An Engaging and Magical Asian Adventure (2017 trip) - New Update 09/12/2021

[Flossbolna]

Day 5: July 3, 2017

Part 2: The most bizarre and the most amazing Disney entertainment offerings

After a delicious lunch and a much needed break in the air conditioning, we headed back to Tomorrowland to use our Space Mountain FP. Yes, we did a lot of crisscrossing the park, but we felt that distances weren’t too bad.

First, apologies again for the amount of time between updates. I would soooo much like to blame the dude in Delaware, but there's no way I can find a way to make that plausible. Besides, I may actually really like his wife and kids! ... So, of course, this is all my wife's fault. Blame her ... she had plenty of time to write this while I was off at WDW (just MK and DHS and lots of eating at DS) and UNI (both parks as well as a day at Volcano Bay, which is a GREAT water park!) ... You'd think she could have gotten this done, while I was off having fun, but ...

This is the approach to Tomorrowland from the hub:



I thought it was quite spectacular! Tokyo’s Tomorrowland still has a lot of that classic look. The look M is referring to is the original MK Tomorrowland aesthetic that existed from 1971-1993 (so the one I grew up with). Despite having an array of attractions that are based on characters/movies like Buzz Lightyear, Stitch Encounter (similar to Turtle Talk with Crush, we skipped it due to it being all in Japanese), Star Tours and then Monsters Inc. The Monsters ride is unique to Tokyo, it is called Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek. It was closed for refurbishment during the four days we had a ticket for. With another big attraction closed at Tokyo DisneySea, this was really disappointing. It is a true E-Ticket, much like PHH is here.

However, we then realized that when we were returning to Tokyo at the end of our trip, it would have re-opened, so we had debated about maybe coming back with an afternoon/evening ticket just to ride Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek… (Yes, we are that crazy, stay tuned for how this develops…).

We may be crazy, but not because of this. TDR is very similar to how things once were at WDW. Where attractions regularly close to be refurbished and plussed and always look new. WDW stopped doing this sometime in the 90s. DLR still does this to some degree. But the OLC will close multiple major attractions at once if needed. Small World was closed our entire time there as well as it was undergoing a major rehab that (UGH!!!) included adding Disney characters in time for the start of the park's 35th Anniversary of 4/15/18. I didn't know how long it would be before we returned to Japan (turns out it should be next year! ... should I have used a Spoiler Alert tag?) and I didn't want my beloved BSD ... oh, and M too to miss this spectacular attraction.

But now it was time for Space Mountain:



From the second floor viewing area we had a great view down the main path of Tomorrowland. Beyond the Space Rockets We call them Rocket Jets, Dearest you would turn right into Toontown and left into Fantasyland. And the mountain in the back already belongs to another theme park… We call that Mount Prometheus, Dearest. This view is historic now. The Space Rockets are now more. This area will be home to a new Beauty and the Beast ride, due to open in 2020. TDL is opening a major expansion ahead of the 2020 Olympics and most of it is expanding Fantasyland into what was Tomorrowland and an unused for years overflow parking lot. Before our arrival the Grand Circuit Raceway (think Grand Prix in FLA, Autopia in Anaheim and Paris) was removed for this area.



I liked those “Escape Pods”:



Space Mountain was fun. It is more or less the same as the Disneyland Space Mountain (so you sit next to each other), but it does not have the onboard audio, so you ride through the darkness in silence. This is one ride where there exist at least two other versions of it in other parks around the world that are better (Paris and Anaheim).

It is an E-Ticket, but also one that is quite skippable if one doesn't have much time. I recalled it not being great when I visited before and, indeed, the only thing different is they have improved the lighting package in the queue. ... I am trying to recall if we did it more than once and I can't right now. No, we did not.

Even with a FP it took us longer than we had thought and by the time we were done with Space Mountain it was nearly time for the afternoon parade. TDL’s parade route is different. With World Bazaar (their Main Street) having a roof, it is not really good for parades, so the parade starts in Critter Country, goes out on the hub at the 11 o’clock position (with the castle being at 12 o’clock) and then goes around the hub counter clock wise, to leave the hub at the 1 o’clock position towards Mickey's Toontown. If you are confused by now, I am too.

Ok, I better go and find a park map to illustrate this:

We managed to get ourselves to the viewing area on the way to Toontown very quickly from Space Mountain. Since a lot of people were sitting in the sitting area, we were quite a way back, but only had sitting people in front of us and still a great view! The parade at that time was called Happiness is Here! It has since been changed. It was a very long and detailed parade! Since TDL parades don’t have to deal with the limitations of Main Street and all the bends are very long, they can have floats of a size that would not fit into DL or WDW. And they make good use of this!

This is one of the best daytime parades (likely the best) I have seen in a Disney park. Since it is gone forever, I can recommend viewing it on YouTube. The music is also earworm quality. I may own the official CD for this.

So, here is a selection of my best parade pictures!





































I really enjoyed the parade a lot! It was just very hot on the parade route… I was looking forward to going to see One Man’s Dream II with our reservation next – I was expecting the theater to be indoor and air conditioned, but unfortunately it was not…

I am quite sure I told you it wasn't or pointed the venue out before ... Yes, you pointed it out. But it did not register in my head. To me theater = a/c.



We found our seats quickly and did not have too much of a wait until the show started. The show was… many things, but mainly strange. Very strange. The music was good, the energy was great. But there was just no point to it. In my trip notes it has as main description: Lots of glittery costumes. It was even a really long show: 30 minutes. The most impressive part was this lovely Tic Toc:



And there is some kind of Hollywood finale (not sure why, but there is…)







The show is a TDL fan favorite. It basically is a sequel to an original show that was loosely themed to Walt Disney's animated legacy. The second show was pulled after a few years as TDR believes in not letting offerings get stale, but Guests truly bombarded them with requests to bring it back. This was over a decade ago and it is still playing. My guess is it will close finally next year when the new theater in the New Fantasyland area (indoors and everything!) opens.

After that it was time to head back to the hotel for a brief rest (and a visit to the pool and the lounge). We did some more shopping on the way out of the park and I finally found the two items that I knew that I wanted: a mug and pin from the Tanabata Days collection. Tanabata is a festival in Japan, also known as the Star Festival, on July 7th. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively). According to legend, the Milky Way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month. TDR has a very short celebration (it used to be only two weeks, now it is a month) called Tanabata Days and it was going on while we were visiting. The merchandise has Minnie and Mickey dressed up in Kimonos as the two lovers. It is custom for Tanabata that people write their wishes on little papers that they tie on bamboo, so called wishing trees. Both parks had a wishing tree, this is the one at TDL, right in the middle of World Bazaar:



It was definitely a more low level event. There were some decorations besides the trees and there was a “Tanabata Days Greeting” in the morning, which was mainly Minnie and Mickey in their costumes driving down the parade route. The nicest aspect was that during that time a lot of young Japanese people chose to go to the park in summer kimonos (yukata). I am not someone who takes pictures of strangers on purpose, so I don’t have any to show you. But it really added to the atmosphere and made the park feel more foreign. I liked how the Japanese brought their festival and customs to the very American feeling island of TDR. Yukatas are light cotton robes, so very nice to wear in the summer, but a lot of people made really complete outfits out of them, with wooden sandals (yes, they looked highly impractical for theme park touring), straw hats for the men and straw basket handbags for men and women (the ones for men were more basket, less handbag).

