A Disney Trip of a Lifetime... A trip to TDR, WDW, UOR, SWO, DLR - COMPLETED 12 March

[RachelleBeaney]

A month long trip to Tokyo Disney, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando/Discovery Cove and Disneyland Resort

Hi Everyone, for those of you who aren’t aware my name is Rachelle and
I’m a 27 year old Disney lover, who also loves cats, reading, travelling, nerdy TV and movies and of course my wonderful husband and partner in crime, Jared, 28.

This is the story of our Disney Trip of a Lifetime which was saw us wander to not 1, or even 2 but three Disney Resorts world wide, with Universal and SeaWorld also thrown in. We travelled with my sister, Natalie, 24 and her husband Ashley, 26 in Orlando, Florida and had a wonderful family holiday!

For those curious about appearances (hehe yes I am one of you) attached is a picture of the four of us, left to right Ashley (brother in law), Natalie (sister), Me (Rachelle) and Jared (husband):



I love this picture and how it looks like a Christmas Card. Our trip’s purpose was to celebrate my birthday and my sister’s birthday, and this purpose was a little invaded by Disney’s enthusiastic pursuit of an early Christmas season (much to my sister’s irritation – yes, she is the grinch). It’s so strange to me to celebrate any kind of Christmas in November. I mean sure, Christmas decorations are in the stores by then, but since I never like to think about Christmas (except for my Christmas shopping for which I am always super organised with) until after my birthday. Disney, however, thinks about Christmas all through November and I enjoyed the melding of my birthday and Christmas into one this year.

On another note, if you are interesting in reading my pre-trip report it can be found here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=48791799#post48791799

Finally a preface to this report; I am a rambler and made copious notes on this trip (I basically filled a whole notebook) so hopefully you can bear with me through my extended prose. If you can manage it I promise a tale full of fun and magical theme park moments with a little Japanese culture thrown in for good measure. I hope you all enjoy and if I can prompt just one person to take a trip to Tokyo Disney or, indeed, Japan in general I’ll feel this was a job well done.

 

[RachelleBeaney]

CONTENTS​

Day 1 - 1 November 2013 - Travel Day and arriving in Tokyo

I. If you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you may be swept off to - Travel and Arriving in Tokyo

Day 2 - 2 November 2013 - Kamakura

I. Its a long uphill walk for Love

II. For the Love of Music, Money and the Big Budda

III. A traditional Japanese lunch & wedding, and an un-traditional Japanese pet

Day 3 - 3 November 2013 - Tokyo

I. A lesson in Japanese History - Edo Tokyo Museum

II. So that's what it feels like to be a sardine - Senso-Ji Temple and Ginza

III. Madness, Mayhem and many colored lights - Robot Restaurant Shinjuku

IV. Hey sexy lady oop, oop, oop, oop Robot Gangnam Style - Robot Restaurant

Day 4 - 4 November 2013 - Tokyo Gardens and to Disney we go

I. A walk in a Traditional Japanese Garden - Rikugien

II. More garden and the Tokyo skyline - our last morning in Tokyo city

III. Its a small world after all - arrival at the Miracosta Hotel

Day 5 - 5 November 2013 - First theme park day at Tokyo Disney Resort - Tokyo Disney Sea Day 1

I. No running to the Centre of the Earth, the middle of the jungle or the future please

II. Using the slower than fast but faster than the posted wait slow pass

III. Mum they have real china! Lunch at S.S.Columbia Dining Room

IV. Mysterious Fathoms Below

V. An Italian Harbour View and a Venetian Date

VI. Welcome to Fantasmic!

Day 6 - 6 November 2013 - Tokyo Disneyland Day 1

I. Yay our touring plans are working!

II. Around The Castle

III. Rabbits and Wolves and Bears, oh my - Is it off with their heads?

IV. A relaxing afternoon of princes, pirates and pooh characters

V. Tokyo Disney Electrical Parade - Dreamlights

Day 7 - 7 November 2013 - Tokyo Disney Sea Day 2

I. Rain rain go away, come again another day

II. Legends of Mythica

III. A Venetian View

Day 8 - 8 November 2013 - Tokyo Disneyland Day 2 and Tokyo Disney Sea Day 3

I. A fun Photo Shoot - Final day at Tokyo Disneyland

II. Photos, Photos and more Photos

III. Parting is such sweet sorrow Pt 1

IV. Parting is such sweet sorrow Pt 2

Day 9 - 9 November 2013 - Travel Day and arriving in Los Angeles for a family reunion and Warner Brothers Studio Tour

I. TV and Movie backlots, sets, props and more

II. Ill be there for you - everyone's favorite coffee house!

Day 10 - 10 November 2013 - Arriving in Orlando

I. A Royal Welcome for travellers of Jareds Magical Express

Day 11 - 11 November 2013 - Walt Disney World Day 1 - Magic Kingdom

I. All Photopass photos are free - well ok then

II. Into a Fantasy and Under the Sea

III. Grim Grinning Ghosts come out to socialize

IV. Its the Wild Wild West - smile please!

V. Food puts a smile on everyone's dial - singing does not

VI. Mickeys Very Merry Xmas Party

Day 12 - 12 November 2013 - Walt Disney World Day 2 - Animal Kingdom and dinner at Be Our Guest

I. A slow amble through an Animal Paradise

II. Thrills, Chills and Yetis - from the Mountain to the Jungle

III. Look its a bird, no a dinosaur, no its Disneys Animal Kingdom

IV. A Safari in Orlando

V. We tried the grey stuff, it was delicious!

Day 13 - 13 November 2013 - Walt Disney World Day 3 - Downtown Disney and Illuminations Fireworks Cruise

I. I'm cold - the tale of our cruise of the EPCOT Resort area to Illuminations

Day 14 - 14 November 2013 - Walt Disney World Day 4 - EPCOT

I. Safety First please!

II. Happy Birthday Princess!

III. Around the World in, well, certainly not 80 days!

IV. It's the end of the World ... Showcase Adventure

Day 15 - 15 November 2013 - Walt Disney World Day 5 - Hollywood Studios

I. The ears of shame

II. Into the Twilight Zone

III. Lights, Camera, Action - an afternoon of entertainment

IV. Night-time at the Studios

Day 16 - 16 November 2013 - Transfer to Floridays and Shopping

I. Around Port Orleans Riverside

II. Outlets and Arriving at Floriday's

Day 17 - 17 November 2013 - Other Orlando Parks - SeaWorld

I. Following Flamingos and Posing with Penguins

II. Arggh Matey Sea Lions, Sharks and Pirates

III. Tomorrow begins on the horizon

IV. Race against time from the Arctic to the sea

V. One Ocean

Day 19 - 19 November 2013 - Universal Orlando Resort - Universal Studios Florida

I. Superheros and Villains

II. Look out behind you! Revenge of the Mummy is a scary ride!

III. Dont you know you must exit through the gift shop?

Day 20 - 20 November 2013 - A magical birthday - Universal Orlando Resort - Islands of Adventure and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I. Please respect the spell limits - A muggle in the magic

II. Heroes and Wizards

III A lunch of Mythical Proportions

Day 22 - 22 November 2013 - Universal Orlando Resort - Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure

I. A Morning of Magic - again!

II. Welcome to, Jurassic Park - oh watch out for the T-Rex

III. Cartoons and Caricatures - wait is that batman?

IV. Caught in the deluge

V. One final trip to Hogwarts

Day 24 - 24 November 2013 - Other Orlando Parks - Discovery Cove - a sibling birthday with a splashing surprise

