The Official Tokyo Report
Took me long enough...
Anyway, as you should know, I and my wonderful friend roochipoochi went to Tokyo last weekend for a fantabulous Tokyo Disney ADVENTURE!!!!! It was AWESOME!! I shall now tell the tale of it...at least in part.
Departure:
This means Shinkansen!!!(bullet train)
So yeah...this was my first time to ride the shinkansen and I didn't really think that much about the details I prolly should have been worrying about until it was too late. I look at my schedule and realize I had roughly 7 minutes to get from the train I was on taking me from my station to Nanagno City to the shinkansen. I had never ridden before so I didn't know how to get tickets or where the thing actually was. So like 7:20 found me on my train praying to God for a miracle and hoping fervently (<-- didn't know I actually knew that word) that I wouldn't miss my train which btw I was supposed to be meeting up with Jade on in the next city.
I made it. Things were cool...
Except for the part where every non-reserved seat was frickin' full! I found a car that was mostly empty only to realize belatedly that it was a reserved car, and I wouldn't be able to stay. So Jadie and I did out spiffy phone mail exchanges of info to let each other know where the heck we were (keitai denwa [cell phones] are so useful!) We were separated for like...half the train trip, and then we stopped somewhere, I leapt over some unsuspecting Nihonjin and pounced upon a pair of open seats before summonsing Jadie forth. Much silliness was had for the duration of the trip.
Arrival!:
So we made it to Shinjukustation in one piece with little trouble though I will say this much. Tokyo station is HUGE and INSANE, but Shinkuku is the very personification of madness. We're lucky we made it out alive Not really, but it's was still really confusing. I had luckily been there before, so once we found our way out of the station, I could pretty much figure us out to get to our hotel(we happened to be staying at a fairly high end hotel that I had been in before with my company thing for conferences), but getting out was hard enough.
Jadie handled business once we made it to the hotel and we had very kindly ppl helping us though it was a little awkward. it was too early for us to check in, but we didn't want to wait the like...2 hours it would be for us to get to early chick in time so we asked if we could check in late
guy: how late?
me: uh...what time does Disneyland close?
that got the point across and out bags were carried off and we made our way back to the station! Much easier this time ^__^
Tokyo Disneyland:
The trip by train was mostly uneventful. All made easy thanks to the power of...Keitai Denwa! We used our phones to find the route to Tokyo Disneyland and after much walking within the station, and much standing on the trains....we approached our destination!!! I was bouncing off the walls! As soon as we got off the train, I was about dying of happiness. I mean dude...it's Disneland! there's just something about the idea of the place that fills me with so much joy. Makes me feel like a kid again. I was really happy.
The park itself is HUGE! Like HUUUUGE! I'm pretty sure it's bigger than the original. It was also jam packed with people. I went picture crazy as we made our way in, got an adorable shot together with a chip 'n' dale stature miniature thing (because I LOVE them!) and then made our way to the lines. English maps ahoy! The castle there is totally bigger than ours btw.
I was shocked at how similar the park is to the U.S. one. I mean it's bigger, but in layout, they're basically the same. Frontierland, became Westernland, which amused both of us to no end, but otherwise...all there. The first destination was to find a potty as we both were in desperate need, but after that, we had to figure out where to meet one of Jades friends, Fuumi. We met with her and another friend, Mariko, at space mountain and got fast passes for that. All pretty basic.
The day was good. Everything was decorated for Halloween and there was a parade that we saw bits and pieces of. We only made it on to like 4 rides because the place was so packed, but we got to see the electrical parade...That was awesome! only my second time ever seeing it. but we rode:
Random Snow White ride:
similar to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, only Snow White instead
The Tea Cups:
I almost made everyone hurl! My bad...I like spinning...no one else did...I'm no longer allowed on the tea cups with that group. ;__;
Space Mountain:
Just like America's used to be! Very nostalgic. Fuumi left us after this...had to catch her train home.
Haunted Mansion Holiday:
Decked out with the Nightmare Before Christmas. I must admit, the effect is slightly ruined when you can't understand anything that's being said...
That was our last ride and we all were a bit grumpy because we were so tired and in pain from walking around all day. We exited the part, took out trains. Saw a passed out drunk guy at one of the stops! And then stopped to grab munchies before heading home. We also planned for the next day a little and agreed to go to DisneySEA a bit later. Ah sweet slumber.
