robbalvey Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 (edited) REGISTER an account on the TPR forum to post your comments below! ----------------------------------------------------------- Robb & Elissa Go To Japan & Don't Ride Any Roller Coasters! Part One - Arrival into Tokyo & Disneyland Part Two - Tokyo DisneySEA Day One! Part Three - More Tokyo DisneySea & LaLaPort! Every once in a while it's nice to take a "vacation from your vacations." And that's exactly what we did in Spring of 2019 when Elissa and I took a trip to Japan that was a vacation from our TPR trips! A well deserved one at that! Interestingly enough, while we did do a lot of theme park stuff (when I say a lot of theme park stuff, I mean we went to Tokyo Disney a lot) along with many other random things in Japan.... but we actually managed to do this entire trip without riding a single roller coaster!!! And there was even a brand new RMC that had just opened! Nothing stopping us from going to ride... but that just wasn't the focus of this trip (and besides, we knew we were going to be going back to Nagashima Spaland later in the year anyway...) So join us on this "non-typical" TPR adventure that includes a good amount of Tokyo Disney, a lot of Japanese randomness, but absolutely NO roller coasters! lol (Well, not that we rode anyway...) From Orlando to Seattle to Tokyo we go! Being grown adults, we of course have our favorite plush animals with us! Since Japan seems to be one of the only places I can think of where this is "normal behavior" for adults, let's just say that the Japanese are "our kind of people!" And let's just talk about Japanese efficiency for a moment... We went from the plane landing, going through Immigration, getting our bags... ...to being on the bus to our hotel in about 24 minutes... Another reason why we love it here! I do wish more Americans would be aware of their sound leakage! lol We arrive at the hotel and we are greeted by a robot that is currently on its way to deliver items to guests rooms! The robot's name is "Harry" and if you need more towels or a pillow, he will bring it to you. We also found out that Universal Orlando has this robot but they could never really get it to work. So it just roams around the lobby and tells stupid jokes. Of course it works in Japan! Guess where I ended up tonight... DUH! So tonight was the very last night of Tokyo Disneyland's "35 Happiest Celebration" event. Tokyo Disney LOVES doing park anniversaries, and they do them BIG! Holy Crap! That's a lot of people for the final night! But everyone is polite and courteous and even though it's a huge crowd, it doesn't "feel" like it. The projection show is absolutely Amazing! The volume of confetti was INSANE! Of course it was all cleaned up moments after the show ended! Watch the full video below! This was one of the coolest "temporary" things I've seen Tokyo Disney do! It was just magical! Speaking about magical... Dream Lights is my favorite Disney parade ever! Let me make it known that I am not the biggest "Main Street Electrical Parade" fan (mainly because I had to work it so often at Disneyland)... But I will 100% stop and watch this version every single night! I love everything about this parade! Each of the parade units are magical in their own way with amazing technology! I will warn you right now that you will see a lot of "Dream Lights" photos throughout this report, so be prepared for it! Hello Rapunzel! You are my #2! So if things don't work out with Anna & I, you're next in line! Belle, you're #3... I mean, you ended up with a beast, so I've got a shot, right??? Hey Anna... whatcha doing after the parade? *wink* *wink* We see you Chip n Dale! This guy right here double fisting those waffle machines is my current favorite cast member in the park! Please DO NOT MAKE ME CHOOSE between the Strawberry waffle.... ...and the chocolate one! YUM!!! I just love the entire 35 Happiest Celebration area inside World Bazaar. Sad thing is all going away tomorrow! So if there is one thing that Tokyo Disneyland lacks in... it's "fireworks" shows (I think because of where they are located within the city)... BUT.... Their "Castle Projection Shows?" OMG!!! These are amazing!!! "Celebrate! Tokyo Disneyland" was... well... a "celebration" of attractions at the park! This show was fantastic! I love that it featured almost every attraction at Tokyo Disneyland! LIGHT SPEED TO ENDOR! It was weird seeing Star Wars stuff on the castle, but awesome at the same time! It is hard to tell, but this is Mickey Mouse driving the train of "Big Thunder Mountain" with the Country Bears in the back and it was my favorite thing ever!!! Just in case you forgot what year anniversary it was! Honestly the show was AMAZING!!! Watch the entire video below! [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew] I of course had to end my favorite night on one of my favorite Disney attractions ever! Pooh's Hunny Hunt! Still one of the best trackless dark rides ever made! Hope you enjoyed the first installment... now... POST YOUR COMMENTS!!! Click HERE for PART TWO! Edited September 29, 2019 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 Mmmmmm Tokyo Disneyland Goodness! Great start to your trip, Robb! The waffles look gorgeous, the Dream Lights Parade looks wonderful...and when you've ridden The Best Pooh of All.... and robot servers! I do miss Tokyo and Disneyland/sea, all of it! Looking forward to lots more cool Disney stuff, Robb! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 I miss Japan...good thing we're going back real soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bert425 Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 I followed along on Twitter while y'all were there. . but so thrilled to see you post this report! absolutely love the pics from Disney, and that you focused so much on the park this trip fills my heart with joy to read this report. and you take such fantastic pics too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Finn Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 Love. Seeing. New. Japan. Reports. Thanks for posting and love the parade pictures! Excited to see what you guys got up to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArgoZ Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 I love all Japan reports. The country intrigues me so much. I can’t wait to go here someday. It will happen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaellynn4 Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Oh yea, I remember this trip from your Twitter feed! Great to see photos from it again! I loved seeing this sign. I wish a version of it could get hung up in my office building. The noise pollution in some corners is off the charts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Great report! The castle projection show playing homage to Disney attractions sounds really cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Woohoo! Japan TRs are always welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 (edited) That Main Street show looks amazing. Then again, all of it looks amazing Edited September 23, 2019 by coasterbill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardyloo! Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 There is no such thing as too much Japan! Visited it for the first time last year (no theme parks, but we did climb Mt. Fuji) and I can't wait to go back! Tokyo is one of the most amazing cities in the world. Over 30 million people in that area, but it all works... only in Japan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 The lights, confetti, projections, floats.. all look outstanding! Looks like it is really easy to have an incredible time a TDR without riding any coasters. Can't wait for the next update! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 I miss Japan so much... This takes away a little of the sting of not being there as I live vicariously through this report. Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pǝʇɹǝʌuı Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 I'm half Japanese and lived in Japan for a total of 6 years of my life. There's so much to do there! I'm hoping to make it back out next year, but honestly, I plan on hitting Nagashima Spaland and Universal Japan (I've already been to DisneySea and Fuji-Q) and that's it for parks. Well, maybe I'll go to Tokyo Disney again...haha. My point is, there's a ton to do in Japan and it does bother me a bit with enthusiasts get their entire impression of Japan from a couple dozen obscure theme parks. I'm excited to read more of your report and see what you guys did! I am curious, though. Obviously you guys go to Japan a lot and are very familiar with the culture, but, how good is your Japanese? Do you speak to people when you go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted September 23, 2019 Author Share Posted September 23, 2019 (edited) I am curious, though. Obviously you guys go to Japan a lot and are very familiar with the culture, but, how good is your Japanese? Do you speak to people when you go? Good question! We know enough to "get by" like asking for things like train tickets, park tickets, ordering food, asking for an English menu, "do you speak english", "I'm sorry my Japanese sucks ass" etc, etc... And really our Japanese is probably "pretty good" as an American asking for things in a language we obviously are not fluent in. But here's the interesting part... I do try to speak as much as I can and as often as I can because I like to be respectful of the culture, but sometimes we get into that situation where if we start speaking in our broken Japanese, some people will think we speak the language and then start saying or asking things we don't understand at all. So it's more the right balance of being polite and speaking what we can, and then having to basically say in Japanese, "I'm sorry our Japanese is terrible, do you happen to speak any English?" And also thanks to thinks like Google Translate, there hasn't been any situations where we couldn't at least figure things out. Edited September 23, 2019 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubaski Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 One day soon if I can get the wife to go. Thanks for all the pics. Great as usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 ^ I swear that Tokyo DisneySea is one of The Most Romantic Theme Parks you could ever go with your spouse/partner. It just reeks of romanticism, especially in the evening with all the lighting on when you're both just strolling around, hand in hand, drinking in all the atmosphere each Port has to offer. And eating a great flavored popcorn that TDLR has to offer. My 5 Yen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted September 24, 2019 Author Share Posted September 24, 2019 (edited) REGISTER an account on the TPR forum to post your comments below! ----------------------------------------------------------- So on our official "Day One" of the trip we went to our favorite theme park in the world... Tokyo DisneySEA! And while we love this park so much, there is one HUGE PROBLEM with it... There is too much to photograph!!! I took 2,700 photos on day one!!! Obviously I cannot post 2,700 photos in one trip report (Well, I can, and then even Adam Roth would be all "Damn! That's a LOT of photos!!!" and then you know I would have accomplished something!) Anyway.... I actually managed to sort through them and come up with about 120 photos... but that's still too many for one trip report, so we'll have to break this up! I will start with "Part One" of our first day at Tokyo DisneySEA! (Yes, we were here multiple days and the 2,700 photos was from ONE DAY!) I will continue to post more and long as YOU continue to comment more! So the more comments I see, the more I'll keep this thread going. When the comments stop, I'll just assume everyone is bored of seeing Japan pics and move on to something else. Deal? Good! Here we go.... Hey, guess what? We're back at Tokyo Disney! Shocking, right? When you get to the Tokyo Disney property by train, you have to buy a ticket for the monorail to get to the park you are going to. (Unless you just walk to Disneyland, but we weren't going there today...) The machines will have different themed tickets depending on what machine you use. Easter was around the corner so we bought one of the easter themed tickets for the upcoming event! Hello Mickey shaped handles on the monorail! Did I mention that I have one of these in my car. (And no I didn't steal it like a horrible America, I did actually buy one when they used to sell them and now they don't sell them anymore and I AM NOT SELLING YOU MINE!!!! So don't ask...) Did I also mention that we brought some friends of ours to the park today? ShellieMay and StellaLou! I should also point out this neither one of these belong to Elissa as she will have nothing to do with this because she's lame. Oh hello Mr. Large Volcano thingy! And hello there ShellieMay! Whereas Elissa doesn't carry plush animals around the park, she goes RUNNING towards the life-sized, more deadly rodents walking around the park! We weren't even in the park five minutes and we saw Clarice! For those of you who don't know, Clarice is the "girlfriend?" to Chip N Dale. In any case. She's a girl. And she hangs out with Chip N Dale. Since Journey to the Center of the Earth has been recently undergoing some fairly extensive rehabs (it was closed on our last trip and it's actually going to be closed again on our next trip) one of the main reasons we are in Japan is to ride this! And no, this does NOT count as a "roller coaster" even though it does have roller coaster track under that floor that the ride vehicle sits on! ShellieMay is also going to ride because she loves it! The theming inside this ride is just amazing. One of Disney's best. The attention to every detail is just wonderful. When you make it to these "elevators" your journey is about to begin! The entire queue "under the volcano" is crazy impressive. You can see the loading area from when you exit the elevators. From this point, you've got less than ten minutes before you're on the ride! Gotta love the theming! When you get to this point of the ride, you know some crazy stuff is about to go down! Well, HELLLLOOOOOO Lava Monster! Aren't you pretty today? TRUTH!!! Elissa not to happy about holding the bears. Fine. I'll take them back and love them as they should be loved! Can we just take a moment to stop and bask in the beauty of this area? Ahhhh, yes.... So much beauty.... Vulcania is a restaurant. They have food here. We will eat that food. It is the circle of life. When we talk about the attention to detail in the attractions, it doesn't just stop there.... This is inside a restaurant!!! Not even a "fancy" restaurant... A "Quick Service" restaurant! I don't love Nori, but I love the Mickey Mouse printed on the Nori! It's photo worthy! I love this Chinese fried chicken. Delicious! While the Easter festival was not officially starting yet, they did have some of their food items available! Every menu at Tokyo Disney is in Japanese and English, so you'll have no problems ordering... unless you don't speak Japanese or English... then... I'm not sure why you're reading this and I can probably say horrible things about your mother and you won't know I said that either. Your mother looks like a foot. Yes, they hang out with us and eat with us.... and we fit right in because.... ... at the table next to us, these Japanese set up a table JUST FOR THEIR BEARS!!! Like I said...these are my people! We'll hang out with our bears and Elissa can make fun of us all she wants. The bears will probably murder her in her sleep one of these days! Ps. Sarah is here, too... because she now lives in Japan... or... at least she did. She's back now. But she was living there when we were there on this trip. How's the job hunt going? Some of you may remember that a couple of years ago we reported on these Mickey Mouse shaped soap dispensers going into the park. The first one was over by Splash Mountain. More of them have popped up and this one is by Journey. You basically just put your hand under the nozzle, push the button, and a Mickey Mouse shaped soap comes out! Apparently Sarah totally sucks at washing her hands. She never got a Mickey. She just got a glob of crap on her hand! There... I had no issues getting the Mickey because I am awesome at dispensing corporate mascot shaped soap. And it's amazing!!! And yes... if you really love the Mickey shaped soap so much you can buy a Mickey shaped soap dispenser for your home! (Yes, we have one in our home!) Time to do some more wandering around the park and just take it all in... Hello Tower! Yes, this is a THEME PARK!!!! There are places where you walk around Tokyo DisneySEA and it just honestly does not look like any other theme park in the world. Areas of this park just look so "functional" like they could be real world places. There is so much to explore here! The attention to detail never stops. We figured we might as well bang out the top two attractions at the park right away! This gives you an idea of how crazy busy the park is. It's still the morning, the standby line is already 80 minutes, and the FastPass return time is at park closing. It doesn't matter. I'd still rather be at a busy Tokyo DisneySEA that anywhere else in the world! But thankfully we got our FastPass earlier so here we are! The queue area also looks nothing like any of the other Tower of Terror rides. (That's a good thing!) Hiya Shiriki! You don't look as mean and evil as a tissue box sitting on my desk, but you are pretty mean and evil when you aren't a tissue box! ShellieMay and StellaLou love the ride!!! So let me just take a moment to explain the whole "Duffy" thing... because you're going to see it a lot. This is ShelieMay. She's like a girlfriend or something to Duffy who was the original Japanese Disney Bear. The Japanese love Duffy & Friends and there are MULTIPLE STORES at Tokyo DisneySEA dedicated exclusively to Duffy merchandise. The characters are sold ONLY at DisneySEA. It is very common to see people walking around the store with baskets FILLED with the stuff they are buying. That's StellaLou. She's the bunny chick. She might be kind of a whore, we're not sure. But she's one of the friends of Duffy & ShellieMay. That's Gelatoni. He's a cat. And yes, here he is eating gelato and it's the best thing you're going to see all day! You will also see some Japanese people just lay their Duffy & Friends out for everyone to see and take pictures of. Almost every time we've been at the park, we've seen someone set up a "scene" with their bears! It is a REQUIREMENT that every Japanese person, boy or girl, young or old, have at least THREE Duffy items on their person at any given time. We will use this girl as an example. She's doing it right! Well, done! These girls are actually DRESSED as the different character! So yes, the take away here is... "The Japanese are obsessed with Duffy & Friends! And we think that is AWESOME." AHA!!!! In this "stalker shot" we actually catch Elissa properly holding Geletoni! Secretly, deep down...she really DOES care about them! She may not be aware that she is one with the Japanese obsession... but one day she will be! Speaking of the Japanese dressing up... you will see all sorts of "Disney Bounding" and crazy themed dress-up all over the park. There are so many Tokyo Disney Instagramers everywhere! And they are all so creative and amazing with what they do. Seriously, just follow some of the Tokyo Disney Instagram accounts.... you'll be impressed! Not only do the Japanese go crazy for the merchandise, but also the food. The new Easter food had just come out and this was the line to get one of the items. I honestly do not remember which one but I do remember that I thought this line was long, right? WRONG! It's even longer! lol By the time I got to the end of it, I had already forgotten what the food item was! lol OK, we will end this report here for now... That should give you enough to ask questions about or come up with something witty to say about this report. Remember... POST YOUR COMMENTS!!! CLICK HERE FOR PART THREE! Edited September 29, 2019 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 That's all I can muster up, right now. So much DisneySea Goodness to ride, see, eat, be a part of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 That's Gelatoni. He's a cat. And yes, here he is eating gelato and it's the best thing you're going to see all day! That is ridiculously true. Every time I read one a Tokyo Disney report it seems like there's more awesomeness around the next corner, like they're just never content to say "Yeah, this place is incredible enough. We're good now." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrs28330 Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 I can't decide between Chocolate or Strawberry, so I will just have to try both! How about one on the way into the park, and another one on the way out of the park? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 Great report! I can't wait to make it on Journey someday. I love the Test Track ride system and the theming on this ride looks incredible. When the comments stop, I'll just assume everyone is bored of seeing Japan pics and move on to something else. I don't think it's possible to get bored of seeing Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pǝʇɹǝʌuı Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 Okay, you've definitely convinced me to go back to DisneySea when I visit Japan. Your photos do the park every bit of justice it deserves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 Let me know when Duffy adds an adorable shrimp tail that is depressed and likes to stay in the corner to his list of friends. Then I will happily carry one around the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bert425 Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 oh my.. these pics in this report are incredible. In particular the Journey pics. . wow, that ride looks so unique. I'm surprised they haven't cloned it anywhere else. and the park is so beautiful. I too don't understand the whole Idea behind the bears obsession. (I mean, I get an obsession with "Bears" . . but not necessarily the obsession with the Tokyo Disney Bears). but I have a feeling that someday I'll start to understand. And then end up buying one. I keep going back to the food pics tho. . OMG this: if I had been with you, I'd be ending up with a suitcase full of souvenir plates, as I'd have been buying the crap outta this incredible looking treat. that Mirror Glaze! OMG amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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