An Engaging and Magical Asian Adventure (2017 trip) - New Update 09/12/2021

[Flossbolna]

I've been enjoying all this so far.
Added Europa-Park to my maybe-belongs-on-the-bucket-list list.
Looking forward to the upcoming TR TDL stories.

Thanks! And I love the idea of a maybe-belongs-on-the-bucket-list list.

With you two planning this will be an epic TR! Brooke looks so serious!

We were hard at work!!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Yeah she is! Can't wait!

You know you are appreciated by Michael when you receive a lovely nickname. I think "Little C" is his favorite of our clan, as he encourages Michael with his "Old German Woman" jokes.

Many, many, many pictures & videos will be taken!!!!

Proof:

Brooke looks so serious!

And, let's be honest, I look a little creepy.....!

 

[Flossbolna]

Sounds fun. Wonder why Michael has such an emotional attachment to it.

So, the day after I wrote this, I woke up to an email from my husband that read as follows:



Oops. I guess it's Menken...

 

[Flossbolna]

You know you are appreciated by Michael when you receive a lovely nickname. I think "Little C" is his favorite of our clan, as he encourages Michael with his "Old German Woman" jokes.

Some of Michael's humor is definitely on a 13-year-old-boy level... No wonder these two have a lot to laugh about together.

 

[Flossbolna]

Day 7 – July 5, 2017: Tokyo Disneyland

Part 1: A Westernland Morning

A new day and we are returning to Tokyo Disneyland for our second day there. We had purchased the 4-day ticket that closes you in for the first two days to just one park. The third and fourth days you can park hop. But we decided that there was no need for that and that we just would stick to one park per day for these days, too.

People get excited about park-hopping. And it is easy in Anaheim and Paris and much overhyped and overstated in the swamps (unless you are going back to an onsite resort in between). But in Tokyo it isn't easy, despite the parks literally backing up on each other, and I see no value in doing so. You are going to kill far more time than it is worth as some sort of strategy.

One thing I really loved about our room at the Hilton was the view:



Yes, there is a lot of parking lot to be seen. But there is also a monorail and then the park icons visible in the distance. We loved it.

The view has changed drastically. The New Fantasyland is complete and open (and it's a real achievement in themed design unlike the overrated Florida one. Now, a massive TDS expansion with a huge new port (Fantasy Springs) and new in park hotel are also going up in that area.

We did sleep in a bit this morning since we were quite tired after two days running through the parks yesterday. Yes, we did break that "be there at park opening or otherwise your day will be ruined" rule that you hear a lot about Tokyo. As you will see, none of our days there were ruined. We actually found that especially the evening hours were really good for touring. We were there during a low crowd time, so that helped and parks might have gotten busier since. But it worked for us.

Score one for the night owl!

We started with breakfast in the lounge. This morning I took quite a few pictures of the offerings which were a mix of Japanese and European foods. It all was quite delicious!









My choice that morning:





The bowl has warm rice with Japanese omelet (as you can have it in sushi), pickled ginger and fried gluten. We thought it interesting that they would offer something that is nothing but gluten. I later figured out that it was what I knew as saitan, a tofu-like product made from wheat. And indeed, it is just that: the protein in the wheat, i.e. the gluten. It was delicious!

Yes, Dearest, but what do you do if you want gluten free gluten?

When we finally made it to the park, the lines at the entrance had cleared and I took this picture of the entrance area from the monorail platform:



They had a band welcoming us to World Bazaar, the Tokyo Main Street with a glass roof.



And in the middle of World Bazaar was the Tanabata Wish Tree.



Tanabata is a festival about a couple that wasn't allowed to meet, but were reunited on July 7th. It is now celebrated with these Wish Trees where people write there wishes on little pieces of paper and hang them on the tree. The Wish Trees are found everywhere in those days before July 7th. But the Tokyo Disney Resort has a lovely low key festival going on about it as well. Not so low key that they don't have special merchandise, menus and entertainment. And of course a Wish Tree in both parks. We noticed that while they were filled with wishes in the evening, they were emptier again in the morning, so Disney did take down the wishes over night…

The Wish Tree was stationed at the crossroads in World Bazaar. You know these little cul-de-sacs on Main Street (WDW only has one as the other has been eaten up by a shop)? They are real streets in Tokyo, leading to Tomorrowland and Adventureland.

