Sunday, 21 July 2013
Friday, 5 July 2013
Trip Day 4, Disney Day 2 DisneySea Part 2
Once I finished up in Mysterious Island it was about time
for me to head over to the American Waterfront for Toy Story Mania. Unlike
those who live in short distance of the American version, I do not have much
experience with this ride, so I was very excited. The new Toyville Trolley Park
area in which the ride is housed was being built last time I was in the parks,
and I must admit the American Waterfront area looks a lot better with a vintage
toy area than it did with a construction screen ;) I like that they used the
slightly vintage look to suit both the toys and the theming, it was a good way
of both finding a place for this popular ride and adding more rides to
DisneySea. I still maintain that DisneySea is my favourite park of the two TDR
parks due to its amazing theming, but it certainly is short on rides in comparison
to Disneyland.
Anyway, I headed into Toyville Trolley Park, and after
giggling a little at Mr. Potato Head (who here performs in the courtyard rather
than in the queue), I headed under Woody’s giant face and into the fastpass
queue. I’ll admit, this is the one fastpass queue where I had to wait a little
while, but I was still very glad not to be in the winding queue next to me. I
kept myself amused by taking pictures of all the giant toys around us, making
us feel toy-sized. I did find one or two slightly odd things about the theming
though. When the queue goes into the loading room, it goes through a giant
version of Andy’s door, which I thought was excellent, however the giant door
is still woefully small next to the GIANT Andy’s bed in the next room, which in
turn is completely out of scale with his chest of drawers. Still, this was
funny and only a little theme breaking, so I ran with it. Soon enough I was in
a ride vehicle and off playing all sort of 3D carnival shooting games, which I
must admit was a blast. I did wish I had someone next to me to compete against,
but I still tried my hardest.
By this time though, I had to admit to myself that I was
pretty tired, and pretty sore. I decided lunch was definitely in order. I had
planned earlier to go to Miguel’s El Dorado cantina and giggle at Japanese
versions of Mexican food. I didn’t feel like I had the strength to get over
there, but I really wanted to stick to my plan, so I caught the Transit Steamer
from the Mediterranean Harbour across to the Lost River Delta. (Beware, if you
catch it here you must get off at Delta, you can only do a round trip from Cape
Cod pier). There was an older Japanese lady on the Transit Steamer who seemed
happy to see me, I think just because I was a tourist, and came over and
exchanged some pleasantries with me in Japanese. When we got off the boat
however she made some odd motions to the right and said something in Japanese I
didn’t catch. She then pointed at her park map and said “Show, hurry!” She then
grabbed my hand and started running through the Lost River Delta toward the
Arabian Coast. Tired as I was, I couldn’t very well disappoint somebody’s
Grandma, so I went with her. I ran through the crowds with her, wondering how
on earth I had ended up kidnapped by a Japanese obasan, but kind of enjoying the
oddness of it anyway.
Eventually she ran us into the courtyard of the Arabian Coast,
where Mickey, Minnie, Duffy, and Shellie Mae were doing their springtime stage
show, and insisted I stand in front of her to watch. I must admit it was a bit
of a production for something they do several times a day in different parts of
the park. Mickey and Duffy showed their lovely ladies what spring is like in
Arab countries, in a not at all Disneyfied or slightly stereotyped way ;) The
dancing girls around them were very good at their jobs, so it was still pretty
fun to see. After the show, the lady who had brought me here then motioned me
to follow her to the stage, where she picked up some of the heart shaped
confetti they had thrown and gave it to me, and asked if I wanted a picture in
front of the stage. She took a picture of me, I offered to take one of her but
she didn’t want one, and then after that she bowed, said it was lovely to meet
me and ‘bye bye’, and left! As far as I can see she just wanted this foreign
girl who was all alone to see how awesome their shows were, and have a nice
time. I was now far from where I had intended to be, with aching feet, but I
felt it was worth it to have one of those travel moments you’ll never forget.
After this I should have just eaten at the Casabah Food Court,
but I ate there on my last trip and I really wanted to try new restaurants.
With this in mind I slowly trudged back to the Lost River Delta, but by the
time I actually got to Miguel’s, I was feeling woozy and quite a bit nauseous.
I got a small fries just so I could have something starchy in my stomach, with
a large drink. I sat in a booth feeling awful, trying to nibble on my fries and
enjoying the cool drink. I considered that I may have been dehydrated, as I was
really into this drink. The nauseous feeling was not going away, so I sat
carefully with my food for about an hour.
I eventually finished my food, and
decided I had the strength to get up again, as long as I headed for something
mellow. I chose the Mermaid Lagoon Theatre show, a favourite of mine, as I
could sit down and it was nearby. I first saw this show on my last visit, not
really knowing what to expect, and being really excited when it turned out to
be a theatre-in-the-round style show on wires above us and with puppets! It was
really pretty, and despite the slight jarring effect of them speaking in
Japanese but singing in English, very nostalgic for me. I loved staring up at
the performers smiling faces as they ‘swam’ through the air. For those
interested in puppetry, I recommend you check in out for the giant Ursula face
puppet (along with separate tentacles) that descends upon the theatre in the
middle of the show. It’s a little creepy for small kids, but really fun to
watch in motion. The surprise, entirely non-canon ending was still in place,
and still just as funny (I won’t spoil it for you, but suffice it to say they
are willing to completely derail the actual story to keep the show short enough
for small children).
After the show I wandered back through the Mysterious
Island, stopping to go on 20,000 Leagues again as it had no line and I got to
sit down. I decided on this ride through that this ride definitely unnerves me
a little more than I’m willing to admit as a fully grown, totally not scared of
underwater beasties adult. By this time I definitely needed to head back to the
hotel for a break, but I knew if I left now I’d miss the daytime show. So
instead, I headed down to the lagoon to stake out a good sitting spot for
Legend of Mythica, the daytime ‘parade’ of DisneySea. My photos are awful as my
viewing spot wasn’t the best, but I can safely say I’ve never seen a park try
to fit that many surprises into one parade. Fireworks, jet-skis, amazing
floats, characters, dancers, surprise characters on special platforms that only
rise up halfway through, surprise dancers on further surprise platforms, and then,
just when you think you’ve seen it all, they bring out BETTER floats with
hydras and unicorns and such. I personally liked the part where they docked and
the dancers came out to dance and play drums on the dock, because you really
got to see their dancing and their elaborate, if really weird, costumes.
Awesome 'starter' floats. You know, so the jet skis, kites, fireworks and giant fountain don't feel lonely.
Shore dancers. By the way nothing will convince me that these girls are not bronies. NOTHING.
The modest centrepiece of the show ;)
Cool dragon puppet/kite
Ah yes, that's what it needs: bigger floats with hydras and unicorns!
After the show, I just had to go and rest, so at a little
past 3pm I dragged my aching feet and nauseous body slowly but surely to the train,
and survived the train changes to my neighbourhood. I must have looked how I
felt, because people offered me seats on the train, a rarity for someone in
their 20s like me. I slowly dragged my feet down the 15 minute walk from my
station to the hotel. On the way, I passed an older, slightly drunk Japanese man hanging around
outside what I assume was his favourite bar with a 1 litre can of beer (yes,
they do exist). When he saw me he laughed and said ‘Hehe, atsui desu ne?’ (Hot,
isn’t it?). I managed a meagre ‘Hai’ and a smile, and shuffled on my way. At
least drunken happy man feels for me, I thought. By the time I reached the
hotel it was 4:15pm, and I wondered if I could even get myself back to the park
for the evening. A two hour nap later I knew it just wasn’t going to happen. My
whole body ached, and I still felt kind of nauseous. Given that I had a lot to
do on my park hopping day the following morning, I decided to stay home for the
night and rest. I was beginning to wonder if I was suspiciously tired, but I
didn’t have any symptoms of sickness other than the exhaustion, so I figured I’d
rest and see how I was tomorrow. Sick or not, my Disney vacation would not be
stopped!
Did I get up the next morning? Find out in my next post!
Trip Day 4 Disney Day 2: DisneySea
The next day I woke up a little worse for wear. I was surprisingly tired
from the previous day, my feet still had a lingering ache, and to top
it all off my portable chargers hadn’t been plugged in properly
overnight so my phone was probably going to die halfway through the day.
All of this sucked, but damn it I had waited three years to return to
DisneySea and I was going to be at the gates early like a
self-respecting theme park commando! So I dragged myself out of bed at
6:30 again and got going. The train ride was packed, as usual for that
time of morning, but slightly more interesting due to the fact that
there was a woman in full kimono on the train, commuting amongst men in
suits, teens in jeans and kids in school uniforms.
When I got to Maihama station I headed for the monorail station to ride over to Disneysea. Just as I got through the gates, I turned to the nearest vending machine, and got a surprise. After all that running around yesterday, the diet cola had been right there, sitting just out of reach! With a chuckle I grabbed a bottle and headed on up to take the scenic three-stop ride to DisneySea. Like last trip I sat up the front with all the children, so I could videotape the view of all the hotels and hints of the parks as we passed.
When I began to see the tip of a volcano, an Incan temple, and Hotel Hightower my heart began to flutter. DisneySea! I quickly left the station and headed for the line. The line-up was not too bad yet, I was maybe five people back instead of three. I sat down and had breakfast, wrote some of my blog and people watched. Next to me in the line to the left was a small girl, maybe five years old, who was clearly very excited to be there, and was highly entertaining. She sat for a while singing Disney songs in Japanese, then kept herself entertained for about 15 minutes jumping on her mother’s shadow is if in Peter Pan. What was most impressive however was when she broke into a dance routine that looked eerily like one that the Cast Members might do in the shows, and she did it REALLY WELL. She practiced this for probably another 15 minutes at least, while I sat and wondered how this little girl could already be a better dancer than me.
About half an hour before opening, the Cast Members came along and asked everyone to stand up. I understand that this is probably to allow more people to fit in the courtyard, so I begrudgingly stood. This time in line was made a little more fun however by a family ahead of me. The son, probably 10 or 11 years old, had one of the beloved Stitch spaceship popcorn buckets, and his father was playfully determined to steal popcorn from it without his son noticing. The father ducked, weaved, and wandered ‘nonchalantly’ behind his son every time the boy moved, but each time he reached for the bucket the boy would turn to look at something else. This went on for long enough that I began to wonder if the son was aware of it and doing this on purpose. Eventually, the father finally got his hands on the bucket, only to discover he didn’t know how to open it! At this stage his fumbling made his intent obvious, and his son looked over his shoulder, observed the situation, rolled his eyes and opened the bucket for him exasperatedly. Best reaction! I love these little family exchanges at parks, they make me smile.
Finally, it was time. We rushed through the ticket gates into the full-tilt jungle madness that is the running start at the Tokyo parks. Again, there were Cast Members and Security scattered about to impede our progress, but an overwhelming majority of them just smiled and waved. Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown. As expected with Journey to the Center of the Earth closed and the two most popular rides, Tower of Terror and the still kind of new Toy Story Mania in the same area of the park, the crowd overwhelmingly ran to the left. As I turned and ran, laughing at the craziness of it all, into the American Waterfront area I saw that they had already set up ropes all the way down the street to direct the crowds. The amount of people running made this seem a rather good idea. I quickly found my way into the fastpass queue and grabbed a fastpass. Success!
