Tokyo – Day 4.5

As promised, here’s my continuation of my day at Disney.

It was now early afternoon and thought I’d make my way over to Disneyland to round off my day.  The rain was still coming down, though was now more like drizzle again and didn’t really require use of an umbrella.  I needed to hop back on to the Resort Liner and would have to go nearly full circle to get to Disneyland; reluctantly, I paid my 250 Yen knowing that I was being ripped off for my own stupidity.  They were doing some work on the automatic gates at the station and had removed the panels, showing off the internal electronics and motors.  The Resort Liner was now running slightly less frequently since the morning rush had now subsided, though the flow of guests was still on the up.

Once again, the ticket counters were plentiful and empty and I paid my 5800 Yen for entry.  Because I did not need to converse in English this time, the lady assumed I was Japanese and thusly received a Japanese park map which was next to useless for me – doh!

As mentioned in my last entry, it was now approaching Halloween season so the park had been glitzed up with various spooky attire.  It was wonderful to see since it gave everything that was so familiar a facelift.  There were pumpkins, scarecrows, and ghosts all over the park along with limited edition Halloween merchandise for the collection mad folks.

Tokyo Disneyland is unusual because its Main Street USA is a bit different from the norm.  For Japan, it has a permanently erected (stop sniggering) roof and they’ve renamed it World Bazaar but appearance wise, and for all intents and purposes, it’s the same as elsewhere.  The reason behind the roof is due to Tokyo’s more volatile weather and I must admit, it was nice to be able to walk around under shelter whilst taking in the sights and sounds.  The shops are largely similar to those that you’d find at any Disneyland around the globe, with general merchandise, confectionary, clothing, and so on.  There were also a number of balloon vendors but strangely, balloons didn’t seem to float the boat of the Japanese punters and I saw hardly any that day.  Of course, the weather wasn’t great or people could have simply let them go too soon, but it’s just another observation of mine.

Tokyo Disneyland is modeled very closely after its older brother in California, yet there are a number of quirks and curiosities about the place, which I’ll describe as I go along.  The first quirk is that the castle is styled after Cinderalla’s in Walt Disney World as opposed to using Sleeping Beauty’s like every other Disneyland.

The first ride I went on was Pirates of the Caribbean.  The queue moved along very swiftly and I was on the ride within 10 minutes.  Oddly, everything on the ride was presented in English, which is not the case with other rides.  This was also the first time I had been on the ride since they made the movie inclusions such as animatronics of Jack Sparrow and Barbossa, along with some nice smoke and water effects involving Davey Jones.  It’s all a bit odd how they’ve had to retcon the ride with movie law, from which the movie was inspired anyway.

The next ride I ventured on to is the classic Jungle Cruise.  The ride is pretty much identical to those in California and Florida but the one major difference is that the skipper still uses a fake gun to fire a shot at the hippo.  The guns were removed from the States several years ago for fear of setting a bad example to kids with gun culture.  Anywho, applause is also deserved for the female skipper of the ship who is quite possibly the best I’ve ever encountered.  She was really getting into her role and despite the language barrier, her emotions and actions more than made up for it and everybody onboard got a kick out of her antics.

I decided to have a wander around to see what else was different about the park and to also grab some Fast Passes for the rest of the day.  The crowd was immense, even for a day with poor weather and clearly proved which was the money spinner at the resort.  The variety of people was also interesting to see, with a lot of students who had just finished school paying a visit, a clear benefit of having such good transport links.  Another observation which I forgot to post about was how the main carpark was empty with all but a few cars and coaches.  The carparks at other Disney Resorts I’ve been to are usually heaving by late morning due to their locations being so far out of reach for public transport that it becomes almost necessary to get there by car, but not Tokyo.  I couldn’t help but feel envious that Tokyoites were able to just casually pop along to Disney whenever they felt like it, taking advantage of annual passes which usually cost no more than 3 normal entry tickets (2 for Walt Disney World).

I soon found myself in Westernland, Tokyo’s version of Frontierland which had loads of Halloween garb on.  Lacking a Critter County, Splash Mountain was located here along with the ever popular Big Thunder Mountain.  Both had immense queues, with Splash Mountain’s being 70 minutes.  Big Thunder Mountain still had Fast Passes available but Splash Mountain had run out, a testament to its popularity even in the wet.  I decided to brave the queue for Splash and Fast Passed Big Thunder Mountain whilst it was still available.  I was getting a bit peckish by this point and whilst in the queue, I noticed that the famous jumbo-sized, smoked turkey legs were available near by.  Whilst we’re on the topic of food, Tokyo Disneyland has some frankly odd popcorn flavours which all seemed to be raking in the sales.  They had the normal caramel (sweet) and salt varieties, and then they have odd concoctions like curry flavour, and black pepper flavour.  The curry one was really potent, scent wise and had a massive queue of people waiting for their spiced treats.  Anywho, back to the ride…  As I commented on earlier, the condition of the park is amazing, given it’s celebrating its 25th anniversary.  Splash Mountain is no spring chicken, yet you would not be able to guess from the interior because everything in the queue area was immaculate.  Once again, I did not see anybody sitting on barriers or handrails, and everybody was very well behaved.  The ride itself is based on the Walt Disney World version with the logs being able to seat 6 as opposed to 3 in California.  All of the dialogue and music is in Japanese as well, but they’ve done a great job finding voice actors and actresses who sound just like the American counterparts.