TDL comes out with lots of special merchandise for their different events during the year and I had looked at all the stuff that was being released at the TDR Explorer’s site in the run up of the trip. If you are interested in what’s currently available, have a look here: https://tdrexplorer.com/tokyo-disney-resort-merchandise-list-prices/

And this was our Tanabata Days offerings: https://tdrexplorer.com/tokyo-disney-resort-tanabata-days-2017-merchandise/ I had my eyes set on the mug and the pin and was happy when we finally found them in World Bazaar. I had not understood that all these special offerings are only in one or two shops in each park. Some things did pop up elsewhere, but you really want to note down which shop is the one for the line that you want to get something from. This isn't dumbed down, Walmarted WDW where you can find practically everything in any/every place. I know I want to buy Star Wars toys when I am at DAK.!

I think we also walked through the cookie shop on the way out. This is the right side of World Bazaar on the way out. It is a giant store selling nothing else but tins of cookies, chocolate and candy. It is very customary in Japan to bring people gifts from a trip that you made, typically something edible. I am sure this is due to living spaces in Japan being very tight, so if you get people something that they can eat (or drink), they won’t have to store it. This shops gets totally hopping mad in the evening with CMs not being able to restock the shelves in the same speed that people carry it to the cash registers. Some of the boxes are actually really nice and we ended up getting some just for the beautiful tins. It turned out that the candy was really good, too!

Much like the Duffy phenomenon, this needs to be seen to be believed. Mass quantities of sweet tins are sold each day. While not crazy like the $200 lightsaber M wants to play Rey at home, they are also generally not cheap either.

The monorail station had its own little wishing tree!



I also took some more pictures of the monorail history information boards. They had them at all stations and they were all different and interesting.





This is a close up view of the Hilton:



Our room was on the top floor, kind of in the area where the street lamp is.

Back at the hotel we visited the pool. Hotel pools seem to be far less common in Japan than they are in the US. But the Hilton has an indoor pool that is free to use for guests. There is also an outdoor pool, but that is only open during summer – which means summer vacation time in Japan and not beginning of July when we were there. I think the outdoor pool might actually cost a fee. The pools at the official Disney hotels cost extra for example as well.

This really bothered me. If you go to the hotel site, then you'll see they have a beautiful outdoor resort style pool that overlooks Tokyo Bay. But it literally is only open from mid-July to mid-September. And swimming season in Tokyo is most definitely longer than that!

The pool was a bit of an experience. I had read about how the Japanese make sure to get really clean before getting into a pool (like with the tub as I explained earlier). So, I was prepared for that.

But it started with us actually being told to get rid of our shoes and instead we were issued slippers. With those we headed to the changing rooms. Once I got changed, I went to the shower area, where I left the slippers outside, just like everyone else had done. Stupid me did not realize the problem there: Once I came back, I had no clue which were my slippers. The shower area was actually very nice and they had really high end soap, shampoo and conditioner there. I made sure to get really clean and it felt good to get rid of all the theme park stickiness.

The pool itself was a bit of a disappointment though. Not very large, it was more made for the purpose of exercise than having fun there. Also, the water was not very warm. I only stayed briefly, but Michael did hang out a bit longer.

It was cool and refreshing to simply soak a while. My wife is often odd ... ... ... in water situations. You are never sure what she will or won't like. Now, this wasn't a quiet relaxing soak. But considering how hot and humid it was outside, the swim was quite pleasant.

I made sure to wash my hair really thoroughly on the way out, the shampoo was really lovely! Once I was clean and had reconnected with some slippers (who knows which ones I ended up with) and then my shoes, I headed back to the room to catch up on trip notes. I found The BSD looking out to the park rather longingly:



I also went downstairs to find out if a delivery for me had arrived. Remember by search for contact lens solution? While waiting for our flight to Tokyo in Shanghai I had a brilliant idea! We had ordered SIM cards from Amazon Japan to be sent to the Hilton and I was thinking I might be able to find contact lens solution on there as well. I searched for my specific brand and with the help of Google Translate (which can translate whole websites for you) I figured out something that looked like what I wanted. It wasn’t pricey, so I decided to take my chances and ordered it. It arrived today and I was able to get it from the bell desk without problem!

Continued in next post

 

[Flossbolna]

Continued from previous post:

We had a short break at the lounge for some food and drink. Michael was happy that he got some fried rice! I liked the raw fish.





And then it was time to head back to the park. I think we stopped briefly at guest services where I took this picture of a really nice park map:



The Tanabata Days Wishing Tree in World Bazaar at night:



It was really busy there in the evening with people all wanting to add their wishes before they left in the evening.

Michael wanted to get some ice cream before we found a spot to watch the evening parade Dreamlights, so we got him some almond crunch (sorry, no picture, it’s ice cream and did not look special, more ice cream pictures will come in the future).
Do you think our good friend, Tom Bricker, would view things that way? Food pics are what Disney blogging is all about now. A good thing that I am not a blogger, just a lowly trip report writer...

The ice cream shop is at the end of World Bazaar on the Tomorrowland side, so once we had ice cream, we looked for a spot and saw that there was still lots of space in the rather large sitting area (sitting on the ground) here at the base of the hub. We were several rows in, but there was a slight slope, so it was actually a fantastic spot!

That was our view:



And then the parade started. And it went on and on and on. I loved Paint the Night in Disneyland, but Dreamlights is just wow! The floats are massive. They all go through different cycles with the lights, many go from all white to full colors. The parade is from 2001, but has been updates several times, most recently in July 2017. Yes, we did get to see both versions (remember the thing about coming back later in the trip… Yup, the promise of new parade floats was another thing that made my boyfriend have a full Disney addiction breakout).

Hey, you didn't exactly complain. Matter of fact, wasn't it you who turned our half day return into a full one? Me:... As to the parade, if Paint the Night is the cousin of the MSEP, Dreamlights is its younger and larger and much more attractive sibling. It is a much closer progression, where PtN goes off a bit. PtN is amazing ... until you see Dreamlights.

It is a modernized version of the Main Street Electrical Parade, so it does feature that most horrible piece of Disney theme park music (no, @Captain_Oblivious, it’s not It’s a Small World, it’s the Baroque Hoedown). Somehow I ended up not minding that as the floats were just so spectacular. Enough words, here are some pictures:

Yes, her taste in music is as bad as her taste in men (see, I can do self-deprecating humor too ... although it is more fun to make fun of others!) (not sure how well your humor works when you have to point it - that's kind of a German thing to do...)









The pirate ship is one of the floats that circles through different lights. The next picture is the same float, different sails!







The Genie does all kind of things as well:





This was one of my favorite floats:





The next two show the white/colorful versions of the same float. The white is brighter in real life, but I had difficulty catching it the right way:









And then we are at the end of the parade with the sponsor float:



But while the parade ended, our evening did not. Now with the sun down and slight breeze blowing in from the ocean, it was actually really pleasant and we continued touring the park until closing time!

10 p.m. ... park is never open later except on 12/31 when it hosts a hard ticket all-night party

We first headed to Pirates of the Caribbean which I remember being similar to the DL version, and explored the tiny New Orleans themed area there. The bathroom had lovely tiles there:



Didn't we have the entire boat to ourselves? Or am I thinking of my visit with my brother? (Sorry, nothing in my notes about it and no memory, but I do remember the ride being a walk on) ... Pirates is spectacular because it is the DL New Orleans Square version except only one drop and with a slightly different ending with Captain Jack. The attraction also has never been PC'd. So nor only do the Pirates still want the Redhead, but they still chase the woman (and not for plastic food) as they did in the US parks before the 1997 first round of changes.

Then we took a tour on the Western Railroad. TDL does not have a railroad around the park, but they do have a railroad. It only is in Westernland and it does not have multiple stops. You can just go on a circular road. I think I mentioned this with regard to the monorail, but if it had multiple stops it would be considered transportation and would have to charge fares according to Japanese laws (at least that’s the general explanation, it might be an urban myth). The Western Railroad was a really nice ride, you can see lots of scenery along the tracks, lots of animatronic animals and such. No pictures due to darkness, but you will see the area when we return to TDL for our second day.

You also get the Primeval World of dinosaurs just like at DL, but no Grand Canyon diorama. You have to go to Paris for that one. And that is a true tale, no urban myth at all.

Not taking it for granted until I have it verified by a Japanese lawyer. Never trust a lay-persons tale about what the law is.

We got on Big Thunder Mountain again and then headed to Splash Mountain which had really long lines all day. BUT it has a single rider line in Tokyo and nearly nobody uses it. We did, so we did not wait long at all.



And I did not expect this, but Splash Mountain blew me away. It’s a ride that I love at WDW (one of the few that are better in Florida than in California in my opinion), but Tokyo was even better. Not only was it in such perfect working condition. All the animatronics were fluffy and cuddly. Especially those chickens on the showboat at the end – they looked like they all were brand new. In Florida they often look a bit like a real chicken that came in directly from the chicken coop. But then the ride also has a few more scenes and seemed brighter. It just felt like there was far less “dead” time during the ride. I absolutely fell in love with this Splash Mountain and at times will claim that this is my overall favorite Disney ride of all the ones I have experienced (the number 1 spot changes depending on mood…). It definitely has a firm spot in my top five.

It is a great ride. It also is the ONLY attraction at TDL with a single rider line (there are multiple attractions with this at TDS) and it is barely used. While lines weren't crazy when we were there, it still is nice to spend 10 minutes in Single Rider instead of 70 in standby or wasting a FP.

We made it onto Haunted Mansion just before park close (like in Florida before the last set of upgrades) and then walked through the castle towards the exit.







Out through the World Bazar:



And back on the monorail. This was the special Nemo & Friends SeaRider (a new overlay over an attraction at Tokyo Disney Sea that had opened in 2017) monorail. And it did not only have the wrap that you saw earlier, it was also decorated inside:





Back at the hotel I was kind of hungry since we skipped dinner because we had had snacks at the lounge. There is a convenience store in the Hilton, so we headed there to see what there was on offer. Those convenience stores (there are different chains) in Japan are amazing, they have loads of snack foods and you can easily get meals there for decent prices. Michael made me pick up a salad, but I got some other interesting things.



The little pot had potato sticks in it:



They were a bit bland, but the flat package with the red circle had one large spicy cracker. I had picked it up because it looked similar to some Japanese crackers that I got here in Germany and loved and it was the same, but in extra large! It was so good and I kept looking for it at all other convenience stores afterwards and never found it again. Michael never understood what I was looking for. Then, some weeks ago we went shopping at a new Asian supermarket that opened in town and I picked up a packet of the small ones. We had them with friends and everyone fell in love with them, but had never tried them before. I hope we can get them there again and I will remember the name!

Michael did not want any food, he was just absolutely exhausted. I am surprised how well he did with no sleep at all!

So, it was time to head to bed and when I got undressed, I saw that I had a strange rash on my legs. Lots of little red dots. Then we saw that Michael had it, too. I remembered that I had read about people getting something like that at Epcot from the heat being reflected by the pavement. Here on the DIS I have heard it being referred to as the “Epcot rash”. Well, TDL seems to be good for getting it, too. Luckily it went away after we stopped walking for ours on hot concrete in the sunshine.

I had no idea what she was talking about. But this heat rash is something I never had before or since.

Tomorrow was going to be another exciting day: My first visit to Tokyo DisneySea. But Michael was quite adamant that he needed to catch up on sleep, so we dropped our rope dropping plans and set the alarm for a little later.

The next day was also July 4th. And what is more American than sleeping in on a holiday?

Up Next: It’s not a park, it’s one giant picture opportunity

 

[Lesley Wake]

However, we then realized that when we were returning to Tokyo at the end of our trip, it would have re-opened, so we had debated about maybe coming back with an afternoon/evening ticket just to ride Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek… (Yes, we are that crazy, stay tuned for how this develops…).

Not crazy at all! Hey, I added a half day at DLP to be able to ride Hyperspace Mountain and see the Princess vs Pirates festival!

Space Mountain was fun. It is more or less the same as the Disneyland Space Mountain (so you sit next to each other), but it does not have the onboard audio, so you ride through the darkness in silence. This is one ride where there exist at least two other versions of it in other parks around the world that are better (Paris and Anaheim).

Hmm, at least I will know to not make this a priority!

 

[Flossbolna]

Not crazy at all! Hey, I added a half day at DLP to be able to ride Hyperspace Mountain and see the Princess vs Pirates festival!

Haha! Now I have that song stuck in my head... I am Princess... I am a Pirate... (or like Michael would say: I am a Pirate who wants to be a Princess...)

Hmm, at least I will know to not make this a priority!

Yes. Other repeat attractions are more worth a wait. If you have the time though, I can definitely recommend doing it once.

