Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea Birthday Bonanza

My birthday gift consisted of Mickey Mouse threatening Rick to take me to Disneyland, or else... So in September we finally headed over to Tokyo's Disneyland and DisneySea. We spent the whole weekend there, with a stay at the Disneyland Hotel (which you can see in the background on the right).

The bridge leading to the park was lined with Disney characters, and even the park's buses and train was themed.

Our digs for the night...
On our first day we went to DisneySea. It's more popular with adults, so we figured it would be less crowded on a Sunday than Disneyland. It was a good assumption.

DisneySea is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year, so they have statues of Mickey hats with classic characters all around the park. This was the first at the main entrance...
Since the park is relatively new, it's extremely well done and everything is very realistic. Disneyland, on the otherhand, was starting to look a bit dated (especially Tomorrowland, which looked more like 1980s Sci-Fi Land).

The meticulous attention to detail at DisneySea really made it feel like we were in Europe. The absence of Japanese food was also refreshing.

At the center of DisneySea lies the Mediterranean Harbor, with the Mysterious Island and its volcano in the middle. I can see this volcano from the metro each morning on my way to work. Later in the day we came back to the harbor for some very cool shows, which included volcanic eruptions.

The first show we saw was"Be Magical". Mickey is surprisingly fluent in Japanese. He can also teleport from floating hat to floating hat.

The other show was the Legend of Mythica, which had cool ships with Disney characters on board. Where's Donald?

The fortress overlooking the Mediterranean Harbor, Fortress Explorations, had some cool interactive models. The golden dome houses a model of the solar system that could be moved around.

There was also a reconstruction of one of da Vinci's flying machines.

The American Waterfront made me feel a little homesick. It also had one of the best rides in the park, the Tower of Terror. Tokyo Disney has a really good Fastpass system in place, where you can get a pass for a ride which will give you an hour window to come back later that day and enjoy the ride with a minimum wait time (about 10 minutes). This way you can spend time exploring the park between rides, rather than standing in line. With this system, we were able to visit all the rides we wanted to.

Sadly, Rick didn't buy this hat :(

These hats were marketing genius: you could also buy a wand, and when you waved it at the hat, it would light up and play music. People would actually line up to activate the hats.

Another bit of marketing genius is Duffy Bear. Duffy is a character that was made up for Disney in Japan, and is only available in DisneySea. It doesn't really fit with the other Disney characters because it's an incredibly plain teddy bear. The story behind it is that Mickey and Minnie were going to be apart for some time, so Minnie got Mickey Duffy bear. You can buy clothes to customize your very own Duffy, and everyone we saw at the park had some sort of Duffy merchandise. You could also lug your bear around and take pictures with it at designated Duffy photo-spots.

This part of the American Waterfront REALLY made me home sick; it reminded me of Peggy's Cove...

... if Mickey Mouse worked at Peggy's Cove.

The volcano is on the Mysterious Island, where we took a journey 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea. The ride was very well done, with water in the double windows to create a very realistic underwater experience.

The Mermaid Lagoon was an indoor area with kids rides, but we still had a lot of fun.
We went on the Whirlpool which was awesome, and the decorations and lighting was amazing...
... as was the souvenir shop. It was inside a whale.
The Arabian Coast.
Lost River Delta...
... and the same area by night.

Oh, Goofy...

The late night show was very cool, with a giant hat made of pixel screens in the middle of the harbor, and Mickey on top, orchestrating the scene. The floating globes projected scenes from classic Disney films.

At the end of a busy day we were lucky enough not to have to leave the park. Our room at the Disneyland hotel was really nice...
... with Disney accents all around.

This house in the hotel lobby was very well done, with lots of details...

... such as the Little Mermaid in the bathtub.

The lobby in the opposite direction.

Room service breakfast!

The fountain in front of the hotel.
The Peter Pan pool, which was closed for the season.

We were at Disneyland on the weekend they started their Halloween celebrations.

Day two, Disneyland!

At the center, they set up a very cool Halloween scene. The abstract statue on the right (where you can sort of see a jack-o-lantern) was really interesting. We didn't realize this until we came back at night...

When you looked at these statues from one angle, you could see a Disney character. Here's Donald.

From a different angle you got a Halloween scene. Here's a scary owl.
Is that Mickey?
No it's a scary hawk!
Goofy?
Wolf!

There was also a Halloween parade.

The columns came up and dancers came out of them. The hands would also change...

Here you can see the dancers going back into their columns, and that the hands are now a face.

My favorite part of the park was Fantasyland, which had all the classic rides (including It's a Small World, of course). On my first visit to Disneyland in Florida, over 10 years ago, I didn't get to go on the Dumbo ride because the line was just too long. Once again, we got pretty lucky with the (lack of) crowds.

Spinning tea cups!

These days, The Haunted Mansion has a Nightmare Before Christmas theme. When I went on this ride in Florida, at the end of the ride the two ghosts of Muppets Statler and Waldorf were in our car, this time we had the two kids from Nightmare.

The Alice in Wonderland themed banquet hall (food court) had amazing decorations, and one of the best meals I've had in Japan (still no Japanese food!)

Since it was Halloween, many people came dressed as Disney characters. The costumes looked amazing, as well as incredibly uncomfortable in the heat. I wouldn't be surprised if they wore these on a regular basis though, when you consider how popular cosplay (costume play: dressing up as your favorite character) is in Japan.

Westernland... You can see they aren't terribly creative with the names.

And by night...

The slightly dated Tomorrowland. This was a pizzeria, with a futuristic pizza making machine. We also went on Captain EO, which was still cool, even though it's so old now.

Toontown, where we went on a Roger Rabbit ride. So many non-Disney characters have been swallowed by Disneyland.

Goofy's house.

Toontown by night.

The electric parade was amazing.

The cat kept changing his pattern.
As did the genie...

One of the last rides we went on was one of my favorites: Pooh's Hunny Hunt. It's one of the newer rides in the park, and it was amazing to see how technology has changed. When we went on the Snow White ride, it was fun too because of how great the classic characters are, but the ride itself and the technology is a bit dated. You ride a train through an indoor set, where cardboard cutouts jump out at you at every turn. The Pooh ride was way more advanced: 4 passengers sat in a pot of honey, which glided on the floor through different rooms, and you coudn't see the tracks. Each pot was independent of the other, and they often crisscrossed paths. When Tigger bounced around the room, the pot bounced with him, and when Pooh fell asleep, you could see his dream self rise out of him and float around the room. The hologram projection was very well done.

After two days of fun, we had to leave. It was shocking to get back on the local train, which didn't have any bright colors or Disney characters to escort us home. After two days of dreaming, it was time to wake up.