Down Under Disneyana Australian Disney Forum

In one week I'll be in Tokyo and in two weeks I'll be at Tokyo Disney staying in the Disneyland Hotel in a Beauty & the Beast room (my sister's choice, I was eyeing off the hotel at DisneySea with a view of the park).  We only have just under 2 weeks and we're quite busy so not sure how good I'll be at posting as I travel, it may be on my return.

As always, I leave a lot to the last minute.  I did some basic research and saw the Japan used the US plugs, well didn't I get a surprise today!  Does anyone know how to get an adaptor for Japan which has 3 pins for Australia?  It's only my laptop, everything else is 2 pins.

How exciting! Japan is certainly a bit of a culture shock place but in a good way.

This must be a good time to go I assume, not too hot and not too cold. What do you have planned for the first week?

If you check out any place that sells bags (suitcases etc) they usually have a stand that has travel adapters. If you have a few things that need to be powered an idea might be to buy one travel adapter and a small Australian power board you know will accept all your Australian plugs. That way you only need the one adapter and it's also really handy if you are in a hotel room that only has one accessible power outlet.

Greg 

Karen - when we stayed at the Hilton, they used universal power sockets in the room so you can plug your device straight into the wall without an adaptor.

Universal sockets look something like the following picture - our plugs go straight into them (upside down).  I would think the Disneyland Hotel would also use these.

That's fantastic thanks Keith!  My brother is checking if he still has the adaptor he borrowed to get us through the first week.

Greg - our first week is 2 days in Tokyo where I am following Keith & Della's advice to see Kiddyland, we'll also do Shinjuku Gardens and see what sights we can in the limited time frame.  On our travel day to Osaka we'll stop off at Nara, then a full day at Universal, a full day tour of Kyoto, one spare day where I'm thinking of going back to Kyoto, finally just the morning to see Osaka before heading to Disney in the afternoon.  4 days at Disney and 1 final day before our flight to check out the resorts and shopping outside the parks.  We have 2 days with normal trade at Disney and then 2 days with Christmas so I'll be trying to 'win' a ticket for all the parades and fireworks that I can.

You're fitting in a lot of cool stuff, I'm jealous.

(Mental note: another trip to Japan)


Greg

Wow, sounds like an amazing trip. I know I just got back from Shanghai, but I'm still a little jealous

Wow, sounds like an amazing trip. I know I just got back from Shanghai, but I'm still a little jealous

I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip, hopefully you'll be at the Christmas night as I'm hoping to get down for that.  

Days 1 & 2 - Tokyo
We caught the train direct from Narita airport to Shinjuku which was comfortable and easy.  Lynelle was sorted and knew we needed the South East Exit to Skinjuku station and then after a few minutes searching for a taxi rank we decided to just walk, which turned out to be shorter than we thought.  Tokyu Stay is a great hotel, decent rooms, clean and friendly.

Day 1 we headed to Shibuya and again easily took the correct exit to wander some of the shopping streets (we were a little before opening).  Don Quixote had been recommended to me, so seeing it was open we popped in.  Their Halloween range, especially the massive number of adult costumes was fantastic however I didn’t look at sizes and find one although could have been useful!  Going up we skipped the grocery section and had a quick look at stationery – some nice Disney puzzles including a few which look like stained glass windows.  As much as we both loved them, neither of us tend to do the ones we have so we headed back out. 

It was nearing time for the Disney Store to open and being the most themed we knew we had to check it out.  After photos outside the store and a few minutes wait, the doors opened and we had a whole new Disney Store experience.  Most of the merchandise was definitely more ‘tween’ oriented however we both found a number of items we liked and made a note depending on our spending money left when we hit Ikspiari next week.

Harajuku was the next stop and the Takeshita Dori was right as we stepped out of the station.  Lively and full of cute stores.  Daiso kept us amused for some time however I failed to find the Mickey & Minnie gardens stakes I was after.  We both came out with a few items though.  My sister then noticed that familiar Disney ‘D’ so we headed in that direction and found a smaller store.  Here she found a Chip ‘n’ Dale cup on sale so grabbed a couple at 50% off, along with some decals for her mirror.  Eventually we headed to Kiddyland and what an experience!  Somehow I still didn’t buy anything but REALLY enjoyed looking.  I can’t believe the number of different chopsticks, mobile covers and charms (for mobiles/bags) they have in every different area.