 

[Flossbolna]

Bonus content for Day 5: July 3

After Michael read the update once I had posted it, he sent me an email with some additional comments and thoughts on our first day at TDL that he wanted to add:

Some additional thoughts from one half (your favorite? ??????) of a loaded international super couple with homes on multiple continents, currently planning a destination wedding celebration in Hawaii due to their real estate interest in the Disney Vacation Club ...

The reason I am doing this is because when M and I are separated I cry a lot (because she has custody of Big Sugar D, of course) ... no, when we are apart and trying to tell a tale in a report like this, I don't see the photos. Just spots where they would go. Seeing the photos brings back all sorts of, in this case, great memories and the opportunities for more words from me (I know that reading more than 63 words a week may be tough for some people who ... live in Delaware!)

So, as I sit here on a gloomy and oppressively hot and humid afternoon in the swamps, I thought I'd add some thoughts.

First, for a first day at TDL, I don't think things could have gone any better. It wasn't crowded. We didn't have one significant wait for anything. And, despite me not getting any sleep the night before, we were able to go from open to close. Having the two hour or so break to swim and go to the concierge lounge certainly helped. Being able to have breakfast as well as what turned out to be dinner as well as coffee, booze and soft drinks at the Hilton saved us a large amount of money (that I am sure we found some other way to spend!)

But the day was so much more relaxed than our days in Shanghai and this is really going to start a trend that continued the rest of the trip. I never expected this trip to be relaxing and warned M for nine or 10 months prior as we made plans and this Asian Adventure became closer to reality. And those warnings weren't needed, beyond the heat and humidity.

I also can't recommend this hotel enough for any first-timers. Look at it as a monorail resort because that is the reality in the way TDR is positioned. And being a HHilton Honors member can only help with things like free upgrades. And, again, speaking English will not be an issue in the least here.

As to other thoughts, I wanted to further explain how much I loved both of these parades. Happiness is Here is what all other Disney daytime parades wish they could be. If some of those floats look familiar to Anaheim regulars, that's because when it ended, two of them, including the opening float that M shot above were bought by Disney and brought to Walt's Park. They are now part of the wonderful, but quite tired, Soundsational Parade.

It is a common practice for the OLC to sell floats -- and sometimes entire parades -- to other Disney resorts. The current Stars on Parade at DLP that debuted two years ago features multiple floats that came from TDL's Jubilation (the parade that preceded Happiness Is Here and what I saw on my first Tokyo visit). The former night parade at DLP, Fantilusion , was bought (or most of it) when Dreamlights debuted in Tokyo and the OLC had no need for it.

The photo that M really liked above of the park map is in their version of City Hall/Guest Relations and was artwork commissioned for the tenth anniversary in 1993. That's why there's no Toontown yet. And why things like the Visionarium/Timekeeper, Star Tours and Splash Mountain were highlighted as they all were recent additions at the time. Personally, I would have loved to have visited at this point.

Also, wanted to point out that fireworks were canceled this evening (and most, but not all, of our nights at TDR). Some Americans don't like the shows in Tokyo anyway because they are more old school. They are not castle centric and don't feature major storylines. Sort of an updated version of the old (and, beloved to me) Fantasy in the Sky shows.

The reason TDR parks never stay open beyond 10 p.m. is simply due to the fact that the vast majority of CMs and Guests require the trains to leave and the operating schedule is based on this. Now, I've always enjoyed midnight and later closings in Anaheim and Orlando. But I do like the consistency. It also beats being in Orlando in ... say May ... and having all parks close at 9 (with many dining facilities and attractions closing hours before) except for 10 at MK.

If you can't tell out of the big E-Tickets we did that exist at other Disney parks (Splash, Space, Big Thunder, Pirates, Mansion) the one that you can easily skip is Space Mountain if need be. The others are all wonderful. I would have a hard time skipping any of them. And I absolutely would skip Space before skipping the CBJ!

I am also pretty sure I did some shopping on July 3rd, but can't recall what I may have purchased and M was the note taker so ... who knows? I also thought I bought some snacks at the convenience store at the Hilton and had them another day, but also can't recall. Michael and I went through my merchandise pictures (I took a picture of everything we bought after we got home, something for you to look forward to when (if?) we get to the end of the report) and I figured out that we got him a Tanabata Day button and more importantly one of the CBJ little plushes.

Anyway, thanks to all for reading along. The next day coming is VERY exciting because seeing TDS for the first time (or even, in this case, my third time) is life altering if you are a fan of Disney and themed entertainment. I think Batuu may have some of that detail and layering, but with only one real attraction right now, it in no way is comparable.

Oh, and did I mention how much I loved Volcano Bay?!

 

[soniam]

I personally love Volcano Bay, even though we went twice during opening weekend and once during the first summer. However, I haven't gotten shocked. I would risk going back, especially for some of the cocktails Can't wait to read about Disney Sea. It sounds amazing! I really like the old school fireworks, but I am old and experienced the old school WDW fireworks when I was young.

 

[Steppesister]

We kind of nearly had superpowers to survive the dangerous 70s!!

Hah! For sure! No carseats, riding our bikes out in our neighborhoods all alone until dark, no childproof caps on cleansers, etc... I guess the world in some ways was less dangerous and in others we just were lucky.

The one thing that made traveling in Japan easy was how much people show courtesy.

A skill a lot are lacking these days.

I really miss the unstructured touring at WDW... Even the first visits when I had quite definite touring plans, it felt less constrictive than those FPs...

Me too. I am going to venture over to US this next time and find that style all over again. I miss hopping into lines as I went and the mood struck and still be able to get a LOT done. Now, even with FiPs I am lucky to get in 4 rides on any given park day. Sad.

 

[tiggrbaby]

Those parades were amazing!

 

[Flossbolna]

I personally love Volcano Bay, even though we went twice during opening weekend and once during the first summer.

Michael was there for the first time recently and really liked it. I have no clue when I will get there as we currently have no Orlando trips in the planning for quite some time (maybe not even until 2021...)

However, I haven't gotten shocked. I would risk going back, especially for some of the cocktails

I do hope they have that electric shock effect under control now...

Can't wait to read about Disney Sea. It sounds amazing!

Coming up! I got some criticism on my writing that I did not do the amazingness of the park justice, so I need to edit my text a little!!

I really like the old school fireworks, but I am old and experienced the old school WDW fireworks when I was young.

To some extent I was glad that there were no fireworks that needed to be planned for. Also, since the parks are backing up to each other, you will always see the show in both parks and with that it does not make sense to have a castle centric show in one park that then looks odd from the other.

 

[Flossbolna]

Hah! For sure! No carseats, riding our bikes out in our neighborhoods all alone until dark, no childproof caps on cleansers, etc... I guess the world in some ways was less dangerous and in others we just were lucky.

