Tokyo Disney on 2 Weeks’ Notice: Hightower Halloween Costume!

[Zuzu03]

Don't worry about fitting in the rides. The Japenese planned in Gaijin to come visit so they plan accordingly. If you are tall just don't plan on buying clothes off the rack or shoes if you have big feet.

Thanks! She has a hard time here even buying clothes off the rack because she's got ridiculously long legs, lucky girl. And of course because she's a teenager, she's very self-conscious about her height and doesn't want to be embarrassed!

 

[taylor3297]

Thanks! She has a hard time here even buying clothes off the rack because she's got ridiculously long legs, lucky girl. And of course because she's a teenager, she's very self-conscious about her height and doesn't want to be embarrassed!

I visited a sorority sister who was living in Takarazuka and she is tall and always had to order her clothes from western catalogs while she was living there. I am short but have big feet and I wasn't able to buy slippers while I was there. We would go visit her friends (she also has big feet) and of course you take your shoes off. Well since we had such big feet, no one was able to provide us slippers for the house. So we learned just make sure we had socks on.

Japan is a wonderful country to visit. I already told DH that for my 50th birthday I was going to Disneyland Tokyo. I AM going to get me one of those popcorn buckets!

 

[Becx N Gav]

So sorry you hit your head , I would have cried too. Patrick took some really fantastic pictures. The new hotel looks great.

I was reading on the WDW Character Hunt website yesterday and thought of you.

They stated that: Duffy the Disney Bear is going to start making appearances at Epcot, tentative start date is October 14. What is up with that??

Oh that will be fun to meet Duffy I hope they start selling the bears too, they are so cute

Do you think the majority of guests will know who he is?

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

well i just spent 2.5 hours reading i was looking for an excuse to not stuff and seal 300 envelopes at my day job. i could definately survive a trip there, lol. starbucks, mcdonalds, coldstone.... and DIOR!!! i've been a dior makeup artist for 5 years and that setup there was sooooo amazing!!!

also... when i visit my parent's house, i still find the random calico critter hanging around, and I have a giant ziploc of them in the garage. wonder if they're worth anything? it was cute to see they still exist

so glad you had a great time. we'll eventually get there.

now what am i gonna do for the rest of the day??? oh yeah--those envelopes.

 

[peloha86]

"Why, Mr Disney these are not mine... well not ALL mine... well... ok, mostly all mine... but... I blame it on the kawaii!"

LOVE your TR!!!!
I seriuosly felt like, for a moment, I was in Japan...
Then I started getting dizzy and realized after seeing the "star shaped pork bun" I realized I needed to eat...and that was after reading up to page 18...

So now I have a goal...
1) I called my friend (who lived in Japan for a year) to brush up on her Japanese.
2) Checked out the passport requirements.
3) Reasearced the airfare...
4) Need to do MORE overtime...
5) Hopefully will surprise my girls, since they love to eat and enjoy all things cute... (Yes, we have all three pets, not including my husband )

OK, now back to page 19...Onward!! I am refuled!!!

p.s....the picture with all the bags was "me" at the AP/DVC sale at DL WOD in July...

 

[peloha86]

Oh, how can I forget...



Bizzaro...love your humour!

 

[simzac]

Just curious, the last time we heard from Lurkyloo was 15 days ago. Did we misplace her or something

 

[DizneyDogs]

I know I am having withdrawls here too!!! I am especially interested to see the Kyoto part since we are planning on spending a couple of days there in Sept.

 

[Kuraire]

Lurkyloo, this trip report has inspired me to stop dreaming about one day visiting Japan and actually start planning it with my BF, though still planning for his first trip to WDW first.

 

[A-T-G]

I should stop looking at this TR. It's making my fingers itch to buy a plane ticket! Ack!

I'm sure she's just busy. Maybe working on something cool - a new Pasporter, maybe! YAY! I have no idea...I'll just go re-read all the fun stuff and by the time I 'catch up' there'll be an update!

 

[Zuzu03]

It's probably a good thing too because it gave me a chance to show it to my sister - I'm trying to convince her that we really need to go! Looking at all those photos again, I'm still in awe!

 

[lurkyloo]

The Ambassador is cute in a retro sort of way. Your room looks like its all ready for the Cleavers!

