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Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

DisneyKaren
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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby DisneyKaren » Sun Mar 12, 2017 7:49 pm

One week to go Keith & Della - have an amazing trip.
1996: Disneyland & Epcot | 2001: EuroDisney | 2014: DLR & DLRP | 2015: WDW | 2017: DLR, Aulani, TDR | 2018: DLR | 2020: SDR & HKDL | 2023: WDW

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby KeithS » Mon Mar 13, 2017 7:47 am

Thanks Karen - just have to get past these next five days at work!!!
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby KeithS » Fri Mar 17, 2017 8:55 pm

Work is over!

And in 48 hours, we'll be in Shanghai China!

Be sure to keep an eye out in this thread as we post updates!
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby calisota » Fri Mar 17, 2017 9:05 pm

Have a safe flight and a great time. :-)

Greg
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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby mushu mama » Sat Mar 18, 2017 3:10 pm

Have a great trip and can't wait to hear all about it \8-/
1999- Tokyo DL, 2008- DLR/Cal Adventure, 2012-DLR/Cal Adventure, 2013-Tokyo DLand/Sea, 2014-DLR/Cal Adventure, 2015- Paris DL, 2016 - WDW/Disneycruise , upcoming - May 2018 - HongKong DL

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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby Rebecca » Sat Mar 18, 2017 7:37 pm

Hope you have a great trip! Can't wait to read all about it :)
Trip history:
Disneyland: NYE 2008, 2015, 2018 January and September
Disneyland Paris: 2010

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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby KeithS » Sat Mar 25, 2017 7:36 am

Good morning! We are all safe in Tokyo.

We had an amazing time in Shanghai; it exceeded my expectations in almost every way. I'll begin posting journals later. We had some amazing experiences there and I can't wait to show some photos.

Anyway, have to go as we are doing a Tokyo tour today.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby calisota » Sat Mar 25, 2017 11:57 am

I'm really happy that it exceeded your expectations, especially given that your expectations would (as would all of ours) probably be higher than the average persons. There was such a lot of negative reports when the park first opened that I was a little worried.

Looking forward to reading about it.


Greg
Chiang Mai Pickleball Club Play Pickleball in paradise

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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby KeithS » Sun Mar 26, 2017 11:25 pm

Sorry about the delay - we've just been busy over here :)

Here are some journal entries - sorry for any typos!

Day 1 – 19 March 2017. Sydney and Shanghai
We had the alarm set this morning for 6am as we knew this was going to be a long day. Not as long as going to Florida, but still a long enough. Most of our packing was already complete but there was still a few things to do in the morning before the taxi comes at 7:30am. We managed to get the house prepared for our absence and the taxi arrived right on time. Traffic to the airport wasn’t too bad this morning, despite the Sydney rain and we checked in without any fuss. Of course, we had a look around the shops but Della resisted buying anything this time. We did look for a new Japanese power adaptor for three pronged plugs but couldn’t locate one, so we’ll look again in Japan.

We spent some time in the Qantas Club having tea and coffee before heading to the gate for boarding. By the time we got to the gate, boarding was well underway and we jumped straight on the queue and were soon at our seats. We were on an A330 with the new entertainment system and it was great. A nice big screen and plenty of movies and tv shows to choose from. The plane was ready to leave ahead of schedule and we took off into a gloomy Sydney sky.
The flight was uneventful – 10 and a half hours but smooth. After take off we had unch and then Della watched La La Land while I read my book, then we both watched Moana (at last!!). By then it was time for dinner and not long after that we began our descent into Shanghai. It was dry when we landed but it had been raining earlier. We taxied to the enormous terminal and I sent a text to Brian and Patti who had landed 30 minutes before. They had just got to the baggage carousel so they would wait there for us.