The Squeenix shop:
Soooo...yeah...I though that it would be cool to hit the Sqeenix shop before DisneSEA so that we wouldn't have to worry about it on Monday when it was time to go home. Jade figured we shouldn't bother and I was all about that until...I woke up on Sunday and couldn't get back to sleep. It was like 10 30...the place opened at 11...we weren't planning to leave until 12:30...Jade was still sleeping...Yeah, I went to the Squeenix Shop alone.
I'm sorry to say that I was oddly underwhelmed. It was cool and all...but rather small and way over priced! There were meh KH shirts that you could have owned for the low price of 6800 yen!(that's like $65) they were f-ing t-shirts and not even that cute. I did get my hands on some awesome posters for fairly cheap as well as a Kingdom Key keychain, and some random fastener things with a mickey head, a crown and a heart on them. They were shiney.
I went home to a somewhat upset Jade because I had left her and I felt like a mighty ass...I just wasn't thinking very well I guess. She's not really into the stuff I'm into, but she still wanted to come. I'm lame for not realizing that...I'M SORRY JADIE!!! but after that we made our way out to DisneySEA.
DisneySEA:
After the morning, I felt that things were a little tense between us at the beginning of our sojourn. It started awkwardly enough when we though to take a bus to the park provided by the hotel. we were on it and everything then they were like "btw, it's gonna take 2 hrs to get there by bus." It takes 40 minutes by train...we took the train.
On the train...OMG! We saw this AMAZINGLY attractive Nihonjin male. Seriously...Keanu Reeves w/ darker skin and from Japan. Oh the hotness! we proceeded to partake in some mini stalking as he got off at our stop and happened to be apparently staying at one of the hotels near DisneySEA...it was tragic when he got off the train we were on that took us to the park...sigh.
Anyhoo, we made it to the park and let me tell you...if you ever get the chance to make it to Tokyo DisneySEA, it will be well worth the effort of getting there. I thought I was gonna cry it was so beautiful! The main theme of the park is kind of Sicilian I think, with all the efforts that Disney always puts into it's theme parks. There a large bay in the center of the park, a huge volcano behind it serving at the requisite towering central thing that can represent the park (cali adventure has that big bear mountain thing). I was highly impressed.
We got there mid-day and the park was actually closed to those who didn't already have a pass. Luckily we did, but yeah...it was stupid crowded again. all I really wanted was Indiana Jones, so we headed that way immediately to grab a fast pass. Snagged one for some other random ride along the way. got to Indy, no more fast passes. Had lunch...it was awkward as most of the food stuffs there were, but man oh man were we dinkuses as we wondered the park. We both were falling over with laughter at one point several times during the day...I can't even remember most of the jokes but I think it was mainly something like "your mom..." This park is also huge by the way..like for realz.
I, like I said, was greatly impressed. There's an area called American Waterfront, and as far as I'm concerned, they did all the right things to leave the impression of an old school American pier...I got the feeling that Jadie was not as impressed as I, but *shrug* to each their own. There was this one place that had a rock break and little light house and I would have sworn that I was back in Arcata at one of our beaches there. there was even a big ship, the Columbia, sitting on the water, Queen Mary style for those of you who know the Long Beach area. People could get on, but we passed.
We didn't do much here other than walk around, but I definitely want to go back on a day when there are less people to enjoy the place more. We did stop for a show in the evening before riding our random ride. It's called BraviSEAmo. Water spirit and this awesome Phoenix all with Disney's trademark for awesome scores. Look it up on youtube...it's pretty cool. Then we went for out 2000...20,000? Leagues Under the Sea...basically like the old D-land submarines...only in Japanese. Random. Then we went to get in line for Indy. It was only and hour wait, and well worth it.
The highlight of the day, however, had to be the Black Pepper Popcorn. OMG! If you go, you must get this popcorn! All of the different areas had a different popcorn. Mermaid Grotto place had Sea Salt Icecre...uh...Popcorn. another place had caramel corn, another had capuccino and so on. We only tried the black pepper, but man! SOOOOOOO Good! Ack! Want MOAR!
After Indy we went home...still tired, still sore, but happy still. More plans were made for the next day including a return trip to the squeenix shop and yeah...bedtime again!
Mimi Tokyo Adventure:
It's mini because you could spend a whole weekend in Tokyo alone and not get to see all the cool stuff. After check-out, we visited the Squeenix shop for a second time. Jade wanted me to lay on the ground to get a pic with the life-size Sephiroth in the floor of the place...I refused. I purchased the Oathkeeper and Oblivion keychains there and then we left, me smugly prod knowing that I held in my possession the souls of Sora and Roxas alike!
