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TR: Laura and Lee's Asian Adventure: Day 6, Part 2, Tokyo DisneySea
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Laura Gilbreath
Apr 7, 2014, 11:45:45 AM4/7/14
to
March 2014 - Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea,
and Aulani
March 4-18, 2014
Participants
Laura and Lee, with appearances by our traveling companions Deb, Linda,
Jeanine, Jack, and Pete
Accommodations:
Cathay Pacific Flight 892 (1 night)
In Hong Kong:
Disney's Hollywood Hotel (2 nights)
The Salisbury (1 night)
Tokyo Disneyland Hotel (5 nights)
Korean Airlines Flight 1 (1 night)
Aulani (4 nights)
Day 6 - Tokyo DisneySea
Tokyo DisneySea is VERY different than any Disney park we have here. So
instead of starting in with what we did on Tuesday, I think I'll give
you an overview of it first.
I found that Tokyo DisneySea reminded me much more of Universal's
Islands of Adventure than any other Disney park. Some similar
looks to those of the Port of Entry, Lost Continent, and Jurassic
Park areas of Islands of Adventure. Not that that's a bad thing -
those are all really well-done!
Tokyo DisneySea has themed "ports" to go along with its water theme:
Mediterranean Harbor, American Waterfront, Mysterious Island, Port
Discovery, Lost River Delta, Mermaid Lagoon, and Arabian Coast.
The Mediterranean Harbor surrounds a large lake, and several big
water shows are held there. There is a waterway that connects all
of the other port areas, also.
The park icon for DisneySea and its most prominent feature is the
volcano, Mt. Prometheus. You can see it from just about anywhere
in the park, as well as from Tokyo Disneyland and other areas
outside the park. Mysterious Island is contained in its crater.
The volcano "erupts" multiple times a day, and at night you can
see the glow of lava. It's quite imposing.
And the theming was incredible throughout the park. Theming to the nth
degree. Not that it was excessive - it was just so thorough, and so
incredibly well designed and executed. So many layers of detail.
"Immersive" has been one of Disney's buzzwords for a while now - and
this park was all of that. (Of course using "immersive" to describe a
park with a water theme makes me chuckle, but I digress...)
All the hype you hear about Tokyo DisneySea and how amazing it is?
I'd have to say that it's true, and it deserves that reputation. So I'm
not even going to bother mentioning theming from now on - you can
just assume that it was all pretty wonderful.
Tokyo DisneySea is more of an "adult" park than Tokyo Disneyland.
Alcohol is served in the park, and most of the attractions appeal to an
older audience: there are more thrill rides with height requirements.
Mermaid Lagoon and Arabian Coast contain the more kid-oriented
attractions. We saw very few families with young kids (and strollers)
at Tokyo DisneySea - even in those two areas.
I mentioned before that it was term break for Japanese schools. I would
say that 99% of the guests in Tokyo DisneySea were kids ages 13-25.
Our group was by FAR the oldest in Tokyo DisneySea - I saw very
few people over the age of 40. And there were also very few
westerners - I think I saw maybe 25-30 the entire four days that
we were in the Tokyo parks. We REALLY stood out. :-)
I found it interesting...we live in southern California where it's
a pretty heterogeneous society - lots of Asians, Hispanics, and
African-Americans. So when we're out and about we're used to seeing
people of all different races and colors. The Asian parks didn't
really seem strange to me, except for the language, but their
population is much more homogeneous, so I could tell that we looked
strange to them. We got lots of curious looks and lots of smiles.
But they were much kinder and more patient with us than I think we
Americans typically are to those here who are obviously foreign...I
know I personally need to keep that in mind in the future...
Ok...so it's Tuesday morning, and after having our usual yogurt, fruit,
and pastry breakfast in our room, Lee and I are about to go to Tokyo
DisneySea for the first time.
Since we were not staying at the Miracosta, we did not have early entry
to TDS (sorry, I'm tired of typing it out, so please note that from here
on, TDS = Tokyo DisneySea). We'd been advised that the lines to get
into the park in the morning are very long, and to be at the entrance by 7:15 -
the park opened at 8:00.
We took the monorail to get there - this was the first time we'd done
that! The monorail requires a ticket to ride - it's not free, though as
hotel guests we were provided with passes to use in the ticket machines.
It's a much bigger, more train-like monorail than the ones at WDW. The
windows are shaped like Mickey heads!
The monorail has 4 stops: Tokyo Disneyland Station (where we were),
Bayside Station (for the non-Disney hotels), Tokyo DisneySea Station,
and Resort Gateway Station (Ikspiari and the transfer point to Japan
Railway). We went two stops to get off at the TDS station.
It was a beautiful clear day - though still in the 40s. As we were
traveling on the monorail I looked out the window and could see Mt Fuji
off in the distance! All covered in snow, a HUGE mountain standing all
by itself. That was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I did
not realize until later how lucky we were to see it - it's not a common
sight. It's about 70 miles away. That was an awesome moment.
BTW...though we had toured the parks mostly together with our fellow
travelers the first part of the trip, from here on Lee and I were
usually by ourselves, though every once in a while we'd encounter some
of the group. Not that we were mad at each other or not getting along -
we just all had different priorities and schedules.
We got to the TDS entrance about 7:20, and there were lots and
lots of people already standing in lines to get in. We picked a line,
and it just got longer behind us as we waited. They opened the
turnstiles just a little bit early and started letting guests enter the
park. They also do a bag check at the Tokyo parks, but they do it just
before the turnstiles. And the security guards didn't do more than a
cursory look at our bags - they just smiled and said: "Ohayou
gozaimasu!"
Once we entered the park, the kids were RUNNING to get to wherever they
were trying to go. So we ran a little, too, until we got to cast
members who were telling people to stop running. We did, but most of
the kids didn't. :-)
From the park entrance we walked past the big water/planet earth
sculpture just inside the turnstiles and then under the Miracosta, past
shops, and to the Mediterranean Harbor. Where we got our first real
view of Mt. Prometheus. That thing is BIG! That's actually where we
were headed first: to Mysterious Island to get a Fastpass for Journey to
the Center of the Earth.
Even though that area is just about at the center of the park, it felt
like we walked for a long time before we got there. Google maps shows
it as almost .4 miles from the turnstiles to the volcano, so that is a
pretty good distance.
We were able to get a FP with a return time about an hour away. In the
meantime, there was NO line for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - in fact,
we walked right into a sub! No stairs to climb down to get into these -
you enter from doors on the side. I think they seat six - two facing
forward, the other seats facing somewhat to the sides. We sat in the
front.
It was not as cramped as the Nemo Submarine Voyage, and we had big
windows to look out of instead of tiny portholes. The narration was in
Japanese, so we're not exactly sure what was happening - we saw lots of
pretty underwater fish and plants, and then I think we were attacked by
a giant squid. But we survived - not so sure about the squid.
(And did you notice that our first attraction truly WAS an immersive
one???)
As you have probably deduced from the names of the attractions, the
Mysterious Island area has a Jules Verne theme. Lots of greenish copper
and bronze. There's a lake in the middle of the crater, with the
Nautilus submarine floating in it.
There was still a while until our Fastpass would be valid for Journey,
so we went to Port Discovery to try StormRider. This area has kind of
a steampunk look - futuristic, but not. There was only a 10 minute
wait for StormRider, which is a simulator ride where we fly into a
superstorm and deploy a "storm diffuser" that will break up the storm.
The movement is similar to Star Tours but the simulator vehicles
are quite a bit larger. And it rains inside - depending on where
you sit you can get pretty wet. (We were in a relatively dry spot.)
It was in Japanese, but we got the gist of it. (Inexperienced/inept
pilot, wrong place at the wrong time, saves the day anyway.)
We were inside our Fastpass window, so we could get a new Fastpass - we
chose Raging Spirits in the Lost River Delta, and then went back to
Mysterious Island.
The queue for Journey to the Center of the Earth goes down inside the
mountain to the loading area for the mine vehicles, which hold six
passengers, in three rows of two. We were in the back row, which are
the worst seats. (In the Tokyo parks we either seemed to get the first
row or the last row - perhaps because those were the ones easiest to
point to?) The vehicles descend down through crystal caverns, past
the strange creatures and plant life that live deep under the earth.
