Tokyo summer trip report

[Brerprincess]

Hi all! I just discovered these boards (trying to get a discount Disney gift card through Target lol, such madness for 10% but of course I have to try!) and figured I would crosspost my trip report from this summer. Originally posted on my personal blog for family and then shared on one other disney forum. The people over there found it helpful so I figured maybe some people here also have an interest. I know I love reading trip reports

I recently got back from a 9 day trip to Japan, 4.5 of the days were spent at the TDR It was just as incredible as the blogs tout and I can't wait to share my experience with you guys. FYI this is crossposted to my personal blog so if some details seem oddly personal, that is why.

Spoiler notice: I describe Journey to the Center of the Earth in enough detail that those who haven't ridden it yet should skip that paragraph.

*A note on the photography: Although I spent a lot of time taking photos with my DSLR and trying to get high quality shots, there is a good mix of cell phone photos in here too. Meh. Also, the sizes aren't uniform and I am too lazy to change it this post, maybe in future ones I will be more careful.

I had been anticipating this trip for really a year, but actively for around 3 months. I planned and read everything I possibly could beforehand because passing the time was so hard. A day before leaving I spent way too long getting even my nails ready for Disneyland.


I woke up 20 mins before my 4:45 AM alarm on Saturday. I don't remember having this kind of excitement for anything since well, probably since I went to Disneyland as a kid. I remember the annual tradition of sitting in Denny's at some ridiculously early hour with my mom and sister and not being able to eat as I bounced with anticipation for rope drop. Despite being awake at 4:20 AM before 24 hours of travel, I savored this rare childlike joy that isn't so easy to come by anymore.

After the two hour drive to Portland everything was accomplished with unbelievable speed. The parking shuttle, airport check-in and security was all done in a sum of 30 minutes. Gotta love PDX, it is the best international airport I've ever been to. With 2.5ish hours of time to kill we decided to eat at this fun island themed restaurant in the airport. The french toast portion was way too large considering I couldn't take any 'home' with me and Forrest couldn't share, but hey it made for a nice photo!


Eventually we boarded the flight which had a layover in Canada before arriving in Narita. The flight from Canada was boring and, although only 9.5 hours, felt like an eternity for my eager self. I had a great experience flying with Canada Air though and would definitely book with them again in the future. They cater really well to people with special dietary needs and have a very large, modern, and free movie selection.

Getting out of the Narita airport and to the Tokyo Disney Resort was unfortunately less efficient than I had expected based on other blogs. Going through customs took about an hour due to an unwieldy 'line'/blob of people pushing. The room was very hot and crowded, making for a rather unpleasant entry into Japan. We eventually got through one customs area, went into another entry area and after about 90 minutes were able to collect Forrest's bag. I was proud to fly with only carry on for the 9 day trip (although my stuffed bag was pushing the size/weight limit and I was kindly asked to check it on the way back...). After that we waited in another long line to get a ticket for the shuttle bus that would take us directly from the airport to the Disney Resort (~1 hr away). While waiting for the bus I oohed and awed over the Japan vending machines. I don't care about vending machines in the US but for some reason the Japan ones really appealed to me. Maybe it was my vacation diet mentality, but I had to try a new weird flavor just about every day of the trip. I highly recommend the drinks with the jelly in them and advise against the fruit flavored milky drinks as I found them to be overpoweringly sweet.


Here we are finally on the shuttle bus at 7 pm on Sunday (Tokyo time), technically 22 hours into our trip. Happy and exhausted.


Staying on-site at the resort is pretty important here as getting to the park requires public transit otherwise and is overall much more inconvenient than staying off-site in California. The cheapest on-site hotel with an English website was the Hilton, so that's where we stayed. They run super cheap sales for weeknights fairly often for the Hilton Tokyo Bay so for anyone looking to book a trip like this in the future, I highly recommend booking a fully refundable hotel room a few months in advance and then checking for the room to go on sale.

