Tokyo Disney!
As a fan of online transactions, I logged onto the Tokyo Disneyland website. Scrolling my way through, I finally got to the section to order tickets. SOLD OUT! What?!?! I had looked a couple days ago and it showed availability every day. It took us a day or so to decide which day would be best... now it's showing "sold out" for six days! Miho has a Japanese phone so she looked just to confirm... it showed all days available. Thinking there was a glitch, I cleared my browser and started over... SOLD OUT for the next seven days! I guess the quota of American visitors had been met. So, we booked through Miho and got our tickets set... as we walked down the path to the entrance, the girls stopped to pose by Mickey!
The girls, feeling very independent at eight years old, took charge of their tickets and walking through the gate, into the park! They were pretty excited, to say the least!
Entering the park, we heard a lively rendition of "When You Wish Upon A Star"... confetti falling from above. We are visiting during the 35th Anniversary of Disneyland in Tokyo! This beautiful sculpture commemorated all the milestones from opening day in 1983 to present. A very festive beginning to our day!
Next to the tall commemorative statue was a desk full of blank, purple Mickey shaped pieces of cardstock. The idea was to make a wish, write it on the paper with the supplied Sharpie's and clip them to the Wish Wall. What a fun idea! Each of us wrote down our wish and used the tie wire to attach it to the wall along with all the other wishes! The girls wrote down theirs and found a special place to add them. I have to admit... it looked colorful seeing so many!
With our wishes posted, we headed into the park. Our first sight? Cinderella's Castle! So beautiful. This is the castle that can also be seen in Orlando's DisneyWorld. In Paris Disneyland and Disneyland USA, the castle seen as guests enter is Sleeping Beauty's castle. At Tokyo Disney, a new section is under construction which will include Belle's Castle from Beauty and the Beast!
Excitement won out over jet lag when these two young ladies heard they were visiting Tokyo Disney! Zoe had never been to a Disney park... what a treat for her first experience to be in Japan! Despite the fact that rain was in the forecast and it was nearly bedtime in Houston, these two were prepared for a LONG day in the park!
Lucky us! Lines are manageable... we jumped on the train to see the dinosaurs Zoe loves so much. It was a cute ride and allowed us to keep dry as the rain began to lightly fall. Lesser crowds on school nights, coupled with misty/rainy weather, allowed us to glide through lines!
Next we headed for the jungle cruise. The posted wait was five minutes! It was only timed that way because that's how long it took to walk through the empty maze. We were at the front of the line ready to board in no time!
It was an experience to be on a ride that I know has a comedic aspect to it.. and not be able to understand a single word! The other guests were giggling... apparently our guide was full of jokes and sarcasm... it didn't hamper our enjoyment. The animals and people looked so real! The image of a man running up a pole being chased by animals trascended language... the girls laughed hard!
Puddles were starting to form and rain dripped from our umbrellas but it did not deter us! We joined all the other umbrellas... It's a Small World was really the only line and it was only 20 minutes! Apparently, this ride was recently refurbished to celebrate 35 years!
As you can see from these faces... rain was not a problem. The temperature was mild and there was no breeze so the umbrellas were sufficient to keep us comfortable. This was the only time we had to wait in line outside. The rest of the lines were so short we moved quickly through the roped lines to the covered area... and straight to the team member asking us, "How many" (in Japanese). Sasha answered for us, which was a great help!
Can you sense the excitement??? I love seeing bright eyes... pointing at the dolls representing each country. Joyful youthfulness..
Couldn't pass by Hawaii... the "Aloha Spirit" is alive and well in Tokyo Disney!
Next stop... Pirates of the Caribbean. Jack Sparrow was so real looking it seemed like we were making eye contact! Part of the song was sung in Japanese and part in English... Yo ho you ho a pirate's life for me!
Off to the Haunted House. Again we walked through the windy maze of roped lines meant for crowd control... there just wasn't a crowd! It took us less than half an hour to wait in line and complete the ride... on to the next!
Cute little humans heading toward ToonTown! We figured it would be a good idea to practice on a smaller roller coaster before we took the girls on a bigger one! Gadget's Go Coaster did not phase the girls. They wished it was longer... when I told them Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain were the same only longer, they decided they could do a bigger roller coaster! After getting them all hyped up, we found out Space Mountain was closed for repair... boo hoo!!! That's my favorite!
Leaving ToonTown, the girls decided to drive... but they ran into Mom!!! Their first car accident... at eight years old!
Walking past the castle once again, we stopped for a selfie. Using the self-timer, we waited until it was just about to click to lower our umbrellas ... and then a couple forgot to lower theirs!
The two girls decided they wanted to take advantage of a ride with the age requirement of eight years old. It made them feel so grown up to wait in line and go on a ride without adult supervision... I thought they looked a little nervous until they caught me taking their photo.
On the ride... solo... taking Dumbo up high and down low with the joy stick. Thankfully there was a break in the rain so they weren't soaked at the end!On the ride... solo... taking Dumbo up high and down low with the joy stick. Thankfully there was a break in the rain so they weren't soaked at the end!
We ate, went on more rides and before we knew it... it was 10pm... time to leave the park. With the fireworks show cancelled due to weather, we just continued on enjoying the lack of lines. We definitely got our money's worth!!! But our beds were calling... tomorrow is another busy day! Stay tuned!
