Konnichiwa from Tokyo Disneyland!

[jemiaule]

Time for a quickie (for me) trip report from Tokyo Disneyland!

This is an unusual trip for us; just my husband and I. The kiddos are at home in California with Grandma while we spend four days at Tokyo Disney and then 5 days in Shinjuku!

Day One: AKA - 20 hours from home to hotel bed!

We were off to the San Francisco airport WAY too early for my liking on Sunday morning and were taking off for Narita. Knowing this was going to be a looooooong flight (just under 10 hours) we had decided to fly business class. Let me tell ya it was well worth the money.

We flew on JAL and I have to say it was a really pleasant trip! The seats in business class are these "shell" seats that have more controls on them than the fanciest reclining massage chairs I have ever seen. And they did massage too! (which after about the 6th hour you are really wanting!) They also reclined almost all the way flat (albeit you were still at an angle) and we were able to nap quite nicely.

JAL also stuffs you full of food and good food at that! Over the course of our flight we were served two meals and a snack that was pretty much a meal too. I also loved the free wine (good French wine!) and champagne too.

Once we landed at Narita it was a quick pass through Immigration and then Customs. By the time we had made it through (under 15 minutes) our luggage was already out at baggage claim. We picked up our bags, headed over to the Airport Limousine counter and bought our tickets to take us to Tokyo Disneyland Resort.

Airport Limousine is not a "Limousine" but the name of a bus service. The buses are very nice and super comfy. The drive from Narita took just a bit over an hour. We were tired from traveling but as soon as the bus turned onto the drive into Tokyo Disneyland Resort our second wind kicked in from the excitement!

After making a few other stops we were dropped off at our hotel - Tokyo Bay Hilton. We had REALLY wanted to stay at Mira Costa but unfortunately both my husband and I needed internet access while we are here. Such a bummer that neither of the Disney hotels offer it. But the Tokyo Bay Hilton is a really nice hotel too, located just across the street from one of the monorail stations and (the best part IMHO) our room overlooks Disneyland!

After checking in and dropping our stuff off at the room we took some time to explore the hotel, stop by the Starbucks in the lobby (the second wind was a short one ) and then head to one of the restaurants for a late dinner. By the time we finished dinner and were back upstairs in our room it was around 10:00pm local time (or 5:00am California time). We had been traveling for just about 20 hours. A bed has never looked SO good.

Day two coming up next post.

 

[jemiaule]

Day Two: Getting up - Getting Out

6:20am...was that the alarm that woke me up? The sound of cars? Excited vacationers in the halls? NO! It was a horrible leg cramp that woke me up causing me to bolt straight up. My husband and I are still debating what hurt worse - my leg or his arm where I slugged him as I yelled "leg cramp, leg cramp, make it stop!"

Whew - leg cramp over, but I am still hobbling around the room a bit stiff, but who cares I am at Tokyo Disney!!

After the leg cramp/slugfest we got ready for our day, we had some breakfast and headed down to the lobby for a caffeine infusion (ie: more Starbucks). The hotel has a ticket counter in the lobby so I bought our tickets there and got to use some of my more useful Japanese: "eigo o hanashi masu ka" (Do you speak English). Welp, turns out the ticket-lady did not but with some of my broken Japanese, a lot of hand gestures, much smiling and bowing we got our tickets and were on our way!

The Tokyo Bay Hilton is right across the street from the monorail's Bayside Station so we walked over in just a couple of minutes. Note to fellow travellers: The monorail here is not free as it is at WDW or DL. A three day pass cost us each 1100 yen (about $10.65) and it will allow us to ride the monorail to any of the four stations any time. There is no ticket booth there, just a machine you purchase tickets from. Look for the little button on it that says English and it will magically turn all the directions from Kanji to well...english. Woulda been nice if I saw the button BEFORE I stood there looking like a dope for a few minutes mucking my way through it all in Kanji.

The monorails here are just plain cool! I however am not plain cool...I forgot to take a picture of them today so instead you get to suffer with my descriptions. They are much larger, the size of a normal train and all cars are interconnecting - meaning you can walk the length of the train if you wish. The driver is actually in the back of the monorail so anyone can sit or stand in the front and look out if they wish. The windows are shaped like Mickey Mouse's head and the hand straps for holding on while standing are just to cute for words. So cute in fact that I did at least take a picture of them:

More to come in next post...