One of the design refinements in this park that I love, even if Paris improved on it even more. In Tokyo, you don't have to go all the way down to the Hub to enter other lands. It certainly improves the flow of Guests. And adds restaurants, shops (like a real Magic Shop) and a very hidden Club 33.

This is the view straight ahead to the castle:



And this way you could go towards Adventureland:



Just as on Main Street, some of the windows are decorated to honor people:





Lots of pretty facades:



Our first stop was at Pooh’s Hunny Hunt for a FP as these go early. From there we slowly headed over to Critter Country

The castle looked beautiful and interestingly you regularly saw planes in the approach to Haneda airport just next to the castle as here:



The gardens around the castle are very pretty:



I think this is when we also walked through the castle and had look around the crystal shop inside. There we met an American CM. He was definitely a manager of some sort and he talked about how he came over from the US for the opening of the resort and then just stayed on ever since. He was interesting to talk to!

He was the manager for Arribas Brothers in Tokyo, which means the castle gallery shop. I can't recall its exact name now, but it is the one that was replaced by the Jon-Benet Boutique in WDW. He was on the opening team, stayed for six months, went home to Orlando for 18 more and then decided he wanted to live in Japan and he hasn't looked back. I have his card somewhere. He is the one who told me I wasn't imagining things with the much-improved English skills of the CMs. He said that the OLC had mandated it to prepare for the 2020 Olympics ... which sadly haven't happened as planned.

We wandered into the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall for a look, not for a meal. This is a very fun place! It was designed by the imagineer Eddie Sotto who was the lead designer for Disneyland Paris’ Main Street.









We should have had lunch here. BTW, all the eateries in both parks have unique logo trays. This week, the OLC decided to start selling small replica trays in a series and Queen of Hearts is the first. And I must and will have one (it helps having a friend who flies there for a living). This place was built to replace the Small World themed QSR that was removed to make way for Pooh's Hunny Hunt in the late 1990s.

We saw some fun characters in Fantasyland:



And then finally made it to Critter Country for our Splash!



Critter Country has another highly themed restaurant: Grandma Sarah’s Kitchen which is built inside a hill like a burrow.



I took a picture of the menu:



Unfortunately the food did not sound very appealing to me. I had my first TDL meal here in 2010. The food is quite good. Germans can be very picky. I tried to get a picture of the inside, but failed at really catching it. But I think you can get an idea of what it is:



And then we are at Splash Mountain:



We chose the single rider line which is not used a lot at all by the Japanese. Therefore it moves very quickly. I ended up sitting next to a Japanese lady who was very nice and even made some conversation with me in English. The time before I ended up sitting next to a teenage girl who was so shy and shocked about having to sit next to a stranger.

I think I mentioned this in the previous update, but Splash Mountain in Tokyo is just wonderful. It’s in excellent shape and so bright and joyful. Whatever one might think about the coming changes to the ones in the USA Hate them! Hate them! Hate them!, I cannot see the Oriental Land Company having any interest in changing this ride anytime soon. They don't, thankfully. The entire land there was built around Splash and is much more fully realized than in Anaheim where they took Bear Country and changed it lightly. And I think in Japan it is so much removed from the origins of the stories in Song of the South that people would really not understand why it would go away. There it is seen as a ride full of cute plush animals. Nothing else.

TDL isn't woke. Neither am I. I believe in real change on things that matter to people's lives. Not making people feel good that they solved huge societal issues by changing the theme of a log flume.

Continued in next post

 

[Flossbolna]

July 5, 2017: Part 1 continued

At the exit of Splash is a very nice area with a little shop where you can get your on-ride picture and little snack stand. We felt that we could use a break and saw that the snack stand had an interesting offering, so we stopped there.

