We spent all day Monday (9 a.m.-10 p.m.) at Tokyo Disneyland. They are celebrating their 25th Anniversary this year. I took almost 400 pictures. I enjoyed meeting lots of characters, seeing interesting costumes, and hearing Mickey, Buzz Lightyear, and C3PO (among others) speaking in Japanese. SO weird. Disneyland was awesome. It is very similar to Florida, in that the streets are huge, and everything is larger than I'm used to (from working at Disneyland in CA). Cinderella's castle is immense and beautiful.
A panorama of the castle area-- View of the castle from behind (one of my favorite pictures)--
Me with a Jungle Cruise Skipper--
Sarah had only been to Disneyworld in Florida, and that was when she was 7 years old. So this was a great experience for her as well. And I loved seeing all the "familiar" things, just done a little differently.
The closest we got to seeing Snow White (notice her wearing her mom's shoes)--
Why do human beings get so excited to meet a short person in a mouse suit?
Cinderella's Castle (by far, my favorite picture of the entire vacation)--
We rode the "Jungle Cruise"...enjoying it while not understanding a single word. We rode "Pirates of the Caribbean", and it was mostly in English (Davy Jones, Captain Barbossa, and Jack Sparrow all spoke English), which was strange but comforting. We rode "It's A Small World"; and of course, it was in several languages. We rode this strange "Winnie the Pooh" ride, which apparently is all the RAGE in Japan. Just the line to get a Fastpass for the ride was longer than the line we waited in before entering the park. But it was a fun ride...very different and cool technology--no track. We rode the "Haunted Mansion", and it was so bizarre hearing the scary Japanese speaking voice instead of the scary English speaking voice. I even rode "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad"...more than once (I typically avoid that ride like I avoid the dentist--not only because someone died on it in California, but because it's really just not that fun; but I must admit--it was much better in Tokyo). We rode "Star Tours", and I can't explain to you how strange it was to hear C3PO speaking Japanese, and then hearing our robot captain doing his best Pee-Wee Herman impression in Japanese. It's a good thing I've been on that ride before in America, otherwise, I would have had no idea what was being said. Poor Sarah--she's never been on the ride before, AND she's never seen "Star Wars"--so I think she was pretty lost.
For some odd reason, we did not see ONE single Princess in the park (other than millions of little girls dressed as Snow White, not just the adorable one we sat by for the parade). We saw many characters, but never a bonafide Princess. We did see them in the parade, but not walking around the park. The language barrier prevented us from getting concrete information about when and where specific characters would be. However, I was able to find lots of characters who I'd never seen out and about before. Characters like Robin Hood and King John (from "Robin Hood"), and Scrooge McDuck.
It was an awesome day. We rode all the rides we wanted to, some more than once, and we caught the 25th Anniversary Parade, titled "Jubilation". We watched the "Country Bear Jamboree"...where the songs were in English, but the dialogue was in Japanese. So strange. I had no idea what was happening. We watched the Electrical Parade, complete with all new floats I'd never seen before (like a "Monsters, Inc." float and 2 "Toy Story" floats), and we watched an abismal fireworks show that makes Knotts Berry Farm seem on the cutting edge.
The fireworks were shot from Critter Country, which in Tokyo is behind and to the left of the castle. This means that the fireworks didn't even shoot from behind the castle; they were off to the left. What makes Disneyland's fireworks so amazing, other than the beauty of the music and the spectacular precision (which Tokyo missed on both counts), is the fact that they appear to shoot directly behind the castle, sometimes shooting directly off the castle and around where you're standing. Also, they last longer than 10 minutes. The music that played along with the fireworks in Tokyo lasted under 7 minutes; and it was 2 different songs. I can't explain how bizarre it was to watch a Disney fireworks show and not get chills. Oh well.
After the horrible fireworks, we still had about an hour until the park closed. We hadn't yet visited Buzz Lightyear and his Astro Blasters (one cool ride if you've never been); so we hit that. It was awesome, as always. That's where I caught Buzz Lightyear speaking Japanese.
On Tuesday, we spent the entire day (10 a.m.-10 p.m.) at Tokyo Disney SEA, the neighboring park. This park opened in 2001. It was indescribable. It was vast and all new. When I walk around Disneyland/the Magic Kingdom (either in Tokyo, Florida, or California), there is always a comfortable familiarity. Even though I may never have set foot in the park, I still know where things are; because the basic layout is etched in my brain. But Tokyo Disney SEA was something entirely new.
Tokyo Disney SEA has an Indiana Jones ride. I didn't know how similar it would be, if at all, to the ride I originally worked on at Disneyland in California. Well, after we quickly got a Fastpass for "Tower of Terror", Indy was the first thing we rode. It was incredible. It is the same basic layout and identical track as Indy at Disneyland...but the theme of the ride is different, and many of the effects are different. I was so surprised, and pleasantly so. It was such a cool ride...though Indiana Jones spoke Japanese (hilarious). We subsequently rode the ride 2 more times throughout the day. It was definitely my favorite of the trip. Instead of being "Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye" like at Disneyland, it's called "Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull", similar in title to the upcoming FOURTH movie installment, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". I took many, many pictures, as Patrice and Sarah could both attest.