I. Our own private paradise!

II. Meet Rascal, he likes kisses!

III. A splashing surprise - Happy Birthday Natalie

IV. Relaxing in paradise - a wonderful farewell to Orlando

Day 25 - 25 November 2013 - Travelling and Day 1 at the Disneyland Resort

I. A magical day of theme park views, flatbreads and facials

Day 26 - 26 November 2013 - Disneyland Day 1

I. Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, we took photos

II. Fun and adventure up to our Ears!

III. A Zipidy Do Dah Ride

IV. "when you wish upon a star" - A castle photo extravaganza

V. I'm spinning around

VI. Meeting the Mouse

VII. Ah, that's what Thanksgiving Crowds are really like

Day 27 - 27 November 2013 - Disney California Adventure Day 1

I. Racing to Radiator Springs

II. Radiator Racers three times in one day! Awesome!

III. Walking in California

IV. Flying again into a whole new world

V. No rest for Disney tourists at Thanksgiving

VI. The World is a carousel of...oh wait, whats this damned snowman nonsense!

VII. Nightime in Carsland

Day 28 - 28 November 2013 - Our first Thanksgiving - Disneyland and Walking in Walts Footsteps Tour and homeward bound

I. An enchanted soundtrack to our final day

II. Walking in Walt’s Footstep’s

III. Through the Rivers of America

IV. And so we say farewell….until our next meeting


Photobook diversions:

Photobook screen captures - Tokyo and Anaheim - Part 1

Photobook screen captures - Tokyo and Anaheim - Part 2

Photobook screen captures - Tokyo and Anaheim - Part 3

Photobook screen captures - Orlando - Part 1

Photobook screen captures - Orlando - Part 2

Photobook screen captures - Orlando - Part 3http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=50929370&postcount=145

 

[RachelleBeaney]

We left Perth on very early on Friday, 1 November (our flight was at 2:30am!) to head on a long-ish journey to Japan. I was indeed ready for our Disney trip having had a friend do this to my nails in preparation of our adventure:



Of course they didn’t last the whole trip (sad) but they were there for all of Tokyo Disney! In case you are unsure what they are supposed to be thanks to the fuzzy and stupid iPhone picture, my thumb had the Disney logo’s D on it and my index finger sported the Disney logo’s Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Since we had an early (or late) call to start our adventure, we unfortunately looked like this:



And seeing this picture discouraged me from taking anymore until our first day in Tokyo! I believe I put this on facebook with some super nerdy comment the likes of “It’s a dangerous business Frodo, walking out your front door, you step onto the road, and if you don’t keep you feet, there’s no knowing where you may be swept off to!”. Of course we felt like we were heading off on a very long and wonderful adventure so it seemed apt, and with that we set off for our 5 hour flight to Singapore followed by our 8 hour flight to Tokyo.

That may sound like a long time to you lucky Americans who don’t have to travel far to Disney (well the US ones anyway) but unfortunately living in Perth, Australia means that no matter where you travel, it’s going to take you a long time! We were quite excited by what we called our ‘short’ trip to Tokyo as we normally have to fly 5 hours to Sydney followed by 15 hours to Los Angeles, and then, if going to Orlando, another 5 hour flight. You can see how, relatively speaking, this trip felt short to us.

We also had the advantage of only having a 1 hour time difference from Tokyo. I was so excited about not having to fight jet lag, at least until a little way through our trip, that I relaxed enough to sleep a little on the plane to Singapore and a little more on our flight to Tokyo.

Other than the sleeping (which is really an incredible feat for me!) there is never much to report from travelling and so I won’t bore you with it, except to say I LOVE CHANGI AIRPORT (SINGAPORE) and one day I’m actually going to make a point to go to Singapore instead of just flying through it!

So, quite quickly, given that we slept, we found ourselves arriving in Tokyo, Japan. Customs in Japan, like everything in Japan, was super efficient even in its busy craziness and in no time we were into our ‘shuttle’ which turned out to be our own private car to our hotel, Tokyo Hilton Shinjuku.

Ok, so if travelling from Perth to Japan felt quick, this drive felt loonngg. Despite the sleep we were still very tired and I believe it took over 2 hours to reach our destination (note anyone travelling from Narita Airport to the city of Tokyo – don’t get a taxi, it will cost you the earth! It’s ok – we didn’t!). On this lengthy drive there were a few moments of note which I did note and will now tell you all:

People drive fast in Tokyo, FAST – I think our driver was going constantly 130km/h at one point (hmmm I think that’s ….consult google…80 mph)! It was strange though because all the roads felt so smooth it was very do-able and we never felt unsafe. To put that in perspective for American’s who I note also always seem to drive super fast our max speed on any road in Australia is 110km/h (70 miles per hour) and this top speed is very forcefully enforced with strict fines so no one really goes to far above that speed. One other weird anomaly I did pick up on however was an on ramp to nowhere …strange.

The most exciting part of the drive (until the little distance ticker measured only 5km!) was driving past the Tokyo Disney Resort. The first thing I saw was a massive hotel lit up with hundreds of fairy lights and I was thinking, hmm that may be the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, when I saw the castle! Yes, for those of you who complain Disneyland is not hidden from it’s surrounds you can practically see all of the Tokyo Disney Resort from the highway. Even in the dark and as we whizzed past, I caught a glimpse of the castle, Space Mountain, the Monsters Inc ride the Tokyo Disney Welcome Centre, Bon Voyage and more. I think in a way though, given that Tokyo is such a local’s park, this works to TDR’s favour as it’s such a draw from this boring almost industrial area and highway into the magical world of Disney. I can imagine if I lived in Tokyo and passed the resort each day on my way to work I’d have trouble not being drawn in!

After this there was a lot of monotony until we reached the city area of Tokyo. When I say city area, Tokyo is made up of heaps of ‘cities’ that are like suburban areas of any other city such as Perth (or Los Angeles for my American audience). The ‘city’ area is huge and is serviced by multiple rail systems all of which are owned and run by different companies! Everything is big in Tokyo, everything is bright, lots signs are vertical (which is strange – but I guess is to accommodate the fact that Japanese is written top to bottom not left to right).



Not only is everything big but everything looks planned and functional. I don’t think I saw a single bit of space once in the city that looked like it wasn’t designed to look that way. Put it down to the meticulous organisation of the Japanese, or a good city planner, I don’t know – but it was an eye opener. Tokyo is a very clean city too and I never once felt unsafe. Of course we didn’t seek out any dodgy places, but even still, Shinjuku is the entertainment capital of Tokyo and has a number of nightclubs and other nightlife but we never saw any drunk or un-orderly people or anything you might find in the unfortunate nightlife strip of Perth called Northbridge!

Once we got to the hotel we were immediately amazed by the size of our room! It was huge. Of course it was a western hotel, being a Hilton, but I’d still heard horror stories about tiny Japanese hotels with twin beds and no room to swing a cat as the saying goes, however ours was definitely not in that category. And at around $200 a night it was definitely not overly expensive either (by my standards anyway – Perth is the standard I base city hotels on with our good hotels usually around $250 - $350 per night depending on the season). Anyway here was what awaited us upon arrival to the Tokyo Hilton Shinjuku:







Our first Japanese toilet!





Ahh what are all the buttons for?!! I have to say, now that I’ve officially tried a bidet I can officially say I don’t like it!

This was the view from our room:





The only thing the hotel didn’t have that I’d heard was great in Japan was one of those heaters behind the mirror that leave a small patch of it unfogged so those of us who are vain can look at ourselves wet and drippy (once again, I am one of those!).

It wasn’t long before we were snoring away as we had a very early call the next day…

Continued in next post....

 

[fabulousfive]

Just read your whole pre- trip report and now I can't wait to hear all about the actual trip!!!

 

[RachelleBeaney]

The next morning we awoke to this lovely view of the business district of Shinjuku







We then proceeded upstairs for some free breakfast (my wonderful Jared is a platinum member of Virgin Australia and as such he gets a status match at all Hilton hotels making him a Diamond Hilton member, which translated to a bigger room (I think) and free breakfasts! YAY. Then, we had our first taste of just how polite Japanese society is. On our way up to breakfast one of the service staff actually bowed to us until we were out of sight with a cheerful Ohayou gozaimasu (good morning)! The night before when wed ventured out to find some large bottles of water the clerk at the 7-11 counted out our change one by one as he returned them to us, pointing at each note to show us what it was. I thought this was because we were gaijin (which means foreigner or westerner) but this seemed normal practice wherever we went, even with the Japanese customers.

