Disneyland Tokyo

Wow. So last fall I was in Tokyo and had the chance to go to Tokyo Disneyland. It has been months since, but I finally decided to document the trip as best I can. It was interesting for a number of reasons:
1. I was alone. Yep, I went to TDL by myself.
2. It was my first Disney experience outside of Anaheim.
3. I only had 2 days to do two parks.
4. It was cold.

So I have some pictures here, and I will add some thoughts about the trip. Also, since I was on my own and didn't have anyone to talk to, and I couldn't make friends with anyone because I don't speak Japanese, I instead used my time in line to write about the experience as it happened (not unlike twitter...) Unfortunately this was unlike Twitter in the respect to length. I went on for as long as I wanted. I might add some direct quotes from that as well. Anyway, enough intro...

Day 1

Day One began with a bus. I was staying in Yokohama, which is south of Tokyo, and it is about an hour bus ride to Disneyland. My friends there informed me that I didn't need an advance ticket, and that the buses are never full. Unfortunately they weren't Disney-ites like myself. If the word "Disney" was an adjective it would mean "crowded". Yep, I wanted to take the 6:45 AM bus, so I got to the stop at 6:30. There was already a bus load of people in line. I made it on the second bus that left just after 7 AM, and we left more people on the curb. The bus ticket was a close call as well. There wasn't a window to buy a ticket, I had to use this machine. Good plan except for that machine was all in Japanse. No English button. I was forced to ask a stranger to help me (me as in the only grown-up white guy in a Disney sweatshirt trying to catch this bus by himself ) buy a ticket to Disneyland. It was awesome.


So being cursed when it comes to buses, of course I got off at the wrong stop and hiked a mile to the entrance, where I got to stand in line. You can just make out the roof over the heads of about 10,000 of my closest Japanese friends there. That is where the back of the line should have been. Once under the roof you were in line to get your bag checked for contraband, and then you got to stand in line to actually get in. It was Disney [crowded].



One cool thing was that Disneyland tickets could be bought at Disney retail stores. And they were everywhere. There were two within walking distance of my hotel in Yokohama, so I had picked up my ticket earlier that week. You may notice that there are dates on the ticket. In Japan you buy tickets for certain days, since they sometimes sell out. Yep, some days Disneyland is so full they just stop selling tickets, and this was one such weekend actually, with a Japanese national holiday and it being the first weekend of the Christmas season. Unfortunately, I didn't get any discounts by buying in advance...

This picture was compressed even more after it was uploaded and so it didn't turn out well, but my two-day pass was about 10,000 yen or roughly $100. It wasn't a park hopper--it was only good at one park per day. Due to the busy weekend, I had to go to Disneyland on Saturday, and Disney's second gate, Tokyo DisneySea the second day, Sunday.


So a little over 30 minutes after the park opened, I made it inside. The first character I saw was Pooh, which made me miss Taryn, my little Pooh fanatic. So I snapped this picture for her. In California I wonder where they find so many short people to fill the costumes, but I didn't ponder on that for long on this trip :)

So if you have ever been with me to Disneyland (and many of you have), you know that it is all about the FastPasses. What makes them great is that in CA, few of the locals use them, so if you are from out of town, or just want to make the most of your trip, a little forethought and some extra hiking across the park pays serious dividends. Well, here in Japan everyone and their dog tries to work the FastPass game, so it doesn't have the same effect. For my efforts I only got 3 Fastpasses and they were all gone by 10:30 AM, and from what I've read, that is not uncommon. I didn't even get to use one of them.

So I had my first FastPass in hand (Space Mountain) and was walking by IASW (Its a Small World) and decided to pop in since there was no wait. That is what is known as a "rookie mistake." I knew better than that, but I did it anyway and suffered. By the time I got out of there the park had been open for 90 minutes and any benefit from my early start at the day was completely lost. Anyway, I thought I'd include this picture of the loading area for IASW. As you can see it is indoors, as are almost all attractions at TDL. I thought it gave most rides a different feel, but also made me appreciate DL-CA even more. When you are walking around, having the queues out in the open as you walk by an attraction kind of brings it out to you (or brings you into it?) You feel more like you are in a theme park than you do when you are just walking down a sidewalk with buildings on each side, no matter how intricately themed. Just an opinion...