For a change of pace we headed into Yoyogi Gyoen for some fresh air and green surroundings out of the shopping.  A relaxing place to refresh the mind and take a break.  Later in the day we went to Nakano Broadway as I’d read that they had discount Disney items from previous years.  We didn’t find much discounted however certainly a lot of old items (some already falling apart) at a more collectors price.  Certainly not a wasted trip as I found my garden stakes at a Daiso in the basement!

Closing out our day we stopped at Akihabara Electric Town to look around.  By this time my back had had more than enough of me walking and neither of us are into the video games and other stores so after a few photos, we returned to our hotel.

Day 2 started with a couple of hours exploring Shinjuku Gyoen – autumn colours shone out amongst the green trees and I enjoyed photographing a true Japanese Garden.  Of course, like all large gardens there was a rose garden, French garden and a few others to wander through.  Certainly a relaxing way to spend a morning and I’ve taken more than enough photos to relive the entire walk.

A quick stop at the hotel and my sister wanted to drop into a local shopping centre as she’d heard there was a Disney Store and wanted to see the discount section (so far the previous 2 had slightly different items).  The shopping centre provided quite a bit to look at across a few floors before we found the children’s floor with a cute store which had more theming inside than the previous two however was much tinier.  After lunch at a café we headed down to the food level so I could purchase some fruit and bread rolls for a couple of days.

Our afternoon was at The Imperial Palace East Garden.  While the entire area is lovely, especially the huge lawn with a backdrop of autumn trees, it was the traditional Japanese garden which I loved the most.  Again I took enough photos that I’ll feel like I’m back there just going through them all.  After dinner we went back to Shibuya so my sister could see the lights all on in that area so often shown in photos of Tokyo (looks like Times Sq).  Being Halloween there were people everywhere in fantastic costumes.  I asked a few if I could take their photo and they were very obliging, however with the large number of people moving in all directions and Police working to keep the crowds moving, I couldn’t photograph many.

Awake early again, we strolled around the Shinjuku streets and alleys before catching the Shinkansen to Osaka.  We’ll do some sightseeing this afternoon with a full day at Universal tomorrow. I loved Tokyo, the train system is fantastic and the people are so friendly and polite. (photos are on Facebook for anyone on there)

The train system is great and easy to figure out if you take a little time at the beginning to think about it. Asian mass transit is really good as a rule.

Didn't realise there were so many Disney themed stores in Tokyo.

I have to ask...what does a Disney garden stake look like?


Greg

Greg - the stakes are basically a thin metal stick with a Mickey or Minnie at the end.  There's also the 7 Dwarfs which I didn't get and a couple of days ago I found Winne-the-Pooh.  I find London and New York trains great also, I think coming from Brisbane I'm always impressed when trains come more than every half hour during off times and 10mins during peak!

Greg - the stakes are basically a thin metal stick with a Mickey or Minnie at the end.  There's also the 7 Dwarfs which I didn't get and a couple of days ago I found Winne-the-Pooh.  I find London and New York trains great also, I think coming from Brisbane I'm always impressed when trains come more than every half hour during off times and 10mins during peak!

Having lived on the Gold Coast I'm impressed by any train that doesn't cost a days salary to ride and comes at all. 

Greg

Days 3-7
 
After a relaxing trip on the Shinkansen, we arrived at our station and a fantastically painted train pulled up to take us to Universal City.  Minions, Snoopy, Sesame St, Hello Kitty - in that order - are very popular.  From the painted trains to all the costumes park goers wore, it was a great introduction to the park.  The Japanese really embrace their favourite characters with head bands, hats, glasses, plushies and dressing either in an actual costume or using street clothes to make it close.  Our hotel was right on City Walk and we had a view of the park from our room (just).  That also meant we could hear the screams from the roller coaster as we went to sleep and a couple of mornings when we woke up!  By the end I wasn't sure if I was just imagining the screams in my head.
 
Heading off to Tennoji to see the Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine, we both loved seeing how many locals come to the shrine and it's not just some attraction built for the sole purpose of attracting tourists.  We learnt how to approach/worship to the Shinto Gods for prayer (2 bows, 2 claps, 1 slow bow).  People were using water from wooden cups prior to going in and later in Kyoto we learnt about how to cleanse ourselves prior to entering a shrine.
 
