xiphoid76
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2011
What an amazing trip. Just coming back from Hong Kong and Tokyo where we completed our life long dream of visiting all the Disney parks in one year. We saved the best for last - Tokyo was absolutely amazing!!!
Nov 9 - took the train from Tokyo to Disneyland - left at 5:30 in the morning from Shinjuku and got to the hotel MiraCosta at 7, not too bad as it wasn't too crowded yet and we had two big suitcases, although some subway transfers were very long!
MiraCosta was absolutely beautiful - long line for check in at 7. After an hour we got to the front of the line. No one spoke English at all, but they were soooo friendly and helpful there - nicest staff members! We got our luggage checked and were told to come back at 4:30 for our room. WE bought our tickets the day before at a Disney store in Shinjuku.
Hopped on the monorail to Disneyland for the day. You must choose a park for each of the first 2 days and then you can hop on the 3rd day. The monorail was very nicely decorated for Xmas - this was the first day of Xmas in the parks.
The lines were big and people were crazy for Disney - loved it so much! They let us in exactly at 9 and we ran with everyone which was so much fun. We ran to Hunny hunt to get a fastpass. My card printed out a ticket that said not valid in Japanese, but I didnt realize this until I was out of the line already and my husband got his fastpass which worked. I found a worker there and she took my ticket to another machine to get me a fastpass. After 5 minutes she handed me and another man whose ticket did not work out park tickets back and the fastpasses. Unfortunately she handed the other man my ticket and gave me his which was only a 1 day pass instead of a 3 day. I was freaking out at this point! They then tried to find that man and couldn't. 10 minutes later they brought a supervisor there and we explained what happened. She did not speak English - no one really did there at all but they called over another supervisor. They said to walk the park and come back in 30 minutes. This was making me very upset - I now had no ticket and we were an hour into the park with huge crowds around us forming lines at the places.
We decided to ride Haunted mansion and then come back, but the ride was broken down. We went back to the Hunny hunt and found the supervisor - she asked for my husband's ticket so they could find the purchase number as we bought them together. They then gave us fastpasses for Hunny hunt but now we had no park tickets.
We rode Hunny hunt still in a little shock. The ride was fantastic - far beats the other Pooh rides in the world. Queues were 90 minutes long rest of the day. When we were done we found the supervisor again and she brought us to watch the parade - not something we wanted to do as the lines were getting long, but we had no choice. The parades were amazing there I have to say - best in all the parks and so glad we saw the Xmas parade - very well done!
When the parade was done the supervisor found us and gave us new tickets for the park. Soooooooo relieved when we had these back in our hands. It was a stressful first few hours in the park and an auspicious beginning. We were stressed as it was a few hours in and we hadnt done much yet. But after this it was all magical!!
People there start waiting for parades and shows about 2-3 hours before the show - amazing. They line up their mat and sit on the grounds. We proceeded to do Haunted mansion which was Jack Skelton decorated and amazing!
The park is beautiful and there are so many workers - more than any other park and friendlier than any place I have ever been - all so nice and helpful. Tomorrowland terrace was a great place for lunch. Beautiful views. All the food stands are fantastic too - we got a Mickey snowman popcorn bucket and a Donald Philharmagic bucket and munched on honey and chocolate popcorn.
The rest of the day was spent walking around and doing a few rides here and there. Long queues for everything, but so orderly and nice. The Xmas decorations were beautiful and its a small world may have been my favorite.
We went back to the hotel and found our room had a view inside DisneySea of Med Harbour which was unbelievable - we could watch all the shows from inside our room inside the park. I was in heaven.
It was odd being there on election day in the USA. One English channel on the TV and no wifi anywhere wo very hard to find out election results. It felt weird to be so cut off, but I think that was nice too
Nov 8 - Disney Sea day - the best park in existence!!!! As a hotel guest in MiraCosta you get early entrance - we were told the queue was by the staircase in the hotel, but as were waiting there until 30 minutes before the park opened and still no one else in line, we decided to ask again and this time was directed outside to a different line which was huge. Again, no English anywhere, but people very helpful to us - I wish I knew more Japanese!
We got in about 5 minutes before the rest of the looooooong queue. People all ran towards Toy Story mania - we had no interest in that and went to Mysterious Island and loved it. We were the only ones on 20,000 Leagues and Journey to the center, then went to ride Sinbad and the carousel - all being the only ones in the park in that area. We did all of that in 20 minutes before other people started showing up, then the lines got much longer, but it was a great start. WE took the boat to America park, which was basically Duffy land - they are crazy crazy for Duffy!!! It is a little bizarre but funny how much Duffy stuff they buy.
We wanted a shirt or magnet that said Tokyo Disney - nothing in the whole park - actually really nothing at all for souvenirs - lots of Duffy merchandise but no shirts, trinkets, etc. It was odd - people were buying lots of merchandise, but nothing that we would consider souvenirs, more tins of Duffy cookies or Duffy clothes or weird hats.
The shows of Mythica and Festival of foods were amazingly good. Colors of Christmas was a bit of a letdown as all they did was color some Xmas trees.
The lands were beautiful and the food my favorite -Chinese sausage stand, popcorn and Vulcania restaurant the best. This was the most beautiful park in the whole Disney system. Loved exploring the theming which was so elaborate including all the lands, the fortress, the Colombia ship. So much to see, you could explore the whole day and not see everything!
