Originally Posted By Supermatt70 Well, yesterday was my first day off since being back in the US from my trip. As a lot of you know, the parks have been SUPER busy for Spring Break. I got back Sunday night, April 5th and went back to work, out on tour, Monday morning April 6th. Yeah, I had jetlag pretty bad at work. So, with that said, I really haven’t had a lot of time to let you guys know about my trip. That changes today… Instead of a day-by-day trip report, I thought I’d share with you my thoughts about the trip, TDR specifically. I hope that’s OK…I talk A LOT BTW… Let me start by saying what a great time we had!! The FedEx accident caused a delay for us, but we made it there & back safe. Japan is soooo different from America. I loved Japan! Not like I love France, but instead, like I love Mars. You know, I’d love to live in France but I’d love to visit Mars whenever I could…It’d be astounding to visit Mars and it was astounding visiting Tokyo. I hope that makes sense…it does in my world. Some random non-Disney thoughts about Tokyo: Soba is AWESOME! I like trains! Kamakura could be my very favorite Martian town! I’d have parties too if I had cherry blossoms! Vending machines will one day rise up and enslave Mars! We spent 12 nights in Tokyo and out of that were 4 days & 1 night (on the night we arrived, I schlepped us out there) spent at TDR. So, I think we got a good feel for Mars… Now, the stuff you’re waiting for…
Originally Posted By Supermatt70 Tokyo Disney Resort: I guess I should start by saying that I now believe differently than I once did. Tokyo Disney Resort is NOT a perfect Disney Nirvana! I now realize that there is no such thing as a perfect Disney park or perfect Disney experience. Don’t get the wrong impression here though, please. There were NUMEROUS times I was awe struck by things at TDR. I saw things that I will NEVER again see at a Disney park unless I go back to TDR (and I’m not even talking about Journey to the Center of the Earth). Everything was open! Everything was clean! Everything was well staffed! Everything worked! WOW! It could have been Nirvana! As a WDW CM for many years, I have been taught to accept less. As WDW visitors, we’ve all been taught to endure less! Less open, less clean, less staff, less working!! I came away from TDR with two resolute beliefs. One was that at TDR, more was definitely better!! More of EVERYTHING! Tokyo Disney Resort could be re-named Over-the-Top Disney Resort! More! Just more! I can’t stress it enough; if there is something you like at Disneyland or WDW, TDR has more of it! And of course, more people! WOW! There are more people here than the Western mind can understand! Look, I’ve been at Magic Kingdom on holiday “Phase” days. I just worked a week of it while on tour. But, DAMN! Of my four days at TDR, 3 were “sell out” days. I’ve NEVER seen 2 ½ hour waits at MK Haunted Mansion (I waited 2). Indy Adventure had a posted wait time that I didn’t even know existed: 320 Minutes. What the hell is that?? Like 5 hours & 20 minutes? Really? And before we start with the “at Disneyland the line started in Town Square when it opened” business, I just think that it’s pretty bad that you’d have to wait 5 hours for anything in a Disney park. That’s half your day for one thing. (My ass got Fastpass for Indy BTW.) Let me just say again, it was busy at TDR! But, with all of that said, we did everything we wanted to do at the parks. So, I don’t know if that’s because I know what I’m doing or if it’s because Oriental Land Company (OLC) knows what their doing or a combo of the two. I must say though what we ALL here know; Disney parks favor those that plan! Tokyo Disneyland in particular, seems to give advantages to seasoned veterans over first time “clueless” visitors. Those with a plan of attack seemed to succeed better. But that goes for ANY Disney resort…plan, plan and also…oh yeah, plan!!!
