Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Report – Part 3
Arriving in Port Discovery, we deboarded the DisneySea Electric Railroad. Over the course of the trip, we didn’t spend a ton of time in Port Discovery. It was a cool land, but was my least favorite in Tokyo DisneySea. There are only two attractions there (three counting the Electric Railroad), the land was small, and the heavy steampunk look didn’t do a whole lot for me. Part of this is probably my bias–many elements of steampunk that have been added to other Disney parks have cluttered the parks, and I immediately noticed some very similar elements in Port Discovery. However, Mysterious Island has a steampunk influence, too, and I absolutely love that land. So it’s not as if I dislike steampunk.
The best way to describe the land in terms of other lands in Disney theme parks is Discoveryland (Disneyland Paris–see this trip report for photos of Discoveryland) meets Tomorrowland ‘98 (Disneyland). Conceptually, these two lands are similar. The only difference is that Discoveryland in Paris is brilliantly executed, and Tomorrowland ‘98 in Disneyland was horribly executed. Port Discovery fits somewhere in between. It has a lot of whirligigs and various other ornamentation on top of a industrial base, featuring lots of bronzes, greens, and other muted colors. It’s also a rather small land, perhaps the smallest of the DisneySea lands.
As we got off the DisneySea Electric Railroad, we did see what can only be described as “Mad Scientist Goofy.” I think his actual title is just “Port Discovery Goofy,” but with his wild white hair and long lab coat, he looks a bit mad. I don’t think he is supposed to bear a resemblance to any historical figure, but he could probably pass for a few. Minus the floppy shoes, tie, patchwork pants, and dog ears.
Mad Scientist Goofy was really popular, and once again showcased the free-for-all of character meet and greets at DisneySea. We really wanted our picture with him, but we had no idea what the protocol was (perhaps there was some sort of carefully orchestrated method to the madness) and didn’t want to be too aggressive. The mayhem was fun to watch, though.
After a couple minutes of this, we grabbed some FastPasses for StormRider while Henry and Kate got in line for some strawberry popcorn. This popcorn was pretty good, but as I mentioned in our “Awesome Tokyo Disneyland Snacks” article, I didn’t think any of the popcorn lived up to the immense hype it receives. Having so many interesting flavors is a clever way to generate buzz, but at the end of the day, it’s still just seasoned popcorn. Then again, I’m not really that big on popcorn, in general, so the fact that I wasn’t impressed doesn’t mean a whole lot.
While they were in line for the popcorn, I wandered around Port Discovery. These two children watching a duck caught my eye. The young boy was frightened by the duck at first, and he hid behind his sister as it approached him. Finally, as the duck got closer, the boy spontaneously jumped out and chased after it. Why the sudden change of mind, I’m not sure. It was pretty funny in person, but probably one of those “you had to be there” moments. As you can see by the below series of photos, Japanese guests are just as enamored with ducks as US guests.
Our next stop was Aquatopia via Standby. The posted wait was about 20 minutes or so, but it was a constantly moving line, so it didn’t seem too bad. Aquatopia is an interesting attraction. It uses the trackless ride system from Pooh’s Hunny Hunt and combines that with water, which undoubtedly made for an expensive attraction with high maintenance costs, but there’s not really any substance to it.
To its credit, it’s fun and pretty (especially at night). It’s more fun than Autopia and definitely looks cooler, but I was still left with a “that’s it?” feeling from Aquatopia that I don’t have with Autopia. I think this is largely because of my assumption that it was an expensive and ambitious attraction, and as such, there should be more to it. Sort of like how theme park fans give Mad Tea Party a pass for its simplicity because we know exactly what its role is, but we’re disappointed when a big budget attraction like the Little Mermaid dark ride doesn’t live up to its potential. These are probably things normal guests don’t even consider. To them, I suspect there’s much less subtext, and an attraction is either fun or not. In that sense, I suppose Aquatopia succeeds. It’s fun–it’s just a subpar use of the ride system.