Something goes wrong (doesn't it always?) and the car moves even
deeper into the volcano, until it is suddenly propelled upward and
bursts out near the top of the volcano, then descends in a roller
coaster ride down the side of the mountain.
The rest of our group had done this on Sunday, and had really liked it,
so our expectations were pretty high. My reaction was: "That was it?"
The roller coaster part was fun, but it was only about 15 seconds long.
Since we were sitting in the back, we didn't have as good a view of the
things in the caverns, either. I definitely did not think it was worth
the 160-minute wait time - I wouldn't have waited 20 minutes for it.
But there were still plenty of kids getting into the standby line.
We walked past Mermaid Lagoon to the Arabian Coast. This is a really
large area - much of it inside an impressive-looking walled city.
We walked under the tiled entry gateway down the stairs into a big
open courtyard with a fountain in the middle. On one side is the Caravan
Carousel, which is a two story carousel. In addition to beautiful
Arabian horses it also has camels and genies and griffins and
elephants - oh my. It had no line, so we went for a ride.
On the other side of the courtyard was the entrance to the souk, with
narrower streets and shops and restaurants.
The entrance to the Magic Lamp Theater was on the far side of the
courtyard, but we went back to see that later.
Outside the city walls and next to the water was Jasmine's Flying
Carpets and something called Sindbad's Storybook Voyage, but the latter
was not running (and it was down all day).
It was time that we could get a new Fastpass, so we got one for Indiana
Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull. The standby line was up to
90 minutes. As you can tell, we had done very well with Fastpasses and
really didn't understand why anyone would be willing to stand in a
90-minute (or longer) line when Fastpasses were still available, and
there were still plenty of attractions that didn't have really long
lines. Now, granted they weren't the E-ticket attractions...and that
might be the reason.
Our valid Fastpass was for Raging Spirits. This is a roller coaster
with a 360 loop. The coaster is on the site of an archological dig, and
looks like it's supported by the scaffolding that's been erected around
a stone temple. Lots of lumber lashed together. It's more like a wild
mouse type of coaster except that it has banked turns and not the sharp
180 degree turns. It's not very fast...as we were riding it I thought:
"There's no way we have enough speed to do a 360 degree loop!" But
fortunately there was something that accelerated us just before the loop
so we had enough momentum to make it.
This was a very short ride - less than one and a half minutes. Not very
impressive, definitely not worth a 160 minute wait! (Are you detecting
a pattern here?)
We'd already seen that the snack lines were getting long, so even though
it was only about 10:30 we decided to have an early lunch when we walked
by Miguel's El Dorado Cantina and saw that it was open.
It was a beautiful clear day but it was still cold, and THEY HAD HOT
WINE!!! They also had "tacos". They were served with a side of French
fries (really?) and a beverage - there was an upcharge for the wine, but
that was fine. I had the shrimp salad taco and Lee had the teriyaki
pork taco. They were a little unusual, but tasted good - mostly it was
just a pretty small serving. With the wine and the fries it was 1290
yen - almost $13.
We hadn't been to the American Waterfront area yet so we walked there
after lunch. There are multiple locales represented here. The first is
Cape Cod, and it did look very similar except for the giant volcano
behind it. :-)
Cape Cod is the hometown of Duffy the Disney Bear. And Duffy is HUGE
in Japan. I think he's more popular than Mickey Mouse! We saw lots of
kids (male and female) carrying Duffy purses and Duffy popcorn buckets,
and wearing Duffy ears, or carrying a backpack covered with small Duffy
clip-ons in a variety of costumes. Oh, and then there were lots of
people just carrying their Duffy bears around. (But who am I to talk -
I carried Tigger with me on this trip!) There are multiple stores
in BOTH Disney parks that are dedicated to Duffy merchandise. And not
just Duffy merchandise, but his girlfriend as well - Shellie May. So of
course there was a Duffy store in Cape Cod.
From that part of the park we could see over the "seawall", and we
caught a glimpse of Mt. Fuji again. Still a very impressive sight.
The largest part of the American Waterfront has a New York City look.
There's a big ship called the SS Columbia that's also a restaurant and
the location of the Turtle Talk show. Then there's the Hightower Hotel,
aka the Tower of Terror. It's a very impressive-looking building.
Since we could now get another Fastpass we got one for the Tower
of Terror - but it wasn't good until 9:00 that night, which was
over 9 hours away! Better than the 180 minute standby line,
though.
TDS has an elevated electric railway that runs from the American
Waterfront to Port Discovery and back. It's a one-way trip - everyone
has to get off at the opposite station. There was a really nice view of
the park and the surrounding area from up there.
This brings us to just about noon - I think that's enough for Part 1.
Next time: Tokyo DisneySea, Part 2 - Shows and Spectaculars
Laura
**************************************************************************
Email: lgil at lgil dot net or remove "REMOVETHIS" from "Reply to" address.
Visit Tigger's Vacation Page:
http://www.travelswithtigger.com
and Aulani
March 4-18, 2014
Participants
Laura and Lee, with appearances by our traveling companions Deb, Linda,
Jeanine, Jack, and Pete
Accommodations:
Cathay Pacific Flight 892 (1 night)
In Hong Kong:
Disney's Hollywood Hotel (2 nights)
The Salisbury (1 night)
Tokyo Disneyland Hotel (5 nights)
Korean Airlines Flight 1 (1 night)
Aulani (4 nights)
Day 6 - Tokyo DisneySea
Tokyo DisneySea is VERY different than any Disney park we have here. So
instead of starting in with what we did on Tuesday, I think I'll give
you an overview of it first.
I found that Tokyo DisneySea reminded me much more of Universal's
Islands of Adventure than any other Disney park. Some similar
looks to those of the Port of Entry, Lost Continent, and Jurassic
Park areas of Islands of Adventure. Not that that's a bad thing -
those are all really well-done!
Tokyo DisneySea has themed "ports" to go along with its water theme:
Mediterranean Harbor, American Waterfront, Mysterious Island, Port
Discovery, Lost River Delta, Mermaid Lagoon, and Arabian Coast.
The Mediterranean Harbor surrounds a large lake, and several big
water shows are held there. There is a waterway that connects all
of the other port areas, also.
The park icon for DisneySea and its most prominent feature is the
volcano, Mt. Prometheus. You can see it from just about anywhere
in the park, as well as from Tokyo Disneyland and other areas
outside the park. Mysterious Island is contained in its crater.
The volcano "erupts" multiple times a day, and at night you can
see the glow of lava. It's quite imposing.
And the theming was incredible throughout the park. Theming to the nth
degree. Not that it was excessive - it was just so thorough, and so
incredibly well designed and executed. So many layers of detail.
"Immersive" has been one of Disney's buzzwords for a while now - and
this park was all of that. (Of course using "immersive" to describe a
park with a water theme makes me chuckle, but I digress...)
All the hype you hear about Tokyo DisneySea and how amazing it is?
I'd have to say that it's true, and it deserves that reputation. So I'm
not even going to bother mentioning theming from now on - you can
just assume that it was all pretty wonderful.
Tokyo DisneySea is more of an "adult" park than Tokyo Disneyland.
Alcohol is served in the park, and most of the attractions appeal to an
older audience: there are more thrill rides with height requirements.
Mermaid Lagoon and Arabian Coast contain the more kid-oriented
attractions. We saw very few families with young kids (and strollers)
at Tokyo DisneySea - even in those two areas.
I mentioned before that it was term break for Japanese schools. I would
say that 99% of the guests in Tokyo DisneySea were kids ages 13-25.
Our group was by FAR the oldest in Tokyo DisneySea - I saw very
few people over the age of 40. And there were also very few
westerners - I think I saw maybe 25-30 the entire four days that
we were in the Tokyo parks. We REALLY stood out. :-)
I found it interesting...we live in southern California where it's
a pretty heterogeneous society - lots of Asians, Hispanics, and
African-Americans. So when we're out and about we're used to seeing
people of all different races and colors. The Asian parks didn't
really seem strange to me, except for the language, but their
population is much more homogeneous, so I could tell that we looked
strange to them. We got lots of curious looks and lots of smiles.
But they were much kinder and more patient with us than I think we
Americans typically are to those here who are obviously foreign...I
know I personally need to keep that in mind in the future...
Ok...so it's Tuesday morning, and after having our usual yogurt, fruit,
and pastry breakfast in our room, Lee and I are about to go to Tokyo
DisneySea for the first time.
