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

[Flossbolna]

Carpet photos are catching on everywhere, and it all started in Portland!

I did not know that this was a thing! I guess it's like wall photos??

Normal for Asia.

It was normal in Germany in the 70s, too. I was talking with some friends the other day about how long their kids would still be in the child seat in the car (or on the booster) and was shocked that even the 8 year old still has some sort of safety feature. And then we were talking about how we as kids were climbing all over the back seat because there were no seat belts in the back of the car!

You guys make me laugh.

I need to google that reference. It must be one of those American culture things that go over my head. Marrying someone from another country really brings home often we miss references the other makes.

EEK!

Yes! Missing your plane while trying to board the wrong one would have been really stupid!

Fun update, you two. Just trying to get caught back up after my trip so less commenting than I'd normally do.

Don't worry about the less commenting! It helps me to move on quicker here (and I really need to pick up the speed!!).

 

[Flossbolna]

Day 5:

July 3, 2017:

Part 1: We are going to Hunt for Hunny!

My alarm was set for 7:15 a.m. and when it woke me up I realized that Michael was already in the bathroom. I was surprised, but figured he had some urgent business to conduct there. But then he came out and was already fully dressed! He started to tell me that he just came back to the room from breakfast at the lounge. I got a total shock! I thought that I had overslept by hours!!

That would have been so amusing, yet not so.

But no, I just had slept. My husband hadn’t. The jet lag that hit me the night before was hitting him today. I felt very sorry for him! I got up and ready very quickly and while I would have been happy to just rush out to get to the park, Michael was quite firm that I ought to get some free (!) breakfast at the lounge as he had really enjoyed the offerings. So, we went there and I got some food.

It was a really nice spread with Western and Asian options. We got to really love the rice they had out there, with some fried gluten and seaweed as toppings! I have more pictures in the next days.

In the past, I have had major jet lag issues as soon as I got to Asia and the first time they lasted for weeks (don't worry, I was there for months and I was getting paid and paid handsomely for being there!). This time, I slept well in China the first three nights (or as well as someone dying in his sleep multiple times an hour all night, every night, can). But I couldn't sleep at all that first night. And after chatting with my brother online and reading the Disney Tweeter it was well after 3 and I wasn't going to take a sleep aid at that point. I literally opened the lounge for breakfast, which shocked no one more than me. It was so peaceful and, for some reason, I had quite an appetite. Then, it was time to go wake my lazy girlfriend up and get her moving to the magic! Or, in this case, The Kingdom of Dreams and Magic!

Off we went to the monorail where we picked up the first day pass. It was rather crowded at the monorail station and there were quite some lines. But strangely enough the lines were different at the different machines. At first we thought some machines were broken because they had no one waiting there, but they worked fine, so we moved to one of those. On our last day we finally figured out what was going on: There are different designs for the day pass tickets. They are seasonal. And some designs were more popular than others. I think there were three different designs and we ended up with the one non seasonal one.

Didn't we get one of every design? Yes, we did. But that was by pure luck. We just ended up at other machines by chance and then we figured it out before we bought the last pass, so we could make sure to get the missing design.

And then we were quickly off on the monorail!

The building in the back is the Hilton.

We got the park entrance at 8:25 a.m., so more than 30 minutes before opening. There were already quite a bit of lines formed at the gates. People are very orderly and form distinct lines at each turnstile. A lot of people were sitting on the floor. We were lucky in so far as we were early enough to still get a spot under the roof of the entrance plaza with the ticket windows, so we were not sitting in the sun. It was early morning, but it was already quite warm and sitting in the sunshine would have been brutal.

Late June and early July is a slower time at TDR. Japan does not yet have school holidays, they start in the middle of July and go through August. And the local people are smart and avoid the brutal heat! It is also rainy season in Japan. So, while it is not the ideal time to travel to Japan because of heat and humidity, it did work out quite well for us. Especially with the bonus of lower crowds at TDR!

I found the time to be almost ideal. Weather nonwithstanding. That said, I have been spoiled. I have never been at TDR when it has been close to crowded, when lines for a dozen attractions can be over two hours all at once etc. ... And being on Tokyo Bay means the air isn't stagnant as it was in Shanghai. And when the sun starts going down at 6 (yes, in summer as they don't do the crazy time changes we do) and the sea breeze is going, it is much more pleasant than summer nights at WDW.

By the time they opened the gates at 9 a.m. sharp, the crowd outside the park was sizeable. The Japanese believe in showing up on time and if they open at nine it is a question of courtesy to be there at nine. That’s why the general wisdom is that you need to arrive at TDR very early – even earlier than we did. However, as you will see on the following days, we did not follow that general wisdom. We even did not get there for rope drop the coming days! In hindsight it worked very well for us. Of course, we had the benefit of the slow season. But our impression was that the pattern of visitors was quite different in Tokyo than at WDW. While at WDW you start out with an empty park that gradually gets more and more busy until early afternoon, then stays busy and finally starts emptying out after the fireworks, at TDR the park starts out pretty busy already in the morning, stays busy until early evening and then the evenings are actually very pleasant. Also, if you are at the park one hour or more before opening, that’s wait time that you need to add to your overall wait time during the day.

