Alright, some final thoughts and pointers....
There is a new(since I started this thread) board for Tokyo Disney, found under other lands in this forum, and there is great information over there. I wish that it had been there before I went.
When my son and I returned to the hotel, to pack up and store our stuff to go back into the park for lunch, we changed out of our mostly wet pants and took all our stuff to the concierge. We went back into the park and ate at a NY style deli in the Main street type area. I had a smoked salmon sandwich and it was good. We had been in Tokyo for three days before and were ready and willing to eat a little more western style food. All the food we had was good and not too expensive, granted we ate at more modest places. The restaurant inside the large ship was very expensive, so we ate in the cafe.
We walked around for a couple of minutes more and then headed to the hotel to get our things. We were headed by train back to Tokyo Station and then catching a bullet train to Kyoto. I ducked into the restroom and my son went to collect our bags. When he produced the claim ticket the woman working there looked at the number and when she returned with the luggage she looked at my son, trying to tell him something. No English, so she pantomimed what appeared to be someone driving. My son shrugged and tried to understand and after a few attempts she held up her finger and reached for something. She handed my son my drivers license, which in the process of changing pants I had left on the bedspread. "Arigatou" my son told her. I was very relieved and impressed by this. With that, we reluctantly headed to the monorail that would take us to the train.
Some tips :
If you have any choice plan to go when the crowds are manageable. We had to wait about 10 to 15 minutes for most rides and that was at Tokyo Disney not DisneySea. The crowds were smaller both days at DisneySea. We were expecting much bigger crwods, but early Nov. is a good time to go. Avoid holidays, summer or during the cherry blossom time.
The food was good and there were plenty of western type foods available. For picky eaters or those with special diets, like DW here, you should have no problem. Japan is expensive, but you can be pretty thrifty if you work a little at it. For a lot of people getting there, staying on property, and especially the entrance to the parks, is quite expensive. So you can eat fairly cheap in the counter service and cafe type places.
I was disappointed with the souvenirs, in that they were very generic and sized for asian folks. I did buy my daughter a face mask with a winnie the pooh nose on it.
About 25 % of the people in the park were wearing face masks. I did come home with an umbrella though.
Several people have commented about the language situation and while I have commented about it could be frustrating, we really had no significant problems. When we would stare blankly at a train schedule or menu, someone would invariably walk up and try to help us. My son and I stuck out a bit and many people seemed eager to help us. I even had a 11 year old try to communicate with me in Kyoto, but his english was limited to " Hallo" and my favorite "Bu- ti -ful". Mostly I was surprised how the parks are really geared towards the locals and yet all signs are in English. But of course a Japanese tourist at DW who spoke little or no English would fell pretty much the way we did.
We had a fantastic trip and I was so glad we allowed two days for Disney and that it went as smooth as it did.
For those interested, the rest of my Japan photos are located here:
http://public.fotki.com/Garp/
Where you will find pictures such as this from Kyoto:
Thanks for reading and commenting and I will check back for a few days to answer any questions.
lasob