After a bit of adventuring in the Tokyo station trying to find a place to stow our luggage before going out again, we headed for Ginza and the Apple stor there. To my dismay, it was overflowing with people. I guess it's my own stupidity that didn't allow me to realize that as one of the few apple stores in the entire nation the place would be crowded. It would be like...2 hrs before I'd be able to see anyone oabout my comp, and we really didn't have the time to wait.
I was grumpy because of this. Really grumpy.
Jade then took me to this awesomely huge stationary place, but I was too ggrumpy at the time to be interested. Of course, I didn't realize that the place was literally 9 stories of stationary goods. I was pouting and all hyper bitchy until we found the mini stamps at which time I lost my ever-loving mind. Jade and I both went a little stamp crazy, but who can blame us!? they were so cute!!!!!
I also picked up a new thick sketch book and a can of fixative spray for my charcoal and pastel works...if I ever get around to doing more of those, and Jadie got some things that she needed...and then it was time to go because we had to mee Mariko in Shibuya for lunch. Rush Rush! Lunch in Shibuya was cool. the people there were dressed all kinds of awesome! I was dying as my laptop was in my bag and it was really heavy and my feet were killin'! But we had fun. Next it was back to Tokyo to get our Shinkansens tix and catch our train.
It was oddly depressing to leave. It had only been 3 days, but seriously felt like at least a week. Jade and I both shed a tear when we had to part ways even thogh we see each other all the fieakin' time! It was a good time tho. We're so going back so that we can have a Tokyo (just Tokyo) adventure. That will come...someday. Next will likely be south Japan tho.
Overall:
I love the Disney parks here, but I think I'm a bigger fan of America's. There seems to be a lot more effort put into having entertaining elements in the states. The in-line stuff that we have is just so cool. Also, the food here...really lame. There are basically no unpackaged confections aside from the odd churro or icecream, and the restaurants leave much to be desired.
I've got the inclination to try for a world Disney tour...y'know...see how many Disney Parks I can get to with the aim of getting to them all. who knows...it's possible right?
Anyway...I'm tired of typing. Anyone who read all of this is...amazing. I don't even want to read through it for errors at this point...and I'm not gonna, so sorry for the typos I know are there. This has been a full report of my Tokyo Disney Adventure ^__^
Anyway, as you should know, I and my wonderful friend roochipoochi went to Tokyo last weekend for a fantabulous Tokyo Disney ADVENTURE!!!!! It was AWESOME!! I shall now tell the tale of it...at least in part.
Departure:
This means Shinkansen!!!(bullet train)
So yeah...this was my first time to ride the shinkansen and I didn't really think that much about the details I prolly should have been worrying about until it was too late. I look at my schedule and realize I had roughly 7 minutes to get from the train I was on taking me from my station to Nanagno City to the shinkansen. I had never ridden before so I didn't know how to get tickets or where the thing actually was. So like 7:20 found me on my train praying to God for a miracle and hoping fervently (<-- didn't know I actually knew that word) that I wouldn't miss my train which btw I was supposed to be meeting up with Jade on in the next city.
I made it. Things were cool...
Except for the part where every non-reserved seat was frickin' full! I found a car that was mostly empty only to realize belatedly that it was a reserved car, and I wouldn't be able to stay. So Jadie and I did out spiffy phone mail exchanges of info to let each other know where the heck we were (keitai denwa [cell phones] are so useful!) We were separated for like...half the train trip, and then we stopped somewhere, I leapt over some unsuspecting Nihonjin and pounced upon a pair of open seats before summonsing Jadie forth. Much silliness was had for the duration of the trip.
Arrival!:
So we made it to Shinjukustation in one piece with little trouble though I will say this much. Tokyo station is HUGE and INSANE, but Shinkuku is the very personification of madness. We're lucky we made it out alive Not really, but it's was still really confusing. I had luckily been there before, so once we found our way out of the station, I could pretty much figure us out to get to our hotel(we happened to be staying at a fairly high end hotel that I had been in before with my company thing for conferences), but getting out was hard enough.
Jadie handled business once we made it to the hotel and we had very kindly ppl helping us though it was a little awkward. it was too early for us to check in, but we didn't want to wait the like...2 hours it would be for us to get to early chick in time so we asked if we could check in late
guy: how late?
me: uh...what time does Disneyland close?
that got the point across and out bags were carried off and we made our way back to the station! Much easier this time ^__^
Tokyo Disneyland:
The trip by train was mostly uneventful. All made easy thanks to the power of...Keitai Denwa! We used our phones to find the route to Tokyo Disneyland and after much walking within the station, and much standing on the trains....we approached our destination!!! I was bouncing off the walls! As soon as we got off the train, I was about dying of happiness. I mean dude...it's Disneland! there's just something about the idea of the place that fills me with so much joy. Makes me feel like a kid again. I was really happy.
The park itself is HUGE! Like HUUUUGE! I'm pretty sure it's bigger than the original. It was also jam packed with people. I went picture crazy as we made our way in, got an adorable shot together with a chip 'n' dale stature miniature thing (because I LOVE them!) and then made our way to the lines. English maps ahoy! The castle there is totally bigger than ours btw.
I was shocked at how similar the park is to the U.S. one. I mean it's bigger, but in layout, they're basically the same. Frontierland, became Westernland, which amused both of us to no end, but otherwise...all there. The first destination was to find a potty as we both were in desperate need, but after that, we had to figure out where to meet one of Jades friends, Fuumi. We met with her and another friend, Mariko, at space mountain and got fast passes for that. All pretty basic.
The day was good. Everything was decorated for Halloween and there was a parade that we saw bits and pieces of. We only made it on to like 4 rides because the place was so packed, but we got to see the electrical parade...That was awesome! only my second time ever seeing it. but we rode:
Random Snow White ride:
similar to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, only Snow White instead
The Tea Cups:
I almost made everyone hurl! My bad...I like spinning...no one else did...I'm no longer allowed on the tea cups with that group. ;__;
Space Mountain:
Just like America's used to be! Very nostalgic. Fuumi left us after this...had to catch her train home.
Haunted Mansion Holiday:
Decked out with the Nightmare Before Christmas. I must admit, the effect is slightly ruined when you can't understand anything that's being said...
That was our last ride and we all were a bit grumpy because we were so tired and in pain from walking around all day. We exited the part, took out trains. Saw a passed out drunk guy at one of the stops! And then stopped to grab munchies before heading home. We also planned for the next day a little and agreed to go to DisneySEA a bit later. Ah sweet slumber.
The Squeenix shop:
Soooo...yeah...I though that it would be cool to hit the Sqeenix shop before DisneSEA so that we wouldn't have to worry about it on Monday when it was time to go home. Jade figured we shouldn't bother and I was all about that until...I woke up on Sunday and couldn't get back to sleep. It was like 10 30...the place opened at 11...we weren't planning to leave until 12:30...Jade was still sleeping...Yeah, I went to the Squeenix Shop alone.
I'm sorry to say that I was oddly underwhelmed. It was cool and all...but rather small and way over priced! There were meh KH shirts that you could have owned for the low price of 6800 yen!(that's like $65) they were f-ing t-shirts and not even that cute. I did get my hands on some awesome posters for fairly cheap as well as a Kingdom Key keychain, and some random fastener things with a mickey head, a crown and a heart on them. They were shiney.
I went home to a somewhat upset Jade because I had left her and I felt like a mighty ass...I just wasn't thinking very well I guess. She's not really into the stuff I'm into, but she still wanted to come. I'm lame for not realizing that...I'M SORRY JADIE!!! but after that we made our way out to DisneySEA.
DisneySEA:
After the morning, I felt that things were a little tense between us at the beginning of our sojourn. It started awkwardly enough when we though to take a bus to the park provided by the hotel. we were on it and everything then they were like "btw, it's gonna take 2 hrs to get there by bus." It takes 40 minutes by train...we took the train.
On the train...OMG! We saw this AMAZINGLY attractive Nihonjin male. Seriously...Keanu Reeves w/ darker skin and from Japan. Oh the hotness! we proceeded to partake in some mini stalking as he got off at our stop and happened to be apparently staying at one of the hotels near DisneySEA...it was tragic when he got off the train we were on that took us to the park...sigh.
Anyhoo, we made it to the park and let me tell you...if you ever get the chance to make it to Tokyo DisneySEA, it will be well worth the effort of getting there. I thought I was gonna cry it was so beautiful! The main theme of the park is kind of Sicilian I think, with all the efforts that Disney always puts into it's theme parks. There a large bay in the center of the park, a huge volcano behind it serving at the requisite towering central thing that can represent the park (cali adventure has that big bear mountain thing). I was highly impressed.