 

[jemiaule]

More of Day Two: So much cuteness!

After our short ride on the monorail we have made it to the Tokyo Disneyland station. Woot!! We bounded off the monorail and made our way down to the gates. And it was crowded...really crowded...seriously I mean really really crowded. But that is ok, we are at Tokyo Disneyland right!

Unlike WDW & DL there is no train station at the front and the magical tunnel underneath that leads you onto Main Street. Instead after you enter you walk into what is called World Bazaar...which looks just like Main Street except for a few things.

Thing One: No forced perspective here folks - those two story buildings really are two stories...and you can tell! Being used to WDW & DL both my husband and I thought it seemed a bit, well, wrong that these buildings were so big.

Thing Two: World Bazaar is covered with a glass canopy. I have heard this was done because of the amount of rain they get.

Picture goodness:

One thing we have discovered is that everything here is cute. Now we all know Disney is cute, the characters are cute...but Japan has taken it to a new level of cute. Our first experience of The Cute was the balloons. OH how I wished there was a way I could get some of these balloons home! Everytime I saw these balloons through-out the day I kept repeating that thought.

More Picture Goodness:

As we headed down World Bazaar to the central hub he heard a marching band. We were both surprised at the huge crowd that was surrounding the band. Now, marching bands are nice but I just have never had a fleeting thought to stand there and watch one...until today. I present to you our second experience of The Cute....a marching band made up of adorable children, probably all around 6 to 7 years of age:

Picture Goodness:

Not only were these kids just plain adorable in their tiny lil band uniforms, they were really good too! After playing for a bit it was time for them to march backstage. Like a pair of weird gajin we followed them a bit, snapping pictures and remarking over and over again how wonderful we thought they were. I don't know what possibly freaked these kids out more, our massive photo-taking or just the fact that there was this short blonde lady (me) standing there smiling and pointing at them all. (And yes, a few of the kids did give me wide-eyed looks - this would be something that would happen all day. Must be the hair)

One more picture:

More in next post...I think I lied when I said "quickie" trip report.

 

[jemiaule]

More Day Two: The Line is How Long?

The band is now backstage and we are on our way to Fantasyland! We had read that THE attraction at Tokyo Disneyland is Pooh's Hunny Hunt so I knew we had to make our way there pronto! We round the corner, look at the sign and the line is already at 100 minutes. Did I mention the park had only been open for about 30 minutes?

Now, I like Pooh as much as the next gal, but not 100 minutes worth of waiting to see him. Ok, time for Fastpass.

We walk to the Fastpass for Pooh and the line looks long, really long, longer than I have ever seen for a Fastpass. And just where is the end of the line? So we walk, and walk and walk. Ah, there is the end and we get in line. Twenty (yes 20!) minutes later we made it to the front and got our Fastpasses. Return time - 4:00pm! We later found out that all the Fastpasses were gone for Pooh by around 11:00am.

So since we are in Fantasyland we decide to hit up It's a Small World. I was so happy to see the front is similar to DL's.

As is usual for any variation of IASW the line was short, relatively speaking, only about 25 minutes. When we got to the front of the line we noticed something - when people enter the boats here they all made sure NOT to step on the seats when they enter the boat but to carefully get in and step only on the floor of the boat. We found this to be the case later on Pirates too.

After IASW we roamed around Fantasyland. As per Fantasyland at every Disney park the lines were quite large. I hate to say it but we skipped a lot of attractions and instead decided to do some window shopping.

In the stores we found more examples of The Cute as well as a lot of merchandise devoted to characters who don't seem to get as much of the merchandising love in the US parks. It seems the Japanese are QUITE infatuated with the character Marie from the Aristocats. We saw many a Japanese girl (and a lot of boys too) wearing Marie gear. Here is a picture of a wall of Marie merchandise for sale:

Another character sorely missing merchandise in the US was more than making up for it in Japan - the Cheshire Cat! Whoo-hoo! I must have stood in front of the Cheshire merchandise for, according to my husband "forever and then some", before I could decide what to buy. Here is a picture of some of the Cheshire stuff for sale....my favorite being the Cheshire boxer shorts (Which no, I did not buy. My husband gave me QUITE the look when I suggested them though):

After the shopping expedition we headed over to the Haunted Mansion. Wait, I hear you thinking, you are in Fantasyland. That would be correct; in Tokyo Disneyland the Haunted Mansion is located in Fantasyland. We take a look at the line and the wait sign....120 minutes. OK, I think we will need another Fastpass but we can't get one for an hour. Let's look around some more.