This is the picture shop:



The cash registers are so cute:



And this is the snack shop:



Conveniently there is also a bathroom available:



And this is the snack we got:



It was shaved ice, blue jelly cubes, sugar pearls and soft serve. The weather was really hot that day (as every day of the trip!) and this was perfect for cooling down!

Another view of the walkway when you get out of Splash Mountain:



Right there at the exit you are already in Westernland and at the Riverboat Landing. So we decided to go on a spin on the Mark Twain.





The ride was very lovely and we had some amazing views. These are the rafts that take you over to Tom Sawyer Island:



Along the river we saw the (at the time quite new) Camp Woodchuck restaurant:



There was quite a bit of wildlife on the river banks:





You know how when you see these type of wildlife in Orlando, Anaheim or Paris and it is quite stationary. To my biggest surprise these were far livelier. While they didn’t roam, nearly all of them moved at least a little, a head, the ears, the tail etc. It added just that little bit to make the atmosphere more magical!

EVERY attraction in Tokyo is plussed, even things like critters on the riverbank.

We saw the railroad go by:



And came by a Native American village:



A beautiful waterfall:



And more crazy people thinking it was a good idea to go on a canoe ride in the baking sun (I think I was mentioning in Shanghai how ever since my first visit to DL in 1992 I could not understand how anyone would consider this fun - and I like canoeing! On a real river with no people around me, preferable with lots of trees on the river bank for shade!).

I wanted to canoe, but she put her foot down and you gotta respect the wife and all.



After our tour around it, we headed to the rafts to take us to Tom Sawyer Island.





What is really cool is that we got a little map of the island:



The island is really beautiful and you have so many lovely views. Some of them are similar of what we saw from the riverboat of course. But this time we also saw the riverboat!





There are caves to explore:



A smoking skull rock:



A fort:





With a little stand selling drinks (and possibly snacks, we weren’t hungry).



And behind the fort a teepee village which you could explore:



While it looks very pretty in the sunshine, it was baking hot on the island! We were very happy that we had gotten the ice-cold drinks in the fort as a refreshment! We explored a bit more and then headed back to the mainland.

It was a very relaxed day, if you couldn't tell.



Up Next: A Campy Lunch

 

[franandaj]

I'll have to come back for the latest TDL update, I was just able to get through the Eorpoa Park update this morning. I should have more time this week, we are only going to Disney one day this week instead of three, and we don't have anymore overnight stays planned until January of 2022.

EP is located in a truly tiny village and there are not dining options beyond mom and pop German places that we have never tried.

One note about hotel restaurants: Since there is nothing to do but have dinner at the hotel, the restaurants can book out for dinner.

OK you answered my question above here. I was wondering where one would dine if not taking advantage of local Mom and Pop restaurants. Does Germany have Yelp? I'd be interested in trying some of them if they had recommendations.

The park opened in 1975 and somehow kept major hotel chains out of the area entirely until two years ago when a Holiday Inn Express opened.

That's pretty good for them, I guess Germany fights off Capitalism better than we do here.

It’s the fairytale of the Wolf and the Seven Young Goats. In short, the wolf tricks the 7 little goats into believing that he is their mother and then eats them. Mother returns home, realizes what happens, sees wolf asleep after his massive meal and cuts open his stomach and all the little goats jump out. He was so voracious that he just swallowed them whole (my mother used to tell me this fairytale as a lesson why you need to chew your food properly, something I still struggle with, I eat far too quickly). In order to let the wolf (yes, the guy who was just cut up without any anesthetics) not realize that the goats were out, mother goat put heavy stones in his tummy and sewed him back up. When he woke up and needed a drink because he was so thirsty after his big meal, he bent over to drink from the well and then fell into the deep well because of the heavy stones in his tummy!

That's a horrific bizarre story!

Shops generally are very themed and feature merchandise one would expect in that area, for instance Swiss chocolate in Switzerland.

What a novel idea! It's a far cry from having all the same merchandise available at every location.

My top 10 attractions in EP would be

They all sound pretty interesting, I don't have the patience to comment on all of them, but you've sold me on the place if we ever get back to traveling again.

I got my first vaccination today against the rona

Yay you! I know you already told me, but I thought that I should publicly congratulate you on your accomplishment.

