April 14th Trip Report

The day at the Resort for the final day of the 25th Anniversary started dark and wet. I met SuperDry once again with his friend at Monsoon Cafe in Ikspiari. Our host that day was Mr X from the LaughingPlace.com boards. We used to meet up at neighboring Planet Hollywood but it had closed down the day before because of a court injunction that came out in the Walt Disney Company's favor. We had a fun time at Monsoon before checking out Roti's House, home of the Maihama Harvest Moon Brewery.

We all split up after that. I went into TDL and checked that the Monsters attraction was closed a day before its official opening. I continued across Tomorrowland and went into Toontown in the rain. The Jolly Trolley was in its final day and more than the usual number of people were in line to ride it one more time. I stayed in the area taking pictures, video and talking to Cast Members and other Guests. It seems like a lot of former CM's also made the visit as they reminisced about the attraction's 13-year run.

It was now about 6 o'clock and I was getting hungry so I went over to my favorite snack eatery, The Lucky Nugget, and had me some friend chicken. Yummy! The Park was pretty empty so I made a run of the Fantasyland attractions. Then I spent the last hour in a corner of Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant killing time until 9:30, then made my way back to Toontown. Check out our previous post on the end of the Jolly Trolley.

After wiping away some tears...oh, I mean raindrops, I walked through World Bazaar. A number of CM's were there to say their goodbyes to the last of the Guests. It was a very nice time and proper way to end the celebrations this time. In the above photo, you can see a group of them posing for Guests. I finally exited the Park at about 11:00pm in the cold rain. I stayed at a local hotel that night for only ¥6,000 (US$60.00) for the room.

Attraction tally: Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White's Adventures, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Haunted Mansion, it's a small world

Restaurant tally: The Lucky Nugget Cafe, Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant

April 12th Trip Report

Had a chance to visit TDL on Easter Sunday, April 12th. It also happened to be the final weekend of the 25th Anniversary celebrations. It was a warm day and a Japanese friend of mine was able to save a space right in front of the gates. A little later, SuperDry and his friend came by and we spent some time together.

Once the gates opened, we confirmed that Monsters, Inc. was closed to general Guests but open to contest winners and other promotional event Guests. We made our way to Tomorrowland Hall and won lottery tickets for the first performance Dreams Within, the Castle stage show. We watched the show and at the end and noticed the lackluster reaction of the Guests. The show is not one of my favorites at all.

We rode a number of attractions, then had lunch at Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall. I had the "hamburg" steak patty with rice and veggies. Later, SuperDry and I went to TDS to film The Legend of Mythica from the Roman Bridge and the foot of Mt. Prometheus. We got some pretty good angles of all the floats entering and leaving the harbor.

The picture posted above is of Bon Voyage and its wall poster sign. They were recently painted after years of being faded. They look quite nice! I left the Resort right after watching Mythica.

Attraction tally for today: Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain (twice), Big Thunder Mountain.

Show tally: Dreams Within, The Legend of Mythica

Restaurant tally: Captain Hook's Galley, Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall