To cheer myself up I have been looking at past fun events which of course has to include the 25 days my husband and I spent in Kyoto and Tokyo last year. This is actually a great way to lose track of time as we took TONS of pictures, only a fraction of which got posted last year on my blog (found in the May 2011 and June 2011 folders). Which is funny as I thought I made all the posts way too picture heavy.
We can't just let these pictures sit idle in storage right? Surely I have more to say about my lovely trip to Japan yes? XD And maybe someone on the internets will be interested as I think I have bored my co-workers and momager to death. So without further adieu it is time for Tenchi's Amazing Japan trip 2011 Part Two!
I am going to start by revisiting our Tokyo Disney Trip. Mostly because I have the most unused pictures from that day and because right now the same event is going on that was happening during our visit. Easter Wonderland indeed!
The husband and I were staying at a hotel that was 5 minutes walking distance to Shinjuku Station. We thought HEY we would be connected to every major station and line. While this was true...it was one the biggest stations XD We are silly. But putting that aside, even on a normal morning it took us about 1 hour to get from our hotel to Tokyo Disney. We know now that it might have been a better idea to take the Marunouchi Line to Tokyo Station. We ended up taking the Chou Line to get to the Keiyo Line. That is probably the quickest way train wise but the distance from the platforms is X___X. People do not exaggerate the distance. A nice warm up for your day at the park? XD Either way your destination to get on a line that takes you Maihama Station.
As you approach Maihama station you will see the GIANT Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. It actually sorta blocks the view of the actual theme parks. But it was a sight to see none the less. It is one of the main hotels for the park and super expensive to stay at. I have no pictures of the inside as we only had one at for Tokyo Disney but if I won the lottery I would want to stay at this hotel. I mean...you open the front door and you basically walk into the theme park. How amazing is that?
After you get off the train you can either go right towards Tokyo Disneyland or right, to Japans version of Downtown Disney Ikspiari. We went to the right at a moderate pace. By moderate I mean I tried to jog and the husband was trying to hold me back. XD
Along the walkway statues decorate the way. I have only been to Disney World in Orlando and my experience getting to the theme park has been different compared to this and what one would experience in C.A. There were different levels of anticipation. At my...semi local park it is like HURRY UP as we are carted different ways to finally reach our destination. In Tokyo you can see where you are going but the landscape is entertaining the entire way.
Before you reach the actual park you are greeted with a GIANT store called Bon Voyage. A store full of goodies from the park. A lot of the items can be found in the actual park but the great thing about this store is it stays open later than Tokyo Disneyland. I am used to shopping a little when the park closes as Disney wants to take all our money. But at Tokyo Disneyland the park closes and so do the stores. So after hours this place became packed. It was also full of people who wanted to get some Disney with their day without paying for a ticket.
I had a cute picture of me standing in the middle of this crowd. If I had taken it at home in Florida no one would have been able to guess who I was and maybe this blog would get its first picture of me. But seeing how I was in Tokyo Disneyland and we saw 5 nonJapanese people all day...enjoy this picture of the front of the store.
The ceiling was full of fun different types of stamps. The building itself was shaped like a piece of luggage.
I wish we had more pictures of the store, the walk to the park, and all the surrounding areas. But as I said earlier we only had one day for the park and I am still kicking myself for not taking us to Disney Sea.
I have no pictures of the line to get into the park. Again we were a bit excited. And it was very crowded. I believe we left our hotel a bit before 8 am and we got to the lines for the park at 9:07. Minutes after opening and there were crowds everywhere. We got slightly confused at which line we needed to be in. I stood in place while my husband went to try and find out what was what. Despite the fact the lines were pretty deep there were 14 of these said lines and they moved pretty quickly. In minutes we were in the park. We were handed an English speaking map but you can ask for a Japanese map and they will happily hand one over. Make sure you ask for a Japanese map so you can see the extras. They point out where the popcorn stands are, where the limited edition merchandise and menu items are, and have other stuff that the English (or whatever other language maps they had available) maps did not have.
