Park hopping then off to Tokyo!
Trip Start
Apr 14, 2012
1
4
8
Trip End
Apr 28, 2012
Where I stayed
Tokyo Disneyland, Kanto, Japan
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
We managed to get a distant shot of a mild example of Duffy madness. Those not knowing who Duffy is, he is Mickey's teddy bear and was invented in Japan. It recently carried into the US parks but it doesn’t seem like it caught on there. Here in Japan, the girls are mad about Duffy. They wait in 2 hour lines to get a picture with him, they pay up to $300 for each stuffed bear and bring all of the bears that they own to the parks with them. They clip the small ones on them and carry the large ones in their arms like babies. They have hundreds of outfits for him and it seems these girls own them all. The bears get their own seats on rides and at food tables. Unreal……
Snapped a pic of Harm in front of her castle and then found some very rare Disney characters, the Fairy Godmother and the mice from Cinderella!
We decided to get a fastpass for Pooh and were surprised to see a 5 minute wait with lines of 10-20 people at each fastpass machine!
While in Fantasyland, we also got a perfectly timed Seven Dwarf march right by us!
Perry was dying to ride the steam train so we let him have his fix.
Here’s a quick video of the steam train and steam ship.
We nabbed a few more castle shots.
We went over to Tomorrowland for lunch because it "sounded" good. When we saw the Mickey plate and Mickey egg, we had to have it! Unfortunately, it tasted like rat food.
We managed to grab a video of the Jungle Cruise for you guys too.
On our way out, we found some more rare characters that you never see in the park like Jiminy Cricket and Thumper!
We checked out the Disneyland Hotel which is right at the entrance. This place is absolutely spectacular!
Then we headed to Disney Sea for one last time. When you enter, you actually go under the Mira Costa Hotel which is an over the top must see hotel. Italian marble everywhere you look. It starts at ~$650/night.
We grabbed a better shot of Hotel Hightower and a cool one of the Raging Spirits ride.
While strolling through the Italian Village, we grabbed a shot of Harm in a garden and the now famous shot of Mike and the kawaii (means cute in Japanese) girls.
Then came Harmony’s most dreaded time, the time to leave Disney…… It was very easy to go back to our hotel, grab our bags, jump on the monorail back to Disney Sea, and hop on a highway bus right in front of Disney Sea which took us straight to Shinjuku Station in the heart of Tokyo.
Being the busiest station in the world with over 1.2 million passengers traveling through there every day, it took us 15 minutes just to navigate the damn thing and figure out how to get out! With that figured out, it was an easy 10 minute walk to our “hotel”. Man, this hotel sucked. It was a Best Western. The room was the size of a closet which was to be expected and the air conditioning barely worked which was also to be expected. What was not to be expected was that it was basically in the red light district surrounded by strip joints and bars as far as the eyes can see. Japanese business men are a strange breed. Since the trains stop at 12am, they basically party all night after work until 5am when the trains start again. Then they go home, shower, change, and hop on another train back to work. So, where do they party until 5am? Right under the Best Western!! Made for a fun 3 nights.
After we checked in, the front desk gave us a great recommendation for dinner. We found it easily and, when we got there, realized it was one of those pay ahead restaurants where you pay for your food in a machine and then give your receipt to your server. It was actually pretty easy to find the picture of what we both wanted and the beer. The food was absolutely fantastic! We were both so happy with it. We ended up choosing the same dish which was grilled steak, tempura king prawns, a fresh cabbage salad, miso soup, and rice. Both meals and the beer came to less than $25 including the exchange which is an excellent price for Tokyo.
Comments
Does not look like too many americans were there with you. Sorry you had to leave the 2nd best place on earth, but on to new adventures. I hope all is well after the disney dope. love you, ac
˙sןǝʌɐɹʇ ɥsıʇıɹq ɹnoʎ ɹǝʇɟɐ pıp ı sɐ 'uı ʞɔǝɥɔ ʎןıɐp sıɥʇ ssıɯ oʇ buıob ¡¡¡¡soǝpıʌ & sɥdɐɹboʇoɥd ǝɥʇ ǝʌoן ı ɥɔnɯ ʍoɥ uo pǝʇɹɐʇs ǝɯ ʇǝb ʇ,uop puɐ 'buıbboןq ɹnoʎ ¡ǝʌoן ¡uʍop ǝpısdn ɐpuıʞ ןǝǝɟ ǝɯ sǝʞɐɯ ןןǝʍ ˙˙˙˙ǝɔuǝɹǝɟɟıp ǝɯıʇ ɹnoɥ 31 ǝɥʇ ɥʇıʍ pǝןdnoɔ 'obɐ sʎɐp ןɐɹǝʌǝs pıp noʎ ʇɐɥʍ buıpɐǝɹ
P.S. Hi C!