Tokyo Disney Resort Houkoku
Special Guest Trip Report
Megara's Visit to Tokyo Disney Resort
May 11th-15th, 2005 - Part 2
(Posted 05/01/06)
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Part 2 - What We Did
DAY 1 - TOKYO
Our first day, we went downstairs to the restaurant to have our free breakfast at the Palm Terrace. It was a help yourself buffet style and the menu included a variety of flavoured buns (like spinach) & lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, boiled eggs, yoghurt & minestrone soup - yes, soup for breakfast. Orange Juice, pineapple juice, tea & coffee. It was actually quite refreshing.
Get a map of Tokyo.
We decided to see Tokyo first. We caught the Disney shuttle to Maihama Station & purchased a ticket to Tokyo. Maihama station plays "It's a Small World" when trains arrive.
From Tokyo train station we walked to the Imperial East Gardens, then walked to Ginza, then walked to Shiodome (I would skip Shiodome). We then walked to Hama Rikyu Gardens and caught the Happy Dog Ferry for a cruise up the Sumida River to Asakusa. I would give the Hama Rikyu gardens a miss as it was boring and a disappointment after reading claims that it was the best garden in Tokyo. Plus we weren't happy paying the entrance fee just to catch the ferry. The 40 mins boat ride was pleasant and seeing the shanty shacks of the homeless people along the waterfront was surprising. We visited Nakamise Dori (market shopping) which was good. We found only 3 magnets on Japan. We then (stupidly) decided to walk to Ueno Park from there and what a mistake that was as it was sooooo far. Our feet were killing us when we arrived. We really noticed there aren't any benches to sit down in Tokyo and imagined it was due to the Japanese being fit and healthy. After resting in a restaurant (which had chairs) we caught the train along the Yamanote line to Ikebukuro to visit Sunshine City shopping centre. We had a great day and really enjoyed it.
The next day for TDL we were walking so slow as our calf muscles were tight & sore. I recommend taking some heat treatment cream for sore muscles (which we didn't).
Click on photos below for a larger view.
DAYS 2 & 4 - TOKYO DISNEYLAND
We were advised to get there early & lined up about 40 minutes before opening time. There were quite a few people already lined up neatly and sitting on the ground waiting patiently. A huge difference from the American parks. Exactly at 9am music began to play and everyone was getting excited. When the gates opened at 9am, the decorum was dropped and everyone transformed and it suddenly became "running of the bulls". Everyone was running for the Pooh ride. We were so bewildered by what we were seeing, that we didn't know what to do, should we run also? We decided to take it easy and if we missed out today, we would run for Pooh another day.
We were greeted along World Bazaar (Main St) by the cast members lining the street to wave hello. It was just gorgeous. World Bazaar seems shorter than other parks and has cross section at the centre streets where you can access Adventureland and Tomorrowland. World Bazaar is stacked with great shops. The window displays were full of what you can actually buy in that shop. We found the themed merchandise was amazing and much more themed specific to each land (like Disneyland used to be).
The hub area must be the largest of all parks and the partners statue is at the end of World Bazaar. The centre of the hub was a display/stage area for the current parade/attraction - Rock around the Mouse (RATM) and there were Disney 50's cars on display. There is another permanent stage for RATM right in front of the castle, which blocked a clear view of getting a photograph of the Castle.
The crowds were fairly light and we walked on almost every ride, except for Pooh which we managed to get a fastpass for. Pooh was every bit as amazing as everyone had said. How the hunny pots have no viewable rails, the interaction between other pots and independent places it goes. The Tigger bouncing room was our favourite and we couldn't work out if the room really bounced or the pots. We rode the Disneyland version about 2 weeks later and it seemed so lame compared to this one.
As you know, you can walk between the lands and there are no boundaries which seemed a little odd.
The Japanese sit down on the ground to watch the parades and stay seated so everyone can have a clear view. The Electrical Parade / Dreamlights just blew us away. There must have been about 30 floats, and they just kept coming and coming. The lights flickered, did waves, turned on & off. It was nice to see newer floats with updated characters like Woody, Buzz & Bugs Life
The meal sizes are much smaller than in the US and the Mickey shaped burger was tiny. Even the churros are smaller. We liked the Mickey shaped biscuits with banana centre. The food was very nice in Japan and we didn't find it expensive (we thought Disneyland was more expensive).
Click on photos below for a larger view.