Hey, we saw each other between June 15, 2019 and now in person! And that feels like it was in another life time!

It really does!

That's interesting. I still think the transition could have been better...

Well I will give you my thoughts on my TR after I visit on June 3rd! I hope they let us take pictures!

Oops. I guess it's Menken...

After all this, I finally had to Google the attraction. It still does not answer my question as to why Michael feels such a strong feeling for the ride, but it makes a little more sense. I understand now that this attraction is completely unique to TDL. I wondered why a Sherman Bros. score would be associated with a ride that did not originate in their era, but since there are several attractions still with their themes playing, I didn't question your answer.

Several years back when I heard both Sherman and Menken in concert at a D23 event, I said Richard Sherman wrote the music I grew up listening to, but Alan Menken wrote the soundtrack for my adult life.

 

[tink2424]

Send me a link to your TR when you start it, I definitely want to read it!

And just a bit of warning: While most of EP is very well done, there are a few very odd things about it, too, where it looks like a cheap and cheesy Disney copy. But that's some of the charm.

Definitely! It won't be until at least late October as we don't come back from Europe until 16-Oct. That is assuming we can go this year which luckily is looking more likely.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

People get excited about park-hopping. And it is easy in Anaheim and Paris and much overhyped and overstated in the swamps (unless you are going back to an onsite resort in between). But in Tokyo it isn't easy, despite the parks literally backing up on each other, and I see no value in doing so. You are going to kill far more time than it is worth as some sort of strategy.

Good to know. I do think it's a waste in Florida generally. Almost essential at Disneyland California.

Yes, there is a lot of parking lot to be seen. But there is also a monorail and then the park icons visible in the distance. We loved it.

I'm sure I would enjoy watching the monorail whiz by.

Yes, Dearest, but what do you do if you want gluten free gluten?

You have to admit, he's got a point.

He was the manager for Arribas Brothers in Tokyo, which means the castle gallery shop. I can't recall its exact name now, but it is the one that was replaced by the Jon-Benet Boutique in WDW. He was on the opening team, stayed for six months, went home to Orlando for 18 more and then decided he wanted to live in Japan and he hasn't looked back. I have his card somewhere. He is the one who told me I wasn't imagining things with the much-improved English skills of the CMs. He said that the OLC had mandated it to prepare for the 2020 Olympics ... which sadly haven't happened as planned.

Sounds like it's still iffy for 2021 as well. Interesting to hear the story of the CM, though!

You know how when you see these type of wildlife in Orlando, Anaheim or Paris and it is quite stationary. To my biggest surprise these were far livelier. While they didn’t roam, nearly all of them moved at least a little, a head, the ears, the tail etc. It added just that little bit to make the atmosphere more magical!

I can see where that would definitely help!

I could not understand how anyone would consider this fun - and I like canoeing! On a real river with no people around me, preferable with lots of trees on the river bank for shade!).

In Yosemite!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Some of Michael's humor is definitely on a 13-year-old-boy level... No wonder these two have a lot to laugh about together.

Accurate!

aaaand, I'm finally caught up!

I'm with you on canoeing at a theme park. Not my thing.

I very much enjoyed the post on Europapark as well! 5 days to go!

 

[franandaj]

People get excited about park-hopping. And it is easy in Anaheim and Paris and much overhyped and overstated in the swamps (unless you are going back to an onsite resort in between). But in Tokyo it isn't easy, despite the parks literally backing up on each other, and I see no value in doing so. You are going to kill far more time than it is worth as some sort of strategy.

Thank you for letting me know that it's not easy in Tokyo. If we ever get there, I will keep that in mind.

Yes, we did break that "be there at park opening or otherwise your day will be ruined" rule that you hear a lot about Tokyo. As you will see, none of our days there were ruined. We actually found that especially the evening hours were really good for touring.

I think we would break that rule as well. Fran doesn't do good rope drop.

The bowl has warm rice with Japanese omelet (as you can have it in sushi), pickled ginger and fried gluten. We thought it interesting that they would offer something that is nothing but gluten. I later figured out that it was what I knew as saitan, a tofu-like product made from wheat. And indeed, it is just that: the protein in the wheat, i.e. the gluten. It was delicious!