We got there mid-day and the park was actually closed to those who didn't already have a pass. Luckily we did, but yeah...it was stupid crowded again. all I really wanted was Indiana Jones, so we headed that way immediately to grab a fast pass. Snagged one for some other random ride along the way. got to Indy, no more fast passes. Had lunch...it was awkward as most of the food stuffs there were, but man oh man were we dinkuses as we wondered the park. We both were falling over with laughter at one point several times during the day...I can't even remember most of the jokes but I think it was mainly something like "your mom..." This park is also huge by the way..like for realz.
I, like I said, was greatly impressed. There's an area called American Waterfront, and as far as I'm concerned, they did all the right things to leave the impression of an old school American pier...I got the feeling that Jadie was not as impressed as I, but *shrug* to each their own. There was this one place that had a rock break and little light house and I would have sworn that I was back in Arcata at one of our beaches there. there was even a big ship, the Columbia, sitting on the water, Queen Mary style for those of you who know the Long Beach area. People could get on, but we passed.
We didn't do much here other than walk around, but I definitely want to go back on a day when there are less people to enjoy the place more. We did stop for a show in the evening before riding our random ride. It's called BraviSEAmo. Water spirit and this awesome Phoenix all with Disney's trademark for awesome scores. Look it up on youtube...it's pretty cool. Then we went for out 2000...20,000? Leagues Under the Sea...basically like the old D-land submarines...only in Japanese. Random. Then we went to get in line for Indy. It was only and hour wait, and well worth it.
The highlight of the day, however, had to be the Black Pepper Popcorn. OMG! If you go, you must get this popcorn! All of the different areas had a different popcorn. Mermaid Grotto place had Sea Salt Icecre...uh...Popcorn. another place had caramel corn, another had capuccino and so on. We only tried the black pepper, but man! SOOOOOOO Good! Ack! Want MOAR!
After Indy we went home...still tired, still sore, but happy still. More plans were made for the next day including a return trip to the squeenix shop and yeah...bedtime again!
Mimi Tokyo Adventure:
It's mini because you could spend a whole weekend in Tokyo alone and not get to see all the cool stuff. After check-out, we visited the Squeenix shop for a second time. Jade wanted me to lay on the ground to get a pic with the life-size Sephiroth in the floor of the place...I refused. I purchased the Oathkeeper and Oblivion keychains there and then we left, me smugly prod knowing that I held in my possession the souls of Sora and Roxas alike!
After a bit of adventuring in the Tokyo station trying to find a place to stow our luggage before going out again, we headed for Ginza and the Apple stor there. To my dismay, it was overflowing with people. I guess it's my own stupidity that didn't allow me to realize that as one of the few apple stores in the entire nation the place would be crowded. It would be like...2 hrs before I'd be able to see anyone oabout my comp, and we really didn't have the time to wait.
I was grumpy because of this. Really grumpy.
Jade then took me to this awesomely huge stationary place, but I was too ggrumpy at the time to be interested. Of course, I didn't realize that the place was literally 9 stories of stationary goods. I was pouting and all hyper bitchy until we found the mini stamps at which time I lost my ever-loving mind. Jade and I both went a little stamp crazy, but who can blame us!? they were so cute!!!!!
I also picked up a new thick sketch book and a can of fixative spray for my charcoal and pastel works...if I ever get around to doing more of those, and Jadie got some things that she needed...and then it was time to go because we had to mee Mariko in Shibuya for lunch. Rush Rush! Lunch in Shibuya was cool. the people there were dressed all kinds of awesome! I was dying as my laptop was in my bag and it was really heavy and my feet were killin'! But we had fun. Next it was back to Tokyo to get our Shinkansens tix and catch our train.
It was oddly depressing to leave. It had only been 3 days, but seriously felt like at least a week. Jade and I both shed a tear when we had to part ways even thogh we see each other all the fieakin' time! It was a good time tho. We're so going back so that we can have a Tokyo (just Tokyo) adventure. That will come...someday. Next will likely be south Japan tho.
Overall:
I love the Disney parks here, but I think I'm a bigger fan of America's. There seems to be a lot more effort put into having entertaining elements in the states. The in-line stuff that we have is just so cool. Also, the food here...really lame. There are basically no unpackaged confections aside from the odd churro or icecream, and the restaurants leave much to be desired.
I've got the inclination to try for a world Disney tour...y'know...see how many Disney Parks I can get to with the aim of getting to them all. who knows...it's possible right?
Anyway...I'm tired of typing. Anyone who read all of this is...amazing. I don't even want to read through it for errors at this point...and I'm not gonna, so sorry for the typos I know are there. This has been a full report of my Tokyo Disney Adventure ^__^