went to Disneyland in California in 2001, but I honestly can't remember much about the individual rides so I can't compare Tokyo Disney with them.

We then decided to get a snack until time for our Haunted Mansion fastpass. We got hot cocoa and "Mickey Smiles" - which are Mickey shaped cakes with either banana or cheese filling.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Mickey_Smile.jpg

The Mickey Smile was passable, unfortunately one of the best things I'd eat in Tokyo Disney. Note the small size of the cocoa cup - in Japan a small drink is VERY SMALL and a large is the size of an American small. So this gluttonous American was left thirsty most of the trip.

We then rode Haunted Mansion - definitely more like the one in Disneyland if I recall correctly. Very cute to hear the Ghost Host speaking Japanese. Funnily enough, Madame Leota and the one ghost who screams "Lemme outta here!" were both speaking in English. And Grim Grinning Ghosts was in English too. Interesting how the exterior is like the Mansion in WDW.

While strolling through Fantasyland we came across the place where I wanted to eat dinner - the Queen of Hearts Buffet!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Queen_of_Hearts1.jpg

I would soon learn that it was actually a "buffeteria," which is not the same thing as a buffet!

We then rode Pinocchio's Daring Journey, which was the same as Disneyland if I recall correctly, and then it was on to Snow White. Here's some Dumbo and Tigger ears from the Snow White line:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/SnowWhiteLine-Ears.jpg

I then decided to go get fast passes for Pooh's Hunny Hunt. Our return time was 3:30 to 4:30, so at least I knew I'd get to ride it! Whew! But... would I ever get to ride Big Thunder Mountain???

Up Next - A Stroll through Adventureland, Dissed by Stitch, and Lunch!

[juju]

Hi! We just returned from a trip to Hong Kong and Tokyo. As it turns out we were at TDL and TDS on the exact same days. Disneyland was crazy busy and I was cold ( I also returned to the US with a cold). TDS didn't seem quite as busy, but we picked up our fastpasses to Tower of Terror first thing and our return time wasn't until 7:30pm. It was fun to look at your pictures! What is it with the headgear there? I can understand some of the cute females, but the young men? just fyi, Hong Kong Disneyland was so dead, there was hardly anybody there. What a difference from Tokyo.

[Eviie]

Omg i'm officially addicted. POST MORE MORE! I can't get enough :) !!

[CriminyCrafft]

Hi! We just returned from a trip to Hong Kong and Tokyo. As it turns out we were at TDL and TDS on the exact same days. Disneyland was crazy busy and I was cold ( I also returned to the US with a cold). TDS didn't seem quite as busy, but we picked up our fastpasses to Tower of Terror first thing and our return time wasn't until 7:30pm. It was fun to look at your pictures! What is it with the headgear there? I can understand some of the cute females, but the young men? just fyi, Hong Kong Disneyland was so dead, there was hardly anybody there. What a difference from Tokyo.

WOW what a coincidence. Did you totally love DisneySea? I was just blown away by how beautiful it was. I was SO UPSET that BraviSEAMo! was cancelled that night - I was most looking forward to that. I really really want to go back to DisneySea and stay at Hotel MiraCosta.

How was Hong Kong Disney? I'd definitely like to go there, but I thought I'd wait awhile because it doesn't seem to have many attractions yet. I read that the CMs were rude, amongst other, more interesting problems there, on wikipedia.

You should totally do a trip report of your Tokyo and Hong Kong Disney trip!! I'd LOVE to read it!!

[WDW Poly Princess]

Oooh, Tokyo Disney looks like so much fun so far! Great report! :) I can't wait to hear about DisneySea!

Those crowds look crazy! Thank goodness for fastpass!

[CriminyCrafft]

After we rode Haunted Mansion, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, and Snow White, we decided to backtrack to Adventureland to check out Pirates of the Caribbean. We passed "Critter Country" on the way to Adventureland, so I paused to check out the line for Splash Mountain, and we also passed by Westernland, so of course I had to check the line for BTMRR again. The area around both attractions was just MOBBED with people - I couldn't discern a line at all. ARGH! DH hates rides where you get wet so he won't ride Splash Mountain OR Kali, plus it was pretty chilly out, so I wasn't upset about skipping Splash Mountain. But Asami said BTMRR was her favorite ride, so I knew we had to brave the fastpass line at some point soon before they were all out. Anyway, onto Adventureland...
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Adventureland.jpg

The Tiki Room is in the building with the "spire." To the left of that is a restaurant, Polynesian something or other. That's my head near the bottom.

Here's some more Adventureland with some food carts and crowds. Behind the "Skipper's Galley" food stand is Western Railroad.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Adventureland2.jpg

We headed toward New Orleans Square and came across a pirate band! Note the ears in the photo!!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/OrleansSquareAdventurelandPirateBan.jpg

Yay, the band must be beckoning us to Pirates, and we'll be able to hop right on, right??? WRONG! We headed to Pirates (which, as a side note, is situated like Pirates at Disneyland California (in New Orleans Square and has the Blue Bayou restaurant looking onto the first part of the ride)...

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/PiratesExterior.jpg

We got to the entrance of the ride and the CM told Asami in Japanese that the ride was closed, probably for the rest of the day! ARGGGHH! I knew Space Mountain was going to be closed, but Pirates too??? My positive 'tude was starting to waver.

***Side note: I noticed very little Pirates merchandise in the parks, and got the impression that the Pirates movies aren't very popular in Japan. I could be wrong.

I figured now was a good a time as any to try and get fastpasses for BTMRR. BUT as we were heading back toward Westernland I saw one of my favorite characters - STITCH! I knew that Japanese peeps love Stitch, as I've seen a decent number of Japanese folks with Stitch cell phone danglers and I know they had a whole parade devoted to Stitch at TDL not too long ago. I was starting to get worried that I wouldn't get my picture made with any characters - I hadn't seen any and it was around noon. But NOW was my big chance! I happily approached Stitch. I realized that unlike how they do things at WDW, the Stitch handler just let crowds of teenagers and kids mob Stitch and didn't ask people to form any kind of orderly line. So for about 15-20 minutes I tried to fight to the middle of the throng surrounding Stitch and get my picture made with him. Stitch would just randomly grab people and pose with them, and he did not want ANYTHING to do with me! Everytime I would get really close to him he would put his arm around someone else! I was like LOOK, clearly I'm not Japanese, I've traveled a long way to be here (at least at some point) - throw me a bone, dude! I was feeling sad and getting sick of fighting the mob so we decided to take off. I did get a picture of Stitch with other people he liked better than me (sniff):

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Stitch.jpg

We headed over to BTMRR and got into the now-diminished fastpass line, and only had to wait about 10 minutes. Our return time was around 6:45, if I recall correctly! At least I knew we'd get to ride it.

We were getting hungry, so it was onto lunch. I wanted to eat at Grandma Sara's Kitchen because the pictures on the TDL website looked so cute. It's right near Splash Mountain in Critter Country, and is carved into the side of a fake little mountain. Apparently Grandma Sara is a possum, judging from the sign outside. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the exterior.

Unlike the rides, Grandma Sarah's wasn't crowded. We hopped in line and I ordered a mushroom pasta dish, a side salad, and "Critter Cake." Here's a photo of the place where you pick up your food. It's hard to see, but the napkin dispenser is a big plastic loaf of bread.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/GmawSaras2.jpg

We got our food and sat down. The place was like a big cave inside with homey touches. It was very very cute.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/GmawSarasInterior.jpg

I was super excited to eat some yummy Disney food. I LOVE the food at WDW (well, 95% of it), so my expectations were high. But YIPES - my food was pretty terrible. The pasta dish had some limp rotini noodles and mushrooms over LETTUCE with ranch dressing! The side salad was just iceberg lettuce and carrots, and the Critter Cake was just astoundingly bad - like a tasteless brick. SIGH. Oh well, I figured I'd have some yummy snacks later. :sad1:

Here's me and DH at Grandma Sara's.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/MandyCanonGmawSaras.jpg

After a crummy meal, I was ready to head towards Toontown and Tomorrowland, and was SUPER ready for Disney's Dreams on Parade - Moving On, which started at 2:30!! Don't worry, things do get better in this TR!!! :yay:

Next up - A parade can cure all woes, some Stitch ears, and POOH'S HUNNY HUNT!!!

[CriminyCrafft]

Oooh, Tokyo Disney looks like so much fun so far! Great report! :) I can't wait to hear about DisneySea!

Those crowds look crazy! Thank goodness for fastpass!

DisneySea was amazing, just breathtaking. I look forward to writing about it.

I'll be at WDW the same time as you - I'll be there Oct. 21-28! I LOVE Halloween at WDW and I cannot WAIT! How are we going to make it through the next seven months? :rotfl:

[CriminyCrafft]

Omg i'm officially addicted. POST MORE MORE! I can't get enough :) !!

Hee, I'm in my last few weeks of law school and I have plenty of time on my hands...so I don't plan on dragging this one out! Expect frequent updates! Thanks for reading!

[pumba]

this is so wonderful to be able to see another Disney .........thanks so much for those wonderful photos too.......

[serendipity]

Oh no, have I reached the end already? I love your TR. It's so interesting seeing a different Disney. I love all the pictures and your descriptions of everything. Sorry that you had so many early difficulties....hope things will perk up!

[NurseW2Kiddies]

I've also been to Tokyo Disney. It was in 2000 and I don't think DisneySea was built yet. We enjoyed it IN THE RAIN, as was the weather the majority of our trip to Tokyo....but the park was EMPTY! So nice! In Tokyo you learn to go, go, go weather (hehe) it's raining or not!!! Great city, great park and great Trip Report!!! I have to say that I was STARVING the whole time we were in Japan. My husband was coming from being in Korea for a year, so he was more acclimated to a diffrent ethnicity of food...but I was sooooooo hungry......:rotfl: Thank god for McDonalds!!! Shame on me huh???

[thptrek]

Great trip report. It is awesome to have you describe another Disney park.

[Credit Man]

Enjoying your report. Thanks for posting.

[MAGICFOR2]

Enjoying your report with a little whistfulness......

Although I haven't been to Tokyo, we spent 3 yrs in Okinawa when my now grown boys were 2 and 3 - had a wonderful time! But, very strange food - when they try to make Western food, it's like they don't have the recipe :goodvibes Very different people - very nice, but let's just say we had alot of personal experiences like your Stitch story. If we think about their History, we can understand.

Can't wait to read the rest!!!

[CriminyCrafft]

Tokyo Disneyland continued!

After lunch we headed over to Tomorrowland, and saw that people were already staking out their spots for the parade at 2:00 (I said 2:30 before...it started at 2 but reached the area where we were sitting at 2:30 - sorry about that). Asami asked a CM where we should park ourselves for the parade, and he pointed us to an area right on the border of Tomorrowland and Fantasyland where we could sit on a brick stoop. We nabbed that spot right away, and discovered that the sun was shining directly on it. We decided to just sit down and wait it out since it was so warm there and the weather was chilly. I got antsy after a few minutes, and I was also thirsty due to the pint-sized drinks, so I decided to go walk around on my own a bit to get a drink and some EARS!!!!

I left DH and Asami in our warm, comfy spot and headed back towards Fantasyland. I went into the Mad Hatter shop and headed straight to the "ear wall" that had all kinds of character ears. They had Pooh, Piglet, Minnie, Mickey, Dumbo, Tigger, and many others. I was torn between Piglet ears and Stitch ears, but I knew I'd hate myself if I didn't get Stitch. My favorite Disney character is Figment, but Tokyo Disney doesn't know Figment from G. Gordon Liddy, so it would have to be Stitch! My ears were 1050 yen (or about $9). I then hopped over to the refreshment stand nearby, which was the same place I got my Mickey Smile, and got a LARGE Orange Hi-C. This was about the size of medium drink in the US. Then I went back to our parade spot, ears proudly on head.

Soon we heard the music for Disney's Dreams on Parade "Moving On." I LOVED this parade! I might have liked it as much as Boo to You, which is my absolute favorite. I feel like Boo to You is too short - Dreams on Parade was LONG, had tons of great looking floats and dancing CMs in amazing costumes! Here's some photos!

The first float - MICKEY!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Parade1.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Parade2.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Parade3.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Parade4.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Parade5.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/parade6.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/parade7.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Parade8.jpg

The Buzz Lightyear float had some very talented rollerbladers that did a skating routine around it. Can't see Buzz too well in this photo though.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Parade10.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Parade13.jpg

Check out this cool elephant - I'm not sure how it worked. It was totally freestanding and walked on its own. Were there CMs in the legs moving it?

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Parade14.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Parade16.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Parade17.jpg

The last float had Minnie on it. DH was taking pictures and didn't get any of this one. Argh! I found it interesting in the parade that the Disney characters like Wendy, Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, and the Princesses were all Western or "white" people. The parade song had the words in English and Japanese, and the "white" CMs mouthed the words in Japanese. I think it would be very cool to be an American or English CM at Tokyo Disneyland - a sweet job in a whole different country!

Asami and I were clapping and waving, and afterwards we both said we loved it. She said "The parade makes me emotional!" I said ME TOO, that's Disney magic for ya! The parade song was so catchy, I was singing it all day (much to the annoyance of DH):

In our kingdom of dreams and magic
A spell is cast over you.
In our kingdom of magical dreams
Wishes do come true.
You know you are always welcome here
To share in the memories, the smiles and laughter
All your friends are waiting here
In our kingdom of dreams and magic
In our kingdom of magical dreams!

