Turning Japanese: A Disney Nut Does Tokyo Disney!

[cherokeemamma]

I just wanted to say that I am really enjoying your TR. I love hearing about Tokyo Disney. What a great experience...

Thanks for posting pictures. Its great to be able to see a different park...awesome!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!

BTW, I love all of the ears...what a hoot!

I have only gotten to the end of page 3 ...can't wait to catch up & read all about DisneySea.

 

[SusanWasHere]

i sat and read your entire report and just loved it!! tokyo disney looks amazing and i absolutely want to go some day. i just have to find someone willing to go! lol - my friends are not fellow disney lovers! great report, beautiful pics!! looks like you had a wonderful time!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

Now I'm jealous of you!!!! Tokoyo Disney and DisneySea looked amazing!! I had no idea! Thanks for the pictures and sharing your trip with us!

You're welcome! I can't wait to hear about your upcoming trip!

I just wanted to say that I am really enjoying your TR. I love hearing about Tokyo Disney. What a great experience...

Thanks for posting pictures. Its great to be able to see a different park...awesome!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!

BTW, I love all of the ears...what a hoot!

I have only gotten to the end of page 3 ...can't wait to catch up & read all about DisneySea.

Thanks for reading! The ears were indeed awesome. Japanese people LOVE Disney. I realize that's a generalization - but Tokyo Disney *is* the most visited theme park in the world!

I hope you like the DisneySea part!

i sat and read your entire report and just loved it!! tokyo disney looks amazing and i absolutely want to go some day. i just have to find someone willing to go! lol - my friends are not fellow disney lovers! great report, beautiful pics!! looks like you had a wonderful time!

I feel your pain - NONE of my friends even LIKE Disney. They just don't get it, right?

I think you could go to Tokyo Disney alone comfortably, however. They have a Disney shuttle to/from from the airport and the CMs make an attempt to communicate. Some speak English. Everyone is extremely friendly and helpful. DH and I are talking about going back to Tokyo in 2008 and I might go to Disney for 3 days while he goes somewhere else - so feel free to meet me there!

 

[oybolshoi]

I finally had a chance to finish your TR and it's just incredible - thank you so much for sharing this. I actually made the hubby sit down and go through it and when he finished he asked me when we were going to use our DVC points to take a trip to Tokyo!!

We both agree - your pictures are just stunning!

Thanks again for taking the time to put this together and share it with all of us in the DIS community.

 

[cherokeemamma]

Well, I was so intrigued I had to finish it tonight.
I should be sleeping right now as I have a terrible head cold. You know how cold meds make you feel so loopy...that shall be my excuse when I can't get up in the morning not the fact that I stayed up way too late on the Dis.

Well...I loved, loved, loved DisneySea. OMG, it is beautiful and it looks humongous. Is it? I agree with you the ToT is beautiful and it also looks like an enormous building. I love that ride..I can't get my DD to ride because of the preshow story...perhaps she would ride this one. For some reason the storyline terrifies her

I am assuming DisneySea is very clean. It certainly looks like it! Are the CMs friendly and do they have the same customer service standards as WDW? I am a stickler for great Customer Service. It is becoming something that is hard to find but I think WDW is fantastic. When you leave their property it doesn't take long to realize you are no longer on Disney property.

Sorry going a bit OT there...it is the cold meds and exhaustion speaking.

Thanks so much for sharing your amazing adventure with us. You did a great job!

I can't wait to show my kiddos your pictures.

 

[eternaldisneyfan]

It was really great to read a trip report from Tokyo Disney. The themeing in Disney Sea was amazing! But the crowds! I can't travel out of the country for medical reasons, so thanks for this glimpse at another great Disney park.

Christamae

 

[CriminyCrafft]

I finally had a chance to finish your TR and it's just incredible - thank you so much for sharing this. I actually made the hubby sit down and go through it and when he finished he asked me when we were going to use our DVC points to take a trip to Tokyo!!

We both agree - your pictures are just stunning!

Thanks again for taking the time to put this together and share it with all of us in the DIS community.

You're most welcome. I'm so glad you liked it. I hope you get to go - you could easily spend four days at Tokyo Disney, and of course there's so much other stuff to do in Tokyo (and better food than in Disney).

I've very much enjoyed your TRs as well, although I think maybe I just lurked on them and didn't comment.

Thanks for reading!!

Well...I loved, loved, loved DisneySea. OMG, it is beautiful and it looks humongous. Is it? I agree with you the ToT is beautiful and it also looks like an enormous building. I love that ride..I can't get my DD to ride because of the preshow story...perhaps she would ride this one. For some reason the storyline terrifies her

I'm glad you liked DisneySea, and I hope you're feeling better!!