So, it was finally time to use our passes and get into the park!!

And you know what the first attraction was that my husband wanted to visit?? The magical bathroom!! I was quite upset. There we are, rope dropping and ready to run to the big attractions with the masses and my husband is spending precious minutes emptying his bladder?? At least I convinced him to give me his ticket, so that I could get us some Fastpasses in the meantime. TDR uses the old fashioned Fastpass machines and our first attraction of the day was going to be Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, a TDR exclusive attraction that is considered one of the stars at the resort.

You have breakfast, you tend to drink. I did that. I wanted to go search out a restroom outside the entrance, but didn't want to separate on our first day on our first visit. So, I stood there ... in pain. And waited. ... BTW, Hunny Hunt is a true E-Ticket. It opened in 1999 as the first of Disney's trackless rides. This system, despite being one of the most advanced in the world at the time, still hasn't made it to WDW yet. It is used partially in Galaxy's Edge. It is also used on the Rat ride coming to Epcot.

So, I got us Fastpasses for a bit later that morning and then waited for my husband (then boyfriend) to appear while watching the wait time sign for Hunny Hunt going from 5 minutes to 10 minutes to 15 minutes…

Poor tortured gal. You are stuck with me forever. My bladder too!

When it showed 20 minutes, Mr. Tiny Bladder finally appeared and we got in line. The line is very pretty and the time passed very quickly.

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-hV73Dk3/0/ff664675/L/i-hV73Dk3-L.jpg[/imgl]

And then it was time to enter our honey pot ride vehicle:

[img]https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-JfFRJkP/0/0425d600/L/i-JfFRJkP-L.jpg

That last picture was taken by violating the rules! TDR actually prohibits all on ride photography. I did not find this out until very late in the trip. But the CM was actually gesturing to me to put away the camera when taking this picture. I thought it was about not wasting time to get on the vehicle, now I know better.

Give Germans an inch and they'll attempt world domination ... not that the Japanese are much better.

TDR is full of rules like that that are designed to make the park experience more enjoyable for everyone. After having been on rides where people in the row in front of me film the whole ride with an iPad, I do get the no camera rule. Also, at parades the first area close to the parade route is a ground seating area. They even sell these themed plastic sheets (mats) for people to sit on for that. Then, behind that designated area it is standing room. You are not supposed to hold a camera for parade pictures higher than the top of you head. And children are held on the arm, not put on shoulders. Add to that a general respect for personal space (people give you so much space that I sometimes was afraid of invading the Japanese people’s space). This all made the park experience so much more enjoyable than any other park I had ever been to.

So much more pleasant. You never want to go back to other Disney parks after TDR. It spoils you in so many ways, including other Guests. ...

Back to Hunny Hunt! You might have been able to tell from the pictures that it looks similar to The Winnie the Pooh ride at WDW. And it is in some way and then it isn’t. First of all: all the figures in the ride are not just made out of plastic, but are plush animals. They are also more animated than the ones at WDW. M means they are actual AAs. Then the ride system is different. Instead of a classic dark ride car on a rail, those are track less little hunny pots that can move randomly. And they bounce – like Tiggers do!! And then they are randomly dancing when we see Heffalumps and Wheezles… Those all sound like minor changes, but you come out and think that’s what a 21st century dark ride should be. It should be some steps up from those that Walt designed for Disneyland nearly 70 years ago! It is a lovely and cute ride and I was very happy that we had a Fastpass for later. It is immensely popular in Japan because it fits into the Japanese adoration for anything cute (like Duffy and his friends).

Only the OLC could make an E-Ticket out of Winnie the Pooh and friends.

Our next stop was Peter Pan’s Flight. Pan had just had a multi-month closure to rehab and plus the 1983 ride. It looked amazing and had a few of the Shanghai projections added. It also doesn't have FP here and tends to not have insane waits that other versions do.

This façade is where you can see the cookie cutter copying approach with that the park started. It does look like WDW. And an old style Dumbo is just opposite it:

This part of the park does look a bit dated and random. Just beyond Dumbo for example is the Haunted Mansion. In Fantasyland. It seems an odd placement, but then there is something fantastical about the ghosts and such. I think if one were not used to it being in a different part of the park, it would feel less odd. Interesting side note: The Haunted Mansion (or its equivalent) is in a different land in all the castle parks where it exists. New Orleans Square, Liberty Square, Frontierland (DLP) and Mystic Point (HKDL).

Other interesting note: it was originally planned to go into Frontierland (called Westernland in Tokyo Disneyland) and moved late in the development plans. It is a copy of the MK's outside and in, except none of the 2007-era changes to the attic scene or the additional scene with the never-ending staircases. Except like every attraction at TDL, it looks like it just opened.

