Disney the Fifth: Disney Land and Cirque du Soleil (Day 2)

Warning: If you're not that into Disney, you might just want to scroll though the pictures!

Today we went to Disney Land for the morning, in the afternoon went to Cirque du Soleil Zed, and had dinner at Oceano in the Hotel MiraCosta.


The park was mobbed. I've seen it worse in America, but not by much. In America, typically when the park gets busy, all of the rides have long wait times. I've seen, MAYBE, a maximum wait time of 3.5 hours on a brand new really popular ride, but more usually the longest wait time, no matter how popular the ride, will be around 1-2 hours. Of course, the thrill rides or newest rides have the longest lines, along with the little kids rides, but the wait times are pretty uniformly high across the board. Not so here. To get on Monsters Inc. Ride and Seek, the wait time was always at least 3-4 hours, but over SIX at one point. However, you could always walk onto Star Tours, right next door. It looked like Star Tours had a line, but that was actually the Monsters Inc. line stretching past the older ride. More to come on this topic.

There weren't many differences between this park and Disneyland in California, which is highly similar to Disney World in Orlando. The castle is the same as Orlando, though not as white, so it looks a bit more realistic. The Haunted Mansion is in Fantasyland because ghosts live in the realm of fantasy in Japan. They have the last Mickey's Musical Revue, and that was never full or had many people at all in it, even though it's going to be taken down in a month. Strange to hear all of the classic Disney songs in Japanese from Snow White and other shows. (Lee - I would go with creepy actually) I was not as thrilled with Disney Land as I was with Disney Sea.

The Japanese apparently love to stand in line. They have very few snacks in this park. No cotton candy, no candy apples, no Mickey shaped Rice Krispy treats, very few ice creams. There are Churros, gyoza buns (steamed dumplings) and popcorn. Lots of popcorn in lots of flavors. I wanted some carmel corn, but the lines for it were honestly too huge to even bother. The popcorn is themed by land, so there is carmel popcorn in many locations around Disney, but honey flavored near the Winne the Pooh ride, soda flavored by Buzz Lightyear (I don't get it either), curry by Arabian areas, chocolate in the American portion of Disney Sea, and salted near the Tiki room, black pepper in some places, and, the longest line (pictured), soy sauce and butter flavored, between ToonTown and Tomorrowland. These popcorn lines were longer than those for some rides.

The biggest disappointment for me, something I still have not gotten over, was the candy stores. They did have candy stores. Maybe more than American parks. The candy stores were huge. The main one on the way out had a room of registers alone as large as the Studios candy/Villain store, with ropes to form the queue to check out. However, the candy? It was not normal. The Japanese take candy, cookies, or other small treats in to work after going on vacation. Since they all do it, everywhere you go has prepackaged boxes of individually wrapped treats. Disney was no exception. The "candy" stores were full of cardboard boxes and tins of cookies, crackers, chocolates, sweets, nuts, and other things that were probably fish flavored. There were no cases full of chocolates and candies, no chocolate covered apples, strawberries, or fruits of any kind. No chocolate covered marshmallows on twisty Mickey straws. No fudge. Nothing but individually wrapped things to bring back to your office mates. I walked in to every single candy store, some multiple times, in complete disbelief. It's Disney - what do you mean I can't get my chocolate covered caramel apple? Lee was not nearly as distressed as I. Anyone who's been to Disney with me understands the level of distress I'm talking about here. I get a chocolate covered caramel apple every time I go to Disney, and usually get another to bring home too, sometimes with crushed Oreos or M&Ms pressed into the chocolate. Alas, there were none. (Lee - she's not kidding about checking them all, and multiple times, but I agree that these candy stores are aimed squarely at bringing candy back to your office mates, which is a super weak purpose for a candy store if you ask me)

The last big difference is the pins. Pin trading is no longer allowed at Tokyo Disney Resort, so they do not have a large selection of pins. In fact, they have no pins that say "Tokyo Disney Resort" on them. Lee suggested I start collecting pins to show that I've been at all of the Disneys, so that when I go to one I can wear them all like medals on a soldier. I wanted one to represent Tokyo Disney Sea and one for Land. There were none. They did have one for practically every ride or show, but I did not want one for Pirates of the Carribbean or Pooh's Hunny Hunt, so I settled for the most Japanese style pins, a Minnie in a kimono and a Mickey Taiko drummer.