We spent the next hour wandering about, taking photos and just enjoying being at Tokyo Disneyland. While everything was so familiar it was so different at the same time. It was also so different being in a crowd of folks and sticking out like a sore thumb. Being the only blonde girl in the crowd got me many looks, sometimes even stares. One thing that was neat...I was no longer one of the shorter people around! Almost every woman was my height and a lot were shorter. It was a new experience being an average height!

An hour had passed, we grabbed our Fastpasses for Haunted Mansion and decided an early lunch might be a smart idea considering the crowds so we headed over to the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall.

I don't know what was better, the food or the theming of the restaurant. Promise me, if you ever go to tokyo Disneyland you will go to the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall. Even if you do not want to get anything to eat just walk inside to see it!

Floral lights reaching up to the ceiling:

Queen & King of Hearts:

Lifesize playing card:

Yummy Desserts - Including an Unbirthday Cake:

Menu Choices:

And yay, more of the Cheshire Cat:

More to come....

 

[jemiaule]

We left the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall and were immediately glad we decided on an early lunch - the line to get in was now huge!

Our next stop was Critter Country. We were half thinking about riding Splash Mountain but couldn't decide. It was a cold day (9c, about 48f) and we weren't too sure if we wanted to be wet. Oh look, the line is 160 minutes...we can ride Splash Mountain the next time we are at WDW thankyouverymuch!

Critter Country is SO well themed here. We had a lot of fun looking at all theming and snapping tons of photos. Here are just a few:

Ok, since Splash Mountain is a wash (har-har-har) let's head over to Adventureland. Well we can't. There is no Adventureland at Tokyo Disneyland - here it is Westernland!

The game plan, we will grab a Fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain and then maybe ride the train. One problem came up...Big Thunder is down for a refurb. Ok, not a problem we will ride it the next time we are at WDW thankyouverymuch! Ah, little did we know at that time this was going to be the catch-phrase of the day.

Now, at Tokyo Disneyland there is not a train that circles the park like there is at WDW and DL. Here the train is located in in Westernland and circles around the Rivers of America. That sounds very fun and different so let's go.

Train - down for refurb. Ok, not a problem we will ride it the next time we are at WDW thankyouverymuch!

Oh, I know, let's go to the Tiki Room! Oh wait, down for refurb. Ok, not a problem we will ride it the next time we are at WDW thankyouverymuch!

Jungle Cruise - down for refurb. Ok, not a problem we will ride it the next time we are at WDW thankyouverymuch!

Well, we are beginning to see why the lines are so long for everything else - there is a lot down for refurb. Later we would find out there was even more down. But we were not going to stress about it as our mantra would now be "hey, but we are still at Tokyo Disneyland!"

Off we go to Adventureland and on to Country Bear Theater. Ok, this was great! Half of the show was in English and half was in Japanese. I taped the whole thing and plan on uploading it to YouTube eventually. Hearing "Mama Don't Whoop Lil Buford" in Japanese was hilarious as was hearing "Davy Crockett". It took a lot not to shake the camera because we were giggling so hard.

Next stop - Pirates of the Caribbean! Remarkably the line was not that long - only 30 minutes. What gives? Everything else has giant lines - where is the Pirates love around here! Well, I am not about to look a gift horse in the mouth!

Pirates here is very more like the DL version than the WDW version. The cave had a much lower ceiling which was neat - you really felt like you were in a cave. My husband and I both noticed something else - the sound quality was infinitely better here than it is at both WDW and DL. The shots being rung, the speaking, the music - everything was much more crisp and clear. And speaking of speaking...all was in English except for the skull & crossbones speaking his warning before the dip.

