A Dazzling Evening at Tokyo Disneyland

                            

If you have been following along with our trip, it must be obvious that we had covered a lot of ground. So, after taking a ride on the river, leaving the park for a bit wasn’t a crazy idea. Being that this was in a way the Downtown Disney of Tokyo, we kept hearing about how huge Ikspiari is. From what I understand, there is even a basement level full of food and bake shops. The walk to get there was a tad further than we planned. We agreed to allow ourselves about an hour for this excursion, so we had to power walk.  Having been dropped off by bus near the main entrance the last few mornings, we hadn’t been exposed to the distance. The train station is adjacent to the Ikspiari facility, not the bus stop.

As we headed there, I voiced that I wanted to find the shop that carries the park soundtracks. After already seeing the “Happiness is Here” parade, I really wanted that music. I hadn’t seen it sold in the park. We also had plans to stop at the Bon Voyage souvenir shop, and find the Disney Store. The Bon Voyage store, which resembles a large suitcase, was the first one we visited.

Inside, Eric and I scoured the shop for something we hadn’t yet seen in the park’s stores. A lot of the merchandise was very repetitive. We did happen to find a few items for the nieces and nephews. The chopsticks we found, the ends had Monorails as handles, were very cute. (Why didn’t I take a photo of them?) We also found a few rare pins. Other than that, there wasn’t a lot that caught our eye. An item we kept seeing everywhere were hand towels. They sold/displayed hand towels like one would see a wall of socks or underwear. 

We wandered further into the Ikspiari area, beyond the train station, in search of the Disney Store. We had to stroll to the furthest point to find it. I also kick myself as I wonder why we didn’t take photos in the store. The only answer I have is that I didn’t want people thinking I was taking a photo of them. There were some cool iPhone cases, one of which I almost bought. The issue I had with them is that since they were irregularly shaped, they were very impractical.

As we headed back toward the parks, we had already spent close to an hour away, we found the music store. They had a decent sized selection of park music, which included the parade I wanted. This soundtrack went for almost $40 American dollars. 40! As you can probably guess, I passed on that purchase. I really couldn’t justify spending that amount on a CD that had one track on it.

The natural lighting in the next set of photos makes it look much later than it really was. If I recall correctly (this was 5 months ago) we headed back into the park around 3:45 PM. Being mid-afternoon it was definitely time for that snack we had seen earlier, pastry. We would have a nice time sitting as we awaited our Haunted Mansion FP window, 4:55-5:55 PM. 

We headed back to the Sweetheart Café,  located near the Monsters Inc. fast pass area. I was hungry and ready to bite into Mike Wazowski’s head….melon bread that is. Both out snacks looked a lot sweeter than they actually were. 

Although we were doing just fine, Eric and I may have now realized how tired we were. Our day had been full of such excitement that we didn’t even think about how it was affecting us. At the same time, we just didn’t care. We had dreamed of this trip for so long! Eric and I were about to get in as much as possible before the 7 PM Electrical Parade start time.

                   I also wanted this to eat, but I didn’t want to be too gluttonous.

At a quarter to 5 PM we passed near the hour long queue for Jungle Cruise and hoped aboard the Western River Railroad. For those that didn’t know, this train only circles WesternLand. (There are reasons for that which we don’t need to get into now) It sounds a little silly, but one reason I was very excited to ride this train was the fact it passes right in front of Splash Mountain. From certain angles, it appears the finale drop passes directly under the train tracks. In a way it does, but not as dramatically as I had hoped. What I did enjoy about this version of the train is that we felt to be in the middle of the action. At the US Parks, the train ride hides a lot of the park behind trees and buildings.

                                          Westernland seen from the train.

As Eric and I moved back through Fantasyland, toward Mansion, the area felt so alive. We now had “back to back” Fast Passes to use. We had acquired a Pooh’s Hunny Hunt pass earlier, but still our Mansion time was before that. In total, this would equal four Fast Passes for the day. So to anyone who thinks you can’t get more than one Fast Pass in a day at these parks, he is out of his mind. Or, Eric and I just got lucky.

                            Eric & I adored these trees lining the walkway.

This was our second time on their Holiday Nightmare (love that name)! I was a little brave during this experience and snapped a few grainy shots with my phone. We could’ve tried with the Nikon, but it has the light meter on it and I didn’t want to ruin the experience for others.

With it being about half past 5 PM, we had to fit in Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, find food, and find a spot for the parade. The easy part of executing our schedule was that both Mansion and Pooh are in Fantasyland. I was stressing a bit regarding the parade spot. Eric was more relaxed and was trying to get me to calm down. I had read too much online about how tough it is to get a spot for this parade. I decided to go along with Eric’s disposition and calm the heck down.