I think it's a lot of reasons why things have changed so much: more knowledge about dangers, a society where children often are seen as the focus point of the family and not just some addition to the parents, the advent of imagined dangers (there is a huge difference of perceived safety and danger and real risk) etc. It's also interesting that different countries still have very different rules. For example in Germany you try to have your baby as little as possible in a car seat style seat, you want to have your baby lie flat as much as possible until it can sit on her/his own. In the US those strollers with baby car seat on top seem to be very common.

A skill a lot are lacking these days.

Yes, the same trend happens in Germany. Makes me afraid that over the course of time, Japan will lose there, too.

Me too. I am going to venture over to US this next time and find that style all over again. I miss hopping into lines as I went and the mood struck and still be able to get a LOT done. Now, even with FiPs I am lucky to get in 4 rides on any given park day. Sad.

I hope you will enjoy US! I think the two Harry Potter areas are some of the best theme park experience you can have, whether you are a Harry Potter fan or have never read a novel or seen a film. There are also some other rides that are really good: Spiderman (definitely a top ten world wide theme park ride for me), Men in Black, Cat in the Hat, the Hulk coaster.

 

[Flossbolna]

Day 6 – July 4, 17: Tokyo DisneySea

Part 1: It’s not a park, it’s one giant picture opportunity

The title gives it away. This is the prettiest Disney park I have seen in my life. Until I had been at TDS, that title went to Disneyland Paris. But there is no comparison. TDS is in its own league.

I hate giving 'Best Of' labels ... DL is special. It was where it all began. DAK and DLP are amazing creations too, full of detail and layering. But TDS takes things to a completely different level. My brother said it when we first visited that "in the other parks you feel like you are on a movie set, but here you feel like you are part of a movie." In other words, everything just feels so real. You can't even compare weak parks in the swamps to this masterpiece.

When I got the text back from Michael after he added his comments, he complained about my style and wrote: "This should have more excitement!!! Your first ever visit to TDS!!!". I felt bad. Because there was so much excitement. This was the day I was looking the most forward to in the whole trip and even though I was afraid that I had set my expectations too high, I kept going "Wow, this is amazing!" all day long. I am sorry if it does not come through in my reporting enough, I might be too German or too much trying to be a good reporter about things that I don't convey my marvel over this park enough.

With that caveat, let’s start at the beginning of the day. It starts – as you might have guessed with breakfast in our lovely lounge. We did not deal with rope drop. Instead we got some decent sleep and then had breakfast at the end of breakfast time in the lounge.

Michael started the day with the breakfast of champions: Coke, espresso and a salad (yes, I wonder, too…).

He was celebrating American Independence Day. He had previously spent time in all Disney parks in FL and CAas well as Sea World Orlando on various July Fourths. This was his first ever in an international park! And he was ready to go!

I think the celebration fell a bit flat at TDS... Possibly the only not so good thing that could be said about this day...



He supplemented it with some fruit, bread and tater tots.



I did an Asian-Western crossover selection (and was guilted into some salad by Michael):



The little bowl in the back is filled with rice and extras. Also, in the middle of my plate is some Japanese omelette: Tamagoyaki. You might have seen it on sushi.

I also got some miso soup:



The we were off to the park. That morning, since we were later, there were no lines at the ticket machines and we ended up with these lovely Nemo & Friends Sea Rider tickets:



I think, if I read the tickets correctly, we bought them at 9:24 a.m.

You notice how we didn't do rope drop. Spolier Alert: After doing it in Shanghai and our first day at TDL, we never did it again. And we still saw whatever we wanted and didn't rush at all. If you go at the right times, and you tour smartly, that type of insanity isn't needed.

We weren’t very far from our destination, we could see it from the monorail platform:



This is TDS’s main focus point, Mount Prometheus. It’s a volcano. Usually. But it was mainly dormant when we were there. The big ride inside Mount Prometheus, possibly the biggest/best attraction in Tokyo, - Journey to the Center of the Earth – was under refurbishment. I was very disappointed when I found out. But TDS is so much more than one ride. So, in the end I was sad that I missed it, but I still had such a great time that I can truly say that it did not ruin my vacation at all. I knew very quickly that I really loved Japan as much as I had expected and therefore was happy to have a very good reason to return!

JTtCoTE is a great ride, but it isn't the best at the park or the resort. It's just the focal point. The ride system is the exact same one as Test Track and Radiator Springs Racers. This is the best attraction of the three, although RSRs is a close second. It's just very cool to see a volcano appear to erupt. But, hey, in the swamps they have one at the Dizzy Springs Rainforest Cafe!

Onto the monorail and into the park!

This is the official map of TDS:
https://media2.tokyodisneyresort.jp/home/download/map/S_EN_map_1906.pdf If you want to try to really figure out the layout.

But for some first orientation, this overview map might be helpful:

(the entrance is on the bottom)

The theme of TDS is “the myths and legends of the sea” and therefore the different lands are officially called “ports”. They are described as follows on the website:

MEDITERRANEAN HARBOR
Enjoy the ambience of a romantic Southern European port town with lots of shops and restaurants.

AMERICAN WATERFRONT
You'll find both the excitement of the big city and the charms of a New England fishing village in this vibrant themed port.

PORT DISCOVERY
Visit the Center for Weather Control in this futuristic marina located across the horizons of time.

LOST RIVER DELTA
Deep within the remote Central American jungles, the ruins of an ancient civilization await you.

ARABIAN COAST
Experience the world of The Arabian Nights filled with magic and mystery.

MERMAID LAGOON
The world of Ariel, the little mermaid, and her aquatic friends is filled with fun for Guests of all ages.

MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
Discover the secrets deep within the Earth and under the sea at Captain Nemo's hidden base.

So, let’s enter the park. You are first greeted by this amazing rotating globe. The building behind it is the Hotel Miracosta – yes, it is in the park and some rooms have absolutely stunning park views.



A friend of ours mentioned that the background music in this area is especially composed for the entrance plaza and we made sure to listen to it later in the day and it is really very beautiful!

We passed through the walkway underneath the hotel and came out to the Mediterranean Harbor lagoon and Michael was appalled at what he heard: they were playing “Wishes” from the old WDW fireworks show. In broad daylight. Luckily without the children’s choir.

Have I not expressed how much I hate that music before? I know I usually love Disney music. Heck, I may have ... 'may have' been listening to DLP Princess and Pirate Fest music ( I'm a Princess... I'm a Pirate... such an ear worm!!) earlier. But Wishes has always bothered me and the end with the moppets singing has almost driven me over the edge of madness (no jokes, please).

The reason was revealed when we saw the water in the lagoon:



It was the Tanabata Day greeting! And Tanabata is a wishing festival – so, Wishes was the perfect music for it! It was nothing fancy, just this one float and maybe a couple smaller ones. But it was a neat way of being greeted to the park.