We went fairly quickly through the immigration line and as we went down the escalator into the baggage hall, we saw them waving to us. It was fun to catch up there after our long flights (there’s being much longer than ours!). We had to split again at the taxi rank – they were heading to the Toy Story Hotel while we headed to the Disneyland Hotel. We got a scary taxi driver who wasn’t sure where Disneyland was but after some GPS programming and yelling into a mobile phone, we were on the way. There was some confusion when we finally got to the entrance as the roadway was closed, but he soon sorted it out, after more yelling in Chinese.
We entered the hotel and WOW! It is amazing! The lobby was spectacular and the Disney Cast Members were terrific. We are in room 55092 which is the 5th floor looking over the garden and lake. I can’t wait to see the view in the morning. After checking out our room, we headed back downstairs to the shop for a quick look. The shop is small but the merchandise seemed cheap to us so Della is already apologising for what we will be taking home. Haha. Anyway – we didn’t buy anything straight up as we were tired and it was time to go back to the room and sleep!
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby KeithS » Sun Mar 26, 2017 11:30 pm

Day 2 – 20 March 2017. Shanghai
Today is our first park day in Shanghai Disneyland. This is the first new park we’ve visited since our original trip to Tokyo in 2008, so we were excited. When we opened the curtains, we saw it was overcast and raining. Not a bad thing though as we know Shanghai is mainly attracting locals and with a bit of rain, they tend to wait until the some comes out before visiting.

After getting dressed, we headed downstairs to the Ballet Café in the lobby for some breakfast. This is a little café that is beautifully themed with ballet images and a large sculpture of the ballet dancing hippo from fantasia so it is a lot of fun. We also have to comment on the cast members here, they have all been very friendly and most speak good English. We ate muffins, tea and coffee for breakfast before buying ponchos and heading back to our room to get ready for the day out.

I sent a text to Brian and Patti to let them know we were on our way and we walked to the ferry terminal. This took us across the lake in a short time and we found Brian and Patti waiting for us at the Steamboat Willy fountain. We were all excited to get into the park although we were tempted by the shops in Disney Town. We skipped the shops however and headed into the park. First up was the purpose built security area. You walk up a lane to metal detectors and bag check. It was all professionally done and we were soon heading to the turnstiles for park entry.

There was a little delay getting in due to the people in front of us having complimentary tickets but soon they were through and so were we – we had finally arrived in Shanghai Disneyland!
And what a beautiful park it is. We walked up Mickey Avenue past the shops and meet and greets and headed towards the castle. It is an imposing building visible from across the park. The gardens surrounding it are beautiful and we spent time admiring the work of the greens people. It was also cherry blossom time so they were all out in pink. We were soaking it all in, moving from one sight to another and photographing it. We started moving clockwise around the resort, heading first to Tomorrowland. When we got there, we discovered the TRON coaster only had a 5 minute wait, so we said “let’s do it!”. The TRON coaster doesn’t allow you to carry anything on with you, so there are lockers you can use for free for 2 hours. We grabbed one and hopped on the queue line. As it was only a 5 minute wait, we rushed through the line but what I saw was interesting. The loading area reminded me of Space Mountain in Hong Kong, but the ride and vehicle is completely different. It looks like a TRON motorcycle that you sit astride with a restraint that presses on your back. It is a strange sensation but the ride is good if a little short. When we got off, Brian and I decided to do it again straight away as the wait was so short. The second time we did it, we got front row – yay! And that was awesome!

After TRON, we caught back up with Della and Patti and headed down to the new Buzz Lightyear. That is an amazing upgrade to a fun attraction. It is a perfect example of how to upgrade a ride without changing the character of the ride. The new ride is easier to target and gives a better feel for when you hit something. The sets and scenery upgrades were terrific too. After Buzz, we headed into the Star Wars Launch Bay. It was similar to the one in Walt Disney World and we met with C3P0 and R2D2, as well as Darth Vader who was scary.

After Launch Bay, we headed over to Fantasyland and jumped on Peter Pan. The Shanghai Pan has the two-row ships like in Paris. The ride had also been upgraded nicely and we enjoyed it a lot. After Pan, we went on the Voyage of the Crystal Grotto – another attraction unique to Shanghai. It is sort of a cross between Jungle Cruise and Storybook Canal Boats, but not as good as either. You got on a large boat and sailed through Fantasyland seeing large dioramas of Disney Princess stories. You eventually sail under the castle into the crystal grotto where scenes from movies come to life on the walls before you return to the dock.

After the Grotto, we headed to Tangled Tree Tavern for lunch. The restaurant was basically themed as the Snugglly Duckling from Tangled and looked great inside – it was a fun restaurant with nice food (eat the spicy chicken, you won’t be disappointed).

Next up, we did the Once Upon an Adventure castle walkthrough. This was pretty impressive as it was a walkthrough with some amazing new animation featuring the Snow White story. It was very nicely done though you have to be prepared for stairs!

