The next day, on Monday, we went to Tokyo Disneyland! As you know, we had already bought tickets, so we were all ready to go. To be honest, we did doubt at first wether to go to Tokyo Disneyland or to Tokyo Disney Sea. Disney Sea is unique and can’t be found anywhere else, but Disney is… well, Disney! We thought about going to both, but if we wanted to do that, we could only buy tickets for two days in a row and not with a day in between. Since we expected to spend a lot of time in Disneyland, we would be very tired and spending another long day at Disney Sea didn’t sound ideal. So in the end we decided to go to Disneyland only (but one day I will visit Disney Sea)!
We decided to buy breakfast on the way, so we could leave extra early! Of course not without my Minnie Mouse ears!
We had decided to buy breakfast, get money on the way to Yoyogi station and then take the train there, all to save some time. We ended up buying our food at Hokuo Bakery, a shop next to Shinjuku Station and walking back to Yoyogi station, so in the end it didn’t really matter (but we left at 8:15 am, so we were superearly anyway). While walking to Shinjuku station, we walked past an old woman who was sweeping the doorstep. When she looked up to me, she smiled and said: ‘Kawaii!’, while pointing at my Disney ears. I could only smile back. ^^ I loved that woman!
We bought our breakfast (I had some really nice chocolate rolls) and walked back, past our hotel, to a 7-eleven to get money.
It was interesting to see so many people in suits again! During the weekend, almost everyone walked around in casual clothing, but now the suits were all present again!
We finally reached Yoyogi station and bought our tickets. I had checked where we had to go: we had to take the metro to Maihama, where the Disney Resort is located. We took the Yamanote line all the way to Tokyo station. There we took the Keiyo line to Maihama. We were quite confused at Tokyo station, since we couldn’t find ticket machines for Maihama anywhere on this vast station! In the end, we followed the people and sat down in a metro, that departed after a while.
We sat down for a while and enjoyed the view. The weather was a bit strange: the sun was shining, but the air was… weird. A bit moist is the best description I can give. I’m glad it got better later. ^^ Suddenly, while I was just staring through the window, I saw some interesting shapes in the distance that were vaguely familiar: Disneyland!
Tower of Terror and the volcano from Disney Sea!
I was so excited! I was jumping on the bench and was squeling all the time (I must have seemed like some kind of lunatic), but I was so happy! I was so curious about how the Japanese version of Disneyland would be! We finally got out of the metro and after buying a drink (Vitamin Lemon, hehe), we descended the escalators.
We discovered that it was normal not to buy tickets to Maihama at Tokyo station, since they had special machines to pay for the journey you made to the Resort.
We certainly weren’t the only ones to visit Disneyland that day! Even though it was a Monday, there were lots of people already. I didn’t mind though.
We followed the people outside and walked past a big shop filled with Disney merchandise (we hadn’t even entered the park, wow)! Then, I finally saw one of the gates I had seen on many pictures already!
Behind the gate, there was another gate: the futuristic portal to Tokyo Disneyland!
We followed the people and walked on a big bridge, with tiny Disney statues on the edges every few meters. In front of us we saw the beautiful blue and yellow Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. Then we went to the left and walked up to the entrance, where we only had to give off our tickets to get in (unlike in Paris, where we needed to exchange our pre-bought tickets first). We had arrived at Tokyo Disneyland!
I was overwhelmed by what I saw! We were standing on a big, round square across from a big building decorated with pumpkins and black and orange garlands. It was clear that Halloween had come to Disneyland too! The square was filled with people and I saw at least five Disney characters walking around and taking pictures with people. What surprised me even more was that it weren’t the ‘regular’ characters, like Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse. Well, Mickey was there, but in a really cool suit-like outfit. There were also Tigger, Eeyore, a tropically dressed female Chip (or Dale) and the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella! Everyone stood in a perfect line and waited for his or her turn for a picture. What a difference from Paris already (I won’t compare all the time, but sometimes I need to. It’s the only Disneyland I know. ^^).
We decided to leave the square and enter the building across from us. I noticed that everything possible was decorated, even the lanterns were filled with smiling and grinning pumpkins!
The building turned out to be a roofed shopping centre, with the typical adorable Disney shops.