I know, right? At first I was miffed, but then I was like, "Well if it's good enough for Rob & Laura Petrie, it's good enough for us!"

That's what I'm thinking. Or a dehumidifier? Who knows? But I want one of those toilets for my house!

Is it a trouser press?

It's an air purifier - the buttons are too blurry for me to read, but the model number was legible enough to google

A-ha! Thank you all who helped solve the mystery!

Thank you for staying at all three of the hotels so that we can all see and compare the resorts.

I have to admit, I didn't try too hard to finagle all our reservations at the same place because I wanted to be able to try them all!

Having just returned from DLR with my >750 pictures, I can relate to Patrick and his photo documentation. BTW thanks for your DL tips. I loved WOC, DCA and GCH.

Hooray! I'm glad you found them helpful!

All caught up! I missed an update 'cause I was at Comic-Con (nerd!). I LOVE the Ambassador already but, I think MiraCosta is divine. It'd be a toss up for me, for sure!

Nerd! Hey wait, I went to Comic Con too! Knowing you, I think you'd like Mira Cosa the best. It may even remind you of your honeymoon!

My family and I were eating dinner tonight, and since my 11 year-old son is a picky eater, I often try to steer the conversation toward trying new things, odd foods we heard about, etc., so that he might get a broader perspective on eating. Anyway, tonight we were talking about weird seafood, and I remembered your post about the octoballs. A... So, I guess video games CAN be educational, IF you can figure out where the cultural references come from, that is! Thank you!!

What a great story! How funny that there's even a videogame devoted to octoballs! It really does appear to be something of an art to make them correctly.

Was it still called "Tom Sawyer's Island" in Tokyo?

Yes, and seemed to be much more heavily Tom Sawyer themed than ours. They even had the half-painted fence (which I don't recall seeing at the MK...)

So sorry you hit your head , I would have cried too. Patrick took some really fantastic pictures. The new hotel looks great.

I was reading on the WDW Character Hunt website yesterday and thought of you.

They stated that: Duffy the Disney Bear is going to start making appearances at Epcot, tentative start date is October 14. What is up with that??

Oooh! Verrrry interestink! I will have to check out what indeed is up with that. Maybe they're going to try again and hope that Japanese tourists will pick up on it and explain to everyone else what the deal is...

How cute is the lunch box set!!

DARN cute!

WOW! I have been sitting here now since 1:00 (7.5 hours) going through your TR and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! I am also in awe of how beautiful everything is (and so interestingly different!) at TDR and TDS. Your pictures and narrative are perfect and I hope that I can convince DH to go someday. DD was ready to pack and go after page 1! DH is just making grunting noises as I'm ooohing and aahing over it all, he'll take some mighty convincing - he's not nearly as adventurous as DD and I.

Yay, yay, yay! I'm so glad you're enjoying the trip report! I hope your DH gets with the program, but even if you and DD made a girls' trip out of it, you'd have a blast!

By the way, how tall are you because that's one of the things DD mentioned -she's 6'1 and she worries about things being sized down for the mostly Japanese tourists and she doesn't want to be embarrassed by not fitting into some of the rides.

I think the other DISers have put your mind at ease about this, but I am just under 6 feet and didn't really have a problem being tall in Japan. Things I thought I would notice, like the shorter/smaller beds, just weren't even an issue. Now I didn't go on any kiddee rides—that might have been a trick—but most of the time I didn't even think about being bigger than everyone else.

Japan is a wonderful country to visit. I already told DH that for my 50th birthday I was going to Disneyland Tokyo. I AM going to get me one of those popcorn buckets!

What a great way to celebrate!

Oh that will be fun to meet Duffy I hope they start selling the bears too, they are so cute

Do you think the majority of guests will know who he is?

That's what I'm curious about. What baffles me is that the Japanese—world-class arbiters of cute—have taken such a shine to such an unremarkable-looking stuffed bear. Japanese stuffed animals are WAY cuter!

well i just spent 2.5 hours reading i was looking for an excuse to not stuff and seal 300 envelopes at my day job.

Glad to be of service!

now what am i gonna do for the rest of the day??? oh yeah--those envelopes.

D'oh!

 

[lurkyloo]

LOVE your TR!!!!
I seriuosly felt like, for a moment, I was in Japan...
Then I started getting dizzy and realized after seeing the "star shaped pork bun" I realized I needed to eat...and that was after reading up to page 18...