My Fast Pass for Big Thunder Mountain was not for another few hours so I continued with my walk around the park.  I strolled past the Haunted Mansion and much to my surprise, Disney had dressed it up with some seasonal flare ala Nightmare Before Christmas style!  I had heard about the restyle a few years ago and was dubious to say the least.  Would it look tacky and simply not fit with the theming?  Because of the nature of the ride, photos of the makeover were hard to come by so I had no idea of what to expect.  Fast Passes had already been handed out for the day but the timing remained consistent at around 40 minutes.  Another of the quirks I mentioned is how the Haunted Mansion is actually located in Fantasyland, using the rationale that ghosts are fantastical (makes sense I guess).  I decided to come back later after some further exploring.

Fantasyland on the whole seemed very much like a clone of its American brothers, with very little that was unique to it bar the Haunted Mansion and Pooh’s Hunny Hunt.  All of the rides in Fantasyland command maybe 20 minutes tops for queue times but Pooh bucked the trend, with queue times of 90 minutes not being unusual!  I’d read reviews for the ride and it always receives top marks, regardless of the target audience.  The queue was quoted as 70 minutes which was still pretty hardcore and there were no Fast Passes left for the day, so I thought I’d come back just before the evening parade.

Just adjacent to Fantasyland is one of my personal favourites, Toon Town.  Pretty much a like-for-like clone of California’s, it is a real-life interepretation of what was featured in the Roger Rabbit movie.  The version of Toon Town in Disney World is a poor comparison and lacks the signature ride, Roger Rabbit’s Toon Town Spin.  Like every ride, there was a significant wait time since it was late afternoon, so decided to come back later.  The queue to see Mickey in his mouse house was pretty lengthy, though if you’re after some personalised time with the mascot, you gots to do what you gots to do.

I wound up in Tomorrowland, which got me all nostalgic because it still looked like how Tomorrowland used to before all the mass refurbs around the globe.  Everything was white and you could vaguley hear “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow”, the theme from the Carousel of Progress, which was never built in Tokyo Disney due to the heavy American family slant on it.  Attractions wise, it pretty much has all the usual Tomorrowland fare like Space Mountain, Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear’s Ranger Spin, Autopia, and Micro Adventure (Honey, I’ve Shrunk the Audience).  Space Mountain was the big draw and had received minor refurb in the last year or so on the inside.  Queue time was 45 minutes which I thought was reasonable enough so I decided to wait it out.  Everything moved briskly, though the inclusion of an escalator slowed things down since for safety concerns, staff were only allowed to let a certain number of people on to the second level of the queue at a time.  Inside, everything looked very modern and minimalistic compared to the Space Mountain of yore; it now had lots of blues, greens, and purples, with fibre optics running everywhere.  The loading area had also received a makeover, with the large mock command centre looking much more realistic, as opposed to retro kitsch.  Even the cars had a facelift, matching the colour scheme and external styling of their surroundings.  The ride itself is very much identical to before, but also uses the new colour scheme for the launch and landing sequences.  I loved this Space Mountain and I’m sure it’s longer than the other versions, with some great bits towards the end creating a huge sensation of speed (max speed is 35mph).

I hopped over to Star Tours where there was only a 5 minute queue, which shocked me.  Star Tours has always been a popular attraction at any Disney park, but has needed an update for many years.  Problem is, what can you do to the ride to jazz it up?  Using the new trilogy would simply alienate people, so the only real option is to create a new film to use in the simulator.  That is unlikely to happen due to differences in opinion between the bearded one, George Lucas, and the heads of Disney.  Anywho…  The insides are identical to all versions of Star Tours around the world, except that everybody speaks Japanese.  It is unusual to hear C3PO, with his usual tone and pitch, speaking Nihongo, though this shouldn’t be too odd since he is fluent in several million forms of communication after all.

I did not bother with Micro Adventure or Buzz Lightyear since I’d done both of those to death before, and I don’t consider them classic Disney fare.  I didn’t want to go on Autopia either since I did enough driving back home, and it was still raining as well.  I had now gone full circle around the park and was back at World Bazaar.  The day was slowly drawing to a close and nightfall was nearly upon us, with lights springing up in select locations.  Photography wise, it made for a nice change of pace since I was now no longer contending for colour with a dull, cloudy backdrop, but I was now looking for light sources.  Sadly, Disney parks have never been all that beautiful to capture at night and after years of trying, I was still no closer.

I headed back to Big Thunder Mountain where I got to use my Fast Pass from earlier.  The queue was around 60 minutes now and with there being so little light in Westernland, it didn’t make for an interesting place hang around for an entire hour.  Near the boarding area, I saw a sumo wrestler with his girlfriend/wife.  This was the second sumo wrestler I’d seen that day with the first over at DisneySea.  Thinking about it now, I saw only 3 people during my entire trip who I would have called truly overweight and all were at Disney, and 2 were the above sumo wrestlers.  Big Thunder was pretty much identical to all the others around the world, though seemed like a good middle ground for white knuckle thrills.  The Disney World version is the tamest in my opinion, followed by California’s, with Disneyland Paris’ being the wildest with plenty of tunnels.  No ride photography either which made for a nice change and come to think of it, most of the rides in Tokyo Disney lacked this ‘feature’.  No idea whether it’s just not been implemented yet, or whether Japanese folks simply didn’t take to it.