Pirates is the same, except for the modifying to the movie they've done (I think that's been done to all), Small World is the same, and we didn't do much else that day. There were a lot of lines and we did a lot of just walking around and taking it all in. We did get some pretty good burgers for lunch, and fries with odd looking ketchup packets. We didn't stay all day because we had to get back to the apartment and prepare for our spiffy night out at Cirque du Soleil Zed and Oceano, the pricey restaurant overlooking Disney Sea in the Hotel MiraCosta.

Cirque du Soleil Zed was wonderful. We got good seats in our section, and were considering getting the wine or champagne with cheese and dried fruits, but didn't want to wait in the concession lines. The storyline is loosely based on the journey of the Fool through the major Arcana of the Tarot, but not so much that you have to know anything about it. The show wasn't cheap but they consistently took our breath away again and again across two full hours plus intermission, so I would recommend it to any and all.

After the show, we had a very good dinner at Oceano. I think one thing that would have made dinner there better is having a more American style menu with options, instead of the set course menu. There was lobster with sea foam, salad, creamy potato soup, and lamb or beef. It was very high quality, but extremely expensive and the service was uneven. We were hoping to catch the fireworks while at the hotel, but apparently it was too windy again, so there were none. I don't regret eating there once but I wouldn't do it again soon.

Packing all these things into the evening made it very late and we became concerned that we might have trouble getting back to the apartment. Luckily, the trains were still running, if less frequently. The exciting part was finding the front door of the apartment building locked. We were not sure what to do at that point, and were not sure that we could contact someone who would know what to do as the information with management's number and all was inside the apartment. We walked around the building hoping to find some way in (scaling the side of the building to the sixth floor apartment was out) and found an unlocked door on a lower level in the garage area. That was a major relief.

Disney the Fourth: Disney Sea Part II

Warning: If you're not that into Disney, you might just want to scroll though the pictures!

There are two more thrill rides in Disney Sea, both in the Lost River Delta, themed to look like the ancient ruins of a Central American culture. The Indiana Jones Adventure, pretty much the same as the one in California but with some scenery based on the new movie, and Raging Spirits, a roller coaster through the ruins of an ancient burial site, were the last two rides we absolutely had to go on. To get to the Lost River Delta, we went through Mysterious Island, Mermaid Lagoon, and the Arabian Coast areas (park map).


Mermaid Lagoon is completely for kids. There is Ariel's Grotto, like in Disney World, where you can meet the little mermaid, and there is the mermaid castle. You can go inside the castle to an area with lots of little rides for little people, neon colors, and of course, under the sea themed everything. We didn't spend much time here, we just looked around a bit. Again, the scenery is just amazing. You leave the volcanic, steampunk world of Jules Verne and emerge into a colorful world that looks just like the cover of the VHS. The big thing in Tokyo Disney is the popcorn flavors. You can get many different flavors of popcorn, themed to the land they are in. I got salted popcorn here.


Next, you come to Aladdin's world of the Arabian Coast. This area also caters to the little people more than their parents, and has a two story carousel, an adorable ride following the adventures of a rather young and cartoonish Sinbad and his tiger, and a magic lamp theater with stories by Genie. There is also a lovely Arabian marketplace, and some awesome scenery, again, making you feel like you're in Aladdin. There is even a shop where Abu is stealing some fruit! We didn't spend much time here, wanting to get over to the big rides. This area was also the most crowded, with parents and children trying to get on the rides. I like how the areas geared toward the younger crowd are out of the way and together, so if you're trying to enjoy the park without little ones you can hang out in the other areas of the park, but if you have kids, you can go into the straight from the set of a Disney animated feature part of the park.