Our first priority was to get a FP for the Tower of Terror. This is no Hollywood Tower Hotel here. It’s the Hightower Hotel – named after the former owner Harrison Hightower, who disappeared mysteriously… Hightower Hotel is located in New York City. So, our first “port” to visit for grabbing the Fastpass was the American Waterfront.

Leaving Mediterranean Harbor, one quick view down one of the lovely canals there:



There is an attraction with Venetian Gondolas that take you around. However, we skipped those as they always had a very long line and we felt that you would not really see much more than from walking around. I am not sure if Michael did it on his first visit?

Maybe he did ...

You quickly get to New York from Venice:



Here you already see the Hightower Hotel looming in the distance:







This is the Broadway Music Theater, home to the very popular show Big Band Beat. We entered the lottery for a show in the afternoon and were lucky to get tickets!

And here we are at the Hightower Hotel! It is amazingly spectacular. That whole area there is so heavy layered with details to explore. I could have spent an hour taking pictures. Did I mention how photogenic that park is?? But we had rides to ride!!





As you can see, it is really close to the water, there is the S.S. Columbia at the end of the street.



Fastpasses were successful procured – but with a rather late return time since we were lazy and did not arrive early…



It was time for a restroom stop (I think this was already the second one for Mr Tiny Bladder, he of course had to stop as soon as we got into the park, that’s why I had time to admire the globe…).



I thought this was genius design to have the restrooms in the NYC Waterworks building!

If you are looking at the restrooms the ToT is to the right and to your left is the entrance to Toy Story Mania. That area was swamped with people all the time. But while the outside looks very nice and whimsical, the ride is identical to Florida and California, so we did not bother with it.

This attraction almost always has some of the longest waits in this park, which proves that plenty of Japanese are as dumb ... or have as poor taste as Americans do. He is talking about TSM, not ToT, which has consistently long waits, too, but those are fully deserved!!

The level of detail around ToT (and then inside as well) is just amazing.



Here you can read all about the mystery of the hotel:



Did you notice a familiar face on that notice board? Well, here is a better look at Mr Hightower:



If you take off the beard and add lots and lots of earrings to one ear, you will have the face that inspired Mr. Hightower: Joe Rohde, the Imagineer. It was not his project, but the people working on it thought that his face would be a good fit. And he was willing to go along with it.

Yes, Joe has no ego or anything! No, the many earrings are a sign of shyness and trying to not be noticed...

The gift shop is in the former hotel pool with all the old tile still intact:



No nude bathing at Hightower Hotel!

That does explain some of the stares and yells and screams I encountered.

And I especially liked this rule:



Mr. Hightower was not someone to put his light under the bushel. So, he features prominently in the décor as well:



In the gift shop we ran into the first Duffy merchandise. Duffy is exclusive to TDS in Tokyo. And for Tanabata Day, he and Shellie Mae of course had to dress up as well:



Outside we met a free roaming Scrooge McDuck, a rather rare character:



His German name by the way is Onkel Dagobert.

This large cargo warehouse is home to a restaurant. When we visited it was the Sailing Day Buffet and we had a lunch reservation there for our second day at TDS. It has since been converted into a counter service restaurant.

A closer view of the S.S. Columbia. There is a restaurant and a bar onboard and you can explore the ship quite a bit.



Walking along the waterfront, Mount Prometheus comes into view:





The bridge to the right is still part of the Mediterranean Harbor, which kind of is parallel to the American Waterfront.



Besides New York City, there is also a Cape Cod sub-land within American Waterfront:



This area does not have any rides, just a shop, a restaurant and a show – all about Duffy. So, we just walked through there once to see it (and then a second time when I hadn’t figured out the park layout yet and made us walk the long way).

People who have taken a cruise on the Disney Magic might find this familiar:



Duffy shop had a line:



Continued in next post

 

[Flossbolna]

Continued from previous post:

And now we are in the next port: Port Discovery. This has a bit of a steampunk-futuristic feel to it. The design aesthetics are similar to DLP’s Discoveryland. It has two rides, the Nemo & Friends Sea Rider (more about this later)



and then Aquatopia:



That ride looks very cute, but ultimately it does nothing else than go through the area on a slightly random path. It looks like bumper cars, but that’s not what it is. While the ride vehicles look like boats, they actually are not. There is just a very low level of water on the actual platform that the ride operates on. Ultimately it is kind of similarly pointless (to me) as Autopia in Disneyland (so, it’s aptly named). BUT it is far prettier! It does add a lot of pretty kinetics to the land.

It's actually a neat little attraction. It is trackless and uses a very similar, if not identical, system to Pooh's Hunny Hunt, even if you would never know it. ... My first trip I was going to skip it, but was with a friend who lives in Tokyo (originally from Florida, married an IPer working at EPCOT, had a child with him and eventually moved back to Japan where she lives ... or lives at TDR!) and her son wanted to go on. There was no wait so we did ... multiple times. It was a lot of fun. M might have other reasons for not liking it. But don't want to get ahead.

Yes, it ultimately is quite a bit of fun. But nothing I would wait for for a long time.

We just walked through Port Discovery on our way to our first ride – all the way at the back of the park: Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull. This ride is located in Lost River Delta.



It does look a bit lost, doesn’t it?



Indiana Jones has a single rider line, so that is what we picked. The line is quite amazing, very different from Disneyland. It goes through this very large and high quadrangular room where you enter at one top corner and then the line slopes downward all along the four walls before exiting again. The story of the ride however is the same. No, the ride track is identical. The effects are most certainly not, same with storyline. Okay, I got that wrong... I was going to write that it was a different story, but then I was thinking I was getting it confused with Dinosaur at DAK (same layout as the two Indiana Jones rides, different story, too - obviously).

We had nearly no wait as single riders. The ride was amazing, everything was in perfect working order and it was so much fun! My last visit at Disneyland I was very disappointed as there is one effect towards the end of the ride with a rock that somehow never worked correctly when I was on the ride. It is an amazing effect if it works and it falls really flat if it does not work correctly. Here it did. I was so happy! And we hopped on it immediately again with the single rider line. This time we even ended up filling two seats next to each other.

Next we headed to the other attraction in Lost River Delta: Raging Spirits. This is a coaster. A small coaster, but with a loop! For someone who has been to DLP this might sound familiar and it is indeed identical to DLP’s Indiana Jones coaster. Well, the track layout is. The rock work is a bit different and there have been fog and fire effects added on that are quite cool! Also, the cars are more comfortable.





We used single rider here as well, but this was the one single rider line that took a long time. And while the ride was very smooth (far better than Paris) it was nothing exciting, so this was our one and only ride.

I think this wait (about 20-25 minutes) was our longest of the day.