I was absolutely starving by this point and wanted something fairly substantial for dinner.  I wasn’t in the mood for typical fastfood fare, which you’re pretty much limited to at a theme park.  Also factoring in my plans for the evening, I decided to head over to Fantasyland where there was an Alice in Wonderland themed cafeteria style restaurant.  The prices were much steeper than the typical fastfood place in Disney, but the food also looked much nicer and was served on proper crockery, with metal cutlery.  The queue was also fast and efficient, thanks to the great service from the folks behind the counter.  I opted for a seafood tempura with potato wedges.  I also decided to have a cream of corn soup to warm me up as well as a side order of rice, which I found to be a nice novelty.  All in all, the meal came to about 2100 Yen (£10.50 or so), which was very expensive for what you’d find at your typical foodcourt for £5 or less.  However, when you’re the captive audience and you’re hungry, you can’t complain.  Oh, the food was also very yummy and is quite possibly the best theme park meal I’ve ever had.  Like DisneySea, the staff busing the tables were fast, friendly, and efficient.  I tried once again to take my own tray and plates to the collection area but was once again defeated by a bright, cheerful smile and open hands…

I returned to the Haunted Mansion where the wait time was still 40 minutes or so.  I joined the queue, which moved swiftly and was maybe in there for only 30 minutes at most.  As I’d mentioned, the ride had been dressed up with Nightmare Before Christmas theming and it all starts as soon as you enter the familiar stretching room.  I’m always amazed by this feature of the ride and am never too sure whether it’s actually working as an elevator or as a pure optical illusion.  The familiar morbid paintings overlooking the room have been replaced by scenes from Nightmare Before Christmas, and a lovely shattering noise is heard when the room starts stretching.  Up above, a giant and rather scary Jack Skellington head is scene laughing at the people below.  The doors open up and everybody is ushered through to the ‘Doom buggies’ as they’re affectionately known.  The budget for the development of the redress must have been huge, because none of the elements look out of place.  There are huge animatronics from the movie which take centre stage in nearly every scene, and some special effects have even been updated such as the ballroom scene and the neverending hallway, which now has a floating Zero instead of the bride.  What was a nice location touch was a naughty or nice children list, which featured some Japanese names amongst the Western names.  Rather than the normal Haunted Mansion theme, two songs from the movie were used which topped off an already fantastic seasonal update.  I was so glad to have been able to experience the ride for myself that it was one of two highlights of my visit to Tokyo Disney, and reassured me that not all of modern Disney’s decisions are cost cutting measures.

The parade was due to start in the next 30 minutes or so, which meant queues for rides were gradually dwindling in size.  Despite the drizzle, guests were ready to camp out spots along the parade route to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars.  This proved to be a great time for me to join the queue for Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, which was now quoted as 40 minutes from the point of entry.  Remember earlier how I mentioned that my visit to Disney didn’t feel right because everybody was so well behaved and polite to each other?  Well, there was one instance which brought me back to theme park must-haves.  There was a family behind me who spoke Mandarin, so most likely from China, or possibly Taiwan, and it was a real test of saintly patience for me not to do anything.  The family consisted of a mother, a father, a little boy, a pre-teen daughter, and an uncle of some description.  The little boy was a nightmare and kept walking into me and my shouldered camera.  The mother kept poking the back of my head with her umbrella.  The mother then decided to pick the boy up and the father then proceeded to poke me in the back of my head with their umbrella.  The daughter didn’t actually do anything to piss me off.  The uncle kept trying to cut ahead of me and a couple in front of me.  When the queue moved inside, they were pushing all manner of people out of the way to get a few photos and I could not help but shoot a few dirty looks their way.  Somehow, the uncle had managed to get several places in front of me and I couldn’t help but wonder what the point was?  He would have had to wait for the rest of his family anyway before boarding.  Anyway, it was now time to board and I jumped into a giant hunny pot and we whizzed forward.  To my surprise, the ride moves the hunny pots in groups of 3 and I ended up following the 2 cars in front of me.  What was very impressive was how all 3 cars moved in synch with each other, with all 3 constantly in knowledge of where they each were.  As a result, they were able to perform complex synchronised routines.  The ride technology is an updated version of that used in Epcot for Ellen’s Energy Adventure (Universe of Energy), starring everybody’s favourite Hollywood lesbian, Ellen Degeneres.  Pooh’s Hunny Hunt is packed with technology, and each room displayed something different, with the first showcasing wind simulation, with the cars showing some resistance whenever the blustery day blew towards us.  My favourite room is where you encounter Tigger, when he bounces, the entire room appears to be bouncing along with him, with the walls looking like rubber and the cars feeling like they’re on a trampoline.  Pooh’s dream sequence has the entire room decked in psychadelic colours, like some bad Disney acid trip with the cars all dancing along with each other.  It’s very easy to see why this ride is so popular with the masses, showing off a charm that Disney are capable of when Imagineers are given enough money and resources to play with.  The exit leads you right into a Pooh merchandise store where I couldn’t help but indulge (for other people).

