Tokyo ’12, Day 8 – Tokyo Disneyland

On Monday morning we woke up on time, for we were going to Disneyland! We were all very excited, especially my mom who was of course very curious about what the park would be like!
My mom and I got dressed into our Disney outfits (my dad went as himself, huhu): my mom in her Dalmatians-like dress with Minnie Disney ears and me in my Minnie Mouse inspired outfit with Angelic Pretty dress and Disney ears.
Before we went on our way, we went to get breakfast at the restaurant on the 25th floor first. It was so funny: the man behind the counter had to ask how old I was to see if I counted as an adult or as a child! I’m still not sure if I should feel offended or flattered. XD I guess it was the ears that did it.
After breakfast we went back to our room to get all of our things. My mom redid my hair, since I suck at making pretty ponytails. Then it was time to go to Disneyland! The weather was great, so we were even more happy!
We took the metro to Tokyo station, where we had to walk a long way to get to the Disney Maihama line. It was so crowded at the station! So many people were heading towards Disneyland!
We arrived at the Disneyland station around 9:50 am. Riiight on time! ^^

Welcome to Tokyo Disney Resort! ^^
We left the station and followed the crowd. We arrived at the big round gate that says: ‘Dreams & Magic - Tokyo Disney Resort – Imagination’, where we asked someone to take a picture of the three of us.

Ready for Disneyland! You can see our outfits pretty well here.
My mom and I also took a super cute picture of the two of us in front of the spacy Disneyland gate and my dad took a picture of us doing it!

I love these two pictures so much together! They really are like a set to me.
We walked down the path towards the entrance. My dad and I noticed it was more crowded than last year. We got our bags checked and then we could pass the ticket gates, into Disneyland! The square behind the ticket gates was very crowded, which wasn’t surprising: there were so many Disney characters walking around! My mom and I got so excited! We immediately bumped into Cinderella’s fairy godmother, so we quickly asked for a picture. Almost immediately after that we saw Donald Duck walking by, surrounded by a group of people! We love Donald, so we wanted to try to get a picture with him. We waited a while until an opportunity came up, which was a lot of fun because it was incredibly interesting to see the smallest kids pose like professionals with Donald! Peace signs everywhere! So cute! Then an opportunity came up and I got some pictures with Donald! I love him so much! He also hugged me, hihi! ♥

I’m in a picture with Donald Duck! *fangirl*
My mom was incredibly excited to see all the wonderfully dressed people walking around. Little kids dressed as a Disney character, teens in Disney-themed character outfits and even adults (men!) looking their best!
We passed another character: Bert from Mary Poppins (I think), who spoke English and was quite the charmer! My mom and I liked him a lot! ;)
Like last year, the park was decorated in a Halloween theme. I noticed they had used decorations from last year, but also new ones! Although Halloween is not a holiday we celebrate in my country it was so nice to see all those creepy-yet-cute decorations everywhere!

Disneyland in Halloween style!
We bumped into another character: Robin Hood! Even though we’re not very familiar with this movie, my mom wanted a picture with him. ^^

My mom with Robin Hood! ^^
We left the square and walked into the big roofed shopping part that led us into Disneyland. My mom loved looking at the shop windows!
We walked out of the shopping part into the sun. The park was obviously quite crowded already (uh-oh! XD), but it didn’t make things any less fun! We took some pictures with Walt Disney and then walked on. An in orange dressed brass band walked by and we looked around us, trying to absorb everything. My mom just couldn’t stop talking about all the cute outfits!
We heard music and followed the sound. Apparently a little dance show was going on, because staff members were dancing with a big group of children. Unfortunately it ended just as we arrived, the little children looked so happy and cute!
My dad took a picture of the big castle and we walked on.