Our first day in Tokyo was actually to be given over to a tour of a small town about an hour outside of Tokyo called Kamakura. Id heard wonderful things about this area, its very old and very beautiful having pre-dated both Tokyo and Kyoto as the capital of Japan. A number of very old shrines and woodland areas surround a small city area that seems a lot more rural than Tokyo.

We had booked a tour with a company called the Backstreet Guides to Tokyo (and yes it made me sing Backstreets Back, Alright in my head every time I said it!). It was a day long trip leaving about 9am and returning to Tokyo by about 5pm. Our guide, Miwa was WONDERFUL and I cannot stress highly enough, if you every go to Tokyo do one of the Backstreet Guides tours and ask for Miwa as your guide! Her English was perfect and she was so knowledgeable. Plus, having her as our guide allowed us to see places around Kamakura we never could have found ourselves. She was very gracious to give us her advice on other must see activities around Tokyo (one of which ended up being one of the highlights of our trip  more on that later) and was wonderfully gracious when discussing her people and her culture.

Anyway, now that I've raved about Miwa, lets go back to the part where we meet her! We were instructed to wait down in the lobby for Miwa. We found her almost instantly thanks to a badge identifying her. She was a tiny woman, I almost felt tall and I am not, barely measuring 5'3, but she had such energy and charisma! I wanted to try be polite and introduce myself in Japanese. Now Jared and I both learnt Japanese at school, but for all the almost 5 years of study I didn't remember that much. Apparently, though, as Id learnt the Japanese alphabet and pronunciation, Id managed to pick up some sort of good pronunciation for after I shyly said Konochiwa, Watashi wa Rachelle desu ka, Hajimamashte (which means Hello, my name is Rachelle, nice to meet you), Miwa responded Wow, you have wonderful pronunciation!. It was the crowning moment of years of Japanese study and probably the only time I showed any proficiency for the language for the rest of our trip there!

On our way to the Shinjuku Train Station (which is reportedly the busiest train station in the world  and after seeing it that doesn't surprise me), we discussed with Miwa where we were from, a little about herself and a lot about the history and culture of Japan. We continued these discussions on the hour long trip out to Kamakura and the time just flew by. Before I knew it wed landed at a small suburban looking train station, Kamakura:









Miwa informed us that Kamakura was the setting of a lot of Japanese TV dramas as its a very beautiful and romantic location (think Young and the Restless, or for you Australian audiences, Home and Away). It was apt then that our first stop was Kuzugahara, the Love Shrine. However, to get to the Love Shrine we first had to trek up hill for about 30 mins, sometimes with only the roots of trees as steps up precarious embankments. It did lend itself to some beautiful views of Japanese forest and was totally worth it when we got to the top.

The forest: (who else is thinking of Treebeard right now!)













See, we were literally climbing the tree roots! We had a man climbing behind us who was very friendly and tried a bit of his English out on us. He didnt speak much so Miwa was translating for us. It turned out he was 81 years old hiking up a hill with unstable footholds! I figured if an 81 year old could do it I certainly could  though he didnt look 81 at all (that could also be due to the fact the Japanese age very well! I supposed its all the fish!).

Once we got the shrine we participated in a ritual to bring luck and love to oneself, writing your name and the name of your love on a heart to be hung up at the shrine. Of course, I already have the love of my life in my life but thought it would be beautiful to see our names in a little wooden heart aside many many wooden hearts. As you can see, it made for some great photos. Also, it was quite obvious not many gaijin made the trek to this place as I couldn't spot any other English among the hanging hearts.











After this we needed to participate in a cleansing ritual to visit the shrine:







The shrine was absolutely beautiful - a Shinto shrine (Miwa explained that Shinto has shrines  Buddhism has temples). Shinto is the original Japanese religion based on nature worship. The shrine, surrounded by beautiful trees very much reflected this. It was very quiet, peaceful and reflective.







Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

After the quiet visit to the shrine we were drawn by drumming playing next to the shrine’s entrance. A Japanese drum band playing Djembes, traditional Taiko drums, steel drums and accompanied by other percussion and a banjo were entertaining audiences who had trekked up the shrine.



The man who was obviously the organiser of the entertainment came over to us, beckoning us in to a couple of stools in the front of the audience area, with as much English as he could manage. He seemed so excited to see Gaijin in this little, obviously local, corner of the world and asked to take our picture on his iPad as he chatted away to our guide Miwa about where we were from etc etc. We were encouraged by him to grad a Tamborine and join in with the band, which we all did, and all enjoyed:





This is Miwa our wonderful guide! 



After the band had finished their set they came down into the audience with their instruments, obviously intent on getting the audience to have a little fun on them. The main drummer, who was the most animated Japanese man I met on our whole trip (the music clearly moved him and he allowed it too!), came over to Jared with his Djembe drum. Now, my husband is a WONDERFUL musician who studied at one of the most prestigious music schools in Australia called the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts or WAAPA, but of course, no one around knew that and I guess our Japanese drummer friend thought he’d just let him have a play on the drum. His primary instrument in piano/keyboards on which he is amazing (yes I can have Disney songs played for me whenever I like !) but he also plays drums, guitar and bass guitar. He is very good on a Djembe drum too, he has an innate sense of rhythm, but he is usually quite shy about playing in front of people unless it’s during a gig situation as he doesn’t like to show off. So when the enthusiastic Japanese drummer offered him the drum I sort of had to talk him into having a go. Perhaps to the lovely audience this was a sign he didn’t want to embarrass himself or that he didn’t know what he was doing. Either way, when he started to play there was an almost simultaneous gasp of surprise from everyone around followed by a lot of clapping and a little cheering (which says a lot given that the Japanese don’t cheer much). Spontaneously, the Japanese drummer man grabbed another djembe and began to join in and before long was joined by the banjo player! Jared was jamming in Japan! It was a wonderful wonderful moment, everyone’s faces – including Jared’s – were lit with happiness with the sound of this spontaneous music and though Jared and our Japanese drummer friend couldn’t have said a word to each other that would have been understood, in that moment they understood each other perfectly. That is why I love music, for it’s a language of it’s own that transcends language or culture lines and brings people from everywhere together. This was one of those moments and I felt a little close to tears. Also, I was very very proud of my talented husband. At the end of the experience I couldn’t stop smiling and it soon became my favourite memory of our whole trip. I thanked Miwa profusely as had it not been for her we never would have been in the right place and the right time to have that wonderful moment ! Anyway, now that I’ve rambled about it – here are a few pictures of the moment:







Our next stop in Kamakura was the Money Shrine, also known as the Snake Shrine as snakes in Japan are associated with wealth. It was inside a beautiful little rock valley accessible only through a tunnel through the rock. Below is a picture of the entrance to the shrine area:



Once inside I participated in a different spirit cleansing ceremony which involved smoke and candles.





Miwa did explain the significance to me but time has allowed that memory to escape! Next Jared and I rang a large Japanese bell and were directed to make a prayer of thankfulness. I was simply thankful for the blessing of being able to visit the wonderful country of Japan. After we were cleansed and had been thankful we were able to go to the sacred waters of the shrine and wash our money. And we actually did wash our money, coins and notes. You put the money in a small wicker basket and ladle water from a flowing stream inside a small cave at the back area of the shrine. Then, our money was supposed to triple. We are still waiting to see if that happens! Jared did wash an Australian $20 note but when we go home we still only had $20!

The area of the shrine was beautiful and distinctly ‘Japanese’, well that’s how it felt to me:















Of course, there has to be a Koi pond!

It was mid-morning by now and time for a break. Miwa suggested we try a traditional little tea place not far from the snake shrine which served traditional Japanese desserts. I was all for experiencing Japanese culture and readily agreed. I got something that apparently had no calories and looked like blanched jelly (jello) in strings which was dipped into some short of maple syrup like sauce made from a fresh Japanese bean. It was all supposed to be very healthy, and eating it with chopsticks was fun (I can use chopsticks but I’m not hugely proficient, however, if your going to Japan I suggest you get proficient real quick as not a lot of places offer forks and knives unless you ask or are eating Western food!)