From there, we walked toward Cape Cod. This now reminds me of one of the coolest experiences about the first night in Tokyo DisneySea that I can’t believe I forgot when writing that installment. I’ve gone back and added it into that installment, but here it is below for those who don’t want to re-read the full installment (I’m sure you’ve all read it several times as is ;)):
The point where I was wrought back to reality from the waking dream was also sort of the point where I descended deeper into it. Right after taking the photo above of the DisneySea Electric Railway, I turned to head back towards Cape Cod. As I did, I thought I heard the Epcot entrance music playing in Port Discovery.
For me, this was like the moment in a (real) dream where the continuity breaks down, you realize you’re dreaming, and you wake up. I mean, Epcot music in Tokyo DisneySea?! That’s a dead giveaway that something is amiss. In this case, I knew I was awake and actually in Tokyo DisneySea (okay…I was pretty sure), so I paused to try to figure out what was going on. It probably wasn’t actually Epcot music, just similar-sounding music. After a few minutes of just standing there, I came to the conclusion that it was, without a doubt, Epcot music.
After that, whenever we walked through Port Discovery, I paid extra close attention to the music. According to MagicMusic, the Epcot music is about 30% of the entire Port Discovery loop, so we ended up hearing it relatively often. It gave me a surreal feeling each and every time.
We didn’t have any real business in Cape Cod, which always seemed to be really busy during the middle of the day with Duffy-crowds. We just stopped and took a couple photos by the lighthouse and did some people-watching as walked through the land.
One of the first things we learned in Tokyo Disney Resort is that adding Duffy to anything in Tokyo makes it better (and by better, I mean more popular). Sort of like bacon in the United States. That right there should tell you everything you need to know about our cultural differences: in the US, we add a fatty meat to things to improve them, and in Japan, they add a cute animal. Shows, meals, and even topiary displays were all substantially improved upon (made more popular) by Duffy. In an effort to woe this lucrative new audience, I think lulls in this trip report can similarly be improved upon by adding Duffy. For example, we got in line for a snack and waited for a bit…AND THEN WE SAW DUFFY!
Just kidding. That would mean adding an AND THEN WE SAW DUFFY line every other sentence. Not just because there are that many lulls in this report, but because that’s about how often we saw Duffy.
Regular readers of this blog will know I’m not exactly a Duffy fan. Actually, I can’t stand his presence in the United States parks. However, it’s a different experience in Tokyo. Duffy’s popularity is organic there, and Japanese guests truly are passionate about him. They love Duffy so much that there are actually limits on how much of his merchandise you can purchase. Can you imagine that in the US?! Because of his natural popularity there, I didn’t mind him at all there. Hating Duffy in Japan would be tantamount to hating Mickey in the United States. You’d be an iconoclast. I’m not putting Duffy in the same league as Mickey in terms of historical significance, but you get the idea. In Japan, Duffy IS a symbol of everything positive that people love about Disney.
This is really difficult to convey, and people who are only used to our Duffy might have a hard time accepting it. I took photos throughout the trip to try to convey this, and I’m a bit reluctant to post them because I don’t want people to misconstrue them as mocking. I’m going to try it, anyway.
Moving on from Cape Cod, we headed back to American Waterfront to use our FastPasses for Tower of Terror. We picked up on details we hadn’t noticed before, which was pretty easy considering that there were thousands of details. I think you could ride every day for a year and still pick up on new details.
We were also sent to a new loading area (but still in the downstairs portion of the queue), which can be counted as at least a partial success. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos from the loading area because I was told to put my camera away. Most attractions didn’t have signs prohibiting photography (at least in English…and almost all signage was in English), but most informally prohibited it via Cast Members, who were very quick to approach you if they saw a camera drawn. (Every attraction in Tokyo had at least double the number of Cast Members you’d find working an attraction in the US; this was great for load efficiency, but bad for photos.) As the trip progressed, I became better at picking my spots to grab quick photos.
Our FastPass window for StormRider was closing, so we quickly headed back to Port Discovery after finishing Tower of Terror. StormRider is…uhh…I’m not sure how to describe StormRider.
I think the best way is via analogy. Imagine that you’re a visitor from another country who doesn’t speak English and has never heard of Michael Jackson. Now imagine going to see Captain EO. Having no history with Michael Jackson and not speaking English, what do you think your reaction to that would be?
