A (2019) HalloXmas trip to Asia - Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo! - COMPLETED 5/1!!!

[missjackiemcg]

I love that you can just leave your bag to reserve your parade spot! I'd be SO nervous, but glad it worked out well for you!

Love all the cute outfits for the parade! I laughed about your girl scout comment because I definitely had to dress like that, too, for an event when I was in GS!!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Great parade pics!!

Thanks! My camera worked well for that (basically took lots of burst photos and I could scroll through and pick my favs)

I love that you can just leave your bag to reserve your parade spot! I'd be SO nervous, but glad it worked out well for you!

Love all the cute outfits for the parade! I laughed about your girl scout comment because I definitely had to dress like that, too, for an event when I was in GS!!

It took a while to get used to leaving the bag, but that seemed to be the best way there!

Lol - glad I'm not the only one who had to wear outfits like that! I'll need to see if I can find old photos from our Christmas town parades!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Part 3 – Westernland

I assume at one point I used my Honey Hunt fastpass, but I don’t have photos from it (I probably went over right after the parade).

I do have plenty of photos from the Western River Railroad.

As I’ve mentioned before, Tokyo Disneyland doesn’t have a proper railroad which encircles the park due to the train ticket rules in Japan. And all the transport is basically one-way or a round-trip, no stops where people can choose to stay on or get off. So, Western River Railroad basically encircles their Westernland, including Tom Sawyer Island.

It wasn’t a short line at all, but I just waited. (You can see the Railroad line on the left and the Jungle Cruise line on the right)

I did get to see this super cute school group. The uniforms in Japan are pretty adorable for little kids (apparently each type of school and grade has their own particular hat)!

I think it took a couple of trains for me to get onboard.

I think I got a row in the back of a car. I don’t think anyone else was in there, because I got photos from both sides (so I must have slid from side to side, lol!)

At the start, you can see into Jungle Cruise, which is cool!

Into the Western area, with an old station. I definitely had big Disneyland Paris, Frontierland vibes.

Plenty of “wildlife”. And I liked how you could see the canoes and Big Thunder.

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[Lesley Wake]

(Sorry - I'm having issues with gifs in this post)

A native village.

https://imgur.com/Skltx8Y

As you come around the bend, there are some cool river views.

The tracks also go alongside Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

https://imgur.com/Y2v1pGO

And a dinosaur area

Even a diorama the same as the one from Disneyland railroad!

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[Lesley Wake]

For lunch, I went to Camp Woodchuck Kitchen. First, I decided to take some photos of the restaurant interior. I love the Ducktales references (I’m a BIG ducktales fan)!

There was a bit of a language barrier (I wanted 3 different sandwiches, but they originally checked me out with only 2 so I had to go back and get them to correct it… I think the guy behind me in line was annoyed, oh well!)

I’m not sure if this is how there are referred to, but I am doing it: I got Louie’s sandwich, the Rice Ball Sandwich, which was beef with pressed rice. I LOVED THIS! I just loved the rice and beef and it was soo good!

Hewey’s sandwich was a waffle with fried chicken and maple sauce. Pretty good too.

And Dewey’s sandwich (which may have been a Christmas special, but I’m not totally sure), the Menka Cutlet sandwich. I honestly don’t know what a menka cutlet is, but I think some type of meat? It was just ok, and since I had filled myself up with the other sandwiches, I didn’t eat it all.

At some point during the day, I grabbed a couple of extra fastpasses: for Splash Mountain at 1:50, and Big Thunder at 6:30.

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[Lesley Wake]

I actually staked out a good parade spot (in Westernland, near the Country Bears theatre), but I don’t have any photos besides the first float, so I think I decided to just watch and enjoy this time!

After Dreaming Up, I hung out in the area to keep hold of my parade spot (I had learned my lesson after the Halloween parade spots were all taken so quickly). I actually ended up moving to the other side of the parade route though, since I was a bit chilly in the shade, so I wanted a sunny spot!