Sounds a little weird. I will take your word for it.

They had a band welcoming us to World Bazaar, the Tokyo Main Street with a glass roof.

That glass roof seems interesting like something I would expect in Europe.

He was the manager for Arribas Brothers in Tokyo, which means the castle gallery shop. I can't recall its exact name now, but it is the one that was replaced by the Jon-Benet Boutique in WDW. He was on the opening team, stayed for six months, went home to Orlando for 18 more and then decided he wanted to live in Japan and he hasn't looked back. I have his card somewhere. He is the one who told me I wasn't imagining things with the much-improved English skills of the CMs. He said that the OLC had mandated it to prepare for the 2020 Olympics ... which sadly haven't happened as planned.

Thanks for the backstory!

We should have had lunch here.

Interesting.

Unfortunately the food did not sound very appealing to me.

It didn't sound appealing to me either.

I had my first TDL meal here in 2010. The food is quite good. Germans can be very picky.

OK. You are quite picky too!

TDL isn't woke. Neither am I. I believe in real change on things that matter to people's lives. Not making people feel good that they solved huge societal issues by changing the theme of a log flume.

I agree, but then again since they can't sell 9r play the movie in the US, they are losing out on the young folk understanding the story. We just received our UK bootleg copy of the DVD a couple days ago.

EVERY attraction in Tokyo is plussed, even things like critters on the riverbank.

Nice!

While it looks very pretty in the sunshine, it was baking hot on the island! We were very happy that we had gotten the ice-cold drinks in the fort as a refreshment! We explored a bit more and then headed back to the mainland.

I'll have to keep in mind not to travel when it is too hot. We don't do good in heat.

 

[gelatoni fan]

People get excited about park-hopping. And it is easy in Anaheim and Paris and much overhyped and overstated in the swamps (unless you are going back to an onsite resort in between). But in Tokyo it isn't easy, despite the parks literally backing up on each other, and I see no value in doing so. You are going to kill far more time than it is worth as some sort of strategy.

I find TDR to be where park hopping is most valuable because that's more chances at show lotteries. TDR also has parade stops and shows with dance along parts, so to see all the floats during the stops and get good at the dances, you'd have to watch the shows quite a few times. Park hopping is crucial to seeing more shows per day. Before the two parks were on the same Fastpass grid, it was even more valuable because you could grab Fastpasses without the 2 hour restriction. After the release of Fastpass in the app, it could make a lot of sense to stack up on late day Disneysea fastpasses and get most of the Disneyland fastpasses in early afternoon. But I generally agree that for first time visitors, it is probably not worth it to park hop too often.

 

[Flossbolna]

OK you answered my question above here. I was wondering where one would dine if not taking advantage of local Mom and Pop restaurants. Does Germany have Yelp? I'd be interested in trying some of them if they had recommendations.

Germany has yelp, but it isn't used much and you won't find a lot about little places in the country. Sadly, Google reviews might tell you more about a place.

That's pretty good for them, I guess Germany fights off Capitalism better than we do here.

Haha! Not really. But for a long time there was a very different attitude towards accommodations for tourists. People would tend more to go to one place and stay for a full week or two every year than do road trips. I think that caused far fewer hotel chains (which give you a certain security that you will find the same product everywhere). But they are catching up. Also, 30 years ago when Disneyland Paris opened parks were just seen as one day activities. One of the reasons why DLP had issues was that the whole resort idea was not fitting with European travel patterns. So, even the EP hotels are all fairly new and the whole idea of people staying in Rust to go to the park has just grown.

That's a horrific bizarre story!

Can't you see how this would have made a great Disney movie - seven little goats singing!

They all sound pretty interesting, I don't have the patience to comment on all of them, but you've sold me on the place if we ever get back to traveling again.

Just make sure that you plan the trip so that Michael can show you around. He will not pleased if you come to Germany while he isn't here!

Yay you! I know you already told me, but I thought that I should publicly congratulate you on your accomplishment.

