Trip Report 12 parks in 16 days! Disney Parks Around the World Trip Report

Trip report from 12/19-1/6.

Day 1 - Away We Go
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney

Enough talk. After over a year in planning, over five years since we last tried to do a similar trip, AND Kendall getting run over by a car in Zimbabwe in that time frame we are finally embarking on our adventure across the globe to do all 12 Disney Parks over Christmas break.

First thing’s first and we had to pick Lucy up from school. Given it’s the Thursday before Christmas break we weren’t too concerned about her missing half a day today and a full day Friday because as everyone knows, the week before Christmas break is spent watching Christmas movies and doing Christmas puzzles and worksheets.

After we picked her up, we went home and waited for our taxi. We had never ridden in a taxi in our town so we were already starting our journey with a brand new experience. Ride sharing does not exist in Ashland, KY and taxi’s are primarily used for medical transport so this was a somewhat bizarre experience for us. Traditionally, we typically just park our car at the airport when we fly out of our local airport because if we go out of Huntington it’s on Allegiant for a quick trip to Florida. This is obviously NOT a quick trip and as such we took a taxi for the first time ever as there are no ride sharing services in our area. It costs $10/day to park at our airport, and when you’re gone for nearly 20 days, it just makes financial sense to take a taxi for $82 dollars round trip.

I cannot even remotely convey the amount of joy I have when we have the ability to fly out of Huntington Tri-State Airport. The convenience of flying out of a small regional airport a mere 25 minutes from our house in which the security line if you have TSA precheck is nonexistent CANNOT be understated. It feels like your own private airport. From when the plane touches down to getting home it typically takes us about 45 minutes. When we fly out of Cincinatti or Columbus, it takes 45 minutes or more from the time we touchdown to just get to our car. Add a 2.5 hour drive after a long day of flying just puts a sour taste in the mouth after a vacation. We would love to fly out of HTS more often but it is incredibly cost prohibitive except when using Allegiant or redeeming award flights on American Airlines.

We arrived at the airport 1.5 hours early which for Huntington is just excessive, but we always budget for a flat tire, or some other bizarre occurrence. As always, the TSA precheck line had zero people in it, and from drop off to gate it wasn’t even 10 minutes. We hadn’t eaten lunch yet today, and unfortunately food options are super limited at HTS, in that outside of one vending machine there often are none. Thankfully today the small kiosk that sells pizza and some snacks was open, and Kendall and I split a small pizza while waiting for our flight.

HTS is a small regional airport with two gates. Back in its hey day it had a number of carriers, but these days it’s limited to American and Allegiant. It’s small and efficient and we love flying out of it when we can.

This is the entire terminal. Not the smallest commercial airport I’ve flown out of, but it’s up there.
Today is by far the most pedestrian of the flights we are taking on our trip, being a standard flight on Allegiant. No fancy lounge, no lie flat seat. Just an standard A320, with a seat with about 17 inches of width with no recline that feels like you’re sitting on a 2×4. You get what you pay for and for this flight of just over 1.5 hours it was just $402 dollars for 3 people including the 3 carry on bags so you can’t really complain on the cost front.

I love this airport!
Boarding and take off and were on time and our flight to Sanford was about as uneventful as it gets. We were seated in row 7, Seats D,E,F.

We never pay for seat selection so these were the Allegiant assigned seats. For a 1.5 hour flight it honestly doesn’t matter to us. The seats have the standard 17 inch width and 30 inches of pitch. This is one of the ONLY times in life being 5’3’’ comes in handy.

There are many disadvantages to being short such as a general disadvantage at the majority of sports or a lower lifetime income compared to your taller cohorts in the same field, but there is one advantage that far outweighs any disadvantage. I can fit comfortably in an Allegiant seat! It’s a pretty great trade off in my opinion.

We landed at 5:08PM two minutes earlier than our scheduled arrival time. Thankfully, my parents live in Orlando and as such they are our own personal uber, which definitely saves on cost. I texted them that we had landed, so they could be ready to pull the car around to pick us up and take us to the Disney’s Polynesian Resort where we were staying.

After we landed, we we were picked up, it was getting close to dinner time, so on the way to the Polynesian we stopped at Lucy’s favorite restaurant, Chick-fil-a. I had originally had ‘Ohana booked and timed the reservation for the Magic Kingdom fireworks, but it was pretty hectic couple of days leading up to this trip, so we decided having a quick dinner and early bed time was in our best interest. Just for the record, if you are foodie, THIS IS NOT THE BLOG FOR YOU. We do a wide variety of activities when we travel, but food has never been our priority, and the one area we can skimp on the budget. My food reviews will be composed of words like “Tasty”, “Yummy”, “Standard”, “Adequate”.