I looked around and saw more and more people wearing Disney accessories and not just children! Teenagers and adults wore them too. I noticed that the accessories varied from ears to hats, but I also noticed little details, like black t-shirts with a red bow with white polka dots on it. We continued our way (we didn’t enter the shops yet, way too early for that) and left the centre. We arrived at another square with an amazing view at the castle! You know what this means: picture time!
On the picture, you see what strange weather it was. To us, it was pretty good and kinf of sunny, but on the picture it seems a bit gloomy. But it gets better. ^^
A Japanese man took a picture of us with our camera, so my dad suggested to take a picture of him and his family too!
Suddenly, we heard a lot of musical noise, and a band dressed in bright orange came marching up to us. We kept on walking, since we wanted to go to Cinderella’s castle, when we encountered a real duck, which we called Japanese Donald (we’re so creative. XD). We passed an amazing scenery with statues a ghosts parade with Mickey and Minnie, which was absolutely photo worthy.
We walked on and I looked around at the people some more. It was so amazing to see all these people wearing Disney accessories! I’ve seen some girls wearing really cute outfits (and sometimes even high heels) and combined with Minnie ears they were just too adorable!
I had seen some girls taking pictures of each other on a bench and I wanted to know what was going on there, so I decided to take a look. It turned out there was a ghost sitting on the bench! I asked my dad to take a picture of me and my new friend.
We saw a woman taking pictures of three dressed up girls in front of the castle. Too cute not to snap!
We finally reached the castle and snapped some pictures. We didn;t really know where to go, so we walked up the stairs and walked into the castle, where we looked at the beautiful walls with Cinderella-sceneries on them. On the other side, there was apparently a popular attraction, since there was a big line in front of it. It turned out to be ‘Cinderella’s Fairy Tale Hall’, where you could walk inside the castle and look at more sceneries.
both the magic of Disney and the Japanese mentality.
We kept on walking and I just didn’t know where to look! Details are always fantastic in and Disney Parc, but here everything seemed magical! We passed a carroussel, the Dumbo elephant-ride and an attraction called ‘Philharmagic’, which I had never heard of before (there was a huge line in front of it).
We walked up to a restaurant with the Red Queen’s maze from Alice in Wonderlandf on top of it, when suddenly I saw my first Lolita of the day! She was standing in front of two teapot-shaped drink vending machines. I decided to be brave and ask for a picture, and she said yes!
I was so happy! I knew Disneyland is a popular place for Lolitas to walk around in full attire, but to see one so soon! I almost forgot to pose in front of the teapots too!
We decided to go into an attraction and we chose Peter Pan’s flight! We had to wait in line for a long time, but we were still lucky (later I saw the line had gotten even longer)! While we waited, multiple things happened. First I noticed on the sign for the attraction that this attraction was sponsored by NTT Communications. It appears that a lot of attractions are sponsored by big companies. I think that’s pretty smart. ^^ Suddenly, we saw both Peter Pan and Captain Hook walk around outside of the attraction! I was a bit sad, since I couldn’t leave my place in line to meet them! But watching them was nice too. ^^ After a while, we heard loud music and a little firther away a parade drove by. We couldn’t see really well, but when we looked at the program we discovered it was the Halloween Parade that drove through the park a couple of times a day. We decided to go see the one at 2 pm, but that would be much later.
Peter Pan’s Flight was nice. It really ressembled the one in Paris I had been in when I was a little girl, but I was a bit disappointed that the Pirate’s Ship at the end wasn’t covered in golden lights.
We walked past a crowd of people, probably waiting for the next parade, when I saw another Lolita! She was wearing a white cardigan and a brown Chess Chocolate skirt. I decided to snap a picture of her back, since I was suddenly afraid to ask! I was lucky to see her a second time that day. Somewhere on the day, I also saw two Lolitas in blue and pink Chess Chocolate dresses, but they were too far away and I never saw them again.
We walked into Critter Country, which is a part of the park that’s a bit of a mix between forest-ish, like in the time of the pioneers. We sat down on a bench and ate our breakfast, while we did some people-watching. When we walked on, we discovered the attraction ‘Splash Mountain’. In Paris they don’t have this attraction and I had only heard of it, so I could finally see what it was!
