I don’t know where to start for this blog today. It was one of the best days ever. Actually I know, I will list the bad things first
- Fireworks got canceled
- The ride lines were so long
These things didn’t destroy the day at all. We woke up and I really wasn’t that excited, until we were actually ready to go. I was over the moon, I couldn’t believe i was going to Disneyland. We found our way to Disneyland alright and then as we were approaching Maihama station we saw that beautiful castle in the distance and knew we were here. We wondered up the road to the entrance and I think we were all pretty excited. We got our picture with Mickey’s Japanese passport as well as the gate into Tokyo Disneyland. I must say that even the atmosphere walking to the queues is magical. We got our bags checked and then purchased tickets, it didn’t take long at all.
When we got into the Welcome Center there were Disney characters everywhere. We must have caught the end of it because when we got there the characters were trying to escape the Japanese (who have a habit of throwing children into the front of lines regardless of where they are). I managed to get my picture with Geppetto (Pinocchio ran off to fast) which was pretty cool.
The main shopping strip was amazing. It had so many stores and they were beautifully made, I could have spent ages but it was time to move foward to other things. We stopped for a while to look at Cinderella’s Castle as well as get our photo with Walt Disney and Mickeys staute. The actual castle was amazing, so tall and beautiful. After a few photos the group was feeling a bit peckish.
We found a small bakery which sold muffins, bread and many other things all in the shape of Mickey’s head or some Disney character theme. They looked too good to pass up, I got a Mickey Mouse head muffin and shared a few more things with Anthony, Pluto’s bone was the best one, and then we headed off.
We headed to Adventureland first. We thought it would be a good idea to get a Fastpass first, so we went to Thunder Mountain to get one and left Sarma and Chipi in the chocolate popcorn line (which smelt the best). One Fastpass ticket for 5 o’clock at night and some popcorn and we were ready for some serious lining up. I will say the Japanese are very nice to line up with. The are kind quite and are quite happy to line up or play games in the line.
We went on Western Railroad. This was a train that went around a bit of the park and through some jungle. We saw a few animals (fake) but otherwise it was a really good ride. Not scary but well done. We went on the Jungle River Cruise next as the wait time was only 25 minutes.
Again this was quite a good ride. Our captain of our boat was hilarious even though we could not understand what he was actually saying. On the cruise we saw some more animals and some Indians. After this we headed into Westernland to have a look. It was an interesting place and we had a look around. The boys found some meat pies which they wanted to try and while they were lining up I went to look at Snow White’s fountain. Then I saw Cinderella, which caused me to run all the way back to the boys and attempt to persuade one of them to run back with me and take the photo. Lee came so Anthony brought food for Lee whilst we ran (literally) over to Cinderella.
The prince did most of the talking in Japanese, I don’t think Cinderella spoke any. They said no photos when I got there. When they heard me speak English, the prince dragged me in by the hand through the Japanese crowd. Both Cinderella and the prince spoke to me in for a while and then we got my photo. Luckily I took Lee as he is so tall, he had to take the photo over all the Japanese people. After saying goodbye we headed back to our meat pies, which were not proper meat pies but pretty nice anyway.
We then decided we would wait for the parade as everyone else had been camping out on picnic blankets for a good hour. It turns out the first parade we saw wasn’t the actual parade, but a New Years greeting parade. It had Tigger on a big float because it is Year of the Tiger this year. This parade was pretty good but we now had half an hour to waste before the next one. We ended up going into Fantasyland to have a look around. I was very excited when I saw the Mad Hatter (he spoke English) and then Snow White. Snow White also picked me out of the crowd, although that might have had something to do with the boys pushing me towards her. Either way she was lovely and spoke with me for a few minutes. She was saying that Tokyo is freezing and she much prefers coming out in the warmer weather. We looked in a few shops before we went back to the parade.
The parade was really, really good, one of the most enjoyable things on this trip. The floats were huge, all the Disney characters were there and it was fun. I think the boys liked it too. We all went away feeling happy.
We went to line up at Splash Mountain. The line didn’t look too bad, but man was that line deceptive. We ended up lining up for 2 hours, which was a bit ridiculous. The ride however was pretty good (for a Japanese ride, in other words, tame as a puppy dog). It was weird hearing Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah sung half in Japanese and half in English. Very fun though. By the time we got out night had fallen and we had to race to the next ride which was the one we had the Fastpass for. Thunder Mountain was really good, and it was such a good feeling bypassing the cue which would have been over 2 hours (I pointed and laughed at all the suckers stuck in the big line. We were in and out in under 10 minutes. Needless to say Sarma didn’t believe we actually went on the ride).
After the ride Anthony and Lee found some smoked turkey legs, which where quite tasty and we headed over to have a look at Toontown. Toontown was alright, we found the line for mickeys house and decided to come back after the night parade. We made our way to the Monsters Inc. shop and on the way Anthony found his Fantasia hat. It was then time for the night parade.
The night parade was fantastic, the floats were amazing and I would hate to think how many little lights were used. The parade went for a good 20 minutes, with each float having a different character or theme. Unfortunately, after the parade we were informed that the fireworks were canceled. So, we did some shopping. Throughout the day I got a key strap, cookie cutters, a Mickey toy, a Stitch toy, a blanket, a Stitch hat and a pen. Anthony got the Fantasia hat and a pen, i think that was all (turns out it was a pacer, that was a surprise).
We waited in line for about 40 minutes to see Mickey. Mickey’s house was actually pretty cool, and much bigger then we thought. It had stuff from all the movies. Very interesting. Finally we got to meet Mickey Mouse. I was so excited. Mickey took his photo with me and then gave me a big hug and a mouse kiss… Awwwww! We got a group photo with Mickey (I think the boys were pretty excited too).
Then it was the end to the best day ever.
I hope that some day I can come back, it was wonderful. I am lucky, Anthony was so patient, but I think he enjoyed it as much as I did… Or nearly as much… (hrmm)
Disneysea tomorrow can’t wait.