I then went to head back the way I came and across the park to Indiana Jones, and saw the real reason for sectioning off the street: without it, I don’t think I could have safely walked in this direction. An overwhelming majority of people were still running full-speed at me to get to the Toy Story queue, and without the skinny section of road roped off for heading out of there it would have been unsafe. Luckily it was there, and I was able to make it out to the Lido Isle popcorn stand where as the popcorn map had suggested, the adorable new Mickey and Duffy’s Spring Voyage popcorn bucket (with mini popcorn bucket for Duffy) was available full of my favourite caramel popcorn! I stopped quickly for one of these, tried my best not to coo over the lady giving the mini Duffy bucket to her toddler (good idea though) and headed across the length of the park to the Lost River Delta.
I soon arrived at Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull (made before the movie with no similar storylines, don’t worry). I went to use the single rider line (fastpass line), but the Cast Members explained that they weren’t using it as the wait was ‘go-fuun’ (five minutes). That works for me! I quickly headed in to the mostly empty queue, pausing a few times on the way to take pictures of the queuing area. I love the queue for these kinds of rides because it sets the scene. In this ride, not surprisingly, you are going with Indy on a temple expedition.
This ride is quite similar to the versions at other parks, with a few differences. [MINOR RIDE SPOILERS AHEAD] While the American Indiana Jones ride is set in Asia, this one was made much more exotic to the Japanese by being set in South America, with suitable Aztec references and theming. As implied by the title, your enemy in this version is a crystal skull you dared gaze at in the first part of the ride. This angers it and it proceeds to throw twists, turns, lazers, whirlwinds, snakes, bugs, darts, and boulders your way as you traverse the ride in your Jeep. I particularly enjoy a DisneySea unique part where a statue blows a fireball (smoke ball) in your face, and of course the giant boulder that comes for you right at the end (they take a photo of you during this scene at DisneySea)[SPOILER END].
The ride itself is a little coaster-like, in that the Jeep rides around sharp corners and up and down minor slopes at speed, but is not too scary in that sense. The ride vehicles are a little jerky, and jostle you around a bit, but I’m kind of ok with pretending that it’s part of the experience of ‘off roading’ in my ‘Jeep’
I really quite enjoyed the ride, especially since I live nowhere near
any other parks and therefore was not bored of this ride like some have
become after riding the American one over and over. So I decided to get
right back on the ride, which was still a five minute wait. I got pretty
much straight back on the ride, this time trying a silly ‘No! Don’t
hurt me!’ photo pose (My first photo was just me sitting there thinking
‘Yay! I’m at DisneySea!). I then ran into the queue AGAIN for a third
ride. This time however, when I got within about 15 people of the
loading area, the ride vehicles stopped suddenly, and the Cast Members
began busily communicating. There had been some kind of technical issue.
Soon enough the house lights came up and everyone got out of their
vehicles, while the queue was asked to turn around and leave. Luckily,
having ridden it twice already and being on a Disney morning high I
found all this pretty exciting. I happily left and figured I’d see if it
was up again later in the day.
I wandered across the bridge to Port Discovery, sort of the Tomorrowland of DisneySea, themed like a future that runs on water/steam. Not surprisingly, the theming features a lot of copper hues and looks a little steampunk. I took a few pictures, then noticed that Stormrider had next to no line, so I figured I’d ride once on my way past. Just as I got in line, I saw Mr. and Mrs. Incredible come out to entertain everyone. They were immediately mobbed by guests, but they dealt with it well, posing and interacting with the group. I wanted to go down there, but there were people behind me in line blocking my exit and frankly you could barely see Mr. Incredible for the mob, so I took some pictures from afar instead.
Mrs. Incredible is the best poser, but Mr. Incredible has all the friends.
Once in the Stormrider building, I got to giggle at the carefully presented and overacted pre-show I remembered from three years prior. It of course was exactly the same. The representative for the Center for Weather Control explained to us that we would be riding in one of their ships to plan a ‘storm diffusion device’ in the middle of a damaging storm. Of course, she explains, this is very dangerous, but their vehicles can handle it, so nothing will go wrong. Unless this is, you know, a Disney ride. After a short, very loud demonstration of the technology which scared a poor nearby child into crying a little, we were loaded onto the ride. [SOME BIG RIDE SPOILERS HERE] I enjoyed the ride, although I found it didn’t move around quite enough in some early parts of the ride for me to feel as if I was really flying (this appears to have been improved for Star Tours). I do however LOVE the fact that they chose to go beyond a basic simulator ride for this, having the walls get affected, things crash through the ceiling, and having you actually get a little wet. Overall, I can see how the ride is dated, and why some people find it a yawn, but I do respect that it contains elements that you don’t always find on other simulator rides [END SPOILERS].
By this point it was past the time of morning where the lines were short, so there was no rush to get on another ride. I instead spent some time wandering around the park, taking photos, eating my popcorn, and just enjoying the fact that after all the planning, wishing, and saving, I was finally back here. I ended up over at the Mysterious Island, or Jules Verne land as many refer to it. The area is themed mostly around three things: the fact that it is set in a ‘dormant’ crater next to Mt Prometheus, Captain Nemo and his Nautilus (setting the scene for the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea ride), and cave exploration and drilling (setting the scene for the Journey to the Center of the Earth ride). The result is an amazingly cohesively themed area that makes you feel almost as though you have stepped into a wonderful piece of Victorian science fiction. Despite the fact that the Journey to the Centre of the Earth (a favourite ride of mine) was closed and I’m not a huge fan of 20,000 Leagues, I kept returning to this area of the park throughout my visit as I just liked being there.
I'm not sure how these images turned out slightly overexposed and technicolour, but I think it's kind of suited to my childhood memories of the Journey to the Centre of the Earth movie (Not the remake, kids).
While I was there this time around, I figured I might as well go on 20,000 Leagues. The wait was less than 5 minutes, as this ride, like Stormrider, is not very popular, and this was a low attendance day. I was able to skip the queuing area full of Nemo’s research and undersea artifacts, so I’m afraid I have no photos, but if you are ever stuck in a queue for this ride there are some cool displays to keep you mildly entertained. The ride vehicles are not one big sub like the similar ride that American parkgoers may remember, but instead are little 6 person mini subs designed it appears for scouting missions. Inside, there are three, two person seats, each facing their own window, and their own array of fake buttons and gauges that make it look amusingly real. Given the lack of guests we all received a sub to ourselves, which means for the first time I discovered how quiet it is in these vehicles all by yourself. I must admit it was a little creepy, and I wasn’t even underwater yet!
[SPOILERS AHEAD] The ride took off, and displayed its awesome trick of making it appear you are submerging by using bubbles in water between two planes of glass in your window. In actual fact, your vehicle never goes underwater, preserving the scenery of the ride from rust and erosion and making both safety and maintenance issues much, much easier to deal with. I was then taken through creepy coral and shipwreck scenes, occasionally snapped at by a creepy undersea creature. Every so often a light a noise would alert me to the fact I could use the joystick in front of me to use a searchlight on the scenery and find more things. Then suddenly, the vehicle paused at the giant, rather demonic-looking eye of a giant squid! Oh no! The squid tried to capture me, but my ship let off an electric charge and escaped. I then continued on to encounter some very strange looking creatures in what looked like the ruins of an ancient city. At first they looked possibly hostile, but soon they appeared friendly. At some point here my sub began to have ‘technical problems’ possibly due to the electricity spent earlier, and started to ‘sink’ and lose light. Luckily, the friendly Atlantians were able to push my sub back to the surface, waving in their own way as they did so [SPOILER END].
Overall I find this ride concept and technology very cool, but I have my gripes with it. First of all, I’d really like to be able to use the searchlight consistently, or not at all. I found the loud beeping and flashing during the short times you could use it more distracting than fun, although I will give the imagineers props for using the searchlight, and the things you can find with it, to give the ride more re-ride value. Secondly, there are the issues many people have highlighted with the subs being quite cramped height-wise, making many have to stoop in their seats to properly look out the window. My third issue is a more personal one: I tend to get a little creeped out in its spooky underwater scenes. I don’t find anything about it particularly scary, but everything in it is just a little squishy or tentacle-clad or fond of jumping out at you, and when trapped in a slightly cramped ride vehicle it makes me a little unnerved. I can see why some children don’t like it. Having said all of these things I still very much like the concept, and I seem to keep riding it a few times per trip so I must find it a little fun
Next up, stay tuned for DisneySea part 2!
When I got to Maihama station I headed for the monorail station to ride over to Disneysea. Just as I got through the gates, I turned to the nearest vending machine, and got a surprise. After all that running around yesterday, the diet cola had been right there, sitting just out of reach! With a chuckle I grabbed a bottle and headed on up to take the scenic three-stop ride to DisneySea. Like last trip I sat up the front with all the children, so I could videotape the view of all the hotels and hints of the parks as we passed.
When I began to see the tip of a volcano, an Incan temple, and Hotel Hightower my heart began to flutter. DisneySea! I quickly left the station and headed for the line. The line-up was not too bad yet, I was maybe five people back instead of three. I sat down and had breakfast, wrote some of my blog and people watched. Next to me in the line to the left was a small girl, maybe five years old, who was clearly very excited to be there, and was highly entertaining. She sat for a while singing Disney songs in Japanese, then kept herself entertained for about 15 minutes jumping on her mother’s shadow is if in Peter Pan. What was most impressive however was when she broke into a dance routine that looked eerily like one that the Cast Members might do in the shows, and she did it REALLY WELL. She practiced this for probably another 15 minutes at least, while I sat and wondered how this little girl could already be a better dancer than me.
About half an hour before opening, the Cast Members came along and asked everyone to stand up. I understand that this is probably to allow more people to fit in the courtyard, so I begrudgingly stood. This time in line was made a little more fun however by a family ahead of me. The son, probably 10 or 11 years old, had one of the beloved Stitch spaceship popcorn buckets, and his father was playfully determined to steal popcorn from it without his son noticing. The father ducked, weaved, and wandered ‘nonchalantly’ behind his son every time the boy moved, but each time he reached for the bucket the boy would turn to look at something else. This went on for long enough that I began to wonder if the son was aware of it and doing this on purpose. Eventually, the father finally got his hands on the bucket, only to discover he didn’t know how to open it! At this stage his fumbling made his intent obvious, and his son looked over his shoulder, observed the situation, rolled his eyes and opened the bucket for him exasperatedly. Best reaction! I love these little family exchanges at parks, they make me smile.
Finally, it was time. We rushed through the ticket gates into the full-tilt jungle madness that is the running start at the Tokyo parks. Again, there were Cast Members and Security scattered about to impede our progress, but an overwhelming majority of them just smiled and waved. Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown. As expected with Journey to the Center of the Earth closed and the two most popular rides, Tower of Terror and the still kind of new Toy Story Mania in the same area of the park, the crowd overwhelmingly ran to the left. As I turned and ran, laughing at the craziness of it all, into the American Waterfront area I saw that they had already set up ropes all the way down the street to direct the crowds. The amount of people running made this seem a rather good idea. I quickly found my way into the fastpass queue and grabbed a fastpass. Success!
I then went to head back the way I came and across the park to Indiana Jones, and saw the real reason for sectioning off the street: without it, I don’t think I could have safely walked in this direction. An overwhelming majority of people were still running full-speed at me to get to the Toy Story queue, and without the skinny section of road roped off for heading out of there it would have been unsafe. Luckily it was there, and I was able to make it out to the Lido Isle popcorn stand where as the popcorn map had suggested, the adorable new Mickey and Duffy’s Spring Voyage popcorn bucket (with mini popcorn bucket for Duffy) was available full of my favourite caramel popcorn! I stopped quickly for one of these, tried my best not to coo over the lady giving the mini Duffy bucket to her toddler (good idea though) and headed across the length of the park to the Lost River Delta.