Originally Posted By Supermatt70 Tokyo Disneyland: We spent our first two days doing TDL, Thursday & Friday. On both days we arrived at the park entrance a half an hour early. Big crowds and a buzz in the air…it was a nice feeling. Once the gates opened, on time (no early entry/rope drop here) the crowds moved. And I do mean they moved! I’m old school and still believe that the Disney Keys: Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency are important! Inside TDL everyone RUNS to his or her destination. This “open dash” was very unpleasant. We actually felt unsafe in World Bazaar with the massive crowds and the running. We saw people fall, kids pushed, it was precarious. We saw people running not just at opening, but all day & at both parks, but it was worst at opening. It did bother me…Safety is the top key in the keys to Disney theme park success. This running would never be tolerated at a Disney operated park I feel and even if it is a cultural phenomenon, when children are pushed, it ceases to be a Disney environment. With that out of the way… WOW! That view from World Bazaar out towards the colossal hub…SPECTACTULAR! The flowers here are like I remember as a kid! Flowers EVERYWHERE!! The Hub was SO beautiful! I later saw it wasn’t just the Hub, but both parks were remarkable with the flowers and gardens. (And it wasn’t even a Festival!) Taken as a whole, we liked Tokyo Disneyland a lot! Disneyland USA will ALWAYS be my favorite place in the world, but Tokyo Disneyland has a lot of things going for it that Magic Kingdom & Disneyland Paris fail at. There were so many things that I loved, far out numbering the things that I thought were off (such as the running at park opening). Some of my thoughts… World Bazaar was nice. It did not feel like Main Street USA, but it was also not as mall like as I feared. It worked for me. I liked the Center Street exits to Adventureland & Tomorrowland. It had a terrific Magic Shop with CMs doing tricks for Guests! Real dining locations were there. And the balloon vendors!! I’m smiling just thinking about the balloon vendors right now! The balloons were super cool and the Cast costumes were super vintage! I LOVED IT! I liked World Bazaar! Adventureland was strange to me. A very good replica of New Orleans Square was right next to Magic Kingdom’s Adventureland. And was that the entrance to Typhoon Lagoon? I swear it was! Things we did: Pirates - - What everyone knows…better than MK but not as great as Disneyland USA. It was nice to see pirates chase women though… Jungle Cruise - - I feel the same way that I do with Pirates, better than MK but not as great as Disneyland USA. Everyone was laughing though and not looking bored, that was good. My Japanese friend that joined us at Disneyland told me the Skipper was funny. Western River Railroad - - EXCELLENT! Completely enjoyed this!! This was a BONA FIDE attraction! Tiki Room: Aloha E Komo Mai - - A big surprise for us! I don’t like Stitch & I adore the original attraction. I came in expecting a ghastly cross between MK’s Under New Mgnt & Great Escape. What I got a very enjoyable attraction. I liked the use of Stitch in this attraction. I liked the music featured in the attraction. I guess I liked this attraction is what I’m trying to say. I would LOVE to see this replace the two dreadful MK attractions. The only pauses I had here were, I would have liked to hear the original song in the attraction and it ended so abruptly. Fix those two things & I can’t stress enough how much of a winner I think this would be!! Leave it to the Japanese to show me something I would in fact like with that Stitch creature! Westernland/Critter Country was a really nice version of MK Frontierland. REALLY NICE! I appreciated the placement of Big Thunder Mtn. as the backdrop for Westernland and Splash Mtn./Critter Country as the departure into Fantasyland. There was a genuine kinetic energy to the land in the way it flowed. While all of the lands at TDL are basically reproductions of MK or Disneyland USA areas, I think that Westernland was the best done of the lands at TDL. Adventureland was just too slapdash. Things we did: Big Thunder Mtn. - - Lots of fun. We did it around dusk (as a good Disney Guide would) and the lighting was great! Again, better than MK but here Disneyland Paris is, as we know, superior. Only negative here was the outside visual intrusions that really can’t be helped. BTW We Fastpass’d on this. Country Bear Theater - - Do you think anybody that runs the MK knows TDL exists? WOW! It was like this attraction just opened yesterday! I’ve loved Country Bears since