I found some videos of this parade on Youtube if anyone's interested - search for Tokyo Disney Dreams on Parade and you'll get a few.

After the parade, DH wanted to ride "Starjets" in Tomorrowland. You can see this ride in the parade photos - it's got the lil' spaceships and says "USA" on it. It was decently fun, like Dumbo but faster, but not worth the 35 minute wait. But DH, a Disney curmudgeon, liked it. After that we headed to Toontown. Here's Asami and DH at the entrance.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Toontown1.jpg

Toontown was beautiful, just gorgeous. The lines to get into the houses were so long, we didn't even bother. We did ride Gadget's Go Coaster, as the wait was only about 30 minutes. It was similar to Goofy's Barnstormer. Here are some random Toontown photos.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Toontown3.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Toontown2.jpg

Chip and Dale's house was so pretty, I loved the tree:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Toontown5.jpg

We headed to the left end of Toontown to go on Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/ToontownCarToonSpin.jpg

As we were getting into the line for Car Toon Spin we saw Goofy, the Big Bad Wolf, and the Three Little Pigs. Again, they were all MOBBED with people, and the wait for Car Toon Spin was 35 minutes, so we hopped in line lest the wait increase. I'd never been on this ride before and I really liked it. The queue area was pretty cool as well.

Finally we had walked around Toontown long enough, and it was time for our Pooh's Hunny Hunt fastpass return! I think I'll start a new post with that one.

Up next - Pooh's Hunny Hunt, dinner at Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall, one surprise, and one disappointment. ;)

[CriminyCrafft]

Oh no, have I reached the end already? I love your TR. It's so interesting seeing a different Disney. I love all the pictures and your descriptions of everything. Sorry that you had so many early difficulties....hope things will perk up!

Oh no, there's plenty more to come! I haven't even started on DisneySea yet. Things do perk up!

I read your trip report awhile back and LOVED it, btw!

[CriminyCrafft]

I've also been to Tokyo Disney. It was in 2000 and I don't think DisneySea was built yet. We enjoyed it IN THE RAIN, as was the weather the majority of our trip to Tokyo....but the park was EMPTY! So nice! In Tokyo you learn to go, go, go weather (hehe) it's raining or not!!! Great city, great park and great Trip Report!!! I have to say that I was STARVING the whole time we were in Japan. My husband was coming from being in Korea for a year, so he was more acclimated to a diffrent ethnicity of food...but I was sooooooo hungry......:rotfl: Thank god for McDonalds!!! Shame on me huh???

I've just eaten junk the two times I've been to Japan because the food is so...different, and non-vegetarian friendly. But I love junk, and you can tell yourself that you have an excuse being in a foreign country, right? : ) I would LOVE to go to Korea. For our next trip we want to go back to Tokyo (DH is obsessed with Japan), stay at Hotel MiraCosta at DisneySea for a few days, and then hop over to Seoul.

Thanks for reading!

Enjoying your report with a little whistfulness......

Although I haven't been to Tokyo, we spent 3 yrs in Okinawa when my now grown boys were 2 and 3 - had a wonderful time! But, very strange food - when they try to make Western food, it's like they don't have the recipe :goodvibes Very different people - very nice, but let's just say we had alot of personal experiences like your Stitch story. If we think about their History, we can understand.

Can't wait to read the rest!!!

Hee, the food is indeed strange. This was DH's third trip to Japan so he had found some good restaurants in Tokyo that we went to. The food at Tokyo Disney was pretty much terrible though. :sad1: That is so cool that you spent three years in Okinawa. I'd love to go there, it looks beautiful.

Thank you for reading!

[kona-kraft]

absolutely LOVIN' this TR !!!! I wonder if I could talk DH into a trip to TDL instead of Maui next year...hmmmm :scratchin

[SpaceMounatin]

You're bringing me back memories. AGH! I want to go back.

-Dainan "That curry popcorn could be smelled from Westernland" Rafferty

[serendipity]

Great installment. You have no idea how much I'm enjoying your TR! I love the parade pictures, all the floats are so beautiful. Also, it's interesting that they had the 3 pigs as a float and doing character greetings as I've never seen them out before. Keep writing please!!!

[sham101505]

Can not wait for more. Lovin it!!!!

[bsusanmb]

Love your TR. Can't wait to read more. Thanks for taking the time to write!

[CriminyCrafft]

We left Toontown and headed for Pooh's Hunny Hunt in Fantasyland. On the way we passed another mini-parade that we had seen part of earlier in the day. I think it was Minnie's Tiara of Dreams. It had floats with all the princesses on them and I think at the end all the floats came together to form a tiara.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/MinniesTiaraofDreams.jpg

Anyway, onto Pooh's Hunny Hunt!

This was, without a doubt, my favorite ride at Tokyo Disneyland. First off, the exterior and queue for the ride are amazing.

This is the exterior facing Fantasyland.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/PoohsHunnyHuntExt.jpg

Here's the first part of the queue that has Christopher Robin's "workshop" or something.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/PoohsHunnyHuntInt1.jpg

Here's the second part of the queue:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/PoohsHunnyHuntInt2.jpg

Here are the ride cars, little hunny pots:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/PoohsHunnyHuntPots.jpg

We all loved this ride. It's VERY different than The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, much more high tech. I won't post any spoilers here, and I didn't take any pictures inside the ride. BUT there is a full video of the ride on Youtube and wikipedia gives a good description. The pots move around very fast at times and they don't run on tracks - they just slide around kind of like hovercraft, except touching the ground. According to wikipedia the pots use a "local positioning system" that is very very expensive, and Disney has planned a Beauty and the Beast ride for the US using this technology, but it's unclear whether construction will go forward. I LOVED Pooh's Hunny Hunt and I also loved hearing Pooh and Tigger speak Japanese!

We were exhilirated by Pooh and explored the dump shop. Asami bought a pair of Pooh ears. See, the ride is *that* inspiring!

It was getting close to 5:15 pm by this point, so we decided to go over to the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall to beat the dinner crowds. I was so excited about this place. The theming lived up to my expectations, but the food did not. Here's some photos from inside:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/MandyAsamiQueenofHearts.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/QueenofHeartsInt2.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/QueenofHeartsInt.jpg

The place was like a K&W cafeteria - you slid your tray down a line and picked out stuff you wanted.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/QueenofHeartsLine.jpg

Again, everyone's food was bad, and I didn't take pictures of it. It was also expensive, and the drink was very very small with no refills. A bit of cultural superiority started to slink in and kept thinking "IN FLORIDA I WOULDN'T STILL BE THIRSTY, and the food would be good!" Oh well I didn't come to Tokyo Disney for the food. The ambience of Queen of Hearts was worth it. Even DH kept saying, "This place is so well-done."

Here's the view from our table. Apparently all the kids were out clogging the ride lines:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/QueenofheartsTable.jpg

We sat around the restaurant, killing time till our BTMRR fastpass return time and staying warm (it was getting flat-out cold by this point). Finally it was about 6 pm, and time to venture over to BTM.

This is what we saw when we walked out of Queen of Hearts.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/CastleCarouselAtNight.jpg

By this point I had made myself look like a complete moron in an effort to keep warm.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/MandyAsamiNight.jpg

We made it over to BTM. Here's a not so good picture of it at night. Sorry for the poor quality of the nighttime pictures!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/BTMRRatNight.jpg

BTM was great as always. It was the same as WDW from what I could tell. We then headed over to Adventureland to kill time until the Winter Magic in the Sky Fireworks at 8:30. We decided to do the Tiki Room, and that was pretty fun. Again, very cute to hear the birds singing in Japanese. After that we went into Cafe Orleans and each had a crepe. I had banana, and stupidly I didn't get a photo. I was too cold. You would think a crepe would be warm, but this one wasn't. It was a whole banana in a crepe-like taco with some chocolate sauce drizzled on it.

After the crepe, we decided to walk over to World Bazaar and do some shopping. On the way there we passed Pirates of the Caribbean and ...WHAT? IT WAS OPEN!!! AND ONLY HAD A FIVE MINUTE WAIT!! WHOOHOO! We ran inside. Here's the boats at the entrance:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/PiratesBoats.jpg

We got in our boat and passed by the area here the Blue Bayou Restaurant overlooks Pirates. Curiously, nobody was in the restaurant.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/BlueBayou.jpg

If I recall correctly the ride was like the Old Disneyland one. No Captain Jack updates here. Sniff. But this ride is definitely longer than Pirates at WDW, and it was fun. I was so happy to have apparently caught it when it just opened back up.

After that it was time till kill about an hour until Winter Magic in the Sky. I was already disappointed that "Electrical Parade Dreamlights" wasn't happening tonight (not sure why but it said "cancelled" on the event schedule flyer), so I thought Winter Magic had better be good!

We walked towards the castle and the lights that were part of "Cinderellabration: Lights of Romance" were on. They were so pretty. You can't tell from the picture, but they slowly changed patterns and colors.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/LightsofRomance.jpg

We walked around the lights and there was a little show going on where a guy dressed up in medieval gear (NOT the prince) runs around with a glass slipper trying to put it on girls' feet. Pretty cute even though I couldn't understand what they were saying.

We were FREEZING by this point so we basically loitered in the Penny Arcade right inside World Bazaar waiting for Winter Magic in the Sky. Finally, I saw some fireworks go off! YAY! But wait a minute, there's no music, and these fireworks aren't even behind the castle.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Fireworks.jpg

Then...that was it. What the fetch??? They did make an announcement but we couldn't hear it. I can only guess the fireworks were cancelled due to wind...a very depressing turn of events that unfortunately would happen again the next night!!!!

Well, it was time to hang it up. Asami took the train back home and DH and I decided to take the bus back to Shinjuku station. This was a big mistake. The lines for the bus were very long and it was freezing cold. And the bus dropped us off in a place where we had no idea how to get back to our hotel (Shinjuku station is enormous). So then we had to walk around in the miserable windy cold for half an hour. But soon we were home and ready to get some good sleep in preparation for our day at DisneySea the next morning!

In sum, I really liked Tokyo Disneyland and very much want to go back, especially so I can see the Dreamlights Parade and the fireworks! As you can see we hardly even got to Tomorrowland - didn't attempt to do StarTours or MicroAdventure (aka Honey I Shrunk the Audience). Pooh's Hunny Hunt was amazing. I want to go back at Halloween because from what I've seen online they really deck the park out. I also want to ride Space Mountain there. It's closed till October so I'm wondering if they're turning it into Space Mountain: Mission 2 like at Disneyland Paris!

UP NEXT - Tokyo DisneySea! The next installment might take a day or so as I have to upload photos.

[java]

WOW! I am loving the pictures! And my 12 year old son is going to love this report. He fancies himself Japanese*(instead of the half puerto rican he is:rotfl2: ) I can't wait to show him the photos. Oh and those costumes in the parade are fantastic! Can't wait for disneysea. The colors are all so vibrant.

[CriminyCrafft]

WOW! I am loving the pictures! And my 12 year old son is going to love this report. He fancies himself Japanese*(instead of the half puerto rican he is:rotfl2: ) I can't wait to show him the photos. Oh and those costumes in the parade are fantastic! Can't wait for disneysea. The colors are all so vibrant.

Glad you like the TR. I'm resizing my DisneySea pictures as I type. That's so cute about your son. My husband also fancies himself Japanese - he's obsessed! That's fine by me as I'm happy to tag along and go back to Disney! Japan is a cool place, and the people are so nice and friendly.

Thanks for reading!!

[pumba]

I am so excited to be able to see all these fabulous photos and have you write a trip report too.......thanks so much for taking the time to do this.....Just awesome

[CriminyCrafft]

I am so excited to be able to see all these fabulous photos and have you write a trip report too.......thanks so much for taking the time to do this.....Just awesome

Thanks so much! It's my pleasure. I get to relive the trip again as I write about it!

[SpaceMounatin]

I can't wait to read what you thought of TDS! It's my favorite park of all time!

-Dainan "I miss Japan!" Rafferty

[CriminyCrafft]

I can't wait to read what you thought of TDS! It's my favorite park of all time!

-Dainan "I miss Japan!" Rafferty

HAR I forgot to respond to your curry popcorn reference. We saw the curry popcorn cart and were curious to try it, but the place was so darn crowded we didn't want to waste too much time in food lines. Next time, next time!

I LOVED DisneySea. I want to go back BADLY and stay at the fancy-schmancy Hotel MiraCosta in Mediterranean Harbor that overlooks the water. I'm pushing for another trip to Tokyo next year with at least two nights at MiraCosta. :thumbsup2 As far as comparisons to other Disney parks, I'll elaborate in my upcoming installments. ;)

[SpaceMounatin]

HAR I forgot to respond to your curry popcorn reference. We saw the curry popcorn cart and were curious to try it, but the place was so darn crowded we didn't want to waste too much time in food lines. Next time, next time!

I LOVED DisneySea. I want to go back BADLY and stay at the fancy-schmancy Hotel MiraCosta in Mediterranean Harbor that overlooks the water. I'm pushing for another trip to Tokyo next year with at least two nights at MiraCosta. :thumbsup2 As far as comparisons to other Disney parks, I'll elaborate in my upcoming installments. ;)

I'd love to go back, if you read my trip report (in my sig *wink wink*), you'd see that we went with Make-A-Wish so I could never afford going back (for a while) Also, being I'm 16, I doubt I can pay way to Japan. Also, did you notice how small the Turkey legs were? And as you can tell by my Avatar, SM just went down for a refurb when I went. I knew in advance, but I was still upset. It was my sister's Make-A-Wish so we stayed in the Sheraton Grande, on property. But I would of loved to stay in the Hotel MiraCosta. Also, I wish I could ride Journey to the Center Of the Earth again!

