Well, where to begin...how about...Wow! Tokyo Disney was great. We had an absolute blast!!!! The park is beautiful and clean. When I say clean, I mean, spotless, spills immediately picked up by a team of cast members. The whole park looked like it was brand new. Disneyland Tokyo and Disney Sea were both amazing. The rides were really cool and the crowds were fairly light. I could go all into detail about the weather (not bad, little chilly and windy), the rides (some cool new ones, but also some of the originals) and the food (nothing noteworthy, equivalent to decent cafeteria food), but I'm not going to bore you. The weather and food are hit-or-miss for any vacation and the rides you can read about on-line if you are serious about coming over to Japan and hitting a Disney park. I also won't bore you with a ton of photo's, that'll be a later post! Okay here's one...Mickey bow, Mickey sweatshirt (it was chilly) and food on a tray.
So what could I possibly write about?
Anyone who knows Amie, knows that this trip was top of the list of things to do in Japan, so clearly it's going to have some huge write up on the blog. Otherwise what's the blog for?
Well, in the interest of being interesting, I am going to go out on a limb. I have been to a few Disney parks in my time, both Florida and California. The amount of time and money I've spent in the parks I think qualifies me as somewhat of an pseudo-expert. I don't know all the character names, but I know the essentials, primary escape routes following a parade, certain short cuts to beat the rush to a ride, what rides to hit at what time of day to avoid waiting in a line greater than 20 minutes, and most importantly Disney is the happiest place on earth but is filled with crying kids and frustrated parents everyday around 4:00 o'clock so watch out. I've spent enough time sitting with a baby or a toddler waiting for the other kids to come off a ride to make certain observations. Let's be honest, once you've been to the parks a couple of times, you are able to look past the bright lights and show, and see some of the details!
So since I've assumed this self-proclaimed expert status with respect to American parks, I will now try to explain some of the differences I noted while we were in the Tokyo parks! Some of these differences may come down to just differences between people who attend the Tokyo parks and people who attend the parks at Orlando or Anaheim. I won't say Japanese versus Americans because that is not fair, there are rude foreigners at both, as I am sure I was accused of being here (although to my defense, whatever I did, I didn't do it, or it was an accident!)
1.
Electric Convenience Vehicles (ECV). Okay, so first off, there was not one single ECV! At first, we joked about not seeing one, but then after a couple hours of seriously looking around we didn't see a single one the whole time we were there. There were plenty of people walking around with canes, and the occasional wheelchair. Actually I think I saw one motorized wheelchair, but since the person had to use the little joy-stick to move and turn I'll cut him some slack. Mostly, people simply walked! Now I understand that there are truly legitimate cases for needing an ECV. During our visit there were none of the hidden disabilities such as "I have an eating disorder, so I am fat, so I have to use this small golf cart to lug my largeness around while I eat this turkey leg." Not a single one!
Now you could fall back on my previous comments about the food being so-so, but that doesn't add up. The food in the parks was okay at best, but you don't instantly get fat when you show up at Disney and then need a fatty cart either in Japan or the U.S. You have to build up the need for an ECV, and if you read my previous post, the food out in town can be really good, so there is plenty of opportunity to put on some pounds. But that weight gain doesn't translate to a need for an ECV, and again we didn't see a single one.
And a side note of this observation was there weren't parents pushing around 9-10 years olds in a stroller! They walked too! Imagine that! As a matter of fact, there were hardly any strollers at all.
2.
Moving across the row. Another observation I made, and was pleasantly surprised to see how it is supposed to work, was the moving to the end of the row when filling the seats in the show. Those who have gone before have heard the request:
"Welcome to (Philharmagic, Muppets...whatever), please move to the end of row when filling the seats. Please don't stop in the middle of the row." Only to see either some chuckle-head who thinks the rules don't apply to them, or some foreigner who magically doesn't understand a word of English, stop in the middle of the row and hold up everyone else. Sidenote: if you are one of these people, you are bound for one of Dante's levels of hell in my book! So be warned!
Well, in Japan, when you hear the Japanese version of the request, everyone moves down to the end! It was amazing. No delays, no hold-ups! The system works.
Now since I am somewhat discussing Mickey's Philharmagic I'll bring up another point. For those who don't know, Mickey's Philharmagic is a 3-D movie of Donald Duck who steals Mickey's sorcerer's hat (remember, I've been a few times) and his adventure trying to get it back while trying to set up the orchestra. It is a compilations of 5 to 6 well known Disney movie theme songs. Anyways, not that I am comparing Philharmagic to any Italian or German operas, but those opera's were never translated into another language (to my knowledge) because the words (syllable count) were important for the timing of the song. So when the songs were translated to Japanese, to me they didn't sound right, like someone 'speed speaking' to finish the words in a certain number of notes. Besides, Goofy's laugh didn't sound right, so it threw it off for me!