StormRider is in no way, shape, or form similar to Captain EO, and it’s not even close to that bizarre (for what it’s worth, I’d love to see something like Captain EO with no baseline and in a different language…I’m sure it would be hilarious), but it is one of those attractions you walk off thinking, “what the heck just happened?” In this case, that was sort of in a good way.
The premise of StormRider is that you’re being sent into the eye of a storm with a missile to blow the storm up. Sounds like a foolproof plan to me. The pre-show consists of a presentation by a Cast Member and a video; it is funny (reminded me a bit of Dinosaur) and has English subtitles. Given the subtitles, I guess it’s not entirely like not speaking English and watching Captain EO, but I lost my grasp on what was going on during the pre-show, so it’s sort of the same.
The attraction itself is a simulator, much like the original Star Tours, but with a crazy amount of in-cabin effects. So many effects, in fact, that it’s hard to pay attention to where your vehicle is flying and what’s going on inside the cabin. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and the attraction is actually a ton of fun, it’s just wild and somewhat bizarre. I wanted to do it again to get a better idea of the attraction’s full plot, but we didn’t end up having time. It’s pretty nonsensical, so I’m not sure that a deeper understanding of the plot would’ve helped much. It’s one of those attractions that has grown on me even more as I look back on it, just because it’s so crazy.
As we left StormRider, a Japanese teenage couple stopped Sarah and was really enthusiastic about meeting her. They kept smiling and laughing, and it was clear that meeting Sarah made their day. Apparently they had been waving to her while we were in line for the attraction and she had been waving back. A number of Japanese guests stopped us while we were in the parks, but these were definitely the most excited.
Next up was Big Band Beat, so we walked back to American Waterfront. On our way there, I stopped to snap this photo of these ducks in the American Waterfront Duffy display. They seemed to be loving the attention–I’m confident in this because they (or two other ducks) were still sitting there about an hour later when we left Big Band Beat!
Big Band Beat was our first show in Tokyo DisneySea, and we had no idea what to expect, beyond what was implied by the name of the show. Even then, there’s a good amount of latitude as far as what the show could contain.
The show is housed in the Broadway Music Theatre, which is a pretty impressive venue, harking back to classic theatres in New York City. The lobby contains a variety of murals depicting American history, and the seating area is a lavish, with nicely upholstered seats and a pretty stage. Unfortunately, just as I got out my camera to take a photo of the empty theater, a Cast Member informed me that photos weren’t allowed in the theater. That applied even before the show had started, I guess.
The show itself was fantastic. The production value was incredible, and it felt like a true Broadway jazz concert. I was absolutely blown away by this, not just because of the production value, but that Tokyo DisneySea was able to get such a high caliber of English-speaking performers in Japan. These performers surpassed just about every performer we’ve seen in the US parks.
My favorite part of the show was the “Jazz Babies” peformance with Minnie and Marie from the Aristocats. The song itself and their performances weren’t as good as the rest of the show (my favorite musical number was “It Don’t Mean A Thing”), but the visuals were awesome, with Marie and Minnie dancing on a light-up staircase. It was awesome.
In terms of pure wow factor, Mickey Mouse took the cake. He came out towards the end, and I expected him to maybe do some light drumming or pretend to drum. To my surprise, he absolutely went to town on the drums with a performance that would put a good drummer to shame. After that, I have to say I have a new respect for Mickey Mouse.
I can see why Big Band Beat is such a popular show at Tokyo DisneySea. It was amazing, surpassing Finding Nemo: The Musical at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Aladdin – The Musical Spectacular at Disney California Adventure for me. This was just totally different, and while it certainly had elements of Disney in it via the mentioned characters, incredible jazz performers were the true stars. We enjoyed this show so much that we ended up buying the CD.
At the end of the show, I quickly took the above photo from the hip. It’s presented only to give you a rough idea of how incredible the show looks. Next time I might discretely try to get a few of the Marie and Minnie segment…although I don’t want to give Americans a bad rep in Japan.
Several of you have asked about the language barrier at Tokyo Disney Resort, and this seems like a good place to address it. There’s no more of a language barrier in Tokyo than you’d have to worry about if you were planning a trip to Disneyland Paris. A surprising amount of the attractions, especially shows involving song, are in English. I say surprising because native-English speakers probably make up less than 1% of guests at Tokyo Disney Resort. (We saw more westerners performing IN Big Band Beat than we did guests in total over the course of the entire day!) It’s more of a locals’ park than even Disneyland, with most guests being young, semi-frequent visitors from Tokyo.