-Dainan "I loved Tokyo Disneyland" Rafferty

PS: I finisehd my photo update from TDS last night on my website (not announced yet),a nd am currently working on TDL.

[CriminyCrafft]

I'd love to go back, if you read my trip report (in my sig *wink wink*), you'd see that we went with Make-A-Wish so I could never afford going back (for a while) Also, being I'm 16, I doubt I can pay way to Japan. Also, did you notice how small the Turkey legs were? And as you can tell by my Avatar, SM just went down for a refurb when I went. I knew in advance, but I was still upset. It was my sister's Make-A-Wish so we stayed in the Sheraton Grande, on property. But I would of loved to stay in the Hotel MiraCosta. Also, I wish I could ride Journey to the Center Of the Earth again!

-Dainan "I loved Tokyo Disneyland" Rafferty

PS: I finisehd my photo update from TDS last night on my website (not announced yet),a nd am currently working on TDL.

Awesome, can't wait to see the pics! You should look into studying abroad in Japan once you get to college. Fluency in Japanese would be a great skill and would lead to many diverse job opportunities, I expect.

I'm a vegetarian so I didn't notice the turkey legs. Life is tough for vegetarians in Japan! That's one meat-eating country!

Journey to the Center of the Earth rules!

[CriminyCrafft]

Enjoying your report. Thanks for posting.

Thank you for reading!

Great trip report. It is awesome to have you describe another Disney park.

Thanks! I've got a ton of DisneySea pictures (probably too many) coming up!

[SpaceMounatin]

Awesome, can't wait to see the pics! You should look into studying abroad in Japan once you get to college. Fluency in Japanese would be a great skill and would lead to many diverse job opportunities, I expect.

I'm a vegetarian so I didn't notice the turkey legs. Life is tough for vegetarians in Japan! That's one meat-eating country!

Journey to the Center of the Earth rules!

My mom is a vegetarian too. So yeah, I know. Also I learned some Japanese (not good at all). I should, but I don't think speaking more than three languages will help me be an WDI.

[RickinNYC]

GREAT trip report! You have a talent for writing!

I'm heading to Japan at the end of April and am going to try to weasel my way over to Disney somehow. Not sure if it's even feasible because we'll be in southern Japan, but I can sure try to whine a whole bunch. Your report is really going to add fuel to the fire.

[Cyrano]

Glad someone pointed to this thread. Absolutely awesome. Thanks :goodvibes

[suzimar57]

your picures are gorgeous!

enjoyed reading your trip report - i'll never get there, so it was great to read your version - loved the mickey ears on the monorail!

[CriminyCrafft]

My mom is a vegetarian too. So yeah, I know. Also I learned some Japanese (not good at all). I should, but I don't think speaking more than three languages will help me be an WDI.

Yowch, yeah, forget Japanese! Being an Imagineer would be AMAZING!!

GREAT trip report! You have a talent for writing!

I'm heading to Japan at the end of April and am going to try to weasel my way over to Disney somehow. Not sure if it's even feasible because we'll be in southern Japan, but I can sure try to whine a whole bunch. Your report is really going to add fuel to the fire.

Thanks!!! You should definitely do some serious whining and AT LEAST negotiate DisneySea! Even my husband (who is no Disney fan) said it was gorgeous and amazing. Hopefully that upcoming part of the TR will convince. ;) Good luck, and thanks for reading!

Glad someone pointed to this thread. Absolutely awesome. Thanks :goodvibes

Thanks for reading. I'll have to go check out your DLP pictures now. That's the next stop on my Disney list (well, after my WDW trip this coming October). I'm dying to ride Mission Space 2! :thumbsup2

[OhMari]

I saw way back on page one, that you wanted your TR moved to completed. Your TR don't have to be moved for awhile. I am sure you are going to get a lot of questions about Tokyo. After a month and we find it on page 6-7 and we see that there are no more questions to be answered we move it.

I kept putting your TR off, but I am glad Pumba pointed it out and told all the moderator's on the DIS to check it out. I really enjoyed your pictures.

[CriminyCrafft]

I saw way back on page one, that you wanted your TR moved to completed. Your TR don't have to be moved for awhile. I am sure you are going to get a lot of questions about Tokyo. After a month and we find it on page 6-7 and we see that there are no more questions to be answered we move it.

I kept putting your TR off, but I am glad Pumba pointed it out and told all the moderator's on the DIS to check it out. I really enjoyed your pictures.

Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it! Make sure and check out the forthcoming DisneySea pictures - the park is gorgeous. Thanks for your technical help as well - I wasn't sure if I needed to move it immediately to completed trips, but now I know...for this and future trip reports! ;)

[CriminyCrafft]

Day 2 - Tokyo DisneySea

We woke up earlier the next morning (around 5:30) and hurried to get out the door in hopes of beating the crowds at DisneySea. We took the same trains to Maihama station, and this time it was much easier since we knew where to go and there were no accidents on the tracks! There were definitely less people on the train to Disney this early, but there were still enough to make me worry. You could tell exactly who was headed to Disney on the train - groups of giggling teenagers, mostly girls.

We got off at Maihama station and waited a few minutes for Asami to show up. When she arrived we hurried to find the monorail station. Tokyo Disneyland is a short walk from the station, but you have to take the monorail (or, as they call it, the "Resort Line") to get to DisneySea. We took a left instead of a right immediately after exiting the station and easily found the monorail. It's right near a shopping complex called Ikspiari. We just got to peek inside Ikspiari but it looked very upscale.

***Side Note: There's a big Disney store called Bon Voyage located outside Tokyo Disneyland and they will ship your purchases home for you. I'm asking my DH to call them and see if they'll ship stuff here for my upcoming birthday - we'll see how that goes!

I digress! We got to the monorail station and realized we had to buy tickets! They were 200 yen (less than $2) one-way. A pittance, but still! We got our tickets from the machine and headed up the escalator to wait for the monorail. After a minute or so, it showed up.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/MonorailDisneySea.jpg

I just noticed the cute costume on the CM with "Resort Line" printed on his hat. Awwww. The inside of the monorail was also super-cute.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/MonorailDisneySea2.jpg

After about a minute on the monorail we saw this:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/FujiOnWaytoDisneySea.jpg

See Mt. Fuji on the right, almost hidden behind the Disneyland building??? Pretty cool, eh? DH went nuts snapping pictures. He loves Mt. Fuji.

Soon we saw the Tower of Terror. I was sooo excited.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/TowerOfTerrorFromMonorail.jpg

Yes, those are throngs of teenagers waiting to buy tickets near the bottom of the picture!

DisneySea backs right up to Tokyo Bay, and the monorail ride is very scenic.

We hopped off the monorail, which almost puts you right at the entrance of DisneySea. It was about 7:45 by this point, so we were only 15 minutes early for opening. There was already a pretty small cluster of people at the gates, compared to the swarms we ran into at Tokyo Disneyland the day before. I'd estimate there were about 250 people there before us in line.

So, 8 am came and went, and the gates didn't open. What the heck. I soon realized I'D GOT THE OPENING TIME WRONG. DISNEYSEA OPENED AT NINE! It's a good thing I did get it wrong because otherwise half the country would have been in front of us. By 8:30 am the line of people behind us stretched back farther than I could see (way past the ticket booth). We waited for what seemed like forever in the cold, fidgeting to stay warm, when...I saw Minnie, Mickey, and Goofy dancing around inside the park on the other side of the gates! YAY! They came over to the gates and were basically taunting us from inside the park! :rotfl: Minnie and Mickey had on sailor suits, and Goofy had on what looked like an 80s outfit - shorts, colorful short-sleeve button down, and a cap with those 80s cloth panels hanging down the back! I kept yelling at DH to get a picture of them but they danced away from our side of the line. Soon an announcement in Japanese came over the loudspeaker, and Asami said the person was repeatedly saying "DO NOT RUN when the park opens." Finally they started letting people in the park - and NOBODY listened to the announcement! Teenagers were running IN THRONGS to the left in the direction of Tower of Terror! We also realized there was ANOTHER ENTRANCE opposite ours, and teenagers were pouring out of both entrances! Oh noooooo - so much for my fantasies of being first in line! We finally got inside the park.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/GlobeInFront.jpg

That big globe is called the Aquasphere, apparently.

***Aside: A little orientation is in order. DisneySea is divided into several "ports," clockwise from the entrance:

American Waterfront
Port Discovery
Lost River Delta
Arabian Coast
Mermaid Lagoon
Mysterious Island
Mediterranean Harbor (right at the entrance)

You can see a map of DisneySea here: http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/tds/english/attraction_search/index.html

We took a left through the entrance of Mediterranean Harbor and headed towards American Waterfront, where Tower of Terror is located. The area is designed to look like early 1900s New York, and it's just beautiful.

Note Stitch and Pooh in this picture, and throughout the rest of the photos.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/NewYorkArea.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/NYHarbor.jpg


There are theaters here for shows (which we didn't get to see) and McDuck's Department Store (which we didn't get to go to). The theming is just spectacular throughout the whole park. I encourage you to look at the detail in the park in all these pictures. I wish I'd had more time to look around and get pictures of every little bit of magic.

Finally we saw it - Tower of Terror!!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/TOT2.jpg

I kept saying that I think this is the most beautiful building I've seen in my entire life. Besides Japan, I've only been to Singapore, France, England, and Canada, so I know I haven't seen a lot, but...Tower of Terror is just breathtaking. We ran to the entrance and saw that the wait was already 40 minutes! Oh well, in we go! Unfortunately DH was manning the camera and he didn't get enough pictures of the queue area. :sad1: Here's part of the queue:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/TOTLine.jpg

The storyline of this ride is totally different than the other TOTs - no Twilight Zone business. Here's the blurb copied from the website:

New York, 1912. Since the owner's mysterious disappearance 13 years earlier, Hotel Hightower been called the "Tower of Terror". Now, the New York City Preservation Society has finished restoring the landmark hotel and has started giving tours to the public. But what mysteries might still lie in wait within?

***SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ POTENTIAL SPOILERS ****
The storyline is - a rich dude named Harrison Hightower built the Hotel Hightower and traveled the world collecting rare relics. He swiped a little statue that had special powers from a tribe in Africa. One day the statue basically zapped him away (similar to the way the people in the WDW TOT are zapped away).

The ride is set up as if a New York historical society is giving tours of the hotel. It's very, very cool. There are newspaper articles about Hightower's disappearance posted in the queue. There are some gardens with statutes as well. Here are some photos of the interior:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/TOTInt.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/TOTInt2.jpg

Soon you are led into a room where you see a little intro, and it's the coolest intro I've ever seen. I still can't figure out how they did part of it!! Here's a picture of the intro room right after the intro.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/TOTInt3.jpg

After that you go through what looks like a storage room with some boxed-up relics, and then you head into the loading room. A CM dressed in a tour guide outfit (no bellhops here) gave a little speech but I couldn't understand any of it since it was in Japanese. I did hear her say "Harrison Hightower" a few times. Then it was on to the elevator! The ride was shorter than the one in WDW but it was tons of fun. I think we had four drops. Overall, I liked the story on this TOT MUCH better - it just makes more sense. The Twilight Zone theme seems almost silly after experiencing DisneySea's TOT. And without a doubt the theming was better than WDW TOT - it was just gorgeous. We were all just staring around in awe, and Disney-curmudgeon DH kept saying "Wow, this place is amazing." (In fact, he kept saying that the whole day.) There are also special effects on the TOT involving green lightning. : ) I watched a ride-through on Youtube about two months ago, so check that out if you want to see more. I'm very disappointed that we didn't get more, better pictures of the TOT. It was DH's fault - he was handling the camera!! Oh well, next time.

UP NEXT - More American Waterfront, Cape Cod, Port Discovery, and Lost River Delta.

[EllyLovesDisney]

Thank you for sharing your trip report! Your pictures are fascinating - I really want to go now.
I can't wait for more :goodvibes

[MAGICFOR2]

Wow! I hadn't heard such good things about TDL, but I was thinking some day I would love to do DisneySea!!! Looks beautiful!:flower3:

[SpaceMounatin]

I had my video camera out and they made me put it away in Tower of Terror. I have to say, i love the story line of Harisson Hightower III much better than the Twilightzone. And be lucky, the wait time was 70 minutes when I went on. But we got on in 45 minutes (though the line was outside, but not using the garden).

-Dainan "I can't wait to read your review of Journey!" Rafferty

[serendipity]

Pooh's Hunny Hut looks like so much fun. I'd love if they did something like that with Beauty and the Beast over here. I've always marveled over how there's no real rides for Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Aladdin or Little Mermaid. Disney Sea sounds wonderful. I would love to go there one day!

[GreyStr0ke]

WOW!!!! This is absolutely what I need to help get me through Friday. I can't beleive how great the theming is at both of the parks. The Queens buffet looks like a lot of fun but I guess looks can be deceiving:rotfl:. I can't wait for the rest.