This was funny though – you are allowed to wait along the parade route during the day, but you aren’t allowed to spread out or set out your parade mat until 1 hr before the parade. There is even an announcement, and it’s funny to see everyone suddenly get up and spread out their mats, so I took a video this time!

I left my stuff and went up to use my fastpass at Splash Mountain. People do say it’s the “best version”, but really I think it’s mostly the same as the MK version, albeit maybe with better maintenance. It’s also not getting the Princess and the Frog remake.

Find the hidden mickey? But also, cute queue buildings.

I think the restraints are pretty uncomfortable on this one for larger Americans (maybe leg as well as waist restraints). But overall fun ride.

https://imgur.com/2lEPAfT

While I was up there, I stopped at Racketty’s Racoon Saloon for the Critter Sundae, Chocolate and milk swirl with mickey churro, chocolate sauce, and corn flakes. I think they had a Christmas version with strawberry ice cream and sauce, but I prefer chocolate, so I stuck to that one. Pretty yummy!

And some more Christmas decorations. Cute how they added little aspects to other things throughout the park.

Coming up - Yet another time watching the Christmas parade! ​

 

[alpal22]

I know that I'm really late to say this, but I've been reading since February 2020 (I think? Might have found you later) and I've finally decided to start replying to more TRs. So hi!

 

[Lesley Wake]

I know that I'm really late to say this, but I've been reading since February 2020 (I think? Might have found you later) and I've finally decided to start replying to more TRs. So hi!

Always happy to see people reading! Especially since I know this trip was soo very long ago (and really feels even longer with how everything has changed since then)

 

[Lesley Wake]

Part 4 – Christmas Stories, 3rd time!

Time for the second showing of Christmas Stories today (and my third time overall)! I was in Westernland again, just further along the route for hopefully a different perspective during the show stop.

Before the parade I spyed this super cute kid with a replica of the Gingerbread suits from the dancers in the parade! People in Tokyo often do this, especially at Halloween!

Parade time. Like Dreaming Up, I didn’t plan on taking too many photos (I had taken plenty during the previous two times watching the parade), but I still took several, lol!

The giant duck cookies were too cute!

Yee haw!

Snow White and the Dwarves.

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[Lesley Wake]

The parade ended up stopping so I was halfway between the Snow White float and the Mickey float, which at first I was a bit bummed about since I wouldn’t have a great character spot. But I did have the reindeer to be entertained!

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[Lesley Wake]

But I was pleasantly surprised with some really fun reindeer! Including one who even came over and tried to turn himself into Rudolph by rubbing his nose on my head! I only filmed for one part of the show stop, but thankfully got this on tape (though all you can see is a questionable camera placement… just imagine if you were sitting on the ground with a camera at head-height; where would a person standing next to you match up, lol)!

On with the parade (looks like I stopped taking photos before Beauty and the Beast or Frozen).

So, yes it did involve a long time waiting around for parades, but I was willing to do it!

Coming up: Enjoying the evening in Disneyland
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[lucas]

Great reindeer pics!

 

[missjackiemcg]

All the floats and characters are always so amazing, but I am really drawn to the Ducks and Lilo & Stitch for some reason. Just so super fun and unique!

Glad you got the fun interaction with the reindeer

 

[alpal22]

TDL does everything to a grand scale, especially the parades. Pics are great!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Great reindeer pics!

Haha, thanks! They were being cheeky!

All the floats and characters are always so amazing, but I am really drawn to the Ducks and Lilo & Stitch for some reason. Just so super fun and unique!

Glad you got the fun interaction with the reindeer

Yeah, the Ducks were just a fun float! Also I think Mickey & Friends was great with all the colors!

TDL does everything to a grand scale, especially the parades. Pics are great!

It definitely does!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Part 5 – Omnibus etc

After the parade I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I had gone on all the rides I wanted, watched the parades (and it was several hours before Dreamlights). So I did things on the fly.