I soon arrived at Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull (made before the movie with no similar storylines, don’t worry). I went to use the single rider line (fastpass line), but the Cast Members explained that they weren’t using it as the wait was ‘go-fuun’ (five minutes). That works for me! I quickly headed in to the mostly empty queue, pausing a few times on the way to take pictures of the queuing area. I love the queue for these kinds of rides because it sets the scene. In this ride, not surprisingly, you are going with Indy on a temple expedition.
This ride is quite similar to the versions at other parks, with a few differences. [MINOR RIDE SPOILERS AHEAD] While the American Indiana Jones ride is set in Asia, this one was made much more exotic to the Japanese by being set in South America, with suitable Aztec references and theming. As implied by the title, your enemy in this version is a crystal skull you dared gaze at in the first part of the ride. This angers it and it proceeds to throw twists, turns, lazers, whirlwinds, snakes, bugs, darts, and boulders your way as you traverse the ride in your Jeep. I particularly enjoy a DisneySea unique part where a statue blows a fireball (smoke ball) in your face, and of course the giant boulder that comes for you right at the end (they take a photo of you during this scene at DisneySea)[SPOILER END].
The ride itself is a little coaster-like, in that the Jeep rides around sharp corners and up and down minor slopes at speed, but is not too scary in that sense. The ride vehicles are a little jerky, and jostle you around a bit, but I’m kind of ok with pretending that it’s part of the experience of ‘off roading’ in my ‘Jeep’
I really quite enjoyed the ride, especially since I live nowhere near
any other parks and therefore was not bored of this ride like some have
become after riding the American one over and over. So I decided to get
right back on the ride, which was still a five minute wait. I got pretty
much straight back on the ride, this time trying a silly ‘No! Don’t
hurt me!’ photo pose (My first photo was just me sitting there thinking
‘Yay! I’m at DisneySea!). I then ran into the queue AGAIN for a third
ride. This time however, when I got within about 15 people of the
loading area, the ride vehicles stopped suddenly, and the Cast Members
began busily communicating. There had been some kind of technical issue.
Soon enough the house lights came up and everyone got out of their
vehicles, while the queue was asked to turn around and leave. Luckily,
having ridden it twice already and being on a Disney morning high I
found all this pretty exciting. I happily left and figured I’d see if it
was up again later in the day.I wandered across the bridge to Port Discovery, sort of the Tomorrowland of DisneySea, themed like a future that runs on water/steam. Not surprisingly, the theming features a lot of copper hues and looks a little steampunk. I took a few pictures, then noticed that Stormrider had next to no line, so I figured I’d ride once on my way past. Just as I got in line, I saw Mr. and Mrs. Incredible come out to entertain everyone. They were immediately mobbed by guests, but they dealt with it well, posing and interacting with the group. I wanted to go down there, but there were people behind me in line blocking my exit and frankly you could barely see Mr. Incredible for the mob, so I took some pictures from afar instead.
Mrs. Incredible is the best poser, but Mr. Incredible has all the friends.
Once in the Stormrider building, I got to giggle at the carefully presented and overacted pre-show I remembered from three years prior. It of course was exactly the same. The representative for the Center for Weather Control explained to us that we would be riding in one of their ships to plan a ‘storm diffusion device’ in the middle of a damaging storm. Of course, she explains, this is very dangerous, but their vehicles can handle it, so nothing will go wrong. Unless this is, you know, a Disney ride. After a short, very loud demonstration of the technology which scared a poor nearby child into crying a little, we were loaded onto the ride. [SOME BIG RIDE SPOILERS HERE] I enjoyed the ride, although I found it didn’t move around quite enough in some early parts of the ride for me to feel as if I was really flying (this appears to have been improved for Star Tours). I do however LOVE the fact that they chose to go beyond a basic simulator ride for this, having the walls get affected, things crash through the ceiling, and having you actually get a little wet. Overall, I can see how the ride is dated, and why some people find it a yawn, but I do respect that it contains elements that you don’t always find on other simulator rides [END SPOILERS].
By this point it was past the time of morning where the lines were short, so there was no rush to get on another ride. I instead spent some time wandering around the park, taking photos, eating my popcorn, and just enjoying the fact that after all the planning, wishing, and saving, I was finally back here. I ended up over at the Mysterious Island, or Jules Verne land as many refer to it. The area is themed mostly around three things: the fact that it is set in a ‘dormant’ crater next to Mt Prometheus, Captain Nemo and his Nautilus (setting the scene for the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea ride), and cave exploration and drilling (setting the scene for the Journey to the Center of the Earth ride). The result is an amazingly cohesively themed area that makes you feel almost as though you have stepped into a wonderful piece of Victorian science fiction. Despite the fact that the Journey to the Centre of the Earth (a favourite ride of mine) was closed and I’m not a huge fan of 20,000 Leagues, I kept returning to this area of the park throughout my visit as I just liked being there.
I'm not sure how these images turned out slightly overexposed and technicolour, but I think it's kind of suited to my childhood memories of the Journey to the Centre of the Earth movie (Not the remake, kids).
While I was there this time around, I figured I might as well go on 20,000 Leagues. The wait was less than 5 minutes, as this ride, like Stormrider, is not very popular, and this was a low attendance day. I was able to skip the queuing area full of Nemo’s research and undersea artifacts, so I’m afraid I have no photos, but if you are ever stuck in a queue for this ride there are some cool displays to keep you mildly entertained. The ride vehicles are not one big sub like the similar ride that American parkgoers may remember, but instead are little 6 person mini subs designed it appears for scouting missions. Inside, there are three, two person seats, each facing their own window, and their own array of fake buttons and gauges that make it look amusingly real. Given the lack of guests we all received a sub to ourselves, which means for the first time I discovered how quiet it is in these vehicles all by yourself. I must admit it was a little creepy, and I wasn’t even underwater yet!
[SPOILERS AHEAD] The ride took off, and displayed its awesome trick of making it appear you are submerging by using bubbles in water between two planes of glass in your window. In actual fact, your vehicle never goes underwater, preserving the scenery of the ride from rust and erosion and making both safety and maintenance issues much, much easier to deal with. I was then taken through creepy coral and shipwreck scenes, occasionally snapped at by a creepy undersea creature. Every so often a light a noise would alert me to the fact I could use the joystick in front of me to use a searchlight on the scenery and find more things. Then suddenly, the vehicle paused at the giant, rather demonic-looking eye of a giant squid! Oh no! The squid tried to capture me, but my ship let off an electric charge and escaped. I then continued on to encounter some very strange looking creatures in what looked like the ruins of an ancient city. At first they looked possibly hostile, but soon they appeared friendly. At some point here my sub began to have ‘technical problems’ possibly due to the electricity spent earlier, and started to ‘sink’ and lose light. Luckily, the friendly Atlantians were able to push my sub back to the surface, waving in their own way as they did so [SPOILER END].
Overall I find this ride concept and technology very cool, but I have my gripes with it. First of all, I’d really like to be able to use the searchlight consistently, or not at all. I found the loud beeping and flashing during the short times you could use it more distracting than fun, although I will give the imagineers props for using the searchlight, and the things you can find with it, to give the ride more re-ride value. Secondly, there are the issues many people have highlighted with the subs being quite cramped height-wise, making many have to stoop in their seats to properly look out the window. My third issue is a more personal one: I tend to get a little creeped out in its spooky underwater scenes. I don’t find anything about it particularly scary, but everything in it is just a little squishy or tentacle-clad or fond of jumping out at you, and when trapped in a slightly cramped ride vehicle it makes me a little unnerved. I can see why some children don’t like it. Having said all of these things I still very much like the concept, and I seem to keep riding it a few times per trip so I must find it a little fun
Next up, stay tuned for DisneySea part 2!
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Sorry for the pause
I apologize for the slowing of posts everyone, I unfortunately got quite sick for a few days and now I'm making up for lost time. Posts should resume soon! :)
Sunday, 26 May 2013
Tokyo Disney Resort Day 1, or Why You Should Take A Break
From the title, it's possible to glean that this post may have some drama. You'd be right, but there's also a lot of fun, so follow along and you'll see ;)
I woke up to my alarm at 6am ready to get myself dressed and to Disney. I got dressed, put on sunscreen, make-up (which has better sunscreen in it than my stuff for my body) and packed my breakfast, and was out the door by 6:30am. I had researched the train journey previously and discovered that since my hotel was already on the Hibiya line, I could change to the Keiyo line at Hatchobori and avoid Tokyo station's staircase and tunnel of doom (To those not in the know, if changing to Keiyo at Tokyo station be prepared to lug your stuff down a really long staircase then walk a tunnel that literally takes about 10-15 minutes to walk).
The whole journey I was on the lookout for a bottle of Coke Zero, as I understood it was not common in the parks and as it is my main vice I wanted to take one in with me. Amazingly Tokyo's millions of vendo were letting me down on this particular journey.
When I finally reached Maihama station and exited the train, I couldn't help but notice something familiar. Was that...the Happiness is Here song playing as the station music? Yes, it was. Train stations in Tokyo each have their own unique bit of tinny music they play whenever a train stops there to subliminally let those on the train realise it's their stop if they tuned out the stop announcement. This by the way is also how Tokyoites are able to sleep on the train and somehow 'magically' wake up just before their stop. Their subconscious brain knows the music, and that of the station before. I stood for a moment in giggly marvel of the fact that Maihama had managed to change theirs. As it turns out, this is not the only time I would find 'Happiness is here' invading things like an adorable, well-meaning virus.
Sadly, I continued out of the station before thinking to look at the vending machines, and neither the famous Becker's or the less famous Beck's Coffee House had diet cola to offer. So I continued on, figuring I'd either get lucky or go without.
I passed Bon Voyage bang on 7:30am. I know this because I got to see the Bon Voyage employees do all the bowing and scraping that comes with opening the store. They were so incredibly smiley, they reminded me of the chirpy Japanese Disney cast members I had in store. I ducked in to the store quickly to see if I could grab a passholder (a sort of tiny, flat purse just for holding your ticket and fastpasses) because I'd heard for fastpass commandos like me they made all the difference. I was expecting to have to settle for something not that interesting, but my eyes quickly trained on an Alice one that I simply HAD to have. Within seconds I was at the register, able to communicate to the happy Cast Member that I would love her to cut the tag off, and bowing my way out the door to a chorus of 'Irrasshai!'
Tell me friends, does this seem like something I would buy? ;) When I get home I'm thinking necklace or giant pinbadge.
The bag checkers did a cursory look in my backpack ('Ohayo gozaimasu ' *glances at my cardigan on top of all my stuff, doesn't look under it* 'Ok!') and I headed for a spot on one of the side lines that everyone seems to ignore. I was happily only about 3 or 4 people back. I then proceeded to spread out my scarf as a picnic blanket, eat my breakfast, check my game plan (Beginning with running past Star Tours for a fastpass, then heading to Pooh's Hunny Hunt), and spend about an hour typing my blog from the last day on my phone only to have it fail to publish and lose it all. Grr! A note to all blogging from a phone: save before posting if your app has the function. Don't worry, as you saw I was able to retype it in line the next day.