So now I have a goal...
1) I called my friend (who lived in Japan for a year) to brush up on her Japanese.
2) Checked out the passport requirements.
3) Reasearced the airfare...
4) Need to do MORE overtime...
5) Hopefully will surprise my girls, since they love to eat and enjoy all things cute... (Yes, we have all three pets, not including my husband )

Yay! I'm so glad you've been inspired to go! I think the airfare is the biggest mental hurdle for me. I have *never* spent more than about $350 on an airplane ticket anywhere (even London! Those were the days...) so to spend $900 or $1,200... But once you get over there, most other costs are about the same as in the US, which is nice. OK, so maybe dinner in a fancy restaurant is $100 and any hotel room bigger than a cracker box starts at $300, but you just eat crabby-eggy things from 7 Eleven and sleep in a closet instead!

Just curious, the last time we heard from Lurkyloo was 15 days ago. Did we misplace her or something

Lurkyloo's paying work takes precedence over an unpaid 8+ hours spent trip-reporting.

I know I am having withdrawls here too!!! I am especially interested to see the Kyoto part since we are planning on spending a couple of days there in Sept.

Coming soon!

Lurkyloo, this trip report has inspired me to stop dreaming about one day visiting Japan and actually start planning it with my BF, though still planning for his first trip to WDW first.

Hooray! Congrats on both trips! (Best to do WDW first anyway so you won't be underwhelmed. )

I should stop looking at this TR. It's making my fingers itch to buy a plane ticket! Ack!

I'm sure she's just busy. Maybe working on something cool - a new Pasporter, maybe! YAY! I have no idea...I'll just go re-read all the fun stuff and by the time I 'catch up' there'll be an update!

Yes! We're putting the finishing touches on that PassPorter for Disneyland Paris and updating the Disney Vacation Club Guide.

It's probably a good thing too because it gave me a chance to show it to my sister - I'm trying to convince her that we really need to go! Looking at all those photos again, I'm still in awe!

I hope it works!


OK, next installment coming up!

 

[lurkyloo]

If you have to spend a day at Tokyo Disney without park admission, this is the way to do it: Sleep til you wake up, amble down the hall to the concierge lounge for a ginormous breakfast, poke around the hotel taking pictures, shop til you drop at Ikspiari, have a fancy lunch at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, and cap the day with an omiyage-buying spree at Bon Voyage. (What I don't suggest is following up a stay at the fabulous Ambassador Hotel with a night in a Tokyo hotel room the size of a steamer trunk with breathtaking views of a wall—more on that later…).

Because we didn't have to be at any park gates an hour before opening, we got to sleep in til almost 9am. When we woke up, we threw back the curtains to reveal the Ambassador's glorious Art Deco pool. More on that later too!

Next we dropped in at the concierge lounge to take advantage of the huge breakfast spread.

It doesn't look like much in these pictures cuz it was in the process of being demolished by us, but they had quite an impressive variety of foods—way more than we got at the concierge lounge at the Grand Floridian on our honeymoon. They had Western food like cereal, pastries, Mickey pancakes (dry, hard) and bacon (flaccid), plus Japanese favorites like egg salad and potato salad—both of which were probably THE best versions I'd ever had!

Our haul!

Again, I love love LOVE the silverware rest!

After breakfast we went back to the room and used the laptop to Skype Patrick's parents, "Môma" and "P-Daddy," who were so excited to see our room and chat with us and hear all about our adventures. We also got to show them this hilarious picture from that day's English-language newspaper:

We still had plenty of time before our noon checkout, so after the call we took some more pix from our room and went exploring.

 

[lurkyloo]

In the elevator on the way to the lobby, a little girl spotted my "Vegetarian" brontosaurus T-shirt (from Animal Kingdom!) and asked in perfect English, "Are you a vegetarian?" I pointed to the dino and replied, "I'm not, but he is!"

"You are here…"

I was sorry we never got to eat in the lobby lounge—it has great atmosphere!

This shot's dark, but it shows what the view looks like…

…And this shot shows what the view looks like when an alien spaceship lands outside!

The ladies at Guest Services all smiled and nodded and pretended to be interested when we pointed out where we lived on this mural

Here's where The Mouse lives!

