Toyko Disney

Toyko Disney Part I: Disneyland

\Usually when I think about travel I get stressed out and wait for my dad to get bossy and put everyone else in a bad mood too. But then again, I usually don't travel by bullet train. My host mom and I left the house at 7:45 and were on a train to Nagoya Station one car ride and one subway wicket later. There is no security to go through, no boarding group hassle, no fighting over who sits where or who has to drive, and the seats are amazingly roomy.
The Shinkansen (bullet train) travels at an average speed of 186 miles per hour (300 km/h), and it was built in 1964. You may wonder why after 40 years we don't have something like this in the United States, and I wonder that too. To give you an idea of how fast 186 miles per hours is, I took a little video on the train.

The scenery was pretty crazy too. It would move seamlessly from rice paddies to city and back in about thirty seconds. You can also see Mount Fuji on days when it isn't cloudy.
Approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes after leaving Nagoya Station, my host mom and I arrived 225 miles away at Tokyo Station. My host sister was waiting for us at the Tokyo Disney subway station with fancy Fast Pass tickets that she got because she's an employee*, where we were greeted by "Be Our Guest." I could tell it was going to be fun.



Disney Land was the first stop on our list. We arrived just in time for the morning Easter Wonderland parade (Easter in June?).

First came roller skating rabbits:

I just missed catching their cute little trick on video.

After the rabbits there were various Disney characters;

Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the Cheshire Cat;


These cute bunnies;


Pooh and crew;


Stitch, pink Stitch, and Lilo;


This guy;



Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Mike, and Sully;

and various other characters that I didn't feel needed to be mentioned. Mainly Goofy, Pluto, Mickey, Minnie, and Chip and Dale. No important characters.

After the parade it started pouring rain so we rushed to get Fast Passes for Space Mountain and then watched a nearby show while we waited for our Fast Pass time to be up. The show was called 'One Man's Dream,' and while I didn't catch any of the Japanese they were singing, Disney says "this live stage show recreates the memorable moments of the Disney animated films and cartoons. Opening with the jump from black and white to color, the show also features such scenes as Peter Pan soaring above the stage and the circus from A Bug’s Life." Regardless of whether or not you understand the plot, it's visually appealing as well.
When the show finished it was time for Space Mountain and I had no idea what to expect. I was thinking there would be Disney characters and black lights (which Disney LOVES, and also which make my plastic nose stud retainer glow) but I was very wrong. The ride is pitch black, and then neon lights that looks like lightning shoot past you and up to where the first ascent ends. When you reach the top of the hill, you can't see anything except for projected stars everywhere. You can't see the track, the person next to you, or even your hands in front of you. It was awesome.
Of the three 'jet coasters,' Space Mountain was by far the best. If Space Mountain as a jet coaster, as the Japanese call it, then Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain were more like glider coasters. Splash Mountain would have been better had I not built it up in my mind as the scariest ride EVER after my traumatic childhood experience with it.
After riding several roller coasters, shooting aliens with Buzz Lightyear, hunting for honey with Winnie the Pooh (fun ride), canoeing, taking a jungle tour and a Western tour within about twenty feet of each other, and eating two meals that left me full and happy, the fun wasn't over. Tokyo Disney Land has a night parade where the floats are lit up with hundreds, if not thousands, of Christmas lights. This was possibly my favorite parade.
The Cheshire Cat again


A crazy caterpillar (and the guy who kept getting in the way of my pictures)



Some swirly snails


Snow White ( didn't get very good pictures of the dwarfs)


Peter Pan and Wendy


Pete and his dragon


Pooh and crew again with some bumblebees following Pooh's honey


Buzz Lightyear, on his own this time (followed by Woody and the girl cowboy, but my pictures suck)


Nemo! (followed by Crush and his pals)


Lumiere and Mrs. Potts (followed by Belle and the Beast, but their float wasn't very impressive)


Mike, Sully and of course Boo


Cinderella and her prince, but their floats didn't photograph well



I'm worried some kid may have a seizure


Lilo and Stitch's float


And finally, no Disney parade is complete without a little commercialism.