As it came closer to opening time people started to look excited. A few minor characters came out to get the crowd riled up. They started letting the Resort guests in for their extra 15 minutes, and the rest of us tried not to look too scowly as they all streamed past the gates. Then Mickey and Minnie came out on opposite sides and started waving to people in line. 'Suddenly' Mickey saw Minnie and made a big show of rushing to get to her and hug her. I must admit this made me smile. These guys are pretty dedicated to creating special moments for the guests. The cast members then came out and did a long speech the gist of which I got was: don't push, have your passports ready, put your passport on the machine barcode down, and that's about all my Japanese would give me. Luckily if you know how to be nice and do what the guy in front of you does, you don't really need the speech. It's just an important thing to give the speech to the Japanese. Whenever you go to do anything, you get the smiley 'Here are the rules' speech. Even when you go to buy food you'll often get your food with a 'If you'll please proceed to the counter over there and pick up your milk, sweetener, straws and napkins'. Just smile, say hai, and look apologetic if you misunderstand anything.
Quite suddenly after the speech, at 9 on the dot, they started letting us in. Here the big difference between Tokyo Disney openings and others showed itself in full force: people RAN. They have carefully filled the entry area with Cast Members so that if you want to run, you have to duck and weave a bit, but they don't stop you. Also for every 7 Cast Members or so they have one Security Cast Member who is holding up their hands yelling 'Please be careful. Move at a safe speed please!' but again, they don't stop you, and everyone either ignores them, or momentarily slows down to a jog as they pass as if to say 'Look, I'm slowing down' then immediately speeds up again once past each security guy. I'll admit, I did this. Mwahahaha!
Unfortunately by the time I passed Monsters Inc I had to slow my run a bit because my asthma was playing up, but I rushed the rest of the way 'at a safe speed' and made my way to Star Tours for an 10am fastpass. Yes! If you are new to the fastpass system, it's basically a system where if you go to a bank of machines outside a popular ride and scan your park ticket, the machine will spit out a pass with a one hour window on it (starting from the first hour the park is open and moving forward in time as they sell out of fastpasses for that hour). If you return to the ride during your time window you can bypass a large part of the standby line and get on the ride faster. This ticket can turn a 2 hour line up into a 15 minute one, so I recommend getting one as soon as you can when you enter the park, and getting a new one as soon as you are allowed (it will say when you are allowed, in English, on your ticket).
After the fastpass I began to rush over toward Pooh's Hunny Hunt. I was distracted however when I passed Space Place Foodport, and discovered there in their display window - Coke Zero! One 'Kora zero o kudasai' later I continued on my way to find Pooh's Hunny Hunt with a 5 minute wait!
For those who don't know Pooh's Hunny Hunt, it is entirely different from the Pooh rides at other Disney parks for two reasons: it is popular, and it is popular for a reason. [SLIGHT RIDE SPOILERS AHEAD] The ride takes you through the story of the blustery day, Pooh's nightmares of Heffalumps and Woozles, and his attempts to get hunny using a blue balloon, but does so using ride vehicles that are not on a track, but guided by a radio control system that make your 'hunny pot' appear to have a mind of it's own. There are three pots in each set that will take different courses around each room, spin, go backwards and occasionally dance around each other in circles. It makes what would have been a cute animatronic story with great theming into a really fun experience. [END SPOILERS]
This tech is why the ride commonly has 110 minute lines on only averagely crowded days, so 5 minutes was really, really good. I ran onto the ride. My only regret was that I got on too fast to take any pictures of the queue, where you pass rooms of Christopher Robin's house and then weave between giant pages from the Pooh books. The ride was just as fun as I remembered it, and I was hit with that amazing joyous feeling holiday planners get, that 'I'm finally here' feeling.
When I got off the ride the wait was 20 minutes. I was weighing up whether to go again when I saw that the characters were out in force in Fantasyland. I quickly went and got photos with the Mad Hatter, who was slightly disturbed by the red and black card suits all over my hat and backpack, took photos of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and frightenedly snapped photos of Cinderella's Fairy Godmother from a distance.
Beware her scary plastic mask face!
I then realized Peter Pan's Flight had no wait, so I jumped on that. This ride not surprisingly takes you through the story of Peter Pan, and is one of the older, less technologically advanced dark rides, but I love it because it flies you over the scenes. Also because the ride vehicles look like this:
Sorry for the blur, but it's the best shot I got of the little pirate ships. So cute! They're about big enough to fit two people.
I then ran across and jumped on Haunted Mansion, also with a 5 minute wait. Yes, for those of you used to the other parks, the Haunted Mansion is in Fantasyland here. The main reason for this is because for the Japanese, who have very strong and different ghost legends, ghosts very much belong in the realm of fantasy. Of course, it probably didn't hurt to save space in Adventureland either.
[SMALL RIDE SPOILERS AHEAD] The Haunted Mansion is a ride where you get taken on a tour of a mansion that houses 999 ghosts, and they're looking to make it an even 1000. You are put in a two person magically moving chair and narrated by a ghost somewhere in your vicinity who takes you through hallways of haunted pictures, ghost parties, ominously knocking doors, haunted attics and graveyards just to name a few. [END SPOILERS]
The scenes of this ride are lovingly done and include a lovely amount of detail to notice on subsequent ride throughs. I also love this rider's tech because your 'doom buggy', much like the Peter Pan's Flight vehicles, is constantly moving, and loads with passengers standing on a conveyor belt moving in time with the vehicle. This means it loads faster and the queue moves faster too. I also took note this trip that they keep their Haunted Mansion, and their dark rides in general, very dark in Tokyo. I had trouble making out some of the scenes at first. You also cannot see any technical tricks like the dusty scrims you can sometimes catch in other parks, as the Oriental Land Company who own Tokyo Disney Resort have the money (and the Japanese love of cleaning) to keep their rides very well maintained. I noticed this a lot in the parks actually. Most of the effects that have ever worked, do work, which is nice in comparison to the 'oh that broke years ago' issue going on in some parks.
After the Haunted Mansion I took a wander through Cinderella's Fairy Tale Hall with no wait. This is an attraction that has popped up since my last visit, when the Cinderella's Castle Mystery Tour was still running. It's a sort of walk through gallery inside Cinderella Castle that has all sorts of artworks depicting scenes from Cinderella.
Cinderella papercraft anyone?
Some of the artwork is really detailed, moving, or even uses tricks of light to change it's shape. There are also images in the throne room that change if you photograph them with flash. You can take photos on Cinderella's throne and pretending to try on her glass slipper. I spent some time doing the 'I'm a funny gaijin' dance behind a mother to help her get her twins to look in the same direction for their throne photo (for my twin friends reading this don't worry, they got seperate photos too). I then took some very silly photos of myself, which I won't put you through the pain of. What I will show you is my favourite part about going into this hall: the fact that you exit part way up the castle.
Fantasyland is pretty!
It was now finally time to head for Star Tours, but as a fastpass junkie, I had to get a new fastpass on the way. You are able to get a new fastpass either two hours after you got your last fastpass, or at the time your current fastpass window begins, whichever is earlier. The queue for Space Mountain had already grown huge, so at one minute past I grabbed a fastpass for that and headed on to Star Tours.
I would like to take a moment to point out how much I love fastpass. It's a system that rewards you for being the early bird and for being willing to structure your day, and that sits very well with a planner like me. The other reason I love it is because of the pure fun of actually bypassing the line. First you approach a ride like Star Tours to find a big line outside. Instead of getting in it, you idle on past to the fastpass attendant who waves you in to the building. Inside you will usually find a huge line looping backward and forward, full of people waiting. Try not to smile or wave smugly as you skirt around the side of this entire line in a queue of your own that is virtually empty. Feel free to let yourself think 'Later, suckers!' though, I always do ;) Finally reach the part where the fastpass and standby queues merge, and enjoy the moment when the Cast Member stops the standby line to let you go first. A short line later you will be on the ride and out of here.
This was very much my experience with Star Tours, in the first room I was even able to stop and take a picture of the room and the line I'd bypassed:
I then spent 10 minutes or so waiting in a line where C-3PO was doing his planning next to R2 and a big version of the 'ship' we were about to 'board'. We all listened carefully as cutesy ladybot gave us the story on a television screen, then we were off in to the next room that took us through customs and security. Here we encountered entertaining talking droids, infra-red cameras checking us over, a really cute 'window' showing us the silhouettes of the variety of other types of passenger boarding at this station, and of course a few hitchhiking droids:
Tee hee, Haunted Mansion, tee hee.
We then moved into the loading room where I was all set to wait another 10 minutes to board when a Cast Member came up the line looking for a single rider. Score! I was loaded into the last seat at the back, which is right next to the entry doors and has no seats directly in front of it. Double score! I had great fun with this ride, especially it's randomly generated story, as in this run through we bumped into Vader himself within the first minute and were thrown around the hangar by his powers. I won't spoil any other scenes for future riders, but suffice it to say it was more exciting and fun than I expected a simulator ride to be.
After this I wandered around for a little purchasing my Happiness Pendant (a special, light-up anniversary necklace that interacts with statues called Happiness Spots around the park), looking for Happiness Spots, and trying to find the popcorn bucket I wanted. I couldn't find the popcorn bucket, but I did get to two Happiness Spots. One in the the plaza, then on the way to one in Toontown, I discovered characters out in force yet again. Scrooge McDuck, Daisy, Chip and Dale, and the Three Little Pigs with the Wolf were all entertaining the crowd. Once I'd hung out with them for a bit I headed for the Happiness Spot, put the pendant on the statue, pressed the button, and the statue lit up and played sound effects. It was quite cute, especially because it seemed to thrill the kids around the place who didn't have pendants. One more Happiness Spot and I'd have visited enough to get a special medallion to wear on my Happiness Pendant, yay!
The Pigs and Wolf enjoying a bit of farce, 'running into' the Jolly Trolley.
After this it was 11:00, time to head for lunch before the lunch rush. I got into the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall with a small line, which ten minutes later stretched far out the door behind me. Hurrah for the early bird! Not long after this I was seated in what I consider one of the prettiest themed dining rooms in Tokyo Disneyland. It features giant flowers, a hedge maze, and a lot of castle scenery.
I chose the Heart Shaped Hamburger Patty, which, face it, was theme park food, but the vegetables and sauce were nice, and I loved the tray and it's little crown. I also like how they carry your tray to the table they know is empty for you, it saves you a lot of time looking around awkwardly balancing a tray trying to find a seat without tripping over strollers.
Now as my hotel room was about an hour's travel away, I decided to take my time with this lunch and take another long sit before parade time rather than taking a break in the middle of the day like most Disneyland lovers do. I'd done the parks before without a break, and figured I could do it with just some restful time in the middle. This would turn out to be a mistake, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I realized that soon my fastpass window would be up and Big Thunder Mountain still had fastpasses available, so I headed over to Westernland (the Japanese don't really understand the word 'frontier' as it's not a part of their history, so Frontierland makes little sense to them). I was distracted by a moment by a very animated Woody and Jessie from Toy Story but I soon managed to move through their crowds of fans. Bam! Third fastpass.
I then headed back over to Tomorrowland, and once again did the VIP walk past a huge line onto the ride. I have a soft spot for Space Mountain, as I'm a bit of a wimp with coasters but since Space is all in the dark and I can't see how high up I am, I love every second of it. I will say Tokyo's version is a bit odd though with it's lack of music. All you can hear is coaster tracks and excited squealing. Still, so much fun. I then wandered around having a preliminary look at the Monsters Inc. store and giving in and buying the Star Wars popcorn bucket, which I also quite liked, since the one I wanted seemed to be nowhere to be found.