I was a kid and it’s something I almost always do at MK, even with my tours. I’ve NEVER seen the attraction in this way. NEVER! It looked & sounded so first-class!! We could hear & understand the lyrics; there were no loud noises from the AA figures distracting you from the illusion; it was nothing short of incredible to see such an old “tired” friend look so bright and fresh! I can’t even start to tell you how much this hit me. While I have some issues with TDR that I’ll highlight throughout my reports, Country Bear Theater/Jamboree is why everyone talks about how amazing TDR is in my mind. I don’t think it’s an undercount to say I’ve seen the Jamboree 500 plus times, but I’ve NEVER seen it the way I saw it at Tokyo Disneyland! Just remarkable! Splash Mtn. - - This was the first attraction we did, after we got our Pooh Fastpasses. Man, where to even start?! Just like Country Bears, this was again like doing something for the first time! That inside queue with the caves and a river and super cute country owl, totally wonderful! No stinky smells at all! No mold anywhere to be seen! Wait! There are lap bars & cushions in the logs? NO WAY! To say we were blown away by Splash Mountain would an understatement. It was like we had entered into some crazy “bizarre-o” universe where things were the same yet, they were so much better and I was from the bad universe! I could keep going on repeating myself…Hands down, this was the best Splash Mountain! I wonder at what point Japanese Guests at the Magic Kingdom realize they’ve entered the bad universe? Fantasyland was also strange to me. So much money was spent on so many other areas and things at TDR but here was that 1950’s looking Dumbo screamin’ out “look at me, I’m old as hell!” In fact, much of Fantasyland looked old, even older than Magic Kingdom. None of the nice planters had been built around the carrousel or teacups. Areas of the ground, the concrete, looked really bad and in need of repair. The paint on the roof of the teacups was like Magic Kingdom faded. Just some areas here really needed some work…then BAM! Right in the middle of all this Tokyo Disneyland is not flawless stuff I’m seeing one of the greatest themed areas I’ve ever been lucky enough to visit: Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall (more on this later). Things we did: Haunted Mansion - - It was so nice to see the old sinister portraits watching me again!! I really like this Haunted Mansion on the outside. We waited 2 hours to get in so we had a little time in the queue to really drink in the great atmosphere here, really well done. For the most part, it’s the same as the pre-update MK version with minor differences. A double foyer was nice & something I wish the Magic Kingdom had. The stretch portraits were a little more cartoon like and it didn’t work as well I felt. The library differences were enjoyable. It’s a draw here…all Haunted Mansions are great! It’s a small world - - A little Disneyland USA on the outside, a lot Magic Kingdom on the inside. I liked the colors; they “popped” against the gray Tokyo Sky. The outside is far superior to Magic Kingdom but I prefer the original. (Yes, even with the characters.) The Mickey Mouse Revue - - I hate that this is going away. I remember it so much as a kid. True, it is dated, but I just enjoyed it so much. But, if it were still at the Magic Kingdom how would I feel? It’s old-fashioned and passé. And I know I would use it as an example of how out-of-touch MK leaders are. So, I’m glad I got to see it one last time. Pooh’s Hunny Hunt - - OK…here goes…WTF happened when these Pooh rides in the States were being built?!?!?! Honestly! Please, someone tell me what happened? I’d been told about it. I’ve read about it. I saw Youtube videos of it. Nothing prepared me for the happiness that is Pooh’s Hunny Hunt! I don’t even know where to begin! This ride is WONDERFUL! No painted plywood flats here; Real AA figures; Full sets; Ridiculous special effects. Perfect example of the TDR “more” that I was talking about. This attraction is MORE! This is the ride I always thought Disney rides were like. When I went on Indy Adventure at Disneyland for the first time, when I rode the new Space Mountain, nothing made me smile like Hunny Hunt did! I don’t even like Pooh, but the playfulness of this attraction is infectious! You exit not really knowing what just happened but wanting to do it all over again. We rode twice, both times with Fastpasses. This is one great attraction!! (And I don’t even think it’s the best at TDR!) Toontown was well, Toontown. Didn’t ride Roger Rabbit or really spend