Tokyo Disney Resort

We had SO.MUCH.FUN. Honestly, I love Disney so you could have put me in any park and I would have loved it. Nevertheless, it was truly a blast. Roo loved the rides. We loved the different park (Tokyo Disney Sea). The classics were...classic.

Flights were nothing special. Roo got really excited about going on an "ehpain" and that and the "buckle" kept her occupied for most of the trip up there. We had to focus on the buckle light and waiting for it to turn off for the last taxi, but she did great.

At the airport, we confirmed that the last bus directly to TDL left at 7pm. It was after 8pm. Chrys talked to the information folks and got wonderful directions that didn't involve tons of trains and connections. We took a bus to Urayasu Brighton Hotel, walked across the street to the Shinurayasu Station, caught the train to Mai Hama (thank goodness the lady wrote down the kanji for that one) and that left us at the TDL gateway. Quick monorail ride to our hotel and we were set. We got to introduce Chrys to the trains, didn't have to fret over which route. It was excellent. I got to wow Chrys with my train station maneuvering skills (not an easy task when the price guide is all kanji...see above note about the nice lady). It was a bit more expensive than the direct bus, but fun to do anyway. Oh, and they charge for the monorail access...hmph.

The next morning, we did our included buffet breakfast. Lots of Japanese foods...couldn't do it. They had dried apricots - haven't had those in FOREVER - Yum! Roo enjoyed the animal shaped breakfast rolls (elephant, bear, dog - elephant lost his nose first, the other two lost ears and the top of the head, respectively).

We wandered over to get tickets and opted for the 2 day pass. Quick debate and we picked Disney Sea first day and then Disney Land the next. I didn't see anything that would have let us swap back and forth, but this worked out great.

Disney Sea was not, as I expected, any kind of water park. It was basically another DisneyLand. We had lunch at the New York Deli - Reuben wasn't bad...small, but tasty. Roo didn't get to do many rides, but we collected her stickers for the scavenger hunt type thing and I got her award and medal while she watched the night water show. She liked the "neckuhs" she got. Chrys and Owl did a couple of things in the Island part (Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) while Roo slept on my shoulder (after wasting 2 hours trying unsuccessfully to get her to sleep at the hotel). It sprinkled, then rained. We have very nice Disney umbrellas now. At night, one of the dopey rides (Aqua something) looked fun and it turned out to be a pretty cool control system that felt semi-random (yes, we're geeks). Roo met Dale (as in Chip and Dale) and talked about him all day. He got kisses and she loved hugging him. We had Indian curry for dinner and that was tasty. Roo even seemed to like the spice. We pretty much closed the park down (10pm) and crashed at the hotel.

DisneyLand was...DisneyLand. I don't remember anything that was really specific to Tokyo. I did find it amusing that Cinderella, Belle, Alice, etc were (ahem) imports to get the right skin color. Roo loved FantasyLand and ToonTown. She rode most of the rides in FantasyLand and we got lots of "oooooo pwetty"s. We had to ride the "hohseys" twice (plus the one at Disney Sea). She really liked Dale's house at ToonTown, but was disappointed that she couldn't open the little doors in the tree. We stopped at almost every car setup "voom voom" so she could sit and pretend drive. She didn't freak out at the Haunted House or the Pirates of the Caribbean. In fact, she laughed out loud and danced at "Grim Grinning Ghosts". Chrys took her on Buzz Lightyear's ride and says she liked playing with the joystick to spin the car. Seemed a general trend - Alice's Tea Party, the Roger Rabbit ride - the more she spun, the happier she was. While they went to Buzz, I got some nice shopping time and got most of our souvenirs and omiyage in a 30 minute power shopping spree.

One interesting thing is that they didn't seem to have a generic Tokyo Disney t-shirt. They had Mickey Mouse and generic character shirts with no identification that you got them at TDL. The park shirts were by land. The DL ones had land specific collages (I guess) on the fronts. The DS ones had Mickey drawn in some style that symbolized the land (they were actually pretty darn cool). Each have a bunch of writing on the back talking about the stuff in that land. I guess you buy the one for the land you liked best or collect the set (not a cheap option). I got Roo FantasyLand because it was pink and girlie and she spent the most time on rides in there. It's a little big, but should fit when we go home - bragging rights, and all.

Our hotel, Hilton Tokyo Bay, was delightful. They had Lego tables in the lobby and a big play area with Duplo tubs that kept Roo entertained while we checked in, etc. The food was good. The service was excellent. They even had a little Disney stuff shop that opened early enough for us to stop by on our last morning and pick up a few items I forgot. (Now, if they'll just credit the right number of nights to my HHonors account, I'll be all happy.)