DAY 3 & 6 - TOKYO DISNEYSEA
The first thing we noticed was the amazing themeing of this park & how great it looked. The characters were out in force in each land and when they spotted us (westerners), they made a beeline for us. We also found that Cast Members would run up to us and hand us free Disney stickers for no reason. It was lovely and we felt like celebrities.
The passenger river boat rides were actually running & there were lots of them. It's one thing that disappointed me at the Animal Kingdom that we never saw any boats running along the river.
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (JTTCOTE) was just amazing and there was never a long line up, we must have rode it about 6x. That lightning bolt scared the *** out of us everytime, and we loved being blasted out of the volcano. We loved the themeing in Arabian Coast and took most photos there. We thought the Sinbad ride was very cute. Cape Code was great and the seafood chowder was delicious.
We ate everything that seemed different on the menus and our favourite was the curry sampler in Arabian Coast. There was no line up for Gyoza buns and since we heard so much about them, we tried it. I didn't really like it and I thought it was like a not quite cooked doughy steamed sausage roll.
In regards to the water parades. We were there for the change over from Porto Paradisio to the Aladdin Whole New World and saw both of them. During the Aladdin show they played the song "Wild Thing" and it seemed so oddly out of place and we couldn't work out why they didn't use the many wonderful Disney songs. The water shows were good. Nice to see something different.
Click on photos below for a larger view.
We loved Indiana Jones and thought it was a lot tamer than the Californian version.
It thundered down with rain for about 30 minutes one afternoon and we were all ushered to safety by cast members and had to remain there until they told us it was safe to come out. When the rain cleared, cleaners appeared and literally mopped up the rain. They mopped the water off the pavement, squeegeed the bins, wiped the tables, chairs and hand rails. It was amazing. We even saw cleaners get right into the bins and sift through the rubbish sorting the cups, folding up cardboard - to make it more compact and tidy.
In terms of the rides being in Japanese. We didn't see a problem with it (after all, we were in Japan) and shows like Aladdin & Mermaid, we still knew what was going. We only wished we could understand our gondolier on the gondola rides as he seemed very funny & animated. I thought it was great when they all sang in Italian opera.
In relation to souvenirs. There are themed souvenirs to each land. We couldn't find any TDR magnets, adult t-shirts for women or pins. There were a lot of tins of sweets, towels, note pads, stationery, mobile phone danglers, glasses & ceramic bowls. Everything is wrapped in plastic - postcards, pens, towels, stationery etc. One item is opened for (&/or) display behind hard plastic. The shelves are very tidy and noone opens packets prior to purchasing. At the end of the day the shops are mobbed with desperate school kids going berserk buying lots of tins.
Click on photos below for a larger view.
Day 5 - HAKONE / MT FUJI
We also wanted to visit rural Japan and see Mt Fuji and decided to do a day trip to Hakone. We purchased a Hakone Free pass from the Okakyu Sightseeing Service Centre at Shinjuku Station. This pass enabled us to ride trains, cable cars, boats and buses in a loop around the Hakone National Park. We paid on the day. We caught the local train to Hakone and all the modes of transport to get up the mountains to visit Owakudani Valley (valley of death) & Lake Ashi (crater lake, the one in all the photos with Mt Fuji in background). It was cloudy & raining so we didn't see Mt Fuji, which was a real shame. It was a good day trip. Took ages by train though.
We found Japan to be a lovely place and now that we are back home, we would love to visit again and see more of the countryside and other cities. The Disney Resort impressed us and I would definitely go back. I cannot say enough about how impressed we were by the manners of the Japanese people. It was a real treat.
The things we noticed which seemed interesting / different
- Everything runs on time.
- No-one pushes in front of you or talks loud.
- There is toilet paper in every toilet I visited (contrary to what I read).
- Cast members ask people to move along & make way for others during parades (unlike the USA).
- The cast members wrap all your purchases in excessive wrapping & give you about 10x extra bags inside (I suppose for all the gifts you are going to have to hand out).
Tokyo Disneyland was mobbed by school kids dressed like sailors, but we didn't find them in Disney Sea.
- There aren't many benches to sit down at the Disney parks.
- Our toilet seat in the hotel was heated with a very strange control system that looked like it had a "clean your bottom with water" cycle but we weren't game enough to try it.
- The food in the shops seemed health conscious. There were a lot of small sweets and cakes available - but not overly full of sugar. The junk food is almost non-existent but I guess its there if you want it.
- The only downside we found was that the TV stations were all in Japanese. We didn't hear any news about the outside world for a week.
All Text and Photos By: Megara. [Report and photos re-printed with permission.]
Guest Email: cubpepper(at)hotmail(dot)com
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