I really like Disney’s castles!
We walked around a bit aimlessly. It was much more crowded than last year and we quickly discovered two of our favourite rides were closed! Big Thunder Mountain and It’s a small world! I was quite sad about that…
After a while, we passed the entrance to the big Mark Twain boat. As it was just arriving, we decided to board! ^^
The boat made its round past a fort, Indians and canoes regularly passed us by.
The boat arrived back at its destination and we left the exit. A very tall man with his two tiny daughters both dressed as Snow White walked past us. Too adorable! *^^*
We walked towards the restaurant with the big Alice labyrinth on top of it to get some drinks from the giant pastel tea pot vending machines (yay for Tea pot coke on a warm day)!
We passed a hats and head-related goods stall and my mom and I took a little look. Then we walked on towards Toon Town. We noticed a cute yellow shop with tons of strollers outside which we entered. It turned out to be a shop entirely dedicated to Winnie the Pooh! Oh my God the items were just too cute! My mom and I both don’t like Pooh very much, but this shop was just to die for!

This shop was just over the top cute! The walls all had quotes
and oh my God the merchandise..!
We left the shop again and wanted to enter Toon Town, which was quite difficult because some staff members were directing everyone around a certain point because there was a parade coming. We somehow managed to get in and sat down on a bench. We had decided in advance to take enough rest during the day, since on our previous day we hadn’t done that and we wanted to enjoy Disneyland at its maximum. People watching was a lot of fun. A boy came by in a Disney-themed wheel chair, so cool!
After a little while we walked further into Toon Town, where we entered a shop with a lot of cute goodies and where my parents tried on interesting hats. XD The shop itself was very Toony: there was a machine placed in the middle of the shop where Disney-ish hands put stuff in that turned then into new items. The shop itself sold many different things, a lot of them being quite inventive themselves.
We left the shop and walked around Toon Town. We decided to try a ride we had never heard of: Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin. I don’t think they have that one in Disneyland Paris and the line didn’t seem that long, so we tried it. Well, the line was long after all. Very long. Ugh it was terrible, lots of curves and small rooms you had to get through, but finally after ages we could enter our cars!
If you ask me what the ride was about and how it was, I couldn’t tell you. It was the trippiest ride I have ever done, but it was so much fun! You could literally spin your car around while passing all kinds of super weird moving and spinning and jumping things and characters. It was sooo weird but sooo much fun! XD
The ride was over and we left the building. The square of Toon Town was crowded and the sun was quite warm, so we decided to walk up to the fountain to freshen up a little.

Colourful Toon Town.You can see Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spins behind us.
We walked around Toon Town for a little more and then we decided to go wait for the next parade! Even though it was only 12:45 pm and the parade wouldn’t start until 1:45 pm, we didn’t mind. We left Toon Town and walked towards the parade route. Almost all of the benches were already occupied, but luckily we found a free one. My dad went to get some drinks, while my mom and I protected ourselves from the hot sun. Suddenly I saw a free bench in the shade and I ran across the road to catch it. Lucky us! The bench was next to a speaker on a lantern pole, but we didn’t mind. Long live the shade! Funny thing was: I think the bench was the same one my dad and I had watched the Halloween parade from last year! At least it must have been really close, since we almost had the same view!
My dad returned (after he saw me waving, huhu), we took some pictures, ate some candy and we did a lot of people watching. I can’t tell you how cute (almost) everyone’s outfits were! *_* My mom couldn’t stop pointing out cute ones. ^^ We were also passed by some Lolitas!

I really, really like this picture my mom took of me. Polkadots everywhere!
While waiting my dad fell asleep, sitting straight up. Every several minutes the speakers announced the coming of the parade. Although I had thought it was the Halloween parade, the announcer spoke of a differently titled one. I was very curious!
Then it was finally time! The music started playing and I could see the first cars coming! I wish I could describe the entire parade for you, but it wouldn’t come anywhere near its true beauty. I cannot tell you how amazing this parade was, thinking back makes tears come up in my eyes. The music, the featured films, the costumes… Everything was amazing!

Some of the many things that passed us by. I especially loved the car with Pocahontas!
We saw Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, Lilo and Stitch, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Monsters Inc., Toy Story, the Incredibles and even Pocahontas and the Lion King (and more, can you believe it?)!