Anyway, there are a decent number of attractions that are not in English, but this shouldn’t be much of a concern. Disney attractions don’t have complex stories for the most part, and it’s incredibly easy to pick up on what’s going on without speaking the language. The only time we wished we understood what was being said (that I can recall) was during the Tower of Terror pre-show presentations. Even then, we got the basic gist of it, but we didn’t know the precise details of what was being said.
As far as navigating the parks and communicating things like meal orders, that’s also very easy. All signage is in English, and almost all Cast Members can communicate in English. There were a couple of times when they didn’t understand what we were trying to order for our meals, but the problem was quickly resolved by them handing us a menu and us pointing at what we wanted.
Even outside of Tokyo Disney Resort, there were only a few times where we had any sort of language barrier. These were mostly when trying to find the right rail line or when dining at a restaurant off the path in Kyoto. By and large, there was no issue with not speaking Japanese. I’m sure it would have been easier if we did, but it wasn’t a problem.
One thing that might be worth noting is the sense of isolation you might feel there, especially if you’re going alone. There are far fewer American tourists in Japan than there are in Europe, and you can go for hours on end without hearing anyone speak any English. I’ve heard that this can be disconcerting for some people the first time, especially those visiting alone. Personally, I didn’t mind this at all. Most of the time I’m in my own little world, and being in a theme park without hearing (and understanding) a different dumb comment like, “how do we use the Fast Track?,” “where’s the Haunted House?,” or “what’s inside the giant golf ball?” every few minutes was very pleasant change of pace.
After Big Band Beat, we decided to do an early dinner at the BellaVista Lounge in the Hotel MiraCosta. We had heard this restaurant offered a good view (literally, that’s the translation of its name) and we wanted to dine in the MiraCosta, so we figured we’d give it a shot.
This is the one mistake I think we made in terms of dining. The MiraCosta is the most expensive hotel at Tokyo Disney Resort, higher in terms of pricing (and awesometacularness–an entirely measurable characteristic that I did not just make up) than any US Disney hotel. Its restaurants are priced accordingly.
I’m not sure whether the Lounge had just opened, but it was pretty dead. Our server there was awesome, and I think he spoke English better than me! It did offer a beautiful view, and was a beautiful lounge in general, but the prices were insane.
The four of us ended up ordering a cheese plate, a meat plate, and a couple of drinks (I got some specialty peach drink with a boss souvenir Spring Voyage cup…because the soda without the cup was only like $3 less) and our total was over $100. What we had wasn’t even memorable or filling. If you’re planning a trip to Tokyo Disney Resort, I might recommend going up here for drinks and Fantasmic, but don’t even think about a meal here.
We looked around the lobby and gift shop of the MiraCosta after leaving BellaVista, and the hotel was unsurprisingly beautiful. The lobby was smaller than I expected in terms of its footprint, but it had a high ceiling and ornate details everywhere, so this isn’t necessarily a complaint. I guess when you’re used to the sprawling lobbies of Walt Disney World’s hotels, you expect that from all Disney hotels. However, Tokyo Disney Resort doesn’t have “the blessing of size” (quite the converse, actually, land is at a premium in Tokyo), so designers must make the best use of their limited space there.
Everyone was still hungry after this, but I noticed another beautiful late afternoon light, so I said that I wasn’t that hungry and that I’d just grab a snack later while they all went to Vulcania. As I ran around shooting, I found myself in Mysterious Island right as they were sitting down with a bunch of food. There was no line (and truth be told, I was actually really hungry), so I went up and grabbed something, and sat with them and quickly ate.
Vulcania challenges for the top slot in terms of counter service restaurants at Tokyo Disney Resort. We didn’t try all of them, but of the ones we did, there were four that really stood out (two in each park). Vulcania is great in terms of both food and ambiance, serving Chinese dishes buffeteria style in a restaurant themed as a geothermal station carved out of the mountain. Like most of Mysterious Island, it is the intersection of nature and man, with large transformers, power devices, and man-made walls supporting the dining area that has been cut out of the rock.