Lost River Delta. We have finally found it. Time for those last two thrill rides. The Indiana Jones ride was not that thrilling. If you've ever been on the one in California, you know that there are a couple of places where Indy says a few words. Indy talking in Japanese is hilarious. It's really disconcerting to have Indiana Jones, trying to help you get out of the tunnel and not get crushed by the giant ball, open his animatronic mouth and sound totally different. Not Harrison Ford at all. We looked at each other and started laughing. The roller coaster is pretty good. Nothing astounding, but pretty good. As I've said before and I'll say again, great work on the scenery. Also, Tokyo Disney has got to be the largest consumer of dry ice in Japan. This park has steam coming from all different places. Manhole covers in the streets of the NYC section, all different vents in the volcano and Mysterious Island areas, the volcano itself smokes a lot, the roller coaster here, and many other rides and landscape features.


We had dinner in Magellan's in the fortress in Mysterious Island. This was our first experience with the odd way the table service restaurants are here. In Japan, especially for lunch, you order your food in a set, or a menu that is completely fixed. You might have a couple of options, like the fish set or the beef set, but your appetizer, main course, soup, salad, and sometimes even dessert are set. They do the same here, so instead of getting a menu of appetizers, entrees, and everything else, you get your choice of Set 1 or Set 2. The food was very good, the atmosphere was excellent, and the staff was very attentive. Instead of getting a bread basket for the table, servers brought around a basket of breads for you, so when you finished one, you could get another. We got a bottle of wine with our dinner, as alcohol is served in Disney Sea, and it came with a medallion keepsake. Sit down restaurants are more expensive here than in American parks. This restaurant was closest in atmosphere to The Royal Table in Disney World, and I enjoyed it greatly.


We also saw two shows in the park, Mystic Rythms, which was rather astounding, and the night show, BraviSEAmo! Mystic Rythms is in Lost River Delta, and is a show which has water, fire, dancers, acrobats, a moving stage, and is like the best parts of Tarzan and Festival of the Lion King combined and made better. Lee was kind of annoyed I dragged him to wait in line at a show 20 minutes before the doors even opened, but was glad I did in the end. It was really, really good. The dancers are...astounding. The stage had a waterfall and a pool on it, and dancers would dance in the waterfall or dive into the water, then dance along the stage while soaked. I can't believe they didn't slip up or anything - the stage was soaked!

BraviSEAmo! Highlights Clip, not the full show, but better than our filming!

BraviSEAmo! is the night show for the park. It is wonderful. It is about a spirit of fire, a huge dragon, and a spirit of water, a huge water feature, falling in love. Lee hasn't been all that impressed by IllumiNations or any other Disney evening show that we've seen, but he really liked this one. Nothing will ever top IllumiNations for me, because of the other memories, but this is an amazing show. Mickey is the MC for this one, and again, we laughed so hard because it's Mickey, talking in Japanese. Strangest thing ever. We saw a modified version of the performance and the fireworks were canceled due to wind, but it was an excellent day in the park nonetheless!

See our BraviSEAmo filming here: Part 1 Part 2

Disney the Third: Disney Sea Part I

Warning: If you're not that into Disney, you might just want to scroll though the pictures!


We finally make it to the park itself. It is amazing. I think it may be my favorite park scenery-wise, and I've been to all but Paris and Hong Kong. The detailing on the volcano, the centerpiece of the park, is amazing. Hardened lava flows that look real, small plants trying to grow between the cracks, and various vents spewing steam. It even erupts every so often! You can see the volcano, Mount Prometheus, from everywhere, of course. For a map of the park layout, click here. There is a Cape Cod area, a New York City area that reminds me greatly of Studios, a Mermaid Lagoon, a fortress area, a Jules Verne style Mysterious Island, and a Mediterranean Harbor. Gorgeous!


Disney Sea has a hotel next door, the Hotel MiraCosta. This hotel is built into the park. The wall of what looks like Mediterranean shops and houses along the water in this picture is actually the back of the hotel, and the upper windows are windows into guests' hotel rooms. There is also a restaurant inside the hotel that looks out over the water, Oceano, and a balcony area guests of the hotel can watch the evening show from. The hotels here are very expensive, and while I would have loved to spend a night in the MiraCosta, it was just not worth the extra expense.

Back to the park. Luckily for us there aren't that many people there this day. We walked all around the fortress in the front of the Mysterious Island port, which has many old style inventions and interesting things. There are cannons that "shoot" and can even "misfire", an observation tower, a pendulum clock, and DaVinci's flying machine that you can sit in and pedal so the wings flap. The fortress is built into the volcano, and is the area in front of the volcano with the golden roofed buildings in the first picture. The second panoramic picture of the harbor is taken from in the fortress. This part is more of a historical place to walk through and learn about some interesting theories and discoveries, made by past scientists. Magellan's restaurant is in the fortress, and there is a map for children (and adults, though we didn't partake) to get stamps for visiting each of the discoveries.

We headed into the Mysterious Island, inside of the volcano area to see the two major rides here, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Both of these are based on novels by Jules Verne. We grabbed a Fast Pass for one, waited in line for the other, and ate at Volcania, a "buffeteria" restaurant, which is what they call a la carte restaurants in Tokyo Disney-ese. This is a Chinese restaurant built into the volcano, cooking the food through geothermal heating from the volcano, according to the storyline. The quickservice food places here are cheaper and have somewhat better quality food than the ones in the US. While I wouldn't say the Chinese food there was my favorite, it was all very good and a good value.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has great theming and the water effects are great. Journey to the Center of the Earth goes through many of the major areas of the under the crust lands found in the book. Both are of course in Japanese, though most of the signage in the queue and elsewhere is in English, sometimes but not always with Japanese translations.


The Cape Cod area is very authentic. I can't say too much about the rest of them, but this one is definitely true to life! The architecture style, the lighthouse, the boats in the harbor, the vegetation and landscape - it all screams New England. Well, everything but the menu (click to see closeup):


Continuing though the American Waterfront area, you get to the Tower of Terror. Yup, there's one everywhere! In the American Disney parks, the Tower of Terror is The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and it is based on the show as well as the Disney Channel movie about the little girl and other people in the elevator. Here in Japan, The Twilight Zone is not understood, so they had to change the theming so the guests would enjoy the ride. Here is another ride where we didn't understand what was said, but the visual cues are enough to figure out what's going on. That and most of the props are in English. Basically, a rich guy, Mr. Hightower, collects artifacts from around the world, and really likes mystical artifacts. He is warned not to keep a statue, but takes it anyway. The statue curses him and makes the elevator fall. I think the drops are better than the American ones. I love the fact that the Imagineers were able to make the storyline so different from the American ones while keeping the thrill ride the same.

Stay tuned for Part II!

Disney the Second: The Monorail

After getting in at 6:30 AM on the train and finding our way to the apartment (very easy), unpacking, and freshening up a bit, we were off to Disney! This required using the Tokyo subway system to the train station, taking a train to the Disney stop, and then taking the Disney monorail around. The subway here is amazing. The trains were on time every time, and ran every 3 - 5 minutes when we were trying to use them. Amazing. I am sure you could beat a taxi to most places. They're also so clean and unvandalized that they have upholstered seats. They have screens in them telling you what stop is next, and which side of the car the doors will open on. I'm not sure how far we went, but it was only $1.60 to go from the apartment to the train station, changing trains once in between. New York City subways scare me, but these are wonderful.


On to Disney. Here in Tokyo, there isn't really a multi-park pass. You can get a multi-day pass, 2 - 4 days, and your first two days must be at a specific park, chosen when you purchase the tickets. We thought we might like Disney Sea better and wouldn't want to deal with little children so much after the sleeper car, so we chose Disney Sea for the first day. Our second day is therefore Disney Land, and the last two days are either park, as much as we want. Good thing we purchased them in advance, because the passes we wanted were sold out when we got there.