More pictures! Can you believe this isn’t even everything that passed us?
The last car (featuring the sponsor of the parade) passed us by, indicating the parade was over (my mom and I both cried during) and we left our bench. My mom really wanted to do some shopping now, so we walked back to the roofed shopping part. We browsed several shops and oh my God, I will forever love Disney’s merchandise! They have such amazing things!
After walking via several shops we ended up outside again on the big character square in front of the entrance. My parents noticed two sweet girls both wearing a comparable outfit to mine, so we asked them if they wanted to take a picture together with me. They were so happy! My dad took a picture with their camera too! ^^

Polkadots everywhere!
Suddenly we saw Scrooge McDuck walking and we thought it was the perfect character for my dad to take a picture with (not that my dad is cheap, but he likes that character a lot). Before we got the chance, my dad first offered to take some take some pictures for some other girls with their camera first. ^^

Yay, my dad in a picture with a Disney character!
Then we saw two adorable girly mice from Cinderella and my mom and I wanted to take pictures with them. They were so cute!
We walked on and entered a huge and quite crowded shop. We walked around a little (my mom and I squealed at everything) and finally I found what I was looking for! I had seen pictures of adorable macaron-/Mickey-shaped merchandise, but I didn’t see any of it in the shops we had passed. They had a whole department of it here!
I wish I could describe all the amazing things we saw, but it’s just too much! I bought two macaron-/Mickey-shaped necklaces, a pearl ring, some fluffy phone key chains, stickers and more, but my mom managed to spend even more! She bought the most amazing things, including a wonderful Minnie bag!

Another photo collage! A little impression of shopping at Tokyo Disneyland. ♥
We continued to the next shop, where they had the cutest head wear. My dad tried on a Mike Wazowski hat, so cool! XD My mom bought a wonderful Mickey vest there. She also bought a beautiful hand mirror in the next shop.

My dad tried on the cutest headwear! I really think he should have bought this one! XD
While my mom and I were shopping, my dad had left the shop for a while, snapping a picture of more Disney characters: Friar Tuck and Prince John.. It’s really amazing how many different characters walk around in the park!
We had gotten quite hungry (it was 4:30 pm after all) and we passed a cute café with people sitting outside eating Mickey-shaped waffles. We immediately decided to try that! My mom waited outside while we went to get food. There were three choices of waffles: I chose strawberry sauce and vanilla ice cream for my mom and me and I believe my dad chose something with syrup. One of the things that fascinates me about Japan and in this case Disneyland in particular is that they often don’t sell the ‘standard’ stuff. Not every restaurant serves fries and hamburgers, but things like rice and curry. This café didn’t have waffles with ‘standard’ cherries or chocolate sauce. They also didn’t sell coke etc., but they had coffee and milk! It really fascinated me a lot.
The waffles were served in cute paper holders so you could easily take them outside. After taking some pictures of our awesome food, it was time to eat!

Waffles~!
My waffle was so good! Ugh, I can still remember the taste. Delicious!
After we were done and had cleaned our stuff up, my dad pointed at a fancy-looking house, suggesting to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. I hadn’t even noticed the house was an actual ride! I thought it was a shop or just decoration! The line wasn’t long and after visiting the toilet, we quickly went inside.
The building or house, whatever it was, was just as fancy from the inside as it was from the outside. We passed several nice paintings (with Dutch ships on them) and it didn’t take long before we could board our ‘ship’.
I love Pirates in Disneyland Paris, but I think I loved this ride even more! It was longer, bigger and… it actually featured Jack Sparrow, Barbossa and the Flying Dutchman! Oh my God, it was so exciting! And the animatronic Jack was a perfect copy of Johnny Depp! God you should have heard me squeal! XD
When we left Pirates of the Caribbean it was getting dark already. We walked towards the Disney castle and tried to take some nice pictures (although it’s quite hard in the dark).