After the parade Kanako (my host sister) and I rode Space Mountain one more time since there was barely any line at all and sadly, it wasn't as fun the second time as it was the first time. After that, I was too tired to remember much. We got on a bus and went to the hotel.

A quick word about hotels in Japan. In hotels, they always have toothbrushes and shampoo and all of those things that seem to be just for show but that no one seems to use. In Japan, they use them. My host mom told me before I left that I didn't need to bring a brush, a toothbrush, toothpaste, face wash, or a towel because they would all be at the hotel. Not only that, but they had yukatas (hot and not well-fitted yukatas) at the hotel as pajamas. While I went along with everything my host mom and sister told me to, I will be bringing my own toiletries next time a visit a hotel, no matter the country. If I'm staying in a hotel, I at least want to have my own soap and toothbrush to make me feel a little more at home.

Stayed tuned for Part II: Disney Sea

*My host sister doesn't dress up like a princess, she manages a restaurant at Tokyo Disneyland. It's more respectable, but it's less fun.

Posted by Lena Ray

Disney Store

New Disney Store opens in downtown Chicago's Block 37 Shops

Chicago received one of the first new Disney Stores opening in select markets across the country. These are stores using the latest technology to enhance a shopper's experience through interactive displays and unique shopping areas. The new downtown Chicago Disney Store is located at 1 West Randolph Street, within the Block 37 Shops. A cast member told me people were lined up outside by 8:30 a.m. for today's Grand Opening, even though the store didn't open it's doors until 10:00 a.m. It was crowded when I visited during my lunch hour, but it was well staffed and shoppers could move easily throughout the displays.




One of the unique things in the store is the kid-sized Disney Princess Castle which you can walk through.



Inside the Princess Castle is a Magic Mirror. Although it looks like an ordinary glass mirror, a special surprise happens when one of the various princess's wands is waved in front of it. The mirror's reflection magically comes to life with an animated clip of that princess introducing herself and telling her story. I witnessed a little girl stopped cold in her tracks, her jaw dropped open with amazement and enchantment, when she saw this feature on the Magic Mirror.



A blue glitter trails leads guest through the store. A cast member told me that they will have parades each day winding through the store following the blue glitter trail.



There are also large white tree structures throughout the store and video images are projected onto them. The cast member said to look closely for Hidden Mickeys on the trees, although I couldn't spot any.



Another unique part of the store is the new Disney Store Theater, where guests can view movies and gather for special in-store events and entertainment. The area included a child-sized table and chairs. It looked like a few tots were coloring and enjoying classic Disney cartoons there during my visit this afternoon. A cast member told me that the theater is interactive as well. There's a display panel on the right side of the theater that allows you to choose which kind of entertainment you'd like to view.



This store also includes an area where you can build your own remote-controlled car, based on the Disney/Pixar movie CARS. A cast member is on hand to assist you in selecting the body, tires, and other components of your car. It's assembled at the table before your eyes, and you walk out of the store with your own custom-designed toy. I suspect this is going to be a huge hit with young boys and girls.



Some Disney Visa cardholders received a coupon or email for a free exclusively-designed pin with any purchase, redeemable only at this new store. It's a Tinker Bell pin with a white glittery background. It's on a card that reads "Disney Store is your magical destination where Disney characters and stories come to life everyday...where little princesses and space rangers can discover their dreams in an extraordinary place." Here's what the pin looked like:

Posted by Patti S

Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland Part II: Disney Sea (Where Adventure and Imagination Set Sail)

Despite the name, there isn't much sea in Disney Sea. It's more of a controlled maze of waterways that is right next to the sea. In fact, there's a wall so high that you can only see the Pacific Ocean if you ride the fake 1920s-style Electric Railway from the American Waterfront (1920s NY) to Port Discovery. Besides being a little disappointed by the name, Disney Sea was a lot of fun. My host mom, my host sister and I woke up leisurely in our hot and rather small yukatas, brushed our teeth and hair with hotel materials, and had a nice breakfast in the hotel before boarding a bus for Disney Sea.

My mom, my host sister and me in front of Disney Sea. And don't you dare laugh at me for my peace sign, it's what the Japanese do.

