#256746 by Ianflies
29 Oct 2008, 19:07
Not sure if appropriate, but I thought I would share my views of the 2 parks in DisneyLand Tokyo a couple of weeks ago, when we spent 1 day each at the parks, probably just for the True Disney Fans!!:

Well, afer 14 days of touring China (interesting) and 4 of Tokyo (even more interesting), the day had finally arrived! As we were so buy throughout our holiday doing things, we didn't really have time to think or look forward to Disney, but the night before we were getting all excited for the big day, finally achieving the most elusive 5th park, making it 5 out of 5! Our hotel concierge (Mandarin Oriental hotel, out of this world!) had already brought our tickets before our arrival which was a handy top tip thing to do, so we knew we didn't have to waste time queueing.

Sunday morning came to bright sunshine. A 5 minute taxi ride brought us to Tokyo mainline station, although the JR line was not as easy to find amongst a catacomb of corridors and signs! We soon found it and interpreting the signs that flashed between Japanese and English, we found the platform we needed (Expresso Train!). The train was not too busy, and 15 minutes and 2 stops later we were there!!

A short walk later we were on the main concourse where we could turn right to get a monorail to DisneySea (which you had to pay for, each way! Around 5 return for both of us) or left for a 5 minute walk to DisneyLand. Since our tickets were prescriptive and we had to pre-choose our days, we knew which way we had to go.

Soon we were at the ubiquitous hand bag search area, with minimal wait and behind us was the beautiful, imposing and grand main host resort hotel, on a par with the Grand Floridian I would guess (now knowing how close Tokyo city was, if we went again we would probably stay there as it looked beautiful, and the city is only 15 minutes away).

Anyway we went through the turnstiles OK and there before us was the main event. Main Street is not a familiar concept in Japan, so what they had instead was an undercover boulevard of gift stores and restaurants, in a cross roads style. We would explore those later. We went straight ahead and in the not too distance we saw the castle, similar to WDW. It seemed further away, and with no main street in between there was more road/pavement/walkway and it certainly took longer to get there.

We had done our research and knew the first thing to do when in the park was to get FP tickets for the Pooh ride. Blimey, the queue for this was 25 minutes just for the FP and there was a proper q-ing system in place. Knowing that my wife wouldn't want to do Space Mountain, I thought I would nip on there as a single rider and have a bit of fun. Wrong! No single rider and the queue at 9am., was already 105 minutes long! Arghhh, shame. Dashed back to find DW near front of the queue and she had secured FP tickets for 3.30pm, over 6 hours ahead. You can see it was a popular ride, and I'll tell you why later (can you bear the suspence?!).

We realised it was going to be a day of queue's, so we resigned ourself to it. Right, where to first? Had to be Splash! Uh-oh - a 110 minute wait. So we joined the line as it spiralled through the mountain, and before you knew it (well, not quite!) and 85 minutes later, we were at the front. They really prioritised the FP line, as soon as any FP holders came up, sometimes 20 at a time, they were all first - no taking it in turns as they sometimes to in WDW, so at times we barely moved at all. Frustrating!

The format is the same as WDW with the log riding through the mountain. The pre-amble was longer than WDW, meandering slowly aboard the log through the various characters and scenes. There is no jet of spray when you are at the bottom of the ride next to the log that goes down the long drop, nothing happens, so you keep dry! It is strange that the characters all sing in Japanese, and Brer Rabbit sounding quite funny! The ride is slightly longer than WDW I think, and the sound quality is more clearer (HD sound it seemed) and the colours and animatronics are better. However, for me, the ride lacked something, a bit of excitement. The drops are not as forthcoming or as steep, and it seems too slow at times in between themes with nothing happening. The big drop at the end is good, but not as long or steep as WDW, but the end segment, with Zip-a-de-do-Dah, being the same. A good ride, much fun, though prefer WDW.

By then it was around gone 11am, so as we were near Thunder Mountain we thought we would dash around. As we started walking I saw people sitting 9 rows deep on the pavement - a parade must be about to start! Never seen so many people awaiting a parade. They were all sitting down so we managed to secure a position at the back of the people, annoying a CM who wanted everything just so. There were so may people it was difficult to control, and I just pleaded ignorance, what with the language barrier and all that! There were warm up CM's shouting 'Waka Waka' or something like that, clapping their hands, much to the crowds delight, as they all repeated the phrase and actions.

Five minutes later the parade had started, surreally with MM greeting everyone in Japanese. It was a Hallowe'en theme and was very good, with singing in English and characters in Japanese. After about 8 floats later (including Mickey, Donald, Pooh, Peter Pan and various other heroes) I could see the end of the parade. I thought that was a very short parade and then something happened. The 'Ladies and Gentleman, B-hoys and Girls' announcer said something that made everyone spring to life in the crowd and on the floats. Smoke came out of all the floats along with various insidious and nefarious villains. The next 7 or so minutes ensued songs and battles on the floats of good versus evil. Then the Waka-Waka started again from the crowd (this must have been a 'spell') and clapping and other actions, which made the villains eventually disappear, good triumphing over evil once more - hurrah! A nice twist to a good parade, and then it moved on to another segment of the park.

Bad news for Thunder though as we made our way there, no queue, no FP, no ride! It was broke and even with the language barrier I understood it was not clear when it would be working. Disappointed, we continued to walk around anti-clockwise until we came to Pirates. With oly a 25 minute wait we joined the queue. Again, the ride had a longer introduction, sailing further before anything happened. The effects were good, with a slight drop at the beginning. It was similar to WDW, with a few different scenes, again most of it was in Japanese. It was a good ride and we enjoyed it, perhaps slightly better than WDW.

By now we were hungry as we had had no breakfast and it was 11.45. We found the only burger place in town and had nice burger and fries as an early lunch. We could also get a new FP so I got one for Space for around 5.30pm-6.30pm. The wait for Buzz was 60 minutes, so as not a priority for us we found Small World! Anything to get on a ride, so we swallowed our pride 'abandon all hope for ye who enters'..... and 15 minutes later we were humming along most annoyingly. It was fun I guess!

Before you knew it, there was another parade - a 25th celebration. Again it was a good parade, not as good as Remember the Magic (my favourite ever!) in WDW, but fun with an excellent Pooh float, with Tigger actually bouncing off a tree. It seemed like he was tied to a mini bungee rope that allowed him to bounce on and off the tree in front of piglet and pooh and eyeore, all sitting in a big umbrella. Everyone loved that bit. There were a few surprises on the parade and some a bit more daring things happening (acrobats, high swings etc.) and it was quite a long parade, sung in English, but not especially catchy.

Continuing on our way around, with map in hand, we knew we were near Haunted Mansion. This was a must as it had been done up especially for Hallowe'en and Christmas. With a 70 minute wait, we sighed again, and joined the queue. The line is similar to WDW, though not quite as haunting or with so many gravestones. The premise is the same entering the hall and ante chamber, with I assume a similar story (as it was in Japanese), and then we all vacated and made our way to the moving cars. It was brilliant! Set up as Nightmare before Christmas, it was completely different, just as (if not more) scary as WDW, with great soundtrack (both languages) excellent effects, Jack everywhere, big and small leering and screetching at you in various colours and guises, and still the same Hidden Mickey, although with a slightly different scenario. It seemed longer that WDW and definately a highlight - great fun. Would have done it again if we had time.

The time had come for Winnie the Pooh, and even with the FP we still had to wait 15 minutes. We had a Pooh all to ourselves as we set off. The first difference was that there was no track - we seemed to be in freestlye, with nothing to guide us. We seemed to go round in threes, similar to a Waltzer ride, where you would spin around fast and slow, swapping places with your companion carts. The animatronics were brilliant as was the sound and colour. The story was along the same lines as WDW, with some differences. In the bouncing Tigger segment, we went into an enlcosed room that seemed to act as a trampoline and we bounced merrily away watching cartoons and animatronics of Tigger bouncing with us. Then before we knew it we where whizzed along into the Heffalumps and Woozles area, where it was like a grand ballroom and we were all doing the waltz with other cars, even one had some characters in (still puppets), as we moved to and fro, left to right, anti and clockwise, in and out, all to music, with no real pattern and seemingly interacting with other people. Amazing! We continued in this fashion for the rest of the ride. I was told not to film it, but I'm glad I managed to sneak a bit on film! It was twice as long as WDW but only half as long as I would have liked it to be! I can take or leave Pooh in WDW, but here I wanted more more more! But with a 2 hour wait outside it was not to be! I can see why it is so popular - a very clever, fun and entrancing ride - shame not in WDW!

DW was in her element as we decided what to do next. With our 'Must Do's' done, it was approaching 5pm. so we headed to the shops. It was disappointing compared to other parks, with little clothes, toy characters or other mainstream gifts. It consisted mainly of candy stores and similar merchandise in most shops. Apart from the Pooh shop, we didn't get anything. We spent around 40 minutes wandering around and were left unenthralled. They were pleasant, but nothing special. We were fairly near Thunder so I thought just in case, I would have a look. YESSSS! It was working - NOOO, 110 minute wait!!! Didn't have the time, as it was pproaching 6pm soon, I had Space to go on, dinner to have and the evening parade.

Dashed to Space, with a 70 minute normal wait and even with FP it was a 10 minute queue. It was a good ride with a similar build up to WDW, the overall ride was smoother and less jolty as I find WDW to be, not always enjoying it. This was on a par (almost) with the HK version (my favpourite version) and I really enjoyed it, fun, fast and exhilerating with no jolts! Excellent!

Right, dinner time. Earlier on we had found a nice looking restaurant inthe shopping parade, so we joined the queue for 20 minutes before being seated. It was a pleasant restaurant with a set price meal for a very good value of 10per head. We had soup and a pasta dish with unlimited soft drinks. My SpagBol was great as was the service!

Gone 7.30 we didn't have long for the Electrical Parade. We ventured to the same spot as earlier on today as that seemed fine with a good filming angle. It had just started to rain which was a shame, although it was still warm. I had a brolly while DW had her infamous cagool! Everyone was told to sit down but me being the rebel managed to squat-stand in the corner still with a good view, the rain now quite heavy.

Then, the lights went down and the once familiar voice and phrase came out the speakers 'Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Tokyo DisneyLand proudly presents the Tokyo Disney Land Electrical Parade with a 1000 sparkling lights spectacular [or something similar!]...Der der der derrr.......' Brilliant - the Spectromagic has been on for ever it seems at WDW and I hadn't seen the'Main Street' equivalent electrical parade for ages, so I was really pleased this was on. It was outstanding, similar to WDW, but more modern, again with better sound, lights, floats atc. There were the old favourites of Petes Dragon and Snow White, but with many new ones of Pooh, ChipMonks, the collective Princesses, Monstes Inc (very good) Toy Story, in fact all of them were there in glorious Technicolour, sound and puppetry. Everyone was a winner in my view and I don't always say that! It was a long parade, raining a bit, but I got it all on tape (most of it!) and thoroughly enjoyed it. One of the best night time parades I have seen (I do like the Booh To You parade in WDW).

Soon though it was all over. There was (yet) another parade an hour later, a follow on to the earlier Hallowe'en parade where the villains get the revenge, but it had been a long day, it was raining and we were flagging, with still a bit of a walk and train ride to get home, so we called it a night.

So, in summary, I don't know but I would say it was of similar size to Florida - there was a ToonTown but we didn't have time to visit. There was also Dumbo, Carousel, Speed Racers, Peter Pan, Snow White, Honey I shrunk..., Star Tours, no Philharmagic or TTA. It was a very busy park, never have I had to queue for so long for so little, no matter what time of year I have been to WDW (July, Oct, Nov. or Dec/Jan). This was a shame as it prohibited what we could do and how much of it we could do. We were warned that weekends were busy, but I couldn't help the day as it was all part of a much 'grander' plan with China beforehnd etc. It would be interesting to hear what waiting times were on a midweek visit compared to mine (See my DisneySea report to compare for a Monday).

Overall, had a lovely day with 3 great parades, the night time one being brilliant. The rides were all good, with Haunted Mansion and Pooh beign the stand out ones, with Space next and Splash, Small World and Pirates all being fun too. Shops OK, food good, service and atmosphere, typically Disney, with the same feeling incidental music echoing all over the park, albeit alot of Japanese with the Characters and not always understanding what was going on, it sure was one awesome Zip a De Do Dah Day!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to go back.....in a few years.....!!

Cheers.
#458526 by RichardMannion
29 Oct 2008, 20:39
Hi Ian,

Very interesting - it was dead when we went in March 07. We did go on a weekday though during school term, we got through the entire park in a morning!

Thanks,
Richard
#458542 by Tinkerbelle
29 Oct 2008, 21:08
I too have been to TDL both when it's been busy and quiet. Have to say that I never experienced what you did on your visit when I was there one summer holiday,

I love how everyone sits down on the ground so organised and waits for the parade to start - you don't see it to that extent in any other Disney!
#458604 by Alex V
30 Oct 2008, 14:30
I get the feeling you quiet like disney parks? i could be wrong though.
Great Report thanks for taking the time to write.

cheers
alex
#458641 by Ianflies
30 Oct 2008, 18:48
Originally posted by av_norw792
I get the feeling you quiet like disney parks? i could be wrong though.
Great Report thanks for taking the time to write.

cheers
alex


Yeah, we kinda like them!.......

Tinkerbelle - yeah, it's so polite how everyone sits down and not even attempts to kneel or block anyone's view. That is Japan all over, such a polite and service friendly nation. Looking forward to going back!
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