Lost River Delta has lots of amazing landscaping and really fun details:



We backtracked to Port Discovery as we were now able to pick up the next FP. We were lucky to still get one for the Nemo & Friend Sea Rider:



I really liked Port Discovery’s design:





From here we now headed to Mysterious Island. This port is only accessible via tunnels through Mount Prometheus.



(sorry, this is the best picture, the tunnels were dark and the end was very bright, it was so difficult to get a good picture)

And here we are:



It is a large lagoon surrounded by rocks and an elevated walkway. That is actually one of the interesting things about TDS: It has three different levels. Down there is the water level and there are ships to take you around. And then there is normal ground level. But many areas there are also elevated areas where you are suddenly one level up. It adds an illusion of reality as real life often isn’t just flat wide walkways. Just like Animal Kingdom has some narrow paths with lots of vegetation, this is the non-nature version of those paths. It’s one of those things that you notice in the back of your head, but rarely thing about consciously. But it has an effect on your experience.

^^^THIS!!!

This little snack shop is the home of one of the famous theme park snacks of Tokyo:



Tokyo has so many fun and interesting snacks, but somehow we just didn’t have the time nor the appetite to try many. It wasn’t even that they were pricey, compared to WDW the food was much fairer priced. We just had other priorities.

Other priorities beyond eating??!?! You do know I spent 30 minutes today checking out the menus of the American fast food chains we are going to visit in Spain (Taco Bell, Carl's Jr and McDonald's), right?

I guess it shows how amazing those parks were that the two of us forgot about the food. Not totally, lunch was going to be special and long planned!

From Mysterious Island we headed to Arabian Coast. This was very very important to Michael. In that corner of the park is his favorite attraction in Tokyo. I was informed that we were going to go on this ride at least 10 times in our two days (I think we fell short of that goal, but we did get close):



Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage is a boat ride and tells you the story of Sindbad’s Voyages. Very simple it seems. But there is Chandu, Sinbad’s little tiger.



Michael is pointing him out for you. And here is a bigger picture:



But besides the cute kitty, there is the attractions music – an ear worm of It’s a Small World quality. It was written by Alan Mencken and is called “Compass of Your Heart”. It is sung in Japanese with the refrain in English. If you want to check out the song, this is a youtube video of a concert performance of it in English:

The line has pictures telling you about the voyages:



And since I did not know yet about the no picture rule, I tried to get some pictures, this is the only one that turned out somewhat useable:



I thought the ride was cute, but not nearly as life altering as it appears to be for Michael. And that opinion did not really change during the trip. The good thing is that it nearly never has any line due to its location in the far corner of the park and it having a huge capacity as a boat ride.

The above could be grounds for divorce. I will consult a lawyer. Sindbad is everything a Disney family attraction is supposed to be. It is pure magic. Just when you think it's over, there's another room full of perfectly functioning AAs and effects. ... This started out as a much darker ride when the park opened in 2001. You Tube can show you. Sindbad had a beard. No pet kitty. No happy Menken showtune. It still looks like it was a good ride, but people just didn't like it. It closed in 2006 and reopened in 2007. Sindbad looked friendlier, the scenes were reworked to be less menacing, Chandu was created and that beautiful song was added. It's sad that when WDW finally gets a new family boat ride, it is a three-minute voyage with no music, no story and no point. But Nav'i River is enjoyable if you have been drinking before getting onboard.

The bad news was that we had a lunch reservation that was due very soon and we were in the far corner of the park. So, it was quite a hike back to Mediterranean Harbor for lunch…

BAD NEWS?!?!?! ... maybe I do need that lawyer ... You already have a lawyer, remember? You married her... And the bad news was about the "due very soon" and "far corner" aspect. Sheesh, you'd think we'd be better at communicating if we want that marriage to work.

Up Next: Eating with the Society of Adventures and Explorers

 

[Steppesister]

You are right! What a fantastically beautiful park! And yes, I did google the BGM and have it playing now. Someday I will travel and get to the other Disney parks, but for now, I'll live vicariously though you and Micheal.

 

[Lesley Wake]

The title gives it away. This is the prettiest Disney park I have seen in my life. Until I had been at TDS, that title went to Disneyland Paris. But there is no comparison. TDS is in its own league.

I hate giving 'Best Of' labels ... DL is special. It was where it all began. DAK and DLP are amazing creations too, full of detail and layering. But TDS takes things to a completely different level. My brother said it when we first visited that "in the other parks you feel like you are on a movie set, but here you feel like you are part of a movie." In other words, everything just feels so real. You can't even compare weak parks in the swamps to this masterpiece.

I can't wait to see it! I just loved DLP and all the exploration places - I worry about how intense my emotions could be for TDS! (I'm also making it my final Disney park to visit worldwide).

You notice how we didn't do rope drop. Spolier Alert: After doing it in Shanghai and our first day at TDL, we never did it again. And we still saw whatever we wanted and didn't rush at all. If you go at the right times, and you tour smartly, that type of insanity isn't needed.

Good to know for Fall!

This is TDS’s main focus point, Mount Prometheus. It’s a volcano. Usually. But it was mainly dormant when we were there. The big ride inside Mount Prometheus, possibly the biggest/best attraction in Tokyo, - Journey to the Center of the Earth – was under refurbishment. I was very disappointed when I found out. But TDS is so much more than one ride. So, in the end I was sad that I missed it, but I still had such a great time that I can truly say that it did not ruin my vacation at all. I knew very quickly that I really loved Japan as much as I had expected and therefore was happy to have a very good reason to return!

It's down for me too! And Mount Prometheus will have scaffolding all over it! I guess I'll just need to come back again!

Heck, I may have ... 'may have' been listening to DLP Princess and Pirate Fest music ( I'm a Princess... I'm a Pirate... such an ear worm!!) earlier.

Find your inner power!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

First, apologies again for the amount of time between updates. I would soooo much like to blame the dude in Delaware, but there's no way I can find a way to make that plausible.

Hey, I work for the DOT. We get blamed for everything anyway.

Besides, I may actually really like his wife and kids!

Great! Me too!

However, we then realized that when we were returning to Tokyo at the end of our trip, it would have re-opened, so we had debated about maybe coming back with an afternoon/evening ticket just to ride Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek… (Yes, we are that crazy, stay tuned for how this develops…).

I would totally have been making alternate plans to go see it, too. Can't blame you in the least.

The parade at that time was called Happiness is Here!

Oh, so that's where it went!

We found our seats quickly and did not have too much of a wait until the show started. The show was… many things, but mainly strange. Very strange. The music was good, the energy was great. But there was just no point to it. In my trip notes it has as main description: Lots of glittery costumes. It was even a really long show: 30 minutes.

I was a little surprised at the stage in the photo. The room looks like an average high school auditorium.