Nov 9 - we leisurely did both parks again and enjoyed every minute of our adventure before our plane ride back to HK for the last Disney park of the year. What an amazing adventure!!
Nov 9 - took the train from Tokyo to Disneyland - left at 5:30 in the morning from Shinjuku and got to the hotel MiraCosta at 7, not too bad as it wasn't too crowded yet and we had two big suitcases, although some subway transfers were very long!
MiraCosta was absolutely beautiful - long line for check in at 7. After an hour we got to the front of the line. No one spoke English at all, but they were soooo friendly and helpful there - nicest staff members! We got our luggage checked and were told to come back at 4:30 for our room. WE bought our tickets the day before at a Disney store in Shinjuku.
Hopped on the monorail to Disneyland for the day. You must choose a park for each of the first 2 days and then you can hop on the 3rd day. The monorail was very nicely decorated for Xmas - this was the first day of Xmas in the parks.
The lines were big and people were crazy for Disney - loved it so much! They let us in exactly at 9 and we ran with everyone which was so much fun. We ran to Hunny hunt to get a fastpass. My card printed out a ticket that said not valid in Japanese, but I didnt realize this until I was out of the line already and my husband got his fastpass which worked. I found a worker there and she took my ticket to another machine to get me a fastpass. After 5 minutes she handed me and another man whose ticket did not work out park tickets back and the fastpasses. Unfortunately she handed the other man my ticket and gave me his which was only a 1 day pass instead of a 3 day. I was freaking out at this point! They then tried to find that man and couldn't. 10 minutes later they brought a supervisor there and we explained what happened. She did not speak English - no one really did there at all but they called over another supervisor. They said to walk the park and come back in 30 minutes. This was making me very upset - I now had no ticket and we were an hour into the park with huge crowds around us forming lines at the places.
We decided to ride Haunted mansion and then come back, but the ride was broken down. We went back to the Hunny hunt and found the supervisor - she asked for my husband's ticket so they could find the purchase number as we bought them together. They then gave us fastpasses for Hunny hunt but now we had no park tickets.
We rode Hunny hunt still in a little shock. The ride was fantastic - far beats the other Pooh rides in the world. Queues were 90 minutes long rest of the day. When we were done we found the supervisor again and she brought us to watch the parade - not something we wanted to do as the lines were getting long, but we had no choice. The parades were amazing there I have to say - best in all the parks and so glad we saw the Xmas parade - very well done!
When the parade was done the supervisor found us and gave us new tickets for the park. Soooooooo relieved when we had these back in our hands. It was a stressful first few hours in the park and an auspicious beginning. We were stressed as it was a few hours in and we hadnt done much yet. But after this it was all magical!!
People there start waiting for parades and shows about 2-3 hours before the show - amazing. They line up their mat and sit on the grounds. We proceeded to do Haunted mansion which was Jack Skelton decorated and amazing!
The park is beautiful and there are so many workers - more than any other park and friendlier than any place I have ever been - all so nice and helpful. Tomorrowland terrace was a great place for lunch. Beautiful views. All the food stands are fantastic too - we got a Mickey snowman popcorn bucket and a Donald Philharmagic bucket and munched on honey and chocolate popcorn.
The rest of the day was spent walking around and doing a few rides here and there. Long queues for everything, but so orderly and nice. The Xmas decorations were beautiful and its a small world may have been my favorite.
We went back to the hotel and found our room had a view inside DisneySea of Med Harbour which was unbelievable - we could watch all the shows from inside our room inside the park. I was in heaven.
It was odd being there on election day in the USA. One English channel on the TV and no wifi anywhere wo very hard to find out election results. It felt weird to be so cut off, but I think that was nice too
Nov 8 - Disney Sea day - the best park in existence!!!! As a hotel guest in MiraCosta you get early entrance - we were told the queue was by the staircase in the hotel, but as were waiting there until 30 minutes before the park opened and still no one else in line, we decided to ask again and this time was directed outside to a different line which was huge. Again, no English anywhere, but people very helpful to us - I wish I knew more Japanese!
We got in about 5 minutes before the rest of the looooooong queue. People all ran towards Toy Story mania - we had no interest in that and went to Mysterious Island and loved it. We were the only ones on 20,000 Leagues and Journey to the center, then went to ride Sinbad and the carousel - all being the only ones in the park in that area. We did all of that in 20 minutes before other people started showing up, then the lines got much longer, but it was a great start. WE took the boat to America park, which was basically Duffy land - they are crazy crazy for Duffy!!! It is a little bizarre but funny how much Duffy stuff they buy.
We wanted a shirt or magnet that said Tokyo Disney - nothing in the whole park - actually really nothing at all for souvenirs - lots of Duffy merchandise but no shirts, trinkets, etc. It was odd - people were buying lots of merchandise, but nothing that we would consider souvenirs, more tins of Duffy cookies or Duffy clothes or weird hats.
The shows of Mythica and Festival of foods were amazingly good. Colors of Christmas was a bit of a letdown as all they did was color some Xmas trees.
The lands were beautiful and the food my favorite -Chinese sausage stand, popcorn and Vulcania restaurant the best. This was the most beautiful park in the whole Disney system. Loved exploring the theming which was so elaborate including all the lands, the fortress, the Colombia ship. So much to see, you could explore the whole day and not see everything!
Nov 9 - we leisurely did both parks again and enjoyed every minute of our adventure before our plane ride back to HK for the last Disney park of the year. What an amazing adventure!!