Of course Pooh was amazing! This would be our final time riding for this trip (sad face). Eric busted out the Nikon for this. It’s not so dark like in Mansion, so the light meter wasn’t a huge intrusion. I’m glad he decided to get a few photos.

                           

As we exited, Eric suggested we head back to where we watched the earlier parade. We enjoyed that spot because no one could fill in our immediate area during the show. It was blocked by railings, thanks to the Dumbo attraction. There was still the matter of food. Eric volunteered to head back across Fantasyland (adjacent to the Pooh attraction), so he could get us burgers from Tomorrowland Terrace. I’m glad I married this guy!

                          

We didn’t have a “parade mat” as most people did. About 40 minutes before the show, a family came into our area. I offered up some space to them and I sat on the ledge. This ledge runs the length of the Dumbo railing, so it definitely worked out for us. During the parade we were free to either stand or sit. About 20 minutes prior to step off time, Eric returned with our cute Mickey shaped burgers.

                         

                                                        Adorable!

Since Eric and I were both kids in Southern California, seeing the Main St. Electrical Parade was sort of a park tradition. As most know, that parade has since moved to Walt Disney World, which we do get to see now and again. But, this revamp of the parade came to fruition around 2007, with a new interpretation of floats and soundtrack. When it premiered I of course made a wish to one day see it. The dream was a distant life goal that I thought would never happen. But, here it was and the lights were about to go out! Dreamlights was about to become our reality!

Just like the parades we had seen earlier, these floats were larger than life and finally passing before us. The music was even more exciting to hear as it enveloped the entire area and the lights on the floats were quite vivid.

One thing we did wonder, why did some characters speak in Japanese and others in English? Does anyone know this answer?

                          

                          

I can’t really choose a favorite unit or float. I think my top few floats are Cinderella as her dress transforms, Alice on the Cheshire Cat, the Genie, and Blue Fairy.

The parade was an excellent way to start to draw our Tokyo Disneyland experience to a close. I was glad we saw the alternate version two nights prior as it rained and then the actual parade. We really did get lucky during our time here.

We had arranged to meet up with Chris, he runs TDRExplorer.com , near the Home Store and Waffle House. They are both located right off the World Bazaar area. To get there from our parade spot, we had to follow the parade to the front of the park. That took a little time in the crowd, but we were used to this many folks in one location. As we shuffled along, Eric and I were impressed that the guests actually listen and obey the directions of Cast Members. If the guest control person had everyone move to one side of a walkway, they all complied. Like soldiers, we witnessed the moving crowd all take two giants steps to the right. We followed suit.

After a slight wait, we finally did meet Chris. He rode about three trains from Shinjuku to come meet with us. We had been in contact with him before we left California and during the last three days. It was great to finally meet him and get his perspective on everything. Eric and I may have overwhelmed Chris as we fired questions at him from all angles. But, since the three of us were in the Monsters Inc. queue, we had plenty of time. Ride and Go Seek would be our final attraction at this park. Since it is lively and highly interactive, I’m glad this was how we closed the day. 

                               

                                    I think Eric forgot there was a photo to be taken.

Chris, Eric, and I took a final lap around the park in those last 20 minutes of operation. I can’t recall all the specifics of our conversation, but it was definitely surrounding his living experience in Japan. So far Eric and I were fascinated by the culture we had seen, so we were extremely curious about his adjustment. Chris had lived there for a while now and he loves it. 

We had to take advantage of the third set of arms and asked Chris to snap a photo of us. Maybe next time we visit “it’s a small world” will be up and running.

The three of us tried to venture into a candy shop in the World Bazaar. Eric walked in and was swept away by the current of people. Chris and I stood and watched. The other guests were clearing out the shelves faster than they could stock them. The Japanese people are known for their thoughtful/respectful “omiyage” or souvenirs. It is customary to take back items for friends, family, and co-workers. But, what was odd was that all these tins were ubiquitous. People were still grabbing them as if they hadn’t seen these all day. Eric gave up and managed to get out from the crowd. There was no sense in trying to browse while barely breathing. I will admit that a Black Friday scenario at Disneyland was an interesting thing to see.

The time chatting with Chris went quickly and it was time to say goodbye. It wasn’t all that late, but we needed to catch one of the final buses back to our apartment. It wasn’t really goodbye forever. We made plans to meet up the next day in Shinjuku, somewhat near where Chris lived at the time.

With one last photo at the park’s entrance, it was so long Tokyo Disneyland. Eric and I had mixed emotions as we left the parks. Although our time at Disney ended, we would soon relocate apartments to Shibuya, Tokyo. The thought of being in the middle of a busy city brought on anxiety and excitement! A new chapter of this trip would soon begin.

