Tokyo Travels - Day 6

[hornetgirl]

Day six

After yesterday’s carry on we made sure the alarm was set. Thankfully we woke up at a sensible time and didn’t take too long to get ready. We were keen to see what the Tokyo Disneyland Park had to offer, so didn’t mess around with breakfast and just made some coffee in the room, accompanied by a Frusli bar each (we always travel with a couple of boxes of these, just in case). And then we were off, just stopping in the hotel lobby to listen to this guy, who was there each morning.

We didn’t need to use the monorail today as our hotel was immediately opposite the park entrance. There was a separate queueing area designated for hotel guests. There were already quite a few people waiting when we got there, but not huge numbers.

We got chatting to a guy and his little daughter who had flown in from Korea the night before. He had left his wife and other daughter at home because “she is too small.” The daughter he had with him looked lovely in her Belle dress but was a bit too shy to talk to us. The dad told us that he was a big football fan and that it was his dream to come to the UK to see Man Utd play. I could have pointed out the 3-1 thrashing my boys gave them earlier in the season but like a good hornets supporter I held my tongue COYH!

Lots of people had taken their Duffy bears to the park with them. This was the first of oh so many we would see.

Fifteen minutes before park opening, the shutters for our part of the entrance were raised and we were in, surrendering the first of our Happy 15 tickets as we went. Although we visited in May, Disney, in true Disney fashion, had decreed that in Tokyo the Easter celebrations would continue right up until May 31st, so there were lots of pretty pastel decorations everywhere.

The first thing we came to was the World Bazaar, which was rather like Main Street but all under a glass roof. Tokyo gets a lot of rain, so this provides plenty of shelter. No need for it today though, it was hot and sunny.

I’m ashamed to admit it, but we didn’t really have much of a plan for tackling the park, relying on the fact that as Golden Week was now over, it should be pretty quiet. We did know that we would have to get a lottery ticket to see if we could get a seat for the One Man’s Dream Show, so went off to do this first, only to discover that Tomorrowland Hall, where you get the tickets, was under renovation, so all shows would have unreserved seating today. Bonus – although the downside was that Space Mountain was closed as part of the same renovation.

The main crowd hadn’t caught up with us yet and there was no queue at Star Tours, so Sean decided to go straight in for a quick first ride. I sat it out as simulators make me feel a bit icky. He came out all pleased because he was chosen to be the rebel spy, adding that there were only seven other people in there with him.
Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters had no queue either, so we had a quick blast.

If we headed on round in an anticlockwise direction Toontown would have been next up, but as that didn’t hold huge appeal we headed back in the opposite direction towards Westernland.

Looking at the park map, it would appear that Tokyo Disneyland is very similar to the Magic Kingdom in WDW. The layout is broadly similar and lots of the rides have the same names. However, we were delighted to discover that although there were lots of similarities, lots of things were very different too. Rather than just list what we did, I’ll try to focus on the differences where I can. On the Jungle Cruise the main difference was obviously that the skipper spoke in Japanese. Clearly she was much funnier than her Orlando counterparts as our fellow passengers were in fits of laughter throughout.

The Pirates of the Caribbean ride reminded me very much of the California version as the entrance and the beginning of the ride, drifting through the bayou, were very similar. Once inside it was the usual pirate mayhem.

We watched a lovely show at the Theatre Orleans, called Minnie Oh! Minnie. It was a colourful and high energy musical extravaganza honouring Minnie Mouse but featuring all the main characters. Or as the entertainment schedule puts it, “Minnie takes centre stage as the Muse, while her Disney friends put on a lively performance of song and dance to vibrant Latin music.” It was a fabulous performance.

Next up was the Usatama on the Run parade, which was themed on hunting for Easter eggs. As we had gathered from reading other trip reports, everyone behaves in a very civilised fashion when it comes to parades. Everyone sat down, no one pushed in and no one held their phones, cameras, ipads or little kids in the air. Only people at the very back stood up and as a result, everyone had an excellent view.

The sun was getting very hot and we were near the Enchanted Tiki Room. Uppermost in my mind was that this would be the perfect time for a dole whip. Whilst we couldn’t locate such a delight we did find some delicious fruity mango ice cream which did the job.

I really didn’t want to go into the Tiki Room, but Sean persuaded me it would be lovely and cool. The show featured “Stitchy.” That’s all.

After a little wander around Camp Woodchuck, we made our way towards Critter Country for one of my favourite rides, Splash Mountain. From outside it was really pretty, with a covering of flowers.

Inside, the ride was more reminiscent of the California version than the Orlando one. It didn’t disappoint. The Haunted Mansion was also here and was like a lite version of the one in Orlando.
Time for a bit of exercise, so we went on the Beaver Brothers Explorer Canoes next.

The explanation for how to row was all in Japanese but the boat guide also demonstrated with his paddle for us so we could see what to do. Unfortunately the little boy in front of me didn’t really get the idea of everyone rowing together so we clashed paddles a number of times but it was all good fun and lovely and cool on the water too.

We hadn’t even had lunch yet and it was already time for the two o’clock parade, Happiness is Here. The protocol was just the same as before, although this time I did see one or two little kids hoisted onto shoulders. We stood at the back and had an excellent view. Words really can’t do this parade justice. It was a colourful extravaganza featuring all the traditional characters. Everything looked straight from the box fresh and clean. Just stunning.

Lunchtime had been and gone and we were pretty hungry, so we headed into Fantasyland and chose the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall.

It was cafeteria style counter service, so the point and smile method of ordering worked well. I had a salad and Sean picked battered shrimp.

