gelatoni fan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2018
I don’t usually write trip reports but I since this was my “Happiest Birthday” trip, I thought I’d share parts that stood out to me. It was part of a longer Japan trip but to keep this from getting too long I’m only going to focus on my birthday and the day immediately after.
The first time I saw the TDR 35th Anniversary Birthday Stickers, I knew wanted to spend my birthday at the resort this year. Toward the end of last year, I posted on FB that I wanted to do this to see which of my friends were interested. In the end, one of my friends who I had been to TDR with once before asked about the Japan trip. Going to Disneyland with him feels a bit like babysitting because he never wants to split up, complains if shows/food aren’t to his liking and won’t ride anything more thrilling than Dumbo. With this friend, I knew there would be lots of things I couldn’t do so I would need solo days. In the end, I decided on a 3 part trip: 1) 2 solo days in the parks (ended up running into some friends from Hong Kong at DisneySea on the second day, lol), 2) the weekend with my friend in Yokohama, 3) 2 days without park hopping followed by a morning where I could finish up things I wanted to do as he slept in.
So on my birthday, we ate breakfast at 6:30 at the Sheraton Club before heading out to DisneySea. While waiting for Pixar Playtime Pals, I got my 3rd birthday sticker. This sticker only had my name in block letters so it was boring enough for me to put on. During the show, Merida said Happy Birthday to me when she walked past! Later that morning, I managed to convince my friend to ride Indiana Jones and it was chaos when I went to get the FP. The standby line was 210 minutes and I had never seen both the standby and FP ticketing line go so long. They extended all the way around the corner, across the bridge and almost to the entrance of Nemo Searider before looping back and up the bridge. On my way back across Port Discovery, I saw the end of the Journey to the Center of the Earth line almost at the intersection between Port Discovery and Cape Cod (230 minutes). Gotta love those spring break crowds~
The most emotional parts of the day was watching “Out of Shadowland” in the afternoon. It felt like I was saying goodbye to a best friend so I was trying to hold back tears during some parts of the show. Despite my nickname here, Gelatoni is actually my second favorite character after Mei. Since there are quite a few sentences in the show that I don’t fully understand, for over a year, Mei has helped motivate me to keep improving my Japanese. Even though there are Disney shows that are more impressive and fun than this one, this show’s story and characters engage me in a way no other show has. I will truly miss it.
Shortly before Happiest Celebration on the Sea, a bunch of CMs had their high touch line with the music cart so it was wonderful having them all say Happy Birthday during the high fives. The sun was obscured by clouds this afternoon so the conditions were prefect for this last time I would see the show. Unfortunately, my birthday sticker fell off on Indiana Jones so when I rode Venetian Gondolas in the evening, I didn’t have it on. Nobody else in our boat had a birthday sticker so I was a bit anxious during the ride. I didn’t want to be “that guy” who pulls out a birthday sticker from his backpack halfway through the ride expecting something to happen. In the end, they didn’t sing Happy Birthday in Italian. But I did get "Happy Birthday" printed on my receipt in Japanese from New York Deli because I had just gotten another sticker just before dinner.
Originally, I planned to wake up at 5AM on the last day and skip breakfast so I could see the Welcome Greeting at Disneyland. But my friend decided he wouldn’t sleep in and wanted to do breakfast together so we had breakfast at 6:30 as usual. He wanted me to take him to Ikspiari even though it wasn’t open yet so I decided to walk to Disneyland from Resort Gateway Station. Bon Voyage was already open so I bought a birthday rosette since my friend wasn’t smart enough to buy me one the day before (he did give me something else as a birthday present). I was near the back of the pack at the Tomorrowland rope and in the rope drop chaos, I actually rushed right past the end of the Space Mountain line and had to loop back. Waited 20 something minutes in line and then made my way to Alice’s Tea Party. I was wondering if just wearing a rosette would be enough for them to ask my name but turns out it’s not enough. After the ride, I asked a CM to write me a birthday sticker in Katakana so I would definitely be OK as I got my birthday stuff done. I hopped over to DisneySea to ride the gondolas, eat the remaining Pixar food, and try to take pictures of all the Pixar stuff that I didn’t have time to photograph earlier. I also wanted to make a loop to make sure I photographed all the Mickey statues since I keep forgetting which ones I haven’t taken photos of. Unfortunately, I got distracted by Pixar Playtime Pals so I had to rush back to ride Alice’s Tea Party. As the CM read out the names of birthdays, I spun the teacup like crazy and had the biggest smile on my face. Definitely the best way to end off this trip. After grabbing a churro, I headed back to the Sheraton Grand to pick up my stuff and take the 2:37PM bus to Narita.