Walking through Kamakura’s streets was beautiful too – I loved the very Japanese look of the place, as opposed to Tokyo which, in its essence, is just a big city, albeit a very well planned, clean one with plenty of Japanese signs!



We headed next to the biggest Budda in the world! Miwa once again pointed out at this point that Japan has two religions; Shinto, it’s original religion, and Buddhism, which of course was imported from China. She then pointed out that religion in Japan is very cultural more so than spiritual and that many Japanese people consider themselves atheists.

Arriving at the Big Budda we got a chance to see to see just how big he really is!
These photos should hopefully give you some idea:







The area surrounding the Budda was very busy (it was a holiday weekend) and I could see how religious icons such as Budda seemed more of a tourist spot or place for a picnic than a place to go to serious pray and reflect.





Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

After Budda it was time for lunch and Miwa had picked out a very traditional Japanese place so we could enjoy some more Japanese culture and cuisine.





It was truly traditional as each eating area was its own small room. The Japanese people apparently traditionally prefer privacy in a restaurant. I really loved the set up. It was small and cosy!

Miwa then told us she was glad we had asked her to show us as much Japanese culture and cuisine as possible as she often had tour groups who would come and not be interested in anything but shopping or who started out wanting to see something distinctly Japanese but soon got bored of it and cut the tour off early. I couldn’t understand it, isn’t half the point of going somewhere with a completely different culture to your own to experience that culture as much as possible! Anyway – the place we had lunch was great. I really wanted to try tempura but unfortunately I’m allergic to prawns/shrimp and so I had tempura vegetables with udon noodles (my favourite), which Jared had a bento box type meal with little bits of everything including sashimi (raw fish), something which I admit I was not brave enough to try (I’m not a huge fan of cooked fish let along raw fish!). Jared did swear that it was delicious though. My tempura, however, was AMAZING. I don’t dislike vegetables, but I guess I don’t particularly like them either but eat them because I know they are good for me and they usually help my stomach feel good. However, if all my vegetables were done tempura style I would eat them with the gusto and fervour of, I don’t know, cheese (that by the way is my favourite food!).



My yummy tempura and udon!



Jared’s array of Japanese cuisine!

After lunch it was time to shop! The shopping in Kamakura is quite traditional in places and I managed to find some lovely Japanese tea cups that now adorn my ornament shelf at home as well as some personalised chopsticks with my name carved into them in Japanese. It was crazy busy too, just look at all these people



Here’s what I meant about the smaller, more suburban feel of Kamakura







We even saw a Rickshaw! Who knew those still existed!



Our final Shrine was apparently the biggest in Kamakura and that translated to the busiest. Because of this we just got pictures from the front of a very long walk way to the Shrine.







Just look at all the people – and no, this was not even close to the biggest crowd we experienced in Tokyo!





For those of you who have been to EPCOT you will recognise the next few photos as a Torri gate, which marks the transition from the normal everyday to the sacred.





We didn’t stay long at this Shrine, but on our way out we saw something Miwa had been hoping she would get to show us, a traditional Japanese wedding



I love the contrast of old and new in this next photo – a traditional Japanese outfit and a mobile phone!



It was a bit rainy and overcast by this point and time for us to catch the train back to Tokyo – but not before we saw one more wonderful thing. A pet Meerkat!



Now I love Meerkats – I think they are so cute, but never in my wildest dreams would I have thought of owning one as a pet. This Japanese lady obviously did though, and the Meerkat just sat happily on her shoulder, looking around alertly, as Meerkats do! It was many of the crazy-fun things about Tokyo which made me love it even more!

After our train trip back (on which I nearly fell asleep multiple times, which is saying something about how tired I was, as I never ever sleep on public transport) we took a few photos with the wonderful Miwa in front of our hotel. We bid her farewell and thanked her for a wonderful wonderful day. Little did we know her tips and insights into Japan and its culture would give us many more wonderful memories in the next few days.



Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

For our second day in Tokyo we had quite a lot of things to do and see. We of course started with free breakfast in the executive lounge again (I’m so not used to this kind of luxury when on holiday so I will probably make mention of it a lot!). This was the view from our table:





The night before, Jared, the wonderful logical map reader he is, had spent an hour or so pouring of maps of the Japanese subway systems so he could get us to where we needed to go. We found the Tokyo subway very easy and simple to use. Miwa’s advice to us the previous day was to simply remember the letter, colour and stop number of the train station you needed to get to. Find that colour and letter on a sign, follow the signs to that platform and hop on the side of the line which is going towards your stop number. It was very good advice and it really is that simple. There is plenty of signage to point you in the right direction. There are even arrows on the platforms indicating which stop is next from that side of the platform (i.e. if your station is 12, 11 will be one way and 13 will be the other. So, if for example, you were going to 17 you’d know to get on the train going towards stop 13 as that way the numbers are going up, whereas if you were going to 8 you’d know to get on the side going towards 11, where the numbers are going down etc. This may sound simply and normal but in Perth we have an extremely confusing train system which really relies on your knowing which way the city is when your on the train platform so you don’t catch the train in the wrong direction!). However, there are so many lines and stops you really did need to know which one you were headed to and where or how you needed to transfer to a new line.

Another thing about the Tokyo Metro is that it is HUGE. For a moment, we were really happy when we discovered there was a subway station that fed right into our hotel. This is actually not unusual as many other hotels were marked on the exit maps in the subway, as well as tourist sights and government buildings, all in English and Japanese so it was very easy to find your way to something once you arrived at the appropriate stop. Our hotel had an underground shopping area that led into the subway! However, if you thought having an underground walkway into the subway attached to our hotel made it quicker to get there then you’d unfortunately be wrong. Their stations are so huge even once you’re in one you can walk for 10 – 15, sometimes even 20 minutes to reach your platform! Mostly all underground too!

Anyway, now that I’ve bored you with the workings of the Tokyo Metro we will get back to our activities of the day. Our first stop was the Edo Tokyo Museum.



Located in Ryogoku, it covers two eras of Tokyo’s history including the Edo period which covers the mid-1600’s through to the mid 1800’s, and the modern Tokyo period from the mid 1800’s through to today. Unfortunately that day our time was limited so we only got to see the Edo period side of the museum. We had a wonderful English speaking guide Inamato who talked us through the history of Japan during the Edo period as we walked around all the exhibits. I could write down everything I learnt and noted that day but I fear it will take a very long time so instead, here are a few snap shots of Edo period life in Tokyo with brief explanations:

The first two pictures are a scale model replica of the Shogun’s residence. The Shogun was the governor of Japan during its military rule, though the position in many ways was much like the position of emperor as it was hereditary not elected. Also the Shoguns commanded great respect and amassed great wealth during this period. Imagine if today’s five star generals inherited the right to that position from their fathers! The Shogun’s were more of a figurehead however and had very little actually political power, as this was controlled by the government of the time.





The model was beautifully made and so ornate! Next we saw a model of Tokyo as it splayed out from the Nihonbashi bridge. A half scale reproduction of the Nihonbashi beckons you into the museum (seen in the photo of Jared and I above) and was meant to orient you to where you were within Edo period Tokyo. As such at the foot of the bridge was the replica of the business district at that time, complete with amazing models of the people of the Era. They were intricately hand painted and their clothing was only made out of materials used in that era!









Next to the model was a life sized replica of a type of carried Rickshaw which government officials would use to travel distances. It was so small I started to wonder how anyone would manage long trips in such a confined space when I thought about the poor lower class men who would have had to carry it! Jared bravely had a go in it!



One of the most fascinating things we saw was an original samurai sword and amour from this period. It was the last period of the samurai!







Another interesting thing we discovered was that Edo period Japan had wooden waterworks that could pipe water to the wells in town…



As well as the ability to mass print pictures, not just text, using woodblock printing. The way it worked was that each plate of wood would carry the imprint of part of a whole picture and when each was stamped over the other a full picture would appear. Observe:



Each of these elements are joined together to make:



This allowed art, comics, texts books depicting pictures to be sold in mass to the everyday man. It was a cultural revolution in Japan called Ukiyo-e. Our guide even told us it allowed teachers at the time to teach students to their ability level providing separate text books for students at different levels of learning.

