My First Tokyo Disney Photo Report

[Loomis]

Better late than never. I took my first trip to TDR on December 28-29th last year, and was overwhelmed at just how wonderful the resort is. While I won't write up a full trip report, the thing that struck me immediately was the sheer amount of people. Lines were long all day in both parks, and not Florida long either. TDL had an average wait time of 2 - 3 hours, as you will see in the photos below, and TDS had a wait time for up to 4 HOURS in the case of Journey to the Centre of the Earth (but I managed to ride that twice...more on that in a moment).

Photos: Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea 2009

Highlights included:

- Getting to ride Haunted Mansion Holiday. Been wanting to do this for years (somewhere) and I was very impressed. (Since buying the Nightmare Before Christmas Blu-ray, I can understand what they were on about in Japanese too).
- ALL of Disney Sea. Very beautiful park, and one of the best designs I've seen of any theme park.
- Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Did not read anything about this ride (or anything about TDR) before I left, so everything was a surprise. The Indy-style ride was a definite favourite, and the quick take-off took me (pleasantly) by surprise). We got our Fastpass for this around lunchtime, and it was going to check us in around 7:30pm. What the hell, we'd wait. Of course, sometime in the early evening word got around that the ride had broken down. So we went to check it out around 7ish, and sure enough it was true. However, after about a 20 minute wait, the 4 hour line had dissipated, and the ride came back online. Guess who was right near the front of the queue now? Just as we were getting off, we realised our Fastpasses had kicked in, so we used them for another turn. Talk about the luck of the Australians.

Here's a selection of photos from the album linked above:

[Escapay]

Wow, great pictures Loomis! I especially liked the dancing sailor guys and girls in photo 20. However, there's a strange bearded man that pops up every so often in these pictures. He looks rather dangerous, like he'll devour you if you're made of cheese, or ravish you if you're a redhead. Was the guy stalking you the entire time? You probably should've called the Disney security to take him away before he did something crazy like remove his pants.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear you had a fun time in TDL and TDS, and the Journey to the Center of the Earth story sounds awesome! It reminds me of when a couple castmembers and I did the same thing for Splash Mountain during a random day playing in the parks.

albert

[goofystitch]

Thanks for sharing, Loomis! I'm hoping to make my way to TDR within the next 5 years. One of my former roommates has grandparents in Tokyo, so as a kid that is where his family would vacation and his stories about Tokyo's Disney parks made me so jealous. I'm semi-obsessed with that place and frequently check fan sites and watch videos of shows and attractions on YouTube.

[dizfan]

I can't wait to go back again! The best Disney Resort on the planet, IMO!

[sambadude]

Visually and theming wise it's the best theme park in the world. The attention to detail is amazing. I could stand and look at the Tower Of Terror building for hours! But yes when we were there the ride lines were just as long, around 3 hours for Journey and 2.5 for Indy. Does anyone know when maybe it's a good non-busy time to visit? I'm guessing it'd be in winter but it does snow during winter so maybe that'd be unbearable?

Also the staff there were so much friendlier than any other park I've visited! And the cleanliness of the park was so impressive. We saw someone drop a cup and I swear a cleaner came out of nowhere to clean it up in seconds! Can't wait to get back over there. Great report Loomis!

[dizfan]

Snow isn't too common during winter, but even if it did that would be a plus since the parks a beautiful in the snow!

I have only been to TDR during winter on my 4 trips, and it is great. Crowds are not outrageous from mid November-early December and Christmas is in full swing!

TDR is AWESOME during Christmas!

[sambadude]

Thanks for that dizfan. I always thought it did snow in Tokyo in winter...maybe I'm thinking of China? Or maybe I'm completely wrong haha!

[goofystitch]

It does snow in Tokyo, but like Dizfan said, its not very common. There is a famous picture of Mickey and the gang bundled up in snow gear playing in the snow in front of Cinderella Castle in Tokyo Disneyland. So if you went to Tokyo Disneyland during winter months, it will be cold, but it probably won't snow.

[xxhplinkxx]

I can't wait to see pics of that Little Mermaid place I've seen at that... seafront place? I can't remember what it's called, but you know what I'm talking about!