This is from the Indy cue--this is the Crystal Skull you see throughout the ride--
In the afternoon, we watched their version of a parade, which took place in their harbor, called "The Legend of Mythica" (their harbor is called Mediterranean Harbor, as all that's around it is very Greek and Roman, etc.). Mickey spoke in Japanese again, and we were left confused. It was a very cool water show...albeit a little bizarre, as it was all sort of non-Disney like. Yes, Goofy and Pluto and Donald came out of the big floats they had--but the floats had giant imaginary animals like a phoenix and a unicorn. Strange. But, after all, the show was called "The Legend of Mythica". You could say that Tokyo Disney SEA is like the California Adventure of Tokyo...where things aren't quite Disney. But it was a neat show, with excellent music. I bought the CD later that day. I found out the music was composed by Alan Silvestri (who scored "Back to the Future" and "Forrest Gump" among many others). Very cool.
A vertical panorama of our spot for the "Legend of Mythica" show--
Over the course of the two days spent at the Disney parks, it was most interesting to see what things were in English, what things were in Japanese, and what things had a mixture of both languages. For example, when we watched the "Little Mermaid" show at Tokyo Disney SEA, all the songs were sung in English (or lip-synced in English), but all the spoken dialogue was in Japanese. It was so strange, and I don't understand why it was like that. It was the only show we saw that had English subtitles available. EVERYTHING else we ever rode or watched left us basically clueless. Obviously all the Western cast members, specifically the face characters like Mary Poppins, etc., spoke English. But segments of the parades and fireworks were in English only, which I don't understand. It was a most confusing trip.
The volcano at sunset-- Sarah, Patrice, and me; volcano behind us--
Oh, and in case you aren't satisfied with the regular, butter popcorn that Disney serves in America...just travel to Tokyo Disneyland. You can get all kinds of popcorn. Honey popcorn. Strawberry popcorn. Black pepper popcorn. Sea salt popcorn. Cappucino popcorn. Caramel popcorn. Chocolate popcorn. Even CURRY popcorn is available. Who knew?
After dinner we found a good spot to watch the much-touted water and lights show--"BraviSEAmo". Get it? Because it's on the water...or sea...and we clap, and there is music...so bravo...hmm. I'm sure you get it. Anyway, this show is like their version of "Fantasmic", just in Japanese, and a completely different subject. For this show, only Mickey came out at the beginning and said stuff in Japanese...again, hilarious. Then he left and the main show began. The music was amazing; I had already purchased the CD earlier in the day, knowing full well I'd probably love it. It was a very strange show, and anything that was said was spoken in Japanese; but most of the show was simply musical, which is often called "the universal language". Or is that love? I don't know. Whatever. Anyway, the show is beautiful and I enjoyed it very much. During the show, the volcano gets angry and there are several large explosions of fire. It's so amazing...knowing that the volcano IS NOT REALLY A VOLCANO. Disney knows what it's doing. It was great. After the show, I think we rode the "Tower of Terror" once again, and eventually went back to the hotel. Our Tokyo Disney adventures were over.
Mediterranean Harbor; this was the view from our spot as we waited for BraviSEAmo!--
A nighttime panorama of our view from our BraviSEAmo! spot (volcano is on the Left)--
Up close of the volcano at night--
BraviSEAmo! (basically the show is about fire vs. water)--
But perhaps the most amazing thing about the ENTIRE trip--literally--was the fact that there was a Wendy's Hamburgers restaurant near our hotel. Folks, Burger King has great hamburgers, and they are all over Korea, for which I'm truly thankful--but I haven't had a Wendy's hamburger in many moons. Not to mention, a Frosty! It was our first night in Tokyo, we were on our bus from the airport; almost at our hotel, when Sarah saw the Wendy's. I nearly peed myself, and Sarah punched an old Japanese woman in the face. I'm sure Patrice thought we were insane (because she can ultimately have Wendy's whenever she wants; which of course she doesn't, because she lives in California--and why get a burger at Wendy's when you have IN-N-OUT BURGER!!!!!)--but it's SO hard to find a good hamburger in Korea. If you go to TGI Friday's or Outback Steakhouse (both of which are in Korea), the hamburgers are good--but they cost about $13. Korea is not known for it's cows, you see. Anyway, once we arrived at our hotel, checked in, purchased our Disney tickets, and Sarah apologized for punching the lady (of course, I'm joking about that); we walked to Wendy's for dinner. I ate entirely too much--but it was so enjoyable. Of course, I ate a Frosty afterwards. Whoever said I wouldn't be able to eat in Asia was SO wrong. =) Anyway, on our last day, before taking the airport bus from the hotel back to the airport, we once again had Wendy's. I didn't eat as much, which was good, but I did have another Frosty. The pictures are precious.
Delightful trip, I'd say.
Well, sayonara (that's goodbye in Japanese). Cyanide (that's goodbye in any language).