We saw many more things at the museum that were interesting and informative such as, replicas of party boats of the period, Kabuki theatre displays and a fireman’s pole used to signal a fire, which was held up by fireman who tore down any house that was burning (and it was damned heavy!)







By the end of almost 2 hours we had to politely inform our wonderful guide that we had to be moving on. At the start he had told us it was easy to spend a whole day at the museum there was so much to see and we told him we only had a few hours. He was so enthusiastic about the history of his country I believe he would have continued talking all day had we let him, and we would have enjoyed that, but we did have other places to see. We bid the Tokyo Edo Museum a fond farewell and were grateful to have learned a little about Japanese history and traditional culture.

Our next plan to head to the Senso-Ji Temple, the largest Temple in all of Tokyo. On our way we saw some Jinglish (badly translated English). Mostly the English signage is amazingly good in Japan (on adverts and the like). And not that I believe they should have to have English signage for the English speaking tourist but it was nice to be able to get around. Of course, the Japanese are notoriously shy people who don’t like to embarrass themselves so most won’t try out English if they aren’t confident with it (and really, as a second language they really shouldn’t have to be confident with it). However, this construction worker had clearly given it a go and while the gist of the sign was apparent, it made no sense, and gave Jared and I and good hearty laugh. Good on whoever wrote it for having a go though!



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[RachelleBeaney]

Our next stop was of course the Senso-ji Temple. We arrived in Asakusa where the temple is located and discovered a huge amount of people simply lining the street in front of the temple. It was then we remembered that this was a holiday weekend and that things we bound to be super busy.



Ahh look at all the people! It turns out they were waiting for a culture day parade (the holiday weekend was to celebrate Japanese Culture Day), which we caught the tail end of on the way out. However, if we thought there were a lot of people before we got to the temple we had to catch our breath when we saw how many people we actually headed towards the temple itself. Senso-ji temple has a very small entranceway of sorts, through a narrow walkway of shops and stands. There are a lot of great traditional Japanese items sold at Senso-ji, including fans, lanterns and chopsticks. However, it was near impossible the day we went to navigate into the shops as you were pushed a pulled along with a throng of hundreds of other tourists towards the temple gates. We did manage our way into a few shops thankfully but I have never felt so crowded in my life. Here are some pictures of what we experienced:







When we got to the temple we decided not to brave actually going in but took a few pictures from outside the main gates.











After seeing Senso-ji we caught a short bit of the Culture Day parade that everyone had been lining the streets for:





So many people! It was lucky Jared is tall in Japan so he could get the camera over everyone’s heads. Really though, the crowds we encountered that day were a good thing as we were expecting similar crowds at Disney and we able to be pleasantly surprised when it wasn’t that bad (I mean still more people than I’ve ever seen at Disney at anytime expect afternoon Disneyland during Thanksgiving season!)

Anyway our next stop was Ginza. We didn’t really have a lot of shopping to do but we wanted to try some Shabu Shabu and there was a place in Ginza and we figured we’d check it out. It was just a chain Shabu Shabu place as Shabu Shabu can be quite expensive! For those interested, Shabu Shabu is a Japanese dish that involves swishing meat (the name means something like swish swish) through boiling hot water which you add vegetables to while you cook your meat and eventually becomes a stocky soup that you drink at the end of your meal. It was fun using chopsticks when such thin meat was involved and the damn pot was so far away from me, but the end result is very yummy!


It’s still raw

Swish-Swish

Yummy!

Managing chopsticks!

The restaurant

Jared enjoying the stocky soup he boiled up

After lunch we wandered Ginza for a while with no real goal in mind except to check out the place:









We did check out Mitsukoshi the Department Store. For those of you who have seen the version in EPCOT you may be aware that this was one of the first Department stores with multiple locations as early as the 1600s. It is very up market, akin to Myer or David Jones (if you’re not Australian you won’t get that reference!). That being said we didn’t plan to buy anything much in Mitsukoshi, however I did find a gorgeous display plate with a beautiful cherry blossom pattern in front of Mt Fuji which was not too expensive and my main ‘souvenir’ from Tokyo.



After Mitsukoshi my feet had started to hurt badly, and we were very exhausted from two full on days so we decided to head back to the hotel (skipping Shibuya Crossing) and rest until our evening plans.

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[RachelleBeaney]

So what were our evening plans? We had been told by our guide from the day before, Miwa, that there was a place in downtown Shinjuku called the Robot Restaurant and that the food was awful but the show was crazy and wonderful and a delightful display of Japanese whimsy. Jared loved the sound of that so we booked in for the 8:00pm showing. Upon Miwa’s advice we had some dinner at the hotel before leaving for the show.

Arriving in the entertainment district of Shinjuku was kind of like stepping into Times Square in New York, except that there were Times Square’s everywhere! There were so many colourful signs and brightly lit buildings it was hard to know where to look!















This is what we discovered upon arrival at the Robot Restaurant…





Inside the restaurant was the craziest array of lights, mirrors, disco balls and colour I’ve ever seen!








This was the elevator!

We made our way up to the ‘lounge’ where you waited for the show. The place was crazy. It had seashell chairs and mirrored walls, floors and ceilings, LCD screens, lights, gliding robots and a Segway bar!














Look he does what I do! Good Robot

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[RachelleBeaney]

After waiting for a while we proceeded down to the main ‘restaurant’ and stage area. The room was really quite small – no bigger than one small volleyball court and very hot, as it had hundreds of lights overhead. LCD screens lined the walls behind each side of the stage where the guests were tiered in seats with a small table. Look how small the area was! The whole show was in Japanese, however I don’t think that really mattered at the end of the day because it was so crazy and random that I’m not sure it would have made sense even if we understood the narrator. The basic gist seemed to be half naked warrior girls who live in the jungle find their home invaded by alien robots and with the help of the jungle animals and dinosaurs they defeat the robots. Oh and there is a burlesque show thrown in for good measure! Then there were giant bikini robot things ridden by the dancers, a segment where the girls and the robots danced and partied together (I guess they got over their fighting by then) and an end sequence with military tanks and planes which came after we all thought it was over (we’d done a meet and greet with the robots already!) It was insane, but so much fun and we laughed and cheered and got right into it!



The show started with a funky version of Taiko drumming by bikini clad girls (yes there was a bit of burlesque in the show it is definitely not for children!)







There were at least 2 big floats, one medium float and a small hand held prop weaving in and out of each other in the tiny performance space at this point! It was very cleverly done!

The burlesque section was next – yes it was done to the song Burlesque from the Christina Aguilera movie.



A quick break ensued as we were given dinner and the next phase “Robot War” was advertised on the giant LCD screens! These screens had images the whole show, sometimes of the girls, sometimes of landscapes and were there to create mood/atmosphere I guess!




A quick glance at the defender of the jungle – a Kung-fu Panda!

The robots now invaded and were subsequently and very badly defeated by a girl in a bikini riding a dinosaur. This guy gave a good fight before being chased away too! And yes, he is riding a cow:






The robots are defeated!

We were given glow sticks to party along with the newly reconciled robots and girls and we were then treated to Gangnam Style, Robot Style! Once Gangnam style started playing and the robots started to attempt its signature move the crowd got right into it!






Robot DJ




First appearance of the giant stilt robots!







We thought this was the end of the show – I mean we all waited to meet the Robots, see:





But there was one final finale with the girls







We bid Robot Restaurant a very fond farewell completely confuzzled but happy and entertained all the same. Jared loved the randomness and we captioned the experience in the sentence “only in Japan!”

Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

After a night of crazy modern Japan we decided to spend our last morning in Tokyo proper seeing a bit more of traditional Japan. We wanted to go to a Japanese garden and had picked one in Shinjuku close to our hotel. However, the wonderful Miwa had suggested we try Rikugien Gardens as she said it was a quieter more beautiful garden known only to locals.