I really wanted to ride Splash Mountain, but the waiting time was about 90 minutes and even for me, that’s just too long. Across from Splash Mountain was a big lake and we had some canoes in it. My dad said he would like to go to that, so we kept on walking and bumped into a sign that said ‘Explorer Canoes’. Yay! There was only a short line, so we jumped on this chance!
While standing in line, we received a paddle.
While standing in line, we watched the staff members instructing the people sitting in the boats. They showed them (and with that, us too) how to hold the paddle and of course how to paddle. To be honest, we thought the boats were secretly automated, so the guests would only think they paddled. But as soon as the boat departed, the staffmembers really worked hard to give the boat some speed, after which the guests were asked to join.
Finally it was our turn! We sat down in the wobbly boat and we were all asked to sit as much against the side as we could. Then our ‘captain’told us too how to hold the paddle and how to use it, all in Japanese of course. Then we departed!
While we paddled, our captain shouted ‘Ichi! Ni! Ichi! Ni!’ every time we had to push the boat with the paddle and when to take the paddle out of the water again. I explained my father that this simply meant ‘One! Two!’, which made him laugh.
We passed the big Mark Twain boat that floated on the lake too and we saw many Indian sceneries. After paddling around an island, we returned at the little port. The captain asked us to put the paddle back into the boat, so we could get back into the small harbor, but I didn’t realise, so he had to ask me again. Oops! XD
I really loved the canoeing! It was so much fun!
We walked into a cave where we found a cute shop with merchandise, mostly from Chip and Dale. I saw an adorable Chip/Dale hood that I definitely kept in mind to buy later.
We left Critter Country and found ourselves back at the Dumbo ride. I discovered a big Dumbo where you could take pictures, where a little amount of people was waiting in line to take a picture (I swear, they’re all so disciplined). Of course, I took a picture there too!
We walked past the Haunted Mansion and bought a drink from the pink teapot vending machine (simple Coco Cola, hehe). We decided to go into ‘It’s a Small World’, which was next to it. While we stood in line, music from different countries was playing and we suddenlt heard a very familiar tune! It’s a very typical tune from our country, but not one you hear very often! We were so surprised! It’s a shame I couldn’t film it so you can hear it.
We didn’t have to stand in line for very long, since this attraction has big boats that take lots of people at the same time. While we descended some stairs, a little girl looked up to me in awe. I guess I look very strange, being a foreigner? We actually got into the same boat as the little girl. She looked strangely at me some more times, haha!
My dad took some pictures inside ‘It’s a Small World’, but most of them are really blurry. He managed to snap the children that respresented our country though!
While humming the familiar song (‘It’s a small world aaaaaaafter all~!’) we walked up to a stall across from the exit. They sold adorable ears! Of course I wanted a new pair, so I tried some different pairs on!
I also tried on an Alice bow (yes, a real Alice bow, from Alice in Wonderland) and I ended up buying a pair with lace and roses on it. I did try many, many other head accessories through the day. I can honestly tell you: the merchandise is fantastic!
We left Fantasyland, walked past Toontown and into Tomorrowland, where Space Mountain is located. The line didn’t seem to bad and my dad told me to go, but without him (he had heard stories about the one in Paris. That one is so extreme!). While I waited in line, he waited for me.
wore costumes that suited the place they worked.
I waited much longer than expected. Apparently, it was just time for the Fastpass people to ride it (I really don’t understand that system), so it took extra long. I was hoping my dad didn’t mind. I did have a nice view by the way. We went through a glass tunnel to a higher level into the attraction, so I could people-watch some more at first. By the way, Space Mountain is sponsored by Coca Cola. XD And while my dad waited, he saw both Mr. And Mrs. Incredible and the Green Toy Soldiers from Toy Story.
I have to say that Space Mountain was that spectacular. It was nice, but nowhere near as extreme as the one in Paris. I think my dad would have liked it after all, but oh well.
When I returned from Space Mountain, we quickly ran to back to one of the big squares in front of Cinderella’s castle, since the Halloween parade would start at any minute!
It was interesting to see how everyone sat down when they were asked to! In Paris, staffmembers would have to tell me people twice to sit down and then they still wouldn’t listen! Here, everyone remained seated before and during the parade! Amazing!
