Days 10 - Tokyo Disneyland, Part I

It was raining when we were up the next morning. We were keeping an eye on the weather and it was possible it would rain Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. However, we ended up having great weather every day except for Tuesday. It really poured on Tuesday. The rain began before we woke up and continued at a steady or hard pace until ~7:00pm. Despite the rain, we had a truly wonderful day.

We ate the hotel breakfast before heading to Tokyo Disneyland. Once again we arrived early. Today we were a little less than an hour early. Fewer people were waiting to enter the park, but we still were not the first people there. We had umbrellas and ponchos to help us stay fairly dry until they opened the gates.

We had a strategy for this rope drop. The most popular rides at Tokyo Disneyland are Monsters Inc. Ride and Go Seek and Pooh’s Hunny Hunt. Our plan was to enter the park and take a hard right to Ride and Go Seek where we would pick up a fast pass. We then walked to Pooh’s Hunny Hunt. It was temporarily closed so we then moved on to plan B and headed for Peter Pan. Peter Pan is not really different from the US ride (other than the characters speaking Japanese), however, it is one of Alison’s favorite rides and is also very popular in Japan. With the rain, crowds were very low. By the time we got to Peter Pan, we walked right onto the ride. We enjoyed it immensely. When we got off there was no one in line so we rode it again. We saw one example of the level of care the cast members take in Tokyo Disneyland. As we were getting off of Peter Pan a cast member was wiping down each car to ensure it was dry.

Then we walked over and rode the Haunted Mansion. This ride was also very similar to the US version, albeit also in Japanese. Pooh’s Hunny Hunt was still down so we got a FastPass before heading to Space Mountain. We waited to ride Space Mountain (~15 minutes) and this was one of three lines we stood in all day. We also waited for Snow White and for Monster’s Inc. The rain really thinned out the crowds and we were able to ride every ride we wanted without really waiting.

One interesting thing about the Tokyo Disney parks is that they will shut down fast passes on slow days. Today was a particularly slow day so they shut down all of the fast-pass machines by a little after 11:00am. I was very glad we got some to Monster's Inc. and Pooh's Honey Hunt before they shut the fast passes down.

We had lunch at the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall. It is another buffeteria. The food was fine, but the location was awesome. It is Alice and Wonderland themed. The theming is as fun as any location we have ever eaten at a Disney park.

The rain continued falling and we continued exploring attractions – It’s a Small World, Pinocchio, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Snow White, Roger Rabbit’s Spin, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Tiki Room, the Country Bears (fun combo of English and Japanese), Astro Blasters, Star Tours, Swiss Family Robinson Tree House and more. We were really able to accomplish everything we wanted to do today.

We made a dinner reservation at the Blue Bayou. It is inside of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride like in the US Disneyland. This was another fantastic dining experience.

The rain made for a long day and allowed us to do everything we wanted and then some. After dinner, we did a little bit of shopping before calling it a night.

We really love Tokyo Disneyland. We like it even better than the original. It is cleaner and better maintained. All of the rides are kept in pristine condition. The way they looked they could have been built yesterday. It is also designed to avoid some of the flaws of Disneyland – it has wide walkways and dedicated space to watch the entertainment. The cast members are on another level. Their service and hospitability are unmatched. They manage to balance efficiency and enforcing the rules while being kind and accommodating. Observing their effortless execution was a thing of beauty.