We got up excited with the anticipation of the day. We had a beautiful garden to visit and I’d booked a massage when we got back to the hotel in the afternoon and then we would be making our way to the Tokyo Disney Resort (TDR). Before heading out that morning we booked a taxi to TDR. Planning note, we discovered a flat rate taxi that will pick you up anywhere in Tokyo city and take you to TDR for 7000 yen (that’s approx $70). Considering any normal taxi would have cost probably $150 - $200 (we did spend $200 on a taxi back to the airport from TDR!) we considered that fair. I’d read horror stories of people try to lug all their luggage through the Tokyo Metro which is much cheaper and I knew my back wouldn’t like that! Our concierge hadn’t actually heard about the flat rate taxi so she was pleased to have learned a tip she could pass on to other guests. Also when she asked where to book the taxi and we told her the Miracosta Hotel, her eyes lit up and she said “ohhh’’ with very wide eyes! This was not the first time we got that reaction upon telling people we were staying at the Miracosta! Clearly the Japanese consider it a very prestigious hotel!

Anyway rambling aside we set off to Rikugien. We got a little lost as the entrance to the garden is hidden down a laneway surrounding by buildings and the signage (for the first time) wasn’t wonderful. However, the place isn’t a big tourist attraction so I would guess that’s why. The garden was absolutely beautiful. Jared and I decided to make a bit of a photo shoot of the whole experience. It was raining ever so slightly so we had bought an umbrella at a local 7-Eleven which made for some cute pictures:

















































Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

We also played with some of the settings on our camera to only pull out certain colours, or to make the pictures look like paintings. It was great fun!








See I am tall in Japan!














Japanese gardens prune their trees by hand. A single tree can take a week of pruning!





We headed back to the hotel, had lunch at the buffet and then I proceeded to get a lovely shiatsu massage that I desperately need (my feet were so sore!). While I was doing that, Jared made his way up the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan building which was right next to our hotel for some views of Tokyo:











We bid farewell to our wonderful hotel, the Tokyo Hilton Shinjuku and made our way to our first Disney resort of the trip!







We spotted this on the way!



Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Our drive to the Tokyo Disney Resort (TDR) was uneventful. We had a lovely cab driver who didnt speak much English but tried hard to communicate with us. Once we arrived at the Miracosta Hotel he did something wonderful though, which made our entrance truly magical and instantly put us in the Disney spirit. He had reacted with the same look of awe at our destination when we told him about it, and when we pulled up the driveway to view the magnificent marble statue fountain he started to exclaim excitedly wow, wow. Now as I said he didnt speak much English, and being a cab driver Im sure hed seen the Miracosta before, so I believe he was doing this for our benefit to help enhance our excitement upon arriving. Then as he pulled into the driveway he begun to hum Its a small world  it was the best entrance to the Tokyo Disney Resort anyone could have asked for! We thanked him profusely in Japanese. Sidebar, I feel like Arigato Gozaimasu was really the only Japanese phrase I made real use of in Japan  they are all so polite and thankful and you want to reciprocate and this is the best way to. Oh, I did get good use a few times out of Toire wa doku desu ka which means where is the toilet. Of course this often backfired as when I asked the question in Japanese people assumed I spoke Japanese and answered in Japanese so I still had no idea where the toilet was!

Sidebar aside, we were so excited to have arrived at the Miracosta. This trip was a bit of a luxury and once in a lifetime thing for us, and staying at the Miracosta was one of those moments. As I walked in my breath was taken away by the beauty and intricacy of the place. It is so majestic. Jared kept saying wow just like our driver and thanked me for suggesting this gorgeous hotel for us to experience. I just kept saying how I had never seen a hotel like the Miracosta (I mean sure Ive stayed in nice hotels but never opulent ones  I havent been to Europe!) and the delirium of the fact we were actually staying at the Miracosta at TDR lasted as we checked in. Then I discovered not only did we get early entry to Tokyo Disney Sea (TDS) we would be allowed early entry to Tokyo Disneyland (TDL) as well (with each park you are allowed in 15 (TDL) or 20 (TDS) minutes before opening). To use the early entry you show your room key at TDS and a pass that is provided to you by the hotel for TDL. I was so excited as I had thought you could only get early entry TDS staying at the Miracosta. I was also worried about how we would handle early access to TDS as we were going to have to change rooms every night (and presumably, once we checked out each morning, lose our room key). This was quickly clarified by a staff member who knew enough English to discuss our problem, as we were given 2 room keys each day and only had to return one each morning, the other was a gift we could keep and use to get into TDS early.

Anyway, our luggage was taken by the bell hop (you dont have to tip them in Japan so we used one!) and we headed to our first of the four rooms we would have. This room was classed as a standard Porto Paradiso Piazza View which runs at about $500 - $650 per night.

The room was large by Japanese standards, though, as we had expected, had only two twin beds (well I would class them as King single beds but they werent big enough for two people)









And now, for the much anticipated view:









The view was gorgeous, and as you can see by the last photo, if you sat at the edge of the window and placed your head against the glass you could see a large portion of the lagoon. It wasnt the most wonderful viewing spot for Fantasmic (we had a Harbour View the next night that was much better though very hard to get a hold of) but we could see some of the show from our room that night.

While Jared did something (cant for the life of me remember what) I took some pictures of the hotel.


No we didnt find this hidden Mickey by ourselves, the bell hop showing us to our room pointed out that there was one in the ceiling, and then we found it.















The photos really dont do justice to how beautiful the place is!

Our next stop was Ikspiari for some dinner and to pick up some needed supplies.




Fun on the awesome TDR monorails



It was raining when we got to Ikspiari which sucked, but made for some beautiful photos







We then headed back to the hotel tired and ready to rest for our first day in the TDR parks the next morning  Tokyo Disney Sea.



We did watch Fantasmic that night (with our heads smooshed a little uncomfortably against our window) but I will leave its description for the next night when we watched it from a better view.

Now is probably a good time as any to give you my thoughts on the Miracosta rooms. Id heard many differing opinions on the rooms before coming to TDR such as that they are old, outdated and not as comfortable as rooms at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. We didnt stay at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, so I cant make comparisons there, but what I will say is this: If you are seeking a big comfy bed and modern amenities like wifi and those things are the most important thing to you, do not stay at the Miracosta. If you feel you cannot bear to sleep apart from your partner, you will probably not enjoy the Miracosta. However, if you love atmosphere, amazing theming, amazing views, feeling as though you are in Italy and if you delight beauty, wonder and craftsmanship, you should definitely stay at the Miracosta. Luckily my husband and I fell into the last category. I wont lie, the beds were very very hard and definitely not what I would call comfortable and there was a certain amount of ire to be had when we discovered we would have to use a network cable to access the internet (no no surely not, isnt it 2013!). However, the feeling of being able to look out our window at the beautiful and wondrous park that is Tokyo Disney Sea was something truly special and so worth all the money we paid. Being able to open our window (they only open a crack but its enough to let the sound in) to hear the sounds of the music and people enjoying themselves in the park was wonderful. Though we did have a few nights where rehearsals for the Christmas show were happening while we slept (they didnt wake me I was so tired but Jared was woken one night). Overall though, staying at the Miracosta was an experience like no other and Im so glad we did it, because Im sure we never will again (its so expensive!) If you are planning a once in a lifetime trip to Tokyo and can afford it, I would definitely consider this hotel. Also, staying at an official Disney hotel (Miracosta, Tokyo Disneyland Hotel or the Ambassador) allows you early entry into the parks and that turned out to be a lifesaver for us for beating the crowds (more on that later).

Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Today was our first day in one of the Tokyo Disney Resort theme parks. We were so excited. For those of you not aware Tokyo Disney Sea is the second park at the TDR opened in 2001 and built at a price tag of 4 billion dollars! It is widely recognised as one of the most beautiful theme parks in the world and consists of 7 lands, Mediterranean Harbour, American Waterfront (including Cape Cod), Mysterious Island, Port Discovery, Lost River Delta, Arabian Coast and Mermaid Lagoon. Anyway, TDS info aside, this is what we woke up to that morning:













A rehearsal for the Christmas show was going on so we stopped to watch a lot of it, making us a little later than planned for opening.