much time here. Looked around, saw it was Toontown and went on. It was nice to see the Jolly Trolley although I now understand it’s gone. Hope they bring it out for photos like Disneyland USA. One thing about here, the entrance area was not as impressive as Disneyland USA. A little small and lackluster but still better than the painted wood sign at the Magic Kingdom, right?! Tomorrowland was a lot like Fantasyland: old & in need of attention! We did not do MicroAdventure (I skip it even when I’m being paid to see it) nor did we do Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters (would rather burn Fastpasses at Monsters Inc. than here). Grand Circuit Raceway looked like a cleaner, less smellier version of Tomorrowland Speedway. And what was up with the really weird placement of the old school Star Jets? Tokyo Disneyland Tomorrowland felt & looked a lot like Magic Kingdom Tomorrowland circa 1979. Even more than Fantasyland, Tomorrowland needs quick action! TDL’s Tomorrowland is the Mickey Mouse Revue of lands! I remember so much of it and have fond memories of it, but it is way dated and needs to be modernized immediately! Things we did: Star Tours - - Much larger queue, better themed areas, great load area. Super sharp/crisp film & sound…again, when did this open? It is just crazy how new things seem here. Love R2-D2 at the exit. TDL has the better Star Tours. Space Mountain - - Really nice. I like that it still has the old “Speedramp” from Disneyland USA. The load/unload area was just too much goodness for me to handle!! That spaceship is awesome! The lighting here is some of the best! This was my one regret at TDR. I only got to ride it once and it was really a lot of fun! It is different enough from Disneyland USA to make it special. Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek - - This is another “more” attraction but in a different way than Pooh. It’s very much a traditional dark ride, but with more! They actually built the Monsters Inc. factory…more! They built the city of Monstropolis inside of the ride…more! They gave us full movement/highly advanced AA figures…more! And then, just to say “more” yet again, they gave us interactivity with the flashlight tag feature. But, this was not a home-run favorite attraction for me. I love the movie & had high hopes for this attraction, as many of you know. However, it did bring the runners home for me and that’s what counts I guess in the end. The flashlight tag element truthfully bothered me & I dumped it a minute into my first ride. It was distracting me from taking it all in. If I were a regular and rode it a lot (which many TDR Guests are/do) then at some point I’d pick the flashlight back up and play. But for my two rides, there was way too much to take in to be concerned with a flashlight. It was well done, it was fun and it is superior to any “D ticket” attraction at Magic Kingdom. Perhaps though, what this showed me most was how good the people were that worked on DCA’s Monsters Inc. attraction. DCA got a hell of a great ride out of the sad remnants of Superstar Limo and this TDL attraction proves it! My BF actually preferred the DCA Monsters ride to the TDL one. (Roz talks smack to us at DCA.) We rode twice, both times with Fastpasses.
Originally Posted By Supermatt70 So there you go! Tokyo Disneyland Supermatt style! It was very busy, but we did everything we wanted to do, sans a 2nd spin on Space Mountain, but that was my fault for undervaluing the TDL version. TDL is in many ways a better version of the Magic Kingdom, but it did have issues: Out-dated lands, bad concrete, some faded paint areas, all of that “dash” stuff with Guests running around & over each other. Still, the minuses aren’t even close to the pluses! My top 3 attractions at TDL would be Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, Splash Mountain and Country Bears. All three of these attractions just blew me away & made me depressed over how the US parks are managed. Yet, with that said, if I am just putting side by side the “Disneyland” style parks, TDL would not be tops. Disneyland USA is, in my mind, the best of these parks! There’s just something magical about Disneyland that other parks, even TDL lack. Good thing though that TDL has something going for it that Disneyland USA will never have; Tokyo DisneySea sitting right next door. I’ll be back to share my thoughts on Entertainment, Merchandise, of course Tokyo DisneySea and a wrap up (including my surprising final verdict on Tokyo Disney Resort) over the next few days. I hope my TR is a little interesting to you & not so random… Food is next!