Again, the first thing that happened when we got there was a show, since Disney Sea doesn't have parades. We got some gelato, and then went to sit in the sea of umbrellas (because it was sunny, not rainy) on Disney Sea maps so that we didn't get dirty. That's also what the Japanese do.
This show was Fairies Primavera, a special Spring Carnival show (even though it is summer) in the Mediterranean Harbor. It featured Tinkerbell, her fairy friends, and Terence, her man-fairy friend. Disney prefers the term 'sparrow-man' though, so as not to call him a fairy. To give you an idea of what Terence is like, Jesse McCartney was the voice actor for Terence in the films.

The fairies came out in their boat first waving handkerchiefs, and since the Japanese always carry handkerchiefs to elegantly dab their sweat, everyone waved back.

A really cute cat and a slightly creepier cat, both dancing.

And then this boat came up and let out the women in the petal dresses

and Mickey and Minnie!


This show actually reminded me of Grease. It was fun.

And there were also these crazy tall green things.
As all of the boats left everyone waved their handkerchiefs again in the routine that we were taught before the show. I wish I had gotten a video.

After that we got our fast passes for the Indiana "Indy" Jones ride and the Tower of Terror and took a little Sinbad adventure (a really cute ride), it was lunch time. My host mom and sister were determined to let me eat Mexican food, so we went to Miguel's El Dorado Cantina in the Lost River Delta. As cynical as I am concerning Disney's adherence to reality, they did a pretty good job with the Mexican restaurant. If everything weren't made of plaster or whatever it is they use to make theme park scenery, I might have actually believed I was somewhere near Mexico. The atmosphere was ruined by all of the Japanese I heard. It was also ruined it when there was an 'l' sound in their pronunciation of 'paella.'
After our 'Mexican' meal, we went off in the Lost River Delta where I think the humidity was pretty accurate to reality in search of the Indy (as the Japanese say) Jones ride.
It was a fun ride. I wouldn't call it a roller coaster, but the effects and the ride were entertaining. At one point you think you're about to get run over by a huge stone, but suddenly the floor falls away in front of you and the tracks go beneath the Temple of Doom boulder. At this point, there's flash of light and your expression is forever recorded in the form of a digital photo. If you're my host sister, that's great! Since she works there, she knows where all of the cameras are and poses for everyone of them. But sitting next to her in all of the photos there was this redhead making weird faces. How unfortunate.

But the terrible image left in my head after seeing the photo monitor was erased by the noon-ish show Mystica. And this T-shirt I saw in front of me while waiting for the show to start: They can't have nay idea what their shirts say! But the still wear them! Let this be a warning; the next time you buy a shirt that has something written in a foreign language, think twice before you buy it It might say something like
"It is the moment of Jockstrap
time you courage is Public
In the shape of love
everyone becomes mama."
That doesn't even make sense!!

But back to Mythica. It started with one boat in the center with water jets shooting everywhere, and then out came more boats in the shape of all different animals. This one is an eagle and everyone is flying kites around on it, there was a turtle, a dragon, a frog, and one more that I can't remember.

Then, after a twenty or thirty foot column rose out of the boat in the center and Mickey Mouse starting walking around on a platform at the top, all sorts of creatures came out of the boats. There were people dressed as lizards, phoenixes, weird fish things, and really intricate birds. After THAT Minnie Mouse came out of the boat nearest to us and guys on jet skis that were made to look like dragons started flying five kites from each jet ski.

Just when I thought the show was winding down, out comes a unicorn
a dragon with a glowy zappy orb that looked like one of those static electricity balls where the electricity is attracted to your fingers
a serpent with a giant fountain on it
and a phoenix shooting fire everywhere.


There were also fireworks periodically, but I didn't catch any on film or in a photo. This show was definitely the best.

After escaping the room with all of the photos in it, I let slip that Ariel was my favorite Disney princess as a child. Since it was still not our Fast Pass time at the Tower of Terror, we went to Ariel's Mermaid Lagoon and it was surreal. From the outside, it's intriguing. There are swirls and corals and fish all covered with mosaic glass so it shines in the sunlight. When you enter, it looks like a room filled with blue light and a fountain with a bronze Triton figurine in it. Then, you see past the figurine over the balcony. Lights of all different colors glowing and fading, the sound of splashing water and kids shrieking with delight. Then, you realize you can actually go down there and it all gets about ten times better.



You could even ride in these bouncing jellyfish!

I told my host sister that I didn't have meet Ariel because I'd already met her when I was little, so instead she took me to a show. It was a weird hybrid between English songs and Japanese dialogue, but it was a good show. It wasn't very long, but the squeezed everything in without i seeming forced. The characters sang 'Part of Your World,' 'Under the Sea,' (of course) and 'Poor Unfortunate Souls.' The only creature who touched the ground was Sebastian; all of the others were in harnesses or were mechanized or both. Ursula was a hug puppet that came out of the wall and had strobe lights in it to make her seem especially evil when she was doing her witchcraft. But in the end, Ariel realized she had friends under the sea and she didn't want to have legs or be part of their world.
After the show was over my host sister and I hurried over to the Tower of Terror while my host mom found a cafe to sit in. We got through the line quickly and I chatted with two girls in front of us after one of them stared at me and then told the other one to look. Very subtle. Then they were both standing sideways and throwing glances at the ginger, so I decided to catch one of their glances, let them say 'hello' awkwardly, and then let them flip out like everyone does when they realize I speak Japanese. It never gets old.
Once again, my host sister made a cute face right before we fell from the top of the ride and I looked like I was about to puke up my tacos from lunch. The ride ended up not even being that scary. We barely had time to scream while we were falling.
After that I got some caramel popcorn because I couldn't find any of the curry popcorn I wanted to try and we went to find my host mom.
From there we went to eat at a traditional Kyoto restaurant in 'Ikspiari,'* a shopping center in the Disney complex. I ate potato soup that looked like snot, soba, and tofu ice cream. I was sitting like I had been told to sit, with your legs beneath you and your feet, in pain, under you butt. About halfway through the meal, and after each of my legs had fallen asleep at least once, my host sister and my mom noticed that I was fidgeting around a lot. They then enlightened me to the fact that there was a giant well beneath the table that you could put your feet in just so that you didn't have to sit like had been sitting.

After I regained feeling in my feet, my host mom and I got on the Shinkansen, sped back to Nagoya, and promptly fell asleep as soon as we got home. Two days well spent.

*Ikspiari is pronounced like the 'experi' in experience. It's spelled like that because of the way the Japanese katakana alphabet works.

Posted by Lena Ray at 3:26 AM

Fahrenheit at Disneyland

Fahrenheit at Disneyland Hong Kong

Uploaded by autumnsong 3 years ago. photo dimensions: 500x375. photo size: 65536 bytes. Fahrenheit at Disneyland Hong Kong with the 4 Disney princesses. (L-R): Calvin with Belle, Arron with Cinderella, Wu with Snow White, Jiro with Aurora

Hollywood Hotel at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort

Since I’m a Disneyphile, I wanted to experience as much as possible while visiting the Hong Kong Resort. So, even though I was staying at the Disneyland Hotel, I made a special trip over to Disney’s Hollywood Hotel to take a look around. I was very pleased with what I saw.




The hotel’s architectural style is art deco. Given this, and the Hollywood touches they have added, the resort has a very glamorous feel about it.




Like the Disneyland Hotel, this hotel also sits on Penny Bay and many of the rooms take advantage of the view.



The grounds are beautifully landscaped. The pathways that connect the various areas of the resort are all given names such as Hollywood Blvd. and Sunset Blvd.



One particular pathway is named Mulholland Drive. This roadway winds its way from the hotel to the Bay and you can find a number of vintage automobiles along the way.







I really liked the Hollywood Hotel. It has a more “friendly” feel to it than the formal Disneyland Hotel. In fact, I’m fairly certain I’ll choose this resort on my next trip to Hong Kong.
Next up, my recap review of Hong Kong Disneyland.
Read my entire Hong Kong Disneyland Blog
its a small world
Overview Hong Kong Disneyland and Main Street
Hong Kong Disneyland Adventureland Part 1
Hong Kong Disneyland Adventureland Part 2
Hong Kong Disneyland The Hub and Fantasyland
Hong Kong Disneyland Tomorrowland and Disney on Parade

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• Hong Kong Disneyland's Hollywood Hotel