But we were going to fly to Neverland next:

After this we walked over to Westernland (Frontierland at the other castle parks) to grab a FP at Big Thunder Mountain RR. We had a look at the largest counter service restaurant in Westernland called the “Hungry Bear Restaurant”.

Westernland is very different in layout and for some reason it was near impossible to take a good picture of Big Thunder Mountain.

Tom Bricker doesn't have that problem. (He is the guy of the www.disneytouristblog.com website that was a very good resource for planing the trip to Shanghai and Tokyo. And he is a great photographer. I am constantly told that my pictures don't live up to the same standard...)

This was the wait time and FP return window at 10:20 am.

We found that Big Thunder was one of the easier FPs to get. And we did not really understand why anyone would opt to stand in a 40 minutes line when the FP window was going to open 20 minutes later. But then the same thing happens in Paris regularly, too.

These were our next FPs!

While I still maintain that Paris has the best BTM in the world (yes, it has a firm spot in my five top Disney attractions worldwide), I forgot how much I loved Tokyo's version until I was back on it. It is much better than the stateside versions. Smoother and with more props and AAs and show scenes etc. Ride itself is very similar to WDW.

Big Thunder Mountain is also home to a massive restroom complex! It was freshly renovated when we were there. You could tell that the resort was going through a restroom upgrade program. Some bathrooms were rather old fashioned (no fancy Japanese toilets) and even small. Kind of odd in the land of fancy toilets. But then the new ones were really great and offering all the comforts we found at most other places, too.

Yes, on my first visit, ALL of the bathrooms were old style. They also had lousy soap and not nearly enough hand dryers. it was one of my few complaints. That's all been changed now. ... BTW, anyone here want to argue that WDW has the cheapest soap and toilet paper known to man? The TP has been terrible for decades. But the relatively new hand soap barely lathers and never makes me feel like my hands are actually clean. Horrible. ... This isn't Delaware!!!

So, after experiencing the bathroom, it was time to re-hydrate. We were already getting really hot from the sun! There were plenty of drinks stands everywhere selling bottled drinks for reasonable prices, about $2 per bottle.

Michael had a Coke and I got this one:

It was some kind of lemonade. And it even was a Disney bottle!!

I think all the drinks bottles they were selling at TDR had some sort of Disney design on them. We thought that that was very neat!

FP and drink in hand it was time to head back to Hunny Hunt for our FP window. On the way we passed the Haunted Mansion, which has a beautiful lush garden setting here:

And yes, if I had turned to my right, I could have taken a picture of Dumbo and Peter Pan.

We then passed the backside of the castle:

(a copy of WDW’s).

And the Queen of Heart’s Banquet Hall.

This is another large restaurant, cafeteria style. We ate there later in the trip, so you will see more pictures. It is very whimsical in its Alice in Wonderland décor. And the food is often themed, too!

Hunny Hunt was as pretty the second time around and we ended up chatting with a two young women from Australia who were in line with us and very excited. They were really nice! All in all it seemed that park was mainly visited by Japanese people. However, Michael was surprised how many more non-Japanese visitors we saw compared to his last visit. To some extent this might have been due to us visiting during summer vacation time, so more families traveling. But you could also tell that the numbers of foreign tourists in Japan has grown significantly over the last years (and it is still growing). Japan has been trying hard to become more accessible and to attract more visitors. Compared to other sights in Japan, TDR seemed to have fewer foreign visitors though.

On my first visit in 2010, in four days we didn't encounter one American. I think it took until the fourth day to encounter Canadians. On this visit, there were many Americans (relatively speaking) from Day 1. You heard American being spoken in quite a few places. I was wondering whether this was a result of military families taking trips or people truly visiting directly from the USA since they have heard it is the only place left to have a true Disney experience.

From there we moved on to Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin.

[

This is the same attraction that also is in Anaheim. The premise is that you go on a cab ride to help Roger Rabbit to save Toontown. It is a simple dark ride – but with a twist: the cars spin. For some reason (mostly legal liability) the ride in Anaheim was changed to stop spinning. The one in Tokyo still spins. And it really spins!! It was quite an experience! There are also plenty of really fun effects that I have never seen working in Anaheim. This is a really cute little ride that is well worth a little wait.

The ride still spins in Anaheim. M has selective amnesia here. It was toned down after a boy flew out (due to his positioning in the ride) in the late 90s, suffered major trauma and died within a year. Tokyo has more spin though. And as someone who loved RR, I absolutely adore this ride.

Toontown is fairly large in Tokyo and really neatly done.

There was a fairly large and fun souvenir shop and we explored a bit and came across these crazy shirts:

These kind of patterns are wildly popular in Japan and they had them with all sorts of characters. We saw groups of friends or families wearing them as matching t-shirts. Michael to this day regrets dearly that we did not get a set – Mickey for him and Minnie for me.

