JAPAN TRIP: DAY 7 Tokyo Disneyland

7.12.15

JAPAN TRIP: DAY 7 Tokyo Disneyland

Well, well, well, finally I write again. And finally we arrived at Tokyo Disneyland. It was one cloudy and chilly morning in Tokyo. We arrived at Maihama Station around 8 something and walk to Tokyo Disneyland from there. The theme park was already packed! So, I bought a 2-Day Passport from Tokyo Disney Resort's website, so I just had to bring the printed ticket to the entry gates without having to queue at the ticket booth. A 2-Day Passport costed me JPY 12,400, and you have to choose which theme park at what date when you buy the ticket online.

After entering the park, I saw a long line of people queuing for something, I checked, and oh! It was a queue for taking picture with Mickey Mouse.

So when you queue, you'll be given a paper like the picture below.

The queue was quite long, it took me around an hour to finally meet ~~my long lost friend~~ Mickey Mouse. You'll be given only one chance to take picture with the character, taken by the theme park officer. I told my friend to take another picture with my mobile phone, and here's the result...

A heartwarming meeting between giant Minnie and Mickey

I spent to many time queuing for Mickey and the theme park was getting crowded. Since it was still early May, it was still Easter all around Disneyland.

And from far away, finally I could see that Walt Disney & Mickey statue with Cinderella's castle as the background, and I thought to myself, "this is really Disneyland!".

Colorful flowers were also everywhere, too bad the sky was cloudy.

I saw people starting to sit on the side of the road. Apparently, a parade will start soon. So we decided to pick a spot and sit.

It was called the Hippity-Hoppity Springtime Disney Easter Parade. Usually the parade will be held around two or three times per day. Just check the schedule in the theme park's brochure. It was a fun and colorful parade! Check the photos and videos below for more pictures about the parade.

I really want to take pictures with the castle, but the sky wouldn't cooperate. It looked like a villain's castle with the cloudy sky.

So, I just entered the castle (yes you could enter the castle), by queuing first of course. Inside the castle you could see several dioramas about Cinderella's story, also you could take pictures while sitting on the throne.

Behind the castle is Fantasyland, styled like those fairy tales setting where you could find attractions like Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White Adventure's, Haunted Mansion, Pooh's Hunny Hunt, and many others.

Yes, people, and more people everywhere, and yes queue and queue everywhere. You might see groups with matching Disney characters' tee, people wearing Disney characters' hat, kids holding their Disney characters' doll.

From Fantasyland, we headed to Tomorrowland, where you could find attractions like Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, Monster Inc. Ride & Go Seek, Star Tours, Space Mountains and others. The queue for most rides were quite long, around 1-2 hours worth (written on the entry). I really wanna try the Buzz one, but the FASTPASS was no longer available. So I have to queue for hours to try the ride. So, I just took the FASTPASS for Space Mountain which was still available. With FASTPASS you don't need to queue that long, you just have to come at the time written on the FASTPASS ticket. So a tip: come earlier to get the FASTPASS. But not every ride provides FASTPASS, and once you take one, you could only take another one hours later. And sometimes, because the theme park is too crowded, even you get the FASTPASS, it might be for 9PM or 10PM turn.

Another Hippity-Hoppity Springtime Disney Easter Parade was on the run, and thank God finally the sky turned blue!

And when the sky already turned blue, finally picture time!

Cinderella is coming back home.

See? The castle looked better when the sky is blue. On the west side of the castle, there is Westernland with attractions like Big Thunder Mountain, Country Bear Theater, Mark Twain Riverboat and others.

Smoked Turkey Leg - JPY 700

We stopped by for a while to enjoy this smoked turkey leg. Talking about food, can you bring your own food to Disneyland? Actually you can. I brought sandwiches in my bag, and they didn't check it at all. So yeah, I just spent this JPY 700 for food here (and spent most of my money on souvenirs). And for you popcorn bucket hunter, Tokyo Disneyland has several flavors of popcorn like caramel, curry, soy sauce & butter, salt, chocolate, honey, and even strawberry. Just check the map for each flavor's location.

Heading South from Westernland, you'll enter Adventureland! Here, you may find Pirates of the Carribean adventures, an Istana Boneka kind of ride, but of course a cooler and much more upgraded version. And of course others attractions. One will never be able to try all the attractions in one day, two days, or even three days. Maybe that's why they have annual pass for the locals.

Please mind that girl's face, I just want to show you that they sold different theme of souvenirs based on the location. On Adventureland, you may find Jack Sparrow dressed Mickey Mouse merchandises. Really, Disneyland will leave you broke.

Too many, too many cute stuff will make you spend your money here. Moreover if you are a Disney person.

Now, let's head to Toon Town! This is the place where Mickey and his friends live.

You'll find cartoon themed building and houses in Toon Town.

It was kinda hard to take pictures with the characters in Disneyland, since they were always surrounded by people asking for signature (yes signature! these kids have books filled with Disney character's signatures). You really need to grab the characters attention for them to take picture with you.

Uncle Scrooge a.k.a Paman Gober

Water - JPY 210

While waiting for the night parade, we entered the Mickey's PhilharMagic, a 3D concert with Donald as the main character.

~~My castle~~ Cinderella's castle at night.

Time went by super fast! It was night already, and it was getting colder by the night. But we were excited for the night parade! We took a seat on the side of the street, and finally it was The Electrical Parade Dreamlights time! You could see the parade on the embedded videos below.

After this visit, my very first visit to Disneyland, I promised myself to get back there. It was so much fun! Especially when you grew up watching those Disney's movies, reading those Disney's book and magazines.I haven't had the chance to ride and try many attractions but I made a promise to myself to visit every Disneyland on earth. I'll be back! Meanwhile, let's wait for my Tokyo Disneysea post, hopefully...soon.

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