After paying we dithered for all of about two seconds over where to sit, when a fourteen year old cast member grabbed my tray from me, motioned for us to follow and marched us half way round the restaurant to an empty table, then with a bow and a smile she was gone.

Suitably refreshed we headed back out into Fantasyland, where I was distraught to see that one of my favourite rides was closed for renovation.

It must be having one heck of a makeover as a new version is apparently set to open in Spring 2018.

Swallowing our disappointment we joined the queue for Pooh’s Hunny Hunt instead. The wait time was about half an hour but the queue was in the shade and very pretty.

As for the ride itself, it was just incredible. The story is much the same as at the Magic Kingdom but you ride around in a hunny pot which moves around independently, weaving around all the other pots as it goes. Fabulous!

Giving Toontown the slip again, we arrived back in Tomorrowland. There was still no queue for Star Tours so Sean had another ride on that while I enjoyed a bit of late afternoon sunshine, before we tried another new to us ride, Monsters Inc, Ride & Go Seek! This was great fun, a bit like Buzz Lightyear except that you shine a torch to try and find the monsters. There are no scores displayed, but I’m pretty sure I won by a considerable margin.

This brought us full circle round the park, so we wandered through World Bazaar to the area in front of the castle.

Our rather inept attempts to take a selfie prompted a kind Canadian gentleman to offer to take a photo of us instead.

We returned the favour and chatted to him and his wife for a few minutes before setting off to explore the castle. It looks very much like the Orlando version, but there is a little tour you can do inside which tells the story of Cinderella.

You can also try on a glass slipper but of course my hooves, and even the more dainty ones of all the Japanese ladies, were far too big.

Back to Tomorrowland next for the One Man’s Dream show. This was the one you normally need a lottery ticket for but today it was all unreserved seating. The park wasn’t busy and there were five showings so we had no trouble getting a seat. This was another beautifully staged colourful musical show.

Everyone was starting to sit on the ground by now, ready for the night time parade, Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights, so we followed suit. I expected this to be something like the Mainstreet Electrical Parade, perhaps without the patriotic float at the end. Well imagine that parade but 10 times better.

According to the entertainment schedule there should have been a firework show called Happiness on High, but after the parade there was an announcement made to say that the fireworks had been cancelled due to the weather. Since it had been a beautiful hot, sunny day and was now a lovely evening with not a breath of wind this was a bit puzzling. Instead we waited for the Once Upon a Time show. This was another one where you could apply for reserved seating via a lottery but we didn’t bother and still had a perfectly good view. It’s a projection show whereby Cinderella Castle is transformed into a “storybook come to life” with scenes and music from Disney films. Again it was beautifully done. Right near the end came a fleeting appearance by Queen Elsa – and we realised that other than a little girl dressed in an Anna dress, that was the first we had seen of either of the chilly ones all day. The emphasis here seems to be much more on the traditional characters like Mary Poppins and Alice in Wonderland.

It was getting late but we needed dinner. We weren’t too far from Westernland at this point so we ate at the Hungry Bear restaurant, another counter service restaurant, where we both had a delicious vegetable curry.

It’s worth mentioning that there are table service restaurants but they need to be booked in advance. This can be done online from 9am on the day, but the website is in Japanese, or if any seats are left, from 10am at the restaurant itself. Guests are asked not to just turn up at the restaurant and wait for a table.

Although it wasn’t quite park closing time yet, we were exhausted after a long day, so after a quick mooch through the World Bazaar shops we headed back to the hotel, just stopping to grab some extra breakfast bits from the hotel shop on the way. At this point we really appreciated the location of the Disneyland hotel – straight out of the park and in through the entrance within a couple of minutes.

[Guest]

Thank you for another loveley trip report love your Cath Kidston dress it looks loveley on you . Pooh pots my favorite ride at the park.We had lunch at Queen of Hearts last trip my son got a unhappy birthday cake for his birthday and food was so good.Cant wait for next part thanks again.

[hornetgirl]

Originally Posted by Tanzanite

Thank you for another loveley trip report love your Cath Kidston dress it looks loveley on you . Pooh pots my favorite ride at the park.We had lunch at Queen of Hearts last trip my son got a unhappy birthday cake for his birthday and food was so good.Cant wait for next part thanks again.

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Aww thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it. I'll try to be a bit quicker with the next instalment

[hawki]

A great day, you managed to fit in a lot without a plan! How good is that walking back to the Disneyland hotel! How far advance did you book it & did you have to call them?
Thanks

Julie

[hornetgirl]

Originally Posted by hawki

A great day, you managed to fit in a lot without a plan! How good is that walking back to the Disneyland hotel! How far advance did you book it & did you have to call them?
Thanks

Julie

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Hi Julie
You can only book the hotel five months out (six if you have a package but we didn't). We booked it online, which was a bit of a long winded process. The system got very confused with me, saying my email was already registered when I tried to set up an account, but saying I didn't exist when I tried to log in with my normal MDE details. In the end I set up a new account on the Japanese site using a different email. Then it didn't like my Amex card, but went through when I used Clarity. The whole thing probably took about an hour!

[kevin_cambs_uk]

Civilisation at its best
What made it fir me was how civil the guests are
Japan all over really

Another great write up
Thank you

[hawki]

Thanks Lucy, I'm not sure we'll stay there yet but good to know how to if we do! It does look an amazing hotel though, & we have got 2 years to save!

[smedley]

Another fabulous day, you got a lot in for having no plan

[Gill H]

I'm really impressed how much you managed to do. I've read so much about the dash for FPs for Monsters Inc and Pooh's Hunny Hunt - it's good to know you managed without!