After the walkthrough, headed to the Mickey Ave stores that we had earlier bypassed in the morning – but not before checking out the mosaics of the Chinese zodiac done in Disney characters. In Mickey Ave, we just wanted to see what was available in merchandise. There were a few unique things that will be coming home with us. We also found a whole Duffy store so Della was excited and she did buy a few things there.

Next up as Pirates! There was just a 10 minute wait, so we got in the queue and managed to get front row for our first experience…and what a ride it was! The technology here was incredible and worth the admission price. Although as Della pointed out, it was a whole new ride and not a retelling or upgrade so it is hard to compare to previous pirates rides.

Afterwards, we found a great spot for the parade at 3:30 and that was a lot of fun. Good music, great costumes and floats, we really enjoyed it. It was cold and damp after the parade, so we grabbed a hot chocolate in a restaurant and while we were sitting there, a Chinese friend of Patti’s named Taryn came around with her friend Melody. They were both really nice girls and Melody gave us her pass to the Kingdom Lounge at the Disneyland Hotel for tomorrow! So Della and I are going there tomorrow to check it out.

The girls wanted to hang out with us a bit, so we all went to the Pirates Stunt Show which was fun. The show is in Mandarin and features Captain Jack Sparrow and some amazing stunts including the use of an iFly system to simulate a storm and a battle in the wind where the characters were flying above the stage.

After that, we all headed over to Disney Town to check out more shops before saying good night to Taryn and Melody. Brian, Patti and ourselves then went to a restaurant called Blue Frog for dinner which was wonderful and highly recommended. After that, we decided to call it a night, with Della and I catching the ferry back to our hotel.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby KeithS » Sun Mar 26, 2017 11:35 pm

Day 3 – 21 March 2017. Shanghai
Another day in the Shanghai Disneyland Resort area.  First up, I opened the blinds this morning and saw blue sky! The sun was shining and no cloud except for the normal haze that seems to surround Shanghai all the time.  We decided to take advantage of the sun to get some great photos of the hotel area. After breakfast, we headed outside into the gardens and took lots of photos.  We knew Brian and Patti were coming to our hotel this morning as they wanted to meet with Taryn when we went up to the Magic Kingdom Lounge.  We were out of the front of hotel when they arrived on the bus.  They couldn’t believe the detail in our hotel from the amazing mosaic work on the outside, to the awesome artwork and flowers inside.

After visiting our room to drop off their coats, we all headed upstairs to the Magic Kingdom Lounge.  Taryn met us there and arranged coffees for us while we booked a character breakfast through her. We also took in the amazing views of the resort with the castle in the distance and also looked around the Lounge itself which was themed to Aladdin.  After getting lots of photos, we said our goodbyes to the wonderful Taryn and headed downstairs to do some more exploring of the hotel.  We went into the Cinderella Ballroom which we had to ourselves and took more great photos.  There are so many little details inside and outside, such as an imprint of Cinderella’s shoe on the staircase outside – stuff that didn’t need to be there but are fun to discover.

Soon though it was almost lunchtime so we caught the ferry over to the park.  We entered and could immediately tell it was busier than yesterday. Some attraction waits were well over 100 minutes, but amazingly Pirates was only 30.  We walked around the park getting sunny photos of things, but when we got to Pirates, Della and I separated from Brian and Patti.  We needed to go on a shopping spree, so while Brian and Patti lined up for Pirates, we continued walking towards Tomorrowland, photographing as we went.

In Tomorrowland, we stopped beside Tron for lunch in the Stargazer Grill. We both grabbed cheeseburger with fries and a drink and they were very nice.  We kept moving towards the exit, but stopped at an outdoor vending cart first to buy a ballet dancing hippo of course…

We took the Disney Town exit from the park and went on our shopping spree.  There were quite a few stores to visit including the world’s largest Lego store and Build-a-Bear.  But the most time was spent at World of Disney where we bought quite a few things (mostly Tsum Tsums, but I also got a watch and Della got some other stuff.)

After the shopping spree, we headed back to the hotel via the walkway, which included going over the ‘magic bridge’ which is a curved suspension bridge with a Perspex walkway allowing you to see right through to the water below – that was fun.  When we got back to the hotel, we had a quick dinner before getting ready for an evening in the park.