From there we headed to Tomorrowland where we picked up a FP for Space Mountain:

And something very special for Tokyo: We entered the show lottery and were rewarded with show tickets!

Yes, the title of the show is “One Man’s Dream II” – don’t think it has anything to do with the “One Man’s Dream” exhibition found at DHS. But we will come back to the show. Currently we are still at the lottery. In order to distribute the show capacity they don’t use FP, but a lottery system. Ultimately the lottery machines are similar to FP machines. But you can choose which show and which time you want to try for. Then you scan all your party’s tickets and start the lottery and then you will either get a seat assigned or you lose. You can enter the lottery once per day for each show.

This show is a very dated character show that is beloved by fans for no good reason. To show how dated it is, it goes up to A Bug's Life (and possibly Tarzan). It likely isn't long for the park. I believe it made it's debut about 20 years ago. They took it away once briefly and had to bring it back. There are many great entertainment offerings at TDR. This isn't one.

Continued in next post.

 

[Flossbolna]

Continued from previous post:

We were then wandering around Tomorrowland a bit:

Heading to the hub and the castle:

Looking back to Tomorrowland:

The hub at TDL is very large, it actually is a double hub.

If you look at the map here: https://media2.tokyodisneyresort.jp/home/download/map/L_EN_map_1905.pdf

There are two circles overlapping in front of the castle. There are some other interesting quirks in the layout here. The most obvious is that there is no “Main Street”. It’s called World Bazaar. It still has the Main Street facades, so is similar. But it is all under a glass roof. And the two little side streets in Main Street (one of which was converted into a shop at WDW) that are dead ends at the other parks actually are real walkways and lead you out of World Bazaar into the adjacent lands (Tomorrowland and Andventureland).

Originally the World Bazaar was going to be more EPCOT-Lite like. They decided to basically make it MSUSA under a glass canopy (for weather reasons as it gets cold in Japan, and even snows). It once had a Cinema and a Gallery. No longer as they were lost to retail. The vehicles do NOT travel here. They travel in circles around the huge Hub.

This picture of the castle was taken from the smaller hub:

Side view of the castle:

And then we were back in Westernland to use our BTM FP.

One thing I noticed was that even with FP the waits here seemed longer than at WDW. I noticed that they allotted far less capacity to the FP line than they usually do at WDW. It was not a bad wait at all and I think it helped moving the standby lines quicker. One of the things I hate with standby lines is that most of your waiting time is spent standing. I find that a wait where I am moving regularly a bit is far less annoying than one where I stand the whole time.

After the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness we needed to rehydrate again. This time we went for some more interesting local drinks:

The Aquarius is a sports drink (that was Michael’s drink) and I had the Sokenbicha. This is an ice tea which has some roasted grains in it. I really liked it and was planning on getting it again in Japan (it is unsweetened, so a good low calorie drink), but somehow that didn’t happen.

And then our next stop – out of the heat! – was the Country Bear Theater. You might know it as the Country Bear Jamboree. Michael was very excited about this. The show actually has two seasonal overlays: one for the summer and one for Christmas. Michael knows both from the past in WDW. But they stopped doing them at the MK around 20 years ago. TDL still does both. I was not thrilled! On my first visit to a Disney theme park, Disneyland in 1992, my sister and I were dragged around by my aunt, who lives in California, on our first morning. First she made us wait in a one hour line for Splash Mountain, which we hated because we were just constantly afraid of that drop. And then the next stop was to see the Country Bears. At that time my English was functional, but in no way good enough to understand any of the banter of the bears in a heavy accent and I had never heard any of the songs before. I tried again at WDW on later visits – I had come to love Splash Mountain and It’s a Small World, which were also in the “who the hell thinks this is an attraction?”-category. So, I thought maybe I had mellowed enough for the Country Bears as well. No, I still find them horribly difficult to understand, the animatronics look so creaky and the music does nothing for me.

So, I was not expecting much from the “Vacation Jamboree”.

I did enjoy the very nicely themed waiting area.

They had the travel trunks of the Country Bears out:

And there was even and advertisement for the neighboring Hungry Bear Restaurant:

And then the show was really lovely!! I was amazed at how new those bears looked like! They looked so fluffy! And they moved with so much ease, no creaking or anything. The sound was great. I still did not understand them – they were talking Japanese. But I knew the songs and really enjoyed those!

The show is about 65% Japanese and 35% English. But it's Bears singling Country Music. What is hard to get? ... And I loved seeing this. TDL's Vacation show is a bit different from the version that played in Anaheim and Orlando. I missed Ghost Riders in the Sky and didn't need Achy, Breaky Heart!

After the show we explored the gift shop, which was selling lots of merchandise themed to the location.

There were little bear plush:

Those little plush are a popular souvenir in Tokyo. They come with a little pin on their back, so you can attach them to your clothes or your bags. Some people in Tokyo make a big deal out of collecting them, we saw one lady which had about 50 different versions of Minnie on a large bag that she was carrying around. They come out with new designs all the time and they are fun little souvenirs for people with luggage restrictions on the way home. They are not cheap however! They are about $18 each.