As I left the store, an announcement came over the park PA system reluctantly declaring that the Main Street Electrical Parade had been cancelled due to inclement weather.  To my surprise, they had a backup mini parade prepared with a Disneyfied firetruck and all the usual characters dressed up in firefighter outfits, having a dig at the miserable weather.  This was a really nice touch and I’ve never seen another Disney park do such a thing, so hats off to Tokyo Disney for looking after its loyal guests.  I took this opportunity to head over to Roger Rabbit’s Toontown Spin where I was able to literally walk on.  I love this ride to bits and it’s been maybe 8 years since I last got to go in it back in California.

I was getting a bit tired by now and my feet were soaked and aching from the hard day’s theme parking.  I decided to call it quits and leave whilst the crowds were still lingering for some last minute action.  What I was surprised about was how the parks remained open until 10pm, even during Autumn; Disney normally close their doors at 8 once peak seasons are over.  I chose to walk back to Maihama station from Disneyland so as not to pay over the odds to use the Resort Liner.  For some bizarre reason or another, the information centre was still fully loaded despite it nearing closing time.

I wanted to have a look at Ikspiaria, the Downtown Disney clone, to see if there was anything of interest.  It was a pretty nice place in all honesty, much better conceived than its American and European counterparts, with a much better variety of stores and restaurants.  I popped into a branch of the Gap and found myself leaving with a lovely cardigan hoodie that wasn’t available in the UK as far as I was aware.  The price was steeper than what it would have cost back home, but the sizing was great.  Japanese Gap stores will even giftwrap for free, which threw me off when the lady asked if I wanted it wrapped.  Perhaps I should have said yes and surprised myself?  There was the usual Planet Hollywood guff and a Rainforest Cafe, as well as some odd retail choices like a Paul Smith (Jonathan Ross wasn’t lying when he said the man is a legend in Japan) boutique.

After a once over, I called it a day and made my way back to Maihama station… only to see the family from hell again!  They were even trying to board the same carriage as me which made me whince a little.  Thankfully, they were at the far end of the already packed out car so I breathed a sigh of relief.  The journey back was not fun, being soggy and tired from the day’s antics along with other people in a similar situation.  Luckily, I managed to get a seat after a stop or two so at least I wasn’t standing.  Taking part in some more people watching, people had bags and bags of Disney merchandise which they’d purchased.  I did feel sorry for people who had to catch the train on a daily basis, since it must have gotten old very quickly having to contend with theme parkers all day long.  Arriving back at Tokyo station, I had that 15 minute walk again before getting back to the platform I needed; not fun when you’re less than genki.  The combination of soggyness and walking all day was no doubt the reason for my aching foot which I suffered from for the rest of my stay in Japan.

Everything said and done, I had a fantastic day out with plenty of new experiences.  Theme parking on your own can be a good and bad thing.  It’s great because I was able to move at my own pace and see what I wanted to see.  I was able to get so much more done in less time than if I’d have been with family or friends.  Conversely, it was a very tiring day and I think I pushed myself a little too hard.  Despite being on holiday, it was anything but really and without others to persuade me to take a break, I carried on ploughing through everything like it was a race.  It was also a very expensive day, totalling close to 18, 000 Yen for entrance, food, the odd sourvenir and so on.  It wouldn’t have been nearly as costly if I’d have only visited one park instead of both, but I can probably rest easy knowing that I won’t need to visit DisneySea again until the next major ride comes along.

Photos of the day can be found here (even if it’s the same album as the last Tokyo entry).

Tomorrow, I visit the chic Ginza, seedy Roppongi, futuristic Odaiba, and get to see James and Keiko again.

Tokyo – Day 4

If you have no interest in theme parks, especially Disney ones, then you can ignore this entry completely.  As most of you should know by now, I have a huge fascination with Disney theme parks around the globe and my visit to Japan would not be complete without a trip to Nippon’s land of Mickey.  I had originally only decided to set foot in DisneySea but thought I’d make a full day out of it and scheduled in Disneyland as well.

The day started off like usual with a smoke and an iced tea at the usual spot.  From Ochanomizu, I needed to head towards Tokyo station, which as mentioned previous, is the other hub station of Tokyo after Shinjuku.  From here, I needed to hop onboard a train to Maihama; the walk to the correct platform from the JR line took maybe 10 – 15 minutes of solid walking.  There were travelators but I decided to tough it out.  There were already plenty of people heading in the same direction as me, most already wearing Disney merchandise.  I did kinda envy the people who lived so close to Disneyland because they’re then free to visit whenever they wish.  I’ve only ever been able to visit during the Summer in the past and there’s never any special celebrations.  I lucked out this time because Halloween was in full swing at the parks.  I eventually made it to the platform but had just missed a train so had to stand around for a while.  The service on this line didn’t seem as regular as others I’d been on and I had to wait maybe 10 minutes before I could jump on another train, which wasn’t very busy at all.  All in all, the journey from Tokyo took maybe 15 – 20 minutes.