[pumba]

all of this is just wonderful........I love the photos of the restaurant too......thanks again for taking the time to share with all of us

[BriarRosie]

Woohoo! I'm getting my vicarious thrill for Friday! :banana:

I had heard the longest line was really for the Gyoza Sausage Bun food cart.
I'm wondering if you saw a huge line for that. :)

And I'm loving the trip so far!

[DISNEYDUET]

Thank you very much for sharing your trip with us! I can't wait to here about the rest of your adventure. :goodvibes

[curiouser]

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Stitch.jpg


*squee!!!* hime hair!!!!!! (I apologize, I have a mild, er... major obsession with Japanese fashion)

I love love love love love your TR!! I neeeeeed to go to TDL!!!! The QOH Buffeteria looks amazing -- is the food really that bad? Oh well, its worth it. I really need to get back to learning Japanese. :love:

[isma]

I love this TR and seeing the pics of DisneySea and the Tokyo park:thumbsup2 ! Looking forward to hear about the Journey to the center of the earth or whatever it`s called, which they originally also wanted to build at Paris.
Disney should offer a package, where you can travel from one park to the next!:cloud9:

[Viki]

This is such a wonderfully unique trip report; thank you so much! :thumbsup2

[oybolshoi]

This is really wonderful - well written, full of lots of delicious details, and great pictures!

Thanks so much for taking the time to share this with all of us. :thumbsup2

[kristinanderic]

Awesome trip report. One of my goals in life is to visit all of the Disney Theme Parks. So far I've only conquered WDW.

[CriminyCrafft]

Woohoo! I'm getting my vicarious thrill for Friday! :banana:

I had heard the longest line was really for the Gyoza Sausage Bun food cart.
I'm wondering if you saw a huge line for that. :)

And I'm loving the trip so far!

HAR welllllllll the line for the sausage bun cart was not the longest I saw by far but it was quite long. When we walked up to Mysterious Island we saw a looooooong line and said "The line for Journey to the Center of the Earth CAN'T stretch back this far!" It was the line for the sausage bun cart. I would estimate there were about 50-60 teenagers in line for it, most of them playing on their cell phones, patiently waiting!

Thanks for reading! Glad you like it so far!

[CriminyCrafft]

*squee!!!* hime hair!!!!!! (I apologize, I have a mild, er... major obsession with Japanese fashion)

I love love love love love your TR!! I neeeeeed to go to TDL!!!! The QOH Buffeteria looks amazing -- is the food really that bad? Oh well, its worth it. I really need to get back to learning Japanese. :love:

Japanese fashion is so interesting. My favorite look is the kogal - bleached blond hair, white eyeliner, beach wear. That was huge when we were there in 2004. I thought they were imitating Paris Hilton! I love the "fruits" too.

Well, the food wasn't the WORST I've had (which was lunch in rest home - inedible). The food at Tokyo Disney was...tolerable but all three of us thought it was not good at all - especially for the high price. I was doubly sad because I think the food at WDW is so good (well, *most* of it at least). We did have one pretty decent meal...details coming up! Maybe the fancier restaurants at Tokyo Disney are better? There's one nice restaurant at DisneySea called Magellan's that looked good. AND they have Crystal Palace at Disneyland so maybe that's as good as it is in WDW.

I'm glad you like the TR! I've got a decent amount of time on my hands these days so more will be coming very soon (hopefully tonight).

[CriminyCrafft]

WOW!!!! This is absolutely what I need to help get me through Friday. I can't beleive how great the theming is at both of the parks. The Queens buffet looks like a lot of fun but I guess looks can be deceiving:rotfl:. I can't wait for the rest.

Glad I could be of help gettin' you through to the weekend!

Queen of Hearts was fun and gorgeous, it was worth the not so good food.

Hee...SNORIN'. :rotfl: I "respect" the ride, but tend to agree!

[CriminyCrafft]

Thank you for sharing your trip report! Your pictures are fascinating - I really want to go now.
I can't wait for more :goodvibes


Wow! I hadn't heard such good things about TDL, but I was thinking some day I would love to do DisneySea!!! Looks beautiful!:flower3:

DisneySea was indeed amazing...start looking for cheap trips to Tokyo! I'll post some info about how we booked our trip - we got a great deal. :thumbsup2

Pooh's Hunny Hut looks like so much fun. I'd love if they did something like that with Beauty and the Beast over here. I've always marveled over how there's no real rides for Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Aladdin or Little Mermaid. Disney Sea sounds wonderful. I would love to go there one day!

I recommend watching the Pooh's Hunny Hunt ride through on youtube if you don't mind spoilers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K01-kPT4t8I

I see you are soon having your fairy tale wedding - JEALOUS!!! Maybe for your one year anniversary you can go to Tokyo Disney! I'll post info about the deal we got for our trip.


all of this is just wonderful........I love the photos of the restaurant too......thanks again for taking the time to share with all of us

Glad you're still enjoying it! Thanks for pointing people this way! I have lots of free time on my hands because I'm finishing my last year of law school and am cruising at this point - what better way to spend my time than WRITING ABOUT DISNEY? ;)


Thank you very much for sharing your trip with us! I can't wait to here about the rest of your adventure. :goodvibes

My pleasure! Every installment I write makes me want to go BACK!!!!

[CriminyCrafft]

Before I get back to the TR, allow me to pass on some potentially useful info. A few folks have expressed a desire to go to Tokyo Disney ;) - if you're one of them let me suggest Asian Affair Holidays - http://www.asianaffairholidays.com/. They're Singapore Air's official travel agency and we purchased our trip through them. We found them through www.budgettravelonline.com - a great site. They have a deal going now that's 5 nights in Tokyo at the Tokyo Hilton in Shinjuku and flight on Singapore Air from LAX to Tokyo's Narita airport...for $949 - http://asianaffairholidays.com/package.cfm?package_id=50
This package includes bus transportation to and from the Hilton (which would be about $30 one way), as well as a half-day tour of Tokyo!!!! Pretty great deal, in my opinion. You can add days in Tokyo since five nights really isn't much. We did the Tokyo/Singapore package and added nights in Singapore, and we stayed at the Tokyo Hilton and it was very, very nice. The Hilton is about an hour away from Disney by train and bus, but it's close to Shinjuku station which is a main subway hub. And, as I mentioned earlier, Singapore Air is AMAZING. Anyway, just thought I'd pass on the good deal. I promise I'm in no way personally affiliated with Asian Affair holidays - I'm just a humble Disney fanatic who wants to pass on the magic. :laughing:

And now...BACK TO THE TR!!!

Tower of Terror was so cool we thought we'd go get a fastpass and do it again later. We found the fastpass machine...and it took us about three minutes to walk to the end of the fastpass line!! It stretched all the way back to Cape Cod - a goodly ways. We couldn't believe how long the line was. So, oh well, we said. We'll try back later, or one ride will have to be good enough. :sad1:

Here's the view walking away from TOT. The ship is the SS Columbia, where we had dinner reservations (kindly made by Asami the previous day).

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/SSColumbiaDay.jpg

Here's another shot of American Waterfront.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/Americanwaterfront1.jpg

As we headed through American Waterfront, DH got a photo of Mount Prometheus over in Mysterious Island. Prometheus houses the Journey to the Center of the Earth ride, and spews smoke and sometimes fire.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/PrometheusFromAmericanWaterfront.jpg

As we walked through American Waterfront and were still marveling at how beautiful the park was. We came upon the "Cape Cod" area of American Waterfront. It has a restaurant (Cape Cod Cookoff), a shop (Aunt Peg's Gifts I think), and Donald's Boatbuilders, which is another show we didn't get to see. This area is so cute - I loved it. By this point even anti-Disney DH was saying again and again "WOW this place is SO COOL!"

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/AmWaterfrontLiighthouse.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/CapeCodCookOff.jpg

Soon we were in Port Discovery. Again, super cool with astounding detail and theming.

The building in this photo with the gold dome behind the structure with the oars is Stormrider, which we would be visiting later!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/PortDiscovery2.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/PortDiscovery.jpg

One of the rides in Port Discovery is Aquatopia, which apparently uses similar technology to Pooh's Hunny Hunt. It looks like little bumper boats that sail around in an obstacle course. We didn't get to ride this either. Sniff!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/aquatopia-1.jpg

We saw that the wait for Stormrider was only 20 minutes, but we really wanted to get to Indy and Raging Spirits, so we decided to come back to Stormrider later.

As we were leaving Port Discovery we got a photo of the Disney Transit Steamer Line, which travels around the whole park and actually goes through Mount Prometheus - AND which we ALSO didn't have time to ride!! We really wanted to ride this because the park is so beautiful. Clearly I need another trip to Tokyo Disney SOON!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/Boat.jpg

From this exact same point, to the left we saw the top of Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull over in Lost River Delta.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/IndyFromPortDiscovery.jpg

We made it to Lost River Delta, and immediately came upon INDY!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/Indy2.jpg

The wait was 70 minutes! So we decided to see what the wait at Raging Spirits was. Raging Spirits is right next door to Indy.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/RagingSpirits.jpg

I wish we'd gotten more pictures around this area. :headache: It wasn't as elaborately themed - it was kind of jungle-y. The wait for Raging Spirits was 70 minutes as well, so we got fastpasses for it and decided to wait out Indy on standby. By this point I noticed my 2 day passport PAPER ticket was getting pretty wrinkly, and the fastpass machine spit it out twice before it accepted it. From Raging Spirits we were able to see Arabian Coast:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/ArabianCoast.jpg

On the way back to Indy we stopped by Expedition Eats and grabbed hot chocolate and snacks - for me a pretzel stuffed with "coffee creme" and for DH a pretzel stuffed with curry. Nothing for Asami - no wonder the Japanese are so much thinner than Americans. :rotfl: Like a complete moron, I didn't take pictures of these - and they came in cute little "RAGING SPIRITS" sleeves! DH liked his pretzel, I didn't like mine so much. I promise I'm NOT a picky eater who likes hifalutin' restaurants - the only things I won't eat are meat and beets. Anyway, the line for Indy was pretty cool - we did get some pictures of the interior queue but they didn't come out. ARGH! The ride was cool, similar to the Indy ride at Disneyland California, which is similar to Dinosaur but not as bumpy. I hate to do this, but I like the Mummy ride at Universal better than both Indys I've been on. It's more thrilling. Don't hate me! We would be back to Indy TWO MORE TIMES because we discovered - THE SINGLE RIDER LINE!!!

It wasn't time for our Raging Spirits fastpass return, so we decided to check out the rest of the park!

Up Next - We do a preliminary stroll through Mermaid Lagoon, Mysterious Island, Arabian Coast, and Mediterranean Harbor!

[KimAshton]

So beautiful Since I am never going to get there it is great to read your TR.

[mlill]

Love, love, LOVE your TR! :love: I waited until this morning, when it was quiet and I had no interruptions, to catch up! :surfweb: Your pictures are amazing and I feel like I was there with you - you're doing a wonderful job! My daughter has taken 4 years of Japanese in school so far, and we hope to take a family trip to Japan in the next few years. Thanks for sharing your Tokyo Disney vacation with us!!!!!

Take care,
Michelle

[kona-kraft]

OMG......I now MUST go to TDL......I think that I'd spend more time at Tokyo Disney Seas than at TDL :laughing: ....BTW, did you think that TDSeas looked a bit like Universal/IOA ?? Looking at your pictures, I got that, but maybe it's just me.... :3dglasses

SO ENJOYING YOUR TR !!!!!

[mt mommy]

Loving your TR this is so facsinating to me. I like the different rides they have. Keep it coming.:)

[CriminyCrafft]

So beautiful Since I am never going to get there it is great to read your TR.

Thanks for reading, glad you like. Tokyo Disney was very cool and I definitely want to go back, but I still prefer WDW. :thumbsup2

Love, love, LOVE your TR! :love: I waited until this morning, when it was quiet and I had no interruptions, to catch up! :surfweb: Your pictures are amazing and I feel like I was there with you - you're doing a wonderful job! My daughter has taken 4 years of Japanese in school so far, and we hope to take a family trip to Japan in the next few years. Thanks for sharing your Tokyo Disney vacation with us!!!!!

Take care,
Michelle

Howdy Michelle. I remember from your TR that your daughter that speaks Japanese is getting ready to start college...right? Perhaps you can take a family trip to Tokyo for a college graduation present!! That way you could do it up right and stay a few nights at Hotel MiraCosta, which is GORGEOUS and overlooks DisneySea. I'm pushing my dream on you! :rotfl:

Thanks for reading, and I'm glad you like the TR.

OMG......I now MUST go to TDL......I think that I'd spend more time at Tokyo Disney Seas than at TDL :laughing: ....BTW, did you think that TDSeas looked a bit like Universal/IOA ?? Looking at your pictures, I got that, but maybe it's just me.... :3dglasses

SO ENJOYING YOUR TR !!!!!

Yes, DisneySea is definitely cooler than Tokyo Disneyland. If you had to pick between the two I'd say pick DisneySea. It's gorgeous and the detail is astounding. The pictures don't do it justice. I haven't been to Islands of Adventure (can you believe it?) - I'm going there this coming October. I have been to Universal a few times and DisneySea is a billion times more beautiful. It's like comparing the Taj Mahal to Dinoland USA. :rotfl2: I've seen pictures of IOA online and got the same impression. However, IOA does look more highly themed, with Seuss Landing and all, so perhaps it is more like Tokyo Disney? I'll let you know in October! ;)

Thanks for reading!!! I hope you get to go to Japan.