It’s described on the Tokyo DisneySea website as a place that serves Captain Nemo’s hardworking crew. We thought the food was really good (Nemo treats his crew well!), but regardless of whether you like Chinese food, this is worth checking out to see one of the coolest Disney restaurants in the world.
We were seated at the edge of the restaurant by the walkway that went through Mysterious Island. As we finished our meal we noticed the teenage Japanese couple that I mentioned before lingering around on the sidewalk. They waved at Sarah, she waved back, and then they approached us. They were again really excited, and asked me to take a picture of them with her on each of their phones. I obliged, and they got even more excited. Judging by their reactions, the rest of us were pretty sure that they thought they recognized Sarah as an American celebrity.
Sarah, Kate, and Henry planned on going back to take naps, but I wasn’t going to miss out on a potentially awesome sunset, so I parted with them after the meal. As I left Vulcania, I noticed a beautiful sky over Mermaid Lagoon and the Arabian Coast. The sun wasn’t even to the horizon, but it was already lighting up the sky with beautiful colors.
Right after I grabbed these shots, it started raining. Not wanting to get wet, I ducked inside Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage for what would be a life-changing experience. I didn’t take any photos on my first ride-through, so I’ll wait to share my thoughts once I have some photos to accompany them.
This installment is getting far longer than expected, so rather than breeze through the rest of the night to keep its length in check, I’ll stop here and I’ll leave with this: Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage is how you do a modern dark ride. It became our favorite ride at Tokyo DisneySea and I still find myself humming its song on a daily basis. Wow.
As we mentioned in Part 2, thank you all so much for helping spread the word about this trip report. You’re probably starting to see why Tokyo DisneySea is the most beautiful Disney theme park in the world, and we really want to help spread the word about these relatively unseen (by westerners) parks in Tokyo. We are incredibly grateful for each “share” of this trip report. Whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or even by email…anything helps!
We also appreciate and read each comment left and try to respond to all of them (at least the ones that have a question or prompt a response). So if you have a comment or question about anything you see in this report, please post it below!
To read the other installments of this trip report, visit the Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Report Index.
Your Thoughts…
What do you think of Big Band Beat, Aquatopia, and StormRider? What about the cultural zeitgeist that is Duffy the Disney Bear? Please share any thoughts or questions below in the comments!
I wonder who the teenagers thought Sarah was? Personally I’m always struck by how much Sarah looks like my beautiful niece (who is neither american or famous). There are certain photos in which I could swear you’d kidnapped my niece – taking her on a bizarre round-the-world-tour-of-all-things-Disney hostage experience. (My niece is instead safe and sound at home, should anyone query this).
Big Band Beat. So that is the thing that I saw on YouTube a while back!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA1QRZWcqiI
And that was aired on Japanese Television. Another cultural difference I noticed is they often feature Disney from their parks as Travelogues or in Concert with songs from classic Disney films to present.
Yep, that’s it! I could have sworn that the Mickey we saw was more “aggressive” on the drums than that, but maybe I was just blown away because it was Mickey playing the drums!
As always, awesome photography. Please please please share with us any pictures you might have of the restaurant themed to Alice in Wonderland.
Those will definitely be in the Tokyo Disneyland parts of the trip report!
Tom, thank you for the great pics and, as usual, very practical info. As it happened our family went to TDR and TDS in early July, so we missed your reports prior to going. Just one day each park, so we didn’t do it justice as you and your crew did. Impressions: re: Sea, I totally agree. It is just a beautiful park. Every land so vivid. RE; Disneyland, loved it, esp. Pooh’s ride, as you discuss. But still favor WDW’s MK, as it is of course larger and more lush, with nooks and crannies to get lost in. Keep all your reports and reviews coming, I enjoy them!
I’m surprised by your comments concerning Tokyo Disneyland. Tokyo Disneyland is actually slightly larger than the Magic Kingdom (the walkways alone are significantly large). As far as lushness, I guess there’s room for argument on that, but I wouldn’t say that the Magic Kingdom is more lush than Tokyo Disneyland–they’re about equal. Tokyo Disneyland certainly is more lush in the Hub. It still has trees there!
Ha! So much for my “impression” of size! Must have been jet lag!