It was a dull and drizzley day but Maihama station was buzzing with people of all ages.  You’re presented with a large sign displaying directions for everything.  Immediately to the left in Maihama station is the information centre, which was heaving.  I imagine you can buy annual passes, receive guidance in a number of languages and so on, like the parks in the West.  Just beyond that is Ikspiaria, some sort of Downtown Disney style clone with shopping and restaurants galore.  To our left and right were entrances to the Disney Resort Liner, Tokyo Disney’s version of the staple monorail which circles the resort.  Unlike their Western cousins, this one was not free and required 250 Yen per trip, or for 600 Yen, you could travel all day.  Everybody seemed to be heading for the Resort Liner so being distinctly Japanese, I decided to follow the crowd.  I’m not sure if it’s possible to walk to every location in the resort due to the large bodies of water surrounding the place, but it is certainly possible to walk to both Disneyland and DisneySea, so maybe it’s just the hotels.  The ticket machine threw me off like all the ticket machines I’ve encountered in Japan; I’m never sure whether to put my money in first and then make my selection or vice versa.  After I’d bought my ticket and joined the queue for a carriage, I realised that I should have gone for the 600 Yen all day pass since I’d be using the Resort Liner at least three times during the course of the day…

The monorail arrived and I boarded one of the carriages closest to the front of the liner.  It moves in an anti-clockwise motion, stopping at Maihama Station, DisneySea/Mira Costa hotel, a bunch of other hotels, Disneyland, and Maihama Station again.  The inside is the lushest compared to the other Disney monorails at Disney parks.  There are little glass fronted cabinets housing Disney memorabilia and even the hand hold thingies are Mickey shaped!  The Resort Liner arrived at DisneySea after a few moments and I duly stepped off towards security control.  Ever since September 11th, all of the Disney parks around the world have stepped up their security and whereas once there was an invisible security presence throughout, it is clearly present now.  Tokyo Disney still has minimalistic security but they do inspect all bags and packages that you take into the parks, though all they did was glance over the top of my camera bag.  I now had to buy a ticket and had a choice of 30 or so ticket counters to approach, and none of them had a queue.  The familiar, “Anno, Eigo desuka?” was used and to my surprise, the lady replied with “Yes, I speak English”!  I needed to know if there was any way that I could visit both parks at a discounted rate, and cutting a long story short, there wasn’t.  I told the lady that her English was great, and she was thankful to hear that.  She then went on to tell me that she lived in Massachusites for 4 years and that she was also 1/4 American.  Oh well, at least she didn’t lie and just act all modest!  Entry to the park set me back 5800 Yen (£26), which isn’t too bad at all; entry to Alton Towers would cost at least £30 and there’s arguably more to do at Disney.

I made my way to the main entrance of the park, which doubles up as the Mira Costa hotel.  The surrounding area, known as Mediterranean Harbour, has an Italian-Venetian feel to it, with a heavy Pinnochio theme running throughout its stores and restaurants.  There’s a gondola ride and that’s pretty much it in terms of attractions for this Main Street USA-esque land.  Speaking of lands, there’s 7 in total: Mysterious Island, Lost River Delta, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, Port Discovery, American Waterfront, and the aforementioned Mediterranean Harbour.  One thing that initially hits you as you begin walking around DisneySea is the vast amount of open space there is for future development.  Walt resented the fact that he did not purchase enough land for the original Disneyland in California and as a result, tacky souvenir stores and cheap motels began to open up right on his doorstep, and he had to be somewhat creative in the use of space at the park.  DisneySea, dare I say, feels too barren and sparse due to all the empty space; walkways are super wide and there aren’t that many attractions so I anticipated wrapping things up in the park by about lunchtime.

I made my way over to the park’s centre piece, Mount Prometheus, which serves the same purpose as the castles in the other Disney parks.  The theming for Mysterious Island was a bit weak I felt, borrowing heavily from 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea for inspiration.  The surroundings were not particularly photogenic and one of the two rides in the area was down for maintenance.  However, housed inside the faux volcano is the star attraction of DisneySea (arguably), Journey to the Centre of the Earth.  It borrows technology used in Epcot’s Test Track ride, albeit with very little downtime (which they still haven’t corrected despite Test Track being over 10 years old now!) and some impressive theming.  Tucked away down a dark cavern, the ride entrance was easy to miss; I’d circled the block twice before finally finding it.  The standby time was only 30 minutes so I decided to head over to the next land, Port Discovery, to pick up a Fast Pass for Storm Chaser.

Port Discovery had a look and feel which was very similar to Discoveryland in Disneyland Paris.  Everything looked like it had come from a utopia which simply could not happen, with lots of bronze, red, and silver everywhere.  There were two attractions in this land, Storm Chaser and Aquatopia.  I quickly grabbed a Fast Pass for Storm Chaser which would become valid in the next 30 minutes or so, thus allowing me to walk off Journey to the Centre of the Earth and straight on to this one.  Fast Pass use is an art in itself and knowing the in’s and out’s will dramatically free up your time whilst at Disney parks.  The rules are universal around the world and are as follows and are based on the following:

1) You are technically only supposed to have one Fast Pass per attraction at any one time, but…

2) You are allowed to obtain another Fast Pass as soon as you enter the window for your current Fast Pass, ie. you obtained a pass at 10am, and the return window is 11- 11:59am, then you are allowed another Fast Pass as of 11am.