Since we were not staying at the Miracosta, we did not have early entry
to TDS (sorry, I'm tired of typing it out, so please note that from here
on, TDS = Tokyo DisneySea). We'd been advised that the lines to get
into the park in the morning are very long, and to be at the entrance by 7:15 -
the park opened at 8:00.
We took the monorail to get there - this was the first time we'd done
that! The monorail requires a ticket to ride - it's not free, though as
hotel guests we were provided with passes to use in the ticket machines.
It's a much bigger, more train-like monorail than the ones at WDW. The
windows are shaped like Mickey heads!
The monorail has 4 stops: Tokyo Disneyland Station (where we were),
Bayside Station (for the non-Disney hotels), Tokyo DisneySea Station,
and Resort Gateway Station (Ikspiari and the transfer point to Japan
Railway). We went two stops to get off at the TDS station.
It was a beautiful clear day - though still in the 40s. As we were
traveling on the monorail I looked out the window and could see Mt Fuji
off in the distance! All covered in snow, a HUGE mountain standing all
by itself. That was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I did
not realize until later how lucky we were to see it - it's not a common
sight. It's about 70 miles away. That was an awesome moment.
BTW...though we had toured the parks mostly together with our fellow
travelers the first part of the trip, from here on Lee and I were
usually by ourselves, though every once in a while we'd encounter some
of the group. Not that we were mad at each other or not getting along -
we just all had different priorities and schedules.
We got to the TDS entrance about 7:20, and there were lots and
lots of people already standing in lines to get in. We picked a line,
and it just got longer behind us as we waited. They opened the
turnstiles just a little bit early and started letting guests enter the
park. They also do a bag check at the Tokyo parks, but they do it just
before the turnstiles. And the security guards didn't do more than a
cursory look at our bags - they just smiled and said: "Ohayou
gozaimasu!"
Once we entered the park, the kids were RUNNING to get to wherever they
were trying to go. So we ran a little, too, until we got to cast
members who were telling people to stop running. We did, but most of
the kids didn't. :-)
From the park entrance we walked past the big water/planet earth
sculpture just inside the turnstiles and then under the Miracosta, past
shops, and to the Mediterranean Harbor. Where we got our first real
view of Mt. Prometheus. That thing is BIG! That's actually where we
were headed first: to Mysterious Island to get a Fastpass for Journey to
the Center of the Earth.
Even though that area is just about at the center of the park, it felt
like we walked for a long time before we got there. Google maps shows
it as almost .4 miles from the turnstiles to the volcano, so that is a
pretty good distance.
We were able to get a FP with a return time about an hour away. In the
meantime, there was NO line for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - in fact,
we walked right into a sub! No stairs to climb down to get into these -
you enter from doors on the side. I think they seat six - two facing
forward, the other seats facing somewhat to the sides. We sat in the
front.
It was not as cramped as the Nemo Submarine Voyage, and we had big
windows to look out of instead of tiny portholes. The narration was in
Japanese, so we're not exactly sure what was happening - we saw lots of
pretty underwater fish and plants, and then I think we were attacked by
a giant squid. But we survived - not so sure about the squid.
(And did you notice that our first attraction truly WAS an immersive
one???)
As you have probably deduced from the names of the attractions, the
Mysterious Island area has a Jules Verne theme. Lots of greenish copper
and bronze. There's a lake in the middle of the crater, with the
Nautilus submarine floating in it.
There was still a while until our Fastpass would be valid for Journey,
so we went to Port Discovery to try StormRider. This area has kind of
a steampunk look - futuristic, but not. There was only a 10 minute
wait for StormRider, which is a simulator ride where we fly into a
superstorm and deploy a "storm diffuser" that will break up the storm.
The movement is similar to Star Tours but the simulator vehicles
are quite a bit larger. And it rains inside - depending on where
you sit you can get pretty wet. (We were in a relatively dry spot.)
It was in Japanese, but we got the gist of it. (Inexperienced/inept
pilot, wrong place at the wrong time, saves the day anyway.)
We were inside our Fastpass window, so we could get a new Fastpass - we
chose Raging Spirits in the Lost River Delta, and then went back to
Mysterious Island.
The queue for Journey to the Center of the Earth goes down inside the
mountain to the loading area for the mine vehicles, which hold six
passengers, in three rows of two. We were in the back row, which are
the worst seats. (In the Tokyo parks we either seemed to get the first
row or the last row - perhaps because those were the ones easiest to
point to?) The vehicles descend down through crystal caverns, past
the strange creatures and plant life that live deep under the earth.
Something goes wrong (doesn't it always?) and the car moves even
deeper into the volcano, until it is suddenly propelled upward and
bursts out near the top of the volcano, then descends in a roller
coaster ride down the side of the mountain.
The rest of our group had done this on Sunday, and had really liked it,
so our expectations were pretty high. My reaction was: "That was it?"
The roller coaster part was fun, but it was only about 15 seconds long.
Since we were sitting in the back, we didn't have as good a view of the
things in the caverns, either. I definitely did not think it was worth
the 160-minute wait time - I wouldn't have waited 20 minutes for it.
But there were still plenty of kids getting into the standby line.
We walked past Mermaid Lagoon to the Arabian Coast. This is a really
large area - much of it inside an impressive-looking walled city.
We walked under the tiled entry gateway down the stairs into a big
open courtyard with a fountain in the middle. On one side is the Caravan
Carousel, which is a two story carousel. In addition to beautiful
Arabian horses it also has camels and genies and griffins and
elephants - oh my. It had no line, so we went for a ride.
On the other side of the courtyard was the entrance to the souk, with
narrower streets and shops and restaurants.
The entrance to the Magic Lamp Theater was on the far side of the
courtyard, but we went back to see that later.
Outside the city walls and next to the water was Jasmine's Flying
Carpets and something called Sindbad's Storybook Voyage, but the latter
was not running (and it was down all day).
It was time that we could get a new Fastpass, so we got one for Indiana
Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull. The standby line was up to
90 minutes. As you can tell, we had done very well with Fastpasses and
really didn't understand why anyone would be willing to stand in a
90-minute (or longer) line when Fastpasses were still available, and
there were still plenty of attractions that didn't have really long
lines. Now, granted they weren't the E-ticket attractions...and that
might be the reason.
Our valid Fastpass was for Raging Spirits. This is a roller coaster
with a 360 loop. The coaster is on the site of an archological dig, and
looks like it's supported by the scaffolding that's been erected around
a stone temple. Lots of lumber lashed together. It's more like a wild
mouse type of coaster except that it has banked turns and not the sharp
180 degree turns. It's not very fast...as we were riding it I thought:
"There's no way we have enough speed to do a 360 degree loop!" But
fortunately there was something that accelerated us just before the loop
so we had enough momentum to make it.
This was a very short ride - less than one and a half minutes. Not very
impressive, definitely not worth a 160 minute wait! (Are you detecting
a pattern here?)
We'd already seen that the snack lines were getting long, so even though
it was only about 10:30 we decided to have an early lunch when we walked
by Miguel's El Dorado Cantina and saw that it was open.
It was a beautiful clear day but it was still cold, and THEY HAD HOT
WINE!!! They also had "tacos". They were served with a side of French
fries (really?) and a beverage - there was an upcharge for the wine, but
that was fine. I had the shrimp salad taco and Lee had the teriyaki
pork taco. They were a little unusual, but tasted good - mostly it was
just a pretty small serving. With the wine and the fries it was 1290
yen - almost $13.
We hadn't been to the American Waterfront area yet so we walked there
after lunch. There are multiple locales represented here. The first is
Cape Cod, and it did look very similar except for the giant volcano
behind it. :-)
Cape Cod is the hometown of Duffy the Disney Bear. And Duffy is HUGE
in Japan. I think he's more popular than Mickey Mouse! We saw lots of
kids (male and female) carrying Duffy purses and Duffy popcorn buckets,
and wearing Duffy ears, or carrying a backpack covered with small Duffy
clip-ons in a variety of costumes. Oh, and then there were lots of
people just carrying their Duffy bears around. (But who am I to talk -
I carried Tigger with me on this trip!) There are multiple stores
in BOTH Disney parks that are dedicated to Duffy merchandise. And not
just Duffy merchandise, but his girlfriend as well - Shellie May. So of
course there was a Duffy store in Cape Cod.