The next day we headed into Universal Studios – wow!  The Japanese know how to dress for a theme park, I just love their enthusiasm.  Thankfully it was a quiet day so we didn’t need timed entry into Harry Potter World so we headed there first just in case that changed through the day.  Although the area was as lovely as the LA & Orlando Hogsmeade villages, the merchandise was a little different with more charms and tins available to suit the market.  I also didn’t remember the chocolate frogs and Bertie’s Beans having their own merchandise lines.
 
Wandering around the park we enjoyed all the different areas they have set up from Amity (with that famous shark), through Jurassic Park, San Francisco, Minions, New York and the cute children’s area where Sesame St, Snoopy & Hello Kitty ruled.  The Minions and Sesame St some were in Japanese but loads of fun – if they’re playing the music to Hey Hey We’re the Monkeys, it’s easy to sing along in your head in English, no translations required.  Can I just say Ernie (of Bert & Ernie fame) is one heck of a rapper!  I was impressed considering the costume how well they all moved but he took the prize for the best dancer out of the three characters. We met Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Lucy of course my eyes are shut in the photo.  Their parade was fun with the floats stopping part way through, the park-goers flood the streets and dance with the performers.  Naturally the characters are safely up on floats.  At the end they do the same and we both felt this was a great idea as some people move away while other dance until the parade moves on, thus dispersing the crowd gradually at the end.
 
In Harry Potter area we learnt Wand Studies and saw Expecto Patronus in the evening.  We both had a Butterbeer throughout the day and enjoyed dinner at the Three Broomsticks.  As we were leaving we saw a ‘zombie free route’ but decided to walk through Jurassic Park for the music – all we got was the sounds of chainsaws and axes then suddenly screaming and running.  We decided it was safer to walk the zombie free route than be knocked over by tourists running in all directions in the dark!  After the shops down the main street it was time to head back.
 
Our next day was a big one starting early to head to Kyoto and meeting a tour for Nijo-Jo Castle, Golden Pavilion, Imperial Palace, a Handicraft Centre, Sanjusangen-do (with 1001 Buddha statues) and Kiyomizu-dera.  We had two tour guides as the tour was technically two half day tours put together.  They were both fantastic with a great sense of humour.  Our first guide kept pointing out the taxi ranks on arrival in case we missed the bus back – most people laughed, I didn’t in concern it was me who would be missing the bus!!  Thankfully I made the bus each time and the last stop we even had time for a Sake Ice-cream on our way back to the bus, after watching the sun set over Kyoto from our prime position high above the city at Kiyomizu-dera. Kyoto was a wonderful place to visit and learn about the deep cultures embedded in Japanese history from the Shinto Gods to the Buddhists and the Samurai’s.  I loved some of their customs.  If you receive a bad fortune at a Shinto Shrine, you simply tie it to a ‘tree’ (large dead sticks tied together) and let the Shinto Gods take care of your bad fortune for you. The first castle we visited was built so the floor squeaked when walked on as a security measure – it sounded like a singing squeaky floor with all of us walking along the hallways.  A couple of times we had to take our shoes off and I realised this was the day I should have worn my non-Disney socks.
 
Nara Park was a lovely way to finish our stay in Osaka. Now we understood more about the shines and temples and the customs on arriving, it made it easier to walk around on our own.  We also went into another Japanese Garden, with more autumn colours making the garden event brighter.  There were deer everywhere walking amongst the visitors being feed the deer crackers available for sale everywhere through the park.  They were very friendly and would come over to us until they realised we had no food, then wandered away to find a new friend.
 
Finally our last trip on the Shinkansen and we are at Disney!  The Beauty and the Beast room is really lovely and spacious.  I admit we’ve taken some of the nicer toiletries already and I’m using the slippers.  Our first evening was spent in Ikspiari before returning to the room to use our cute little tea cups and relax.
 
I’ll write about our first day in Disneyland later, today is DisneySea for my sister’s birthday.

Awesome - thanks for sharing your amazing trip report!  Can't wait to hear all about your Disney adventure.  Loving your trip through Japan so far.  One day I'll get out to Universal over there

You really seem to be doing so much! How much planning did you put into this trip?

I honestly didn't know there was a Universal in Japan. I really need to get back there.

Uhmm...sake ice cream?


Greg

Sounds like a great trip so far!  I think another Japan trip is next on my list...

I love the garden stakes from Daiso - i bought the 7 dwarfs last year when the Daiso near me first opened and haven't really seen them anywhere since.