My accomplishment, not his. I convinced our doctor that he needed it urgently.

Well I will give you my thoughts on my TR after I visit on June 3rd! I hope they let us take pictures!

I will be looking forward to that!

Several years back when I heard both Sherman and Menken in concert at a D23 event, I said Richard Sherman wrote the music I grew up listening to, but Alan Menken wrote the soundtrack for my adult life.

That's very fitting and yes, while they are very different, I find that there is a similarity in their music being so pretty without being boring. Have you seen the Howard Ashman documentary on Disney+? I thought it was really great, but so sad!

 

[Flossbolna]

Definitely! It won't be until at least late October as we don't come back from Europe until 16-Oct. That is assuming we can go this year which luckily is looking more likely.

I really hope that late October a lot of things will be back to near normal! They just announced that Rulantica can re-open June 3, so another big step!

 

[Flossbolna]

Good to know. I do think it's a waste in Florida generally. Almost essential at Disneyland California.

I would agree. My sister and I used it very successfully on her first trip where we did rope drops and then an afternoon break. So I took her to the a new park in the afternoon and then we did rope drop at that park the next morning. That way she knew her way around a little and was not just totally flustered rushing after me to the first FP to pick up!

You have to admit, he's got a point.

But I had the gluten!

Sounds like it's still iffy for 2021 as well. Interesting to hear the story of the CM, though!

It's so sad. You could tell that there was quite a lot of excitement about 2020 olympics in Japan already in 2017 and now ti is turning into the event that a lot of people feel might be dangerous for their society.

In Yosemite!

Nearly anything would be enjoyable in Yosemite! I think you know that we took my father to California in 2019 and we spent a little time in Yosemite. He knew a lot about it. He grew up reading stories about the California gold rush, loves geology and nature. To be honest hew knew more about the place than Michael who had been there so many times. After our day in Yosemite Valley he said that it was definitely worth all the effort to fly to California (the furthest he had ever been away from Germany) as this was such an amazing place. He expected it to be beautiful, but he didn't expect it to be that magical.

 

[Flossbolna]

I very much enjoyed the post on Europapark as well! 5 days to go!

And Michael wrote that when there was no idea that we would end up going there together so soon!!

 

[Flossbolna]

That glass roof seems interesting like something I would expect in Europe.

Yes, I think it is the same idea that then was turned into the arcades that run next to Main Street in DLP.

OK. You are quite picky too!

Thanks Alison!!

I agree, but then again since they can't sell 9r play the movie in the US, they are losing out on the young folk understanding the story. We just received our UK bootleg copy of the DVD a couple days ago.

But in Japan no one knows the movie at all either. I was not familiar with it and actually bought a (not bootleg!) VHS copy of it from the UK ten years ago. It's such a horrible movie! I have to admit that being a white German girl, I did not even pick up on some of the racist issues in the movie. But the movie is also sexist and classist and boring as hell. Even if Disney would release it, it rightly deserves to be hidden away just for being such a horrible movie.

I'll have to keep in mind not to travel when it is too hot. We don't do good in heat.

Then I cannot recommend July. It was a really hot hot hot trip!

 

[Flossbolna]

I find TDR to be where park hopping is most valuable because that's more chances at show lotteries. TDR also has parade stops and shows with dance along parts, so to see all the floats during the stops and get good at the dances, you'd have to watch the shows quite a few times. Park hopping is crucial to seeing more shows per day. Before the two parks were on the same Fastpass grid, it was even more valuable because you could grab Fastpasses without the 2 hour restriction. After the release of Fastpass in the app, it could make a lot of sense to stack up on late day Disneysea fastpasses and get most of the Disneyland fastpasses in early afternoon. But I generally agree that for first time visitors, it is probably not worth it to park hop too often.

That's a great point! I am not a show person at all, so that would not ever be a priority for me. But I can see that for people who value those more, it's a great chance to get to see the shows. Ultimately I think when you go for a break in the afternoon anyway as we did, it doesn't really matter where you spend the evening. But it fitted for us to just make sure that we did give both parks equal attention.

 

[Flossbolna]

 

[Flossbolna]