I decided it was time for another rest so I bought an Orange Mickey Bar pop and wandered over to Fantasyland to eat it and people watch. As I sat there people started to gather around me to save seating for the parade. Hold on, I thought, it's hours before the parade and people are only usually allowed to set up an hour beforehand, and it's not usually nearly this popular. Ah but wait, this is a NEW, SPECIAL EDITION parade, and the only thing Tokyo Disney Resort visitors seem to like more than shows and parades are new things. The Cast Members weren't even stopping them as long as they were sitting on benches and fences and not putting down mats yet. This concerned me however as I had a fastpass for Big Thunder coming up and no-one to save my seat. Luckily, I realised at the last moment that the girl who I'd been speaking broken Japanese to for a bit after she sat down next to me might be willing to hold my place. I managed between bad Japanese, putting a scarf down on my seat, and showing her my fastpass to ask, and she was fine with it, so I ran over to Big Thunder. This is another coaster ride I love because while it has speed, it lacks the two things I hate on coasters: height and drops. True to fastpass standard I was on the ride quickly and able to be back at my spot, dutifully saved, in time for my new friend to go get some food while I saved her spot, and watched her bags! She must have trusted me, but I suppose she knew I wasn't going anywhere before the parade started.
The parade was adorable and included a few characters I didn't expect, especially Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh who doesn't always rate a parade appearance it seems. I think I will always have a soft spot for Jubilation! and its variety of floats, but these ones were nothing to sneeze at either:
The final float (excepting sponsor floats) with Mickey and Minnie.
I was starting to feel quite tired, but once the parade route began to clear I ran over to Splash Mountain to take advantage of the single rider line. Single rider is a rule on a few select rides that if you're riding alone, you can use the fastpass queue without a fastpass to put you in a line for filling up ride cars with uneven passenger numbers. It's a really cool trick for taking a ride with a 110 minute wait, like Splash did at that time, and turning it into a 10 minute one. I had never had a chance to use it before as I usually go to Disney with at least one person who needs hand holding/wants a companion on all single rider applicable rides, but not this time. I walked up to the fastpass queue, indicated by status by holding up one finger and saying 'Singuru rider desu' and was waved through. I felt pretty cool as I wandered up the queue without a fastpass, then when I got to the section where the lady takes your fastpass from you, I explained again, and instead of waving me through she unclipped a section of the queue and motioned for me to go down an entirely empty queue right to the loading area! I then had to stand on a little line waiting for an uneven number, but this happened in minutes. So I now know that single rider is not only a free fastpass that can be used more than once, it's sometimes BETTER than a fastpass! Use it people. Even if you're with a group, unless you're planning a photo pose I suggest trying it at least once.
Now, some of you may remember me saying something about hating drops. Splash Mountain, in order to create significant splashes, has quite a few of these, culminating in the big outdoor one at the end. I love the theming and the Brer Rabbit storyline though so I tend to ride it anyway. It was no less stomach churning this time, and my fellow riders seemed amused by my hesitancy so I decided my Splash Mountain photo pose would be the 'scaredy cat':
See if you can spot me. Hint: you can't see my face ;)
When this photo came up at the booth after the ride the girls on the ride with me cracked up laughing, and when they saw I was laughing too had a giggly chat with me in Japanese.
After Splash it was time to revisit one of my favourite Tokyo Disney foods: the maple churro. I had been thinking about maple churros since I had them on my trip three years ago and I was terrified they wouldn't be as I remembered, but I knew they sold them at the Splash exit so I got one. It was exactly the same! I savoured every memory-filled bite. After this I jumped on Mickey's Philharmagic because I was a fairly tired, there was little wait, and I hadn't seen it since Hong Kong Disneyland about 6 years ago. I then wandered around Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Westernland trying to get a read on the shops for when I did my buying.
It was somewhere here, among the tired feet and previous Disney shopping memories that I got a bit gloomy. I didn't have someone to point the funny souvenirs out to. I didn't have as much money as last time, so I had to weigh up every single purchase. Was I spending too much money? I decided the shopping wasn't helping my mood so I headed off to the Hungry Bear for dinner. Unfortunately, the moodiness followed me there. I sat alone at a table in the corner in a spiral of unhelpful, unreasonable thoughts. Why was I sad? I was at Disneyland! I'd spent so much money on this trip, how could I not be enjoying myself? I decided to do a trip just for me, if I wasn't enjoying it what was the point? Was I ruining Disneyland for myself by having this freak out? Was it even worth coming back tomorrow? All of this effort for nothing!
I had let myself get too tired, and I hadn't given my brain a break from the songs and the crowds and the rushing all day. I was having a textbook Disney crash. I'm sad to say, dear readers, that I sat at that table quietly crying into my curry, frantically messaging my partner hoping he'd cheer me up somehow. He did a half decent job, as he eventually managed to convince me that if this trip was for me, I could do whatever I wanted to, including leave. I decided I didn't want to leave, but instead wanted to get up, go see Dreamlights (the evening electrical parade) as it was soon, and then leave if I wanted, as long as it de-stressed me.
I was still in a bit of a mood as I waited for the parade, but knowing I could leave anytime the parade actually reminded me why I wanted to be there. I giggled at my favourite childhood characters; I took note of the technical differences in this parade discussed online; I watched foreign cast members and remembered when I wanted to audition to be one. The magic wasn't exactly back, but the passion was there, and that was enough. After the parade I had a quick wander through the lands, checking for short queues but mostly enjoying the night scenery and reminding myself why I love these parks, and why I wanted to come back tomorrow. I left about an hour before closing, shaky but satisfied with my evening.
That, my friends, was the story of my first Disney crash. I sincerely hope I never let it happen again, and I hope you can all avoid my mistakes. If you're doing a full day in the park, and there is any way to leave the parks and take a break, DO IT. Your feet, eyes, body and especially brain will thank you for it.
Next up, believe it or not, a mostly enjoyable day at DisneySea!
I woke up to my alarm at 6am ready to get myself dressed and to Disney. I got dressed, put on sunscreen, make-up (which has better sunscreen in it than my stuff for my body) and packed my breakfast, and was out the door by 6:30am. I had researched the train journey previously and discovered that since my hotel was already on the Hibiya line, I could change to the Keiyo line at Hatchobori and avoid Tokyo station's staircase and tunnel of doom (To those not in the know, if changing to Keiyo at Tokyo station be prepared to lug your stuff down a really long staircase then walk a tunnel that literally takes about 10-15 minutes to walk).
The whole journey I was on the lookout for a bottle of Coke Zero, as I understood it was not common in the parks and as it is my main vice I wanted to take one in with me. Amazingly Tokyo's millions of vendo were letting me down on this particular journey.
When I finally reached Maihama station and exited the train, I couldn't help but notice something familiar. Was that...the Happiness is Here song playing as the station music? Yes, it was. Train stations in Tokyo each have their own unique bit of tinny music they play whenever a train stops there to subliminally let those on the train realise it's their stop if they tuned out the stop announcement. This by the way is also how Tokyoites are able to sleep on the train and somehow 'magically' wake up just before their stop. Their subconscious brain knows the music, and that of the station before. I stood for a moment in giggly marvel of the fact that Maihama had managed to change theirs. As it turns out, this is not the only time I would find 'Happiness is here' invading things like an adorable, well-meaning virus.
Sadly, I continued out of the station before thinking to look at the vending machines, and neither the famous Becker's or the less famous Beck's Coffee House had diet cola to offer. So I continued on, figuring I'd either get lucky or go without.
I passed Bon Voyage bang on 7:30am. I know this because I got to see the Bon Voyage employees do all the bowing and scraping that comes with opening the store. They were so incredibly smiley, they reminded me of the chirpy Japanese Disney cast members I had in store. I ducked in to the store quickly to see if I could grab a passholder (a sort of tiny, flat purse just for holding your ticket and fastpasses) because I'd heard for fastpass commandos like me they made all the difference. I was expecting to have to settle for something not that interesting, but my eyes quickly trained on an Alice one that I simply HAD to have. Within seconds I was at the register, able to communicate to the happy Cast Member that I would love her to cut the tag off, and bowing my way out the door to a chorus of 'Irrasshai!'
Tell me friends, does this seem like something I would buy? ;) When I get home I'm thinking necklace or giant pinbadge.
The bag checkers did a cursory look in my backpack ('Ohayo gozaimasu ' *glances at my cardigan on top of all my stuff, doesn't look under it* 'Ok!') and I headed for a spot on one of the side lines that everyone seems to ignore. I was happily only about 3 or 4 people back. I then proceeded to spread out my scarf as a picnic blanket, eat my breakfast, check my game plan (Beginning with running past Star Tours for a fastpass, then heading to Pooh's Hunny Hunt), and spend about an hour typing my blog from the last day on my phone only to have it fail to publish and lose it all. Grr! A note to all blogging from a phone: save before posting if your app has the function. Don't worry, as you saw I was able to retype it in line the next day.
As it came closer to opening time people started to look excited. A few minor characters came out to get the crowd riled up. They started letting the Resort guests in for their extra 15 minutes, and the rest of us tried not to look too scowly as they all streamed past the gates. Then Mickey and Minnie came out on opposite sides and started waving to people in line. 'Suddenly' Mickey saw Minnie and made a big show of rushing to get to her and hug her. I must admit this made me smile. These guys are pretty dedicated to creating special moments for the guests. The cast members then came out and did a long speech the gist of which I got was: don't push, have your passports ready, put your passport on the machine barcode down, and that's about all my Japanese would give me. Luckily if you know how to be nice and do what the guy in front of you does, you don't really need the speech. It's just an important thing to give the speech to the Japanese. Whenever you go to do anything, you get the smiley 'Here are the rules' speech. Even when you go to buy food you'll often get your food with a 'If you'll please proceed to the counter over there and pick up your milk, sweetener, straws and napkins'. Just smile, say hai, and look apologetic if you misunderstand anything.
Quite suddenly after the speech, at 9 on the dot, they started letting us in. Here the big difference between Tokyo Disney openings and others showed itself in full force: people RAN. They have carefully filled the entry area with Cast Members so that if you want to run, you have to duck and weave a bit, but they don't stop you. Also for every 7 Cast Members or so they have one Security Cast Member who is holding up their hands yelling 'Please be careful. Move at a safe speed please!' but again, they don't stop you, and everyone either ignores them, or momentarily slows down to a jog as they pass as if to say 'Look, I'm slowing down' then immediately speeds up again once past each security guy. I'll admit, I did this. Mwahahaha!
Unfortunately by the time I passed Monsters Inc I had to slow my run a bit because my asthma was playing up, but I rushed the rest of the way 'at a safe speed' and made my way to Star Tours for an 10am fastpass. Yes! If you are new to the fastpass system, it's basically a system where if you go to a bank of machines outside a popular ride and scan your park ticket, the machine will spit out a pass with a one hour window on it (starting from the first hour the park is open and moving forward in time as they sell out of fastpasses for that hour). If you return to the ride during your time window you can bypass a large part of the standby line and get on the ride faster. This ticket can turn a 2 hour line up into a 15 minute one, so I recommend getting one as soon as you can when you enter the park, and getting a new one as soon as you are allowed (it will say when you are allowed, in English, on your ticket).
After the fastpass I began to rush over toward Pooh's Hunny Hunt. I was distracted however when I passed Space Place Foodport, and discovered there in their display window - Coke Zero! One 'Kora zero o kudasai' later I continued on my way to find Pooh's Hunny Hunt with a 5 minute wait!