I posted this picture to show that even in the middle of the ride, English is prevalent. Most of the visitors were Japanese, and relatively few seemed to be fluent in English, but when Disney first licensed this park (yep, TDL Resort is not owned by Disney) part of the agreement was to keep English as the primary language. This was Disney's first park overseas, and I think that since then they have changed their minds on that, but you can see the effect here, at the end of IASW. It did help me navigate the park though, having English signs here and there. Unfortunately there aren't English signs everywhere though, so there were a few awkward moments after all...

So as I said, going to IASW first messed up my plan. By the time I got to Big Thunder Mountain, this was the sign I saw. The standby line was 110 minutes! I didn't believe it at first, but got in line anyway.

I love smart ideas, and this one qualifies. I don't know if you can see it, but he has a white wristband on. They measure the kids height, and if they are tall enough they get the wrist band so they don't have to get measured again. I don't have evidence, but I would guess that on some rides it is a requirement for all little kids.

The queue line for BTM is really cool. You climb up a hillside, through a [fake] sandstone arch and then into a rustic shack where they can wind you back and forth for 60 minutes. The shot above was taken from the queue line, looking back down the hill at the mass of people that are in line behind me.

Many/most of the rides are near copies of Disney rides at other parks. BTM is at every Disney site, in one form or another, for example. In the TDL version, they have a cool hot springs area during the ride that you can see in the right side of the above picture. Also, the seats are padded!!! There is also a little divider to keep you from sliding back and forth during the ride. Both are good additions, even though it eliminates the option of going three to a car with little kids, which I have done, and will probably do again.

Speaking of things you don't see every day:

An observation from my phone-notes: "Its quieter. The soundtracks are just a level or two quieter, there are dead spaces walking around and on the rides where there is no soundtrack. I don't know if it is better or not, but that is just how it is. My opinion depends on the situation I guess. Sometimes a little peace and quiet is nice, and other times more volume is better to make the ride or parade or whatever more fun."

So by noon I had been on Small World, Big Thunder, Splash Mountain, Jungle Cruise and Tiki Room. It doesn't sound like a lot, but given the circumstances, I was feeling pretty good about it. But I was hungry. I began hunting for things to eat, and in Japan, that can be a real struggle (at least for me.) Then I saw the waffle house, and my problem was solved. One chocolate syrup and banana covered Mickey waffle later (400 yen) and I was good for another hour or two.

When I had first entered the park and ran for my Space Mountain FastPass, I encountered this line that easily looked like an 45 minute wait, and I was totally surprised to see that it was for a FastPass to their newest ride, Monsters, Inc. Ride and Go Seek. I balked at that craziness of waiting more than half an hour just for a FastPass, and went on my way. However as the day went I couldn't help but think that I should make sure to see all of the stuff that wasn't available at other parks, and a brand-new ride definitely qualified. After enjoying my chocolate covered Mickey waffle, I wandered over to the MI FastPass station to find this:

No FastPasses left (I wasn't surprised at this point), but a 180 minute wait??? Are you kidding? I was tired from my early start, and had found most of the rides to be redundant to my experiences elsewhere, and I just couldn't keep myself from wanting to see this ride. The MI ride in Disney's California Adventure is a decent ride, although still just another addition to the dark ride category. To me, Disney didn't break out of that category until they introduced interactive rides, such as Buzz Lightyear AstroBlasters(the TDL Buzz ride was down most of the day, so I didn't experience their version) and Toy Story Mania. Reading the sign for this MI ride gave me hope of a [new] interactive experience; everyone was to get their own flashlight to "find" monsters on the ride.



So I got in line. And waited. And waited. They did have some minimal theming (a video for instance) to try and keep the queueing area interesting, but there were just too many people. There was no point but to have miles and miles of chains snaking the line back and forth outside (and inside) the building. The first hour I wrote on my phone. Then I played solitaire. I took videos and pictures (Yes, my phone was my friend this whole trip.)



It was pretty close to the 3 hours they predicted when I finally got to the boarding area. The ride vehicles were these little two seaters (in pairs)! No wonder it was a 3 hour line. The only justification I can come up with for this is that TDL, which often has a crowding problem, figured that they could stash a couple thousand guests at a time in this queue and get them out of the way. What other excuse could there be? It wasn't even a constant-loader (like Buzz.) I got in my little Monster cart and picked up my flashlight. Rounding a corner, the light came on. We zigged and zagged through what was a decent, but not extraordinary, dark ride experience.

I could shine my light on the Monsters, sometimes animatronic, most often not. And nothing happened. It wasn't an interactive ride. My actions didn't change the ride experience one bit. Very disappointing.