3) You are allowed to obtain another Fast Pass 2 hours after the issue of your original Fast Pass.  Some times, the return window will be hours away and it would be silly if you could not obtain a pass again until that time approached.

If you time everything just right, you should be able to get Fast Passes to take you straight on to rides for most of the day.  Of course, passes are released in limited batches and once they’re all gone for the day, that’s it.  Thanks to a lot of darting around on my part, I pretty much never spent more than 30 minutes in a ride queue whilst at DisneySea.  Anywho, I digress…

I returned to Mount Prometheus and the standby time was still at 30 minutes.  I joined the queue, which takes you past some ornamental digging equipment in glass cases.  I was incredibly impressed by how immaculate everything looked, despite the park and the ride being several years old by this point.  There were also a lot of couples around and as a guy theme parking on his own, I did feel somewhat lonely, not for female companionship but just some company.  I’ve never been to a theme park on my own before and it is an odd experience since there’s nobody to share laughter, excitement, or fear with whilst on rides.  Ride attendants look at you a bit odd as well when they ask how many passengers, and you reply with “hitotsu”.  But on the plus side, I was able to indulge heavily in some people watching and I came to a number of conclusions:

1) Appearance is very important to the girls of Tokyo.  You may remember my thoughts about Tokyo girls being very trendy and pretty and that didn’t stop just because they were at Disney, oh no.  The day was absolutely freezing and wet but majority of girls were dressed in skirts with their black, knee-high stockings, with their fellas wrapped nice and warm in big coats and scarves.

2) Japanese people are merchandise whores.  Whilst on the train to Disney, there were people dressed in full Disney theme parking garb, which included Disney t-shirts, Disney hats, Disney coats, Disney bags, and so on.  When I actually got to the resort, people were buying Disney merchandise to wear, left, right, and centre.  The stuff is not cheap by any means and I would personally never wear theme park clothing outside of the theme park.  Jim-bob said something about it being all about fitting in with the crowd, and if the price of entry is a dodgy looking Mickey Mouse hat, then so be it.

3) Japanese theme park etiquette is incredible.  Like the rest of Japanese society, etiquette should always be on top form and shouldn’t be left out just because you’re on a break from reality.  I did not experience any pushing, shoving, or queue cutting (bar one occasion, which I’ll clarify later) and as odd as it may sound, it didn’t feel like I’d been at a proper theme park because of that.  The respect everybody had for their surroundings was also amazing, with handrails being scratch free and looking like opening day still.  People also refrained from sitting on handrails, or walls, which were part of queues.  I never even heard a screaming child, all day long!

Anyway, I digress again.  The queue for Journey to the Centre of the Earth eventually takes you to 4 elevators, which serve the same purpose as the the stretching room in the Haunted Mansion – it’s a glorified holding pen.  You’re ushered into one of them and once the doors close, you begin your ‘descent’ into Mount Prometheus.  Whether the elevator actually takes you anywhere or not, I do not know, but it is convincing.  The car shakes and rattles, gauges spin and whirr, and the surrounding colour changes from a cool blue to fiery oranges and reds.  You emrage on the other side to yet another queue, albeit a short one.  Once at boarding, each car is shaped like a small bulldozer and seats up to 6 people, in rows of 3.  As mentioned earlier, the ride borrows technology from Test Track and the cars are able to behave independently of each other, and without the use of rails.  The car begins descending into the caverns and you’re introduced to a completely alien world, with fantastical plants and insects.  The special effects are incredible with creepy looking insect larvae pulsating like something out of Ridley Scott’s Alien.  It’s full of cheap scares, designed to divert your attention from the real threat coming up ahead.  You enter a large central cavern, with fire erupting all around and then you’re greeted by a large, animatronic creature with mandibles and a sour disposition.  It roars and tantrums because you’re disturbed its beauty rest, which it really could use and the car speeds away like a bat out of hell.  The ride takes you outside for a few seconds to grab some air and then it’s straight back into the dark for some twists and turns, and then you’re at the exit for the ride.  What is refreshing is that you are not presented with a gift store of some sort once you leave, nor is there any ride photograph taken.  An impressive attraction, but I couldn’t help but feel that it should have been longer.  Tales of people queueing up to 2 hours becomes ridiculous when the ride itself lasts no more than 5 minutes at mostl.