For those who don't know Pooh's Hunny Hunt, it is entirely different from the Pooh rides at other Disney parks for two reasons: it is popular, and it is popular for a reason. [SLIGHT RIDE SPOILERS AHEAD] The ride takes you through the story of the blustery day, Pooh's nightmares of Heffalumps and Woozles, and his attempts to get hunny using a blue balloon, but does so using ride vehicles that are not on a track, but guided by a radio control system that make your 'hunny pot' appear to have a mind of it's own. There are three pots in each set that will take different courses around each room, spin, go backwards and occasionally dance around each other in circles. It makes what would have been a cute animatronic story with great theming into a really fun experience. [END SPOILERS]
This tech is why the ride commonly has 110 minute lines on only averagely crowded days, so 5 minutes was really, really good. I ran onto the ride. My only regret was that I got on too fast to take any pictures of the queue, where you pass rooms of Christopher Robin's house and then weave between giant pages from the Pooh books. The ride was just as fun as I remembered it, and I was hit with that amazing joyous feeling holiday planners get, that 'I'm finally here' feeling.
When I got off the ride the wait was 20 minutes. I was weighing up whether to go again when I saw that the characters were out in force in Fantasyland. I quickly went and got photos with the Mad Hatter, who was slightly disturbed by the red and black card suits all over my hat and backpack, took photos of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and frightenedly snapped photos of Cinderella's Fairy Godmother from a distance.
Beware her scary plastic mask face!
I then realized Peter Pan's Flight had no wait, so I jumped on that. This ride not surprisingly takes you through the story of Peter Pan, and is one of the older, less technologically advanced dark rides, but I love it because it flies you over the scenes. Also because the ride vehicles look like this:
Sorry for the blur, but it's the best shot I got of the little pirate ships. So cute! They're about big enough to fit two people.
I then ran across and jumped on Haunted Mansion, also with a 5 minute wait. Yes, for those of you used to the other parks, the Haunted Mansion is in Fantasyland here. The main reason for this is because for the Japanese, who have very strong and different ghost legends, ghosts very much belong in the realm of fantasy. Of course, it probably didn't hurt to save space in Adventureland either.
[SMALL RIDE SPOILERS AHEAD] The Haunted Mansion is a ride where you get taken on a tour of a mansion that houses 999 ghosts, and they're looking to make it an even 1000. You are put in a two person magically moving chair and narrated by a ghost somewhere in your vicinity who takes you through hallways of haunted pictures, ghost parties, ominously knocking doors, haunted attics and graveyards just to name a few. [END SPOILERS]
The scenes of this ride are lovingly done and include a lovely amount of detail to notice on subsequent ride throughs. I also love this rider's tech because your 'doom buggy', much like the Peter Pan's Flight vehicles, is constantly moving, and loads with passengers standing on a conveyor belt moving in time with the vehicle. This means it loads faster and the queue moves faster too. I also took note this trip that they keep their Haunted Mansion, and their dark rides in general, very dark in Tokyo. I had trouble making out some of the scenes at first. You also cannot see any technical tricks like the dusty scrims you can sometimes catch in other parks, as the Oriental Land Company who own Tokyo Disney Resort have the money (and the Japanese love of cleaning) to keep their rides very well maintained. I noticed this a lot in the parks actually. Most of the effects that have ever worked, do work, which is nice in comparison to the 'oh that broke years ago' issue going on in some parks.
After the Haunted Mansion I took a wander through Cinderella's Fairy Tale Hall with no wait. This is an attraction that has popped up since my last visit, when the Cinderella's Castle Mystery Tour was still running. It's a sort of walk through gallery inside Cinderella Castle that has all sorts of artworks depicting scenes from Cinderella.
Cinderella papercraft anyone?
Some of the artwork is really detailed, moving, or even uses tricks of light to change it's shape. There are also images in the throne room that change if you photograph them with flash. You can take photos on Cinderella's throne and pretending to try on her glass slipper. I spent some time doing the 'I'm a funny gaijin' dance behind a mother to help her get her twins to look in the same direction for their throne photo (for my twin friends reading this don't worry, they got seperate photos too). I then took some very silly photos of myself, which I won't put you through the pain of. What I will show you is my favourite part about going into this hall: the fact that you exit part way up the castle.
Fantasyland is pretty!
It was now finally time to head for Star Tours, but as a fastpass junkie, I had to get a new fastpass on the way. You are able to get a new fastpass either two hours after you got your last fastpass, or at the time your current fastpass window begins, whichever is earlier. The queue for Space Mountain had already grown huge, so at one minute past I grabbed a fastpass for that and headed on to Star Tours.
I would like to take a moment to point out how much I love fastpass. It's a system that rewards you for being the early bird and for being willing to structure your day, and that sits very well with a planner like me. The other reason I love it is because of the pure fun of actually bypassing the line. First you approach a ride like Star Tours to find a big line outside. Instead of getting in it, you idle on past to the fastpass attendant who waves you in to the building. Inside you will usually find a huge line looping backward and forward, full of people waiting. Try not to smile or wave smugly as you skirt around the side of this entire line in a queue of your own that is virtually empty. Feel free to let yourself think 'Later, suckers!' though, I always do ;) Finally reach the part where the fastpass and standby queues merge, and enjoy the moment when the Cast Member stops the standby line to let you go first. A short line later you will be on the ride and out of here.
This was very much my experience with Star Tours, in the first room I was even able to stop and take a picture of the room and the line I'd bypassed:
I then spent 10 minutes or so waiting in a line where C-3PO was doing his planning next to R2 and a big version of the 'ship' we were about to 'board'. We all listened carefully as cutesy ladybot gave us the story on a television screen, then we were off in to the next room that took us through customs and security. Here we encountered entertaining talking droids, infra-red cameras checking us over, a really cute 'window' showing us the silhouettes of the variety of other types of passenger boarding at this station, and of course a few hitchhiking droids:
Tee hee, Haunted Mansion, tee hee.
We then moved into the loading room where I was all set to wait another 10 minutes to board when a Cast Member came up the line looking for a single rider. Score! I was loaded into the last seat at the back, which is right next to the entry doors and has no seats directly in front of it. Double score! I had great fun with this ride, especially it's randomly generated story, as in this run through we bumped into Vader himself within the first minute and were thrown around the hangar by his powers. I won't spoil any other scenes for future riders, but suffice it to say it was more exciting and fun than I expected a simulator ride to be.
After this I wandered around for a little purchasing my Happiness Pendant (a special, light-up anniversary necklace that interacts with statues called Happiness Spots around the park), looking for Happiness Spots, and trying to find the popcorn bucket I wanted. I couldn't find the popcorn bucket, but I did get to two Happiness Spots. One in the the plaza, then on the way to one in Toontown, I discovered characters out in force yet again. Scrooge McDuck, Daisy, Chip and Dale, and the Three Little Pigs with the Wolf were all entertaining the crowd. Once I'd hung out with them for a bit I headed for the Happiness Spot, put the pendant on the statue, pressed the button, and the statue lit up and played sound effects. It was quite cute, especially because it seemed to thrill the kids around the place who didn't have pendants. One more Happiness Spot and I'd have visited enough to get a special medallion to wear on my Happiness Pendant, yay!
The Pigs and Wolf enjoying a bit of farce, 'running into' the Jolly Trolley.
After this it was 11:00, time to head for lunch before the lunch rush. I got into the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall with a small line, which ten minutes later stretched far out the door behind me. Hurrah for the early bird! Not long after this I was seated in what I consider one of the prettiest themed dining rooms in Tokyo Disneyland. It features giant flowers, a hedge maze, and a lot of castle scenery.
I chose the Heart Shaped Hamburger Patty, which, face it, was theme park food, but the vegetables and sauce were nice, and I loved the tray and it's little crown. I also like how they carry your tray to the table they know is empty for you, it saves you a lot of time looking around awkwardly balancing a tray trying to find a seat without tripping over strollers.
Now as my hotel room was about an hour's travel away, I decided to take my time with this lunch and take another long sit before parade time rather than taking a break in the middle of the day like most Disneyland lovers do. I'd done the parks before without a break, and figured I could do it with just some restful time in the middle. This would turn out to be a mistake, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I realized that soon my fastpass window would be up and Big Thunder Mountain still had fastpasses available, so I headed over to Westernland (the Japanese don't really understand the word 'frontier' as it's not a part of their history, so Frontierland makes little sense to them). I was distracted by a moment by a very animated Woody and Jessie from Toy Story but I soon managed to move through their crowds of fans. Bam! Third fastpass.
I then headed back over to Tomorrowland, and once again did the VIP walk past a huge line onto the ride. I have a soft spot for Space Mountain, as I'm a bit of a wimp with coasters but since Space is all in the dark and I can't see how high up I am, I love every second of it. I will say Tokyo's version is a bit odd though with it's lack of music. All you can hear is coaster tracks and excited squealing. Still, so much fun. I then wandered around having a preliminary look at the Monsters Inc. store and giving in and buying the Star Wars popcorn bucket, which I also quite liked, since the one I wanted seemed to be nowhere to be found.
I decided it was time for another rest so I bought an Orange Mickey Bar pop and wandered over to Fantasyland to eat it and people watch. As I sat there people started to gather around me to save seating for the parade. Hold on, I thought, it's hours before the parade and people are only usually allowed to set up an hour beforehand, and it's not usually nearly this popular. Ah but wait, this is a NEW, SPECIAL EDITION parade, and the only thing Tokyo Disney Resort visitors seem to like more than shows and parades are new things. The Cast Members weren't even stopping them as long as they were sitting on benches and fences and not putting down mats yet. This concerned me however as I had a fastpass for Big Thunder coming up and no-one to save my seat. Luckily, I realised at the last moment that the girl who I'd been speaking broken Japanese to for a bit after she sat down next to me might be willing to hold my place. I managed between bad Japanese, putting a scarf down on my seat, and showing her my fastpass to ask, and she was fine with it, so I ran over to Big Thunder. This is another coaster ride I love because while it has speed, it lacks the two things I hate on coasters: height and drops. True to fastpass standard I was on the ride quickly and able to be back at my spot, dutifully saved, in time for my new friend to go get some food while I saved her spot, and watched her bags! She must have trusted me, but I suppose she knew I wasn't going anywhere before the parade started.
The parade was adorable and included a few characters I didn't expect, especially Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh who doesn't always rate a parade appearance it seems. I think I will always have a soft spot for Jubilation! and its variety of floats, but these ones were nothing to sneeze at either:
The final float (excepting sponsor floats) with Mickey and Minnie.
I was starting to feel quite tired, but once the parade route began to clear I ran over to Splash Mountain to take advantage of the single rider line. Single rider is a rule on a few select rides that if you're riding alone, you can use the fastpass queue without a fastpass to put you in a line for filling up ride cars with uneven passenger numbers. It's a really cool trick for taking a ride with a 110 minute wait, like Splash did at that time, and turning it into a 10 minute one. I had never had a chance to use it before as I usually go to Disney with at least one person who needs hand holding/wants a companion on all single rider applicable rides, but not this time. I walked up to the fastpass queue, indicated by status by holding up one finger and saying 'Singuru rider desu' and was waved through. I felt pretty cool as I wandered up the queue without a fastpass, then when I got to the section where the lady takes your fastpass from you, I explained again, and instead of waving me through she unclipped a section of the queue and motioned for me to go down an entirely empty queue right to the loading area! I then had to stand on a little line waiting for an uneven number, but this happened in minutes. So I now know that single rider is not only a free fastpass that can be used more than once, it's sometimes BETTER than a fastpass! Use it people. Even if you're with a group, unless you're planning a photo pose I suggest trying it at least once.
Now, some of you may remember me saying something about hating drops. Splash Mountain, in order to create significant splashes, has quite a few of these, culminating in the big outdoor one at the end. I love the theming and the Brer Rabbit storyline though so I tend to ride it anyway. It was no less stomach churning this time, and my fellow riders seemed amused by my hesitancy so I decided my Splash Mountain photo pose would be the 'scaredy cat':
See if you can spot me. Hint: you can't see my face ;)
When this photo came up at the booth after the ride the girls on the ride with me cracked up laughing, and when they saw I was laughing too had a giggly chat with me in Japanese.
