Ticket To...Toontown!

Let's continue our exploration of Tokyo Disneyland by stopping by Toontown! An area very similar to Mickey's Toontown Fair in Walt Disney World, and an almost exact replica of the Disneyland's Mickey's Toontown area. In fact, it is a mirror image of the land!

In Toontown, you can visit Minnie's House, Donald's Boat, Mickey Mouse's House, Goofy's Bounce House and Chip N' Dale's Treehouse! There is also the Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin attraction, as well as Gadget's Go Coaster.

Monday Memorabilia...What Time Is It?

Following on from our recent Japanese travels, I thought I would share with you this beautiful piece of memorabilia that I have all the way from Tokyo Disneyland.

This calendar was available only for Cast Members in the Tokyo Disneyland Resort, and is a beautiful, glossy bigger-than-A4 souvenir. Let's have a look at some of the pictures from this month-by-month reminder of the park in Tokyo.

Ticket To...Critter Country!

Today's "Ticket To" will be very brief. Why? Well, Critter Country is a very small area of Tokyo Disneyland, and was created especially for the ride Splash Mountain. Because there are not too many rides in the area - only Splash and the Beaver Brother's Explorer Canoes - the land can get very crowded throughout the day!

Ticket To...Westernland!

Hopefully you're all enjoying our little tour around Tokyo Disneyland, and getting to explore it along with myself! Today, I thought we would take a little stop in Westernland - before heading over to Critter Country tomorrow!

Westernland is similar to Frontierland in the other Disney Parks around the world, named 'Western' as 'Frontier' does not translate the same in Japanese. This land shares it's major similarities with Frontierland and Liberty Square in the Magic Kingdom, Florida. So let's look at the map and see what's here...
Notice that the Haunted Mansion doesn't seem to be in this area? That's because, strangely enough, it's in Fantasyland! Anyway, we can still see the Country Bear Jamboree and sail round the Rivers of America.

As you can see, we can still have a go on the Tom Sawyer Island Rafts, if we would rather do some 'exercise' than just jump aboard the Mark Twain Riverboat!

And Big Thunder Mountain, which we can see in the distance, is modelled after the attraction at Magic Kingdom, too, although the duration of the ride is a little longer than the WDW one.

Although, we might be a little hungry and need a snack. Why not try some...curry popcorn?!

All pictures thanks to Disney Dave, apart from BTM Queue Line, thanks to Wikipedia.

Ticket to...Adventure!

In belated honour of Earth Day, I thought it would be nice to have a little look at Adventureland in Tokyo Disneyland. Contrary to other 'Magic Kingdoms' around the world, the park at Tokyo does not have a railroad going round, so there is no stop in Adventureland or Westernland (the equivalent to Frontierland).

As you can see from the map there are some different attractions in this Adventureland. We have the familiar Jungle Cruise and the Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as the infamous Swiss Family Treehouse.

Shall we have a go on the Jungle Cruise? It's one of my favourite traditional rides in Walt Disney World, so why not spend some time on this Tokyo Disneyland version! There are 13 different boats we could go on:
Amazon Annie
Congo Connie
Ganges Gertie
Irrawaddy Irma
Kwango Kate
Nile Nelly
Orinoco Ida
Rutshuru Ruby
Sankuru Sadie
Senegal Sal
Volta Val
Wamba Wanda
Zambezi Zelda

A couple of fun facts about this ride for you too - the skippers will actually bow after every joke to the audience in the boat! Additionally, the boats travel anti-clockwise and only 12 will be in operation at any one time, never all 13. Oh, and thanks to the wonders of the modern day, we can now experience the Japanese backside of water!

Okay, so we've done the attractions that we know about - but what about the ones that are not so familiar to us Westerners? We could have a go on the Western River Railroad! As there is no railroad encircling Tokyo Disneyland, this Steam Train travels through Adventureland, Critter Country and Westernland. Interestingly enough, there is only one stop on this railroad, which could be because of Japanese regulations which state that any train with more than one stop should follow a timetable!
Additionally, another new attraction for us is The Enchanted Tiki Room: Stitch Presents Aloha e Komo Mai (which is Hawaiian for 'Hello, Welcome!'). This attraction replaced the The Enchanted Tiki Room: Get the Fever!, which in turn replaced the original Japanese version of the Tiki Room. This show is basically Stitch taking over the Enchanted Tiki Room, but it doesn't include the regular 'cast' that we all know and love. Instead, the four Birds of Paradise are called Hanoli, Manu, Waha Nui and Mahina!

Pictures thanks to my friend Disney Dave, apart from Jungle Cruise picture - thanks to Wikipedia.

Ticket To... World Bazaar & The Castle

Unlike the Disney Theme Parks throughout the world, Tokyo Disneyland doesn't have a Main Street USA. Instead, we are welcomed to the park with the World Bazaar! A main street covered with a Victorian style glass ceiling, constructed in order to protect guests from the Japanese weather, which can actually be quite harsh at times of the year!
World Bazaar has several different shops and restaurants - more eating places than any other of the Disney Main Streets. It also has the Tokyo Disneyland Club 33 restaurant, a similarly exclusive restaurant to the one in New Orleans Square, Disneyland, California. Here we can also find the Penny Arcade (where we can be transported back in time to enjoy penny games from the late 1800s) and the Disney Gallery, which features a place where you can have your very own Drawing Lessons!
Once we get through World Bazaar (where we try not to spend too much money on food or souvenirs!), we reach the Hub and we catch our first view of the beautiful Cinderella Castle.
Whilst very similar to the Castle in Walt Disney World, this Cinderella Castle used to have its very own walk-through attraction. Between 1986 and 2006, guests could experience the magical "Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour". And notice, the name is "Cinderella Castle" and not "Cinderella's Castle" like in Florida.

The Castle usually hosts some shows throughout the year, so maybe we'll pop back another time and have a look and see what shows are happening for us to enjoy!

Ticket To... Tokyo Disneyland Park

After a few days unprecedented absence, let's enter into the original park of the Tokyo Disney Resort - Tokyo Disneyland. As you may remember, the park opened 26 years ago this month and was the first Disney park outside the USA.

Even though it is the Oriental Land Company that owns and operates the resort, the park was designed and built by Walt Disney Imagineering. The park was modelled on the Magic Kingdom in Florida and Disneyland in California. Cinderella's Castle is almost an exact replica of the Castle at Walt Disney World in every way apart from a slightly different colouring nowadays.

According to The Themed Entertainment Association's findings, Tokyo Disneyland remained the 3rd most visited theme park (of all theme parks, not just of the Walt Disney Company) worldwide in 2008, with 14,293,000 visitors (in comparison, Magic Kingdom had 17,063,000, Disneyland had 14,721,000 and Disneyland Paris had 12,688,000).

So, shall we pick up a map and have a good look at the park, just to get used to it?

As you can see, the park has many of the same Guest Services as other Disney Parks throughout the world: Baby Centres, Park Information Board, Storage Lockers, Banking Services, First Aid and, the infamous, Stroller and Wheelchair Rental!

Oh no, I didn't realise we have just missed the 25th Anniversary Grand Finale, "The Dream Goes On"! But if we pop back in time just a few weeks, maybe we will be able to experience some of this through the magic of photographs! Now, even though the Japanese don't 'celebrate' Halloween or Christmas, the Park still hosts events to enjoy these seasons. They have the Haunted Mansion "Holiday Nightmare" and the season of Christmas Fantasy! We should try and visit the Park during one of these seasons next time...

And from this page you can learn a little bit more about the Tokyo Disney Resort itself - the Disney Resort Line, the Disney Hotels and Ikspiari.

And what about a map of Tokyo Disneyland itself?

Alright! Next stop, a good look at the different lands of Tokyo's number one theme park!

Introducing... Tokyo Disney Resort!

Konnichiwa! Thanks for coming back and getting your ticket to the Tokyo Disney Resort! Now, make sure you hold onto this, because everytime we pop back to Tokyo Disney, you're going to need this!

So, following on from yesterday's post, let's learn a little bit more about the Resort itself. As you know, Tokyo Disneyland opened in April 1983, and covers a massive 115 acres (compared to 107 acres of the Magic Kingdom in Florida, 85 acres in Disneyland, and 140 acres of Disneyland Park, Paris). The second park, Tokyo DisneySea, opened in September 2001, and the 'Downtown Disney' area is called Ikspiari.

One of the best ways to get to the Resort is using the Disney Resort Line, a monorail system exclusively between Maihama Station (in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan) and Tokyo Disney Resort. Unlike the monorails in use in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, the monorail costs to use it - but it is definitely worth it as the carriages are themed around the Mouse!

Once you arrive in the Resort area, there's really no reason to leave! With the two Theme Parks, the shopping and eating area, and the three beautiful official Disney hotels (Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta, Disney Ambassador Hotel and the newly opened Tokyo Disneyland Hotel), you could stay there for days!

So, why don't we stay here for a few days and have a look around? Next time we're going to have a look at Tokyo Disneyland park itself. Dewa mata suguni ne!
A million thanks to my lovely friend, Disney Dave, for letting me share his Tokyo Photos.

Otanjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu!

Today, April 15th, is the 26th birthday of Tokyo Disneyland! The title of this post is actually 'Happy Birthday' in Japanese. In honour of this fantastic achievement, and the fact that one of my best friends will soon be moving to Japan, I would like to start off a week of Japanese fun!

I thought that the best way to start this would be to introduce you, my fine readers, to the Tokyo Disney Resort. The Resort is comprised of two parks: Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. Do you notice how each park has been named to compliment the other (Land and Sea?). Tokyo DisneySea was created on September 4, 2001. The Resort is actually maintained by the Oriental Land Company, who have a license through the Walt Disney Company.

Tomorrow we will start looking at Tokyo Disneyland in more detail, so don't forget to come back and pick up your Ticket to Tokyo Disney Resort!

Happy Easter!

We are slowly approaching the anniversary of Tokyo Disneyland, and as it is my aim to introduce you to Disney beyond America, we will be celebrating this anniversary with some fun and exciting posts!

But before then, there won't be any posting over the Easter weekend. It is a holiday here in the UK and as a special treat, my lovely friend Disney Dave will be visiting me! So there will not be any updates until Monday.

So let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Easter - and those of you in the UK, I hope you get yummy, lovely Easter Eggs!

Monday Memories... More Pirates!

I'm in a Pirate-kinda mood at the moment - and wanted to show you one of my favourite pieces of memorabilia. Whilst not specifically related to the Disney Theme Parks, it was purchased during my year working out in Florida as an ICP.

It was the first thing I saved up for - and actually got a little help from my dad! - and it took pride of place in my little bedroom. It's a signed Pirates of the Caribbean movie poster - signed by Keira Knightley, Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom. And it is one of my most prized possessions!

I had it shipped home at the end of my program, and it is the one thing that will always remind me of my great year working at the Walt Disney World Resort.

It's The Little Details...Pirates

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you will know how much I love the little details that Disney put throughout their Parks and Resorts. The Little Disney Details, I like to call it. And there are so many in the Pirate rooms at Caribbean Beach, that you forget you are only in a Resort!

One of my favourite things about the room was the lights - they look just like hanging lights you would find in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction! And the theming of the lights even goes into the bathroom. That's what you call Disney Details! And you should notice in the first picture the barrel of rum - well, that was the fridge!

I love this painting, which was on the wall near the cupboard space. I would really love a small version of this, or even a postcard size print, for my own home.

You all should know by now how much I love my floors in the Disney theme parks - and this one is no exception!

And another great example of Disney Details - the shower itself. There is a picture of the Flying Dutchman 'carved' into the shower wall, and the curtain itself is decorated with some of the ships featured in the Pirates' trilogy. Classic detailing - and fun!

Pirate Crazy

On my last visit to Walt Disney World, I was lucky enough to stay in one of the fun Pirate Themed rooms in the Caribbean Beach Resort. I am a little more than obsessed with Pirates - and one day aspire to be a Pirate Princess!

But in the meantime, I settled for a room fit for a Pirate - and thought I would share it with you all here. Whilst it was a little more expense, we loved the theming of the room and thought it was great for a short holiday.

I have some more pictures of some of the details of the room, which I will post over the next few days.