I think the outdoor pool might actually cost a fee. The pools at the official Disney hotels cost extra for example as well.

I can see myself complaining about that little tidbit...

Hey, you didn't exactly complain. Matter of fact, wasn't it you who turned our half day return into a full one? Me:

It is a modernized version of the Main Street Electrical Parade, so it does feature that most horrible piece of Disney theme park music (no, @Captain_Oblivious, it’s not It’s a Small World, it’s the Baroque Hoedown).

Ok, then IASW is the second-worst.

The next two show the white/colorful versions of the same float.

That looks like a neat trick!

I absolutely fell in love with this Splash Mountain and at times will claim that this is my overall favorite Disney ride of all the ones I have experienced (the number 1 spot changes depending on mood…).

Wow! Strong feelings on this one, I see.

Seeing the photos brings back all sorts of, in this case, great memories and the opportunities for more words from me (I know that reading more than 63 words a week may be tough for some people who ... live in Delaware!)

Speaking of which, I'm at my limit now. See ya!

I also can't recommend this hotel enough for any first-timers. Look at it as a monorail resort because that is the reality in the way TDR is positioned. And being a HHilton Honors member can only help with things like free upgrades. And, again, speaking English will not be an issue in the least here.

Good to know! If I ever get to Tokyo, anyway...

The title gives it away. This is the prettiest Disney park I have seen in my life. Until I had been at TDS, that title went to Disneyland Paris. But there is no comparison. TDS is in its own league.

I was looking forward to the photos...I remember seeing various models of buildings at TDS on display at One Man's Dream, and Julie and I kept remarking that so many of them looked amazing. It planted the idea that this park may be something special.

I think this was already the second one for Mr Tiny Bladder

If you take off the beard and add lots and lots of earrings to one ear, you will have the face that inspired Mr. Hightower: Joe Rohde, the Imagineer. It was not his project, but the people working on it thought that his face would be a good fit. And he was willing to go along with it.

Cute. I didn't know before, but now I can't un-see it.

No nude bathing at Hightower Hotel!

That does explain some of the stares and yells and screams I encountered.

Why am I not surprised?

A closer view of the S.S. Columbia. There is a restaurant and a bar onboard and you can explore the ship quite a bit.

That's really an impressive scale.

We just walked through Port Discovery on our way to our first ride – all the way at the back of the park: Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull.

Yes! Anything with Indiana Jones rides has to be good!

It is a large lagoon surrounded by rocks and an elevated walkway. That is actually one of the interesting things about TDS: It has three different levels. Down there is the water level and there are ships to take you around. And then there is normal ground level. But many areas there are also elevated areas where you are suddenly one level up. It adds an illusion of reality as real life often isn’t just flat wide walkways. Just like Animal Kingdom has some narrow paths with lots of vegetation, this is the non-nature version of those paths. It’s one of those things that you notice in the back of your head, but rarely thing about consciously. But it has an effect on your experience.

Wow. This sounds really amazing. I love the photos. TDS really does look like a wonderful theme park.

I thought the ride was cute, but not nearly as life altering as it appears to be for Michael.

Why am I not surprised? I mean, this is a guy who gushed over the Country Bear Jamboree, for crying out loud.

 

[soniam]

Looks great! So jealous. I hate having to rush and almost be late for reservations. It always stresses me out. My family is of German descent

Where and when are you going to Spain? We are heading to Barcelona in a week and a half. No American fast food for us though, just Spanish fast food

 

[indoshakespeare]

I thought the ride was cute, but not nearly as life altering as it appears to be for Michael. And that opinion did not really change during the trip. The good thing is that it nearly never has any line due to its location in the far corner of the park and it having a huge capacity as a boat ride.

I agree with the lawyer. There's a reason why Sinbad has a short line. It's not that great

 

[franandaj]

OK, I can only do so many updates at once, so I'm going to comment on the first one and come back for the second.

I never found out about those spicy nuts. I searched for it, but I mainly got links to snack products.

OK, I'll explain it as "DIS friendly" as I can. Let's just say that in American English lots of words have several meanings. Besides a tasty bar snack, nuts can also refer to certain male anatomy. As far as the "spicy" part, have you ever heard the American phrase, "We wanted to spice up our relationship a little bit." So if you combine those two "alternate" meanings of those words, you get Michael's version of "spicy nuts".

So, here is a selection of my best parade pictures!

Those are some nice parade pictures, very cue.

Yes, you pointed it out. But it did not register in my head. To me theater = a/c.

We have a theater like that in Disneyland, Mickey and the Magical Map.

The show was… many things, but mainly strange. Very strange.

Huh. Well I'll keep that in mind.

Back at the hotel we visited the pool. Hotel pools seem to be far less common in Japan than they are in the US. But the Hilton has an indoor pool that is free to use for guests.

I'm not familiar with the weather in Japan, but I imagine that it gets cold in Wintertime. Strange that they charge for the outdoor pool and it's only open a few months out of the year.

We had a short break at the lounge for some food and drink. Michael was happy that he got some fried rice! I liked the raw fish.

I probably would have been happy with both of your dishes, and then some.....

And then the parade started. And it went on and on and on. I loved Paint the Night in Disneyland, but Dreamlights is just wow! The floats are massive. They all go through different cycles with the lights, many go from all white to full colors.

Wow! That does look like an even more impressive parade than PTN.

Those convenience stores (there are different chains) in Japan are amazing, they have loads of snack foods and you can easily get meals there for decent prices. Michael made me pick up a salad, but I got some other interesting things.

Sounds like an interesting batch of food for dinner.

Michael did not want any food, he was just absolutely exhausted. I am surprised how well he did with no sleep at all!

I don't know how anyone can sleep on an empty stomach! But he did pretty well for not getting any sleep the night before!

 

[Flossbolna]

So, we are currently tentatively planning a return to WDW for a post-pandemic-bash in the fall and that got me thinking about trip reports again. And then my friend (and new neighbor!) @brookelizabeth started a pre-trip for her summer trip and @franandaj started writing about her imminent return to Disneyland. And Michael started to complain about why did we never finish our trip reports from years past.

So, here we are. Still hanging on in a mainly locked down Germany waiting for vaccines, but hopeful for a brighter future to arrive soon. What better times to travel back into your own vacation memories and pick up a trip report from 4 years ago. Who knows, we might finish it even before the real 4 year anniversary of the trip!

Who knows, once this is finished maybe, I will even finish the one from our brief Orlando trip in February of 2017...

 

[brookelizabeth]

Who knows, we might finish it even before the real 4 year anniversary of the trip!

you have to finish so you can write about your post-pandemic trip, too!!

(I still have your egg cups.... they have now just become normal scenery in my cabinet. I'll try to remember to send them over with The Boy later this week / next week. )