We headed to our local Kanda Station for the one-stop journey to Tokyo Station where we needed to switch lines. How big is Tokyo Station, you ask? Well, it took us 10 minutes to walk from platform to platform without ever leaving the station. It’s that big. The journey from our apartment to Disneyland took about 45 minutes and only 20 minutes of that was on a train.
The weather today was quite warm again - high 20s and sun. I did pack sunscreen but we are yet to use it despite how long we’ve been outdoors on certain days.
We arrived about 10 minutes before the gates opened and joined the throng of people waiting to get inside. Disney doesn’t usually allow people to enter the park dressed up as characters, however, an exception is made during the Halloween event. This was somewhat problematic because the Japanese are super extra when it comes to cosplay so there were a heap of Disney characters walking around in full kit and no way to tell if they were just visitors or legit cast. Fun fact: Zootopia must have been a massive hit in Japan because we saw a shitload of Judy Hops and Nick Wildes.
After getting through the gates that Teneille and Kairi practically skipped through with excitement we made a dash for the Thunder Mountain ride which was showing a 20-minute wait. We have found on our previous Disney visits in Paris it is best to knock out a couple of rides early before crowds build too much or time them for when the parades are on and everyone leaves the rides to watch.
We moved from Thunder Mountain to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and then to the Beauty and the Beast ride. I bought skip-the-line passes for this one as it was already showing a wait time of 100+ minutes and I had read this is the one you don’t want to miss. The ride tells the story of the film where first you walk through an animatronic scene before boarding giant teacups that whisk you through the rest of the tale.
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| Pirates of the Caribbean. |
We watched the opening scene of Belle meeting the Beast and then joined the next line for the cups. Just as we got to the front of the queue the house lights came on. Not a good sign. We waited for a while longer as staff ran back and forth before we were told the ride had been suspended due to technical difficulties. Our skip-the-line passes would be refunded and we were given complimentary ones for another attraction of our choice as compensation. We were not having a good start to the day.
We sat down for an early lunch to beat the food rush and plan our next move. The haunted house ride was showing a respectable wait time so we headed there after eating and joined the queue. It had dropped because the villains parade was starting. We saw most of the parade from the line anyway (ha!) and then into the haunted mansion which was set up with a Nightmare Before Christmas theme.
I checked the app as we left the mansion and saw Beauty and the Beast was back online. We rushed over and used our complimentary tickets to skip the queue again, went through all the bits we’d seen before and finally boarded the teacups. That part of the ride kicks in at the Be Our Guest number and takes you through the rest of the story. The transformation of the Beast into the prince was amazing. I don’t know how they did it. The whole thing looks solid and then just disappears into thin air to reveal the prince. It was such a showstopper. Did Teneille cry, you ask? If you have to ask you don’t know her very well.
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| The Beast’s castle. |
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| Cogsworth and Lumiere bickering. Classic. |
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| Tale as old as time… |
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| Teneille totally not crying. |
Having happily ticked off the one ride we were hoping for we started making our way around the rest of the park to try and fit as much in as possible. We bought tickets for Splash Mountain seeing our previous ones were being refunded anyway. The kids loved that one. Aiden and I got quite wet sitting at the front.
We had afternoon tea at the Queen of Hearts restaurant where we bought a bunch of dessert items, including an unbirthday cake. I snapped off the ‘un’ bit and we sang Happy Birthday to Teneille much to her embarrassment.
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| Splash Mountain. |
From there we knocked over a bunch of the smaller rides with low wait times including Small World, Gadget Coaster, Pooh’s Hunny Hunt and the Toon Coaster.
We grabbed a quick dinner before finding a spot to sit for the Electric Parade, hit some of the shops, watched the fireworks display over Cinderella’s castle (complete with marriage proposal from the guys sitting next to us) and then headed back to the train.
And that is Tokyo Disneyland - 9am to 9pm, 20,000 steps (which I feel is unders), sore feet, tired children and a happy Teneille.
A slower start tomorrow given the late night tonight. Until then…
What a day!
ReplyDeleteLoving all these!!!
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