After Splash it was time to revisit one of my favourite Tokyo Disney foods: the maple churro. I had been thinking about maple churros since I had them on my trip three years ago and I was terrified they wouldn't be as I remembered, but I knew they sold them at the Splash exit so I got one. It was exactly the same! I savoured every memory-filled bite. After this I jumped on Mickey's Philharmagic because I was a fairly tired, there was little wait, and I hadn't seen it since Hong Kong Disneyland about 6 years ago. I then wandered around Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Westernland trying to get a read on the shops for when I did my buying.
It was somewhere here, among the tired feet and previous Disney shopping memories that I got a bit gloomy. I didn't have someone to point the funny souvenirs out to. I didn't have as much money as last time, so I had to weigh up every single purchase. Was I spending too much money? I decided the shopping wasn't helping my mood so I headed off to the Hungry Bear for dinner. Unfortunately, the moodiness followed me there. I sat alone at a table in the corner in a spiral of unhelpful, unreasonable thoughts. Why was I sad? I was at Disneyland! I'd spent so much money on this trip, how could I not be enjoying myself? I decided to do a trip just for me, if I wasn't enjoying it what was the point? Was I ruining Disneyland for myself by having this freak out? Was it even worth coming back tomorrow? All of this effort for nothing!
I had let myself get too tired, and I hadn't given my brain a break from the songs and the crowds and the rushing all day. I was having a textbook Disney crash. I'm sad to say, dear readers, that I sat at that table quietly crying into my curry, frantically messaging my partner hoping he'd cheer me up somehow. He did a half decent job, as he eventually managed to convince me that if this trip was for me, I could do whatever I wanted to, including leave. I decided I didn't want to leave, but instead wanted to get up, go see Dreamlights (the evening electrical parade) as it was soon, and then leave if I wanted, as long as it de-stressed me.
I was still in a bit of a mood as I waited for the parade, but knowing I could leave anytime the parade actually reminded me why I wanted to be there. I giggled at my favourite childhood characters; I took note of the technical differences in this parade discussed online; I watched foreign cast members and remembered when I wanted to audition to be one. The magic wasn't exactly back, but the passion was there, and that was enough. After the parade I had a quick wander through the lands, checking for short queues but mostly enjoying the night scenery and reminding myself why I love these parks, and why I wanted to come back tomorrow. I left about an hour before closing, shaky but satisfied with my evening.
That, my friends, was the story of my first Disney crash. I sincerely hope I never let it happen again, and I hope you can all avoid my mistakes. If you're doing a full day in the park, and there is any way to leave the parks and take a break, DO IT. Your feet, eyes, body and especially brain will thank you for it.
Next up, believe it or not, a mostly enjoyable day at DisneySea!
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Day 2: Shibuya and Akihabara
On this day, I was all planned and ready to go to Shibuya. Waking at 8:30am on my own due to the only slight time difference between Tokyo and my home town, I was washed, made-up and at the stores by the time they opened at 10. Unfortunately, I was there in the rain. The rain was light, but persistent, and I stubbornly refused to buy an umbrella until I found the perfect cute one. Instead, I either rushed from awning to awning when it was heavy, or walked stoically through the rain when it was light, affecting my best hardcore 'Yeah, what of it?' face for the umbrella holding public.
Luckily, I had an indoor destination in mind. Shibuya 109, just across the famous Shibuya scramble crossing and to the left. For those who are unaware, Shibuya 109 is a very tall but narrow building full of hundreds of little shops dedicated to gyaru fashion, which ranges from very hip hop to floaty country sun dresses to styles we've never even seen back home. Basically, if you're feeling feminine and looking for some preppy fashion with a whole lot of weird to boot, here's your place.
I got in to the building and systemically browsed every store to my taste in the entire building. I saw crazy stuff. Bright colours appear to still be quite in in Tokyo if you go to the right brand, so I had fun ;) I was wearing my Lego heart necklace, 8-bit hairbows and a ton of my other favourite accessories, and it turns out these attract sales assistants like an insect lamp attracts mosquitoes. Adorable girls trotted over to me store after store to squeal 'Kawaii!' and attempt to ask me where I got them even if they had literally no English skill. Luckily my bad Japanese helped a little here. Although it made me realize I have no idea of the Japanese word for 'online'. Some understood the English word, while others put up with my doing a comical mime of using a computer. Either way, they were very happy when they understood.
I tried to just look and avoid buying this time around as it's so early in the trip, but I did cave in for a bright yellow t-shirt that parodies the Jelly Belly logo and a few accessories. From here I headed to find the Japanese souvenir vending machine I had read about (yes readers, I'm a vending otaku). It was an awesome bank of two machines full of traditional cloth and paper crane earrings. It also had a cool sign on it saying thank you for foreign tourism because without it the youth of today may not continue their traditions and they would be lost.
I then headed over to the Disney store. It was adorable!
(For some reason my picture of the front won't post, but everybody posts that anyway. Personally I like the theming of the side entrance).
It was full of cute things, but I promised myself I would just look until after I had been to the parks - with one exception. I had heard about this thing called a 'cool towel', a cloth that stays cool as long as it is wet. I heard about it just before I left Australia and didn't have a chance to buy one. Lo and behold, Disney had one with Mickey printed all over it. Needless to say it is mine now.
It was at this point I realised it was getting late for lunch and I had intended to go to a specific shabu shabu place. I used the wonder of GPS to wander back streets I would never have gone down otherwise on my way to the restaurant. Unfortunately when I got there they had closed lunch early due to a lack of patrons :( Determined not to let it ruin my mood, I wandered around until I found a cute looking omerice (omelette stuffed with rice covered in tomato sauce) cafe on the second floor of a building. It was delicious and had great iced tea.
It was here that my crazy shopping brain took over. I saw a pink and blue skirt in the second story window of the next building I just HAD to see. So once I was done I went straight over and navigated to the window. To my dismay, it was pink and gray! Somehow the window had tinted it, and this is not my preferred colour scheme. Slightly dejected, I hung my head and went out the next side door I could find.
When I emerged, I was on a little sloping street full of really cool shops (it turns out the omerice joint was at the entrance of it). I found a shop that sold adorable homewares and came out with a couple of frilly loli-style aprons and a bunch of stuff with cute faces on it. It was then I realised where I was. This was the famous Spanish Slope I'd read about but hadn't had time to research! Hurrah for serendipity.
I then was determined to do two things: find the Tokyu Hands banana vending machine, and get lost in Tokyu Hands properly, both things I hadn't had time to do last time. The vending machine was surprisingly easy to find, and I loved the conveyor belt system to keep them from bruising! After that I explored Tokyu Hands, home of every gadget you never knew you needed.
Mouth stickers for the snorer??
Catan, anyone?
I suppose you could just dress up as a rice ball.
Of course, if you only like to dress as other kinds of food, we've got you covered too.
It's also the home of every sticker set one could ever want, including some with a lolita dress up doll and all of her tiny sticker dresses and accessories (I may possibly own one of these now *blush*) I ended up spending about $50, but I got a wide variety of stuff.
Finally I ended the day by heading to Akihabara, the electronics, games, and anime area of Tokyo. You couldn't wipe the smile off of my face as I wandered from store to store staring at comics and character goods. My main purchases however were made at Don Quixote, the cheap, often wacky, Japanese housewares/costumes/sundries store that is home to some of the best 'only in Japan' gifts. I bought a DragonQuest slime, and finally bought the Akihabara station sign washcloth that I've been regretting not buying for three years! I only paid about $2 for it too :) Anything else I was tempted by I reminded myself there is still plenty of trip left to come back and that I still had Harajuku street fashion, Nakano, and Disney shopping to think about.
I had dinner at The Granvania, a maid izakaya that is designed to look like a tavern from a role playing game. I visited this place a lot last time and I'm glad to say it hasn't changed. The girls are still just friendly girls who happen to be in maid costumes, and they still get to design their own costumes and looks. The theming is still adorable too. So with my stomach full of delicious pub curry, I headed home to pack my Disney backpack and prepare for the next day: Tokyo Disneyland!
Luckily, I had an indoor destination in mind. Shibuya 109, just across the famous Shibuya scramble crossing and to the left. For those who are unaware, Shibuya 109 is a very tall but narrow building full of hundreds of little shops dedicated to gyaru fashion, which ranges from very hip hop to floaty country sun dresses to styles we've never even seen back home. Basically, if you're feeling feminine and looking for some preppy fashion with a whole lot of weird to boot, here's your place.
I got in to the building and systemically browsed every store to my taste in the entire building. I saw crazy stuff. Bright colours appear to still be quite in in Tokyo if you go to the right brand, so I had fun ;) I was wearing my Lego heart necklace, 8-bit hairbows and a ton of my other favourite accessories, and it turns out these attract sales assistants like an insect lamp attracts mosquitoes. Adorable girls trotted over to me store after store to squeal 'Kawaii!' and attempt to ask me where I got them even if they had literally no English skill. Luckily my bad Japanese helped a little here. Although it made me realize I have no idea of the Japanese word for 'online'. Some understood the English word, while others put up with my doing a comical mime of using a computer. Either way, they were very happy when they understood.
I tried to just look and avoid buying this time around as it's so early in the trip, but I did cave in for a bright yellow t-shirt that parodies the Jelly Belly logo and a few accessories. From here I headed to find the Japanese souvenir vending machine I had read about (yes readers, I'm a vending otaku). It was an awesome bank of two machines full of traditional cloth and paper crane earrings. It also had a cool sign on it saying thank you for foreign tourism because without it the youth of today may not continue their traditions and they would be lost.
I then headed over to the Disney store. It was adorable!
(For some reason my picture of the front won't post, but everybody posts that anyway. Personally I like the theming of the side entrance).
It was full of cute things, but I promised myself I would just look until after I had been to the parks - with one exception. I had heard about this thing called a 'cool towel', a cloth that stays cool as long as it is wet. I heard about it just before I left Australia and didn't have a chance to buy one. Lo and behold, Disney had one with Mickey printed all over it. Needless to say it is mine now.
It was at this point I realised it was getting late for lunch and I had intended to go to a specific shabu shabu place. I used the wonder of GPS to wander back streets I would never have gone down otherwise on my way to the restaurant. Unfortunately when I got there they had closed lunch early due to a lack of patrons :( Determined not to let it ruin my mood, I wandered around until I found a cute looking omerice (omelette stuffed with rice covered in tomato sauce) cafe on the second floor of a building. It was delicious and had great iced tea.
It was here that my crazy shopping brain took over. I saw a pink and blue skirt in the second story window of the next building I just HAD to see. So once I was done I went straight over and navigated to the window. To my dismay, it was pink and gray! Somehow the window had tinted it, and this is not my preferred colour scheme. Slightly dejected, I hung my head and went out the next side door I could find.
When I emerged, I was on a little sloping street full of really cool shops (it turns out the omerice joint was at the entrance of it). I found a shop that sold adorable homewares and came out with a couple of frilly loli-style aprons and a bunch of stuff with cute faces on it. It was then I realised where I was. This was the famous Spanish Slope I'd read about but hadn't had time to research! Hurrah for serendipity.
I then was determined to do two things: find the Tokyu Hands banana vending machine, and get lost in Tokyu Hands properly, both things I hadn't had time to do last time. The vending machine was surprisingly easy to find, and I loved the conveyor belt system to keep them from bruising! After that I explored Tokyu Hands, home of every gadget you never knew you needed.
