afnaechiquita
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2008
Hello! I posted here back in Mayish asking if June/July would be a good time crowd-wise for a trip to TDL or TDS. As it turns out, it was almost a perfect time. I visited a friend in Tokyo (actually Yokohama) June 21-26, and since he was working most of the time I managed to squeeze in a day trip to TDS! I used the crowd calendar here, and it was pretty accurate.
I chose to go to TDS because TDL seemed more like MK to me, and I figured if I was going to pick one I'd pick the one with more attractions that I couldn't get anywhere else! It was a good decision in the end.
I was so excited to go that I couldn't sleep. I figured out what trains to take (using Hyperdia), and I was off! I ended up getting there an hour before the park opened. It was a little boring to wait by myself, but I was still super excited so the time passed quickly!
I first saw Mickey and his pals opening the park! I have never been there for a rope drop in WDW, so it was fun to see this.
Then I saw my first rare character (well, rare for me) and had my first experience of character greetings here. I find it interesting that as line-friendly as Japan is, there are NO lines for character greetings. It was pretty much circle-around-the-characters-and-make-yourself-known-to-greet. At least, for the characters on the streets. The characters in specific greeting spots (i.e. Ariel, Mickey & Pals) had their respective, expected very long queues. At any rate, I'd never seen Gideon, so this was more excitement (I say excite a lot, if you haven't noticed).
I went straight to Journey to the Center of the Earth, as I had done my research here and found that it and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea get backed up quickly. I had no wait for Journey, and about a 15-20 minute wait for 20,000 Leagues. Already, I was extremely impressed with TDS. The rides would have been worth the wait, had I had one!
After those two, I headed to Mermaid Lagoon. Little Mermaid is my favorite, so I was (guessssss) excited to see it. I met Ariel, she asked where my Prince was and why I was alone! I also rode Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster, which was fun, but definitely a kiddy ride. I went into Triton's Kingdom, which I found to be extremely well done! I didn't do anything in there though. I wasn't really sure how long I'd need to get through everything I wanted to see, and I knew I wanted to leave the park around 6, so I just looked.
I then grabbed a FP for Raging Spirits, and headed over to the Arabian Coast. There, I did Sinbad's Storybook Voyage and the Magic Lamp Theater. Sinbad pretty much matched up with all the reviews I had seen - a much more politically incorrect IASW. Still, it was fun. I had a little difficulty at the Magic Lamp Theater with getting a CM to grab me an English subtitler, but after that it was fine. It was a little annoying to watch the show with the subtitler, but then I think, that's what every non-English speaking person feels when visiting DL/WDW! It's interesting to be on the other side.
I picked up one of these for a snack. I forget what it was called, but it was tasty. I didn't take pictures of everything, but I definitely ate every possible snack I could. At least, by the end of the day it felt like I had!
Raging Spirits was awesome. It might be one of my favorite rides overall now. After it, I grabbed a FP for Indiana Jones. The FP times were way into the afternoon by now, so I had tons of time to kill. I just wandered and took it in. And ran into a performing CM!
American Waterfront/Port Discovery were neat. I wanted to ride this, but since I was alone I did not
StormRider was closed, so no-go there either.
I went up the lighthouse in American Waterfront, and it has a decent view of Tokyo. This, however, slightly bothered me, as I've always gone to Disney with the idea that you should never be able to see "the real world" from inside of Disney. The "real world" has other views on this.
I needed to see if the typical Disney sandwich fare was the same, and it was!
My wandering took me to my favorite Munks!! With the exception of seeing Goofy at his character spot (and that was only because I wanted to kill time), I didn't take photos with any characters that I had already met except my beloved, favorite chipmunks. And even then, I only got Dale (Chip was too crowded). This was all I needed for a good day!
Saw a bit of what's to come...
I also did ToT during this time, in addition to a bit of shopping. I loved the story with ToT here! I did not so much like the shopping. I never saw the appeal of Duffy, and so I was very ho-hum about seeing only Duffy-memorabilia in the shops.
After that, I did Indiana Jones (and loved it!) and it was about time to head back. I wandered through some of the shops I missed on the way in.
In hindsight, I wish I had spent a little more time exploring Triton's Kingdom and the Arabian Coast. However, I went into it with the mindset of having a relaxing, explorative (is that a word??) day, and that is what I had. It was also my first time doing any Disney park alone, so that was a new experience. I was really on the fence about if I actually wanted to go or not, but in the end, it was a good decision. Tokyo itself really overwhelmed me. So, I could have spent the day doing more exploring in Tokyo, but I felt like I had already done so much exploring without even touching 1% of Tokyo, that visiting somewhere that provided a home-like comfort was good. And fun!
Also, I just wanted to prove it is possible to have a day trip to TDS! If I had planned it better, maybe I would have been able to squeeze in an actual meal, and seen a show, but every trip is different!