So after you buy your ticket you go through the gate (with a little security section that went by in 5 seconds) and BAM you are in Disney. When you walk in the park there is an open area before you reach World Bazaar. When we were there the Easter Wonderland was going on so I don't know what it typically looks like on a nonevent day. But the main meet up section had a nice floral center with flowers and Easter eggs all around it. There were tons of people around this area all day. I tried to take as many pictures as I could though. This pictures shows the area where everyone needs to enter to reach the actual park.
Well what am I going on and on for in the last paragraph. XD Here is what the entry section looks like. Hi there Mickey! A great place to wait for your friends while still being at in the park.
A close up of some of the eggs. The entire park had Easter Eggs scattered all around but this area had a bunch to crate a nice photo area. I think Buzz is so cute. XD Also these eggs do not count towards the Easter Egg hunt that is held annually inside the park. Way too easy right?
Another reason why this area is good to wait for friends are the random characters walking around. Since I am only used to Disney World and the set areas for character greets. But here in Tokyo Disneyland they just appear out of nowhere with no handlers. X__X Which is fun as it is unexpected fun but RARW as it is hard to get a picture due to the lack of line. As this picture shows people just randomly group around characters and push forward. But even though most of the characters have no handlers the random cast members walking around will happily take your camera and snap a picture. Shocking I know, not trying to sell the expensive Disney pictures.
After standing in a nonline for some lesser popular character pictures we head towards World Bazaar. This differs from what I am used to as Main Street empties facing the Castle. World Bazaar does too but it also empties to the side so you can go to the other worlds without going to the main hub. Which is what we did, headed towards Tomorrowland and not the castle. Thus we did not get a picture of the front of the castle all day...because we forgot. XD It is usually something we do first and I guess we thought we already took it. Oh and this picture is of the main store, just like all the other Disney Parks. XD
All of the store fronts were decorated for the Easter Wonderland event. When we went it was May 20th but the event was still going on due to the Earthquake/massive tsunami that hit Japan. The park was closed for a quite a while as the parking lot turned to mush, things needed to be checked for safety, and they were generally trying to be respectful of the situation. As a result the Easter Event got extended.
More of the store fronts. Wish we had more time to go inside the stores and take more pictures. Next time, next time.
Thought this particular egg was cute. I didn't see as many people taking pictures as I thought I would. People who were taking pictures were doing so with friends done on cellphones and in front of big items, like the Easter displays and what not. I guess more for me right?
Ah huge balloons. I don't understand the appeal of walking around all day with such a big item that you can't take on any rides but maybe it is a helpful kid locators? Of speaking of that....Tokyo Disneyland is obviously kid friendly but it was full mainly of young couples and female friends! Yes there were strollers here and there but not in the tacky areas that take over Disney World. It was like parents wait until their kids are old enough to walk or something before making their kids have FUN FUN FUN! That and all I mainly saw were the fold up strollers. I love you Japanese people, can we adopt your park here?
World Bazaar has a canopy over the shops. During the rainy season it helps protect people trying to wait out the weather and to shop in peace. I have seen some people say it ruins the atmosphere. I say I am going to be doing a lot of walking under the sun today so bring on the shade.
Last picture of World Bazaar before we head into Tomorrowland! See how many pictures I have thrown at you and we have been in the park for about 25 minutes! Apparently when most people arrive at the Tokyo Disneyland park they RUN to the fastpass areas. Maybe next time we will have a game plan too. This trip we were taking our time and trying to do as much as possible. I should warn you it is impossible to do everything in one day (even though we tried) so either get a multi-day passport or focus on the things you really want to do. Or just have major luck like us and go after Golden Week when tourism is down. XD
That was fun yes? Just looking at these pictures put a smile on my face. I have a lot more pictures in my collection, from the Tokyo Disneyland trip and my overall Japan trip. At least once a week though I will try to post something from my time in Japan. Enough to keep people interested but not too many to bore people to death. In any event I will try to round out the Tokyo Disneyland pictures before Easter is a million years old. Thanks for reading!
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