Of course, since we were late, every possible seat was taken. But when I asked a friendly-looking couple if we could share the bench with them, they agreed and we had a wonderful spot! There was already playing some music and staffmembers were showing the audience a small dance routine. It was adorable to see them teaching some dressed up kids!
I’m not much of a dancer, so I didn’t quite get the little routine. It was all handsigns, but I tried my best though! The music was really sweet and they were singing about some ‘Obake-chan’ which is apparently some kind of little ghost (I learned later). Then, the music started to play louder, indicating the parade had begun!
The music was eerie and I believe it tried to scare the guests, when suddenly Mickey’s happy (Japanese) voice cheered us up and told us to party! He ‘changed’ the scary Halloween-atmosphere to a happy Halloween-atmosphere! Then, in the distance we could see the parade coming! While my dad filmed the whole thing, I took pictures with his camera!
We discovered we had a really nice spot since the first big vehicle stopped a little away from us. It was a scary-looking purple forest saying ‘Welcome’, with Chip and Dale standing on the front. Suddenly, when the atmosphere turned happy, dancers in beautiful costumes that suited their vehicle popped up from hidden places and started to dance! They did the little routine the staffmembers had taught the audience, so everyone could join! They were all so lively and energetic and the music was so wonderful!
It was so cute to see how the dancers interacted with the audience. They encouraged them to dance (one of them encouraged me too, so I tried, haha) and sometimes they even danced with the children.
When the dance was over, some of the dancers took place on their vehicle again (I was finally able to see where they had been hiding) and some of them continued to dance in between the vehicles while they moved. I wish I could post a pciture of every vehicle, but I can’t unfortunetaly(I’m posting so much pictures already). I’ll just describe the vehicles and post some of the pictures I like most.
The next vehicle looked like an intersection of green brick roads, with Minnie Mouse and Marie from the Aristocats standing on it. Minnie wore a red witch costume and Marie… Well, she wore a red bow. XD On the side were pots standing with scary looking flowers and plants. One of the plants was actually a dancer!
The next vehicle looked like a futuristic bus riding on a curling road. Stitch was standing on top of the bus, wearing Hawaiian attire. In front of the vehicle, interesting-looking futuristic ladies were walking and dancing. Behind the vehicle, two prince-like women were walking next to, yes, moving houses.
The next vehicle was the most colourful town I have ever seen! The building had every imagineable colour (some of them had moving hands sticking out of them) and Mickey was standing on top of it, wearing a tophat.
Behind the vehicle, two more prince-like ladies were dancing next to more moving houses. Behind them were dancers dressed up as some kind of Cheshire cats.
The next vehicle had Daisy Duck and a female Chip or Dale on it. The vehicle looked like a big boutique, with diamond rings on them. There was also a big mirror with a woman in between, creating an optical illusion. Behind it, more cat ladies were walking.
Behind them, skeleton men and ladies with tea cups on their heads were entertaining the guests by making funny movements. Behind them, a vehicle with a giant tea cup on it was driving. Goofy, Pluto and some skeleton men were standing on top of it (and sitting on the back, in a 90 degree angle! Pure magic!). Behind it, more skeleton men and tea cup ladies were walking, accompanied by walking books.
The last vehicle looked like a big pile of library books with creepy hands coming out of them, with Donald and his three nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie were standing on it.
Behind the vehicle, blue mummies were walking, closing the parade with their bandages while people could walk behind it.
I really, really loved the parade! I’m so glad my dad filmed everything!
Since we were at Cinderella’s castle again, we decided to take a picture of ourselves in front of it. We noticed a staffmember who took pictures for other people, so we asked him too. It turned out that it was actually his job to take pictures for you! So smart!
We walked on to Westernland (after taking a look at a fountain containing all the characters and animals from Snow White), where we found a stall selling merchandise. I loved how they all sold different things, although it made it a bit hard to remember where you had seen which things. One of my favourites was a bright pink and lavender Cheshire Cat-hood, that almost hurt my ees with its colour!