Anyway, short, quick trip report (my first ever), but I hope you enjoyed.
I chose to go to TDS because TDL seemed more like MK to me, and I figured if I was going to pick one I'd pick the one with more attractions that I couldn't get anywhere else! It was a good decision in the end.
I was so excited to go that I couldn't sleep. I figured out what trains to take (using Hyperdia), and I was off! I ended up getting there an hour before the park opened. It was a little boring to wait by myself, but I was still super excited so the time passed quickly!
I first saw Mickey and his pals opening the park! I have never been there for a rope drop in WDW, so it was fun to see this.
Then I saw my first rare character (well, rare for me) and had my first experience of character greetings here. I find it interesting that as line-friendly as Japan is, there are NO lines for character greetings. It was pretty much circle-around-the-characters-and-make-yourself-known-to-greet. At least, for the characters on the streets. The characters in specific greeting spots (i.e. Ariel, Mickey & Pals) had their respective, expected very long queues. At any rate, I'd never seen Gideon, so this was more excitement (I say excite a lot, if you haven't noticed).
I went straight to Journey to the Center of the Earth, as I had done my research here and found that it and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea get backed up quickly. I had no wait for Journey, and about a 15-20 minute wait for 20,000 Leagues. Already, I was extremely impressed with TDS. The rides would have been worth the wait, had I had one!
After those two, I headed to Mermaid Lagoon. Little Mermaid is my favorite, so I was (guessssss) excited to see it. I met Ariel, she asked where my Prince was and why I was alone! I also rode Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster, which was fun, but definitely a kiddy ride. I went into Triton's Kingdom, which I found to be extremely well done! I didn't do anything in there though. I wasn't really sure how long I'd need to get through everything I wanted to see, and I knew I wanted to leave the park around 6, so I just looked.
I then grabbed a FP for Raging Spirits, and headed over to the Arabian Coast. There, I did Sinbad's Storybook Voyage and the Magic Lamp Theater. Sinbad pretty much matched up with all the reviews I had seen - a much more politically incorrect IASW. Still, it was fun. I had a little difficulty at the Magic Lamp Theater with getting a CM to grab me an English subtitler, but after that it was fine. It was a little annoying to watch the show with the subtitler, but then I think, that's what every non-English speaking person feels when visiting DL/WDW! It's interesting to be on the other side.
I picked up one of these for a snack. I forget what it was called, but it was tasty. I didn't take pictures of everything, but I definitely ate every possible snack I could. At least, by the end of the day it felt like I had!
Raging Spirits was awesome. It might be one of my favorite rides overall now. After it, I grabbed a FP for Indiana Jones. The FP times were way into the afternoon by now, so I had tons of time to kill. I just wandered and took it in. And ran into a performing CM!
American Waterfront/Port Discovery were neat. I wanted to ride this, but since I was alone I did not
StormRider was closed, so no-go there either.I went up the lighthouse in American Waterfront, and it has a decent view of Tokyo. This, however, slightly bothered me, as I've always gone to Disney with the idea that you should never be able to see "the real world" from inside of Disney. The "real world" has other views on this.
I needed to see if the typical Disney sandwich fare was the same, and it was!
My wandering took me to my favorite Munks!! With the exception of seeing Goofy at his character spot (and that was only because I wanted to kill time), I didn't take photos with any characters that I had already met except my beloved, favorite chipmunks. And even then, I only got Dale (Chip was too crowded). This was all I needed for a good day!
Saw a bit of what's to come...
I also did ToT during this time, in addition to a bit of shopping. I loved the story with ToT here! I did not so much like the shopping. I never saw the appeal of Duffy, and so I was very ho-hum about seeing only Duffy-memorabilia in the shops.
After that, I did Indiana Jones (and loved it!) and it was about time to head back. I wandered through some of the shops I missed on the way in.
In hindsight, I wish I had spent a little more time exploring Triton's Kingdom and the Arabian Coast. However, I went into it with the mindset of having a relaxing, explorative (is that a word??) day, and that is what I had. It was also my first time doing any Disney park alone, so that was a new experience. I was really on the fence about if I actually wanted to go or not, but in the end, it was a good decision. Tokyo itself really overwhelmed me. So, I could have spent the day doing more exploring in Tokyo, but I felt like I had already done so much exploring without even touching 1% of Tokyo, that visiting somewhere that provided a home-like comfort was good. And fun!
Also, I just wanted to prove it is possible to have a day trip to TDS! If I had planned it better, maybe I would have been able to squeeze in an actual meal, and seen a show, but every trip is different!
Anyway, short, quick trip report (my first ever), but I hope you enjoyed.
I was pretty unimpressed with it, it seemed like as soon as it started speeding up they'd put the breaks on it and slow it down... 