So if I had it to do over again, would I wait in line for it? Actually yes. What I learned was that it was better to focus on the different rides/experiences, even if less exciting, than to re-hash rides that I had been on dozens of times, despite the minor differences I would see (which were clinically interesting, but not material to the overall ride experience.)

By the time I got off of MI, the afternoon was starting to give way to evening. I realized that I was losing light and wanted to get the obligatory castle pictures. This one and the picture at the top of this posting are two of those. You can tell in both that my lighting was past its prime, and I only had my crappy little Sanyo camera (never buy a Sanyo camera), but I did the best I could with what I had. I would love to get another shot at this with my wife's fancy Nikon D50 someday.

I had learned that the AstroOrbitor in Disneyland [CA] had once sat up by the PeopleMover station, but being a relatively new Disney fanatic, I never saw the PeopleMove open, or the AO in that position and, frankly, I had a hard time picturing it. Well, they had that same setup in TDL, so I don't have to imaging it anymore. It was right there. I definitely see the appeal to what I consider a poorly placed, lackluster ride at Dland-CA, if only it were in its original spot. The height would make it a whole new ride. No, I didn't try this one out (I'm not big on spinning rides.)



It was near the end of the day when I finally used my Space Mountain FastPass. The theming was very much the same, but the ride was not quite up to par with the original, mostly due to the lack of music. I never realized how much the music added to this ride, which is in the dark, so you are already down 1 of the 5 senses. Adding an auditory piece to the ride really makes a difference. It was still a good ride, but doesn't compete with its CA counterpart.

I hit up Pirates of the Caribean, and even Peter Pan (a mere 45 minute wait, how could I pass that up?) I liked the Pan ride for two things: It was a constant loader with a conveyer belt--I like to see the park trying to maximize throughput on its rides-- and the London flyover scene was much improved over the CA version. Closer up, with moving car lights. Other than that is was pretty much the same. So at that point I was tired and bedraggled. I got the following video of the Christmas Tree in the center of the World's Bazaar (their Main Street) while I wandered around in a dazed stupor. I had my 3rd and final Fastpass(Pooh ride) in my hand, but it wasn't good until 10PM, and I still had to be alert enough to make my way through the train system to a hotel I had never seen in a nearby, yet unfamiliar part of town. (The addressing system in Japan makes about as much sense to me as an Italian opera.) So I called it a night.

The whole experience was great, although I will admit it was somewhat lonely. I would have rather had at least a friend along, if not my family, but overall I have only one regret, and that was not getting to the Pooh ride. It is completely unique to TDL, and in some forums I've read it is heralded as the best ride in the whole park. And I missed it because I was tired. Wimpy. There is no excuse for that. Luckily, there is another day to this story.







DAY 2



The train system in Tokyo is extensive, and is the primary transportation mechanism for millions. With my characteristic tendency to overplan, I had my itinerary pretty planned out when it came to trains, and my solo train riding went off without a hitch (I'm only cursed with buses.) Basically I took the train to the Disney station (the station name escapes me at the moment) and then transferred onto a signature disney train. The Disney train (with its own fare, of course) even had minnie-shaped straps to hold on to.





In Disneyland I was greeted by characters, but at Tokyo DisneySea this huge water-covered rotating fountain-Earth was the centerpiece of the plaza. This big entryway (inside the turnstiles) was surprisingly empty of concessions or even attractions. I stashed my overnight bag in the lockers and hit the park.




So I'll say two things over and over about DisneySea. One: This is an awesome park. Two: It was dang cold. The iconic feature of DisneySea is the volcano which spews fire every hour or so. The fire shows isn't that big a deal from a distanc, but from inside Mysterious Island (the rocky center of the park you will get to see in a minute) it is a good show, expecially since they add sound effects and underground lighting that make it look like there are active lava flows.





This video is from inside the island. You are surrounded on all sides by rock, and the center is all water. You enter through tubes/caves/walkways from the various connected lands, but this isn't really the classic Disney hub and spoke design. The rock itself is a ride, of course. Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was very well done, although short. I managed to go twice.







While the theme of DisneySea is definitely "water", there is an eclectic mix af themes in specific areas. Above you see a seaside castle worthy of any Fantasy fiction novel, but when you get there there are actual tours of the castle, focusing on castle life and the whole bit. I didn't quite know what to make of that. In fact, the best thing about the place was the food stand there that sold churros and hot chocolate among other more asian treats. I had both a churro and a thimble-full of hot chocolate for a measly 600 yen ($6.00ish--and yes that was sarcasm.) It was so cold that at that point (around 10:30 AM) I could still see my breath and there were random snow flurries riding the very gusty wind. The hot chocolate was worth every yen.





