HydroGuy's Disneyland Trip (Tokyo DL , that is)

[HydroGuy]

Hey all, I am in China at the moment with DS13 and off to Tokyo in a few hours. We will have 2 and 1/2 days at Tokyo Disney Resort where we will visit Tokyo DL and Tokyo DisneySea - reportedly the most beautiful Disney parks in the world.

While here in China I heard from the locals that Disney is building a new resort in Shanghai to open in 2014. I had not heard that one before.

I hope the mods let me keep this thread here because so many of you know me and are good friends. :)

If they do keep it here I will post some real time updates and compare and contrast it to the greatest and most magical theme park in the world, Disneyland in Anaheim. :cool2:

[bumbershoot]

Oh what a wonderful experience you get to have! I cannot wait for your compare/contrast (which I hope they will let you keep her), and a FULL trip report, which I hope you post in the TDL forum. :) Take tons of pictures!!!

[LavenderPeach]

Oh that sounds like so much fun! Have a great time and I can't wait to hear about your trip!

[prettyprincessbelle]

How wonderful! I hope you have a great time and I can't wait to see pictures and a TR!!

[todzwife]

How exciting! I can't wait to see some pictures!


Have fun!:goodvibes

[DLR29]

Oh, I'm so jealous. TDLR looks like such a cool resort! I'm excited to hear all about it. :thumbsup2

[Judy from Boise]

how fun ! I went to TDS the year it opened, someday I will be back with my family :)

[Disney Dreams]

Awww, jealous. We were in Tokyo prior to Disney being there. So excited for you. Tokyo is an amazing city! Enjoy TDL & TDS!

The Shanghai park was in the news in early November as being "green lighted" by the Chinese government.

[PoohBearFriends]

Enjoy and I am sure you will provide a lot of valuable info, as always.

[DangerMouse]

Ooooh! I have sooo been waiting for this Trey. TDS is the one Disney park I would travel a long way for. Please keep this here, Mods!

I'm so excited to read your TR and see pics! :hyper::hyper:

[jlmarr]

Definitely want to hear about TDS.

[NVDisMom]

I want to hear all about it. Too bad it looks like the mods moved it.:sad1:

[BillyFan]

I'm on baord, and can't wait to read more!

[queenie82]

You will have a ball!!!!
But move move move...use the fastpasses...and don't waste time in the popcorn buying queue :lmao:

LEGEND OF MYTHICA!!! and Electrical parade are the BEST :D

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

DH and I are both wishing the two of you a wonderful time! I can't wait to hear your observations. DisneySea looks beyond amazing and it's definitely on my bucket list.

Steph

[HydroGuy]

OK we made it to TDR. Ate at Rainforest Cafe tonight. There is no Internet here in the rooms and so I am using a but the minute PC in the lobby. Ｉｔ has Japanese characters on it and if ou hit the wrong key it is like having ALL CAPS on with no way to turn it off and a slew of characters appear.

After that you are hosed because there is no good way to turn it off. We are going to DisneySea Monday and the DL on Tuesday. Wednesday is a half day and we are not sure yet.

Reports will be short because of limited access. Will talk more when I get home after TG. :)

[DLR29]

OK we made it to TDR. Ate at Rainforest Cafe tonight. There is no Internet here in the rooms and so I am using a but the minute PC in the lobby. Ｉｔ has Japanese characters on it and if ou hit the wrong key it is like having ALL CAPS on with no way to turn it off and a slew of characters appear.

After that you are hosed because there is no good way to turn it off. We are going to DisneySea Monday and the DL on Tuesday. Wednesday is a half day and we are not sure yet.

Reports will be short because of limited access. Will talk more when I get home after TG. :)

The master of DLR park hopping and you aren't going to hop at TDR? Aren't the parks separated by like the same distance as DL and DCA? Maybe I'm wrong. :confused3

Have tons of fun!!!

[HydroGuy]

The master of DLR park hopping and you aren't going to hop at TDR? Aren't the parks separated by like the same distance as DL and DCA? Maybe I'm wrong. :confused3

Have tons of fun!!!I think I have figured out the keyboards here and can write what I want without fear of the japanese keyboard characters taking over. :)

Yes, the parks are close like DLR. However, on multi-day tix you are not allowed to hop. You must declare when you buy the tix which park you will visit on the first day. The second day must then be the opposite park. The third and fourth days you can park hop. The tix must be used on consecutive days. No tix over four days. After that you must buy an AP.

We were planning to be here 3 1/2 days. However, we were delayed on the front end by a snow storm in Colorado and our plane left CO late and made us miss our connection in SF. So we stayed the night in SF - drove the Golden Gate bridge, ate at Pier 39 on Fisherman's Wharf. My DS13s first trip to SF.

We therefore stayed one extra day in China to make up for the lost first day and did the Great Wall on Saturday. This meant shortening the TDR trip by one day. We fly out Wed eve at 5:30PM so can get in 3-4 hours Wed morning. Not sure which park we will do yet on Wed. With the reverse date change we leave Japan Wed at 5:30PM and land in CO Wed at 4PM LOL. In time for a jet lagged TG day.

I have never gotten 100% over the jet lag here and wake up every morning at 2-4AM after crashing at 7-8PM. Right now it is 5AM. I got a solid 6 hours sleep which is fine for me. DS13 is still asleep up in the room.