It was colder this evening, so we put all our cold weather gear on – I had two t-shirt, bother layers of my Alaskan jacket, my Nemo beanie, and gloves. We caught the ferry back to the park as we had promised to meet Brian and Patti outside Il Paperino at 7:30pm. When they arrived, they were with Aneka – a local cast member who worked in Shanghai Disney Recruitment.  Aneka had a very special surprise for us, she was getting us all into Club 33 for a viewing of the fireworks and castle projection show!

We went straight to the Club 33 door and they let us into the beautiful lobby before whisking us upstairs in the elevator to the dining room.  We looked longing at the merchandise cabinet as we went in, but there was no offer to let us buy any of the goods.  We entered the main part of Club 33 and we were the only ones visible, although there were two other small groups in side rooms – and Chinese family of four, and two young Americans who we didn’t recognise.

We sat down at a table that was set with Club 33 plates and chatted for a while and took photos.  We were not allowed to walk freely around the club itself.  The club manager, Thomas came to say hello to us and took orders for complimentary tea and coffee which was nice.  They bought out the coffees and when we finished them, it was almost 8pm so we shuffled out onto the balcony for an amazing view of the castle, the gardens, and of course the amazing firework and lights show.  It was only the five of us and the Chinese family out there in a really big balcony area.  It was another of those amazing experiences that money cannot buy.

After the fireworks, we said thankyou to the staff of Club 33 (still looking longingly at the merchandise cabinet) – and we made our way back downstairs and out onto the street. We thanked Aneka for the amazing experience and slowly made our way out of the now closed park.  Outside, we went our separate ways from Brian and Patti, and caught the ferry back to our hotel – another amazing day at a close.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby KeithS » Sun Mar 26, 2017 11:38 pm

Day 4 – 22 March 2017. Shanghai
We awoke this morning to a cold and rainy Shanghai which wasn’t a good news story as we were going on our organised Shanghai city tour. We had our breakfast in the Ballet Café as normal before getting ready for Brian and Patti’s arrival. At 8:45 we went down to our lobby and met our driver for today – Mr Chow, and shortly thereafter, Brian and Patti arrived. We all jumped into Mr Chow’s van for the drive into Shanghai.

We had been in the Disney bubble for a few days so now was our chance to see the real Shanghai. The road system was very impressive – with some crazy bridges including a multi-level spiral which we went down. The driving though was a bit crazy – I’m sure there are rules somewhere, but they were difficult at times to figure out! We saw the mag-lev train scream past us on its way out to the airport. It took about an hour’s drive to get us to our first spot and meet with Jenny. She caught up with us outside the Fairmont Peace Hotel and took us immediately across the road to the Bund. The famous riverside promenade that looked over to the modern skyline of Shanghai, dominated by the Pearl Tower and the newer buildings of the Shanghai World Financial Centre and Shanghai One tower (the second tallest building in the world.) Della almost got bundled over as soon as we got there due to a motor scooter riding down the footpath. Apparently that is quite legal in Shanghai!

It was very cold on the riverside and we listened to some history of the city from Jenny and took a lot of photos. We then headed back across the road and went into the Fairmont hotel which was a glorious 1920s art deco establishment, home to criminals, warlords, politicians and movie stars over the early part of the 20th century up until the Japanese invaded China in the early 1930s. The hotel has had many movies filmed there such as Empire of the Sun. It basically hadn’t been altered since the 1920s and looked great still and they still operate one of the original jazz bars there.

After the hotel, we got back in the van and headed to the YU Garden – a 16th century garden on the Ming Dynasty. You get there through a new shopping district which was built to the old Chinese architecture style which looked great. The garden itself looked small at the outset, but as you progressed through it, it kept opening up more and more. There were fascinating artefacts to see (and the obligatory gift shop) but it was very interesting.

The next stop was the Confucius shrine and school. Another historic and interesting place that focused on the teachings of Confucius. It is a sacred place in China and as such, it is run by the Government to ensure it doesn’t become commercial. They appointed our guide for the tour, Kitty. She showed us all around the shrine area which included a massive wall of the entire teaching of Confucius sayings. The school room has been preserved and we learnt that originally only boys could be allowed in school due to social status of men vs. women.

After the tour, we then sat down for a tea ceremony which was very interesting and hosted by a great guy who really knew his tea. We’d never been interested in Chinese tea before, but the ceremony was fun and informative and we drank a lot of different teas. Afterwards, we walked down an alleyway to a local Chinese dumpling shop for lunch. I was okay for food, but Della struggled there.

