Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland's main entrance

I'm all over the place with my posting timeline. In February our friend Fumie helped us enjoy Tokyo Disneyland for my son's 7th birthday. She showed us that there was a bus that we could catch at a stop that wasn't too far from our house, and it would take us right to Disneyland's main gate. We woke up at 4:00 a.m., caught the bus at 6:00, and two hours later on a Thursday morning, there we were!

We stopped by the Gag Factory near the Roger Rabbit ride to get my son's birthday medal and Mickey doll. The hardest part was tearing them away from the cartoons that were playing on the TVs inside!

It was a beautiful day. We stayed in Toon Town for a little while, rode a few of the rides, watched a Frozen parade, and visited Mickey's House. Even though we arrived when the gate opened, and even though it was a Thursday, it was already a full park and the lines for popular attractions (like meeting Mickey) were quite long:

The wait time was nearly an hour, but 
thankfully it felt like much less time. 
We all enjoyed seeing Mickey's house 
come to life, and it was great to
meet Mickey!

Since it was our first day, we weren't really familiar with the ins and outs of the park. Fumie told us about the FastPass machines, but we didn't really understand how it all worked. We didn't know that there was a different machine for each ride, or that we really had to run around the park first thing in the morning and visit all the FastPass machines for the rides we wanted. We also didn't know that the passes were sold for a rather specific window of time, and that we couldn't have more than one FastPass for each time window. It all kind of makes sense now, but it was a lot to figure out on the first day. It was also difficult for us to figure out which rides were height-compatible with our kids, because there isn't a list of rides by height-requirement that we could find. (Scratch that, I think I found one in Japanese, but it was still difficult to decipher.) By day two we were much more familiar with the process and we made it on more rides.

There were FastPasses for shows, too. The most popular shows require a reservation that can be made online, but that site is only in Japanese (and most of the words are graphics that can't be translated by a browser, unfortunately). The shows are so popular that the FastPass machines for them give tickets by lottery. We tried our luck, but we were only allowed to try each show once on any given day, and luck wasn't with us. Next time I think we'll give the online reservations a shot.

Online reservations are also required for any of the sit-down theme restaurants like Pirates of the Caribbean. As with the shows, the reservation site is only in Japanese and again most of the text is actually a graphic that can't be translated. Hopefully I'll know enough Japanese before the next time we go that I can get that done myself.

I was surprised at how long the lines were for everything. The rides, the food, and shopping at the end of the day (tip: do NOT shop at the end of the day)! Thursday wasn't quite as crowded, but Friday coincided with a holiday for China (Chinese New Year) and there were a LOT of Chinese tourists that day. Apparently it's best to be an expert on Chinese, Korean, and Japanese holidays, because they greatly impact the crowd level.

This is the line...for churros!

Speaking of food, this is the main indication that you aren't in any other Disneyland in the world. The park looks so similar to the one I've been to in California that if it weren't for the food and the Japanese signs, I could be forgiven for thinking I was back in America (even the character actors are white and speak English). But back to the food. Especially the popcorn! There were 3 flavors: caramel, chocolate, and curry! We could follow our nose to any one in the park. Sometimes the aromas overlapped. Chocolate curry smells weird :-) And smoked turkey legs are a very popular food cart item!

Aside from the popcorn, the other food items at the park definitely had a Japanese spin on them.

A sample menu at one of the more kid-friendly
snack shacks. Picky kids may not enjoy the
Chinese steamed bun or the corn on the pizza,
but I thought they were delicious!

Even the hot dogs are a bit different from what you might expect:

"Pluto's Favorite Sausage" has a real bone for a stick!

All in all, it was quite an eventful trip for us. We rode a lot of rides, walked a million miles, and ended the trip with dazed but happy kids. Next time: Disney Sea!

Did I leave you with questions? Put them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them!