From that part of the park we could see over the "seawall", and we
caught a glimpse of Mt. Fuji again. Still a very impressive sight.
The largest part of the American Waterfront has a New York City look.
There's a big ship called the SS Columbia that's also a restaurant and
the location of the Turtle Talk show. Then there's the Hightower Hotel,
aka the Tower of Terror. It's a very impressive-looking building.
Since we could now get another Fastpass we got one for the Tower
of Terror - but it wasn't good until 9:00 that night, which was
over 9 hours away! Better than the 180 minute standby line,
though.
TDS has an elevated electric railway that runs from the American
Waterfront to Port Discovery and back. It's a one-way trip - everyone
has to get off at the opposite station. There was a really nice view of
the park and the surrounding area from up there.
This brings us to just about noon - I think that's enough for Part 1.
Next time: Tokyo DisneySea, Part 2 - Shows and Spectaculars
Laura
**************************************************************************
Email: lgil at lgil dot net or remove "REMOVETHIS" from "Reply to" address.
Visit Tigger's Vacation Page:
http://www.travelswithtigger.com
Steve Russo
Apr 7, 2014, 2:09:08 PM4/7/14
to
On 4/7/2014 11:45 AM, Laura Gilbreath wrote:
> March 2014 - Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea,
> and Aulani
> March 4-18, 2014
>
> Participants
> Laura and Lee, with appearances by our traveling companions Deb, Linda,
> Jeanine, Jack, and Pete
>
> March 2014 - Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea,
> and Aulani
> March 4-18, 2014
>
> Participants
> Laura and Lee, with appearances by our traveling companions Deb, Linda,
> Jeanine, Jack, and Pete
>
> Day 6 - Tokyo DisneySea
>
> Tokyo DisneySea is VERY different than any Disney park we have here. So
> instead of starting in with what we did on Tuesday, I think I'll give
> you an overview of it first.
Excellent idea!
>
> Tokyo DisneySea is VERY different than any Disney park we have here. So
> instead of starting in with what we did on Tuesday, I think I'll give
> you an overview of it first.
>
> I found that Tokyo DisneySea reminded me much more of Universal's
> Islands of Adventure than any other Disney park. Some similar
> looks to those of the Port of Entry, Lost Continent, and Jurassic
> Park areas of Islands of Adventure. Not that that's a bad thing -
> those are all really well-done!
and the mental image I have is very IOA-ish.
>
> And the theming was incredible throughout the park. Theming to the nth
> degree. Not that it was excessive - it was just so thorough, and so
> incredibly well designed and executed. So many layers of detail.
> "Immersive" has been one of Disney's buzzwords for a while now - and
> this park was all of that. (Of course using "immersive" to describe a
> park with a water theme makes me chuckle, but I digress...)
>
> I mentioned before that it was term break for Japanese schools. I would
> say that 99% of the guests in Tokyo DisneySea were kids ages 13-25.
> Our group was by FAR the oldest in Tokyo DisneySea - I saw very
> few people over the age of 40. And there were also very few
> westerners - I think I saw maybe 25-30 the entire four days that
> we were in the Tokyo parks. We REALLY stood out. :-)
so few over 40?
>
> I found it interesting...we live in southern California where it's
> a pretty heterogeneous society - lots of Asians, Hispanics, and
> African-Americans. So when we're out and about we're used to seeing
> people of all different races and colors. The Asian parks didn't
> really seem strange to me, except for the language, but their
> population is much more homogeneous, so I could tell that we looked
> strange to them. We got lots of curious looks and lots of smiles.
> But they were much kinder and more patient with us than I think we
> Americans typically are to those here who are obviously foreign...I
> know I personally need to keep that in mind in the future...
drivers ;-)
>
> Ok...so it's Tuesday morning, and after having our usual yogurt, fruit,
> and pastry breakfast in our room, Lee and I are about to go to Tokyo
> DisneySea for the first time.
>
> Since we were not staying at the Miracosta, we did not have early entry
> to TDS (sorry, I'm tired of typing it out, so please note that from here
> on, TDS = Tokyo DisneySea). We'd been advised that the lines to get
> into the park in the morning are very long, and to be at the entrance by 7:15 -
> the park opened at 8:00.
>
> We took the monorail to get there - this was the first time we'd done
> that! The monorail requires a ticket to ride - it's not free, though as
> hotel guests we were provided with passes to use in the ticket machines.
> It's a much bigger, more train-like monorail than the ones at WDW. The
> windows are shaped like Mickey heads!
> It was a beautiful clear day - though still in the 40s. As we were
> traveling on the monorail I looked out the window and could see Mt Fuji
> off in the distance! All covered in snow, a HUGE mountain standing all
> by itself. That was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I did
> not realize until later how lucky we were to see it - it's not a common
> sight. It's about 70 miles away. That was an awesome moment.
> We got to the TDS entrance about 7:20, and there were lots and
> lots of people already standing in lines to get in. We picked a line,
> and it just got longer behind us as we waited. They opened the
> turnstiles just a little bit early and started letting guests enter the
> park. They also do a bag check at the Tokyo parks, but they do it just
> before the turnstiles. And the security guards didn't do more than a
> cursory look at our bags - they just smiled and said: "Ohayou
> gozaimasu!"
>
> Once we entered the park, the kids were RUNNING to get to wherever they
> were trying to go. So we ran a little, too, until we got to cast
> members who were telling people to stop running. We did, but most of
> the kids didn't. :-)
> Even though that area is just about at the center of the park, it felt
> like we walked for a long time before we got there. Google maps shows
> it as almost .4 miles from the turnstiles to the volcano, so that is a
> pretty good distance.
>
> We were able to get a FP with a return time about an hour away. In the
> meantime, there was NO line for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - in fact,
> we walked right into a sub! No stairs to climb down to get into these -
> you enter from doors on the side. I think they seat six - two facing
> forward, the other seats facing somewhat to the sides. We sat in the
> front.
>
> It was not as cramped as the Nemo Submarine Voyage, and we had big
> windows to look out of instead of tiny portholes. The narration was in
> Japanese, so we're not exactly sure what was happening - we saw lots of
> pretty underwater fish and plants, and then I think we were attacked by
> a giant squid. But we survived - not so sure about the squid.
>
> (And did you notice that our first attraction truly WAS an immersive
> one???)
> There was still a while until our Fastpass would be valid for Journey,
> so we went to Port Discovery to try StormRider. This area has kind of
> a steampunk look - futuristic, but not. There was only a 10 minute
> wait for StormRider, which is a simulator ride where we fly into a
> superstorm and deploy a "storm diffuser" that will break up the storm.
> The movement is similar to Star Tours but the simulator vehicles
> are quite a bit larger. And it rains inside - depending on where
> you sit you can get pretty wet. (We were in a relatively dry spot.)
> It was in Japanese, but we got the gist of it. (Inexperienced/inept
> pilot, wrong place at the wrong time, saves the day anyway.)
on the sides of the simulator, or am I thinking of something else?
>
> Our valid Fastpass was for Raging Spirits. This is a roller coaster
> with a 360 loop. The coaster is on the site of an archological dig, and
> looks like it's supported by the scaffolding that's been erected around
> a stone temple. Lots of lumber lashed together. It's more like a wild
> mouse type of coaster except that it has banked turns and not the sharp
> 180 degree turns. It's not very fast...as we were riding it I thought:
> "There's no way we have enough speed to do a 360 degree loop!" But
> fortunately there was something that accelerated us just before the loop
> so we had enough momentum to make it.
>
> This was a very short ride - less than one and a half minutes. Not very
> impressive, definitely not worth a 160 minute wait! (Are you detecting
> a pattern here?)
> We hadn't been to the American Waterfront area yet so we walked there
> after lunch. There are multiple locales represented here. The first is
> Cape Cod, and it did look very similar except for the giant volcano
> behind it. :-)
>
> Cape Cod is the hometown of Duffy the Disney Bear. And Duffy is HUGE
> in Japan. I think he's more popular than Mickey Mouse! We saw lots of
> kids (male and female) carrying Duffy purses and Duffy popcorn buckets,
> and wearing Duffy ears, or carrying a backpack covered with small Duffy
> clip-ons in a variety of costumes. Oh, and then there were lots of
> people just carrying their Duffy bears around. (But who am I to talk -
> I carried Tigger with me on this trip!) There are multiple stores
> in BOTH Disney parks that are dedicated to Duffy merchandise. And not
> just Duffy merchandise, but his girlfriend as well - Shellie May. So of
> course there was a Duffy store in Cape Cod.
popular there.
