Raise your hand if on Thursday night at 6:30pm you booked a flight to Tokyo for the next morning at 6am!! Also raise your hand if you flew to Tokyo to spend only 48 hours at Tokyo DisneySea and Disneyland!! And finally raise your hand if you would totally do it again!!!
Trish and I wanted to go back to Tokyo after meeting there on a crazy whim in March 2017, but I had a work conflict and we couldn't book our trip. But on Thursday night I realized we might be able to pull it off, for a shortened trip, and if I worked for most of the 11 hour flight on Friday and part of Monday. Exhausting as it may have been, it was completely worth the experience. The best part - Trish getting her DisneyLand birthday sticker! :)
Trish and I wanted to go back to Tokyo after meeting there on a crazy whim in March 2017, but I had a work conflict and we couldn't book our trip. But on Thursday night I realized we might be able to pull it off, for a shortened trip, and if I worked for most of the 11 hour flight on Friday and part of Monday. Exhausting as it may have been, it was completely worth the experience. The best part - Trish getting her DisneyLand birthday sticker! :)
Trip Highlights
We were not able to buy our tickets online before leaving the US, the website would not take our credit cards. But it was very easy to buy a ticket from our hotel. We initially bought a 1-day park pass, and then at the end of day 1 while at DisneySea we upgraded it to a 2-day park pass so we could visit DisneyLand for a few hours the next day before flying home.
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I recommend staying at one of the hotels near the park on the monorail line. We chose the Sheraton because of our SPG loyalty. It was very convenient to hop right on the rail to get to the park within a few minutes, and also to quickly get back after a very long day. Also - we could watch the Volcanic eruption of Mount Prometheus from our window (although this view is from the park)!
Tokyo DisneySea
I highly recommend a visit to Tokyo DisneySea. Japan has the money to spend and boy do they take this park to the next level. Caveat - if you are wanting Disney and the Disney character's in their truest form...this is not the park to visit. But if you want an amazing amusement park with unique features everywhere you look and just some seriously jaw dropping architecture and wow factor - this is the place! From the moment we walked through the gates we were blown away, and the feeling didn't leave us the entire day.
Oh...and the language barrier is for real at this park! They are by no means catering to English speaking guests. It was perfectly fine and we managed to get around OK - but be prepared. If you are lost or need help from a cast member, pointing and hand signals are your best bet!
Much to our surprise, in the middle of March all the school kids in Tokyo have a break! What this meant for us was insane crowds and lines like you have never seen!! Our advice - don't go in blind like we did...do some research before booking and make sure those kids are in school like they should be. ;) |
Apparently everyone wears matching outfits...mostly matching hats / caps / headbands....and it's fabulous! Japan already has some of the best people watching, but everyone at the DisneySea park just brought it to a whole new level. So of course we had to "blend in" and we bought matching Minnie Mouse beanies!
If the kids are out of school and you are hungry - start thinking about standing in line somewhere almost an hour before you think the "starving" point is going to hit! We made the mistake of waiting too long and couldn't get in anywhere! Finally though we found a decent line in the Mysterious Island Park at Nautilus Galley. Gyoza sausage bun and a beer. Cheap, easy, quick and a place to sit down - exactly what we needed! And it was delicious as well.
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Have fun exploring the various lands throughout the park. You will feel like you've taken a trip around the world by the end of the day!
Some of the shows, despite being in Japanese, are fun to experience. We went to the "Mermaid Lagoon Theater", which was our favorite attraction of the day - a must see! And also to "The Magic Lamp Theater", which was let's just say interesting... Another highlight we were told about was "Big Band Beat", but we walked over for the last show (an hour early) and this was the maxed out line. wow!
We didn't make it on many rides, due to the crazy long lines, but we did get to ride 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Sinbad's Storybook Voyage. We had FASTPASSes to Journey to the Center of the Earth, which we heard was a highlight ride - but even getting the passes around 11am the FASTPASS time wasn't until after 10pm! It was just too cold and we decided to not walk back through the park to ride it.
We finished the night enjoying the Fantasmic! water show, which according to Trish is a blend of the show at DisneyLand and Epcot. It was good, but mostly we were just freezing and had trouble enjoying it because we were so cold. It is nice though that they do it in the Mediterranean Harbor because people can find viewing points 360 degrees around.
And of course some final silly photos around the main entrance water fountain!
Tokyo Disneyland
Admittedly, we did not have much time at all at Tokyo DisneyLand. Tickets were cheap and we just wanted to experience it for a few hours before flying home...which is exactly what we did.
Ok - biggest thing in Tokyo Disney (other than matching outfits) is the popcorn containers! Play a game and count how many different containers you see people carrying around. Some people buy them during this visit, but I think majority brings theirs from past visits and get a popcorn refill. So of course...just trying to blend in again - we had to buy one! Each park has at least one popcorn kiosk with a specific flavor of popcorn (e.g. Garlic Shrimp at the American Waterfront, Curry at the Arabian Coast) and a container design to go along with the theme. At DisneySea the lines were so long we didn't get one. But finally at Disneyland we stumbled upon a pretty short line and got our Caramel popcorn in a Minnie Mouse container.
Happy Birthday Trish! We found a cast member to make Trish her birthday sticker! Language barrier, it helps to spell your name on the phone.
Other than that, we just walked around as fast as we could to explore the park as much as possible. The lines were all too long to be able to ride anything in the short time we had available (note - we heard Pooh's Hunny Hunt is a must ride). Although we did sneak into the Country Bear Theater, which brought back childhood memories for Trish.
Two final birthday occasions for Trish - in her nearly 36 hour birthday (between timezones) Surprises on the flight home - with United PJs. And a family Korean BBQ dinner back in Los Angeles!
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