It was now time to head over to Port Discovery again to use my Fast Pass.  Storm Chaser now had a standby time of 40 minutes and would only get longer as the day progressed, being a sit-down theatre type attraction.  You enter a fictitious storm institute where they’re demonstrating a newly designed storm diffuser and guess what, you’ve just volunteered to join the maiden voyage into the eye of a storm!  The pilot for the journey is Captain Davis, who speaks fluent Japanese and has a reputation as a bit of a hot dogger when it comes to aerial antics.  You’re ushered into an auditorium, which is really a large motion simulator, and them you buckle yourself in.  After all the pre-flight checks, you’re good to go and the screen at the front of the theatre springs to life.  The windows in the doors to the left and the right also spring to life which is a nice touch and they depict what should be happening to the plane as you move.  The movie on the screen is all in CG so realism is thrown right out the window, but because the motion of the room is so accurate, my mind at least had a hard time picking fault at it.  You soon fly into the eye of the storm and your support plane is taken down by a bolt of lightning leaving you as the only option.  The storm diffuser missile is fired and looks to be straight on course, but lightning strikes that too and it loses its guidance function and strays off its path… straight back at your plane!  A lifesize replica of the missile bursts through the roof and causes all manner of havoc in the cabin; fires are ablaze, cables and air pipes are flailing madly, and rain from the outside world is flowing in, adding to the realism of the effects.  Things get far worse because the missle is still primed to fire and a countdown begins; Captain Davis puts on his best aerial maneuvers to try and shake the thing free and just in a nick of time, the missle dislodges itself and fires straight into the eye of the storm.  Sunshine is restored and there’s now a lovely sunset and just as we’re returning to base, we run out of fuel!  The plane is now in more or less free-fall and narrowly misses several boats and bridges and just about manages to fly back to base.  The crowd seemed pretty impressed because there was a round of applause which I was not expecting.

At this point, I decided to grab a Fast Pass for Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull (not related to the movie in any way), and then some lunch.  I’d tried earlier at Port Discovery but no restaurants were opening until 11am and I could only get stuff from vending carts.  Absolutely famished, I ventured towards the American Waterfront where I settled on a New England style place.  The menu was typical American grub with some minor Japanese tweaks.  I settled on just a regular cheeseburge meal and when it arrived, I was shocked at how small it was for the price at 1200 Yen (about £6).  I thought I’d ordered the kids meal but when I checked the receipt, I had indeed been charged for the adult meal and had to give out a little sigh.  Again, the small sizes of a lot of the meals I’d had so far were reflective of the relationship Japanese people seem to have with their food; “it’s all about quality and not quantity”, said me tucking into my theme park cheeseburger…  I did however have Chip, Dale, and Donald to keep me company whilst I dined.  Another little thing I noticed is the pride a lot of people have for their job and role, regardless of the task at hand.  A lot of the people busing tables were very pleasant and helpful; when I tried to take my tray and rubbish to the bin myself, a girl promptly came to try and take it from my hands.  I tried resisting but that cheery smile and positive demeanor was too much for me handle and I left with my tail between my legs.  Pussy whipped twice in the space of 20 minutes isn’t good…

My Fast Pass for Indiana Jones was coming up soon and I decided to join the standby queue for Tower of Terror.  The Tower of Terror in DisneySea is even more impressive than those found in the West.  Depicting a turn of the century hotel, the amount of detail the ride oozes is mind boggling.  Losing the “Twilight Zone” moniker, there is a completely new story for this iteration and it’s rather appropriate for the surrounding themed land. The standby queue was about 30 minutes long but it moved briskly and before I knew it, I was at the pre-show for the ride.  The special effects for the pre-show were very nice and really helped to set the scene, even if it was completely in Japanese.  A certain Hightower-san is an entrepeneur, and his two favourite hobbies are exploring and building hotels to display his bounty from his explorations.  He travels to what looks like South America and finds an idol statue of some sort and removes it from its sacred resting place in a remote village, and is cursed as a result.  He returns from his travels and one night, whilst in his hotel, the idol comes to life and traps him in another dimension within the building.  What I really liked was how they managed to get the idol statue to float around the room, have its lips move when it spoke to us, and then spin on the table and disappear; it was all so seamless and polished and really prepared you for something special.  The theming for the back is just as elaborate as the front, looking like a warehouse for Hightower’s collection with various artifacts littered throughout the queue area.  Once at the elevator, there was a bit of a wait to actually board the car and the safety checks they had us go through were extensive to say the least.  The ride started and began its descent backwards and then up, arriving at at about the 6th or 7th floor, and then being presented with a retelling of how Hightower disappeared that one fateful night.  The car then continued to move up and approached the 13th floor where you could clearly see the outside world, and then let us fall to maybe the 6th or 7th floor, and then hurled us back up again, and then back down to maybe the 3rd or 4th floor, and then back up again, and then back down to the ground.  There is ride photography and the exit leads you straight into a gift store.  I loved the theming for this version of Tower of Terror, but I couldn’t help but feel that they took the easy way out by not filling in the Twilight Zone from Walt Disney World’s version with something else.  The one they have in Disneyland Paris is similar and also omits the Twilight Zone from accounts I’ve heard.

I now had to head back to the Lost River Delta where Indiana Jones is found.  Because of the lack of a central hub like Disneyland, trying to get from one part of the park to another is complex if the two areas are not next to each other, and usually involves a lot of walking.  There is a railway, though it’s limited to only a few lands and ultimately feels a bit redundant.  Anywho…  I made my way over to Lost River Delta where the star of the show is Indiana Jones.  The ride itself is housed inside the faux pyramid and is pretty much a like for like clone of the version at Disneyland in California (Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye).  The queue area isn’t quite as novel as its Californian brother, lacking some of the interactive elements like the room with the collapsable ceiling when you pull on a lever, or a well which plays a recorded voice when you tug on the rope.  The safety video is also somewhat politically incorrect, featuring a distinctly Japanese man, browned up for the weekend, going by the name of Pedro.  You board the large Jeep style cars and the safety checks are as rigorous as they were for Tower of Terror.  Then, you’re off and the ride is not shy about showing you it means business; harsh acceleration, braking, hairpin turns, and all in the first few seconds!  The Californian version of the ride features a lot of fire and utitlises a lot of reds and oranges in its colour scheme and in comparison, DisneySea’s uses much cooler colours like blues and greens, with fire effects replaced with water, wind, and smoke.  All of the ride elements are the same, including the route the Jeep takes, though one significant difference is the giant snake.  In California, it looks like a realistic python whereas here, it looks more like a snake you’d see in Aztec hyroglyphics, and is significantly less scary as a result.  It’s also odd to hear Indiana Jones speak fluent Japanese, yet retain the Harrison Ford voice.