I understand why you thought the caliber of performer was so much higher in TDR. My wife used to be a performer at WDW in the Trolley and FOLK shows. She told me she and her fellow performers auditioned a couple of times for the Tokyo resort, but hardly anyone ever made the cut. They have extremely high standards and their specifications for look/type are almost unachievable unless you are a cartoon yourself! I find this interesting for a park outside of the US… it seems counter-intuitive to think Japanese guests have a more particular idea of what an “American” character/performer should look like. This is particularly interesting after reading about your encounter with guests who were enamored with Sarah. Not to play down her looks! Did they believe she was a celebrity or were they just fascinated to see an American woman?
That’s interesting about the performer standards at TDR, thanks for sharing. Performers are, without a doubt, better there. I doubt it says anything about the Japanese guest idea of what an “American” performer should look like, and more about the across-the-board standards of TDR, in general. It just seems that’s the one area where they’d be forced to compromise because of lower supply, but apparently there are plenty of skilled performers who want to work in Tokyo, so that’s not an issue.
As for Sarah, it was definitely something about HER specifically, and not just the sight of an American woman. Henry, Kate, and I were all there, and it was like they didn’t even see the rest of us. On other occasions, when we were approached by guests, they were interested in all of us. It could have been because she waved back to them and no one else did, but I think they thought there was something special about her.
“I’m not sure whether the Lounge had just opened, but it was pretty dead. Our server there was awesome, and I think he spoke English better than (I)!”
A little grammar lesson; when deciding to use either “I” or “me,” finish the sentence (in your mind) with the verb used previously in the same sentence. Thus, “Our server was awesome, and I think he spoke English better than I (speak English). 😉
Just having a little fun with you there…busting your chops. In all seriousness, in pictures like the one of the people on the gondola (after your bit about BellaVista), do you use a graduated ND filter there or is that sans assistance?
Modern English accepts “than” as both a subordinating conjunction and as a preposition. In this case, that would make “I” or “me” acceptable ways to finish that sentence, especially since “me” does not introduce ambiguity. I feel that “than I” is more pretentious, so I go with “than me.”
In any case, this blog is not exactly the pinnacle of writing on the internet and anyone looking for errors is likely to find them in spades. 😉
No filter used on that gondola photo, just under-exposed and brought out the shadows.
Hahahaha
As I see more of your pictures from this trip, I’m struck by how different they feel from most of your other photos. I’m not sure if it’s the subject itself, equipment, set up, processing, or what. You’re posting many more photos of people, but it’s more than that. They all have a certain feel to them, which makes me feel like I’ve been there even though I haven’t!
Tom, my apologies if I didn’t understand this from your previous posts. Based on your experience, what do you think is the average price of a typical table service meal and a counter service meal in the Tokyo parks? And are there any sites that you have found that would have a listing of the menus for the Tokyo parks?
I am currently printing up ‘Sarah Bricker Fan Club’ membership cards! I love the ongoing story of her fans – so sweet!
RE: Vulcania
How?? Is that?? Just?? A restaurant???
TDS is incredible. I NEED to make it out there. In the meantime, I have your fantabulous photos to enjoy. Thank you for sharing, Tom, and I look forward to the next report. You never fail to disappoint with the best Disney park photographs around!
Big Band Beat sounds incredible! I am so jealous that you guys got to see this show! As I’m reading these trip reports I have wanted to go more and more, but this is icing on the cake. What a great concept I would love to see for myself!
Also, the sunset pics are breathtaking! The colors are so warm and pretty and the landscape truly is impressive.
Great report and some awesome pictures! As far as Stormrider…. yes it is a crazy attraction… I don’t particularly love it but don’t hate it either… the strangest thing for me is the ending… where it seems like you crash into the ocean and left to die and then the doors open for you to leave… we were like “wait… did we just die?!?!” As I mentioned in a reply to another comment… I absolutely love Sinbad… it is my favorite attraction at DisneySea… the no pictures in queues annoys me to no end… still take them until I get yelled at… I normally follow the rules; however, there are way too many ridiculous rules in Tokyo and it detracts from the experience sometimes.
Haha, I forgot to mention the end! That was pretty odd, too. It was just…inexplicably over with no real explanation of how we survived (did we survive)? I still like it, though.