3.
Rides. So timing is everything, speed is important. But not if speeding up a ride will adversely effect the ride? Japanese efficiency! I mean it isn't about the ride itself, only that people had the opportunity to ride the ride (huh?). So like I said, having ridden a few rides, and Peter Pan being one of my favorites, I was surprised to see how fast we went through the ride. It was literally at a faster pace! I mean a detail of the ride is seeing Peter's and the other's shadows across the moon, and spending time looking down on the city of London! Well, damn I've come in for a landing slower than that! I mean it was so fast that the moon and London were a flash and when we took a corner you slid across the seat!
After the ride, I was about to ask Amie about it but before I could, she said "did that ride seem fast to you?" It was the same for some of the other rides like Snow White! I guess if you got to ride the ride, it doesn't matter if you missed most of it because of the speed.
I guess what really confused me is that if the speed of a ride isn't important, and the safety of a 4 year old possibly flying out of the seat and into the crocodiles mouth isn't such a big deal, then why do they have a braking system on the Tea Cups?
Every mother's horror is when dad takes his kids on the Tea Cups and pins them against the seat with the centrifugal force.
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| Previous Successful Tea Cup Ride |
I mean spinning your kids to the point of potential hurling is one of the truly enjoyable parts of the Magic Kingdom. So when I watched Harrison take his brothers on the Tea cups for his inaugural "spin till they puke" voyage, I, as the dad, was horrified to see the cup suddenly slow down the spinning because of the brake installed! I witnessed poor Harrison suffer through 6 or more brake periods, halting his progress. Major disappointment for him and me.
4.
Did Mickey just show me my death? Okay, one last point on the rides. I was a little stunned to see a Disney ride that ends in your death! I am not 100% certain that it is a fact because I don't speak Japanese, but I am fairly certain the ride was over because I was supposedly dead! Falling back on another skill I have...being a pilot...I know that you don't want to enter a rolling, spinning descent that violently hits the water. And since the lights went out after we "hit the water" and stayed out until we left the ride, I think we got to see the darker side of Mickey! M-I-C...see you real soon! K-E-Y, why? because you really ticked me off so I killed ya! M-O-U-S-E! Amie said she heard from another mom that they rode the ride with a Japanese friend who confirmed that is pretty much what happened based on the translation. Damn the Mouse can be cold!
5.
Fashion over Function. Like I alluded too earlier, the weather was okay, a bit windy, which made it a little cold at the end of the day. For the majority of the attendees to Disneyland...who cares! The cold and wind were not going to impact fashion. There were some seriously dressed people in the parks. I mean it was actually nice to not see a bunch of stained wife beaters and larger women wearing shirts FAR TOO SMALL for them! I mean if you did see a wife beater it was, according to Amie "well accessorized with skinny jeans, a scarf and Doc Marten boots!" What you did see a lot of was hats, big bows and super high heels. I mean there were even Chuck Taylors with 4 inch platforms!
Speaking of accessorizing...it seems that the thing to do to accessorized yourself is to carry your stuffed animals with you. Everyone...men, women, boys and girls were carrying some kind of stuffed animal. It seems that "Duffy" is a teddy bear that is huge over here. Even Lila noticed, and she noticed she wasn't walking around with one, which she quickly corrected and was carrying around two of them by the end of the visit.
6.
Efficient, Orderly, somewhat Insane. Okay final point. Toy Story Mania is a new ride over here in Tokyo Disney Sea. It's only a year or so old. It is the new awesome thing to do in the park. Much like in America it is very popular and people will wait in long lines to go on the ride. In Orlando, people will make a mad rush for the Fast Pass. Having "run with the bulls or heifers" to get a fast pass, it can be both annoying and a rush. Here in Tokyo Disney, the difference is it is well organized and orderly. In Orlando, you have to watch out for the person who'll sweep the leg to get ahead or try to cut in front of you, but here, not so much. I will say the first day, we didn't even try to get passes because we saw what was assumed to be a crazy mob, but the last day we tried. I was thrown into the mix. So from the initial entry into the park, I made my way straight back to Toy Story. Here's a view of the Fast pass line from where I stood...that mob looking crowd is the line!
And here's a view of the line behind me. Again, the whole street is the line.
Twenty minutes later I was out of the line. No one shoved, cut or tried to move ahead. Insanity made orderly!
Overall, a great trip. If you are truly a Disney fan, than a trip to Tokyo Disney Sea is a must! It is a beautiful, well laid out park with great rides. The level of detail from attractions to shows to shops and overall scenery is outstanding. If anyone comes to visit, I am sure Amie and the kids will not mind going back to Tokyo Disney Sea to show you in person (unfortunately probably while I'm at work)!