Loving your TR this is so facsinating to me. I like the different rides they have. Keep it coming.:)

Glad you like! Thanks for reading!

[MAGICFOR2]

Thanks for the links, CriminyCraft! We are "booked up" for the next couple of years, but I think I will keep track of these links and put that trip on my "dream list." When you write it down, it happens:banana:

[lamagique]

Up Next - We do a preliminary stroll through Mermaid Lagoon, Mysterious Island, Arabian Coast, and Mediterranean Harbor!

I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip and see pictures! I've really enjoyed this post!

[BeautyNBeast]

I have never really heard anything about TDL. Your TR makes me want to go there. It looks so awesome, and so crowded. Cannot wait to read the rest of your TR!

[serendipity]

Disney Sea looks amazing! I can't wait to read/see more! Also, I love all the different character ears- so cute!!

[CriminyCrafft]

After riding Indy, we decided to just do some wandering through the rest of the park, with the aim of ending up at Mysterious Island where we planned on getting fastpasses for Journey to the Center of the Earth. We crossed the bridge from Lost River Delta over to Mermaid Lagoon. We passed by Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster and noted its location and the fact that it had a wait time of only about 30 minutes. We also walked past Scuttle's Scooters, which looked fairly dull, and the exterior of Triton's Kingdom, which looked very cool. We would explore the inside later and be awed by its beauty!

Here's Asami and I outside of Triton's Kingdom.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/MermaidLagoonExt.jpg

We then made it over to Mysterious Island. We just did a preliminary survey and got a fastpass for Journey to the Center of the Earth. I believe our return time was around 2:30 pm. This area was also very cool. Vulcania Cafe is located here, and it looked cool online so I planned to eat lunch there. BUT after peeking at the menu I saw that everything had meat in it (or looked like it did). I don't think there are *any* vegetarians in Japan! Made me thankful for the many wonderful food options at WDW! ;)

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/MysteriousIsland.jpg

In this photo the hole in Mt. Prometheus is the entrance for Journey to the Center of the Earth. The green metal and glass structure next to it is a gift shop. You can also see the "drill" attached to Mt. Prometheus that's supposed to be drilling further into the earth!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/MysteriousIsland2.jpg

We did see the looooooong line for the Gyoza Sausage Bun cart, but didn't get a picture of it. We are fools!!!

We had no plan at this point and were just wandering. Next it was onto Arabian Coast. This area was AMAZING, so beautiful. Sigh. Swoon. Drool. So detailed and gorgeous. I've never been to any Middle Eastern countries, but I felt like I was in Morocco or Egypt. Arabian Coast is like Morocco in Epcot but much larger and MUCH more detailed and beautiful.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/ArabianCoast2.jpg

The big dome in this picture houses the Caravan Carousel, which was two stories. We didn't get too close to the Carousel.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/ArabianCoastCarousel.jpg

There are only three attractions in Arabian Coast: the carousel, Sinbad's Seven Voyages, which is like A Small World apparently but is closed for refurb, and the Magic Lamp Theater, which is an Aladdin/Genie show. We didn't get to do Magic Lamp either. Very sad.

You can tell DH was taking all the pictures, as me and Asami end up popping up in most of them.

Next it was onto Mediterranean Harbor. It was getting close to lunchtime, and Asami said her favorite food is pasta, so we decided to eat at Zambini Brothers' Ristorante, a pasta-heavy counter service place. The interior of Zambini Bros. was pretty nondescript and uninteresting. The food was actually decent. I got some sort of pasta dish and a fatso dessert, I believe it was chocolate cake. We all liked our food there much better than the restaurants at Tokyo Disneyland.

Here are some photos we took as we wandered around Mediterranean Harbor.

In this one you can see my beloved Hotel Miracosta, where I WILL be staying next time I go to Tokyo Disney. It's the pinkish facade in the middle of all the buildings.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/MedHarborBig.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/MedHarbor.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/MedHarborMandyAsami.jpg

MiraCosta is also visible in the photo below - again, pinkish facade with glass enclosure. You can't really see it but there is a sign above the glass enclosure that says "Hotel Miracosta."

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/MedHarbor3.jpg

Here is Fortress Explorations with Mount Prometheus behind it, taken from across Mediterranean Harbor. We would visit this place later. Like almost everything else at DisneySea, it's gorgeous.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/MysteriousIslandFortressExploration.jpg

This photo was taken from the exact opposite spot on Med. Harbor, near Mt. Prometheus. You can see TOT and the SS Columbia over in American Waterfront. Fortress Explorations is to the right, and you can see the Disney Steamer Line in the water. So sad we didn't get to go on that!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/TOTFromMedHarbor.jpg

At this point I believe we went back to Raging Spirits to use our fastpasses. This was basically just a typical rollercoaster with a 360 loop. Fun enough, but nothing amazing. It definitely did not have the Disney touch. No superb theming and I didn't understand the premise behind the ride. Here's the ride description from the website:

"This roller coaster attraction takes everyone on a high-speed ride through the ruins of an ancient ceremonial site. As you pass by the vengeful spirits awakened during the excavation, the bursting flames, encompassing steam, and spine-tingling 360-degree loop will make it a truly thrilling experience!"

So, Raging Spirits is certainly fun, but not mindblowing. It's no TOT or Journey to the Center of the Earth.

UP NEXT - Back to Port Discovery for Stormrider, back to Mysterious Island for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth, and the daytime lagoon show, The Legend of Mythica!!

[MAGICFOR2]

Thanks for all the pics - Beautiful!!!:cloud9:

[SarahandPaul]

Love the pictures and report. Can't wait to see the rest.

[CriminyCrafft]

After checking out Mediterranean Harbor, we headed back to Port Discovery in hopes that the standby line for Stormrider would still be about 30 minutes. Indeed it was!! We got in line and absorbed the coolness of Port Discovery.

This photo was taken from the line of Stormrider looking back on Port Discovery. Check out the cool little fish-shaped submarines (wonder if they actually work?) and the crowd around Aquatopia.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/PortDiscoveryFromStormriderLine.jpg

Here's Stormrider:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/StormRider.jpg

Stormrider is like Star Tours with more special effects. Here's a description of the ride from the DisneySea website:

"The Center for Weather Control has recently developed a 'Storm Diffusion Device,' a new invention that is detonated in the center of powerful storms and dissipates their energy. As there happens to be a rather large typhoon approaching Port Discovery at the moment, Guests at the CWC are invited to board one of the Center's flying weather laboratories and observe a mission to test one of the new 'Fuses' by delivering it right to the center of the storm!"

I'm not a huge fan of Star Tours, but Stormrider was better due to the added effects (which I won't spoil). DH liked it a lot.

By this point it was almost time for the afternoon lagoon show, The Legend of Mythica. We saw people congregating near the lagoon so we staked a good spot.

Now, I have no idea what Mythica is. The show really made no sense. It mixed Mickey, Chip and Dale, Goofy, and Donald with a bunch of dragons and CMs dressed like court jesters. As you probably know, a lot of stuff in Japanese culture is quite strange to Westerners (like in the "Mr. Sparkle" episode of the Simpsons). DH plays Japanese video games and watches Studio Ghibli movies, and most of the time the plots are totally nonsensical to me. But that's part of the charm, right? Legend of Mythica was very pretty and *extremely* well done. We all enjoyed it a lot. Here are some photos. Note Mickey on the pedestal.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/Mythica1.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/Mythica2.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/Mythica3.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/Mythica4.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/MythicaKites.jpg

The coolest parts were the kites flown by CMs on jetskis and the elaborate floats that spewed water and fire.

After Legend of Mythica it was almost time for our Journey to the Center of the Earth fastpass return!! We headed back over to Mysterious Island and decided to hop in the standby line for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. In retrospect this ride was good enough, but not fantastic.

Next it was time for the ride I was most looking forward to - Journey to the Center of the Earth!!!

Here's the sign outside the queue area:
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/JourneyExt.jpg

The queue area is very cool, has a lot of stuff from the Jules Verne book - like a little professor's office area. Unfortunately DH was manning the camera and didn't get any photos. But here's a bad picture of the ride cars:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/JourneyRideCar.jpg

The ride was fantastic - my second favorite after TOT. It's a combination of Dinosaur without the bumpiness and a wilder version of Test Track. It was very very fun! For those of you that like spoilers (like myself), there's a full ride through video on youtube. Journey was so fun that we got another fastpass, return time starting at 8:50 pm! I figured this was perfect because the nighttime pyrotechnics and water spectacular, BraviSEAmo!, started at 8:30. Oooh boy was I excited. By this time my crummy paper 2-day passport ticket had turned all crinkly, and the Fastpass machine wasn't reading it. So a CM gave me a replacement ticket.

Asami and DH got a snack at the cart right near Journey. I wasn't super pumped about the snack selection so I skipped out. Asami had an apple flavored Mickey ear bar (no traditional Mickey ice cream bars at Tokyo Disney!) and DH had sea salt ice cream that came in a heart-shaped Minnie jewelry-box-looking-thingy. I still have this lil' box at home!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/AsamiCanonSnacks.jpg

I did taste the sea salt ice cream, and it tasted like plain old vanilla with *maybe* some salt sprinkled on it. We browsed through the gift shop next to Journey (seen in a previously posted photo) - I saw a few okay clothing items but nothing that blew me away. This same behavior later in the evening would haunt me for weeks to come!!

NEXT UP - Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster, Triton's Kingdom, dinner at the SS Columbia Dining Room, and Fortress Explorations!!

[CriminyCrafft]

Thanks for all the pics - Beautiful!!!:cloud9:

You're welcome! DisneySea is just gorgeous - the pics don't do it justice. Thanks for reading!

Love the pictures and report. Can't wait to see the rest.

Thanks! I'm almost at the end and I'm getting sad. :sad1: Thanks for reading!

[DISNEYDUET]

I saw a few okay clothing items but nothing that blew me away. This same behavior later in the evening would haunt me for weeks to come!!

NEXT UP - Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster, Triton's Kingdom, dinner at the SS Columbia Dining Room, and Fortress Explorations!!

Oh boy! I think I see a little forshadowing! I can't wait to hear more! popcorn::

[serendipity]

Very cool. I love all the pictures and hope I'll be able to get there one day!

[Kristina]

Oh my, what a cool park! Thanks for the amazing pictures and report :thumbsup2 !

[Mouse511]

Great trip report and pictures :thumbsup2

[pumba]

What wonderful photos and the colors everywhere........thanks so much for your report.......I am enjoying it

[CriminyCrafft]

Actually I believe at this point we headed back over to Lost River Delta and rode Raging Spirits and Indy again using the single rider line. I couldn't believe more people weren't using it! The wait on both was probably about 70 minutes, and we bypassed the line and got to ride with virtually no wait!!! I guess most people want to ride together, but we'd much rather ride quickly! To my knowledge those are the only two rides at DisneySea that have a single rider line.

I just realized I left out something in my TR. ARRRGH!!! I forgot to include our Raging Spirits fastpass return and describe the ride! This is why I need to take more/better pictures! I went back and added this where it should be but I'll also quickly describe it here. It was perfectly fine, a good rollercoaster with a 360 loop, but nothing special. No Disney magic or fancy theming. It was good enough to do again, courtesy of the single rider line.

I then stopped off at a snack stand in Lost River Delta and got another large Hi-C. The cup had the 5 year anniversary theme. Hard to believe DisneySea has only been open since 2001.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/DisneySeaCup.jpg

We headed back over to Mermaid Lagoon to ride Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster. DH likes Goofy's Barnstormer and he liked Gadget's Go Coaster, so we figured we would like this. It was cute and fun enough. When we were exiting the ride we saw Prince Eric and a CM dressed up as Chef Louis coming out from a hidden door near the ride. The Prince Eric CM was American because I overheard him saying something like "Louis, I've told you to stay away from those fish!" CUTE!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/FloundersCoaster.jpg

We walked next door to Triton's Kingdom, which is indoor/underground. We knew there were a few "kiddie rides" inside but we had no idea how beautiful it would be. We walked inside and found ourselves on a little balcony area. When we looked down, we were awestruck.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/MermaidLagoonInt1.jpg

This place was gorgeous! It was like a fairyland. We walked down the stairs and just stood there, staring. The ceiling was decorated like the surface of the ocean and had ripples on it, so you really felt like you were in an undersea wonderland. It took my breath away. Here's a crummy but (I think) pretty picture.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/TritonsKingdom1.jpg

There are a few rides in Triton's Kingdom: Jumpin' Jellyfish (a crappier version of which apparently exists at Disney's California Adventure), Blowfish Balloon Race (where you ride under a blowfish going round and round) and the Whirlpool (which is similar to the teacups). There's also the Mermaid Lagoon Theater, which houses a Little Mermaid show. We headed over to that first. It was very good, featured an American Ariel, and had some really cool puppets. Even DH said "That was pretty cool."

Then we hopped in line for Jumpin' Jellyfish. You basically just sit in a clamshell seat with a jellyfish above it that goes up and down pretty slowly. Pretty boring if it weren't for the beauty of the ride is and for the views of Triton's Kingdom it provides. Here's the ride:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/JumpinJellyfish2.jpg

We then rode Blowfish Balloon Race and poked around Ariel's Playground, an area for kids to explore.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/ArielsPlayground.jpg

Then I walked over to the Sleepy Whale gift shop. How cool is this? See the bones in the whale's mouth?

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/SleepyWhaleShop.jpg

I saw a neat blue and white DisneySea zip-up jacket that had the 5 year anniversary logo on the front right pocket and a big Disney scene on the back with a bunch of characters. It was so cool. But for SOME UNKNOWN REASON I thought, "eh, I don't really NEED this." So I put it back on the hanger and left the store. AM I CRAZY???? Arrgh!

We sadly left Triton's Kingdom and went back to American Harbor for our dinner reservations at the SS Columbia Dining Room. We headed back through Lost River Delta and then into American Harbor. Here's dusk against the lighthouse in the Cape Cod area of American Harbor:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/CapeCodDusk.jpg

I'll start a new post for the FINAL INSTALLMENT!

[CriminyCrafft]

And then we were back at the ship.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/SSColumbiaDay2.jpg

We walked onto the ship and it was like the Titanic on the inside. Just beautiful. It also houses the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge, which we again stupidly didn't get a picture of. It's on the floor below SS Columbia Dining Room and it looks like an old bar out of the 1930s. Again, WHY didn't we get more pictures of the interior of the ship!!! We were all walking around in amazement so I guess photo-taking wasn't a priority at the time. Now that I've done a TR, I know how to do things better the second time around!

The stairs were heavy dark wood and there were old-timey photos all along the walls. Here's the (fuzzy) entrance to the SS Columbia Dining Room:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/SSColumbiaDining1.jpg

Wait staff was standing right near the door to assist you, just like you'd imagine it would be back in the 1930s. So cool! We sat down and couldn't believe how pretty this place was. Impeccable design and detail, just amazing.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/SSColumbiaDining2.jpg

The people sitting on the other side of the room backed right up to Tokyo Bay, so they had a gorgeous view of the sea from their window!

The restaurant even had a singer doing all Disney songs, which I loved. She sang "So This is Love" from Cinderella, which came out as "So This is Ruv." So cute.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/SSColumbiaDining3.jpg

Sorry some of these are so flippin' fuzzy!

Our waiter spoke no English but was so nice, just like every other Japanese person I've ever met (except maybe the dude in the Stitch costume at Tokyo Disneyland!). While we were eating a show started on the ship deck right outside the window! I believe the show was called Over the Waves. It looked VERY cool from what I could see. Catchy tunes, and the CMs on the deck were dressed in sailor outfits and waving big scarves at the folks on the ground. Sigh...I was in heaven!

The food here was way better than our other Tokyo Disney meals. I don't usually eat fish but I did on this trip (it's tough not to in Japan, and I can't feel *too* horribly bad for fish). I can't remember exactly what I had (again, another thing to improve on in my next TR) but I know I had a yummy salad, fish, potatoes, and asparagus. I had dessert and I think it was something chocolate but I can't recall! Argh! The meal was slightly expensive (I think about $40 per person) but the experience was well worth it!!! I loved this place.

It was now dark, so we headed over to the Mediterranean Harbor area to hopefully do some shopping/browsing and kill time until BraviSEA!mo, which started at 8 pm. Here's Mediterranean Harbor at night.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/MedHarborNight.jpg

Here's American Waterfront from Mediterranean Harbor at night. Look how pretty TOT is!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/SSColumbiaTOTnite.jpg

We wandered around a bit in the shops. It was very cold by this point, about 45 degrees (well, that's cold for me - I'm from the South!) We went into Figaro's Clothiers and I saw that cool white and blue DisneySea zip-up again! I also saw a cool black tshirt that had the castle on the front and said "Tokyo Disneyland Resort" on it. I wanted both of these, but they would be about $65. I was conflicted! We were going to Singapore after we left Japan, and I'd heard Singapore had the best shopping ever. I was afraid to plunk down the $65 because it might mean less to spend in Singapore. My brain said "GET THEM, you need a MEMENTO from TOKYO DISNEY, you moron!" But I was COLD and didn't want to try anything on. MAN I wanted those two shirts! But for some ungodly reason I defied all logic and walked out of the store WITHOUT BUYING ANYTHING! You may wonder if I'm crazy, and the answer is YES. How could a huge Disney fan go to Tokyo Disney and come back empty-handed?? Answer: she's INSANE. Since then I've tried to get the shop to ship those two items to us (courtesy of a phonecall to them by Asami), but they won't do it! ARGH! I hated myself for two weeks after we got back. NEXT TIME I will get several shirts without hesitation!

While we were walking around Mediterranean Harbor we heard a heart-shattering announcement on the loudspeakers. BRAVISEAMO! WAS CANCELLED DUE TO WINDS!! NOOOOOOOOO! Asami and I looked at each other and yelled "WAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" I was so looking forward to BraviSEAmo! It is very popular and I had been drooling over the soundtrack in Tower Records two days before. I wanted to cry. The fireworks at Disneyland had been cancelled and now I'd miss another amazing show. I was upset for about ten minutes and then told DH "Oh well, next time!!"

It was about 7:30, and at this point we discovered Fortress Explorations. We had admired its beauty earlier but hadn't been inside it. Here it is at night.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/FortressExplorationsNight.jpg

This place was flippin' sweet. I could see kids spending HOURS messing around in here. It has all these cool turrets and towers and nooks and crannies to explore. It has a crusty old ship with cannons that you can actually fire. DH *loved* it and kept walking around saying "This place is SO COOL!" Here's a foto of the "ship sailing room," where you can sail a little ship around (for a small fee!)

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/FortressExplorationsInt.jpg

Here's the "astronomy room," which was very cool.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/FortressExplorationsInt2.jpg

We had about 45 minutes till our Journey to the Center of the Earth fastpasses were ready. We were all freezing and I was getting pretty tired and grumpy. Jet lag was hittin' me hard. AND DH had already said we had to get up early the next morning to do stuff he wanted to do. So I made an INCREDIBLY STUPID DECISION - I decided we should LEAVE THE PARK and GO TO SLEEP rather than wait 45 minutes to ride Journey again! DH and Asami were fine to go ahead and leave. Again you will ask "IS SHE COMPLETELY INSANE?!" The answer is yes. Fatigue and having your sleep cycle totally thrown off will do crazy things to you!! I cursed myself the rest of the trip!!! In all fairness to my stupid self, we did go to Journey early but the CM wouldn't let us in. THEY DO IT ALL THE TIME IN AMERICA! I wanted to say. SNIFF! So...cold, sleepiness, and the irritation about no BraviSEAmo! clouded my logic and foresight. I should have known I would kick myself if we left. But we did. Here's our final picture taken in DisneySea:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/ThreeinFortress.jpg

You may notice I have on the same Mickey sweatshirt as the previous day in Disneyland. I promise I have a different shirt on underneath! I had to wear it again because it had a hood, and I knew I'd need it at night.

So, we left the park with no Disney merchandise, no BraviSEAmo!, and no second ride on Journey. All huge mistakes that I will correct next time! Asami hopped on her train home, and DH and I took the train as well instead of that terrible bus. Already on the bus home I was filled with regret and cursing myself!

Here's a photo I took back at the hotel of my 2 day passport, the unused Journey fastpass, and the fastpass replacement card I was given when the fastpass machine starting spitting my passport back at me. You can also see a business card for DH's friend in this photo.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/DisneySea/tickets.jpg

So, here's my summary of the visit and general thoughts on Tokyo Disney. Overall, I loved it and can't wait to go back. I think it was unnaturally crowded due to a school break, so if you're thinking of going just avoid the third week in March! All the CMs were very nice and helpful. Tokyo Disneyland was great, very magical. I loved Pooh's Hunny Hunt and the parade. DisneySea was, as I've said many times before, just AMAZING. Its beauty and fantastic detail can't be conveyed in pictures. I especially loved TOT and Journey. DisneySea had Disney magic but with a very sophisticated twist. DH says it's the best of ALL the Disney parks (although we haven't been to Paris Disney). In theory, I agree. It's the most beautiful, most well-designed.

I was sad that we didn't get to do as much as I wanted. There was so much to do at both parks, especially DisneySea, that we would need four days to do it all. There were about four shows at DisneySea I wanted to see that we couldn't even contemplate making time for. The canceling of BraviSEAmo! and Winter Magic in the Sky was very disappointing, as was the fact that Electric Dreamlights parade wasn't even happening while we were there.

I will say that I do prefer WDW to Tokyo Disney. Aside from the obvious fact that there's more to do in WDW, WDW just has that special Disney magic. When Walt built Disneyland he wanted to recreate part of his childhood, and in doing so he created the childhoods of millions of Americans. So, going to WDW re-creates my childhood for me - it makes me feel like I have no worries, no problems, no responsibilities - and everything is simple and fun. In my book, nothing can top that. But Tokyo Disney comes a close second! I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Tokyo Disney is not owned by the Walt Disney Company anymore. It's owned by the Oriental Land Company, which licenses the Disney stuff from Disney. Oriental Land built DisneySea.

WE WILL GO BACK to Tokyo Disney!!! DH and I are now arguing about whether we should spend two or three days in Tokyo Disney next time - of course I say THREE! I'm also pushing to stay at MiraCosta in DisneySea. He LOVES Japan though and there are tons of things he wants to do there, so I feel like we will go back to Tokyo in the next year or so, and a Disney trip will be included. So hopefully I will have another, better report with MORE pictures before 2008 is over!!

Interesting off-topic side note - I saw TONS of Disney Crocs in Singapore!!

Thanks for reading, and I will be back in November with my WDW Halloween Blowout TR!

THE END!!!

[MAGICFOR2]

Thanks CriminyCrafft, for your beautiful TR!!! I just told DH that we have to go to Tokyo Disney sometime! He didn't say no!:goodvibes Good luck with law school and win all your cases!!!:thumbsup2

[CatfishWifMickeyEarz]

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

CriminyCrafft sure does know how to party Disney style!
That was a great summary of your trip and I enjoyed it immensely!

[Kristina]

Again, thank you for your amazing report and for posting your beautiful pictures! :thumbsup2 They are a real treat and I must say, I've been in a bit of a Tokyo Disney obcession the last few days, searching and reading up as much as I can. :surfweb: It sure is fun having new (for me!) Disney parks to discover, even it it is only through the internet, for now anyway! Over and over there is the ooohs! and ahhhs! that come with it and your report certainly contributed a great big amount of those!
I plan and hope to visit one day and was happy to see that flights from here in Sweden where I live right now cost almost the same whether we travel to Tokyo or Florida so that makes it seem more doable! I'm funny because even though there isn't a chance of seeing the parks in the near future I couldn't help take a peek at Trip Advisor to check out hotels in the area. You didn't mention where you stayed, were you happy with it?
I've seen horror images on the Travel Channel (once) about train travel in Japan and how crowded :crowded: it can get but from your report it didn't sound to bad correct? Even with the huge crowds at the park your first day? I am would so stay at the Mira Costa if I could, ooooh that place is amazing! I'd want to spring for a balcony room overlooking Disney Sea but I probably couldn't afford a standard room when push comes to shove! Promise and do us another report when you return!
Oh and has your DBF called the Disney Store yet to see if they:tinker: deliver? Or will thank be a surprise for you, I hope it works out and you get some great stuff!

[CriminyCrafft]

Again, thank you for your amazing report and for posting your beautiful pictures! :thumbsup2 They are a real treat and I must say, I've been in a bit of a Tokyo Disney obcession the last few days, searching and reading up as much as I can. :surfweb: It sure is fun having new (for me!) Disney parks to discover, even it it is only through the internet, for now anyway! Over and over there is the ooohs! and ahhhs! that come with it and your report certainly contributed a great big amount of those!

YAY I'm happy you liked the TR and that it inspired you to go to Tokyo Disney. I did the same thing and spent so much time looking into it before I went. Unfortunately there's not too many resources out there for non-Japanese speakers!

I plan and hope to visit one day and was happy to see that flights from here in Sweden where I live right now cost almost the same whether we travel to Tokyo or Florida so that makes it seem more doable! I'm funny because even though there isn't a chance of seeing the parks in the near future I couldn't help take a peek at Trip Advisor to check out hotels in the area. You didn't mention where you stayed, were you happy with it?

We stayed at the Tokyo Hilton in Shinjuku, which was about an hour and a half away from Disney. It was a very nice hotel and I would definitely stay there again. It's in a decent location (close to train station), and was okay for us because we spent another three days in Tokyo in addition to our days at Disney. BUT if you're going to Disney I would stay close to the parks at least on those days because Disney is a hike from central Tokyo. I've (unfortunately) never been to Sweden, so I'm not sure what hotels are like there, but my impression is that in general Japanese hotels are far nicer than American hotels in terms of cleanliness and service. So probably all the Disney hotels are nice. I would say if you go to Tokyo Disney, definitely stay on site or very close by. That's what we'll do when we go back! ;)

I've seen horror images on the Travel Channel (once) about train travel in Japan and how crowded :crowded: it can get but from your report it didn't sound to bad correct? Even with the huge crowds at the park your first day?