First, I hoped to try and see One Man’s Dream II, the stage show ending in about a month. I lost the show lottery again, and the standby line was already pretty much full. I tried to see if there was a spot off to the side (like what I did for Hello New York), but realized any view of the stage would be blocked by the standby people, so I gave up.

Instead I made my way up to Soft Landing, in Tomorrowland, an ice cream spot. I got the peach/vanilla swirl, which was just ok. But I also got the Green Alien Mochi, which was delicious as usual!

Back in the Hub, I took a ride on the Omnibus for a loop around the square. They don’t have a Main Street and no vehicles in the Bazaar, but their hub is big enough to justify driving around it.They have two vehicles, and it’s a slow drive around, but is fun (they do have proper street vehicles in the New York area at TDS but I never rode any of those).

I also wandered into the Bazaar. You can see my Snosnow ears.

I knew it was getting cold so wanted a warmer hat. The Sully one was fun, but I ended up getting the Winnie the Pooh version!

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[Lesley Wake]

Christmas lights in Adventureland (they have a mini-New Orleans Square area with Pirates, store, food places)

And I got some dinner at Grandma Sara’s Kitchen. This place is underneath splash mountain and has cute interior theming!

(Unfortunately it suffers from the same thing as other places in Tokyo – not enough seating and too many people just hogging up tables without actually eating.)

I got a Christmas offerings, the Seafood Cream Bread with sausage. (One thing nice about Tokyo was they would replace the whole menu when there were seasonal dishes, so you don’t have to rely on the little plaques at the counter like in WDW or DL.) The cream bread was ok. I think it was also tomato cream sauce, which was a bit weird for me as I was expecting more of an alfredo. The sausage was yummy though.

I had grabbed a Dreamlights parade spot in Westernland, but was still hungry, so stopped over at Camp Woodchuck to get another beef rice ball sandwich, lol! It was so yummy!

I figure I must have also used my Big Thunder fastpass at one point, but don’t have photos. (Remember, this was Day 20… I was getting a bit tired of photos, lol!)

Coming up - Dreamlights, Christmas edition, and a surprise Dismeet!​

 

[missjackiemcg]

I love your Winnie the Pooh hat!! The Sully one is cute, but you definitely made the right choice.

I just love all the different types of food and seasonal options they offer everywhere. SO different from WDW. I wish we could get a cute seasonal wrapper or Mickey shaped rice.

 

[Lesley Wake]

I love your Winnie the Pooh hat!! The Sully one is cute, but you definitely made the right choice.

I just love all the different types of food and seasonal options they offer everywhere. SO different from WDW. I wish we could get a cute seasonal wrapper or Mickey shaped rice.

Yeah, I took it to WDW for New Years Eve too, but I don't think I have any photos wearing it!

The seasonal food was great! Really fun and I love the wrappers too!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Part 6 Dreamlights, Christmas Edition

But it was time again for my favorite nighttime parade. They actually do a slight Christmas overlay. Nothing crazy, just some different music, some float accents, and character costumes.

I actually ended up having my first actual Asian dismeet; I had hoped to meet with a couple people in Shanghai and Hong Kong, but those both fell through due to scheduling), with Natalie from the Instagram account tokyodisneystyle. I had followed her to get some tips and we had chatted a couple times before I arrived in Tokyo. We didn’t plan to meet up or anything, but I was checking Instagram while waiting for the parade and saw she was in the park, so she and her two kids ended up coming over to join me for the parade. (I’m not sure if people around me really loved squeezing two adults and two kids onto one parade mat about 5 minutes before the parade started… but oh well!) It was cute because the kids had never had front row parade spots before.

The opening train unit is the most Christmas-y with a wreath around the front and the drum, and Goofy, Minnie and Mickey in Christmas outfits.

Tinkerbell also has a warmer outfit with some fuzzy cuffs. Her friends have Christmas accessories added to their outfits too.

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