After lunch, we headed under the river to the new part of town – specifically going to the Shanghai World Financial Centre tower – often called “The Bottle Opener” due to its unusual design. We headed up the almost 500 metre tower in the express lift which made my ears pop. When we got out, we still had another lift to go to the top observation deck which included a clear floor in places so you could see straight down – it was awesome but a little weird at the same time. After taking lots of photos, we headed down to a lower deck and went to the bathroom – the urinals were against a floor to ceiling glass wall so you got to look out at the traffic while you went!

After the tower and our return to the relative safety of the ground, we got back in the van and headed to the Disney flagship store next to Pearl Tower. The store was great and we got another bunch of Tsum Tsums. So that was fun.

After the Disney Store, we headed to the French Concession which is an area that was originally held by the French until the Japanese invasion. The buildings are historic but have now been converted to Western restaurants which introduced the Chinese to ourdoor dining. From there, we headed to a Mall near where our evening concert was to be held so we could get a bite to eat, but it was too high-end for us, so we found another eatery area near the concert hall called the Liberty Burger and got burgers and chicken strips which were all very tasty.

Finally it was time for our Chinese acrobatics show. Jenny picked up our group tickets and said goodbye to us and she was heading home. We settled in for a one and a half hour show featuring very good acrobats, gymnasts, jugglers and a magician. Each performance was amazing but I’m not sure there was a story involved in it all. Once it was over, we located Mr Chow outside and settled in the van for the trip back to the hotel.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby KeithS » Sun Mar 26, 2017 11:40 pm

Day 5 – 23 March 2017. Shanghai
Today began with cloudy skies but no rain. First thing this morning was a trip to Lumiere’s Restaurant for a character breakfast with Brian and Patti. The restaurant is themed t Beauty and the Beast and had a full western and Asian buffet selection. We had only just sat down when Mickey came to our table. I was starving and wanted food, but as I stood up to get something, Minnie came along and it was back to the camera. Finally I got food before both Pluto and Goofy came over. In ten minutes, we had all the characters and could settle in to eating…

After breakfast, Brian and Patti went to Disney Town, while Della and I went to the park. First up, we ran into Duffy for a photo before heading to Pirates where we got the front row again! Still like this ride, but the jury is out whether this is the best attraction in the world. It is very good, but I still think the large format video system is a bit of a cheat...I’ll be on Journey to the Centre of the Earth in a few days’ time, so I’ll be able to compare.

After Pirates, Della and I went for a walk around the park and ended up at the Alice in Wonderland maze. This is a neat little area themed to the new Alice movies. The maze is pretty simple though – you don’t really get lost and I guess I can see this becoming something else in future years.

Next up, we went to Pooh’s Hunny Pot Spin or whatever it is called. It is just like the teacups in the other parks, but themed to Winnie the Pooh. When we were in the queue to the attraction, we came across a lady in the line hawking pirate Disney stuff from under her jacket. We couldn’t believe it and I’m sure Disney wouldn’t be happy about it.

We next wandered around to Tomorrowland – we really like this part of the park as it really is a futuristic looking Tomorrowland. We were hoping to get on the Jet Packs which is the spinner ride here but different from other parks as it is faster and your legs dangle. But it was a long wait today and we never line up for a spinner. So we kept moving around to the Marvel meet and greet. The Marvel area is similar to the Star Wars Launch Bay in that it has memorabilia from the Marvel films along with numerous meeting zones. We lined up to see Spiderman who was fun.

While we were in there, we sent a message to Brian and Patti and decided to meet up with them at the Fantasyland Fastpass Distribution spot. We got a Peter Pan fastpass and then the four of us went over to the Sirens’ Call pirate ship which is a walkthrough attraction like Tarzan’s Treehouse. It is basically a pirate ship from the Pirate’s of the Caribbean films and has Captain Jack artefacts on board.

After doing the walkthrough, we headed through Adventureland to the parade route to watch the parade again. It was a bigger crowd today so we watched it from a few rows behind. Straight after that, we headed over to Buzz Lightyear and had another go on that which is great fun. This is my favourite Buzz ride now. Next, we stopped for tea and coffee in Tomorrowland before Brian and Patti headed to Tron, while Della and I went shopping. Afterwards, we all met each other again at Peter Pan for our fast pass.