 

[lurkyloo]

We found a family trying to take a picture in front of this topiary and offered to take it for them, so they returned the favor.

Then we went back to doing what we do best…

Best. Novelty shot. EVER!

Back inside, we did a little more exploring and Patrick took an all-new set of photos of the restaurants I've already exhaustively covered in this trip report. But I posted those shots so long ago, you prolly can't even remember what they looked like, so here ya go!

Tick-Tock Diner

 

[lurkyloo]

Kawaiiiiiiii!!!

Empire Grill

Chef Mickey

Hana


All he shot was the menu:

Here's a better shot of the pin set that was costing us hundreds and hundreds of yen in spendy hotel-restaurant meals an attempt to collect just the first one in the series…

A little before noon, we went back up to our room to pack up and grab a few last-minute detail shots to complete our ultra-thorough documentation of the Ambassador for you:


No need to thank us… shots like these are what we live for!

So long, pretty view!

Real sculpture—and it wasn't fastened down or anything!

We only had to schlep our bags as far as the concierge lounge, which was nice. They put them in storage for us to collect later from the bell desk. From there, we went in search of The Most Gorgeous Outdoor Disney Pool Ever.

 

[lurkyloo]

I still don't understand why the pools at Tokyo Disney are only open in the summer. If somebody is nuts enough to brave bad weather in order to swim, why not? And the weather was fairly pleasant that March day—I totally would have gone swimming just to try this pool!

And check out the pool rules… I can't imagine them being able to prohibit tattoos at an American Disney pool!

The one drag about the Ambassador is that it's not on the monorail line, so we had to walk all the way through Ikspiari to grab the monorail and ride it one stop to the Disneyland Hotel. However, along the way, we got to see another wedding taking place at the gazebo!

We also found a display of the original cover artwork for the latest issue of Disney Fan magazine. This is pretty amazing: instead of using Photoshop to create the cover or even taking photos of paper cut-outs and assembling them in Photoshop, they created the entire cover as a paper cut-out, headline and all, and photographed it—and the original art was just sitting in a case in the middle of the mall!

At last we reached the monorail station and embarked on our brief journey.

 

[lurkyloo]

The plan was to take more general photos of the resort for the PassPorter guide and check out the pool before having lunch at Canna and hopefully earning the last stamp we needed to get that $#&%@! pin…

Our first stop was the only laundry room in any Disney hotel at TDR. If we'd known about it before we checked out, we coulda used our keys to get in. Instead we had to settle for a peek through the door—not sure how this pic's gonna read in a 5x8-inch black & white guidebook!

When we got to the tiny spa and asked if we could take pictures, they requested that Patrick stay outside. It's basically just one small room and an entry area.

Back out in the lobby, Patrick couldn't resist a few more detail shots…

We were keen to see the official front entrance of the hotel, since we'd never needed to use it the entire time. I wonder who ever sees it—I guess maybe people who arrive by private car? Because the shuttles and the train all seem to deposit you over near Ikspiari.

Patrick was cracked on getting a shot of the front of the hotel without these two big vans in it…

So we waited…

And waited…

And finally, 10 whole minutes later, we were able to take this crooked shot!

Behold… the FRONT of the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel!

The entry area feels a bit like the one at the Beach Club—low ceiling, old-fashioned fixtures, and these paintings:

Because the pool wasn't open to guests, all the interior doors leading out there were locked. However, we discovered a way in by walking all the way around the outside of the building.

 

[lurkyloo]

I dunno… I think the soon-to-be-demolished Neverland Pool at our Disneyland Hotel is still more interesting than this one. The Ambassador Hotel Pool retains its title as The Most Gorgeous Outdoor Disney Pool Ever!

Each arch on the Disneyland Hotel train station has different artwork themed to the different lands at Disneyland, and you're gonna see it all!

Lunchtime at Canna! I'm kind of curious as to why this ultra chic fine-dining spot—which would be quite at home in Las Vegas' sleek new City Center development or in downtown LA or New York or, duh, Tokyo—is shoehorned into a ornate Victorian-style family hotel at Disney. I mean, even the color palette doesn't jive with the rest of the resort. Not that I'm complaining (goodness knows it's hard enough to find truly fine dining at a Disney resort), it just seems like a weird match.

As at the SS Columbia Dining Room, Canna provided us with a sheaf of menus, most of which are pictured here: