Days 13 - Tokyo Disneyland

We had a 7am wake up call and were out the door by 7:30am to walk to the train station. After a wild route to Disneyland (there was no direct route by bus or train, so there was a frustrating degree of backtracking), we got there about 8:30am, an hour later. The park is a short 5 minute walk from the Maihama train station, but then once you gto the park, you had to stand in a long line to go through security, and then another line to get in. I think we got into the park about 9:05am, so the info I saw online was in fact, quite accurate- you need to get to the train station a solid hour before the park opens if you'd like to walk in when the gates open at 9am.

Here's the super annoying rub- we walked straight to the Beauty & the Beast Enchanted Forest, and got there about 10 min after the park opened. However, the wait to get in was already WELL OVER THREE HOURS LONG. 210 minutes!!! We were so annoyed, that we ended up spending $20 per person to buy a premium 'Skip the Queue' pass or some such thing, which gave us an appointment time of 5pm or so get back in. This meant we could not buy any other premium skip the line passes the rest of the day, for the most part, as if you have one pending...you cannot buy anymore. Which was fine by me, honestly, as that was a racket in and of itself.

So that little debacle set me right off (I am not a Disney fan, for so many reasons), but we had to shake off the irritation so we could reconfigure the rest of our day. But I will say this, if you wanted to go on popular rides that day, or I assume, any day...you would max out at about 5, given the average wait times of 1-2 hours per ride. THIS IS WHY I DETEST Disneyland. This is criminal. 

Rich and Ryan enjoyed a few rides that AM, and I generally stood in line with them to keep them company, but exited once they boarded, as I get terribly ill on rides. They went on Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain railroad, and then...it was lunchtime...thanks to the long lines. It was a little early for lunch, but we wanted to beat the crowds, so I exited the railroad ride so I could get in line to buy us all lunch, which was a pleasant surprise. I stumbled on a tiny cafe off in a corner of the park, with a shorter than average line, and managed to get us each a baked onigiri in the shape of Mickey's head with grilled teriyaki beef inside. It was pretty tiny and bland, not but overpriced. I think the set meal was about $12 per person...and our food was pretty quick, plus I found a table quickly...so that whole experience was fairly painless. I am not sure why a grown ass woman wanted to have Mickey- shaped food, but I did. So check that box off!

Next up was a relatively shorter queue to get on the Haunted Mansion (Rich wanted to see the Tim Burton inspired decor from Halloween/fall), followed by a Mr. Rabbit's nauseating spin for Rich and Ry and then Buzz Lightyear's laser shooting ride.

It was now mid-afternoon and while they were on those rides, I staked us a prime spot over an hour in advance to watch what would be a pretty boring parade. I was super bummed as not one part of it was unique to Tokyo. I remember my last trip to Tokyo Disneyland, they had a Carnivale like parade with unique Japanese costumes, so I'd hoped for something like that. The parade we saw could have been in Anaheim.

Right after the parade ended, we hightailed it to the second ride unique to Tokyo's property, a Pooh-inspired ride called the Hunny Pot or something like that. The wait was only 50 min, and the ride was honestly pretty cool. It was trackless, so your car glides around on autopilot through some very scenic rooms. The lines also snaked through a very pretty garden and through a large book that was much nicer than the average waiting ambiance.

It was now very early evening, and we again wanted to beat the main dinner rush, so we walked into the first restaurant we saw, a Queen of Hearts  Banquet Hall. The food was again, pretty tiny and bland, and a bit pricier. I think we spent about $75 and it was the quality of something you'd find at a senior buffet at Sizzler in 1980. Very underwhelming.

While Rich and Ry waited 80 min to get on Splash Mountain, I walked around in search of any unique Tokyo souvenir I could find for Rich, who tends to like Disneyland and souvenirs. I remember getting a Mickey and Minnie beanie bag equivalent like these years ago for his dad, but these were not $32 each, so I had to pass. 

I walked back over to the boys to try and catch them coming down the huge water slide before we headed off to...

Our second parade of the day, the Electric Light parade!  This one was far more impressive (better than I remembered it in Anaheim) and we had a few snacks (Mickey shaped churros and chicken nuggets) while we waited.

We had to blitz a little early though, and rush over to the 8th ride of the day...the Enchanted Beauty that we had tickets for, eight hours later! It was the second ride of the day that was unique to Tokyo, and another trackless ride. I would say the ambiance was even better than the Hunny Pot ride, as it was in a castle. 

You sat in a large tea cup with about 8-10 others, glide through a few massive rooms. At one point, the teacups dance/spin a ballroom, and even bounce/dip around with loud music playing and Beauty and the Beast dancing. Definitely unique and a delight to all the senses. 

I think the final ride of the day, was It's a Small World, since we passed by and there was only a 5-10 min line. 

Our night ended with a second round of churros for Ryan and a quick meet up with Ryan's Japanese teacher (we had extra tickets) before we watched the fireworks show and left.

All in all, it was not an unsuccessful day- we managed to get on both 'unique to Japan' rides, had two not so terrible meals, saw one good parade and opened and closed the park from 9am to 9pm! Long day, but Ryan can now say he's been to Tokyo Disneyland, the Anaheim Disneyland, and Disneyworld. He actually did not opt to go to the park, it was Rich's idea, as he had never been...but once we were in the park, we made it all about him and what he wanted to do.

We crashed hard that night, as I think we walked about 8 miles that day, and had one more day remaining in Tokyo the next day!