DisneySea isn't any bigger than the WDW parks - I would say it's a bit smaller than Epcot. I went and asked DH and he agreed. It is indeed beautiful; me and DH agreed it was the prettiest of all the Disney parks.

TOT at DisneySea did have a storyline and preshow that I think would be a bit scary for kids. I don't want to spoil too much but Harrison Hightower is very sinister looking and he meets a bad end!

I am assuming DisneySea is very clean. It certainly looks like it! Are the CMs friendly and do they have the same customer service standards as WDW? I am a stickler for great Customer Service. It is becoming something that is hard to find but I think WDW is fantastic. When you leave their property it doesn't take long to realize you are no longer on Disney property.

Sorry going a bit OT there...it is the cold meds and exhaustion speaking.

Thanks so much for sharing your amazing adventure with us. You did a great job!

I can't wait to show my kiddos your pictures.

DisneySea was very very clean. The CMs are INCREDIBLY friendly and helpful. They all seemed to be having the time of their lives working at Disney! Most of them don't speak English - I would say most just know basic stuff. But it was my experience at Tokyo Disney and in Japan in general that Japanese people will try their best to understand you and help you...I've been in a few situations where Japanese folks got very upset and apologetic because they didn't know English well enough. I thought - this is YOUR country, I should know YOUR language. This was my second time to Japan and DH's third, and we both think that the level of customer service in Japan is far better than what you get in the US. The CMs were no exception. I'm not sure I can compare it to the customer service at WDW. I've had some great experiences at WDW and some mediocre ones, and there are differences between how they do things at Tokyo Disney and at WDW - like no drink refills at counter service and buffeteria restaurants, and the horribly annoying character greeting setup (aka mass chaos) where you would expect a CM to step in and straighten things out. But the service at SS Columbia was definitely as good or better than the best service I've had at WDW.

Long, rambling answer, sorry. I hope your kids like the photos! I certainly liked the cute pictures of them in your TR!!!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

It was really great to read a trip report from Tokyo Disney. The themeing in Disney Sea was amazing! But the crowds! I can't travel out of the country for medical reasons, so thanks for this glimpse at another great Disney park.

Christamae

I'm so glad you liked it! I think the crowds were an anomaly for that time due to the school break, so next time we go we'll plan better. Hopefully in about 18 months I'll have another Tokyo Disney TR!

Thanks for reading!!

 

[Disneymooner07]

I just finished reading your trip report and I wanted to say thanks for an awesome, amazing report!!! I love all your pictures and you did such a great job taking photos of so many things.

I never really thought about working in a trip to Tokyo Disney before, but now I feel like I have to go and soon! Thanks for the glimpse into a new Disney world!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

I just finished reading your trip report and I wanted to say thanks for an awesome, amazing report!!! I love all your pictures and you did such a great job taking photos of so many things.

I never really thought about working in a trip to Tokyo Disney before, but now I feel like I have to go and soon! Thanks for the glimpse into a new Disney world!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!! You should definitely get over there sometime - you'll have a blast, I promise!

Congrats and best of luck on your upcoming wedding and Disneymoon! Now I'll hopefully have a new trip report to read when you get back!!!

 

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

I LOVED your Tokyo Disney TR! It sooo makes me want to go there! It's most definately down on my list

OT: Did you happen to go to the Studio Ghibli Museum? Laputa, Castle in the Sky happens to be one of my all time favourites! I'd love to see the rest of your Toyko/Singapore photos

 

[CriminyCrafft]

Hi there! We did go to the Ghibli Museum in 2004 when we were in Japan for our honeymoon. My DH LOVES Ghibli and has all the DVDs. I think Totoro is his favorite. Unfortunately we don't have any of our Japan or Singapore photos online, but I'll get my DH to send some of the Ghibli Museum and I'll post them. When we were in Tokyo last time we went to see some huge clock designed by Miyazaki that gives a little "show" at certain times.

I didn't love Singapore - it was like a big Western city and I didn't find the people to be very friendly. But it did have good shopping and great food. I've read that Disney is thinking about building a park there. Dunno where they'll put it!

I'll get back to you with photos, hopefully soon.

 

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

Thank you! I have *always* wanted to go to Japan - I love unconventional vacations and guess I not really a lay on the beach for 2 weeks kinda person!

I want to >HUG< your DH! You know, NO ONE I've ever spoken to has heard of the film Laputa - I love it I remember finding it on DVD in this specialist shop in London and paying £20 ($40) for it! I only read about the Ghibli Studio Museum the other day and was so excited to see they had a model of the Laputan robot!

Sorry to go so much OT! However I LOVED your TR!

 

[Avivasmom]

How lucky are you to get to go. Before I met DH he lived in Tokyo for 6 months playing reggae music and loved it there. He would go back in a minute.