Disney Sea is on the other side of Disney Land, so you pretty much have to take the monorail around. Here, the monorail is not free like in Orlando, because of Japanese laws regarding transportation - if it moves people, they have to pay for it. Even the train ride inside Disneyland has only one stop because they'd have to charge if they let you off at different locations around the park. We bought a 4-day pass, as we'd be there for 4 days, and it's cheaper as long as you ride the monorail at least six times. The monorail here is adorable! The windows are Mickey shaped, the seats are comfortable and family-sized, and the handles for standing people are shaped like Mickeys! I think the longest wait time between monorails was 6 minutes when we were going in the middle of the afternoon, and it was something like 3 minutes during peak times. Excellent transportation services here. (Edit by Lee - she forgot the ten minute wait late at night when we thought we might have missed the last one)

The monorails are driven from the back, instead of the front here. Instead of a small area in the front that you can sit in upon request, there are four bench seats that anyone can sit in. Of course, we only realized this the night we were leaving, but it's pretty cool! If we go back again, I am totally sitting in the nose area, if I have to ride it around multiple times to wait for the children to vacate. From the Monorail, you can see the castle, the volcano, the ocean, and the various hotels that make up the Tokyo Disney Resort. The hotels here are amazing as well. The Tokyo Disney Land Hotel is just beautiful, and can be seen from the train station. The Hotel MiraCosta at Tokyo Disney Sea is simply incredible. It is part of the park, with the back of the hotel made up to look like different buildings around the Mediterranean Harbor. More on that later. Monorail shots:

Disney the First: Getting There

There are many ways to get to Tokyo from Kanazawa. You can take a bus, an airplane, or a train. We decided to take the train. You have more choices there too. You can take the Shinkansen, or bullet train, and get there in about four hours. You can take cheaper trains that take longer. You can also take an overnight train, leaving at just after 10 pm and getting in around 6:30 am. We chose to take the sleeper car.


We left Friday night, so as to maximize our time in Tokyo. We were pretty much packed and ready to go beforehand, we just had to double check our stuff and get to the station on time after work. We ate at a lovely little Italian place for dinner at the station, and it was really good. The train itself was interesting. It was fairly small, but that's okay for one night. I don't think I'd ever want to do that again. It wasn't bad, but there isn't much space for your luggage, the hall lights stay on and the curtains aren't thick enough to keep the light out, and you have to make your own bed. They do give you a Yukata, a cotton kimono, to sleep in for those business people traveling light, wearing the suit that needs to stay clean for tomorrow. The last pickup is just after midnight, and the first stop is before six, so there's only about five and a half hours of minimal distraction. Like I said, not bad, but not all that great either.

We stayed in the apartment KIT owns in Tokyo for employees and their immediate family. It's really nice, and in a really nice district. The Mercedez-Benzes we saw were some of the cheaper cars (edit by Lee - I saw a Bently and an *orange* Maybach, gross) in the neighborhood, and walking around we passed an Aston Martin dealership. I didn't know they had dealerships! The apartment is a great perk for us, and makes seeing Tokyo a lot more reasonable. The apartment is a 3-room place, large enough for about 12 people in 3 rooms, with a tiny kitchen if you're staying long enough and want to use it. We stayed in the medium sized room, a 3-person bedroom. It has a table, fridge, TV, and futons. We definitely plan to go back at least a couple of times in the future to really see Tokyo.

More views of Tokyo:

Stalling...

We're back from Disney, but still going through the pictures. Many posts with lots of pictures to come shortly. While you're waiting, here's another Ikebana post!


After having no fresh flowers for two weeks due to vacations (I'm not complaining!) there is a new arrangement livening up the room. It goes amazingly well with its bowl. I'm much happier with it now that it's here than I was when I made it at school. I've gotten roses from Ikebana a heck of a lot more than I've gotten roses from Lee. It doesn't bother him one bit. This arrangement has purple flowers, more Calla Lilies, and pretty pink roses. It also has a leaf. It is in the same style as the first few. We don't branch out into more interesting things for a bit, until we get the whole shin (tallest one, nearly straight up), soet (3/4 height of shin, off at a 45 degree angle), hikae (3/4 height of soet, the leaf, about 75 degrees from shin) formula down. Pretty flowers though!


This weekend I will deal with all of the pictures and post all about Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea. At least six full posts. With lots of pictures each. I promise!