Today Monday is a national holiday and the parks are supposed to be packed. I was told that TDS is a better park on crowded days. It does have only about half the rides - sort of like DCA to DL. So today it is TDS. Tuesday should clear out the crowds and we will do TDL.

Last night as we drove in we could see Space Mtn. From our very small hotel room - at best 1/3 the size of an American hotel room - we can see Splash Mtn at TDL and Tower of Terror at TDS.

Sure wish RideMax had a version for Tokyo Disney! :goodvibes

[HydroGuy]

DH and I are both wishing the two of you a wonderful time! I can't wait to hear your observations. DisneySea looks beyond amazing and it's definitely on my bucket list.

StephHey Steph, see my response to DLR29 as we were in your neck of the woods last week when we missed our connection to China in SF.

I understand we will get Eeyore's father Bob with us right before Christmas. With you being in SoCal during Christmas I would guess you will see him right after us. Have a blast at DLR!

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

Hey Steph, see my response to DLR29 as we were in your neck of the woods last week when we missed our connection to China in SF.

I understand we will get Eeyore's father Bob with us right before Christmas. With you being in SoCal during Christmas I would guess you will see him right after us. Have a blast at DLR!

We're actually going to see them over TG at Shaver this year, we'll leave in a few days. Luckily, they've got wifi in the cabin now or I'd definitely be going through DISBoard withdrawals!

Take lots and lots of pictures of DisneySea, please! I'd love to see a slideshow!

[HydroGuy]

DisneySea. What can I say? This park is spectacular. The details and theming are amazing. We had a great day yesterday. Here were some highlights...

Journey to the Center of the Earth (twice)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (twice)
Indiana Jones (3 times)
Tower of Terror (once)
Storm Rider
Raging Spirits
Sinbad
Mermaid Lagoon (very good)
Mythica show
Harborside Christmas show

Plus more. Lots of pix. Will post more when I get home later this week.

[DangerMouse]

DisneySea. What can I say? This park is spectacular. The details and theming are amazing. We had a great day yesterday. Here were some highlights...

Journey to the Center of the Earth (twice)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (twice)
Indiana Jones (3 times)
Tower of Terror (once)
Storm Rider
Raging Spirits
Sinbad
Mermaid Lagoon (very good)
Mythica show
Harborside Christmas show

Plus more. Lots of pix. Will post more when I get home later this week.

Trey, I'm so excited to hear more and see your pix. They may be the closest I ever get to DisneySea. :goodvibes

[PHXscuba]

That's great you are able to go to Tokyo and China. I think it's especially nice that you're able to do it with your son. Our DS is 13 as well and the couple times we've traveled with JUST him (he is eldest of 4) have been great experiences. It's so hard to get one-on-one time with four kids around.

Looking forward to the trip report when you're back and un-jet-lagged.

PHXscuba

[DisneySuiteFreak]

OMG I can't wait to see pictures and read a full report! I have heard somuch about TDS and TDL and it's one of my must dos -- sometime in the future of course!

[Brian Shepherd]

I would LOVE to check out Disneysea one day.

How long was the flight overseas?

[Judy from Boise]

obviously not Trey, but I think from LAX to Narita is 11 hours.

[HydroGuy]

I would LOVE to check out Disneysea one day.

How long was the flight overseas?

obviously not Trey, but I think from LAX to Narita is 11 hours.We flew from SF to Beijing and the flight took 12 hours but was scheduled as 13 - we arrived one hour early. We took a 3 hour flight from Beijing to Tokyo on Sunday and later today we have an 8 hour flight (scheduled) back from Narita (Tokyo) to SF. Then we clear customs, etc., a 3 hour layover, and then back to beautiful Colorado and an appointment with my bed. :)

[HydroGuy]

It is Wed morning 6AM and we have about 3 hours at the parks today before catching the bus to the airport. Yesterday was Tokyo Disneyland. I will report give some details after I get home but in summary our TDL day was not nearly as good as our TDS day. It was a weekday after a holiday and the crowds were supposed to be more moderate. But they were insane. All the big rides had 2-3 hour lines. We used FP and burned one on a new but lame Monsters Inc ride that had lines 3 hours long. We got on 12-14 rides. The TDS park itself is absolutely beautiful. Stunning.

It is hard to get over hearing Mickey Mouse and and Donald Duck talking in their distinct voices but in Japanese! :laughing: How about Ariel's friend Sebastien the crab with his Jamaican accent on top of Japanese words? :laughing::laughing::laughing:. Their Dream Lights parade is a super sized Electrical Parade. We saw it last night from the hub. I have to say it tops both DEP and SpectroMagic. Very updated, high energy, spectacular.

We debated using the 3 hours this morning at TDL because we were not able to get very much done yesterday but it turns out we squeezed in a lot in the final 2 hours last night to kind of salvage an otherwise semi-disappointing day and so we are going to go back to TDS today to catch ToT and a couple others. ToT is built around the Shiriki Utundu idol (different story from DLR and WDW) and is quite good. There is a really cool illusion at ToT in the pre-show and we want to see it again and figure out how they do it.

Well, off now to shower and pack the suitcases before we head out for the morning. :goodvibes

[BillyFan]

Safe travels. I can't wait for the full report once you get home!

[KCmike]

13 hours on a plane? UGH. I would like to see that resort though. Can't even imagine visiting it.

Can't wait to see and hear your full reactions to everthing.