I put the hood back (I had no intention of buying it, even though I loved it) and we decided to walk on. We just looked around for a bit when we noticed a big line. It turned out to be a line for a restaurant! By the way, did I mention that the food in the restaurants is really different? In Paris, almost all of the restaurants sell standard things like fries and stuff. Here, they sell totally Japanese things. And always including rice! I don’t know why, but I loved that!
Suddenly, in the distance, we saw a familiar face! It was Jessie from Toy Story walking around! Of course I wanted a picture, so we joined the rest of the little crowd.
We also saw Woody, but since the crowd around him was bigger, we decided to walk further and we found ourselves at the foot of ‘Big Thunder Mountain’! It didn’t take me long to persuade my dad to try it! Even though the waiting time should be long, we really wanted to ride it! While standing in line we had a nice view over the attraction and the square next to the restaurant. We also saw Pluto, dressed up as an Indian walk there!
We waited for quite a while, but to be honest: I didn’t mind. It was like a forced moment of rest and we had fun! Then, we could finally ride it!
‘Big Thunder Mountain’ was really cool! It was quite a long ride and I just love rollercoasters!
After the ride, we walked back to the lake in Critter Country, where we decided to ride the big Mark Twain boat we had seen while canoeing (while waiting, I saw a girl wearing an awesome Donal Duck cap! His heads was huge, which made it seem like he was eating her head! XD).
It was nice to relax for a little bit, while we looked at the people on the island in the middle of the lake.
Once we got back, we walked back into Fantasyland again. We realised we hadn’t eaten anything in quite a while, so we bought two ice cream waffles which were delicious. Suddenly. In the corner of my eye, I saw captain Hook and Smee standing in front of Peter Pan’s Flight! I ran up to them, when suddenly I saw Peter and Wendy themselves! I was superexcited! There weren’t any people standing around them (I wonder why?), so I took my chance and walked up to them. And oh my God, they spoke British-English! I loved it so much! They were really nice and sweet! They asked me where I came from and when I told them, Wendy said that it sounded like Neverland, after which they had an adorable discussion! I asked my dad to hold my ice cream and take a picture of us (incredible he was able to do that, haha)!
After saying goodbye, we finished our ice cream and decided to go stand in line for Snow White’s ride. I saw Bert from Mary Poppins walk around (or at least I think so, I’m not very familiar with this movie) and I snapped a picture of him. And I also saw Esmeralda from The Hunchback of the Notre Dame! I have never seen a face character from her before! I was really hoping she would still be there when we got out of the attraction, but unfortunetaly she was gone. And by the way, Snow White’s ride was exactly the same as in Paris and I really think it’s way too scary for children. Way too much scary stuff and no glass coffin! I mean, hello? The only thing I liked is that the staffmembers waved at you when your vehicle left and when you returned. They did that at every attraction by the way.
Oh, did I tell about the popcorn buckets? I’m sorry, memories just randomly pop up in my mind! I saw a lot of kids and adults walk around with popcorn buckets around their necks in the moest adorable Disneyshapes! Every bucket also had its year written on it and some were already five years old! I guessed that many of the accessories people wore were from throughout the years too!
We walked a bit in a circle, via It’s a Small World, to Toontown to take a look there. It started to get a little darker already. I really loved how early it became dark in Japan. In this case it was even more convenient, since this meant we could see the lights parade!
Toontown was clearly aimed at a younger audience, but we liked it nonetheless! There were lots of interactive building, where you could push buttons and walk through doors. It was really like a little town, with a bank, a fire department and a city hall.
I decided to switch ears and put on my new ears. My dad, in a comical mood, put on my French ears. When we walked past a toony car, my dad sat down for fun and I managed to snap the best picture of him of our whole trip!
We were pretty hungry (oce cream alone is not enough), so we bought some fries. Even the little restaurant had tiny details, like plates dripping off the wall.
While darkness was falling, we explored Toontown some more, including Chip and Dale’s treehouse. The lights went on everywhere and it’s was so farytale-like!
We left Toontown and walked into Tomorrowland again. There, we saw a stall with lots of merchandise that blinked in coloured lights! Since we would go to the lights parade, I wanted to buy some suiting merchandise! I decided on a Minnie-shaped necklace that changed colours.