But they also had a large selection of merchandise related to the American West with no connection to Disney: Like the American parks once did!!!

Now it was time for lunch! We felt like hungry bears, so that’s where we went.

The restaurant has Japanese curry on the menu. It mainly is a very flavorful sauce, not hot, but lots of spices, with rice and then you can choose different additions. I had the Pork Cutlet Curry, which was a breaded and fried piece of pork with it. Michael had the Hungry Bear Curry which was a beef patty and vegetables with sauce and rice.

Yummy!!!

Another look at my food, so that you get to admire the location specific plates and trays!!

Every counter service had trays just for that location. You also got real silverware and the plates were real plates (even though they were plastic).

The food was really good! Overall portion sizes in Japan are generally smaller than in the US. These were enough for us, but they were on the smaller side already. It was never a problem for us, partly also because of the heat we often didn’t feel like eating a lot. But if you are someone with a large appetite you can’t just look at the cost of a meal when budgeting your food costs. You are more likely to need additional snacks and such. And there are many snacks to try – at TDL as well as everywhere else in Japan. However, this is one thing that we did not get to do nearly as much as we had thought we would Especially at TDL we didn’t snack much at all!

I thought the portions here were absolutely fine. They are larger than most TDL QSRs and that attracts all the American bloggers. ... M is also leaving out that the CM there spoke to us in perfect English when we went to order, something that absolutely wouldn't have happened a decade ago. She was also very nice.

After a nice lunch, they even thanked us for eating with them:

Up Next:

The most bizarre and the most amazing Disney entertainment offerings

 

[Steppesister]

I did not know that this was a thing! I guess it's like wall photos??

I guess so! Just a quirky fun little thing to do.

It was normal in Germany in the 70s, too. I was talking with some friends the other day about how long their kids would still be in the child seat in the car (or on the booster) and was shocked that even the 8 year old still has some sort of safety feature. And then we were talking about how we as kids were climbing all over the back seat because there were no seat belts in the back of the car!

We used to ride in the back of pickup as well.

I need to google that reference. It must be one of those American culture things that go over my head. Marrying someone from another country really brings home often we miss references the other makes.

I can imagine it would really drive that home.

Yes! Missing your plane while trying to board the wrong one would have been really stupid!

Indeed! They not have let you on, but it sure would have held you up!

Don't worry about the less commenting! It helps me to move on quicker here (and I really need to pick up the speed!!).

Good! But am loving the photos and content!

TDR is full of rules like that that are designed to make the park experience more enjoyable for everyone. After having been on rides where people in the row in front of me film the whole ride with an iPad, I do get the no camera rule. Also, at parades the first area close to the parade route is a ground seating area. They even sell these themed plastic sheets (mats) for people to sit on for that. Then, behind that designated area it is standing room. You are not supposed to hold a camera for parade pictures higher than the top of you head. And children are held on the arm, not put on shoulders. Add to that a general respect for personal space (people give you so much space that I sometimes was afraid of invading the Japanese people’s space). This all made the park experience so much more enjoyable than any other park I had ever been to.

As much as I like photographing that would be sad, but also do understand the need to make it more enjoyable for everyone. These seem like reasonable rules to me.

Like the American parks once did!!!

Preach it, Bro.

 

[soniam]

OMG! Those pictures of of the park look like my photos of when I went to WDW in the 80s as a kid! Things don't look run down. It just looks like really well preserved photos. My son loves Country Bear Jamboree and silly little plushes. I know he's going to go ape over everything in Japan and at TDR. He's obsessed with robots too. However, it will be a few years before we go, and he will be a full blown teen by then. So, the plushes may not be so interesting, but I bet the rest will be. Pooh's Honey Hunt looks so fun. We love Winnie the Pooh. The food looks really good to me. After our trips this year, I need to get more serious about Japan. We will probably go in the summer. I figured it would be busier. Glad to hear it's kind of a slow time. I think we will be fine with the weather. We go to Orlando in the summer all the time and are from Texas. I will have to crack out my college Japanese textbooks and maybe get my neighbor to tutor me. I would love to at least speak something again.

 

[tiggrbaby]

What a lovely day! You really were able to fit a lot in!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

My alarm was set for 7:15 a.m. and when it woke me up I realized that Michael was already in the bathroom. I was surprised, but figured he had some urgent business to conduct there. But then he came out and was already fully dressed! He started to tell me that he just came back to the room from breakfast at the lounge. I got a total shock! I thought that I had overslept by hours!!

You mean he CAN get up in the morning?

We got to really love the rice they had out there, with some fried gluten and seaweed as toppings!

Seaweed...the breakfast of champions.

Then, it was time to go wake my lazy girlfriend up and get her moving to the magic!

This is a sentence I never thought would be written.

