Tokyo Disney resort has 2 parks. Like in California. The first is Tokyo Disneyland. The second is Tokyo Disney sea. The type of passes that we bought granted us 1 day at Tokyo Disneyland, 1 day at Tokyo Disney sea, and 1 day with dual entry.
The first day we chose Tokyo Disneyland.
(Click to view in Google Earth)
We arrived just over an hour early. The park opened at 9. We got there just before 8. Besides the Father and daughter in line next to us, we were the ONLY ‘non Japanese’ people in line. The only ones speaking English. After prompting Ron to talk to the dude & his daughter next to us, we found out they were from Edmonton. Kinda like us – stopping over in Japan on the way to somewhere else. They were going to Australia. 
Ron said he was difficult to talk to. Compared to what I wonder… the thousands of other JAPANESE SPEAKING PEOPLE in the park with us?? 
There went our chance of an English speaking Tokyo Disney friend….
It was humorous watching the park gates open. Japanese people running like maniacs in one direction. They were on a mission. From reading online about the park before we left, I knew that they were running to get in line for “Pooh’s Hunny Hunt”. The name of the ride provides NO CLUE as to why there is such an attraction… but apparently… it’s exciting…. (more to come on this ride)
We took our time when we walked in. As the crowds around us ran for Pooh, we took time to meet some characters. We had dressed the girls in matching Cinderella dresses (Thank you to Lenae and Brooklyne for lending us your gorgeous costumes!!) and posed for pictures with some characters. I successfully resisted the urge to beat up ‘J. Worthington fowlfellow’ (the child stealing dude from Pinocchio) when he tried to steal the girls in hopes of turning them into Donkeys!
You know how in the California Disneyland, many little girls now wear princess dresses? NOT IN TOKYO! I can count on one hand how many little girls we saw in princess dresses! And let me tell you… 2 little white, blonde girls dressed as Cinderella draws some interest in Tokyo!
“Please??!! I take picture? These girls?”
“My picture with them?”
“Please? I take picture with them?”
“I take that picture your daughters?”
“Please picture??”
“Thank you… thank you… thank you…!!”
I am not in ANY way making fun of the Japanese culture when I type this. The fact that they could even communicate the fact that they wanted a picture with Sydney and Karis was far more impressive then the fact that Ron and I showed up in Tokyo knowing only “Konnichiwa.” And the fact that even NOW 4 days after leaving Japan I have to resist the urge to bow when I say thank you says that Tokyo must have had some impact on us!!! LOL
A side note… Karis commented on how the Japanese people look like ‘bendy straws’. ‘Cause they bend in the same way all the time. Again… not making fun… just the ‘observation od a 6 year old’… I thought it was cute!!
Back to the pictures of the girls with random strangers in their borrowed Cinderella dresses… it took all of 2 pictures for us to catch on that when you are in Tokyo, you do the peace sign when you are having your photo taken.
Seriously.
Every single picture that the girls were in with other Japanese people – or any picture that we saw Japanese people taking – they held up the peace sign! It became unnatural to NOT do the peace sign in pictures. Hence the constant peace sign in the pictures!!
So… the rides were great! Most the same as in California… but not identical. Here’s my list of rides & how they stacked up & compared to Anaheim….
Big Thunder Mountain – PERFECT – just as good as Anaheim. Sydney screamed with delight the whole time. Ron waved his hands in the air in defiance of gravity and Karis laughed uncontrollably!! I hung on to Karis with super strength as I remembered the September 5th, 2003 death of a thunder mountain railroad guest in Anaheim…. (sometimes internet searches do more harm then good….lol!!)
Splash Mountain – No where near Anaheim!! It was GREAT! Not to put down the Anaheim ride, because it’s awesome too, but the Tokyo one was way better!! It had more than double the amount of waterfall drops before the BIG DROP! It was great! We all loved this ride – a lot!
It’s a small world – Anaheim is way better… the Tokyo ride seemed to have only about 1/2 of the amount of dolls and you lined up inside in this big empty-ish hall. It was kinda sad looking I thought!
Pirates of the Caribbean – just as good! For some reason this ride never seemed to have a line! We would just walk on. Captain Jack Sparrow was in here 3 times and it was AMAZING how life-like he was. It was eerie… He looked completely real!
Jungle cruise – same sort of thing. This ride has never thrilled me either way. the biggest difference of course was the guide’s constant talking – in Japanese! The funny part was among all the Japanese chatter & story telling coming out of the guide… he paused…. looked at Sydney and said, “Verrry dangerous!!!!” (this was in a warning of something coming up!)
The Haunted Mansion – just as good as Anaheim. It was great. It was maybe a little more terrifying because some of the talking was in Japanese… which made it all the more ‘unknown’. Sydney was a trooper… although it did scare her!!
Autopia – same as Anaheim… you drive around in a little car for 5 minutes and you’re done… the kids enjoyed driving though!
Space mountain was closed which was too bad. Karis famous words, “Can we please go on something with the word ‘Mountain’ in it??”
The faster, louder, and scarier the ride – the better for her!
Now Pooh’s Hunny Hunt. It’s too bad that Anaheim doesn’t have this ride. They do have a Winnie the pooh ride – but from what I remember – it’s not overly exciting.
Pooh’s hunny Hunt was AMAZING!
It’s hard to explain, and no matter how much detail I go into – it would never even come close to doing it justice. Ron loved this ride too!
First of all – in line you weave through the pages of a giant book. Each page has so much detail… it’s beautiful. 3 ‘hunny pots’ come up and each pot holds 4 people. The girls would sit in the front & Ron and I would sit behind them.
You parade through different rooms with many things happening in each room. The ‘pots’ you are in don’t follow any kind of track either… it’s like they are robotic things and just zip around on the floor randomly.
One room had tigger in it singing his bouncy song and the whole room, and our pot began to bounce! Another room had us zipping around forward & back so see different things… a hunny bee giggling and shooting a poof of ’smoke’ at us, funny mirror tricks, us ‘falling’ backward through a tree and ‘landing’ in honey. The whole room smelled of honey!
I found a youtube clip of this ride…
Still doesn’t do it justice…. but it gives you some idea!
The first day at Disneyland had us exhausted by 6:00. We had dinner at the “Blue Bayou restaurant”… my favourite Disneyland place to eat! and the girls were falling asleep at the table! We left early… that whole ‘jet lag’ thing was kicking in. Not to mention that Ron and Sydney had woke up that morning at 3:30!!
day 2 to come soon!
“giving the peace sign” Shannon