Since the parade wouldn’t start for a while, we just walked around and bought a drink from a vending machine in the shape of a robot, when we suddenly saw an attarction that didn’t seem to have a big line. It was Star Tours and I had no idea what to expect, other than that it had something to do with Star Wars. After waiting in line for a while and looking at C3PO, we took place in a big room with rows of seats. A staffmember asked us to remove our ‘katchuusha’, our headwear, but somehow I wasn’t paying attention, since she had to ask me again. Second oops of the day!
The attraction turned out to be a big simulator. A robot in a high, Japanese voice wlecomes us to Star Tours, some kind of transport company that would bring you to the planet you wanted. Of course, everything that could go wrong went wrong and we ended up destroying the Death Star! XD It was a really nice ride, since our seats moved along with the movie, giving you the feeling you were actually flying!
After the ride, we decided to finally do a little shopping before the parade started. We walked into the first shop we saw and oh my God, the merchandise was pure love!
I was very surprised to see so many Alice in Wonderland and Bambi-related things! My mom had been a little disappointed in Paris that there were so few Bambi things, so I was happy! Suddenly I noticed someone I had seen before: it was the Lolita in the brown Chess Chocolate skirt! I quickly walked up to her and asked if I could take a picture! She said yes and posed cutely!
We looked around some more and I suddenly realised I wanted to buy the Chip and Dale hat I had seen, so we quickly returned to Critter Country to buy it. There, my dad also bought me an adorable keychain of a sleeping Chip/Dale too!
After that, we quickly returned for the parade, but we weren’t the only ones of course! They were no seats to be found anywhere! I tried to ask a couple if we could share a bench, but they didn’t understand me. Luckily I was able to find someone who did understand my sign language and we had great seats again!
The music started playing and someone announced that the parade was coming. After a while, on our right we saw something colourful and alighted coming up and the parade had officially started! My dad filmed the whole thing again (he barely made it on the batteries) and I took pictures. Most pictures came out really blurry, but some actually worked our great!
It was a very long parade, with lots and lots of vehicles. The announcer said that there are over a billion lights used for it!
So many Disney movies were represented and with every vehicle it became more beautiful!
Movies like Aladdin, Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Snow White and Mary Poppins came by. It was so magical…
The dancers in between the vehicles wore the most beautiful costumes too! From knights on horses to flowers!
The music in combination with the lights and colours was so wonderful! It was like art! I’ll admit it: I cried! It was so beautiful and I wanted it to never end! I was very happy it was a long parade!
After the last vehicle was gone, we went back to the shop we had been to to buy souvenirs. I bought a stuffed animal Bambi, a little box and a keychain for my mom. For myself I bought too many things! Key chains and a beautiful Alice necklace, among others.
When we got outside of the shop, we suddenly noticed that Philharmagic, the attraction that had a huge line that morning, was completely empty! We didn’t want to miss out on this chance, so we quickly went inside!
It turned out to be a 3D-movie, so we received a pair of glasses.
The movie in short: while Mickey is preparing for a concert, Donald accidentally makes the instruments mad, after which he gets sucked in some kind of dimension. He had to retrieve Mickey’s wizard hat (I believe), but it keeps getting away. He flies through a lot of different Disney movies and their own popular songs, like Aladdin and the Little Mermaid. And all-in 3D! Of course, there were also some awesome effects. Like when Donald arrived at a dinner party in Beauty and the Beast, you could smell supersweet pastries! The movie was fantastic and I had a lot of fun! I’m glad we had the opportunity to see it!
I bought some final things (big red and pink glitter bows) at a stall, when I suddenly encountered the last Lolita of the day! Of course I asked if I could take a picture and the answer was yes!
It was finally time to leave and after I browsed some last stores in the roofed shoppingcentre (and bought two necklaces, oh dear, oh dear) we entered the square in front of the exit.
In the metro on the wak back, I saw lots of people with Disneyland shopping bags, so cool! At Tokyo station we bought a hot chocolate and a coffe and proceeded our way back to the hotel, where we arrived at 10:45 pm! We had told my mom we would probably we late, so she wouldn’t be nervous when we didn’t come online at the pre-arranged time. We told her everything and I sent her a selection of pictures. Then we went to bed: we were exhausted! It had been a magical Disneyday!
I'm sorry for my mistakes! I haven't re-read yet!