 

 

 

 

For Us, Tokyo DisneySea Draws to a Close

Well!!!!

It would seem that after we left Sinbad’s attraction, a little shopping and snacking was in order. Eric knew of the Chandu Tiger tails that were available near the attraction exit. Chandu is that cute, little tiger that joins Sinbad on his voyages. Did I mention how cute he is? The little snack is a chicken bun shaped into a tiger tail and is served again, in cute packaging! This might sound like an odd description, but the tail tasted like chicken noodle soup. Who doesn’t like that sort of soup? I feel all that enter this park needs to try a Chandu tail. (And, also buy a plush doll of him)

After wandering through the marketplace in Arabian Coast, we decided we needed to see the Magic Lamp 3D show. The theater is found inside a rather largely scaled structure. To be honest, all the buildings in this area are massive. The queue was a decent length, bearable. There are a few things I recall from our wait.

We were transferred to the queue within the courtyard. There was a Cast Member in there that seemed to be in charge of prepping guests with theater rules. Since the guests were spread out within the courtyard’s queue, she went to various spots to deliver an announcement. Each time she did this, she recited a well-rehearsed spiel. At the conclusion of this announcement she put her hands to her side and slowly bowed to the crowd. I saw her do this three times as we waited and was equally impressed each time. I love Japan!

The crowd was ushered into the lobby of the theater that also acted as the pre-show. Here an animated snake was filling in the crowd about the magical genie (all in Japanese, so this is an assumption). If my memory is correct, he of course added in references to Aladdin and his lamp. I assumed this was all preparation for the genie we would encounter once in the theater. Now during all of this, a baby/toddler was giving everyone the biggest headache ever. This baby was either not wanting to be in that building or was hungry because it was making the most high pitch noise I had heard from a kid. The Japanese are a considerate people, but clearly everyone was getting annoyed.

Eric and I were quite relieved when the theater entry doors opened. We made a beeline for the doors to get away from that kid! Everyone joined in that action. The show itself was also all in Japanese. From what we gathered, the assistant (a live actor) was there to get us ready to meet Genie himself from Aladdin. But, there was also another live actor present that tried to take over the show. He too had some sort of powers as he cast the Genie’s assistant away. While all this is taking place, the screen behind them interacted with them. The crowd was very excited as they enjoyed the mixture of live action and 3D screens. Somehow it all gets resolved. The Genie shows up to save the day. And, the assistant (in MC Hammer pants) assists the Genie to cast away the evil guy.

Generally that show gets a lot of bad reviews, but it was easier to follow than the Tiki Room at Disneyland. We didn’t know what was going in during that show. Maybe it was the over the top acting that helped us out in this show?

It was now just after 3:30 PM. We had mentioned to our other American travelers that if they were free, to meet us at the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge around 4 PM. Eric and I decided to head back to American Waterfront to maybe meet up with them. We took the path found across the water from the main Mermaid Lagoon structure. On that end of the water, it is still considered to be a part of Mermaid Lagoon.  Ariel’s meet and greet is found there. We weren’t going to be seeing Ariel, but found it interesting that this area was unified with that across the water. Suddenly, Eric grabbed my arm or shoulder and practically shouted for me to look down the walkway, past Ariel’s meet and greet entrance! I saw it! 

Eric had finally found the popcorn bucket that I wanted! I had put that on the “back burner”, as I figured the only place to find it would be the next day, at Disneyland’s AdventureLand. I don’t know if I can convey how excited I was to get this bucket. I had seen this bucket online prior to our visit and it was the one thing I knew that I had to have from Tokyo Disney. As you can see, the Cast Member that sold it to me was so cute and nice.

Just near that cart is a convenient path that cuts through Mysterious Island, so that we can get to American Waterfront. I tell you, we were so confused at the park layout on Day 1. Luckily, after a few wrong turns on that first day, we felt we had a better handle on the various paths.

Once onboard the ship Colombia, we didn’t see The Brickers or Selgas at the lounge’s entry queue. We went ahead and put ourselves down for a table for two. The wait wasn’t all that long. We were sat in the front area, the less interesting section in our opinion. But after we ordered out Manhattans we each wandered around to see the décor. 

I’ve had better Manhattan’s at California Adventures Carthay Circle lounge, but we still ordered two! As we “lounged’ in the lounge, I started to get that odd feeling that someone was staring at or watching us. There were two ladies right near us, appeared to be in their late 20s, that kept glancing over. It was an odd feeling and something that I had been warned about before we left home. Maybe I was just creating a story in my head, but this wasn’t the last time we encountered this while on the trip. If my Japanese was excellent, I am sure I could’ve corrected or confirmed my assumption.