After Peter Pan, we followed Brian and Patti to get churros before doing a final run through Mickey Ave for souvenirs. We then headed out of the park for the last time so that we could get back to our rooms, get a bite to eat, and begin packing to fly to Tokyo tomorrow morning.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby KeithS » Sun Mar 26, 2017 11:41 pm

Day 6 – 24 March 2017. Travel – Shanghai to Tokyo
Today is our last day in Shanghai and there is not much time for reflection as we needed to get to the airport early for our flight to Tokyo! We had an 8am taxi pickup scheduled, so we purchased some breakfast items the night before from our hotel café. We ate those, finished packing and headed straight to the lobby to check out. That was an easy process as I had paid in advance, so we just waited and the taxi arrived right on time.

We hit the freeway (the most dangerous part of our holiday) and got to the airport quickly with no hold ups. It is an interesting airport as they security screened us at the door before even getting into the check in area. After check in, we then went through immigration and then a second full screening. This took about an hour as it was busy, but it was orderly and there was no pushing or shoving like we expected.

Our aircraft was boarding from gate 215, which we discovered was a tarmac gate – essentially we were lined up in Zones according to our boarding pass, then taken out to a bus for a drive across the airport to where our plane awaited (after a third luggage inspection – both Della and I were randomly selected to open our carry-ons). Despite all the rigmarole, we had an on time departure and it all went smoothly.

The flight was non-eventful although bumpy for an hour. The flight time was only two hours and we were on the ground in sunny Tokyo in no time. We got through immigration and customs okay – there was a big queue so it took a while. Once in the airport terminal, I went and bought four tickets for the bus to the Tokyo Disneyland Resort! We only had to wait about 10 minutes for it then we hit the highway. Arrival at the Hilton Hotel was as welcoming as ever and Della and I were upgraded to the top floor with complimentary drinks in the fridge restocked every day – score!

After our arrival, we headed straight over to Ikspiari shopping for a quick look around and a bite to eat. We also got some supplies for our room and breakfast for tomorrow’s early departure on the city tour. All in all, a good day and it is fun to be back in Tokyo again!
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015

KeithS
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Joined: Sun May 29, 2005 10:28 am
Location: Peakhurst Heights, NSW

Re: Keith and Della's Shanghai/Tokyo Trip 2017

Postby KeithS » Sun Mar 26, 2017 11:42 pm

Day 7 – 25 March 2017. Tokyo
Today is the city tour day for us so after a quick bite to eat in our room, we headed downstairs to meet with Brian and Patti in the lobby. We needed to go to the bus terminal under the World Trade Centre building in downtown Tokyo. Firstly though, we each bought a Suica smart card to use on the JR and Subway. We then caught the train from Maihama to Shin-Kiba and then via subway to Daimon where the WTC building is. Brian checked us in for the bus ride and soon we were met by our fantastic guide Aki and we were on our way.

First stop on the trip was the Meiji Shrine near Harajuku. Della and I had been there before but today was such a nice and sunny day that it was great being out there. We saw two weddings out there including a procession in full Japanese ceremonial outfits.

Back on the bus and we next headed to the Imperial Gardens and a walk through there. It was great for Brian and Patti as it was all new to them, and again for us as it was sunny. Next up, we went to Asakusa for a look at the shrine and the shopping markets. We didn’t have a lot of time for the market and it was incredibly packed for some reason. Way more people than we’d seen in the past and I think it was mainly because all the tour coaches arrive there together. We will go back later in the week by ourselves.

Next up, we headed to a food court near Ginza for lunch we was a bit of a fizzer. Too many buses arrived together and it was impossible to get food in the time allotted. We got a little, but then we were back aboard heading to the docks for a harbour cruise. It only went for an hour but that was enough to get some good views of Tokyo Bay. When we got to the shore, we headed over to Odaiba to look at the Japanese version of the Statue of Liberty and the shops there – we even visited the Disney Store that we had gone to in the past.

Our final stop of the day was back in Ginza where we saw a traditional dance by a Japanese girl in geisha costume. We then said goodbye to our guide and headed back to the resort from Tokyo Central Station. We did a quick run through Bon Voyage and the Disney Store before we tried to find a seat at the restaurant in Ikspirari but the place was packed as it was a Saturday night so in the end, we headed to the hotel and bought something there. Sadly the Hilton no longer does full service room service.
Keith

Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015


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