>
> From that part of the park we could see over the "seawall", and we
> caught a glimpse of Mt. Fuji again. Still a very impressive sight.
>
> This brings us to just about noon - I think that's enough for Part 1.
>
> Next time: Tokyo DisneySea, Part 2 - Shows and Spectaculars
>
--
Steve
Rudeney
Apr 7, 2014, 5:32:35 PM4/7/14
to
On 4/7/2014 10:45 AM, Laura Gilbreath wrote:
>
> I mentioned before that it was term break for Japanese schools. I would
> say that 99% of the guests in Tokyo DisneySea were kids ages 13-25. Our
> group was by FAR the oldest in Tokyo DisneySea - I saw very few people over
> the age of 40. And there were also very few westerners - I think I saw
> maybe 25-30 the entire four days that we were in the Tokyo parks. We
> REALLY stood out. :-)
So were there more westerners in TDL, or was it more the age difference that
>
> I mentioned before that it was term break for Japanese schools. I would
> say that 99% of the guests in Tokyo DisneySea were kids ages 13-25. Our
> group was by FAR the oldest in Tokyo DisneySea - I saw very few people over
> the age of 40. And there were also very few westerners - I think I saw
> maybe 25-30 the entire four days that we were in the Tokyo parks. We
> REALLY stood out. :-)
made you feel more "special" at TDS?
> I found it interesting...we live in southern California where it's a pretty
> heterogeneous society - lots of Asians, Hispanics, and African-Americans.
> So when we're out and about we're used to seeing people of all different
> races and colors. The Asian parks didn't really seem strange to me, except
> for the language, but their population is much more homogeneous, so I could
> tell that we looked strange to them.
have heard that Japan is especially homogenous.
> We got lots of curious looks and lots
> of smiles. But they were much kinder and more patient with us than I think
> we Americans typically are to those here who are obviously foreign...I know
> I personally need to keep that in mind in the future...
need some help vs. a 2nd or even 3rd generation American who simply speaks a
different languages and behaves according to different cultures.
> It was a beautiful clear day - though still in the 40s. As we were
> traveling on the monorail I looked out the window and could see Mt Fuji off
> in the distance! All covered in snow, a HUGE mountain standing all by
> itself. That was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I did not
> realize until later how lucky we were to see it - it's not a common sight.
> It's about 70 miles away. That was an awesome moment.
Disney architecture! :-P
> We got to the TDS entrance about 7:20, and there were lots and lots of
> people already standing in lines to get in. We picked a line, and it just
> got longer behind us as we waited. They opened the turnstiles just a
> little bit early and started letting guests enter the park. They also do a
> bag check at the Tokyo parks, but they do it just before the turnstiles.
> And the security guards didn't do more than a cursory look at our bags -
> they just smiled and said: "Ohayou gozaimasu!"
> From the park entrance we walked past the big water/planet earth sculpture
> just inside the turnstiles and then under the Miracosta, past shops, and to
> the Mediterranean Harbor. Where we got our first real view of Mt.
> Prometheus. That thing is BIG! That's actually where we were headed
> first: to Mysterious Island to get a Fastpass for Journey to the Center of
> the Earth.
>
> Even though that area is just about at the center of the park, it felt like
> we walked for a long time before we got there. Google maps shows it as
> almost .4 miles from the turnstiles to the volcano, so that is a pretty
> good distance.
route. From the aerial views, there's a lot of water there - everything seems
to be an island.
> (And did you notice that our first attraction truly WAS an immersive
> one???)
> There was still a while until our Fastpass would be valid for Journey, so
> we went to Port Discovery to try StormRider. This area has kind of a
> steampunk look - futuristic, but not. There was only a 10 minute wait for
> StormRider, which is a simulator ride where we fly into a superstorm and
> deploy a "storm diffuser" that will break up the storm. The movement is
> similar to Star Tours but the simulator vehicles are quite a bit larger.
> And it rains inside - depending on where you sit you can get pretty wet.
> (We were in a relatively dry spot.) It was in Japanese, but we got the gist
> of it. (Inexperienced/inept pilot, wrong place at the wrong time, saves
> the day anyway.)
> The queue for Journey to the Center of the Earth goes down inside the
> mountain to the loading area for the mine vehicles, which hold six
> passengers, in three rows of two. We were in the back row, which are the
> worst seats. (In the Tokyo parks we either seemed to get the first row or
> the last row - perhaps because those were the ones easiest to point to?)
> The vehicles descend down through crystal caverns, past the strange
> creatures and plant life that live deep under the earth. Something goes
> wrong (doesn't it always?) and the car moves even deeper into the volcano,
> until it is suddenly propelled upward and bursts out near the top of the
> volcano, then descends in a roller coaster ride down the side of the
> mountain.
>
> The rest of our group had done this on Sunday, and had really liked it, so
> our expectations were pretty high. My reaction was: "That was it?" The
> roller coaster part was fun, but it was only about 15 seconds long. Since
> we were sitting in the back, we didn't have as good a view of the things in
> the caverns, either.
the Atlantis ride at Sea World - everyone had built it up to be this
spectacular experience. It was fun, but it was like a really cheap knock-off
of Splash Mt. with less rich theming.
> I definitely did not think it was worth the
> 160-minute wait time - I wouldn't have waited 20 minutes for it. But there
> were still plenty of kids getting into the standby line.
long. And then, think about all the other thing missed while in that queue.
> Outside the city walls and next to the water was Jasmine's Flying Carpets
> and something called Sindbad's Storybook Voyage, but the latter was not
> running (and it was down all day).
> It was a beautiful clear day but it was still cold, and THEY HAD HOT
> WINE!!! They also had "tacos". They were served with a side of French
> fries (really?)
> there was an upcharge for the wine, but
> that was fine. I had the shrimp salad taco and Lee had the teriyaki pork
> taco. They were a little unusual, but tasted good - mostly it was just a
> pretty small serving. With the wine and the fries it was 1290 yen - almost
> $13.
WDW (though I am not sure there is anything comparable to shrimp salad tacos,
french fries and hot wine at WDW).
--
- RODNEY
Next WDW Vacation?
Who knows!
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Rudeney
Apr 7, 2014, 5:42:48 PM4/7/14
to
On 4/7/2014 1:09 PM, Steve Russo wrote:
>
>>
>> I found it interesting...we live in southern California where it's
>> a pretty heterogeneous society - lots of Asians, Hispanics, and
>> African-Americans. So when we're out and about we're used to seeing
>> people of all different races and colors. The Asian parks didn't
>> really seem strange to me, except for the language, but their
>> population is much more homogeneous, so I could tell that we looked
>> strange to them. We got lots of curious looks and lots of smiles.
>> But they were much kinder and more patient with us than I think we
>> Americans typically are to those here who are obviously foreign...I
>> know I personally need to keep that in mind in the future...
>
> We're less tolerant because we understand that foreigners are terrible
> drivers ;-)
Ooooh! You're gonna catch Hell for that one, Steve! :-) I once worked with
>
>>
>> I found it interesting...we live in southern California where it's
>> a pretty heterogeneous society - lots of Asians, Hispanics, and
>> African-Americans. So when we're out and about we're used to seeing
>> people of all different races and colors. The Asian parks didn't
>> really seem strange to me, except for the language, but their
>> population is much more homogeneous, so I could tell that we looked
>> strange to them. We got lots of curious looks and lots of smiles.
>> But they were much kinder and more patient with us than I think we
>> Americans typically are to those here who are obviously foreign...I
>> know I personally need to keep that in mind in the future...
>
> We're less tolerant because we understand that foreigners are terrible
> drivers ;-)
a guy who had moved his family here from China. He was very smart, and had a
great sens of humor, and loved to talk about his experiences here as an
immigrant. He said he realized that there is a stereotype about Chinese
people being bad drivers. He said it's not a stereotype, but a fact. The
reason, though, is because many of them don't have the experience we do, not
just in driving behind the wheel, but even being in and around automobiles.
He came from a small farming and fishing village where they just didn't have
many cars at all. So when he moved here in his 30's, he had never driven.