As for photography, I feel the same way. I stopped once someone said (or gave me the arms crossed signal), but since there are no signs, I figure it’s fair game until that point. It’s not like flash photography, there is no harm in it.
I love reading these trip reports! I was interested in Paris, but you’ve sold me on Tokyo. I’m already saving my pennies! Now, request time: do you have the park maps for the Tokyo parks? It’d give me a better feel reading the reviews if I can imagine the path and icons.
Keep ’em coming!
Until he gets back to you, here’s a link to some maps online: http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/en/access/mapdownload/index.html
Yep, those are the maps to reference. Way easier than me scanning them! 😉
I am loving your reports. Big Band Beat was awesome! The Mickey drumming blew us away as well!!
Storm Rider –your feeling equaled our feelings. What the heck?? It was crazy.
Even your Aquatopia thoughts were the same as ours. As is about Duffy Bear.
But the best so far is how you feel –I suspect about Sinbad’s Voyage and Chandu. My goodness…my favorite photo from our trip is my daughter with Down syndrome–and the cut out of Chandu! (she brought home more Chandu items!). Fun times. I am reliving our trip through your report!
Chandu is the man! I honestly don’t know why they love Duffy so much when they have one of the GREATEST theme park characters ever in him. HE should be the star of that park. Bring him to America!
I agree completely! I have a bunch of Chandu stuff… there was very little of it the first time we went… had a hard time finding stuff but the last two times there has been a bit more.
All I can say is:
ENVIOUS! Would love to go sometime, but private school and college may keep that at bay for a while. Thanks for all the posts, I look forward to more!
Thank you for sharing your trip report. I would live to go to Tokoyo Disney, but need to wait till my son is a little older. This trip report is making waiting very difficult.
I’m obsessed with these tokyo reports! Please keep em coming!
Thanks for this great trip report. 2 things you mentioned made me so happy – Vulcania and Sinbad’s Voyage – probably 2 of my favorite things ever in Disney. We loved the food so much at Vulcania and can’t wait to get back there. We rode Sinbad about 6 times – each time had a boat to ourselves as everyone else in the park was at other attractions – we bought the CD of the music and have listened to it so many times back home. Probably my happiest moment in all of the Disney parks is there in Sinbad’s! I can still smell the bananas during the trip 🙂
They had the Sinbad soundtrack when you were there?!?! How long ago was that? I absolutely love the song (and the ride… it is my favorite ride in Tokyo) but have never seen the CD in our 3 trips there :\
Yep, it’s on this album: http://www.amazon.com/Soundtrack-Tokyo-Disney-Music-Album/dp/B0019CLK1Q/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1374718585&sr=1-1
There are multiple versions of that album, so make sure to get the one with that cover. It’s the newest one, and the only one with the music Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage.
Hmm I cant reply to your reply >_< Thank you for that link Tom! I just ordered it from amazon.co.jp… they let me set a US address so hopefully it will all go through OK! The link for that if anyone is interested is: http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%82%BA%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC-%E3%83%9F%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AB%E3%83%90%E3%83%A0-%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%82%BA%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC/dp/B0019CLK1Q/ref=sr_1_47?ie=UTF8&qid=1374721419&sr=8-47&keywords=tokyo+disneysea+music
Really lovely photographs Mr. Bricker!!! I must put it out there that I was thrilled to read about your thoughts on Japanese Duffy. Now, if you could just feel the same way about american Duffy…you know, nothing’s better than a hug from Duffy at Epcot. One of the many reasons we’re dying to go to Toyko Disney is to see the as you put it “organic” Duffy presence. I’ll admit he’s a little forced in the American parks, however I don’t think that takes away from his general cuddly awesome bear radicalness. I think it’s neat how in Japan he has this total allure so much so that he even has a girlfriend with eyelashes, Shelly Mae…yeah i went there
I just feel sad for Duffy in the US. They try way too hard with him, and no one (besides Japanese tourists, it seems) cares. Even his meet & greets aren’t popular!
I wonder how long they’ll continue to push him until they give up?
I have been reading your trip reports for years and they continue to get better and better! Keep up the great work looking forward to reading about the rest of the trip! Btw, what is steampunk?
Thanks! Here’s a primer on steampunk: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk