For those who do not know me, I was born and raised in Southern California. Trips to Disneyland, watching “The Wonderful World of Disney”, reading Disney publications and even our civic auditorium during the summer months played Disney films, this is how I grew up. So, when I was planning the trip and noticed that Tokyo Disneyland was only 14 miles away from the airport, I had to go and see it. For those who think Disneyland is really expensive, Tokyo Disneyland was 9900 yen ($67 US) and Disney Sea (their version of California Adventure) had a night pass for 4800 yen ($33 US).
I woke up that morning and spoke with the receptionist at the front desk who was awesome for not only introducing me to the Japan train system, but he also wrote a detailed list of the three different trains and transfers, I would need to take. He also showed me on my iPhone how wallet is used through Suica, paying for the train system is easy. He also told me that the closest terminal was only three blocks away from my hotel. If only I knew that the day before. I asked him how much money to put on Suica and he said 3000 yen ($21 US) to be safe.
I have never ridden the New York subway, but it cannot beat the Tokyo trains. They are very clean and once I got over the initial fear of taking multiple trains, it was so easy. Matter of fact, Google Maps will tell you precisely which train and terminal to need to take. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the Tokyo trains, cell phone use and talking is considered rude. There is no pushing or shoving, everyone is quit, for the most part, it is really relaxing. MY train ride and transfers took approximately one hour, dropping me at the Tokyo Disneyland Staton.
I got there around 8:45 AM and the park opened at 9:00 AM. There was a quick bag check and a little wait to get in. I could not believe how clean the park was. It was like the whole park just opened a year ago. When you enter the park, there is a solarium where all the retail stores are. Once passed that, it opens up. Of course, I had to get a selfie by Walt’s and Mickey’s statue. I met a family from Australia who asked me to take their picture, and I asked for one in return.
My first ride that I got on was Star Tours. They had me sit up front on the right side. I started laughing once the ride started because I was chosen to be the Imperial Spy, which I thought was funny because the ride was filled will mostly Japanese riders and I was the only Caucasian guest. The audio in the ride was Japanese but enjoyable anyways. I did notice that after the ride, the park isn’t setup to walk through the souvenir shop. The ride exits out into the rest of the park.
My next ride was the Beauty and the Beast ride, which I saw was only at Tokyo Disneyland. There was a long wait, but the ride is great. I only wished I had recorded it. I met some women from Orange County and San Bernadino that sat with me in my teacup (the ride). To see the ride, here is the YouTube link: Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast Ride 4K POV | Tokyo Disneyland.
After that I went to the Haunted Mansion ride, what I noticed about Tokyo Disneyland is that a lot of the announcements are in Japanese but some of the songs are in English. The warnings as you enter the ride car are in Japanese and English, the part with the fortune teller was in English and the song in the graveyard was in English. My next ride was Splash Mountain, which once again was in Japanese except the “Laughing Place” song and the “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” song was in English. I rode about nine rides, including Thunder Mountain and It’s a Small World.
At 4:00 PM, I had bought the evening pass to Disney Sea, so I needed to take the train to the Disney Sea entrance. Once inside Disney Sea, I mostly walked around and took pictures. I definitely didn’t have enough time to explore as much as I wanted. My other issue was that my phone battery was getting low and I still needed to return by train, so I left the park about 8:00 PM. If I was going to return, I would give myself a day per park.
By the way, I took the train to the cruise port. I still have 1080 Yen on my Suica Card. Transportation is very inexpensive in Tokyo.