Taking a few silly photos and wandering the decks of the Colombia was next on our agenda. As we were on the top deck I heard someone ask, “How were your drinks?” It was Sarah! They were running behind and a fast pass of theirs overlapped, so they didn’t make the lounge with us. I’m glad we ran into them on the ship. Apparently Tom was off photographing the park. We didn’t ask because I didn’t want to seem too nosey (lol). 

                 Yes, that is the real ocean. 

We recruited Sarah to take a few shots of us on the boat. The sunset was taking place, but unfortunately the clouds were making it a hazy one. They invited us to join them at the nearby show called “A Table is Waiting”. This was to be another one of the more popular shows at the park.

The five of us sat down in some pretty decent seats, but soon after it started to lightly drizzle. We were all prepared for the rain, but what deterred us from waiting was that there was still another 40 minutes until show time. Although we were definitely interested in the show, we had assumed the start was about 15 minutes away. 

There were a few other stops they wanted to make and we were getting a little hungry. Sarah suggested we have the curry found in Arabian Coast. We kept in touch with the group during the rest of our time at Disney, but didn’t see each other again until we were in Tokyo.

Eric and I decided to take the long way to Arabian Coast to shoot more photos. We of course visited American Waterfront, walked in the rain to Lost River Delta, and ended up in Arabian Coast. Someone might wonder why we didn’t ride the attractions over and over again. The truth is that DisneySea is an amazing spectacle that is screaming out to be admired. We had such a great time going down the various paths and taking in the grandeur of the park’s design. 

At one point a lovely couple took our photo near the Indiana Jones attraction. Eric thanked them in Japanese and bowed. The female in that couple then informed us that they were from Taiwan. Oops!

During a light rain, Eric and I reached the Royal Tandor restaurant to have the curry that Sarah was raving about. After eating there, I heard from a few people that this food wasn’t all that impressive. We enjoyed it and thought it “hit the spot”. This dish of rice, chicken, naan bread, and curry isn’t something we normally eat. It even being outside our comfort zone, we still savored every last bite.

The rain let up while we dined. This was great because we wanted to see the New York Halloween Follies show that would take place in American Waterfront. People were waiting hours for a spot to see this, but Eric hoped we could snag a spot along the side lines. This was another show we had heard great things about on the TDRExplorer.com podcast. Would this show live up to the expectations set by that site? (So far that site had been a huge help, so I was confident it would)

                    Flapper Minnie and the back of Zoot Suit Mickey

From what I learned on that podcast, Follies showcases the current celebrities of park, the skeletons. The era is the 1920s and they’re all out for a Halloween party. The conflict in the show arises when Scrooge McDuck objects to the very existence of the skeletons. He even tried to get them taken away by Chip n Dale, dressed as gangsters. Through dance and music, Scrooge is shown how to get down and Charleston with the rest of the gang. In the end, Scrooge confesses he was not keen on the arrival of the skeletons because he was a little afraid of them. But, he was now happy and showed his happiness as he joined the skeleton friends in a large dancing finale that even included huge beach balls (because that fits the 1920s theme, right?). The cast of this show is huge! It was the one time we saw this many of the skeleton friends in one place at the same time! Our view was a little obstructed, but at times the performers came to our end, as well as driving past in a vehicle. When this ended, I may have wished we did get a chance to see this one more time.

But, this would be our last evening at Tokyo DisneySea. What does one do when you have an hour or two left at the number one theme park in the world? It was a tough decision, but we did head over and ride our favorite attraction there, Journey to the Center of the Earth. This was the one time that we actually waited in the standby queue. There we were reading every inscription and plaque that we found. We learned about the drilling machine that Nemo created and how it led him to the depths of the earth. It also allowed him to find a hidden passage of water that was of use to explore the ocean waters (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea).

A cool touch that people are catching onto is the lava, mentioned in the previous post, even made its way into the queue. Here we can see where the lava even overtook a drinking fountain!

After riding, Eric and I were dragging our feet back the park’s main entrance. We were mindful that we needed to catch our bus back to our apartment, but also sad to leave the park behind. Gee, I am even getting a little sentimental as I type this sentence (nearly four months later).

But, not all was lost at all. We still had another Disneyland day to look forward to! And, guess what? The next day it was forecasted to be so clear that there wouldn’t be a cloud in the sky. I’ll give you one hint about that, it made all the difference in what we saw there! Join us next time at Tokyo Disneyland when we finally see the parades as they were meant to be performed!