Hi Guys!
Live from Disneyland Resort, Hilton Tokyo Bay!!!
Quick run down on the last 2 days.
Flights from Melbourne to Sydney, Sydney to Tokyo were great, arriving everything is in English as well as Japanese so everything was really easy. Our chartered bus was waiting for and away we went. Trip from Narita to Disneyland was around 50 or so minutes, the traffic was very light.
We are staying at the Hilton, check in went straight forward, if the person doesn't speak English they are very quick to find someone that does. Reminder to anyone arriving early, check in is at 3pm. To pass the time I had planned for us to organise the Disney Tickets (very easy, a little booth opposite Starbucks), then travel to Ikspiari on the monorail, tickets are purchased at the stations. The machine is sort of straight forward, you press the English button, press adult or child, then amount of days, they it says, Confirm Amount....we didn't know what we had to do so eventually I put the money in and again pressed how many adults, kids, the amount of days and it spat out the tickets. The monorail is great, it has 4 stations, 2 very close to the hilton, one for Ikspirari, one for DisneySea, one for Disneyland.
After spending the morning looking around the shops at Ikspiari (pretty average shopping I have to say), we had lunch at the rainforest cafe. Whilst the person didn't speak english we were still able to make the booking, sometimes you need to write, sometimes hand signals, you'll find a way.
We ended up getting into our rooms early, had a nap and headed for the parks! I know, how nuts are we...Flying, shopping, travelling, and still we all wanted to hit the Parks. I mentioned that Tokyo has evening passes, pretty cheap 3100 yen, for tickets from 6pm until closing, 10pm...It was raining so I knew the parks would be fairly empty.
Monorail, Disneyland, Yah!!!! Straight to Buzz Light Year, Space Mountain, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, the Dinner at Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall (very nice food, and lots of tables which made it easy when you have 13 people!). After Dinner it was Peter Pans flight, Pirates of the Caribbean, then back to the Hotel. I must say, even though it was raining and dark, I could just feel this Disneyland was going to be good.
This morning, we had b'fast in the hotel which was included in the room, it was good, everything you'd expect and more, basically two large buffets.
Monorail and straight to Disneyland. The first thing you will notice in Japan is how organise and considerate the Japanese are. At least in Disneyland anyway, I will test out in the citys later in the trip. Every line is straight, even the parking of the prams need to be centimetre perfect or one of case members we'll re align them for you...its almost comical. During parades, everyone sits, its amazing, your even asked by the cast members to collapse prams, and reduce the height of the ballons. In America its sardines pushing and shoving with people darting in front of you for an extra inch of view. Not so in Japan, they are very considerate and extremely organised. I LOVE this place!!...
So today it was..
1. Pirates, then booked dinner for the Blue Bayou for 5:50pm
2. Jungle cruise, no english, still great, its actually better viewing than all other versions, its longer, more detail, overall better! Shame about the no english.
3. Western river railroad. Again, better than all other versions, its not fully around the park, but its more entertaining, a lot more to look at, its an entertaining ride in its own right.
4. Watched the Easter Parade, fantastic, it was a Japanese spin on Disney Disco, just great!!!
5. Center Street Coffeehouse for lunch, was average at best.
6. Grand circuit raceway
7. Star Tours, virtually empty, I'm glad they are updating this ride, every park that has it its always empty, I always enjoy it!
8. Kids are asleep, time for adult rides, Splash Mountain....
9. Big Thunder Mountain
10. Kids are awake, It's a Small World.
11. Dinner at Blue Bayou, Gumbo is still good, probably not as good as LA.
12. Electric Parade, a favourite, hadn't seen it since 1987 in LA so it was great to see it again!
13. Fireworks. Average, La, Hong Kong, Disneyworld, all 10 times the size. I was very surprised by how small they were.
Back to the Hotel typing to you guys.
Any questions let me know and I will try to answer them.
Re the bar fridge I have uploaded a pic to the my public folder on picasa, I will post a link below. It is very small, smaller than a normal bar fridge.
Language has not been a big issue.
Child lap issue, no existent, yes they say put the child beside you, but once the ride starts, you can put the child on your lap, you'd only do it for really small kids but its not an issue.
Park is Fantastic, its probably my favorite Disneyland park of them all. It has to do with;
1. Park feels less cramped, the walk ways are larger. Critter Country is a little small but every other land is very spacious.
2. The people are fantastic, not just the cast members, the general public as well.
3. Rides are longer, Jungle Cruise, Rail Road, more entertaining, more to see.
4. Less commercial, after every ride your not forced to go through a shop, only Splash mountain has a purchasable photo option.
5. Parades are better, Electrical Parade is great.
6. The Castle is much better than LA, not as good as WDW. The tiles on the walls inside of the castle are a must see.
DisneySea tomorrow!
Link to folder. Let me know if you want a pic of something, we have already taken hundreds of photos!!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/gainsville. ... directlink
(character breakfasts are a good alternative methinks!). The next longest wait time was 45 mins for a few attractions. That pretty amazing by Tokyo standards.