Tokyo Disneyland Trip Report

We spent 2 full days at Tokyo Disneyland, including the day of my actual 25th birthday. I got a birthday sticker to wear, which meant that I got dozens of birthday greetings throughout the day from cast members, and felt very special indeed! We'd been warned that July is a ridiculously hot and humid time to be visiting Tokyo, but, after living in the topics for two years, we figured the heat wouldn't bother us. We had several sunny days during our trip, but you'll notice that I'm wearing a jacket all throughout one day--which shows that yep, July was probably a good time to visit Japan for this girl who appreciates hot climates best!

Rides:

Splash Mountain

We followed all of the best Tokyo Disney advice and rode Monster's Inc.Ride & Go Seek and Pooh's Hunny Hunt first of all. Both of which had elaborately themed queues that really helped make an awesome build-up to the actual ride. We had time to try out lots of the rides over the two days in the parks, from the most thrilling to the calmest. A few honored rides even deserved repeats.

Two rides alone we rode three times each: Pirates of the Caribbean (an obvious choice--I've been a fan of the films for more than a decade), and Beaver Brothers' Canoes--which allowed you to paddle a canoe all the way around Tom Sawyer's island. Angel loved the canoes--we enjoy kayaking whenever we get a chance, and paddling the huge canoe with a couple of cast members and a few other guests (the ride was pretty unpopular while we were there), was so much fun and great exercise! We went twice back-to-back, astonishing the crew members, because Angel wanted to sit on the other side of the boat and make sure he got in a workout for his other arm, too. We would have gone back for round 4, only the canoes closed just a little too early for us to make it back in time.

Splash Mountain we rode twice, and Angel enjoyed posing for the ride photo. I was too busy holding onto my tiara and glasses to pose on any of the thrill rides. I beat Angel once on Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters (Hurrah!!) and he beat me once.

Attractions:

A large part of what there is to do in the park doesn't actually involve riding on rides. There are so many walk-through attraction and areas for exploration. We spent a pretty good chunk of time on Tom Sawyer's Island, crossing every bridge, going into every cave, and checking out the cemetery--where, strangely enough, there was a headstone that read: "Sacajawea." Hmmmm.

Tokyo Disneyland does not lack for three houses--the one on Tom Sawyer's Island, Chip & Dale's Treehouse, and of course, the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. I basically wanted to be the Swiss Family Robinson when I was a kid

Characters:

Angel was super excited to take a photo with Esmerelda, and I had a quick conversation with Alice about tea. We also spotted Snow White and her Prince, and Peter Pan and Wendy greeting guests. It was fun to see the characters out and about!

Entertainment: 

We watched both daytime and nighttime parades, with the night parade being by far Angel's favorite (he loves anything as long as it involves thousands of LEDs). I appreciated the parade performer's costumes in the daytime parade. We didn't take a single photo of either parade--as we are very much the type to just sit and enjoy the show, rather than try to scramble to take action shots that probably won't turn out very well.

We watched Minnie Oh! Minnie on our first day in Disneyland--we both agreed that the primary male performer was the star of the show--he had a stunning, powerful voice and really did justice to the Spanish songs in the show. The main female singer, however--her Spanish singing was the kind where it's a little obvious she doesn't actually speak Spanish...or at least it sure sounded like she didn't. Angel loves Spanish songs, but only when done well, so he had mixed feelings on this show.

We watched One Man's Dream 2: The Magic Lives On on our second day in the park. I really enjoyed this one, loving how many scenes from different movies were portrayed in the show. Just before watching the show, Angel had complained that he never saw much about villains in the park, and he wanted to see some villains, so he was really happy that a couple of villains got their time in the limelight during this performance.

We closed out our Tokyo Disney experience by sitting arm-in-arm and watching the evening Castle show on a bench off to the side. It was a lovely, peaceful experience, as there was nearly no one sitting anywhere near us (an angled view is probably not the best for the show--but we loved the experience). The perfect way to finish off my long-dreamed-of Tokyo Disney adventure!

Food: 

By far the most exciting meal of our 2 days in Tokyo Disneyland was my birthday lunch at the Blue Bayou. Being a Pirates of the Caribbean fan, this was a special-occasion must-do for me, and I felt amazingly special at our cozy little table right next to the water. I loved the lanterns and the quiet atmosphere of the restaurant--you almost felt that you really were at a riverside cafe somewhere in Louisiana late at night--instead of in a theme park in Tokyo at midday. I ordered a beef tenderloin, while Angel had gumbo, and we also enjoyed a first course of bread and creamy potato soup--it was a tremendously delicious and filling meal--we didn't end up eating dinner at all that day because we were still full from our late lunch. We aren't normally the type to try 'fancy' sit-down restaurants anywhere, but I'm very glad that we decided to splurge in honor of my birthday--this was such fun and will always be a special memory of how I celebrated turning 25.

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These two days at Tokyo Disneyland certainly met and exceeded all my expectations! I'm so glad I got to spend them with my favorite person. Have you been to Tokyo Disneyland? Do you try to visit theme parks on vacation, or do you avoid them if at all possible?