Subway travel is indeed very nasty in Tokyo at times, especially rush hour. We left very early for Disney both days and got back pretty late, so we beat the major crowds. Disney was very crowded but I think it was mostly due to the school break, and even so the subway wasn't too terrible. On our first trip to Tokyo one subway was so crowded that I was literally lifted off the floor because people were squeezing me in so tight! Also, some of the stations can get *miserably* crowded. But if you avoid rush hour it's not too bad. Also, if you stay on site you can avoid that problem at least on days you're at Disney! Another problem to plan for is that there is no place to put large luggage on the trains, so you need to arrange bus or "airport limousine" transportation to your hotel. There are buses to take you from Narita airport to Disney for about $15 US each way, and most hotels can arrange transportation for you. Taxicabs are VERY expensive in Tokyo!

I am would so stay at the Mira Costa if I could, ooooh that place is amazing! I'd want to spring for a balcony room overlooking Disney Sea but I probably couldn't afford a standard room when push comes to shove! Promise and do us another report when you return!

I think the "partial" overlook room at MiraCosta is about $325 US a night during value season. Which isn't too terrible in my opinion for what you get - a fancy hotel and easy access to Disney. I will definitely do another Tokyo Disney TR. I'm pushing to go back in August or September of 2008, so we'll see how that goes!

Oh and has your DBF called the Disney Store yet to see if they:tinker: deliver? Or will thank be a surprise for you, I hope it works out and you get some great stuff!

He said Asami called Bon Voyage, the Disney Store right outside Tokyo Disney, and they won't ship to America!! :sad1: But maybe he just said that so I'd have a bigger surprise? I doubt it. So next time I'll have to stock up!

Thanks for reading, and good luck with hopefully booking a Tokyo trip! Feel free to ask me any other questions you might have!

[CriminyCrafft]

Thanks CriminyCrafft, for your beautiful TR!!! I just told DH that we have to go to Tokyo Disney sometime! He didn't say no!:goodvibes Good luck with law school and win all your cases!!!:thumbsup2

Thanks for reading. Glad you liked it! Good luck convincing your DH that you HAVE to go to Tokyo Disney! Try spinning it as a cultural trip. :rotfl: There really is so much other cool stuff to do in Tokyo, and right now the exchange rate for the dollar is pretty good!

[Married_Him_@_Disney]

Great pictures!!! Thanks for posting!

[MAGICFOR2]

Great pictures!!! Thanks for posting!

Married - Buzz or the cute one? :rotfl:

[celerystalker]

That crowd looked crazy! Do you think the popularity of Marie is to compete with Hello Kitty? Is Hello Kitty still popular there? Do they have Keropi items (the Sanrio frog)? What castle is that? The glass slipper fountain is cool, but why isn't it at WDW in front of Cinderella's castle? Gadget like Inspector Gadget? Did you see any Kingdom Hearts merchandise? They had the Chef from The Little Mermaid?!?!?!
Can I ask more questions?
Heh.
One of my favorite parts of MNSSHP this past year (besides the boo to you parade - is that a catchy song or what?) was seeing an Asian guy dressed as Sora (from Kingdom Hearts). His costume was INCREDIBLE. I told him so. I'm still mad at my self for not getting his picture.

Note to self - If you ever make it to Tokyo Disneyland, get your hair professionally done. Cuz the slubby (is that a word?) excuse for a ponytail you usually sport will be laughed out of the park.

Eek! :eek: So I guess dressing in lime green from head to toe (with your lime green crocs and baggalini) is not "dressing up" for Tokyo?

Thank you SOOO much for your trip report. I loved it.

[CriminyCrafft]

That crowd looked crazy! Do you think the popularity of Marie is to compete with Hello Kitty? Is Hello Kitty still popular there? Do they have Keropi items (the Sanrio frog)? What castle is that?

That's a very interesting observation about Marie. You're probably right. To be honest I didn't see a ton of Hello Kitty or Keropi stuff the two times I've been to Japan. But I may not have been looking for it since I'm not into it myself? There is one very popular toy store in Harajuku called Kiddyland that has a ton of Hello Kitty and Keropi stuff. Stitch is very popular - I've seen a lot of people on the subway with Stitch cell phone danglers.

The glass slipper fountain is cool, but why isn't it at WDW in front of Cinderella's castle?

I think Tokyo Disneyland is modeled after Disneyland California, but I don't recall if they have the slipper there. So I'm not sure why it's not at WDW.

Gadget like Inspector Gadget? Did you see any Kingdom Hearts merchandise? They had the Chef from The Little Mermaid?!?!?!

Yup, Gadget's Go Coaster refers to Inspector Gadget. I didn't see any Kingdom Hearts merchandise unfortunately. We saw the KH soundtrack CD box set the HMV store, though! DH and I both love Kingdom Hearts - he's played both games for the PS2. Yes, DisneySea did have the Chef from the Little Mermaid.

Can I ask more questions? Heh.

Absolutely.

One of my favorite parts of MNSSHP this past year (besides the boo to you parade - is that a catchy song or what?) was seeing an Asian guy dressed as Sora (from Kingdom Hearts). His costume was INCREDIBLE. I told him so. I'm still mad at my self for not getting his picture.

I love MNSSHP and Boo to You. I would love to have seen that Sora costume! I remember seeing some really expensive KH Halloween costumes on ebay last year that were handmade in Hong Kong. I'm going back to MNSSHP this year so hopefully I will run into that dude! :rotfl2:

Note to self - If you ever make it to Tokyo Disneyland, get your hair professionally done. Cuz the slubby (is that a word?) excuse for a ponytail you usually sport will be laughed out of the park.

Eek! :eek: So I guess dressing in lime green from head to toe (with your lime green crocs and baggalini) is not "dressing up" for Tokyo?

My experience has been that most people in Tokyo dress up pretty fancy a lot of the time (especially women). Most girls in the Disney parks had on (smallish) heels or boots. You'd NEVER, EVER see that in America. My normal Disney attire is the equivalent of a total slob-out compared to how other people were dressed at Tokyo Disney. Crocs have not caught on in Japan at all, I guess because they're not dressy enough. In Singapore, however, Crocs were EVERYWHERE. Tons of people had them and they were sold in *lots* of stores. I saw loads of people with Disney crocs and Disney jibbitz there.

Thank you SOOO much for your trip report. I loved it.

You're most welcome!

[SpaceMounatin]

You got to eat dinner at the SS Columbia? I am so jelous! I stood on it's ramp, that's the closest I got. It looks so beautiful on the inside! And unlike you, I preffer Journey over Tower, and I'm punching my self now for not riding Stormrider. We had the opertunity, but we wanted to do Jounrey again! I'm happy I get to see some one elses TDL experience.

-Dainan "Good job" Rafferty

[lamagique]

Thank you so much for sharing this trip report. I had never really had a desire to go to Disneyland Tokyo until reading your TR and seeing your beautiful pictures. DLT looks absolutely AMAZING. BEAUTIFUL. I have to go now!! I don't know when, but someday!

[CriminyCrafft]

Thank you so much for sharing this trip report. I had never really had a desire to go to Disneyland Tokyo until reading your TR and seeing your beautiful pictures. DLT looks absolutely AMAZING. BEAUTIFUL. I have to go now!! I don't know when, but someday!

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words. Glad you liked it. It's funny that you say you have to go to Tokyo Disney now - I'm dying to go to Paris Disney! I've been to Paris before but skipped Disney, and now I want to go badly. It's so expensive for Americans these days though. Sniff!

Now I'm off to read your trip report!! :thumbsup2

[Cyrano]

That is what I call a love of Disney. Thanks for sharing :goodvibes

[nts4wdw]

Now I'm jealous of you!!!! Tokoyo Disney and DisneySea looked amazing!! I had no idea! Thanks for the pictures and sharing your trip with us!

[cherokeemamma]

I just wanted to say that I am really enjoying your TR. I love hearing about Tokyo Disney. What a great experience...

Thanks for posting pictures.:goodvibes Its great to be able to see a different park...awesome!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!

BTW, I love all of the ears...what a hoot!:rotfl:

I have only gotten to the end of page 3 ...can't wait to catch up & read all about DisneySea.:surfweb:

[SusanWasHere]

i sat and read your entire report and just loved it!! :thumbsup2 tokyo disney looks amazing and i absolutely want to go some day. :goodvibes i just have to find someone willing to go! lol - my friends are not fellow disney lovers! :mad: great report, beautiful pics!! looks like you had a wonderful time! :banana:

[CriminyCrafft]

Now I'm jealous of you!!!! Tokoyo Disney and DisneySea looked amazing!! I had no idea! Thanks for the pictures and sharing your trip with us!

You're welcome! I can't wait to hear about your upcoming trip!


I just wanted to say that I am really enjoying your TR. I love hearing about Tokyo Disney. What a great experience...

Thanks for posting pictures.:goodvibes Its great to be able to see a different park...awesome!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!

BTW, I love all of the ears...what a hoot!:rotfl:

I have only gotten to the end of page 3 ...can't wait to catch up & read all about DisneySea.:surfweb:

Thanks for reading! The ears were indeed awesome. Japanese people LOVE Disney. I realize that's a generalization - but Tokyo Disney *is* the most visited theme park in the world!

I hope you like the DisneySea part!


i sat and read your entire report and just loved it!! :thumbsup2 tokyo disney looks amazing and i absolutely want to go some day. :goodvibes i just have to find someone willing to go! lol - my friends are not fellow disney lovers! :mad: great report, beautiful pics!! looks like you had a wonderful time! :banana:

I feel your pain - NONE of my friends even LIKE Disney. They just don't get it, right? :rotfl:

I think you could go to Tokyo Disney alone comfortably, however. They have a Disney shuttle to/from from the airport and the CMs make an attempt to communicate. Some speak English. Everyone is extremely friendly and helpful. DH and I are talking about going back to Tokyo in 2008 and I might go to Disney for 3 days while he goes somewhere else - so feel free to meet me there! ;)

[oybolshoi]

I finally had a chance to finish your TR and it's just incredible - thank you so much for sharing this. I actually made the hubby sit down and go through it and when he finished he asked me when we were going to use our DVC points to take a trip to Tokyo!!

We both agree - your pictures are just stunning! :thumbsup2

Thanks again for taking the time to put this together and share it with all of us in the DIS community.

[cherokeemamma]

Well, I was so intrigued I had to finish it tonight. :)
I should be sleeping right now as I have a terrible head cold. You know how cold meds make you feel so loopy...that shall be my excuse when I can't get up in the morning not the fact that I stayed up way too late on the Dis.:rotfl2:

Well...I loved, loved, loved DisneySea. OMG, it is beautiful and it looks humongous. Is it? I agree with you the ToT is beautiful and it also looks like an enormous building. I love that ride..I can't get my DD to ride because of the preshow story...perhaps she would ride this one. For some reason the storyline terrifies her:confused:

I am assuming DisneySea is very clean. It certainly looks like it! Are the CMs friendly and do they have the same customer service standards as WDW? I am a stickler for great Customer Service. It is becoming something that is hard to find but I think WDW is fantastic. When you leave their property it doesn't take long to realize you are no longer on Disney property.

Sorry going a bit OT there...it is the cold meds and exhaustion speaking.;)

Thanks so much for sharing your amazing adventure with us.:thumbsup2 You did a great job!

I can't wait to show my kiddos your pictures.

[eternaldisneyfan]

It was really great to read a trip report from Tokyo Disney. The themeing in Disney Sea was amazing! But :eek: the crowds! I can't travel out of the country for medical reasons, so thanks for this glimpse at another great Disney park.

Christamae

[CriminyCrafft]

I finally had a chance to finish your TR and it's just incredible - thank you so much for sharing this. I actually made the hubby sit down and go through it and when he finished he asked me when we were going to use our DVC points to take a trip to Tokyo!!

We both agree - your pictures are just stunning! :thumbsup2

Thanks again for taking the time to put this together and share it with all of us in the DIS community.

You're most welcome. I'm so glad you liked it. I hope you get to go - you could easily spend four days at Tokyo Disney, and of course there's so much other stuff to do in Tokyo (and better food than in Disney).

I've very much enjoyed your TRs as well, although I think maybe I just lurked on them and didn't comment.

Thanks for reading!!




Well...I loved, loved, loved DisneySea. OMG, it is beautiful and it looks humongous. Is it? I agree with you the ToT is beautiful and it also looks like an enormous building. I love that ride..I can't get my DD to ride because of the preshow story...perhaps she would ride this one. For some reason the storyline terrifies her:confused:


I'm glad you liked DisneySea, and I hope you're feeling better!!


DisneySea isn't any bigger than the WDW parks - I would say it's a bit smaller than Epcot. I went and asked DH and he agreed. It is indeed beautiful; me and DH agreed it was the prettiest of all the Disney parks.

TOT at DisneySea did have a storyline and preshow that I think would be a bit scary for kids. I don't want to spoil too much but Harrison Hightower is very sinister looking and he meets a bad end!



I am assuming DisneySea is very clean. It certainly looks like it! Are the CMs friendly and do they have the same customer service standards as WDW? I am a stickler for great Customer Service. It is becoming something that is hard to find but I think WDW is fantastic. When you leave their property it doesn't take long to realize you are no longer on Disney property.

Sorry going a bit OT there...it is the cold meds and exhaustion speaking.;)

Thanks so much for sharing your amazing adventure with us.:thumbsup2 You did a great job!

I can't wait to show my kiddos your pictures.