Originally Posted By Supermatt70 Food: Overall, we thought that the food quality was much higher than at Walt Disney World. It's easy to say that we were pleasantly surprised. We only had one issue where we thought the food was bad (it was REALLY unpleasant!!!). And everywhere we went, someone wanted to bus our table for us…I felt terrible & kept trying to do it myself. I didn’t think it was right for all of the CMs to be waiting on us like that! It was just so remarkable to me how we were waited on; food trays brought to the table, everything whisked away once we were finished. It was a level of service above anything that I expected. I still feel guilty about how we were waited on in the restaurants. The only other thing that I would say about TDR dining is really something I would say about dining in general in Japan. The drink glasses are TOO SMALL!!! Given, I think that most American drinks are too “super sized”, but it seemed like Japanese drinks were the opposite. All the drink glasses were child sized it felt. So then, where’d we go? We ate at Hokusai, Queen of Hearts, Vulcania, Cape Cod Cook Off, Casbah Food Court and Horizon Bay. We also ate at Beckers at Maihama Station too. Let’s start at the top of the pile… Queen of Hearts was amazing!!! It was EXTREME themed! The food was good (I had the beef patty btw), but the restaurant’s panache just blew us away!! I can’t even begin to tell you how impressed I was with this crazy themed location! It rates with Pooh’s Hunny Hunt as a Disneyland jaw dropping “WOW!” moment for me that I will NEVER see at WDW. Vulcania was also a really well done location. Great theme, great food, fantastic Cast service! Hokusai was really pleasant and a lot of fun! It was so nice to go inside of a building on “Main Street” and sit down & eat; really superior food too. Casbah Food Court was a nice curry meal. Nothing fancy there, but good value. We did a character lunch with Mickey, Minnie & Pluto (more on the characters later) at Horizon Bay. Again, fantastic Cast service, the restaurant looked first-class and the food was decent. The line here moved slowly though. On our first night in Japan, we went out to TDR to pick up our tickets and shop in Bon Voyage. We ate that night at Beckers. Good burgers! That leads me to my unpleasant food moment at TDR: Cape Cod Cook Off…WOW! It was dreadful! We ordered cheeseburger sets thinking Beckers burgers were so good and we ordered the Boston Cream for dessert. Had we not ordered cheeseburgers, I would not have known that it was a cheeseburger. We came in late, maybe 15 minutes before they were closing for the night. And the staff--again with the over-the-top bussing, treated us very well. The themeing was good, as an American I really liked the New Englandish-ness of it all. But, again WOW! The food quality was just SO BAD!! The burger & the so-called Boston Cream were VERY hard to eat. I guess out of 4 ½ days of meals there, odds were that one meal had to suck. Let me tell ya, Cape Cod Cook Off sucked hard!
Originally Posted By Supermatt70 I tried 3 different flavors of popcorn, Curry, Black Pepper & Honey. Of the 3, I waited the longest for the Honey--40 minutes--and I liked it the least. I got a super cute Chip & Dale bucket with Curry flavor in Westernland on my first day. We liked it a lot, but I think that the Black Pepper was my favorite. Sweetheart Café had some great treats for us in the mornings; even the strange meat-patty pastry was tasty. We tried the lemon churros in Tomorrowland. They were, well, interesting, but maybe a little to weird for us. In Adventureland we stopped at Boiler Room Bites for the pork soft taco wrap thing, it was very good. At Disney Sea, we also tried the sea salt ice cream--good, and the fried cheesecake chimi-thing--REALLY good. One last thing that sorta bothered us was how inconsistent the soda choices were (drink complaints again…I know, I like drinks!). There was no rhyme or reason to where something would be. It was just strange, as if drinks were just randomly assigned to locations. And it would always be new & different drinks than what we last saw. Small issue…still, the food at TDR was first-rate stuff. We felt the portions were right sized (drinks excluded) and the prices better than at WDW. And the service? Not likely to be found ANYWHERE in the US.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Indy Adventure had a posted wait time that I didn’t even know existed: 320 Minutes. What the hell is that??*** lol. Those are the kind of days I NEVER set foot in the parks (seriously, and I'm not at all kidding here, if I walked in and found that, I'd throw my ticket in the trash and go home ). It really is insane ain't it? But on the other hand, you can tell all your friends you "survived". (oh, and come back next time in the off season will ya? I might even join you for a ride on Hunny Hunt and a walk on Mansion)
Originally Posted By Mr X ***We actually felt unsafe in World Bazaar with the massive crowds and the running. We saw people fall, kids pushed, it was precarious. We saw people running not just at opening, but all day & at both parks, but it was worst at opening. It did bother me…Safety is the top key in the keys to Disney theme park success. This running would never be tolerated at a Disney operated park I feel*** How do you feel a Disney operated park would be able to handle it Matt? It's funny, as I was just discussing this with some LPers this past week. MY solution was to have a sort of "sting" operation using local police (NOT Disney security for obvious reasons), where they hang out in World Bazaar every few days or so, detain the worst offenders, and take away their annual passes/ticket media and escort them OUT of the park. A few of those, and the open dash would cease to exist forever (as it should!). But what other solutions would you think might work?
Originally Posted By OrionLive Waiting anxiously for your report on DisneySea! I'm going to be there in three weeks; my first time to Japan. I'm planning to be there on a Wednesday, is that better or worse than any other day? Also, are you a souvenir collector? Will you be posting anything about interesting merchandise you found at TDL and TDS?
Originally Posted By SuperDry Great trip report so far, SuperMatt. I'm just ending a visit myself (at Narita Airport as I type this). Unfortunately, I had to miss two of my favorite attractions this time due to them being closed: Hunny Hunt and Mermaid Lagoon Theater. But, I did have the good fortune of having much less crowding than you experienced. I'm looking forward to your TDS report!
Originally Posted By Supermatt70 <<How do you feel a Disney operated park would be able to handle it Matt?>> You know how I said there ws no rope drop? Well maybe there should a "rope walk" to the attractions. Guests could be let into World Bazaar 15 or so minutes before opening time and then held at ropes for the attractions. When park opening time rolls around, the CM walk the rope with Guests following to the attractions & Fastpasses. And just like OLC put the smack down on tri-pods & stuff for "safety" seems they could come down hard on this "open dash" stuff. I really feel that if OLC wanted to stop this mess, they'd do it right quick! Afterall, this is a Disney park that has trained its Guests to sit on the ground for parades.
Originally Posted By Supermatt70 <<Waiting anxiously for your report on DisneySea!>> Tomorrow night bro... <<Will you be posting anything about interesting merchandise>> Soon, and you might not like what I have to say.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris Loving reading this! I have to disagree on TDL's TL, however. As an Australian who only experienced the parks through books, videos and view masters until he was 31, my only "idea" of TL was the "retro" white 1960's/1970's version. I was SO disappointed when I got to DL in Anaheim in 2001 and my "Land on the Move" was pretty much static and grounded and, for me, the MK's TL was a bit of a mess. Thus you can imagine my delight when I got to TDL and their TL was(in my mind)how it SHOULD HAVE BEEN!!! I got there and was like, "Hello old friend!!!"
Originally Posted By leemac <<The flashlight tag element truthfully bothered me & I dumped it a minute into my first ride. It was distracting me from taking it all in. If I were a regular and rode it a lot (which many TDR Guests are/do) then at some point I’d pick the flashlight back up and play. >> Matt - It is a shame that you decided to drop the flashlights as it meant that you were reliant on others to trigger the monsters. You won't have seen some of them like Peeker, Ricky Jnr and BLT unless you used the flashlight. All six Rockys can only be seen with a flashlight. TDR has had a really sporadic month. This past week was one of the quietest on record but the week before was jammed. TDS actually had a day when there were more CMs working in the park than guests. My tip to anyone is to be wary of the MIR&GS! wait times - they are very inaccurate. The attraction was always less than an hour after Dreamlights this past week but the wait times were posted in the 120-140 minute period or higher. If the queue is within the chainlinks outside then you can expect to wait less than two hours. Anything back beyond Star Tours will be longer. FPs were typically lasting until mid-morning last week (although much earlier yesterday).
Originally Posted By barboy Never have I so eagerly awaited the balance of a trip report as yours Supermatt----- JUST MOUTHWATERING DUDE!! I'm drooling with excitement like a Pavlovian dog. So am I the only one around here who finds "open gate"/ "morning madness" the coolest thing in town? I love morning mayhem because when Japanese guests stampede like they're running from Godzilla or Mothra in the Tokyo streets their enthusiasm rubs off on me. They infect me and I'm a richer person for being exposed! That spectacle has to be one of the top 5 things I have seen on this earth--- just love it!
Originally Posted By MagicalNezumi ^^ Here's video of the morning dash on the morning Monsters opened: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoQHDzRH0Ek" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...HDzRH0Ek</a> -- MagicalNezumi
Originally Posted By Mr X Funny video. And that's a rather mild day, too! As MN knows very well, the New Years Eve dash is even more insane (by an order of magnitude, I'd say lol). And that's in the dark!
