...But I've visited every Disney park in the world.
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| On the Monorail! |
To you, this might not be a monumental occasion, in fact, for many, this very post will elicit groans and eye-rolling (I'm looking at you, Julie and Wade).
But to me, it's a BIG DEAL.
So, in the following paragraphs I will delightfully describe to you my adventure! Let's get started.
First off, Tokyo Disney actually has two parks - Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea. These two parks are completely different from one another, but most importantly, Disney Sea is completely different than any other park, anywhere. So naturally I decided to visit it on the first day. I had to check out what it was like and I was so excited to get started when I got to Tokyo.
Let me mention that I thought that going on a very rainy and cold Wednesday would help thin out the crowds that I have heard are absolutely atrocious. Imagine my dismay when I arrived at the park an hour after opening time to discover that lines for many of the rides were already at 120+ minutes and fastpasses for several other attractions were already gone. Already gone. Like Christmas at Disney World, but this is a random Wednesday in March.
That was my first preview of what the next two days would be like. I had read that you should get to the gates an hour before park opening and sprint to your first ride. Sprint, people. I told myself that this certainly couldn't be true, but in fact, it's what's necessary for you to get on the rides you wanted. I immediately decided in this moment to take a relaxed approach to the whole experience, and just focus on riding rides that were Tokyo-exclusive. The short list of these at Disney Sea are as follows: Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, A Rollercoaster next to Indiana Jones that made so little impression on me that I don't remember the name, Tower of Terror (completely different than WDW version) and Storm Rider. I also wanted to see a couple of shows, namely Mystic Kingdom and Big Band Beat.
Fortunately, I was able to all of these in just one day.
Here's how I did it. I went immediately to Journey to the Center of the Earth, an attraction that was at the absolute top of my list. I got a Fastpass. Two rides at Disney Sea have single rider lines, and since I was the definition of a single rider, I booked it over there. Indiana Jones and the Rollercoaster were both next on my list. I felt a little guilty as I walked past people waiting in a 200 minute - yes 200 minute - line for Indiana Jones. But no so guilty that I didn't do it twice, ha! I then proceeded over to the Rollercoaster - which is OUTSIDE - to ride in the single rider line there.
After this, I did a loop towards the section of the park where Tower of Terror is (because I could get a new fastpass at 12:40) and I stopped at Storm Rider enroute.
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| Storm Rider Preshow. Kind of like Star Tours and Stitch combined. I liked it. |
I then made it over to Tower of Terror, got my fastpass for that which had a return time of 9:20 at night, and then decided to eat some lunch. I relaxed, saw Mystic Kingdom, then headed over for my fastpass time at Journey. Brief diversion, I LOVED this ride. It was one of the most elaborately themed rides that I've been on in any Disney Park, and the attention to detail was INSANE. After that, I rode 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea which in contrast was one of the most underwhelming rides I've been on. Wouldn't wait in line for that again.
That afternoon, I headed back over to the area of the park where Tower of Terror is and saw Big Band Beat. I was actually quite lucky to see it as they do a "lottery" system for tickets and generally not a lot of people get tickets each day. Fortunately, they weren't operating the lottery that day, and so showing up 30 minutes early was plenty good enough to get great seats. This is one of the best Disney Parks shows I've seen, which is accompanied throughout by a live Big Band. I loved it. Also, I believe that the most difficult casting in all of Disney Parks has to be in this show. At the end of the show, Mickey Mouse comes out and plays drums along with the big band. At first, I thought it was totally just tracked-over, but at one point, the Big Band drummer and Mickey take turns drumming and it is most definitely played live. So for that role, they had to cast someone who is under 4'10 (probably a girl) and they have to be proficient at drumming (oh, and Mickey Dances later on in that same scene without any opportunity for cast changes). So somewhere out there they found this drumming, dancing, 4'10 girl (or likely girls). I was impressed, to say the least.
After that, I headed over to the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge where I was able to relax and have a not-so-good sandwich with a great cup of coffee. After killing an hour or so doing that, I realized that I still had two hours until my fastpass return time for Tower of Terror, so I did something I said I would never do - I waited in a 120 minute line for Toy Story Midway Mania.
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| Midway Mania! |
I love this ride at WDW, but had written it off because let's be real, I wasn't going to stand in line that long for a ride I'd already ridden. But I could think of nothing else to do with the two hours, so I did it. I almost froze to death, but I enjoyed the ride. After that, I headed over to Tower which is incredibly different than any of the US iterations, and then I booked it out of the park.
Phew. I'm tired just typing all that.
Okay, so here are some observations-
Tokyo Disney is INSANELY CROWDED most of the year. I read message board after message board of people in the US asking if it's worth it to go to Japan just to visit the parks. My answer after doing the required research is probably not. Unless you can go at the most off-peak of off-peak times, you will probably feel frustrated and stifled by the crowds and frustrated that you aren't able to ride everything like you're used to. I have heard that there are some times of year that are much more manageable, but you'd really have to hit that window.
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| I spent my wait for Big Band Beat trying to touch the polka-dots on my neighbor's umbrella with the water droplets coming off mine... |
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| Sad face after I saw the wait and fastpass return times... |
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| FP return at 9:10, this was taken about noon... |
Japanese people, despite turning out in abundance are extremely respectful. I experienced no pushing, yelling, fighting, or jostling, which is a complete 180 from Hong Kong Disney. It was a nice break.
Japanese girls are insane with the clothes they wear to the parks. So many groups were matching and I saw more girls than I could count in skirts with NO TIGHTS - bare-legged, while I was shivering in my rain boots and knee-length puffy jacket. I have no idea how they did it. I also saw girls in sky high heels, something that I will never understand.
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| Inappropriate Footwear |
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| Matchy-Matchy |
Japanese people LOVE popcorn. They sell these popcorn tubs that you can wear around your neck and TONS of people have them. There is also flavored popcorn, ranging from Strawberry to Curry.
All in all, I found the cast members to be WAY more smiley and friendly than your average Japanese person, which probably speaks to the indoctrination that the Disney Company puts employees through. I've seen this as a consistent experience at every park I've visited, no matter where in the world.
Anyway, that's all for now - I'm getting ready to board my flight to the US. Singapore Air A-380! I'm excited for this plane!
Til next time,
-The Adventurer
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