I was happy to have gone to Japan with this friend even though I may have preferred going with other friends who like Disney a lot more. If I was with some of my other friends, we definitely would have had the secret Birthday Cake from Queen of Hearts. I also would have loved to meet Duffy/ShellieMay with my birthday sticker and park hop to watch the fireworks from in front of the castle but these weren’t possible with this friend. I’ve been to TDL 18 times since Brand New Dream debuted but it always seems to get cancelled when I try to watch it from the TDL side. So I only got to see it once from TDL and would have loved seeing it from the castle one more time before it goes away. Despite not being able to do a few things I had wanted to do, this was still definitely my happiest birthday. I’ve celebrated my birthday at Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland and California but TDR definitely did the best at making a birthday feel extra special.
Activities from My Happiest Birthday at DisneySea: Grab Toy Story FP, lost the show lotteries, Chef Remy, Pixar Playtime Pals, Lightning McQueen’s Victory Lap, grab Indy FP, Big Band Beat, grab Nemo FP, Lunch at Cape Cod Cook Off, Transit Steamer Line (Mediterranean Harbor to Lost River Delta), Out of Shadowland, Pixar Pals Steamers, Happiest Celebration on the Sea, Toy Story Mania, Indiana Jones, Dinner at New York Deli, Hello New York, Fantasmic, Brand New Dream, Venetian Gondolas, Jumpin’ Jellyfish, The Whirlpool, Blowfish Balloon Race, Ariel’s Playground
The first time I saw the TDR 35th Anniversary Birthday Stickers, I knew wanted to spend my birthday at the resort this year. Toward the end of last year, I posted on FB that I wanted to do this to see which of my friends were interested. In the end, one of my friends who I had been to TDR with once before asked about the Japan trip. Going to Disneyland with him feels a bit like babysitting because he never wants to split up, complains if shows/food aren’t to his liking and won’t ride anything more thrilling than Dumbo. With this friend, I knew there would be lots of things I couldn’t do so I would need solo days. In the end, I decided on a 3 part trip: 1) 2 solo days in the parks (ended up running into some friends from Hong Kong at DisneySea on the second day, lol), 2) the weekend with my friend in Yokohama, 3) 2 days without park hopping followed by a morning where I could finish up things I wanted to do as he slept in.
So on my birthday, we ate breakfast at 6:30 at the Sheraton Club before heading out to DisneySea. While waiting for Pixar Playtime Pals, I got my 3rd birthday sticker. This sticker only had my name in block letters so it was boring enough for me to put on. During the show, Merida said Happy Birthday to me when she walked past! Later that morning, I managed to convince my friend to ride Indiana Jones and it was chaos when I went to get the FP. The standby line was 210 minutes and I had never seen both the standby and FP ticketing line go so long. They extended all the way around the corner, across the bridge and almost to the entrance of Nemo Searider before looping back and up the bridge. On my way back across Port Discovery, I saw the end of the Journey to the Center of the Earth line almost at the intersection between Port Discovery and Cape Cod (230 minutes). Gotta love those spring break crowds~
The most emotional parts of the day was watching “Out of Shadowland” in the afternoon. It felt like I was saying goodbye to a best friend so I was trying to hold back tears during some parts of the show. Despite my nickname here, Gelatoni is actually my second favorite character after Mei. Since there are quite a few sentences in the show that I don’t fully understand, for over a year, Mei has helped motivate me to keep improving my Japanese. Even though there are Disney shows that are more impressive and fun than this one, this show’s story and characters engage me in a way no other show has. I will truly miss it.
Shortly before Happiest Celebration on the Sea, a bunch of CMs had their high touch line with the music cart so it was wonderful having them all say Happy Birthday during the high fives. The sun was obscured by clouds this afternoon so the conditions were prefect for this last time I would see the show. Unfortunately, my birthday sticker fell off on Indiana Jones so when I rode Venetian Gondolas in the evening, I didn’t have it on. Nobody else in our boat had a birthday sticker so I was a bit anxious during the ride. I didn’t want to be “that guy” who pulls out a birthday sticker from his backpack halfway through the ride expecting something to happen. In the end, they didn’t sing Happy Birthday in Italian. But I did get "Happy Birthday" printed on my receipt in Japanese from New York Deli because I had just gotten another sticker just before dinner.
Originally, I planned to wake up at 5AM on the last day and skip breakfast so I could see the Welcome Greeting at Disneyland. But my friend decided he wouldn’t sleep in and wanted to do breakfast together so we had breakfast at 6:30 as usual. He wanted me to take him to Ikspiari even though it wasn’t open yet so I decided to walk to Disneyland from Resort Gateway Station. Bon Voyage was already open so I bought a birthday rosette since my friend wasn’t smart enough to buy me one the day before (he did give me something else as a birthday present). I was near the back of the pack at the Tomorrowland rope and in the rope drop chaos, I actually rushed right past the end of the Space Mountain line and had to loop back. Waited 20 something minutes in line and then made my way to Alice’s Tea Party. I was wondering if just wearing a rosette would be enough for them to ask my name but turns out it’s not enough. After the ride, I asked a CM to write me a birthday sticker in Katakana so I would definitely be OK as I got my birthday stuff done. I hopped over to DisneySea to ride the gondolas, eat the remaining Pixar food, and try to take pictures of all the Pixar stuff that I didn’t have time to photograph earlier. I also wanted to make a loop to make sure I photographed all the Mickey statues since I keep forgetting which ones I haven’t taken photos of. Unfortunately, I got distracted by Pixar Playtime Pals so I had to rush back to ride Alice’s Tea Party. As the CM read out the names of birthdays, I spun the teacup like crazy and had the biggest smile on my face. Definitely the best way to end off this trip. After grabbing a churro, I headed back to the Sheraton Grand to pick up my stuff and take the 2:37PM bus to Narita.
I was happy to have gone to Japan with this friend even though I may have preferred going with other friends who like Disney a lot more. If I was with some of my other friends, we definitely would have had the secret Birthday Cake from Queen of Hearts. I also would have loved to meet Duffy/ShellieMay with my birthday sticker and park hop to watch the fireworks from in front of the castle but these weren’t possible with this friend. I’ve been to TDL 18 times since Brand New Dream debuted but it always seems to get cancelled when I try to watch it from the TDL side. So I only got to see it once from TDL and would have loved seeing it from the castle one more time before it goes away. Despite not being able to do a few things I had wanted to do, this was still definitely my happiest birthday. I’ve celebrated my birthday at Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland and California but TDR definitely did the best at making a birthday feel extra special.
Activities from My Happiest Birthday at DisneySea: Grab Toy Story FP, lost the show lotteries, Chef Remy, Pixar Playtime Pals, Lightning McQueen’s Victory Lap, grab Indy FP, Big Band Beat, grab Nemo FP, Lunch at Cape Cod Cook Off, Transit Steamer Line (Mediterranean Harbor to Lost River Delta), Out of Shadowland, Pixar Pals Steamers, Happiest Celebration on the Sea, Toy Story Mania, Indiana Jones, Dinner at New York Deli, Hello New York, Fantasmic, Brand New Dream, Venetian Gondolas, Jumpin’ Jellyfish, The Whirlpool, Blowfish Balloon Race, Ariel’s Playground