But our impression was that the pattern of visitors was quite different in Tokyo than at WDW. While at WDW you start out with an empty park that gradually gets more and more busy until early afternoon, then stays busy and finally starts emptying out after the fireworks, at TDR the park starts out pretty busy already in the morning, stays busy until early evening and then the evenings are actually very pleasant.

Interesting. Also good to know.

And you know what the first attraction was that my husband wanted to visit?? The magical bathroom!!

So, I got us Fastpasses for a bit later that morning and then waited for my husband (then boyfriend) to appear while watching the wait time sign for Hunny Hunt going from 5 minutes to 10 minutes to 15 minutes…

This is a violation. He deserves a public shaming.

When it showed 20 minutes, Mr. Tiny Bladder finally appeared and we got in line.

Nicely done.

TDR actually prohibits all on ride photography.

So this is already a different experience!

You are not supposed to hold a camera for parade pictures higher than the top of you head. And children are held on the arm, not put on shoulders. Add to that a general respect for personal space (people give you so much space that I sometimes was afraid of invading the Japanese people’s space). This all made the park experience so much more enjoyable than any other park I had ever been to.

Wow. So common courtesy is not actually dead! You just have to go to Japan to experience it.

And he is a great photographer. I am constantly told that my pictures don't live up to the same standard...)

Well, if said complainer thinks he can do better...

BTW, anyone here want to argue that WDW has the cheapest soap and toilet paper known to man? The TP has been terrible for decades. But the relatively new hand soap barely lathers and never makes me feel like my hands are actually clean. Horrible. ... This isn't Delaware!!!

We just go out in the woods. Oak and maple leaves seem to do the trick just fine.

These kind of patterns are wildly popular in Japan and they had them with all sorts of characters. We saw groups of friends or families wearing them as matching t-shirts. Michael to this day regrets dearly that we did not get a set – Mickey for him and Minnie for me.

We certainly would always be able to find you guys in a crowd.

I find that a wait where I am moving regularly a bit is far less annoying than one where I stand the whole time.

I agree. It at least feels like you're making progress.

I tried again at WDW on later visits – I had come to love Splash Mountain and It’s a Small World, which were also in the “who the hell thinks this is an attraction?”-category. So, I thought maybe I had mellowed enough for the Country Bears as well. No, I still find them horribly difficult to understand, the animatronics look so creaky and the music does nothing for me.

That's pretty much where I am on Country Bears as well. Also It's A Small World, but you knew that.

And then the show was really lovely!!

Congratulations, I'm glad you liked it! But I think I'll still be skipping it.

But it's Bears singling Country Music. What is hard to get?

This lowbrow junk may pass for entertainment for the hicks who live in the swamps of Florida, but we Delaweenies prefer something more sophisticated. Maybe if they added some pyrotechnics or something...

 

[Lesley Wake]

I did not know that this was a thing! I guess it's like wall photos??

I think it especially happened with Portland because of the carpet pattern? I just remember even seeing a poster exhibit about it as I was passing thru that airport!

Off we went to the monorail where we picked up the first day pass. It was rather crowded at the monorail station and there were quite some lines. But strangely enough the lines were different at the different machines. At first we thought some machines were broken because they had no one waiting there, but they worked fine, so we moved to one of those. On our last day we finally figured out what was going on: There are different designs for the day pass tickets. They are seasonal. And some designs were more popular than others. I think there were three different designs and we ended up with the one non seasonal one.

Didn't we get one of every design? Yes, we did. But that was by pure luck. We just ended up at other machines by chance and then we figured it out before we bought the last pass, so we could make sure to get the missing design.

I'll have to decide if I want to get the different designs for my trip! I was thinking about just getting 1-use tickets, but those aren't as cute!

Interesting side note: The Haunted Mansion (or its equivalent) is in a different land in all the castle parks where it exists. New Orleans Square, Liberty Square, Frontierland (DLP) and Mystic Point (HKDL).

Actually pretty interesting!

It is a simple dark ride – but with a twist: the cars spin. For some reason (mostly legal liability) the ride in Anaheim was changed to stop spinning.

I was about to correct you before I saw the next post!

The ride still spins in Anaheim. M has selective amnesia here. It was toned down after a boy flew out (due to his positioning in the ride) in the late 90s, suffered major trauma and died within a year. Tokyo has more spin though. And as someone who loved RR, I absolutely adore this ride.

And something very special for Tokyo: We entered the show lottery and were rewarded with show tickets!

Woohoo! Very exciting!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Enjoying your trip report so far and hearing all the new things with TDR. I went when I was very young, but I went like 7 times. It was almost 35 years ago though and Disney Sea didn't even exist. I think I will go there in 2021 and will have to revisit your TR when you are done!

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

I miss paper passes. I am probably one of the few who is not a fan of the magic band or the "key" cards.


[/QUOTE]

I also miss paper fast passes. I hate the new system of pre-reserve three rides and hope you can manage to get on another one.

Side view of the castle:

Love this view!

