All the way from Japan to enjoy the WONDER of Disney

[tokyodisneydad]

I have heard many times that the food does not reflect the price but it is worth it to eat in the castle just once. I am undecided if I will try and book a meal there for the next trip. If I do it will probably be for breakfast.

To be honest unless it's for your kids I'd skip it. There are so many better restaurants, including better character experiences.

(yes, she has 4 days total in TDR - so she'll have another TDL day, plus 2 TDS days....i'm waiting to hear what they did today....
the last SMS was a 'good night i LOVE you" sms that came in at 11 PM tokyo time...she's a good kid...sends lots of "i love you" text messages to us....
they're staying on property, so that's good....they don't have to tire out dragging themselves back and forth into the city....
as for talkative japanese - on the phone last week, she said the japanese ALWAYS want to help when they need directions....that most of them time, the person they ask just turns around and takes them wherever it is they need to go.... )

Your description of helpful Japanese people sounds very accurate. I've had people take hours out of their day just to help me. Total strangers

Which park is she going to today? I'm going to run over there today, have lunch, buy a few pins for a friend back in the states and take a few pictures.

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Hang on !! The parade and our moment in the spotlight is coming soon.
But first I'm off to Tokyo Disney for the day. Just going to pop in for lunch and some shopping.

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Hang on !! The parade and our moment in the spotlight is coming soon.
But first I'm off to Tokyo Disney for the day. Just going to pop in for lunch and some shopping.

How cool to be able to "pop" over to Tokyo Disney for the day!

Looking forward to your next update.

 

[disneyholic family]

Which park is she going to today? I'm going to run over there today, have lunch, buy a few pins for a friend back in the states and take a few pictures.

TDS - i think....i'm guessing it's TDS since they were in TDL yesterday...and then TDL tomorrow....but it's a guess...

if you see her, you can't mistake her - very tall, thin, blonde - 5' 11" tall (takes after DH not me - thankfully for her)..

too bad the slide show on her myspace website isn't working....otherwise you could look in there to see what she looks like....you can't see any of her pictures right now....and since she's traveling she hasn't been on her website to fix the glitch...

boy do i wish i could just 'pop' over to TDR any time i want....totally cool for you

 

[Rocktire]

Great report.

 

[manntra]

How great for you that you can just "pop over" to TDL!! And you say it so casually like you are going to Olive Garden for lunch!!
I don't know if I caught how long you have been in Japan? One of my best friends went over about 18 years ago when her father worked at IBM, met and married and now have 2 beautiful girls---they have lived on Long Island for about 16 years now---very large Japanese community there. Hope you had a great day! My niece just started pin trading on this last trip. What fun!!

 

[tokyodisneydad]

How great for you that you can just "pop over" to TDL!! And you say it so casually like you are going to Olive Garden for lunch!!
I don't know if I caught how long you have been in Japan? One of my best friends went over about 18 years ago when her father worked at IBM, met and married and now have 2 beautiful girls---they have lived on Long Island for about 16 years now---very large Japanese community there. Hope you had a great day! My niece just started pin trading on this last trip. What fun!!

Ive been in Japan 10 years and it is so nice to be able to just pop in and out of DisneySEA for lunch or Dinner or even just to ride one attraction

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Ok after Cinderella's Castle we went around Fantasyland, but I can't remember much about that time. The reason is that 3:00 was coming soon and I knew that I had to have my family between Splash Mountain and Big Thunder to meet Dean. Dean's the greatest CM in WDW--Did I already tell you that?
Well in the waiting Zone Dean explained everything. Wave, have fun and smile.

We were a bit nervous because the sky was getting darker, but then the band started coming out. The girl's got to meet Tuba guy. This was exciting because they are in the marching band. It was also cool for me because years ago I had played trombone in EPCOT and was a music teacher.

Daisy and several other characters came out and the girls had one on one time with them.

Cont....

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[tokyodisneydad]

We also met the family that had won the castle stay for the night. They congratulated us and we talked for awhile. I wouldn't have traded with them though. I think their dream was great. But my dream was all mine and at that moment I can't explain the feelings I had.
They then brought out our car and we loaded up and were off. It was cool to hear our names called as we started on to the parade route. I forgot to mention Dean had gotten us our own Mickey ears with our names. DDM and I wore them with pride. The girls kept Minnie and Stitch on.
The time in the parade went by so fast. People were great waving at us and taking pictures and yelling out congratulations. I was on x10. We were waving and taking pictures like crazy. Smiling and laughing the whole time.
At the end we had our own area roped off to view the parde coming behind us.
It started to drizzle, but nothing was taking that moment away from me.