Now, as per advice from other people’s trip reports we were ready in the Miracosta Hotel line at the entrance to Tokyo Disney Sea at 7:15am – 45 mins before the opening of the park at 8. My plan was to be there an hour early but we were distracted by the Christmas show. I’m really glad we were that early as the line got very long right after we lined up. We weren’t hugely close to the front of the line either but close enough.

As we made our way into the park 20 mins before opening, a number of cast members waited outside the entrance to wave to us as we entered! This was normal everyday we went into the Tokyo Disney parks and one of my favourite things about these parks. All the TDR employees seems so happy and proud to be there and so excited to welcome us to their workplace for the day!



This is what we saw as we made our way to the checkpoint (or rope drop) to head towards Journey to the Centre of the Earth (JTTCOE)









These lovely cast members held guests at bay on the Portofino bridge until the park officially opened. They were so lovely and one spoke very good English and we enjoyed a wonderful chat



We needn’t have worried about fighting crowds to get to JTTCOE as I think we were only 2 of 6 people waiting at the check point on the bridge until the park opened. Everyone else was streaming towards the Tower of Terror and, more likely, Toy Story Mania. Since we knew the lines were insane at Toy Story in Tokyo (they were never really under 1.5 – 2 hours) and we would have two more chances in Orlando and Anaheim to experience the ride we decided to skip it in Tokyo. It was really helpful to have it there though is it helped pull crowds from the other rides! Anyway, I had been worried about having to run into the parks which I had heard was the only way to stay ahead of the crowds. However, though some of the early entry guests ran we didn’t feel as though we were at a disadvantage not running. It was also a quieter period (not the quietest but middling I guess) so we weren’t too concerned. On another note, it is not a fact that you are allowed to run at the TDR. In fact the English maps we had expressly forbade running in the parks. At some points the cast members seemed to attempt to stop the running of the early entry guests however no one really seemed to listen. I think the point is that the cast members are too polite to tell people not to run, or at least not firmly enough to make anyone really pay attention. And run they do! As we made our way towards JTTCOE slowly we looked back over the lagoon and saw 100’s of guests running at full pelt into the park! At that moment we breathed a sigh of relief that we’d managed to avoid being stuck in that craziness by staying on property!

We made it to JTTCOE before the main crowds, got a FP for 8:45 – 9:45 and rode the ride with a 5 min wait. We got the front of the car and were the only one’s in our car as the crowds hadn’t made it there yet! JTTCOE was one of those rides I still can’t put my finger on. We did it a number of times in the next few days, and it’s definitely fun and really amazingly themed, but it’s also short and the thrilling part is far too brief for my liking. Still, it was one of my favourite rides of the TDR but I still come away with this feeling it missed a little something to make it brilliant. And despite what I’ve read I don’t think it beats Radiator Racers at Disneyland, though it has one up on Test Track at EPCOT. Next we headed to Indiana Jones and waited only 5 mins for that ride also. Indy is basically the same as the version at Disneyland (which at that point in the trip we had only done once back in 2009 on our very first trip to any Disney park at 10:30pm at night – so we didn’t have a very clear memory of the ride). Of course the ride was wonderful, and much more, crisp maybe, than its Disneyland counterpart. I think this was our favourite ride at TDS.

Our ride photo was so irresistible that we had to purchase a copy – we were loving the ‘when in Japan’ poses everyone else was making!



We were storming along to get through the important rides before the crowds hit so I don’t have any pictures from this part of the day, bear with me, I’ll have lots soon!

Our next stop was the Tower of Terror to get some FP’s. We had gotten our first FP at 8:10ish and were able to get another at 9:15am. The FP return time at 9:30ish was already 11:25 – 12:15 so we grabbed those.

After that we headed back to JTTCOE to use our FP’s – by the time we got back, it was about 9:30-9:45 and the standby wait was already 80 mins. With our FP’s we got on the ride in 15. Up next we headed to 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and all the headliners taken care of, I started to breathe and take photos again. We waited about 20 mins for this gorgeous ride. It was such a kawaii (cute) and fun dark ride, I really enjoyed the Atlantian aliens and thought they were hugely cute! All in all I thought it was the best dark ride at TDS (yes it beat Sinbad). Btw – don’t confuse Kawaii (cute) with Kawai (scared) when at Tokyo Disney. Luckily Miwa had explained the similarity to us otherwise I probably would have looked at all the gorgeous Japanese kids with their Duffy teddies in tow and said Kawai, Kawai!

On our way out of 20,000 we took a few photos of Mysterious Island. I’ve heard a number of people say this by far is their favourite part of TDS and I can’t say I agree. It’s such an interesting and well themed area but in it’s essence it’s a giant rock crater! I just thought there were many other more beautiful parts of the park. However, the area is definitely mysterious and so well done!









These gorgeous little bins were all over the TDR parks as they were celebrating the 30th Happiness Year. All kinds of magic happened when you touched your hand to the hand pad!





Next on the agenda was Port Discovery and Storm Rider. I didn’t have high hopes for this ride as it is very often trashed by people reviewing it. However, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s in ride effects were great and I’d kind of describe it as Star Tours on crack! It was a bit crazy but ultimately very fun. We waited about 15 – 20 mins for the ride with the wait posted at 30 mins. Port Discovery was definitely the least beautiful and detailed area of the TDS, though it had a certain charm to it in the way Tommorowland at Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom does. Of course this area has a bit more of an actual futuristic feel as opposed to a dated futuristic feel.









Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

After all those rides we needed a break and we wanted to head back to Indy to grab our next set of FP’s which we were able to get after 10:55am. We got some for 2pm – 3pm. Following the advice of those who had travelled to the TDR we made sure to get each FP as soon as we could to get the most our of the FP system, the way every Japanese visitor seems to do (hence why even on a slow day there will be no FP’s left by mid-afternoon). Since we had a little time to wait we grabbed some flavoured popcorn. Of course, having flavoured popcorn at the TDR is a right of passage akin to buying a Duffy bear (you know, Mickey Mouse’s teddy bear that 50% of all TDR guests bring with them to the parks!). Since the strawberry popcorn was the only flavour I’d heard of that interested me it was the one I actually sought out, a low and behold, when I was ready for a break, there it was being sold in Port Discovery (what strawberries have to do with the future I’m not really sure – all other flavours seemed to mimic the theme of the area their cart was found in) but I was very grateful to give it a go.

And here we are, enjoying yummy yummy popcorn





I was all excited to get a photo of all three of our very carefully planned and thought out FP’s when I realised we’d already used the JTTCOE one’s – oh well – this is what a Japanese FP looks like.



The corner of the park between Lost River Delta and Port Discovery where we stopped to eat our popcorn (and where I stayed while I sent my lovely Jared to get our Indy FP’s) was so calm and peaceful. It was busy and there were a lot of people at TDS the first day we visited. Wait times for most of the big rides were 80 mins or more by that time of the morning. The crowds were nothing like we experienced in Tokyo and the fact that all the walkways were wide helped but there were very few places you could find peace and quiet. This area was one of them. We sat on a lovely bench on the path though to Lost River Delta which overlooked the waterway. Occasionally, one of the steam boats would float by and people would wave up at you (yes the Japanese love waving!). I think I could have had a nap there. And speaking of Lost River Delta, I think this was one of my favourite parts of the park. It was so lush and quiet, you really had the sense you were out in the jungle somewhere. And that was the beauty of TDS. During our break Jared and begun to discuss TDS and its merits, for Jared really enjoyed the park but felt it didn’t have the magic and whimsy of other Disney parks we’d visited. While this was true, the park is much more, shall we say… serious in its nature, it really has a level of reality to it that no other theme park has. You could have been at a seaside port in Italy while in Mediterranean Harbour, you felt like you were in New York at the turn of the 20th century in the American Waterfront. Then there were places like Mermaid Lagoon and Arabian Coast where you felt like you’d stepped into a Disney movie and immerged in Agrabah or under the sea. Now all of it was historical or fantastical, yet it made you feel like those types of places really did exist in reality or in our period of history! And you felt like you’d visited a place rather than an idea such as Tommorowland or Fantasyland. Anyway, speaking of the Lost River Delta, here are some pictures:


More Robots in Japan






This was my husband’s favourite photo of the trip – he was proud of himself for getting it



After our break we headed over to the Tower of Terror to use our 11:15am – 12:15pm FP. To get there we used the TDS Electrical Railway.













We took some photos of the American Waterfront area around the Tower before our ride on it as we had some time to kill







The next two photos are called “when in Japan”…





Disney Sea had some beautiful Christmas decorations up













I came off this ride feeling a little erked as it had taken 20 – 25 mins for us to get through the line even with a FP. Now I realise the point of a FP is to get on the ride with ‘little or no wait’ however I don’t think 25 mins constitutes little wait. The wait time at that point was posted as 80 mins which means we waited at least a quarter of that time to get on with a FP. I realise I am griping when I could have had to wait 80 mins but I do think the way the FP lines are managed in Tokyo is not wonderful. It may have to do with the larger lines and crowds, but I also think the staff are not very efficient in managing the lines (we saw this over and over again as lines would back up while guests had a discussion with a cast member about the height of their child or something along those lines for ages while the line backed up even at the entrance to the ride). In general a 10 – 15 min wait in the FP line was normal at TDR. Anyway the ride was fine, but I don’t think it was anywhere near as thrilling as its US counterparts. The theming was brilliant, and the disappearing idol was amazing, but I think my copious research failed me here in that I knew what to expect of the differences so none of it really wowed me.

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[RachelleBeaney]

We made our way across the park towards the Arabian Coast, planning to take a lot of pictures as we went. We ran out of time however so we only really documented the Venetian canals.

The Venetian side of Mediterranean Harbour was so beautiful and romantic









I love this photo – Jared was posing for a picture on the other side of the canal when the Gondolier waved at him and he waved back, and I caught the moment on camera!



Arriving at the Arabian Coast we didn’t have a lot of time to fit Sindbad in before our lunch reservation so you won’t see any photos of that yet! We did go on the ride though and enjoyed in thoroughly. I was completely amazed at how many fully articulated animatronics the ride had and how big the bird and genie were! Also everything worked, like EVERYTHING. And Chandu the tiger, the little mascot of the ride was so adorable and mischievous! All in all it was a great dark ride surpassed only by 20000 Leagues because I feel that was more immersive than a slow moving boat ride. Still for what it was (it has been likened to Pirates of the Caribbean crossed with It’s a small world – which I can see is apt though it bears more of a resemblance to Pirates but with better moving AA’s – though of course everything is ‘cartoonised’) it was amazing.

Lunch was next and it was aboard the S.S Columbia Dining Hall. Now I’d heard the food here wasn’t great but I loved the look of the beautiful art deco dining room aboard an old world steam liner so I had to put it on my must do list! We showed up at about 1:30 thinking our priority seating reservation (which we were able to make over the phone 30 days before our booking date as we were staying on property – otherwise we’d have had to run to each restaurant to book the seatings in the morning making one more thing to get to) and it turned out our seating was at 1:00pm! Oops! Oh well, the staff were very gracious about it and we were promptly showed to our table.

The S.S.Columbia





As we sat down I saw so excited to see how fancy the cutlery and plates were. Silver filigree and china! Now I have very old fashioned tastes (I love anything crystal or china, especially in old fashioned patterns) something that I share with my mother (and that no one else in our family understands!). So I decided I had to take a few pictures of the old fashioned crockery for her benefit. I’m so excited about it too, see:





The room is beautiful and definitely 1920’s inspired.





As predicted the food was nothing special and the portions were especially tiny (I got the smallest bit of mash potato I have ever seen in my life) but the atmosphere was lovely and it was a comfortable place to rest our tired feet.



For anyone interested, this is what a priority seating card looks like at TDR



After lunch we got a few more pictures of the American Waterfront area before heading back to Indiana Jones to use our 2pm – 3pm FP. We went through Cape Cod as we knew this would probably be our only chance to see it (there is nothing much in Cape Cod except for Duffy merchandise and a meet and greet. It’s small and crowded and out of the way so you are never just sort of ambling through unless you make a point to!

















We had to hurry to make our deadline but we did and in a reasonable FP wait (5-10 mins) we were on the ride again.

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[RachelleBeaney]

We made our way back to the Arabian Coast to get the pictures we’d missed while we hurried to make lunch. I have to say, these are, in my opinion, some of the most beautiful scenery pictures of our whole trip!











This photo of Jared in ‘Agrabah’ and a few others we took our next day in the park, were very important as Jared had just arranged the music for his old high school’s production of Aladdin and was excited to show his old teacher and the kids in the show that he had actually gone to Agrabah!



We knew we had to catch the Little Mermaid show in Mermaid Lagoon this day as the theatre was closing for renovations the very next day and we wouldn’t get another chance to see it. Mermaid Lagoon ended up being my favourite area of the whole park, or tied for my favourite with Arabian Coast. It is just so beautiful and since it’s inside and dark my pictures unfortunately don’t do it justice but here’s an idea:











It really felt like you were under the sea! The Little Mermaid show was good. Very short and had terrible lip syncing but the fact the show had acrobatics and wire performers being over your head made up for all that. I’m glad I knew though, before seeing the show, that Ariel decides to stay under the sea and that’s the end of the show otherwise I would have been a little shocked! The puppetry and engineering of it all was amazing too, the puppets of Ursula’s head and hands were HUGE and with her tentacles ‘floating’ all around the room you felt like she took up the whole theatre (which by the way was all above your head!). Ariel was great too, she interacted with audience and even waved at me at one point.

After this we searched for a good deal of time for Ariel’s Grotto so I could see the statue of my favourite Prince, Prince Eric! We found him!







At this point we were tired and we wanted to have a break in our wonderful Porto Paradiso Harbour View room before our dinner reservation at Ristorante di Canaletto so we slowly made our way back to the hotel, taking pictures of the harbour as we went as the lighting was just beautiful!

I managed to get a shot of the giant geyser that explodes in Mysterious Island!













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[RachelleBeaney]

When we got to our room we found this wonderful view


















Excuse the dots – there were tiny little dots on all the windows which were sometimes more in focus than other times!



We rested in the room for a while, mainly just sitting on our chairs at the window watching the comings and going of, as we called them, the little ‘ants’ in the park (hehe we are so mean!). Before long it was time for our dinner at Ristorante di Caneletto at 5pm.

The restaurant was wonderful and the food was really good. I loved the atmosphere here. We sat out on the terrace and looked over the canals as gondolas floated past. It so romantic and we felt like we were on a date in Venice somewhere! The staff were so friendly and attentive, they even bought us blankets to warm our legs since we were sitting outside! They were warm and deep blood red and added to the romantic feel of the place.











We had a bit of time before we had to be back up in our room to watch Fantasmic at 8 so we took a few night time pictures – most of didn’t turn out as our camera doesn’t do great with evening shots and I bought myself a tiny little Duffy on a chain that I could hang on my Christmas tree (yes I caved to the Duffy mania!).











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[RachelleBeaney]

We were back in our room by 7:30pm and snuggled ourselves up under a blanket at our window ready to view Fantasmic. And what an amazing view we had! The Tokyo Disney version of Fantasmic was the best I’ve ever seen. I like Fantasmic but I’ve never been awed by it as I was by World of Color. I love the music and the story idea but the execution somehow seems a little haphazard sometimes. However, the Tokyo Disney version of Fantasmic was simply awe inspiring. Perhaps it was the integration of amazing technology (the hat shaped LCD screen) or the crispness of the floats and the precision and elegance of the water works, fireworks and projections but it surpassed all the other Fantasmics by a long shot. It also had a little something different to offer in its soundtrack and story pacing which I really enjoyed. In fact I ended up buying the soundtrack! I’m sure you area all familiar with the story of Fantasmic so I will let the pictures tell my tale













































It seemed to be true everywhere that the Japanese do everything technologically better – everything seem newer and brighter and more cohesive than other versions of this show. We went to bed very happy and very tired that night with smiles on our faces from the wonderful first Disney day we’d had.

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