And he really had no one to teach him, as would a typical American teenager
with a learner's permit. So, that made sense to me, but then my question to
him was, "Well, Min, you've been here almost 10 years now, so why are you
still such a bad driver?" ;-)
>> (And did you notice that our first attraction truly WAS an immersive
>> one???)
>
> Sensing a theme here...
>> Cape Cod is the hometown of Duffy the Disney Bear. And Duffy is HUGE
>> in Japan. I think he's more popular than Mickey Mouse! We saw lots of
>> kids (male and female) carrying Duffy purses and Duffy popcorn buckets,
>> and wearing Duffy ears, or carrying a backpack covered with small Duffy
>> clip-ons in a variety of costumes. Oh, and then there were lots of
>> people just carrying their Duffy bears around. (But who am I to talk -
>> I carried Tigger with me on this trip!) There are multiple stores
>> in BOTH Disney parks that are dedicated to Duffy merchandise. And not
>> just Duffy merchandise, but his girlfriend as well - Shellie May. So of
>> course there was a Duffy store in Cape Cod.
>
> I'd heard this before but I'm still stunned as to "Why" Duffy is so
> popular there.
of is that Duffy is far more cute and cuddly looking that Mickey Mouse. The
dolls are very soft and childishly sweet looking.
Steve Russo
Apr 8, 2014, 8:50:12 AM4/8/14
to
In my last gig before retirement, I worked in IT with a ton of Indian
developers. The majority were green cards and here in the USA for the
first time. I got to hear many stories involving their culture and the
differences here.
One developer, Srinivas, told me he came to the USA, with his wife and 2
children in January. They saw many, many TV adds for the Super Bowl and
one, in particular, depicted Ed McMahon coming to your home and
delivering a check on Super Sunday. They took this as everyone in
America received a check on this day.
On Super Sunday, his wife cooked a ton of food for the expected visitors
and the whole family dressed in their Sunday best for the TV cameras and
they waited... and waited... and...
--
Steve
Lisa Cubbon
Apr 8, 2014, 12:03:51 PM4/8/14
to
Lisa
Laura Gilbreath
Apr 8, 2014, 6:53:24 PM4/8/14
to
In article <lhupk9$qvt$1...@speranza.aioe.org>,
we hit it during their vacation, and even in TDL most of the people in
the parks were teenagers.
>> Once we entered the park, the kids were RUNNING to get to wherever they
>> were trying to go. So we ran a little, too, until we got to cast
>> members who were telling people to stop running. We did, but most of
>> the kids didn't. :-)
>
>And up until this point, the Japanese had been so compliant!
Very true. :-)
>> Even though that area is just about at the center of the park, it felt
>> like we walked for a long time before we got there. Google maps shows
>> it as almost .4 miles from the turnstiles to the volcano, so that is a
>> pretty good distance.
>
>Guessing... Epcot entrance to Mexico?
Yes, about that distance.
>> There was still a while until our Fastpass would be valid for Journey,
>> so we went to Port Discovery to try StormRider. This area has kind of
>> a steampunk look - futuristic, but not. There was only a 10 minute
>> wait for StormRider, which is a simulator ride where we fly into a
>> superstorm and deploy a "storm diffuser" that will break up the storm.
>> The movement is similar to Star Tours but the simulator vehicles
>> are quite a bit larger. And it rains inside - depending on where
>> you sit you can get pretty wet. (We were in a relatively dry spot.)
>> It was in Japanese, but we got the gist of it. (Inexperienced/inept
>> pilot, wrong place at the wrong time, saves the day anyway.)
>
>I thought I had heard that part of the "show" is visible through windows
>on the sides of the simulator, or am I thinking of something else?
No, nothing but the entry/exit doors on the sides.
>> Cape Cod is the hometown of Duffy the Disney Bear. And Duffy is HUGE
>> in Japan. I think he's more popular than Mickey Mouse! We saw lots of
>> kids (male and female) carrying Duffy purses and Duffy popcorn buckets,
>> and wearing Duffy ears, or carrying a backpack covered with small Duffy
>> clip-ons in a variety of costumes. Oh, and then there were lots of
>> people just carrying their Duffy bears around. (But who am I to talk -
>> I carried Tigger with me on this trip!) There are multiple stores
>> in BOTH Disney parks that are dedicated to Duffy merchandise. And not
>> just Duffy merchandise, but his girlfriend as well - Shellie May. So of
>> course there was a Duffy store in Cape Cod.
>
>I'd heard this before but I'm still stunned as to "Why" Duffy is so
>popular there.
As are many of the rest of us...I just do not get the appeal. But I'm
not Japanese. Disney is laughing all the way to the bank, though. They
are making piles of money. Though it might be Oriental Land Company
(who owns the Tokyo Disney Resort) that's making most of the money.
>Enjoying this, Laura.
Thank you, Steve.
Steve Russo <sru...@nycap.rr.com> wrote:
>On 4/7/2014 11:45 AM, Laura Gilbreath wrote:
>>
>> I mentioned before that it was term break for Japanese schools. I would
>> say that 99% of the guests in Tokyo DisneySea were kids ages 13-25.
>> Our group was by FAR the oldest in Tokyo DisneySea - I saw very
>> few people over the age of 40. And there were also very few
>> westerners - I think I saw maybe 25-30 the entire four days that
>> we were in the Tokyo parks. We REALLY stood out. :-)
>
>Hmmm. That sounds strange for an "adult" park. Any idea why there were
>so few over 40?
Thrill rides. Or what passes for thrill rides, at least...And remember,
>On 4/7/2014 11:45 AM, Laura Gilbreath wrote:
>>
>> I mentioned before that it was term break for Japanese schools. I would
>> say that 99% of the guests in Tokyo DisneySea were kids ages 13-25.
>> Our group was by FAR the oldest in Tokyo DisneySea - I saw very
>> few people over the age of 40. And there were also very few
>> westerners - I think I saw maybe 25-30 the entire four days that
>> we were in the Tokyo parks. We REALLY stood out. :-)
>
>Hmmm. That sounds strange for an "adult" park. Any idea why there were
>so few over 40?
we hit it during their vacation, and even in TDL most of the people in
the parks were teenagers.
>> Once we entered the park, the kids were RUNNING to get to wherever they
>> were trying to go. So we ran a little, too, until we got to cast
>> members who were telling people to stop running. We did, but most of
>> the kids didn't. :-)
>
>And up until this point, the Japanese had been so compliant!
>> Even though that area is just about at the center of the park, it felt
>> like we walked for a long time before we got there. Google maps shows
>> it as almost .4 miles from the turnstiles to the volcano, so that is a
>> pretty good distance.
>
>Guessing... Epcot entrance to Mexico?
>> There was still a while until our Fastpass would be valid for Journey,
>> so we went to Port Discovery to try StormRider. This area has kind of
>> a steampunk look - futuristic, but not. There was only a 10 minute
>> wait for StormRider, which is a simulator ride where we fly into a
>> superstorm and deploy a "storm diffuser" that will break up the storm.
>> The movement is similar to Star Tours but the simulator vehicles
>> are quite a bit larger. And it rains inside - depending on where
>> you sit you can get pretty wet. (We were in a relatively dry spot.)
>> It was in Japanese, but we got the gist of it. (Inexperienced/inept
>> pilot, wrong place at the wrong time, saves the day anyway.)
>
>I thought I had heard that part of the "show" is visible through windows
>on the sides of the simulator, or am I thinking of something else?
>> Cape Cod is the hometown of Duffy the Disney Bear. And Duffy is HUGE
>> in Japan. I think he's more popular than Mickey Mouse! We saw lots of
>> kids (male and female) carrying Duffy purses and Duffy popcorn buckets,
>> and wearing Duffy ears, or carrying a backpack covered with small Duffy
>> clip-ons in a variety of costumes. Oh, and then there were lots of
>> people just carrying their Duffy bears around. (But who am I to talk -
>> I carried Tigger with me on this trip!) There are multiple stores
>> in BOTH Disney parks that are dedicated to Duffy merchandise. And not
>> just Duffy merchandise, but his girlfriend as well - Shellie May. So of
>> course there was a Duffy store in Cape Cod.