But they also had a large selection of merchandise related to the American West with no connection to Disney: Like the American parks once did!!!

I remember the first time we went to WDW and could buy theme specific merchandise at the resorts and gift shops. I wish that was still the case.

Cool! I would buy a few if they were available here.

Every counter service had trays just for that location. You also got real silverware and the plates were real plates (even though they were plastic).

I have started carrying with me "real" silverware in a travel pouch. I hate trying to eat with a plastic fork that is too small and flimsy.

Opps, sounds like I am complianing too much. I think I am grieving for the WDW of the old days and seeing your photos of this park reminds me of the way it used to be here in the U.S. I think we need to visit this park... someday.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[franandaj]

OK, it has taken me forever to catch up here. And I have a ton of other TRs to catch up on so I'll have to make my comments somewhat brief. BTW did you ever solve the "spicy nuts" query? I like Michael's childish sense if humor. He and Mark are nicely matched and can go nicely against each other in that respect.

I was cracking up at Tiny Bladder Man! is that his superpower?

The hotels sounded nice and I'm starting to get a bit of a feel of TDR. Every other report confused me further, but I'm liking your descriptions of where things are and the various rides.

I also like the paper FPs, and while it understand the reasons to go paperless etc, I liked the spontaneity of before.

I'm enjoying the banter between the two of you and can't wait to see you in November, but I also don't want all my fun plans in between to fly by too quickly either!

 

[Steppesister]

I also like the paper FPs, and while it understand the reasons to go paperless etc, I liked the spontaneity of before.

THIS.

 

[Flossbolna]

We used to ride in the back of pickup as well.

We kind of nearly had superpowers to survive the dangerous 70s!!

As much as I like photographing that would be sad, but also do understand the need to make it more enjoyable for everyone. These seem like reasonable rules to me.

The one thing that made traveling in Japan easy was how much people show courtesy. As a foreigner you are treated even better and it is amazing how nice it is. But I also felt a huge burden to not overstep unknown rules myself since the Japanese were so nice all the time. I am sure we still did cause many moments when the Japanese would tell their family at the dinner table about those tourists doing stupid things.

 

[Flossbolna]

OMG! Those pictures of of the park look like my photos of when I went to WDW in the 80s as a kid! Things don't look run down.

Yes, things were extremely well kept. All over Japan, even things that are old (like from 1960 or so) usually do not run down.

My son loves Country Bear Jamboree and silly little plushes. I know he's going to go ape over everything in Japan and at TDR. He's obsessed with robots too. However, it will be a few years before we go, and he will be a full blown teen by then. So, the plushes may not be so interesting, but I bet the rest will be.

I hope you will manage to go while he still has some appreciation for cute things as Japan is so full of it! But even for teenagers there is plenty fun stuff in Japan - and at Disney.

Pooh's Honey Hunt looks so fun. We love Winnie the Pooh.

It's a very sweet ride that deserves its popularity.

After our trips this year, I need to get more serious about Japan. We will probably go in the summer. I figured it would be busier. Glad to hear it's kind of a slow time. I think we will be fine with the weather. We go to Orlando in the summer all the time and are from Texas.

It depends of when you go in summer, mid July through August Japanese schools are out and then it is far more busy.

I will have to crack out my college Japanese textbooks and maybe get my neighbor to tutor me. I would love to at least speak something again.

If you have some knowledge of Japanese, I would most certainly try to revive that! I found an app called Duolingo that I am using at the moment to try to learn some basic Japanese. I would love to do a course, but somehow the course times just never fit with my schedules. Of course it is not necessary at all, I just think it would be so nice to say some sentences!

 

[Flossbolna]

You mean he CAN get up in the morning?

Yes, it kind of makes it even worse if you know it is not a medical condition, but a choice...

Seaweed...the breakfast of champions.

Yes, I knew you would be all excited about that!

This is a sentence I never thought would be written.

And hopefully never will be again - he really should not have any more girlfriends to wake up now that he has a wife!!

This is a violation. He deserves a public shaming.

Nicely done.

Wow. So common courtesy is not actually dead! You just have to go to Japan to experience it.

Yes! It truly makes traveling there so easy!

Well, if said complainer thinks he can do better...

Well, he has become quite an expert with food pictures it seems.

We just go out in the woods. Oak and maple leaves seem to do the trick just fine.

That rustic in Delaware?

We certainly would always be able to find you guys in a crowd.

Not in Japan. Those t-shirts were really popular!

That's pretty much where I am on Country Bears as well. Also It's A Small World, but you knew that.

That's ok. We won't hold it against you now that you braved Rock 'n Roller Coaster!

Congratulations, I'm glad you liked it! But I think I'll still be skipping it.

I am a completist when it comes to Disney parks. I have a hard time not to see something.

This lowbrow junk may pass for entertainment for the hicks who live in the swamps of Florida, but we Delaweenies prefer something more sophisticated. Maybe if they added some pyrotechnics or something...

But I agreee, pyrotechnics would indeed improve the show!!

 

[Flossbolna]

I think it especially happened with Portland because of the carpet pattern? I just remember even seeing a poster exhibit about it as I was passing thru that airport!

Hm, I think I might go and look it up! But patterns can be very iconic! When I was in London for a year, I mainly used the Picadilly Line for all my transport needs and when I found that they were selling pillows with the seat fabric, I had to get one. It's such a unique souvenir.

I'll have to decide if I want to get the different designs for my trip! I was thinking about just getting 1-use tickets, but those aren't as cute!

When we went we were collecting the day passes in order to qualify for the special pin which has since been discontinued. Since we were going back to the hotel for midday breaks, the day passes saved us money over single tickets. If you don't do that, get single tickets and maybe one day the day pass.

I was about to correct you before I saw the next post!

Yes, I am not a DL expert. But compared to the spinning action in TDL, it's just a toothless tiger in Anaheim.

Woohoo! Very exciting!

I had no idea that the lottery was so difficult. We entered it twice and won both times. Now I am reading about all those people who never win anything.

 

[Flossbolna]

Enjoying your trip report so far and hearing all the new things with TDR. I went when I was very young, but I went like 7 times. It was almost 35 years ago though and Disney Sea didn't even exist. I think I will go there in 2021 and will have to revisit your TR when you are done!

to the trip report! I envy everyone who went to Disney as a child! I was 20 on my first visit.

 

[Flossbolna]

I miss paper passes. I am probably one of the few who is not a fan of the magic band or the "key" cards.

Paris still has them...

I also miss paper fast passes. I hate the new system of pre-reserve three rides and hope you can manage to get on another one.

Paris still has them, too...

(see, this is a theme developing there! And for someone who will retire soon, a trip to DLP might be a nice idea...)

Love this view!

Somehow I was very fascinated by how the castle looked like the one at WDW, but still was in a very different setting.

I remember the first time we went to WDW and could buy theme specific merchandise at the resorts and gift shops. I wish that was still the case.

DL in 1992 as well. My sister and I loved browsing all the different shops.

Cool! I would buy a few if they were available here.

Part of the problem is that all the shops are being responsible for showing a certain increase in spending every year. It's so much easier to shift large quantities of Disney plush than those special items.

I have started carrying with me "real" silverware in a travel pouch. I hate trying to eat with a plastic fork that is too small and flimsy.

That's a neat idea! I also like the sustainability aspect of it. A German friend was recently at DLP and she commented on how shocked she was about the amount of waste they produced with the counter service meals. Here most counter service restaurants will give you real dishes and silverware when you are eating in. The one KFC in town even serves your chicken wings in china bowls. Disneyland in California is much better in that regard and WDW is improving as well (like in Pandora).

Opps, sounds like I am complianing too much. I think I am grieving for the WDW of the old days and seeing your photos of this park reminds me of the way it used to be here in the U.S. I think we need to visit this park... someday.

For Michael this is exactly what makes him love the Asian parks so much. He grew up with WDW and feels like the way it is run today does not live up the standards the company set for itself in the past.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Flossbolna]

OK, it has taken me forever to catch up here. And I have a ton of other TRs to catch up on so I'll have to make my comments somewhat brief. BTW did you ever solve the "spicy nuts" query?

I am really bad about catching up myself. However, I have to say, posting from the phone has become easier since the board upgrade. I hope this will inspire me to post more.

I never found out about those spicy nuts. I searched for it, but I mainly got links to snack products.

I like Michael's childish sense if humor. He and Mark are nicely matched and can go nicely against each other in that respect.

Yes, I think Michael loves to sometimes write for an audience of one - named Mark.

I was cracking up at Tiny Bladder Man! is that his superpower?

Yes! It really is! It's wonderful on a long car trip when everyone thinks the woman is the first one to ask for a restroom stop. No, I just make sure my husband has something to drink and we will be stopping every hour.

The hotels sounded nice and I'm starting to get a bit of a feel of TDR. Every other report confused me further, but I'm liking your descriptions of where things are and the various rides.

I am afraid you will lose your sense of direction soon, at the very latest when we get to Disney Sea. I still haven't figured out the layout of that park without studying in a map closely.

I also like the paper FPs, and while it understand the reasons to go paperless etc, I liked the spontaneity of before.

Michael and I have truly become to hate the stress of following your pre-planned FPs. We are not relaxed enough to just let them go because ultimately we want to ride things and without them you end up not riding anything.

I'm enjoying the banter between the two of you and can't wait to see you in November, but I also don't want all my fun plans in between to fly by too quickly either!

Thanks! We are really looking forward to seeing you too - and are also planning on enjoying all the fun planned in-between (Madrid, DLP and some islands...)

 

[Flossbolna]

THIS.

I really miss the unstructured touring at WDW... Even the first visits when I had quite definite touring plans, it felt less constrictive than those FPs...