Mouth stickers for the snorer??
Catan, anyone?
I suppose you could just dress up as a rice ball.
Of course, if you only like to dress as other kinds of food, we've got you covered too.
It's also the home of every sticker set one could ever want, including some with a lolita dress up doll and all of her tiny sticker dresses and accessories (I may possibly own one of these now *blush*) I ended up spending about $50, but I got a wide variety of stuff.
Finally I ended the day by heading to Akihabara, the electronics, games, and anime area of Tokyo. You couldn't wipe the smile off of my face as I wandered from store to store staring at comics and character goods. My main purchases however were made at Don Quixote, the cheap, often wacky, Japanese housewares/costumes/sundries store that is home to some of the best 'only in Japan' gifts. I bought a DragonQuest slime, and finally bought the Akihabara station sign washcloth that I've been regretting not buying for three years! I only paid about $2 for it too :) Anything else I was tempted by I reminded myself there is still plenty of trip left to come back and that I still had Harajuku street fashion, Nakano, and Disney shopping to think about.
I had dinner at The Granvania, a maid izakaya that is designed to look like a tavern from a role playing game. I visited this place a lot last time and I'm glad to say it hasn't changed. The girls are still just friendly girls who happen to be in maid costumes, and they still get to design their own costumes and looks. The theming is still adorable too. So with my stomach full of delicious pub curry, I headed home to pack my Disney backpack and prepare for the next day: Tokyo Disneyland!
Day 2: Shibuya and Akihabara
On this day, I was all planned and ready to go to Shibuya. Waking at 8:30am on my own due to the only slight time difference between Tokyo and my home town, I was washed, made-up and at the stores by the time they opened at 10. Unfortunately, I was there in the rain. The rain was light, but persistent, and I stubbornly refused to buy an umbrella until I found the perfect cute one. Instead, I either rushed from awning to awning when it was heavy, or walked stoically through the rain when it was light, affecting my best hardcore 'Yeah, what of it?' face for the umbrella holding public.
Luckily, I had an indoor destination in mind. Shibuya 109, just across the famous Shibuya scramble crossing and to the left. For those who are unaware, Shibuya 109 is a very tall but narrow building full of hundreds of little shops dedicated to gyaru fashion, which ranges from very hip hop to floaty country sun dresses to styles we've never even seen back home. Basically, if you're feeling feminine and looking for some preppy fashion with a whole lot of weird to boot, here's your place.
I got in to the building and systemically browsed every store to my taste in the entire building. I saw crazy stuff. Bright colours appear to still be quite in in Tokyo if you go to the right brand, so I had fun ;) I was wearing my Lego heart necklace, 8-bit hairbows and a ton of my other favourite accessories, and it turns out these attract sales assistants like an insect lamp attracts mosquitoes. Adorable girls trotted over to me store after store to squeal 'Kawaii!' and attempt to ask me where I got them even if they had literally no English skill. Luckily my bad Japanese helped a little here. Although it made me realize I have no idea of the Japanese word for 'online'. Some understood the English word, while others put up with my doing a comical mime of using a computer. Either way, they were very happy when they understood.
I tried to just look and avoid buying this time around as it's so early in the trip, but I did cave in for a bright yellow t-shirt that parodies the Jelly Belly logo and a few accessories. From here I headed to find the Japanese souvenir vending machine I had read about (yes readers, I'm a vending otaku). It was an awesome bank of two machines full of traditional cloth and paper crane earrings. It also had a cool sign on it saying thank you for foreign tourism because without it the youth of today may not continue their traditions and they would be lost.
I then headed over to the Disney store. It was adorable!
(My picture of the front won't post for some reason, but people always post that anyway. Personally I love the theming on this side door).
It was full of cute things, but I promised myself I would just look until after I had been to the parks - with one exception. I had heard about this thing called a 'cool towel', a cloth that stays cool as long as it is wet. I heard about it just before I left Australia and didn't have a chance to buy one. Lo and behold, Disney had one with Mickey printed all over it. Needless to say it is mine now.
It was at this point I realised it was getting late for lunch and I had intended to go to a specific shabu shabu place. I used the wonder of GPS to wander back streets I would never have gone down otherwise on my way to the restaurant. Unfortunately when I got there they had closed lunch early due to a lack of patrons :( Determined not to let it ruin my mood, I wandered around until I found a cute looking omerice (omelette stuffed with rice covered in tomato sauce) cafe on the second floor of a building. It was delicious and had great iced tea.
It was here that my crazy shopping brain took over. I saw a pink and blue skirt in the second story window of the next building I just HAD to see. So once I was done I went straight over and navigated to the window. To my dismay, it was pink and gray! Somehow the window had tinted it, and this is not my preferred colour scheme. Slightly dejected, I hung my head and went out the next side door I could find.
When I emerged, I was on a little sloping street full of really cool shops (it turns out the omerice joint was at the entrance of it). I found a shop that sold adorable homewares and came out with a couple of frilly loli-style aprons and a bunch of stuff with cute faces on it. It was then I realised where I was. This was the famous Spanish Slope I'd read about but hadn't had time to research! Hurrah for serendipity.
I then was determined to do two things: find the Tokyu Hands banana vending machine, and get lost in Tokyu Hands properly, both things I hadn't had time to do last time. The vending machine was surprisingly easy to find, and I loved the conveyor belt system to keep them from bruising! After that I explored Tokyu Hands, home of every gadget you never knew you needed.
Mouth stickers for the sorer??
Catan, anyone?
I suppose you could just dress up as a rice ball.
Of course, if you only like to dress as other kinds of food, we've got you covered too.
It's also the home of every sticker set one could ever want, including some with a lolita dress up doll and all of her tiny sticker dresses and accessories (I may possibly own one of these now *blush*) I ended up spending about $50, but I got a wide variety of stuff.
Finally I ended the day by heading to Akihabara, the electronics, games, and anime area of Tokyo. You couldn't wipe the smile off of my face as I wandered from store to store staring at comics and character goods. My main purchases however were made at Don Quixote, the cheap, often wacky, Japanese housewares/costumes/sundries store that is home to some of the best 'only in Japan' gifts. I bought a DragonQuest slime, and finally bought the Akihabara station sign washcloth that I've been regretting not buying for three years! I only paid about $2 for it too :) Anything else I was tempted by I reminded myself there is still plenty of trip left to come back and that I still had Harajuku street fashion, Nakano, and Disney shopping to think about. I had dinner at The Granvania, a maid izakaya that is designed to look like a tavern from a role playing game. I visited this place a lot last time and I'm glad to say it hasn't changed. The girls are still just friendly girls who happen to be in maid costumes, and they still get to design their own costumes and looks. The theming is still adorable too. So with my stomach full of delicious pub curry, I headed home to pack my Disney backpack and prepare for the next day: Tokyo Disneyland!
Luckily, I had an indoor destination in mind. Shibuya 109, just across the famous Shibuya scramble crossing and to the left. For those who are unaware, Shibuya 109 is a very tall but narrow building full of hundreds of little shops dedicated to gyaru fashion, which ranges from very hip hop to floaty country sun dresses to styles we've never even seen back home. Basically, if you're feeling feminine and looking for some preppy fashion with a whole lot of weird to boot, here's your place.
I got in to the building and systemically browsed every store to my taste in the entire building. I saw crazy stuff. Bright colours appear to still be quite in in Tokyo if you go to the right brand, so I had fun ;) I was wearing my Lego heart necklace, 8-bit hairbows and a ton of my other favourite accessories, and it turns out these attract sales assistants like an insect lamp attracts mosquitoes. Adorable girls trotted over to me store after store to squeal 'Kawaii!' and attempt to ask me where I got them even if they had literally no English skill. Luckily my bad Japanese helped a little here. Although it made me realize I have no idea of the Japanese word for 'online'. Some understood the English word, while others put up with my doing a comical mime of using a computer. Either way, they were very happy when they understood.
I tried to just look and avoid buying this time around as it's so early in the trip, but I did cave in for a bright yellow t-shirt that parodies the Jelly Belly logo and a few accessories. From here I headed to find the Japanese souvenir vending machine I had read about (yes readers, I'm a vending otaku). It was an awesome bank of two machines full of traditional cloth and paper crane earrings. It also had a cool sign on it saying thank you for foreign tourism because without it the youth of today may not continue their traditions and they would be lost.
I then headed over to the Disney store. It was adorable!
(My picture of the front won't post for some reason, but people always post that anyway. Personally I love the theming on this side door).
It was full of cute things, but I promised myself I would just look until after I had been to the parks - with one exception. I had heard about this thing called a 'cool towel', a cloth that stays cool as long as it is wet. I heard about it just before I left Australia and didn't have a chance to buy one. Lo and behold, Disney had one with Mickey printed all over it. Needless to say it is mine now.
It was at this point I realised it was getting late for lunch and I had intended to go to a specific shabu shabu place. I used the wonder of GPS to wander back streets I would never have gone down otherwise on my way to the restaurant. Unfortunately when I got there they had closed lunch early due to a lack of patrons :( Determined not to let it ruin my mood, I wandered around until I found a cute looking omerice (omelette stuffed with rice covered in tomato sauce) cafe on the second floor of a building. It was delicious and had great iced tea.
It was here that my crazy shopping brain took over. I saw a pink and blue skirt in the second story window of the next building I just HAD to see. So once I was done I went straight over and navigated to the window. To my dismay, it was pink and gray! Somehow the window had tinted it, and this is not my preferred colour scheme. Slightly dejected, I hung my head and went out the next side door I could find.
When I emerged, I was on a little sloping street full of really cool shops (it turns out the omerice joint was at the entrance of it). I found a shop that sold adorable homewares and came out with a couple of frilly loli-style aprons and a bunch of stuff with cute faces on it. It was then I realised where I was. This was the famous Spanish Slope I'd read about but hadn't had time to research! Hurrah for serendipity.
I then was determined to do two things: find the Tokyu Hands banana vending machine, and get lost in Tokyu Hands properly, both things I hadn't had time to do last time. The vending machine was surprisingly easy to find, and I loved the conveyor belt system to keep them from bruising! After that I explored Tokyu Hands, home of every gadget you never knew you needed.
Mouth stickers for the sorer??
Catan, anyone?
I suppose you could just dress up as a rice ball.
Of course, if you only like to dress as other kinds of food, we've got you covered too.
It's also the home of every sticker set one could ever want, including some with a lolita dress up doll and all of her tiny sticker dresses and accessories (I may possibly own one of these now *blush*) I ended up spending about $50, but I got a wide variety of stuff.
Finally I ended the day by heading to Akihabara, the electronics, games, and anime area of Tokyo. You couldn't wipe the smile off of my face as I wandered from store to store staring at comics and character goods. My main purchases however were made at Don Quixote, the cheap, often wacky, Japanese housewares/costumes/sundries store that is home to some of the best 'only in Japan' gifts. I bought a DragonQuest slime, and finally bought the Akihabara station sign washcloth that I've been regretting not buying for three years! I only paid about $2 for it too :) Anything else I was tempted by I reminded myself there is still plenty of trip left to come back and that I still had Harajuku street fashion, Nakano, and Disney shopping to think about. I had dinner at The Granvania, a maid izakaya that is designed to look like a tavern from a role playing game. I visited this place a lot last time and I'm glad to say it hasn't changed. The girls are still just friendly girls who happen to be in maid costumes, and they still get to design their own costumes and looks. The theming is still adorable too. So with my stomach full of delicious pub curry, I headed home to pack my Disney backpack and prepare for the next day: Tokyo Disneyland!
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