Disneyland in the dark is so enchanting!
In front of the castle there were light decorations on the floor. Somehow my mom managed to capture them perfectly with my camera! We walked into the castle and entered the traditional ‘glass- and glitter shop’, where we looked around for a bit. We left the castle and browsed some more shops. It was getting chilly and I got quite cold, but luckily my mom had brought an extra cardigan. ^^
We walked around the park for a bit, passing It’s a small world (wonderfully enlightened but still closed), in the direction of the space part of the park. We passed a stall where they sold popcorn buckets and we decided to buy one for the daughter of our friend at home. The popcorn buckets you can buy at Disney always match the theme of the moment and are refillable! We bought a wonderful ‘ghost Mickey’ shaped bucket! ^^
We walked on with our newest purchase and passed Space Mountain, which was incredibly crowded, but I didn’t really want to ride it anyway. Suddenly I saw a stall with lighting up accessories. We were planning to go see the Electrical parade and I was wearing my light necklace from last year, but my parents didn’t have anything lighting up. So I decided they could both choose a light accessory that I would buy for them as a present. ^^ I felt like a parent treating her kids. XD My mom chose the same necklace as me but in red and my dad chose a supercool blue Mickey with lighting up stars. Now they were ready for the parade! ^^
We walked past a Cars ride, where a life sized Lightning McQueen stood. Perfect for a picture of course! We also took some pictures with the little green Toy Story spacemen.
We followed the crowd a bit and ended up in the adventure part, where we entered an African-ish shop. My dad bought a beautiful elephant-shaped statue there (which was super heavy)! They also had a lot of adorable capybara plushies. I really fell in love with them!
We decided to go find a nice spot to watch the parade from, but all the benches were full! After walking for a while, we found a place to sit on the ground.
We saw some people around us eat pizza and after some vague directions I understood where to get them. My parents stayed behind while I went to get some for my mom and me and somehow I quickly found the right shop. They had two, quite unique choices, but I can’t remember which I chose. It smelled nice though.
When I returned, it turned out I had misunderstood my dad: he wanted some pizza too! Oops… -_- Oh well.
After some time, the music started and so did the parade! We could see the lights in the distance! The parade was the same as last year, but not any less beautiful!

The wonderful Electrical Parade!
The parade ended and we decided to go to Philharmagic, the 3D movie. My dad and I had seen it last year, just after the parade, because it wasn’t very crowded around that time. There were more people now, so we had to wait a little, but not too long. In the meantime we took some cool pictures wearing our 3D glasses!

Ready for Philharmagic!
The doors opened and we got seated. I know I already described what the movie is like last year, but I’ll just do it again. Although the movie is in Japanese, it’s very Disney and easy to understand the story. Donald Duck as to set up the music instruments for a performance, but accidentally makes them mad and he gets sucked into a magical black hole. While running, jumping and flying through all kinds of Disney movies he has to retrieve Mickey’s magic hat, which constantly slips through his fingers of course. XD Imagine musical film scenes where Donald is running around, like Beauty and the Beast’s ‘Be our guest’, the Lion King’s ‘I just can’t wait to be king’ and the Little Mermaid’s ‘Part of your world’!
The movie is incredibly funny and the 3D effects are amazing! The singing is also really great in Japanese! I just loved it so, so, so much!
The movie was over and we returned to the African shop, because I really wanted a capybara for myself after all. XD I chose a cute brown one and called it Cappi-chan (oh yes, I am a naming champion)!
We decided it was time to back to the shopping part to get the last things and then leave. We had gotten really tired, so we quickly browsed the last shops and then went back to the big square, which was now crowded with people returning home. We left the park 10:25 pm (which means we spent almost twelve hours at Disneyland)! We took the train back to Tokyo station, joined by a group of loud and energetic school kids from Australia (yes I am sure, they even carried a flag with them) who jumped into the train at the last second, causing their group to split up.
We took the metro from Tokyo station back to Shinjuku, passing the clock at 10:30 pm. Back at the hotel we fell down on our beds. Despite the fact we didn’t do many rides, we had had an incredibly awesome day. Back home my mom often says: ‘I wish I could go back to Tokyo Disneyland, just for the shopping!’ ^^

Purchases of the day