>
>I'd heard this before but I'm still stunned as to "Why" Duffy is so
>popular there.
not Japanese. Disney is laughing all the way to the bank, though. They
are making piles of money. Though it might be Oriental Land Company
(who owns the Tokyo Disney Resort) that's making most of the money.
>Enjoying this, Laura.
Thank you, Steve.
Laura Gilbreath
Apr 8, 2014, 7:16:31 PM4/8/14
to
In article <lhv5ga$rog$1...@speranza.aioe.org>,
see many westerners in either park. Like I said - 25-30 total across
BOTH parks in the four days we were in the parks.
>> I found it interesting...we live in southern California where it's a pretty
>> heterogeneous society - lots of Asians, Hispanics, and African-Americans.
>> So when we're out and about we're used to seeing people of all different
>> races and colors. The Asian parks didn't really seem strange to me, except
>> for the language, but their population is much more homogeneous, so I could
>> tell that we looked strange to them.
>
>Actually, this seems to be the case in many places around the world, but i
>have heard that Japan is especially homogenous.
That was our experience - the most westerners we saw the entire two
weeks we were gone were at the Narita airport in the boarding area for
our flight to Hawaii!
>> It was a beautiful clear day - though still in the 40s. As we were
>> traveling on the monorail I looked out the window and could see Mt Fuji off
>> in the distance! All covered in snow, a HUGE mountain standing all by
>> itself. That was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I did not
>> realize until later how lucky we were to see it - it's not a common sight.
>> It's about 70 miles away. That was an awesome moment.
>
>
>Oh, so that was the *real* Mt. Fuji? I assumed you were talking about some
>Disney architecture! :-P
The real deal!
>> And the security guards didn't do more than a cursory look at our bags -
>> they just smiled and said: "Ohayou gozaimasu!"
>
>I think that means, "Halt you filthy terrorist!"
Now, now, remember this is Japan...it means: "Excuse me...halt you filthy
terrorist if you please."
>> deploy a "storm diffuser" that will break up the storm. The movement is
>> similar to Star Tours but the simulator vehicles are quite a bit larger.
>> And it rains inside - depending on where you sit you can get pretty wet.
>> (We were in a relatively dry spot.) It was in Japanese, but we got the gist
>> of it. (Inexperienced/inept pilot, wrong place at the wrong time, saves
>> the day anyway.)
>
>
>In other words, Star Tours. But with water.
Exactly. And no C-3PO or R2-D2 - our pilot was just a voice.
>> our expectations were pretty high. My reaction was: "That was it?" The
>> roller coaster part was fun, but it was only about 15 seconds long. Since
>> we were sitting in the back, we didn't have as good a view of the things in
>> the caverns, either.
>
>
>Not the same theme, but that reaction sort of reminds me of how I felt about
>the Atlantis ride at Sea World - everyone had built it up to be this
>spectacular experience. It was fun, but it was like a really cheap knock-off
>of Splash Mt. with less rich theming.
Oh, the theming was great...but I expected something state-of-the-art
for the attraction itself.
>> I definitely did not think it was worth the
>> 160-minute wait time - I wouldn't have waited 20 minutes for it. But there
>> were still plenty of kids getting into the standby line.
>
>Ouch! I would have to be on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to TDS to wait that
>long. And then, think about all the other thing missed while in that queue.
Actually, for many people this IS a once-in-a-lifetime kind of
experience. People generally visit for 2-3 days at the most - that's one
reason they don't offer a park pass of more than four days! People were
amazed when we told them we were staying in the hotel for 5 nights.
But I was told that the Japanese will see a line and get in it, even if
they aren't quite sure what it's for. So maybe we saw a lot of that?
>> Outside the city walls and next to the water was Jasmine's Flying Carpets
>> and something called Sindbad's Storybook Voyage, but the latter was not
>> running (and it was down all day).
>
>That must be the TDS version of Test Track. :-P
Actually Journey to the Center of the Earth was more the TDS version of
Test Track. We'll get to Sindbad whenever I get around to writing about
Wednesday.
>Actually not a bad price. Probably less expensive than a comparable meal at
>WDW (though I am not sure there is anything comparable to shrimp salad tacos,
>french fries and hot wine at WDW).
The Food and Wine Festival. :-) The taco was slightly larger than a
Festival taco would be, though.
Rudeney <rud...@mickeypics.com> wrote:
>On 4/7/2014 10:45 AM, Laura Gilbreath wrote:
>>
>> I mentioned before that it was term break for Japanese schools. I would
>> say that 99% of the guests in Tokyo DisneySea were kids ages 13-25. Our
>> group was by FAR the oldest in Tokyo DisneySea - I saw very few people over
>> the age of 40. And there were also very few westerners - I think I saw
>> maybe 25-30 the entire four days that we were in the Tokyo parks. We
>> REALLY stood out. :-)
>
>
>So were there more westerners in TDL, or was it more the age difference that
>made you feel more "special" at TDS?
TDL had more families and a few more older people than TDS. We didn't
>On 4/7/2014 10:45 AM, Laura Gilbreath wrote:
>>
>> I mentioned before that it was term break for Japanese schools. I would
>> say that 99% of the guests in Tokyo DisneySea were kids ages 13-25. Our
>> group was by FAR the oldest in Tokyo DisneySea - I saw very few people over
>> the age of 40. And there were also very few westerners - I think I saw
>> maybe 25-30 the entire four days that we were in the Tokyo parks. We
>> REALLY stood out. :-)
>
>
>So were there more westerners in TDL, or was it more the age difference that
>made you feel more "special" at TDS?
see many westerners in either park. Like I said - 25-30 total across
BOTH parks in the four days we were in the parks.
>> I found it interesting...we live in southern California where it's a pretty
>> heterogeneous society - lots of Asians, Hispanics, and African-Americans.
>> So when we're out and about we're used to seeing people of all different
>> races and colors. The Asian parks didn't really seem strange to me, except
>> for the language, but their population is much more homogeneous, so I could
>> tell that we looked strange to them.
>
>Actually, this seems to be the case in many places around the world, but i
>have heard that Japan is especially homogenous.
weeks we were gone were at the Narita airport in the boarding area for
our flight to Hawaii!
>> It was a beautiful clear day - though still in the 40s. As we were
>> traveling on the monorail I looked out the window and could see Mt Fuji off
>> in the distance! All covered in snow, a HUGE mountain standing all by
>> itself. That was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I did not
>> realize until later how lucky we were to see it - it's not a common sight.
>> It's about 70 miles away. That was an awesome moment.
>
>
>Oh, so that was the *real* Mt. Fuji? I assumed you were talking about some
>Disney architecture! :-P
>> And the security guards didn't do more than a cursory look at our bags -
>> they just smiled and said: "Ohayou gozaimasu!"
>
>I think that means, "Halt you filthy terrorist!"
terrorist if you please."
>> deploy a "storm diffuser" that will break up the storm. The movement is
>> similar to Star Tours but the simulator vehicles are quite a bit larger.
>> And it rains inside - depending on where you sit you can get pretty wet.
>> (We were in a relatively dry spot.) It was in Japanese, but we got the gist
>> of it. (Inexperienced/inept pilot, wrong place at the wrong time, saves
>> the day anyway.)
>
>
>In other words, Star Tours. But with water.
>> our expectations were pretty high. My reaction was: "That was it?" The
>> roller coaster part was fun, but it was only about 15 seconds long. Since
>> we were sitting in the back, we didn't have as good a view of the things in
>> the caverns, either.
>
>
>Not the same theme, but that reaction sort of reminds me of how I felt about
>the Atlantis ride at Sea World - everyone had built it up to be this
>spectacular experience. It was fun, but it was like a really cheap knock-off
>of Splash Mt. with less rich theming.
for the attraction itself.
>> I definitely did not think it was worth the
>> 160-minute wait time - I wouldn't have waited 20 minutes for it. But there
>> were still plenty of kids getting into the standby line.
>
>Ouch! I would have to be on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to TDS to wait that
>long. And then, think about all the other thing missed while in that queue.
experience. People generally visit for 2-3 days at the most - that's one
reason they don't offer a park pass of more than four days! People were
amazed when we told them we were staying in the hotel for 5 nights.
But I was told that the Japanese will see a line and get in it, even if
they aren't quite sure what it's for. So maybe we saw a lot of that?
>> Outside the city walls and next to the water was Jasmine's Flying Carpets
>> and something called Sindbad's Storybook Voyage, but the latter was not
>> running (and it was down all day).
>
>That must be the TDS version of Test Track. :-P
Test Track. We'll get to Sindbad whenever I get around to writing about
Wednesday.
>Actually not a bad price. Probably less expensive than a comparable meal at
>WDW (though I am not sure there is anything comparable to shrimp salad tacos,
>french fries and hot wine at WDW).
Festival taco would be, though.
Rudeney
Apr 9, 2014, 11:27:38 AM4/9/14
to
On 4/8/2014 7:50 AM, Steve Russo wrote:
>
> This is waaaaay OT here but it's one of the best foreigner stories ever.
> In my last gig before retirement, I worked in IT with a ton of Indian
> developers. The majority were green cards and here in the USA for the
> first time. I got to hear many stories involving their culture and the
> differences here.
>
> One developer, Srinivas, told me he came to the USA, with his wife and 2
> children in January. They saw many, many TV adds for the Super Bowl and
> one, in particular, depicted Ed McMahon coming to your home and
> delivering a check on Super Sunday. They took this as everyone in
> America received a check on this day.
>
> On Super Sunday, his wife cooked a ton of food for the expected visitors
> and the whole family dressed in their Sunday best for the TV cameras and
> they waited... and waited... and...
On the one hand, that's so sad, and I feel so bad for their disappointment.
>
> This is waaaaay OT here but it's one of the best foreigner stories ever.
> In my last gig before retirement, I worked in IT with a ton of Indian
> developers. The majority were green cards and here in the USA for the
> first time. I got to hear many stories involving their culture and the
> differences here.
>
> One developer, Srinivas, told me he came to the USA, with his wife and 2
> children in January. They saw many, many TV adds for the Super Bowl and
> one, in particular, depicted Ed McMahon coming to your home and
> delivering a check on Super Sunday. They took this as everyone in
> America received a check on this day.
>
> On Super Sunday, his wife cooked a ton of food for the expected visitors
> and the whole family dressed in their Sunday best for the TV cameras and
> they waited... and waited... and...
On the other hand, is this really who you want developing your software? He
actually thought that every American was getting all that money every year for
life, so why would we even be working?
Steve Russo
Apr 10, 2014, 7:32:05 AM4/10/14
to
On 4/9/2014 11:27 AM, Rudeney wrote:
> On 4/8/2014 7:50 AM, Steve Russo wrote:
>>
>> This is waaaaay OT here but it's one of the best foreigner stories ever.
>> In my last gig before retirement, I worked in IT with a ton of Indian
>> developers. The majority were green cards and here in the USA for the
>> first time. I got to hear many stories involving their culture and the
>> differences here.
>>
>> One developer, Srinivas, told me he came to the USA, with his wife and 2
>> children in January. They saw many, many TV adds for the Super Bowl and
>> one, in particular, depicted Ed McMahon coming to your home and
>> delivering a check on Super Sunday. They took this as everyone in
>> America received a check on this day.
>>
>> On Super Sunday, his wife cooked a ton of food for the expected visitors
>> and the whole family dressed in their Sunday best for the TV cameras and
>> they waited... and waited... and...
>
>
> On the one hand, that's so sad, and I feel so bad for their disappointment.
> On the other hand, is this really who you want developing your software? He
> actually thought that every American was getting all that money every year for
> life, so why would we even be working?
>
>
I agree it's sad but I had a difficult time keeping a straight face when
> On 4/8/2014 7:50 AM, Steve Russo wrote:
>>
>> This is waaaaay OT here but it's one of the best foreigner stories ever.
>> In my last gig before retirement, I worked in IT with a ton of Indian
>> developers. The majority were green cards and here in the USA for the
>> first time. I got to hear many stories involving their culture and the
>> differences here.
>>
>> One developer, Srinivas, told me he came to the USA, with his wife and 2
>> children in January. They saw many, many TV adds for the Super Bowl and
>> one, in particular, depicted Ed McMahon coming to your home and
>> delivering a check on Super Sunday. They took this as everyone in
>> America received a check on this day.
>>
>> On Super Sunday, his wife cooked a ton of food for the expected visitors
>> and the whole family dressed in their Sunday best for the TV cameras and
>> they waited... and waited... and...
>
>
> On the one hand, that's so sad, and I feel so bad for their disappointment.
> On the other hand, is this really who you want developing your software? He
> actually thought that every American was getting all that money every year for
> life, so why would we even be working?
>
>
he told the story. He did tell it with self-deprecating humor and a
"man, were we gullible" vibe. As a developer, he was no better or worse
than his peers.
I enjoyed hearing first-hand from these folks about the many cultural
differences. To this day, I'm still in shock at some of the "traditions"
surrounding the arranged marriages and (gasp) the wedding night...
--
Steve
Patty Winter
Apr 10, 2014, 11:43:20 AM4/10/14
to
In article <lhuh79$5im$1...@reader1.panix.com>,
Laura Gilbreath <lg...@REMOVETHISlgil.net> wrote:
>
>We were able to get a FP with a return time about an hour away. In the
>meantime, there was NO line for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - in fact,
>we walked right into a sub! No stairs to climb down to get into these -
>you enter from doors on the side.
Okay, hang on: the deal at Disneyland is that the subs never change
>
>We were able to get a FP with a return time about an hour away. In the
>meantime, there was NO line for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - in fact,
>we walked right into a sub! No stairs to climb down to get into these -
>you enter from doors on the side.
their elevation in relation to the water; you have to climb down
stairs because that's how you get underwater. If these subs have
side entrances, how do you end up seeing water out the windows?
Patty
Caren
Apr 11, 2014, 6:00:27 PM4/11/14
to
On Tuesday, April 8, 2014 7:16:31 PM UTC-4, Laura Gilbreath wrote:
(snip)
--
Caren
TDC Queen of Adventureland
(snip)
>
> TDL had more families and a few more older people than TDS. We didn't
>
> see many westerners in either park. Like I said - 25-30 total across
>
> BOTH parks in the four days we were in the parks.
>
There are very few westerners, not only in the Disney parks but in Tokyo generally, to the point where you really notice when you spot a westerner. I've counted a couple of times in the parks and usually come up with a number like eleven.
> TDL had more families and a few more older people than TDS. We didn't
>
> see many westerners in either park. Like I said - 25-30 total across
>
> BOTH parks in the four days we were in the parks.
>
--
Caren
TDC Queen of Adventureland
Laura Gilbreath
Apr 12, 2014, 9:34:53 PM4/12/14
to
In article <5346bc18$0$52780$742e...@news.sonic.net>,
I really didn't think about it...but I checked the Disney Wiki site and
it says: "The ride vehicles are suspended from an overhead track and
do not actually travel underwater. The double pane glass dome windows,
contain the water and the bubbles to create the illusion of the
submarines diving deep into the ocean."
It looked pretty good.
it says: "The ride vehicles are suspended from an overhead track and
do not actually travel underwater. The double pane glass dome windows,
contain the water and the bubbles to create the illusion of the
submarines diving deep into the ocean."
It looked pretty good.
Patty Winter
Apr 13, 2014, 1:24:17 AM4/13/14
to
In article <licpjs$i3j$1...@reader1.panix.com>,
Laura Gilbreath <lg...@REMOVETHISlgil.net> wrote:
>
>I really didn't think about it...but I checked the Disney Wiki site and
>it says: "The ride vehicles are suspended from an overhead track and
>do not actually travel underwater. The double pane glass dome windows,
>contain the water and the bubbles to create the illusion of the
>submarines diving deep into the ocean."
Huh, interesting. Is it a "Finding Nemo" storyline or a Jules Verne-
>
>I really didn't think about it...but I checked the Disney Wiki site and
>it says: "The ride vehicles are suspended from an overhead track and
>do not actually travel underwater. The double pane glass dome windows,
>contain the water and the bubbles to create the illusion of the
>submarines diving deep into the ocean."
themed story?
Patty
Laura Gilbreath
Apr 15, 2014, 7:36:22 PM4/15/14
to
In article <534a1f81$0$52748$742e...@news.sonic.net>,
"Finding Captain Nemo", maybe. :-) The whole area is a Jules Verne
them, we assume the attraction was, but since we couldn't understand the
dialog, we're not sure.
them, we assume the attraction was, but since we couldn't understand the
dialog, we're not sure.
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