Arriving at the hotel was overwhelming. The lobby was so beautiful and Disney-full that I got teary eyed walking in. I couldn't believe I was actually at the Hilton Tokyo Bay, on my 24th birthday, about to spend 4 days in the parks. A feeling I will always cherish. The hotel staff was extremely kind and showed us to our room without any hiccups. The room was beautiful with a view of the bay and a minimalist style to the decor, but the bed definitely said 'Japan' when I layed down. It was HARD compared to what I am used to. This was only a problem the first night since I was so very tired the following days after spending 14 hours walking through the parks in the extreme heat.



That night we went to the equivalent of Downtown Disney, which is called Ikspiari there. We had sushi that was mediocre, both in price and quality, and then got to bed eager reasonably early.

I had an even worse time sleeping that night than before my trip to Portland the 'previous' night. Between the hard bed, the time change, my excitement and the 3:30 AM sunrise (lesson learned, close the blinds COMPLETELY before bed in Tokyo) I was wide awake hours early. I took the time to do my hair and makeup (which you will see I got increasingly lazy about every day of the trip...) and put on my birthday attitude . Since I spent my real birthday flying all day, I declared that July 11 would be my birthday this year, especially since most of that day was my actual real bday in California. Once we left the hotel around 7:00 AM that morning I had Forrest snap a photo of me with said birthday attitude on.


While I am partially joking about my birthday attitude, I think the picture does show my absolute joy knowing that my real vacation was about to begin. While I work extraordinarily hard in my everyday life, and know I deserve these kind of moments, I also know I was very fortunate to have a series of opportunities that lead to this memory. I won't make this blog too sappy, but let it be known that I am very appreciative of this vacation and the fact that I got to share it with Forrest. Funny enough, the first conversation Forrest and I ever had was at a party and we talked about Disneyworld for a while. Disney was our first connecting point (well second if you count the chemistry graduate program...) and it is so wonderful that we get to share this passion in our relationship. Most of the thoughts I will share on the Tokyo Disney experience reflect both of our opinions and enthusiasm. I can't emphasize enough the importance of visiting a Disney park with someone who can appreciate the environment. I know Disneyland isn't everyone's cup of tea, and that is fine people like what they like, but sharing our childlike wonder definitely amplified the experience.

We had 4 day tickets to the parks and started with day 1 at Disneysea. For anyone not aware, Disneysea is Disneyland's sister park in Tokyo.It is similar to California Adventure in that they are both the newer park next to Disneyland on Disney property, but that is about all they have in common. I always loved CA Adventure, until I went to Disneysea. Disneysea is everything a sister park should be. It maintains the Disney 'magic' but adds in more adult concepts of adventure, history, science-fiction, and the whole thing is very immersive and GORGEOUS. Disneysea is themed to be various ports of the world and incorporates many Jules Verne books into the concepts. It is a place that should be on every Disney fan's bucket list. It is really incredible and honestly if you a traveling without children, the cost of a vacation there is comparable to the cost of a vacation to the American parks if you are paying airfare. There are some excellent English blogs discussing Disneysea and I would point anyone interested in learning more about it to the Disney Tourist Blog or TDR Explorer.

 

[Brerprincess]

All of my planning payed off for maximizing the fun at Disneysea. I knew that even during the week the crowds are insane before rope drop, so it is recommended to be at the gates an hour before the park opens. Getting to the park is very easy from the Hilton, there are buses running all day at 5-10 minute intervals to the monorail station (which is about a 5 min walk away). I love that all of the buses from every on-site hotel are the same retro Mickey style and give a cohesive and fun look to the bus station. The buses have Japanese Mickey speaking and while I have no clue what he said, Forrest and I perfected imitating his Japanese accented laugh which was absolutely hilarious to us. It was so jovial and now when I think of it I smile because those buses and his laugh just really got me in the Disney zone.




The monorail is really an attraction in itself since there are various trains decorated in different themes. One of them is themed to Disneysea's current 15 year anniversary, but my favorite train celebrates Duffy the Disney bear. Duffy will have his own post at some point, as he is probably more loved than Mickey or Minnie at the Tokyo Disney Resort. He is their mascot and their love for him (and his two friends) is entirely contagious. I came prepared with a Duffy (bought for 1/5 the price used on Ebay) and ended up purchasing a new Shellie May (his bear girlfriend) because I was infected with Duffy fever. Stay tuned for more on Duffy.





We to the gate about 50 mins early and took a seat behind a long line of people. The hour passed quickly as we applied sunscreen and studied the map and showtimes, making a plan of action. We took the advice of others online to get a Fast Pass for Tower of Terror then immediately ride Journey to the Center of the Earth. When the clock turned to 8:30 and people were let in, there was absolute chaos. The Japanese, who normally follow the park rules very well, ignore all of the cast members holding signs that say "For safety please walk" and run into the park at full speed. Forrest and I felt weird running so he briskly walked to get our fast passes while I went to Journey. This ended up not being necessary and the following days we just walked briskly together. We got in Journey with no wait and really enjoyed the ride. This is the park's flagship ride and takes place inside Mt. Prometheus (the giant volcano in the center of the park).



The ride combines dark scenic drives through science fiction landscapes, such as a fluorescent mushroom forest, with a thrilling high-speed dash from a lava monster that has moments of upward acceleration and high views of the park. We ended up riding this another 2 times during the trip, the last of which we willingly waited 70 mins for. If the ride was 1 minute longer it would probably be my favorite of all time. Since it is a bit too short, Indiana Jones, Pirates and Haunted Mansion still beat it in my opinion.

I was personally disappointed by Tower of Terror because the language barrier prevented me from really getting the thematic differences between the CA version, and the ride itself isn't much different. We did't ride that again.



My memory gets a little fuzzy here because I was so overcome with happiness and I finally enjoyed the place I had been reading about extensively for months. I think that during the next hour or two we took the time to wander around and soak in a lot of the beauty before it got too crowded. The park is just so themed and immersive it is really a lot of fun to just see it all. Here are some photos from that blissful morning.







Sometime during our wandering we tried the lotto for Big Band Beat. The Tokyo parks have this lotto system for viewing shows that we ultimately fell in love with. You scan your tickets and select your desired show time. Right then the machine tells you that you either won tickets for the day or not; there is no need to line up hours early and no rude people trying to squeeze into a spot that doesn't exist. Of course this means some days you don't get to see a show you want, but after 4 days in the parks we won a ticket for all 5 shows total, so the chances are fairly high of winning on week days. Also, some of the shows have standby lines as well. Anyway, I had heard great things about a Disneysea showed titled Big Band Beat and wanted to see that on my birthday more than anything. I heard if you showed up early and selected the earliest show time, you had the best chances of winning. This is likely true as we won this way on the first try! As a side note, we didn't get there early enough to try for that show any other days and also never won Big Band Beat again.



The show was phenomenal. Unbelievable quality for a theme park production. My cheeks hurt at the end because I was smiling for the entire duration. Presumably, since it is in the New York part of the park it was in English. Although there are random parts of other shows in English too.... Side note: the amount of English on signs and in announcements is surprising (the language 'barrier' really isn't a barrier in most ways) given that most of the population doesn't speak English.

This seems like a good place to stop for today. I will pick back up next time with my birthday lunch at Magellan's.

 

[juneaubiscuits]

Great start to your trip report! I can really relate to your excitement and enthusiasm at being in Tokyo. Disneysea is truly the most beautiful of all the Disney parks. I'm heading there next fall so it will be fun to hear about your time there.

 

[lullwater]

I’m glad you had such a delightful experience. Your pictures really shine and show off the Disney Sea architectural contrast which was fabricated by a crew overseen by British and Australian movie set designers. Tokyo Disneyland isn’t owned by the Walt Disney Corporation and they pay more attention to detail and don’t spare the expense; taking more pride. You ate at Ikspiari, beautiful at night, which many visitors fail to mention or visit; a bit dated now but they have wonderful restaurants which are easy to miss if you aren’t local. Many of the best restaurants in Japan are so understated they almost appear invisible; and sometimes visually decrepit. One of my favorite restaurant for guests was the location for the Crazy 88 fight scene in Tarantino's Kill Bill. George Bush ate there, but is wasn't the place he was famous for throwing up at in the middle of dinner; maybe not a sushi fan.

 

[Catvondita]

Following along. I took Japanese for a few years in college and always wanted to visit. Sounds like you had a great time!!

 

[lullwater]

The less Japanese you speak, the more pixie dust at Tokyo Disneyland; actually in all of Japan.