And yes, they do have Jack Sparrow in the attraction but the animatronic seemed to look better, more lifelike, in the final scene than it does at both DL & WDW. At first I thought it was me but my husband agreed with me. OH, and the Tokyo Pirates is not the PC version! We got to see it how it was originally done with pirates chasing the wenches.

We exited Pirates to discover the line was now HUGE for the attraction. We hit the line jackpot on this one - everyone must have still been at lunch while we were on.

Even more to come in the next post....

 

[jemiaule]

Popcorn. To me and you that is fluffy stuff with butter and salt. But not to the Japanese. Why just have plain ole popcorn. True, you can get some good ole fashioned salted popcorn here...but you can also get a few other flavors.

Fantasyland - How about some Chocolate Popcorn

Critter Country & Tommorrowland - Maybe you would like some Caramel Popcorn

Westernland - Good ole fashioned Salted Popcorn here

Adventureland - Talk about adventure, how about some Curry Popcorn

But the best of all, by Pooh's Honey Hunt - Honey Popcorn!

And if you are getting popcorn don't settle for some run of the mill box. Oh no you need more of The Cute....specially themed plastic popcorn containers!

We were in Tomorrowland and decided it was snacktime. Here we purchased a foot-tall plastic Buzz Lightyear looking rocketship (which is adorned with the cute lil alien) stuffed full of Caramel Popcorn. And this ain't no Cracker Jack kids - that hard stuff that is more sugar than corn and sticks to your teeth. No, this was good fluffy popcorn lightly covered with caramel. The perfect combo of sweet and salty.

Sorry I don't have a picture of the container. I will get one uploaded tomorrow. The husband is asleep and probably wouldn't like TheDis too much if I woke him up to get the photos off the camera.

After stuffing ourselves with popcorn we decided to check out this attraction called " MicroAdventure". Well it turned out to be "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" which is my least favorite attraction at Epcot. Oh well, it was still a lot of fun watching it all in Japanese. At this attraction they do have headphones available so you can hear it either in English or in Chinese but we opted not to use them. We thought it would be a laugh to hear it in Japanese and we were not disappointed.

Ok, net up Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. Guess what? You got it - down for refurb!

I know, how about Space Mountain? Fastpasses - gone. Standby line 120 minutes. I gave my husband a look that said "well, what do you think?" He gave me a look that said strong language that cannot be repeated on The Dis.

Oooooh, but we are getting close to our Fastpass time for Pooh. Let's go to Toontown!

Toontown is Toontown and much like WDW and DL as well as being extremely popular. It seemed to be more crowded than Fantasyland. The wait-times to tour the character houses were around 20 minutes each and we figured Gadget's Go Coaster would have a long line too. So we enjoyed the atmosphere before heading over to Pooh.

Since we had a bit longer to wait for Pooh we decided to look a bit more in Fantasyland and possibly catch a ride on something. Another thing we noticed about Tokyo Disneyland was how amazing clean the park is. We saw not one scrap of trash, not one kernel of popcorn on the ground. We thought - wow, custodial here is on the ball!

Then we noticed something that doesn't happen all the time in the US....people used the trash cans. I saw someone eating popcorn, he dropped a piece, bent down to pick it up and put it in his pocket. I was still watching him as he passed by a trash can where he took that one lone piece of popcorn out of his pocket and put it in the trash.

Another fellow tossed a small crumb of food down to a bird. The bird did not see it and flew off. The man walked over to the crumb (and we are talking a tiny crumb!), picked it up and walked over to the trash can and threw it away.

We started to really pay attention to people then. If someone accidentally dropped something they were eating or perhaps a napkin they picked it up and threw it away. Someone unwrapped an ice cream bar, set the wrapper next to them on the bench and when they got up they picked up the wrapper and threw it away.

In the smoking areas people didn't ash on the ground. No, they got up from where they were sitting and ashed in the ashtray. NO ONE threw a cigerette butt on the ground and stomped it out. No, they used the ashtray. Amazing!

Bathrooms - spotless. No crap all over the floors. No dirty sinks. No paper towels strewn about.

Another thing we noticed, such nice little details around the park. Much more plantings and no one tromping across greenery to get some where. Sure we weren't getting on many rides, bummer that so much stuff was closed for refurb, sure it was crowded, but it was all good - we were enjoying ourselves immensely because of the people were all so happy and so respectful of the surroundings.