This is standing with my back to the rocky island and look back to where I came. The big arch in the center of the buildings is a tunnel, acting as the "Main Street" for this park, and on the other side is the entrance plaza with the giant Earth-fountain. This bay is the venue for the over-the-top water shows that happens later in the day (video segment below.)



Disney couldn't have a parked based on the Sea without paying homage to The Little Mermaid. This was the kiddee section of the park, with rides and play areas for the younger crowd. I didn't spend a whole lot of time here, but the setting was so well done, I had to take a picture. This was also one of the few areas I saw characters on this wintery day. Eric (Ariel's boyfriend) turned out to be a huge white guy (he was seriously like 6'6" or taller- no mask) and was accompanied by his dog--the name escapes me-- but the dog was a cast member or two, walking on all fours. It was pretty funny. The Japanese girls (and women) swarmed that guy like an Africanized bee hive. I will admit that he did look exactly like the guy from the movie, but come on...




So where King Triton's domain fit right into the decor, there was this odd Persian looking place where they had an Aladdin show going that didn't fit in at all. It was extremely popular, I would guess, from the crazy lines for the show (or maybe they just wanted to get out of the cold like me...) but I didn't have the time or desire to do a show. Again, this area had a main entrance and then was a huge courtyard. In this picture I was in the courtyard looking at one side of the surrounding walls. It looked cool, but I missed the connection to the rest of the park. I don't remember any large bodies of water in Aladdin??






This video is of the cool water show that happened in the midafternoon in the main bay. It was around the same scale as Fanatasmic, although slightly larger, in my opinion. And since it was done in daylight they had to do more to keep you occupied on the periffery. It was over thirty minutes long, and included some sort of good vs evil storyline (all in Japanese), along with a number of cool "floats". In that respect it was kind of like a cross between Fantasmic and the Main Street parades. All of the Disney characters showed up at one point or another, with the main characters getting their own floats. The centerpiece, which is in the video, has one performer on it that is supposed to be some sort of spirit and throughout the show she get higher and higher up. I want to say it goes roughly twice as high as it is in the video.



While the show is cool, I just can't forget my first impression. They are all going to die of hypothermia. It was seriously in the 30's with a steady wind. The wind chill had to bring it down to the teens or twenties at the most. And they were out there being hoisted in the air, being squirted in the face with water and they had to sing and dance. In other times and places I would call that cruel and unusual punishment. Case in point: Check out the waverunner guys in the video. Suicidal.



I managed to get a lot of the show on video, but I am just posting a section. I haven't looked, but I am willing to bet that you could find a better copy of the show on YouTube, although the title would probably be in Japanese.



So I have more pics, but this post has gone on too long already, so I will just stop. DisneySea was awesome. I went on the Indiana Jones ride (a copy of the Disneyland-CA ride), another roller coaster that was short on theming, but still a fun ride, a small-worldish ride, but with a story line about a guy that sailed away and had adventures but came home (it was like a mini opera delivered to you on a small world boat.)



There was a ride called Storm Chaser that was a 4-D moving-theater type experience. Think Bugs Life movie in DCA meets Star Tours. I stood in line for 80 minutes for that in absolutely freezing wind. The queue was all outside. I couldn't feel my fingers or toes when we got on, and my ears hurt, and then part of the ride experience including getting hit with mist from a storm. I pulled my hood up during the ride. I could tell it was a decent ride, but that didn't mean I had to enjoy it right then. There was a "Little America" part of the park that I barely even dipped into. Again, it was stretch to fit it into theming, by my estimation. The big pull there was the Tower of Terror, but since I had been on that before, I prioritized the stuff I hadn't done before.



I think that was the main reason I liked DisneySea. It was the first really new Disney park I had seen since really becoming a theme park fan. I know Dland and DCA like the back of my hand, and TDL was similar enough (I hear it is a carbon copy of the Magic Kingdom in FL), but DisneySea was mostly new (to me) rides and had a different feel. It was great.

If I could I would go back with the family, although navigating Tokyo with our gaggle of children would be both hectic and expensive. Still I would go to Disney Sea first and prioritize everything there over DL. If you ever get a chance to go, I highly recommend it.