What a great report with pictures, loved reading it.

 

[CriminyCrafft]

How lucky are you to get to go. Before I met DH he lived in Tokyo for 6 months playing reggae music and loved it there. He would go back in a minute.

What a great report with pictures, loved reading it.

Hee! My DH loves Tokyo as well and would kill to live there for six months! We hope to go back in the next year or so but I sort of want to wait till Hong Kong Disneyland gets some more attractions so we can pop over there as well - it's so close! Thanks for reading!!!

I'm assuming that's your little girl in your signature - she's so precious!!!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

Thank you! I have *always* wanted to go to Japan - I love unconventional vacations and guess I not really a lay on the beach for 2 weeks kinda person!

I want to >HUG< your DH! You know, NO ONE I've ever spoken to has heard of the film Laputa - I love it I remember finding it on DVD in this specialist shop in London and paying £20 ($40) for it! I only read about the Ghibli Studio Museum the other day and was so excited to see they had a model of the Laputan robot!

Sorry to go so much OT! However I LOVED your TR!

If you like Disney and Ghibli, you should start saving to go to Tokyo as soon as you get back from WDW! You would have a blast. Plus, Japanese people love the British! Both times I was there I saw a ton of shirts with union jacks on them that said "UK Rules, OK!"

As requested, here are some random Japan photos!

Us in Kyoto in 2004. Argh, my hair!

A view of Tokyo from our hotel room on our 2007 trip.

DH eating green tea ice cream - it's delicious!

DH in front of the Ghibli clock in Shiodome, Tokyo.

Mt. Fuji!

Shibuya, Tokyo, at night.

The Ramen Museum in Yokohama. DH loved it, I did not - nothing was vegetarian and it smelled terrible in there!

Typical Tokyo street scene outside Kiddyland in Harajuku. Note the banner in background proclaiming "Happy Day, we are friends!" Kiddyland is a really cool store that has tons of Disney and Ghibli merchandise.

Here are some photos of the Ghibli Museum which we visited in 2004. They don't let you take pictures inside, unfortunately.

Who's that peeking over the roof?

Why, it's your favorite robot!!

And finally, DH with his favorite character, Totoro.

Thanks for reading! Can't wait to read more of your TR!

 

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

AAAAAAHHHHH! Thank you so much! Love those photos!

I talked with DBF about it last night and we are seriously considering doing Tokyo next year if our budget allows, or the year after if it does not. He called me from work this morning and asked me to look into pricing Now it's lethal when someone says that to me - I take it forgranted that we are going

I've been looking at it all morning and figuring out how we can get there and what to do there. I have an interview for a PhD scholarship next month and if I get it then it looks very good for the trip We will have some airmiles after our Orlando trip so hopefully we can combine them! I've also spotted that there's an Universal Studios just outside Tokyo, The Sanrio themepark, Tokyo Tower and of course Disney and Ghibli - thank you so much for this wonderful TR!!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

AAAAAAHHHHH! Thank you so much! Love those photos!

I talked with DBF about it last night and we are seriously considering doing Tokyo next year if our budget allows, or the year after if it does not. He called me from work this morning and asked me to look into pricing Now it's lethal when someone says that to me - I take it forgranted that we are going

I've been looking at it all morning and figuring out how we can get there and what to do there. I have an interview for a PhD scholarship next month and if I get it then it looks very good for the trip We will have some airmiles after our Orlando trip so hopefully we can combine them! I've also spotted that there's an Universal Studios just outside Tokyo, The Sanrio themepark, Tokyo Tower and of course Disney and Ghibli - thank you so much for this wonderful TR!!

YAY I hope you get to go! Keep me updated and please PM me if you have any questions at all about traveling to Japan. If I don't have the answer, DH will. It's not too expensive there - you can eat good food very cheaply. The exchange rate is very good right now for the dollar, so probably even better for the pound. Also, no need to know the language - we don't and have had virtually no problems.

Good luck on your interview!

 

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

Thank you very much! I really hope we get to go - it looks really great over there and I can't wait to see Disney Tokyo after seeing your photos!!

I actually had a penpal in Gumma (which I believe is quite near Tokyo?) when I was 16 or so, and I still have her address so I'm going to attempt to write to her as well

 

[tokyodisneydad]

My favorite park in The world is TokyoDisneySea and I'm there just about every other weekend. One quick note--Universal Studios Japan is nowhere near Tokyo. It's actually in Osaka. That's about a 4 hour expensive Bullet train ride from Tokyo. On the side I've been to every Disney Park in the world, was born and raised in Georgia(just a hop skip and and a jump from WDW) If you ever make it this far let me know and I'll hook you up with half price sponsor tickets and meet you in DisneySEA to translate.