Thank you Dean for making my Dream come true!!

Next up: The skys open up and pour....Solving the I'm cold problem at DTD

 

[luvmyboys]

How exciting!!! I am so happy for your family-- I can only imagine how pumped up you must have been. Definitely once-in-a-lifetime memories!

I'm enjoying your report immensely! Four thumbs up! (out of four, in case you were wondering )

 

[tokyodisneydad]

How exciting!!! I am so happy for your family-- I can only imagine how pumped up you must have been. Definitely once-in-a-lifetime memories!

I'm enjoying your report immensely! Four thumbs up! (out of four, in case you were wondering )

I'm really glad you are enjoying my report. Stay on board our day in Animal Kingdom was great, but ended in a real life dangerous encounter with a wild animal.

Stay on board for the cruise to. That was the true Magic of our trip

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Sounds like a wonderful, once in a lifetime experience.

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Being in the parade sounds like an awesome experience! I would love to be able to do that! I'm glad your family enjoyed it so much!

 

[eternaldisneyfan]

Wally,

Well it looks like MK made up for the disappointment of Epcot. You got to do a lot of rides and got a dream...I hope the rest of the vacation is just as special.

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Being in the parade sounds like an awesome experience! I would love to be able to do that! I'm glad your family enjoyed it so much!

I enjoyed it most of all. I'm the Disney fanatic in the family.

Wally,

Well it looks like MK made up for the disappointment of Epcot. You got to do a lot of rides and got a dream...I hope the rest of the vacation is just as special.

It did but hang on for the scary experience at the Animal Kingdom!!

Sounds like a wonderful, once in a lifetime experience.

Definitely once in a lifetime

 

[winkers]

That looks like so much fun!

 

[KimAshton]

wow congrats on being the grand marshal.

If you get a chance can you post a pic from Tokyo Disney?? I always wondered what it was like.

 

[OhMari]

Do you belong to Deb Willis site, "All Ears. com. She is looking for stories about how people won dreams at WDW. Congradulations on winning the Grand Marshsall for the parade. And it was nice to finally see a picture of you and your wife.

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Like I said we were given a special viewing area for the parade. It was raining but not hard yet, so the parade went on. Just as the last float went by the rain picked up.
We decided to go in to the Main Street shops and hope that it would calm down. It started coming down in buckets. We were still on from the parade, it was just that now it was a rain cloud. Standing in the shops with everyone else for about an hour was not fun, but I still had a big smile on my face . Of course the girls didn't mind being in the shops at all. Main street was quickly flooding and we saw all kind of crazy people running for the entrance. It was about 5 when the rains calmed down but didn't stop. We knew alot of attractions would be closed, but decided to run for Tomorrowland and Space Mountain again. Running from cover to cover with no umbrella was fun but a bit wet. We made it to SM and rode twice.
We then went across the street in search for a Stitch Doll for Junna. Thats when the skys REALLY OPENED UP and Lightening and Thunder began. It was quite frightening. I never noticed how many tall rods were in TL before that. Lightening struck very close by.
Seeing that it wasn't going to calm down and also knowing MK closed at 7 anyway we talked and decided the first chance we got we would make a run for the Monorail and the Bus. I t took awhile but finally the lightening calmed down and we took off. We saw a group of teens that had made thmselves rain suits from shopping bags. I had to laugh but it was smart of them.
Making it to the front gate I noticed the long line of people waiting to come in for the Pirate Princess party. I thought to myself--Are they Nuts?
O well--Off to DTD

 

[Mrsjvb]

I just found this thread, and will take the time to read through all 11 pages, but first I have to say: Konbonwa and I can't wait to catch up with your tale!

we were stationed in Yokosuka from 2000-2003 and DH's very first ever trip to MouseTown at the ripe old age of 33 was to Tokyo Disney. DisneySea was by far my favorite of the two, though.

We just back from Orlando ourselves, I scored some Melon soda in Japan at Epcot, but alas, no Pinky Chodai (LOVED those commercials!).