It made our day so much nicer because of these small things. It also made me wish I could ship their attitudes to the US and hand them out for free to the people I see at WDW or DL who are surly or littering up the parks.

One picture from Fantasyland. Just a little vignette I thought was so pretty:

More to come from today....

 

[ChelleinNC]

Day Two: Getting up - Getting Out

6:20am...was that the alarm that woke me up? The sound of cars? Excited vacationers in the halls? NO! It was a horrible leg cramp that woke me up causing me to bolt straight up. My husband and I are still debating what hurt worse - my leg or his arm where I slugged him as I yelled "leg cramp, leg cramp, make it stop!"

Love your "quickie" report so far! Your pics and descriptions are great, which I really appreciate as I think it's unlikely I'll ever make it to Tokyo Disneyland.

Looking to forward to more

 

[jemiaule]

Fastpass time for Pooh's Hunny Hunt. Man was I glad we got a Fastpass first thing in the morning. The standby line was at three hours. THREE hours! Crazy!

Now when they took Mr Toad's Wild Ride out of WDW I was not a happy camper. I was living in Florida at the time and participated in many a Toad-In prior to it's closing. When Pooh came to WDW I thought it was cute. Years later when we were back in CA we would visit WDW with our kids who always wanted to ride Pooh and we enjoyed it.

The Pooh ride in WDW just plain sucks compared to the Pooh ride at Tokyo Disneyland!

I can easily see now why this is the most popular attraction at Tokyo Disneyland and why Fastpasses go so quickly. I still can't see waiting in line for it for three hours - but then I can't think of anything worth waiting for for three hours. Ok, except Orlando Bloom. I would wait three hours for him.

I have no words to adequately describe Pooh's Hunny Hunt. There are video's of it on YouTube but they do not do it justice. The ride vehicles are not on tracks and they literally spin and dance you through the attraction.

We plan on going back to Tokyo Disneyland on day 3 and I will gladly wait in another looooooong Fastpass line again so I can ride Pooh. But no three hour standby lines unless Orlando Bloom is gonna sit with me!

Let's talk ride exits briefly. As we all know WDW and DL can't miss a chance to throw you in a gift shop. Not at Tokyo Disneyland. Every ride we exited dropped us back on the street, not a place to shop. The exception was Pooh, but even here you had a choice - go left to go back to the street or right to go into the store.

If you are a Pooh fan you would be in hog heaven in this store. There was so much unique Pooh merchandise here. I have not looked at Pooh stuff to much but I do not recall these lil guys in the US, I could be mistaken though:

Pooh mugs and small cups with nose handles:

Through-out the stores we saw variations of this kind of mug for all the favorite characters.

After Pooh we made another trip to a popcorn stand, this time for Honey Popcorn. The line to get it was pretty long but well worth it. The Cute was present here too in the form of an adorable plastic container shaped like a honey pot. I have to get some more of this popcorn when we come back on day 3 - it was just heavenly stuff!

As we walked through Fantasyland we noticed pockets of small crowds. The characters were out and in abundance. Unlike WDW & DL the characters were milling about with people. Everyone was calm and waited patiently for their turn for a picture. There were no real lines, none of the characters had "handlers" to make sure they were safe or not over-run by people. It reminded me of when I was a kid and used to go to DL.

One amusing note: Peter Pan and Wendy were out. For face characters they have Americans fill ing the roles. As Wendy & Peter were finishing their set and walking away Peter noticed me out of the corner of his eye. You could tell by his expression he was surprised to see me, the small blonde girl, in the sea of Japanese folks. He gave me the biggest grin, a huge wave and a VERY enthusiastic hello.

After our popcorn pig-out it was time for our Fastpasses at Haunted Mansion. The mansion is very much the same as the DL version. It was quite fun hearing our Ghost Host speaking Japanese. The seance room here is the old version with Leota still on her stand not floating above the table. One difference though - the quality. Leota did not look like garbage and, glory be, her lips were actually synched with her words! Leota was not in Japanese, they play her voice in English.

The attic scene here is the old version as well; they do not have the updated version with the bride storyline. (Which I personally think is a great addition and I missed). The singing busts in the graveyard also looked great - the video was flawless, the synching perfect. Sound through out the whole attraction was crisper and cleaner than at DL & WDW. At the very end Little Leota was also perfectly synched (in English) and the video quality was flawless.

As we exited Haunted Mansion we noticed something smart that they really should do a WDW & DL. Marked out stroller parking. No question here where to park your stroller:

By now it was a bit after 5:00pm. We decided to call it a day and head over to Ikspiari. What is Ikspiari....well it is kinda like Downtown Disney. We got our handstamp, exited the park and hopped on the monorail to make our way over.

More in next post....

 

[jemiaule]

Ok, so this "quickie" trip report was such a fat lie. Ah, if only all "quickies' could be this long. But I must stop that line of talking, after all this is The Dis.

Ok, back on the monorail and off to Ikspiari. This place was so very neat and of so very confusing.. There are four levels here in this shopping/dining/entertainment plaza. Some levels have you indoors, some have you outdoors and some are a combination of both. Some levels only go partially thru the plaza to abruptly end by a staircase or escalator. Then they pick up again further down the plaza. There also lots of little nooks and crannies - small walkways that take you to a small row of shops and restaurants.

Hands down Ikspiari kicks Downtown Disney's butt. First there are such a wide variety of shops here and a whole lot more of them than at DD. Second, the dining is FAR better. Later, when I am more coherent (it is now almost 2:00am) I will count up the number of them on the map but I believe there are around 20 of them. The old Disney standby's are here too - Rainforest and Planet Hollywood. We won't be going to either of these - we can eat there when at WDW if we want.

We wandered around Ikspiari for a few hours enjoying the shops, the scenery and people watching. We ended up having dinner at a fabulous chinese restaurant. Yes, we are in Japan but picked Chinese food for dinner tonight. If you ever make it here I highly recommend Madame Aili's for dinner. Chinese food at home will now be utter crap in comparison to what we had tonight.

My husband's camera has most of the Ikspiari pictures on it but I do have one of the Disney Store here (which was a religious experience - so much neat and different stuff):

When all the shopping and eating was done it was back on to the monorail to Bayside Station. From there we walked slowly back to our hotel. This time not to enjoy the scenery but because we discovered we were just beat! We stopped by Starbucks for an evening caffeine infusion and then headed up to our room.

We unpacked the shopping haul, dug out all of the receipts from our bags and pockets and put them aside. We had this well intentioned plan of separating them all so we know what we spent when it comes time to come home and we have to fill out our duty slip for customs. However we failed to realize that well duh...everything is written in Japanese and we don't know what receipts are for food and what are for merchandise. We plan on asking a friend in Shinjuku to help us decipher them later in the week.

The best part of the night was as we sat here and relaxed. As I mentioned in my first post our hotel room looks over Disneyland. We were watching the lights on the castle and Space Mountain and then the fireworks started. From the distance, and up on the 10th floor, the fireworks were amazing to watch. They looked so big and like they were shot up higher in the air than at the US parks. I do not know if this is fact or merely impression.

Tomorrow we are off to DisneySea. More trip reporting (I will never use the word quickie in this context again I promise!) and more pictures to come tomorrow. Time for this Mouseketeer to hit the hay!

Oyasumi Nasai (goodnight)

 

[ChelleinNC]

I still can't see waiting in line for it for three hours - but then I can't think of anything worth waiting for for three hours. Ok, except Orlando Bloom. I would wait three hours for him.

I might add Johnny Depp & George Clooney to the list, but that's about it

Ok, so this "quickie" trip report was such a fat lie. Ah, if only all "quickies' could be this long. But I must stop that line of talking, after all this is The Dis.

The old Disney standby's are here too - Rainforest and Planet Hollywood. We won't be going to either of these - we can eat there when at WDW if we want.

That's the theme of the trip it seems

I do have one of the Disney Store here (which was a religious experience - so much neat and different stuff):

That is a great pic! The building is so cool looking!

well duh...everything is written in Japanese and we don't know what receipts are for food and what are for merchandise.

because we discovered we were just beat! We stopped by Starbucks for an evening caffeine infusion

TGF Starbucks!

More trip reporting (I will never use the word quickie in this context again I promise!) and more pictures to come tomorrow. Time for this Mouseketeer to hit the hay!

Looking forward to it!

 

[TINKERIFIC]

Lovin This Report! I Get To Tag Along For Free! Ok, So It Is Not The Same As Being There, But As Close As I Will Ever Get.

 

[holcomb-mania]

Awesome report! We're thinking about taking our DD for her high school graduation present...in 5 years!

Is this time usually crowded there? The waits seem crazy, as do the number of refurbs.

 

[Oh Kay!]

Great TR! I look forward to seeing more pictures.

 

[Kewz1]

What a great TR! Really looking forward to the rest of your adventure and more pics.

Thanks for posting!
Kristen

 

[apecharge]

Wow, this brings back memories. When my family lived in Japan, we would go to Tokyo nearly every summer. Tokyo is such a fun city, and Tokyo Disneyland is great! The lines there are very long, and the park is very crowded. I can't wait to read more!

 

[jemiaule]

Awesome report! We're thinking about taking our DD for her high school graduation present...in 5 years!

Is this time usually crowded there? The waits seem crazy, as do the number of refurbs.

From what we have been told, no this is not the busier season but right before it. It seems later in March is when it really picks up. The kids are on school break in a couple of weeks.

I think what we are catching is the tail end of all the winter refurbs in preparation for the busy season. As we all know when a lot of attractions are down that causes everything else to really pack up.

We never expected low capacity crowds, I don't think that ever exists here. But we had hoped for more "reasonable" lines - say in the 30 - 40 minute range.

Today is DisneySea and hopefully the lines will be a bit better. I am not holding my breath though. We intentionally planned to do two days at DisneySea in case it was super crowded and figured if we did get to go on everything we wanted we could go back into Disneyland again.

 

[jemiaule]

Ohayoo Gozaimasu! (Good morning)

So it is 8:27am and my husband is the slowest man on the planet! You think your man is slow - HA - mine has you beat! Here we are at Tokyo Disney and the man still is not ready to get out to breakfast.

You remember those Target commercials from a few years ago with the women pressing their noses to the glass doors and chanting "Op-en, op-en, ope-en". Well that is me but I am pressing my nose to the bathroom door and chanting a phrase that cannot be reported on The Dis!

Today is Tokyo DisneySea and I am SO excited. I have been waiting for what seems like forever to see this park. Except for Tower of Terror I believe all the attractions are unique just to Tokyo. We plan on getting on as many attractions as possible and of course taking as many pictures as possible.

That is if my husband will ever GET OUT OF THE BATHROOM!

At this rate I am even considering skipping breakfast and (god preserve me) Starbucks so I can GET IN THAT PARK!

OK, maybe we won't skip the Starbucks - nothing like a uncaffeinated Jemiaule in the morning!

AH, the husband is out of the shower. Now to start a new chant.

Are you ready yet, are you ready yet, are you ready yet. Just kidding...I will only think it, not say it.

 

[NJDISMOM]

Great Trip report !!! We're all living vicariously (sp ?) through you !!


Keep the great pics coming too!

 

[jemiaule]

It is 4:00pm and we are back for a bit of a rest. DisneySea is open until 10:00pm tonight so we thought we would take a two hour rest and head back at about 6:00pm.

So, some sneak peeks on my next entry. We will be covering:

1) How to make your man try food you don't want to stick in your own mouth.

2) More odd popcorn flavors

3) Disney Toilet Paper Cozies

And of course reviews of rides and just how amazing DisneySea is!

 

[greenpea89]

Yeah! My family's two favorite parks, TDL and TDS !! We are expats living in Asia so those are our "home" resorts (Okay, so HKDL is closer but we all prefer TDL!). If your husband wants Western food try Cape Cod Cookoff close to the Tower of Terror section of TDS or the Mexican restaurant across the bridge from Indiana Jones. The food at both is pretty good and CCC has a fun show (Donald, Chip, and Dale) that is performed throughout the day in the dining room. Can't wait to read more!! Have fun - the lines are NEVER short but it's totally worth it! I'm so sorry to hear that the Jungle River Cruise is out of commission - it's SUPER fun to hear it in Japanese! Maybe it will be up before you leave and if it is you really must do it - headed your way!