That’s all the significant rides done and dusted for DisneySea.  I decided to have a leisurely stroll around the park, shooting more snaps, and the more I saw of the place, the more I grew disenchanted with it.  Whilst it may be the most expensive theme park to date, there is very little substance to the place.  As commented earlier, there is an ass-load of empty space and with lower attendance numbers, it really shows.  DisneySea has a very California Adventure feel to it in that it’s unfinished.  Sure, everything has a huge amount of polish on it but there’s simply not enough there to warrant a full day out.  Universal’s Islands of Adventure was a much more complete theme park when it first opened over a decade ago.

I wandered over to Mermaid Lagoon, which as the name suggests, borrows heavily from The Little Mermaid.  It’s not a land as such in the traditional sense and is more of a pavilion containing what are essentially fairground rides with Disney theming.  This is one of two places in the park which are geared strictly towards younger children, and the crowd I saw that day really supports this.  DisneySea is a much more adult oriented theme park and it really shows, from the style of restaurants to the type of merchandise offered, it’s more kakoii than kawaii.

I took a walk over to Arabian Coast and it felt like I’d stepped right on to the set of Aladdin.  The theming of the land looks just like Agrabah, and again feels much more like they’d invested more in the landscaping and architecture than the rides themselves.  What is available to punters is an elaborate two tier carouselle which looks much nicer than the one they have in Disneyland.  The other ride is Sinbad’s Voyage, which is actually very good on a technical level.  To describe it, I’d have to liken it to It’s a Small World with an Arabian flair.  It’s a gentle waterboat ride, with storybook facades depicting Sinbad’s adventures, with the masterpiece scene being his fight against the legendary Roc.  The animatronics used are very well made, and some of them put the ones used in Pirates of the Carribean to shame, if you can look past the cutesy styling of it all.

By this point, it was about 1pm and I’d pretty much done everything I’d wanted to see and do, so I took the long way around the park and made my way to the exit.  Even at mid-day which is normally peak time for park attendance, the place seemed quiet and at this point I thought I’d perhaps tackled the parks in the wrong order.  As I exited through the turnstyles, all the staff bid me farewell, from the lady giving people stamps for re-entry, to the person sweeping up nothing on the ground!  I still can’t get over how polite everybody was during my trip.

I’m going to wrap this part up since I still have so much to write-up about Disneyland, which will hopefully come in the next few days.

Photos of the day can be found here.

Is it just me…?

Or does Disneyland Paris seem to constantly be celebrating some sort of anniversary or another? Last year when I was writing up my marketing case study failure in Aber, I could’ve sworn that they had some sort of celebration on with a discounted “kids go free” offer of some sort. And this year, they’re celebrating their 15th anniversary or so it seems.

Totally unrelated but Sega are producing a Rambo light gun game it seems!

Holiday… Celebrate!

I’m planning and researching for what is a second trip of a lifetime.  I’m planning to go to Japan at the end of September for a week which will also be a birthday treat to myself.  I’ve been on Expedia most nights for the last two weeks or so and have seen the price go up and down and tonight, it’s at an all-time low of £908.  This price includes a return flight from Heathrow with Virgin and a two star hotel near Akihabara (Tokyo Green Hotel Ochanomizu) which looks decent enough and has received some very positive reviews from various sources (NTSC-UK being one).  The room includes a double bed, an HDTV, my own bathroom, and free broadband net access – what more could a guy need?

And what exactly do I want to do out there?  Well, there’s the Studio Ghibli Museum to have my photo taken with the Laputa robot.  As you all already know, I love Laputa to pieces and it would be a dream come true to be able to do this.  Visiting Akihabara is an obvious must-see for some geek goodness.  I absolutely must go to Disney Sea being a Disney themepark freak.  I would also like to visit Kyoto for a day or two to see a different side of Japan.  Ooh and Mos Burger and sweet, sweet ramen!  I feel like a kid in a sweet shop right now!

Giant golf-balls, from SPACE!!!1

For anybody who’s ever visited Walt Disney World in the States, the above image will be somewhat familiar. For those who haven’t, it’s Epcot’s central landmark, Spaceship Earth. Inside, it’s a ride which looks at the evolution of the world from a communications perspective. Currently it’s under rennovation to update, add, and remove a few scenes inside the ride. Apparently, a new scene will be included featuring a Steve Jobs look-a-like inside a garage putting together a home-made PC… What I’m wondering is where’s the Woz??

EDIT – Based on new visual evidence, it does seem it’s actually Woz in the scene instead of Steve Jobs which makes more sense.