DisneySea was very very clean. The CMs are INCREDIBLY friendly and helpful. They all seemed to be having the time of their lives working at Disney! Most of them don't speak English - I would say most just know basic stuff. But it was my experience at Tokyo Disney and in Japan in general that Japanese people will try their best to understand you and help you...I've been in a few situations where Japanese folks got very upset and apologetic because they didn't know English well enough. I thought - this is YOUR country, I should know YOUR language. This was my second time to Japan and DH's third, and we both think that the level of customer service in Japan is far better than what you get in the US. The CMs were no exception. I'm not sure I can compare it to the customer service at WDW. I've had some great experiences at WDW and some mediocre ones, and there are differences between how they do things at Tokyo Disney and at WDW - like no drink refills at counter service and buffeteria restaurants, and the horribly annoying character greeting setup (aka mass chaos) where you would expect a CM to step in and straighten things out. But the service at SS Columbia was definitely as good or better than the best service I've had at WDW.

Long, rambling answer, sorry. I hope your kids like the photos! I certainly liked the cute pictures of them in your TR!!! :thumbsup2

[CriminyCrafft]

It was really great to read a trip report from Tokyo Disney. The themeing in Disney Sea was amazing! But :eek: the crowds! I can't travel out of the country for medical reasons, so thanks for this glimpse at another great Disney park.

Christamae

I'm so glad you liked it! I think the crowds were an anomaly for that time due to the school break, so next time we go we'll plan better. Hopefully in about 18 months I'll have another Tokyo Disney TR!

Thanks for reading!! :goodvibes

[Disneymooner07]

I just finished reading your trip report and I wanted to say thanks for an awesome, amazing report!!! I love all your pictures and you did such a great job taking photos of so many things. :thumbsup2

I never really thought about working in a trip to Tokyo Disney before, but now I feel like I have to go and soon! Thanks for the glimpse into a new Disney world! :)

[CriminyCrafft]

I just finished reading your trip report and I wanted to say thanks for an awesome, amazing report!!! I love all your pictures and you did such a great job taking photos of so many things. :thumbsup2

I never really thought about working in a trip to Tokyo Disney before, but now I feel like I have to go and soon! Thanks for the glimpse into a new Disney world! :)

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!! You should definitely get over there sometime - you'll have a blast, I promise!

Congrats and best of luck on your upcoming wedding and Disneymoon! Now I'll hopefully have a new trip report to read when you get back!!!

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

I LOVED your Tokyo Disney TR! It sooo makes me want to go there! It's most definately down on my list :)

OT: Did you happen to go to the Studio Ghibli Museum? Laputa, Castle in the Sky happens to be one of my all time favourites! I'd love to see the rest of your Toyko/Singapore photos :)

[CriminyCrafft]

Hi there! We did go to the Ghibli Museum in 2004 when we were in Japan for our honeymoon. My DH LOVES Ghibli and has all the DVDs. I think Totoro is his favorite. Unfortunately we don't have any of our Japan or Singapore photos online, but I'll get my DH to send some of the Ghibli Museum and I'll post them. When we were in Tokyo last time we went to see some huge clock designed by Miyazaki that gives a little "show" at certain times.

I didn't love Singapore - it was like a big Western city and I didn't find the people to be very friendly. But it did have good shopping and great food. I've read that Disney is thinking about building a park there. Dunno where they'll put it!

I'll get back to you with photos, hopefully soon.

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

Thank you! I have *always* wanted to go to Japan - I love unconventional vacations and guess I not really a lay on the beach for 2 weeks kinda person!

I want to >HUG< your DH! You know, NO ONE I've ever spoken to has heard of the film Laputa - I love it :) I remember finding it on DVD in this specialist shop in London and paying £20 ($40) for it! I only read about the Ghibli Studio Museum the other day and was so excited to see they had a model of the Laputan robot!

Sorry to go so much OT! However I LOVED your TR!

[Avivasmom]

How lucky are you to get to go. Before I met DH he lived in Tokyo for 6 months playing reggae music and loved it there. He would go back in a minute.

What a great report with pictures, loved reading it.

[CriminyCrafft]

How lucky are you to get to go. Before I met DH he lived in Tokyo for 6 months playing reggae music and loved it there. He would go back in a minute.

What a great report with pictures, loved reading it.

Hee! My DH loves Tokyo as well and would kill to live there for six months! :love: We hope to go back in the next year or so but I sort of want to wait till Hong Kong Disneyland gets some more attractions so we can pop over there as well - it's so close! Thanks for reading!!!

I'm assuming that's your little girl in your signature - she's so precious!!! :goodvibes

[CriminyCrafft]

Thank you! I have *always* wanted to go to Japan - I love unconventional vacations and guess I not really a lay on the beach for 2 weeks kinda person!

I want to >HUG< your DH! You know, NO ONE I've ever spoken to has heard of the film Laputa - I love it :) I remember finding it on DVD in this specialist shop in London and paying £20 ($40) for it! I only read about the Ghibli Studio Museum the other day and was so excited to see they had a model of the Laputan robot!

Sorry to go so much OT! However I LOVED your TR!

If you like Disney and Ghibli, you should start saving to go to Tokyo as soon as you get back from WDW! :rotfl: You would have a blast. Plus, Japanese people love the British! Both times I was there I saw a ton of shirts with union jacks on them that said "UK Rules, OK!" :lmao:

As requested, here are some random Japan photos!

Us in Kyoto in 2004. Argh, my hair!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/beastsofjapan.jpg

A view of Tokyo from our hotel room on our 2007 trip.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Tokyo2.jpg

DH eating green tea ice cream - it's delicious!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/CanonIceKreem.jpg

DH in front of the Ghibli clock in Shiodome, Tokyo.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/CanonClock-1.jpg

Mt. Fuji!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Fuji.jpg

Shibuya, Tokyo, at night.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Shibuya.jpg

The Ramen Museum in Yokohama. DH loved it, I did not - nothing was vegetarian and it smelled terrible in there! :lmao:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/RamenMuseum.jpg

Typical Tokyo street scene outside Kiddyland in Harajuku. ;) Note the banner in background proclaiming "Happy Day, we are friends!" Kiddyland is a really cool store that has tons of Disney and Ghibli merchandise.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Kiddyland.jpg

Here are some photos of the Ghibli Museum which we visited in 2004. They don't let you take pictures inside, unfortunately.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/GhibliExterior.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/ViewFromRoof.jpg

Who's that peeking over the roof?
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/GhibliExterior1Robot.jpg

Why, it's your favorite robot!!
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/Robot.jpg

And finally, DH with his favorite character, Totoro.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t37/CriminyCrafft/CanonTotoro.jpg

Thanks for reading! Can't wait to read more of your TR!

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

AAAAAAHHHHH! Thank you so much! Love those photos!

I talked with DBF about it last night and we are seriously considering doing Tokyo next year if our budget allows, or the year after if it does not. He called me from work this morning and asked me to look into pricing :teeth: Now it's lethal when someone says that to me - I take it forgranted that we are going :rotfl:

I've been looking at it all morning and figuring out how we can get there and what to do there. I have an interview for a PhD scholarship next month and if I get it then it looks very good for the trip :teeth: We will have some airmiles after our Orlando trip so hopefully we can combine them! I've also spotted that there's an Universal Studios just outside Tokyo, The Sanrio themepark, Tokyo Tower and of course Disney and Ghibli - thank you so much for this wonderful TR!!

[CriminyCrafft]

AAAAAAHHHHH! Thank you so much! Love those photos!

I talked with DBF about it last night and we are seriously considering doing Tokyo next year if our budget allows, or the year after if it does not. He called me from work this morning and asked me to look into pricing :teeth: Now it's lethal when someone says that to me - I take it forgranted that we are going :rotfl:

I've been looking at it all morning and figuring out how we can get there and what to do there. I have an interview for a PhD scholarship next month and if I get it then it looks very good for the trip :teeth: We will have some airmiles after our Orlando trip so hopefully we can combine them! I've also spotted that there's an Universal Studios just outside Tokyo, The Sanrio themepark, Tokyo Tower and of course Disney and Ghibli - thank you so much for this wonderful TR!!

YAY I hope you get to go! Keep me updated and please PM me if you have any questions at all about traveling to Japan. If I don't have the answer, DH will. It's not too expensive there - you can eat good food very cheaply. The exchange rate is very good right now for the dollar, so probably even better for the pound. Also, no need to know the language - we don't and have had virtually no problems.

Good luck on your interview!

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

Thank you very much! I really hope we get to go - it looks really great over there and I can't wait to see Disney Tokyo after seeing your photos!!

I actually had a penpal in Gumma (which I believe is quite near Tokyo?) when I was 16 or so, and I still have her address so I'm going to attempt to write to her as well :)

[tokyodisneydad]

My favorite park in The world is TokyoDisneySea and I'm there just about every other weekend. One quick note--Universal Studios Japan is nowhere near Tokyo. It's actually in Osaka. That's about a 4 hour expensive Bullet train ride from Tokyo. On the side I've been to every Disney Park in the world, was born and raised in Georgia(just a hop skip and and a jump from WDW) If you ever make it this far let me know and I'll hook you up with half price sponsor tickets and meet you in DisneySEA to translate.

[juju]

Crimini - I am the person who posted very early on who was at TDL the exact same dates as you. Thank you for all of your hard work on your trip report, I'm afraid we take a ton of photos and they just sit on our computer. We always say we'll do the trip rpt next time...
Just fyi, we usually go to Hong Kong every few years and always plan our flight to go thru Narita. We layover in Tokyo for about a week and now can see 2 Disney parks in one trip. I find that the airfare to HK is often cheaper than the airfare to Tokyo and I have never had to pay an extra charge for the additional layover time. Just something to think about.

couple more things, there is a tonkatsu restaurant in Ipskari that I like a lot and a change from park food, but I am partial to the Country Bear Curry House... Also I bought a really cute white tshirt from TDS that had symbols of several different attractions, I also bought a fun red and black fleece jacket at HKDL, wish I could have bought more clothes and lots of cute cookies and crackers!

[Spartangirl]

I just found and read your entire report...great job! :thumbsup2 I would love to visit Tokyo...it looks amazing! Thanks for sharing!

[CriminyCrafft]

I just found and read your entire report...great job! :thumbsup2 I would love to visit Tokyo...it looks amazing! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for reading! I look forward to reading your Disneyland TR. I went in 2001 but was only at Disneyland for one day and I haven't been to DCA. So I'm planning to go for a few days next year. Hope you have a great time!

[CriminyCrafft]

Crimini - I am the person who posted very early on who was at TDL the exact same dates as you. Thank you for all of your hard work on your trip report, I'm afraid we take a ton of photos and they just sit on our computer. We always say we'll do the trip rpt next time...
Just fyi, we usually go to Hong Kong every few years and always plan our flight to go thru Narita. We layover in Tokyo for about a week and now can see 2 Disney parks in one trip. I find that the airfare to HK is often cheaper than the airfare to Tokyo and I have never had to pay an extra charge for the additional layover time. Just something to think about.

couple more things, there is a tonkatsu restaurant in Ipskari that I like a lot and a change from park food, but I am partial to the Country Bear Curry House... Also I bought a really cute white tshirt from TDS that had symbols of several different attractions, I also bought a fun red and black fleece jacket at HKDL, wish I could have bought more clothes and lots of cute cookies and crackers!

Thanks for the tips! I would love to see your pictures. ;) My DH loves tonkatsu, so when we go back hopefully we can go to the place at Ipskari. I'm definitely going to save up for next time to buy some cool TDR attire and some yummy take-home treats!! I'm gonna spend at LEAST three days at the parks as well.

Two questions for you if you don't mind:

1) Which airline do you usually purchase your plane tickets from?

2) How do you like HK Disney? I've been thinking I'll wait a few years to go there so there will be more attractions - they seem pretty scant at the moment. What do you think?

[CriminyCrafft]

My favorite park in The world is TokyoDisneySea and I'm there just about every other weekend. One quick note--Universal Studios Japan is nowhere near Tokyo. It's actually in Osaka. That's about a 4 hour expensive Bullet train ride from Tokyo. On the side I've been to every Disney Park in the world, was born and raised in Georgia(just a hop skip and and a jump from WDW) If you ever make it this far let me know and I'll hook you up with half price sponsor tickets and meet you in DisneySEA to translate.

So where's your Tokyo Disney TR? ;) I'd love to read it!!! :thumbsup2

[tokyodisneydad]

I'm fairly new to Disboards and in fact my PC skills are lacking, especially in how to post pictures. I've never done a TR. Although I'd love to share some pictures of the different events that happen, like the Stitch event in Tokyo Disneyland. If I can ever figure it out I will share.

[Amber74]

All I can say is WOW:thumbsup2 Disney Sea is amazing.
That would be so cool if WDW did just one new thing like that. I know its owned by a different company so that probably will never happen. Thank you so much for writing your TR I'm sure it will help people in making a decision whether to go there or not. Glad you had a good time. Thanks!

[CriminyCrafft]

All I can say is WOW:thumbsup2 Disney Sea is amazing.
That would be so cool if WDW did just one new thing like that. I know its owned by a different company so that probably will never happen. Thank you so much for writing your TR I'm sure it will help people in making a decision whether to go there or not. Glad you had a good time. Thanks!

HOWDY - thanks for reading!! You know, I read the other day (in my countless hours of Disney-related surfing) that Disney Imagineers actually did help plan DisneySea! So maybe someday relatively soon they will do something like that at WDW. I wish they would stop spending money on refurbishments and start spending on a few cool new rides. I also read that Disney's next big venture is a park in Signapore or Shanghai, so we're probably outta luck here in the US, at least for while. :sad1: