Four Days at Tokyo Disney Resort ***Pixie Dust High, People!!!***

[ichabody]

My wife is Japanese and so naturally we've traveled back there many times. In 2010 we made a quick stop at Tokyo Disneyland for just a day because we were heading back home to California the next day...so we missed Tokyo DisneySea Which is a shame because we consider to be the most fabulous Disney Park ever created in the universe. Well, last June we had the opportunity to go back to Japan and this time we planned on doing a four day trip! There are limited websites for planning purposes (compared to WDW) but we did come across Tom Bricker's super mega awesome website, Disney Tourist Blog and he has what I consider to be the most thorough and entertaining Tokyo Disney Resort planning website available in English. The dude loves Tokyo DisneySea as much as breathing...maybe even more...he may like In-n-Out burger more than those two, but that's another story. You can find his planning guide here: http://www.disneytouristblog.com/tokyo-disney-trip-planning-guide/

First, let me introduce my family...I'm Brian...the Disney Nerd Dad (DISDad #792), my wife Masako who loves Disney as much as my daughter loved her first ride on Tower of Terror; My daughter, Sarah, who is my partner in Disney crime; My two Disney-loving thrill-seeking boys Andrew (older) and Kyle. Here is a pic of us before we ate at the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall:



We pre-purchased our 4 day ticket ahead of time and had the tickets mailed to my wife's address in Japan (they do not mail tickets to addresses outside of Japan). We could have printed them at home, but we decided not to. One thing about the four day ticket is that you choose which parks you want to attend the first two days, then the last two days you can park hop. We picked Disneyland first, despite our eagerness to get to DisneySea, since we were meeting some friends who lived in Tokyo and they had only one day so Disneyland it was. DisneySea was day 2 then back to Disneyland day 3 and finished up at DisneySea on day 4. You should avoid visiting the park on Friday, Saturday and Sunday if possible, but since our friends had kids who had to be in school on Monday we met on Sunday and stayed at the resort until Wednesday.

We stayed at the Palm and Fountain Terrace hotel http://www.palmandfountainterracehotel.com/english/access/index.html which is technically off-property, but it is a partner hotel so we had a speedy shuttle each morning. It was a great hotel, not much theming, but it was perfectly adequate for our family of five and the room was a decent size even for my 6'3" frame!

We got up bright and early on Day 1, hit probably the first shuttle from the hotel and got to Disneyland about 45 minutes before the gates open. HIGHLY recommend arriving that early because if you don't...well, just get there early if you want to ride anything cool. Our friends arrived 30 minutes before we did and got a spot near the gates...LUCKY!! We joined them on their mat and commenced our plan of attack while eating our breakfast that we purchased the night before in our hotel's convenience store.

Well, I'm going to end this first post here and figure out how to resize my photos on Windows 8 so I can show you the scene in front of the gates!!! Tomorrow: the mad dash to Pooh's Hunny Hunt!

 

[natebenma]

I'm in. I know absolutely nothing about DL Tokyo, so it will be fun to follow along. We made our first trip to Disneyland/California Adventure in July after many trips to WDW. It was really fun for us to compare the two resorts and I look forward to hearing your comments.

 

[Lalabubbles]

Can't wait to read more!!

 

[ichabody]

I'm in. I know absolutely nothing about DL Tokyo, so it will be fun to follow along. We made our first trip to Disneyland/California Adventure in July after many trips to WDW. It was really fun for us to compare the two resorts and I look forward to hearing your comments.

We didn't know much before we went either...the Disney Tourist Blog and "Top Tips for Visiting the Tokyo Disney Resort" by Kevin Yee were invaluable resources. I love comparing the different resorts, too! It's fun to see similarities, yet am amazed at how unique each one is! They are all awesome and each have their own special Disney magic!

Can't wait to read more!!

Working on the next installment now! Just got sidetracked by the Jimmy Fallon show...Saved by the Bell reunion!!! I was losing my mind!!

 

[lisateaches]

That's what my sister meant when she posted FALLON...SBTB!!!

 

[OldSchoolReasons]

Watching this thread! I've already been feverishly lurking the Disney Tourist Blog for his photos - that guy loves Disney.

 

[ichabody]

That's what my sister meant when she posted FALLON...SBTB!!!

LOL!!! Oh my gosh...TV hadn't made me this happy since the show went off the air...I couldn't finish my post last night because I was too excited! Went to Netflix and watched a couple episodes

Watching this thread! I've already been feverishly lurking the Disney Tourist Blog for his photos - that guy loves Disney.

Thanks for reading!! I promise I'll have a lot more new stuff tonight. Yeah, Tom Bricker is a nut for Disney and his writing style is so clever...he really gets you pumped up for your Disney trip!

 

[lisateaches]

I could probably guess your age based on your enthusiasm for SBTB!

 

[ichabody]

I could probably guess your age based on your enthusiasm for SBTB!

I'm right on your tail!! LOL!!

 

[ichabody]

NEXT INSTALLMENT!

Well, here we are hanging out in front of the turnstiles enjoying our breakfast.



Once the park opened at 9am we made a beeline for Pooh's Honey Hunt while one of our Japanese friends grabbed some fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear...he was going to get Monsters Ride and Go Seek but it was down for the first part of the day...we ended up doing it on Day 3. Pooh's Hunny Hunt is a great attraction, it is similar to WDW and DL as you go through the same kind of scenes, but the Tokyo version is so much more immersive. You are literally bouncing up and down with Tigger and interacting with other guests as you cruise around on a trackless system in your Hunny Pot. The heffalump and woozle scene is a hoot! I'm not fluent in Japanese by any stretch. I can communicate with my family and friends OK and can understand a little about what is going on in the attractions...that said, if you know the back story well enough the language isn't a problem. What's more, the cast members will be happy to provide you with a printed English translation for most attractions...and they make cool (and free) souvenirs!




Afterwards we rode Buzz Lightyear which is the same as MK and DL and then ate our first snack...these little green alien men! It was like a rice cake with custard filling...so yum! TDR has the most amazing snacks!




We got some fastpasses for Star Tours then rode some Fantasyland attractions (Peter Pan, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Pinocchio and the teacups...all identical to the versions at DL) and the Haunted Mansion (very similar to MK)...the park still wasn't very crowded...we waited 20 minutes for Peter Pan and 15 for Haunted Mansion. It was 11:00 and we knew that the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall would be getting crazy busy so we decided on an early lunch. This was a great idea because when we finished eating there was a 1.5 hour wait to get seated...it's that popular! The theming is incredible!


Love the trays!


I had the chicken...smaller sized portions but the prices were very reasonable!



After lunch we picked up some fast passes for Splash Mountain and then headed over to Adventureland. The Jungle Cruise was closed...just like the last time we visited...oh well, one of just 712 reasons why we want to go back! Pirates of the Caribbean was next up and I took this neat picture of a map that was on a wall inside the queue area. The ride was almost identical to DL, just one less drop. You even cruise by diners that are eating at the Japanese version of the Blue Bayou restaurant.

 

[ichabody]

Heading back over to Critter Country we rode Splash Mountain. The queue for this attraction is amazing. It is almost entirely inside the mountain and scattered just about everywhere are little critter houses that are the cutest. Just outside the attraction is Grandma Sara's kitchen, a quick service restaurant that oozes Splash Mountain theming...it was by far the neatest restaurant we ate in...more on that later! They still have the Explorer canoes (called Beaver Bros. Explorer Canoes) in Tokyo so we took a lap around the Western River and got soaked with CLEAN water...oh, and sweat! It was pretty hot...the humidity in Japan is just about as bad as Florida! Here's me goofing around with Brer Bear and another photo of a super yummy tortilla sausage snack...with the Western River Railroad passing by. The third picture is a Japanese couple we observed while waiting for the afternoon parade to start (have pics of that from DAY 3). The Japanese take Disney fandom to the extreme level, then "plus it" as Walt would say! WE LOVE IT!!! These two were obsessed with Donald. They are also OBSESSED with Duffy...more on that later, too!!



At some point we grabbed fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain so that was next up...it's just as fast and zippy as DL and MK...only it's not located in Frontierland. There actually is no Frontierland in Tokyo, they call it Westernland. Here's my boys in front of Big Thunder!



We also took in the Country Bear Jamboree and Zeke, Zack, Ted, Fred and the bear named Tennessee were all singing in Japanese! It was the Summer Vacation version so that was neat to see since I believe WDW only plays the original. I heard they rotate the show between the original, the summer vacation and a Christmas version. Here are some of the props out in the lobby...this area is a MUST SEE for any Country Bear Jamboree fan (like me) as a lot of backstory is provided. Fun stuff! I took a ton of pictures in here...here's a couple:



It was getting near our time for our Star Tours fastpass so we decided to head back to Tomorrowland and on the way we took some time to rest in front of the castle. Star Tours in Tokyo has been upgraded to the same versions in WDW and DL. Funny story...we used to ride it a ton in DL...my boys loved it! They were really sad when we rode the old version for the last time back in 2010 before it went down for the "re-imagining"...they were really bummed out! No more Rex!! BUT...when we went to Tokyo in 2010 the Star Tours here was still operating the old version...it hadn't gone down yet! So the last time we rode the old version with Rex was in Tokyo and we got to say "Sayonara" to him there! LOL!



After Star Tours we decided to head back to Adventureland and eat at a Japanese Ramen restaurant. I think it was good, but I can't really remember because I hit a wall just before dinner, yep, the jet lag caught up to me! As much as I was on a Disney high and Pixie Dust overload my body was shutting down. In hindsight, I'd recommend acclimating to the time change for at least two days before trying a marathon 4 day tour of TDR! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!! After dinner we pretty much called it a night, said goodbye to our friends and took the shuttle back to the hotel. We got plenty of rest that night...we needed it..because the next day we would be going to Tokyo DisneySea for the FIRST TIME!!! We were so excited...there are not many things in life that can compare to the joy of walking into a Disney Park you've never been to before. More on that later!!! Oh, but before I go...um, no Sarah, sorry...we can't get into Club 33

 

[StayAwake]

I'm loving your report so far! You all look like you're having a blast!

 

[ichabody]

I'm loving your report so far! You all look like you're having a blast!

Thanks for taking the time to read! It was a great trip...can't wait to go back! I'm working on day 2 and should have it posted later today. Tokyo DisneySea...it was absolutely amazing!

 

[StayAwake]

Thanks for taking the time to read! It was a great trip...can't wait to go back! I'm working on day 2 and should have it posted later today. Tokyo DisneySea...it was absolutely amazing!

I can't wait to read it. I'm hoping to be able to go to TDR in November or December and I'm trying to learn everything I can.

 

[ichabody]

We were up early and grabbed a couple things from our hotel's convenience store for breakfast and boarded the shuttle bound for DisneySea!!! We arrived about 45 minutes before the park opened and sat down in the lines in front of the gates...that's where we, and just about everyone else, ate their breakfast. I'm not sure about breakfast options in the park because each day we tried to pack in as much as we could during the first part of the day since the parks get crowded in the afternoons. Our first meal in the park was always lunch! Once the gates opened I literally RAN to the Tower of Terror to grab fast passes and my family headed to Mysterious Island where Journey to the Center of the Earth would be our first ride of the day. Here is what the first picture they took...AMAZING!!



Meanwhile, I'm running to Tower of Terror and I get mixed up with the folks running to Toy Story, which was just about everyone else so I got stuck. This is due to the fact that I was just so caught up in the beauty of Porto Paradiso, (the "main street" of DisneySea)and the American Waterfront, the land where Toy Story and Tower of Terror are located. Talk about pixie dust high!!! After getting the fast passes for TOT I literally had to sit down for a couple minutes catch my breath and let the surroundings soak in. WE WERE HERE!!! Anyways..one word of advice...if TOT is your first attraction of the day as you proceed to the American Waterfront take heed of Ma Fratelli's advice and STAY TO THE RIGHT!!! Yes, that was a Goonies reference!



I met up with the family at the entrance to Mysterious Island where we headed to Journey to the Center of the Earth. More pixie dust high here! This small "land" is amazingly detailed...like you are inside the head of Jules Verne himself:



We snagged another FP for later, too! The queue for Journey is very impressive, think underground caverns and tons of scientific equipment that aids in underground exploration. The first part of this attraction requires you to board an elevator that takes you to the center of the earth...very realistic with clanging bells and the feeling of rapid descent. It's awesome. Once you're at the center there is another small queue and before you know it you board a single car coaster that screams steam punk...sort of like a personal underground cavern driller-mobile that seats six if I remember correctly. Soon you are off exploring all sorts of strange and exotic underground wildlife and creatures. Be ready for some scary surprises! There are plenty of speedy parts and dips...a wild ride! It was our second favorite ride at DisneySea, our favorite would come later!

Next up was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea...we pretty much walked right on to this as the throngs of guests were either at Toy Story or Indiana Jones and since we've been on these hundreds of times at Disneyland they weren't much of a priority even though we did pickup a Fast Pass for Indiana Jones after we left Mysterious Island. Anyways, Leagues was very fun. You board these cube shaped submersibles and explore under the sea with Capt Nemo making some very strange discoveries...you get into a little trouble and end up receiving help from some interesting glowing friends so you can make your way back up to the surface. I've heard from others that the space is a little confined inside the submersible, but for this 6'3" dude I didn't feel that way. A must ride in Tokyo DisneySea...after we rode it was time for a Gyoza Dog snack:

 

[ichabody]

We headed over to check out the Little Mermaid indoor area. This was a cool surprise...and air conditioned! A neat place to explore and get out of the heat and rain (just like WDW Japan gets a fair amount of rain in the summer). Here are a few pics...comfy Ariel pillow anyone?



We headed over to Lost River Delta where Indiana Jones and a looping roller coaster called Raging Spirits are located, but on the way we stopped for lunch at Miguel's El Dorado Cantina, very reasonably priced mexican food counter service joint and it didn't disappoint. Snapped a pic of the temple where Indiana Jones is located and rode Raging Spirits afterwards. The ride had a loop in it, but it wasn't very fast, a little disappointing, but we did snap a cool pic of a hidden Mickey after we got off the ride and another one of the kiddos out in front of the temple ruins the coaster races through.



We walked back to the American Waterfront to ride Tower of Terror...the backstory here is very different from CA and HS. The story is based on an eccentric world traveler and antiquities collector named Harrison Hightower III. Of course everything is explained to you in Japanese, but to help out us English speakers they provided this cool keepsake that explains what is going on:



I would say once in the elevator the ride is identical to CA, except that of course, the drop sequence is randomized just as it is at every other TOT. It's a lot of fun!

 

[ichabody]

After riding we decided to relax around the American Waterfront for a while and get our tennis shoes shined! We also stopped by McDuck's Department Store which really should be named The Store of Duffy...because that's pretty much all that's in there! Duffy, his girlfriend Sallie Mae and their feline artist friend, Gelatoni. Japanese go crazy for Duffy stuff! When the gates open each morning about half go to Toy Story, the other half go to McDuck's department store to grab Duffys! Most buy the regular size bears, but they do sell huge ones and Duffy head backpacks, too! Sarah bought a Sallie Mae doll since she bought a Duffy at CA a couple years earlier...on Day 4 I'll show some more pics of that.



We picked up some Mango sea-shell ice creams and saw the afternoon showing of Legends of Mythica. How can I describe it...hmm...overflowing with awesomeness to the point your whole body is filled with goosebumps? Yep...it's that good. The show features a caravan of barges loaded with mythical creatures who dance around, some on top of fountains, all the while these crazy jet skier dudes and dudettes circle all around the bay. It is truly a visual spectacle and the music is wonderful. I was so caught up that I didn't take many photos at all...I'm sure you've all had that experience!!



Afterwards we headed over to ride Indiana Jones and grab the yummiest chicken leg snack ever (apparently Japanese aren't too fond of the turkey legs..there just too darn big for their little hands!) before we explored the Arabian Coast and our favorite ride at DisneySea, Sindbad's Storybook Voyage.

 

[ichabody]

. I have to apologize for not taking any pictures inside...I have a habit (and I guess it's a good one) of not taking pictures inside dark rides, but especially inside Sindbad's. All I can say is wow...think It's a Small World with the most amazing audioanimatronics you've ever seen. The story center's on Sindbad and his little tiger pal, Chandu as they brave some pretty miraculous adventures in an effort to restore a small village to their riches that were stolen by thieves. Besides the awesomeness of the audioanimatronics and an equally impressive visual display of such, oh, and the story line...what blew me away was the music. Alan Menken composed the music, Compass of your Heart, for the attraction...it gives me chills and yeah, almost moves me to tears each time I hear it. Follow the compass of your heart, Sindbad!! After we rode, you guessed it, another snack! Poor Chandu...sorry we had to eat your tail (it was a bun filled with shredded chicken) and then wash it down with this lychee? slushee! Yum!



At some point I grabbed a fast pass for Storm Rider so that was next up...so we made our way over to Port Discovery. Storm Rider is an interesting ride, and not to be missed. You are basically piloting an advanced storm tracking aircraft (in a simulator of course!) that gets sucked into a storm so that you actually feel what it's like to be in the middle of a hurricane or typhoon. You do get wet! After we rode that we hopped aboard the DisneySea Electric Railway...I took a video of our trip from Port Discovery to the American Waterfront and back:

It was starting to get late and so we decided to ride Journey once again and then pick out some spots to see Fantasmic at the same location we saw Legends of Mythica earlier. We snagged some nice seats and enjoyed the show. It was good, not spectacular like I thought it would be. I guess no other version of Fantasmic will be as good as Disneyland...sorry WDW fans It's just when everything gets dark and the cannon fire on the Columbia ushers in the Peter Pan Capt hook scene, well, oh, and then when all the characters are on the Mark Twain riverboat...ooh, still get the chills thinking about it! Anyways, here is a couple of pics of the waterfront at night, some neato Chip n Dale hairbands (Japanese go gaga for them, too!) and then the kids just inside the entrance at the Aquasphere! No one gets pictures in front of the Aquasphere in the morning...everyone is high-tailing it to attractions! Wear good running shoes! LOL!



Well, that was it for Day 2! It was a full day and sleep was needed for another full day at Tokyo Disneyland tomorrow!

 

[ichabody]

I can't wait to read it. I'm hoping to be able to go to TDR in November or December and I'm trying to learn everything I can.

I would love to go during the Christmas season! If you have any questions just let me know. Pick up Kevin Yee's book and check out the Disney Tourist Blog for more info. Glad you're enjoying our trip report!

 

[SnowBelleAlice]

Fantastic so far! Thanks for sharing! Someday I'll visit Tokyo Disney Resort!