Upon arrival at Chick-fil-a we walked in and it was slammed. Chick-fil-a is always crowded but today was excessive in that when we walked in, there wasn’t a free table anywhere and people were even standing around waiting on tables. We didn’t quite know what was going on, until we saw Santa and a Santa Cow in the corner and realized why it was so crowded. Santa Cow and Santa made their rounds to the table like it was a character dining at Disney.

Lucy clearly is enjoying Santa Cow
Unlike Disney however, it was significantly cheaper. Like $250 dollars cheaper. The food was more than tasty, and tasted just like our Chick-fil-a at home.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I wish I were staying at Fantasy Spring Grand Chateau when in Tokyo but I will not. It looks absolutely stunning.

 

[Rimmit]

I wish I were staying at Fantasy Spring Grand Chateau when in Tokyo but I will not. It looks absolutely stunning.

I wouldn’t sweat it too much. All the hotels we stayed at in TDR were nice. You’ll see the pics here shortly. Grand Chateau was our favorite, but you’ll have a great time in each one as they each have pluses and minuses. TDR is just such a great place in general.

 

[cgersic]

Wow!!! A balcony IN the park and the Grand Chateau is just stunning!

 

[Rimmit]

Wow!!! A balcony IN the park and the Grand Chateau is just stunning!

Yeah, we literally coulda jumped off our balcony into the park and ran around at night... at least before security likely tackled us and dragged us out. lol.

 

[Rimmit]

There is no laundry in Grand Chateau, but thankfully I do not have to walk 18 minutes like in Paris to get to a laundromat. Fantasy Chateau is just on the opposite side of the building and it has a laundromat so I walk over there to start some laundry. On the way to do laundry I get a little distracted and start taking some pictures of the hotel

I briefly walk outside and take some pics from the balcony overlooking the park.

It’s starting to get a little dark. There is a small garden with a fountain and some sculptures based on Beauty and the Beast. It looked gorgeous at night.

I eventually finally get to the laundromat.

The laundry experience here was totally different from the archaic coin system at Disneyland Paris. Here, I scan a QR code and pay via a link and then it starts the laundry.

I scan the QR code, and it brings up the site. I don’t know any Japanese.

Thankfully Google Translate bails me out here.

Not exactly perfect as I’m not sure how “driving time” and “course content” relates to the laundry, but it’s good enough for me to pay.

For those that remember my tragic laundry experience in Disneyland Paris at the end of our second day with having to buy tokens at the general store, this is a complete and total 180 on that. It was incredibly fast and efficient once I got past the language barrier. There was no inserting the same coin for three straight minutes desperately trying to get the machine to start. No drama of losing a coin after the general store had closed or trying to get to the general store before it closed just to buy a token. It was beautifully in its simplicity. You just scan and pay! That was it! It was laundry the way it was meant to be. And as an added bonus when you pay they have the most adorably cute graphics that make you smile. I love kawaii culture! Who wouldn’t love doing laundry here???

I start two loads and head back to our room. We plan to just order room service but we can’t find anything appealing on the menu. Instead we decide to get some KFC. I know what you’re thinking, but in Japan their tradition is to have KFC as a Christmas meal. So much so that if you don’t put your order in at least several days in advance you will not be able to get KFC for Christmas. Since KFC is the traditional Japanese Christmas meal we figured we’d extend that to New Years Eve as well. Random fun fact, but I used to do a fair amount of moonlighting in Corbin, KY which is the home of the very first KFC.

After making our DoorDash order I go back to the laundromat and move over the laundry. The dryers are huge, and we don’t really have that much laundry so I throw all our clothes into one dryer and start it up for an hour. For our dryer at home this would be ample time for that amount of clothes and go back to the room to wait for our food.

Our DoorDash arrives with our KFC, and we all enjoy a taste of home. Two interesting things about our KFC order. One, there is no ketchup as an option to add when I made our DoorDash order. The Japanese traditionally do not really do order modifications or substitutions, but I figured for an American Fast Food franchise, ketchup would be a condiment that could be added. Two, the biscuit has a hole in it like a donut.

There is nothing going on at the resort for New Year’s Eve which we thought was interesting. The parks close at 9AM and there is no party, no decorations or anything in the hotel to signify it was New Year’s Eve. We figured there would be SOMETHING, or at minimum some New Year’s Eve decorations and maybe some balloons.

Prior to leaving for our trip, I did some investigating into New Year’s Eve activities at Tokyo Disney Resort and was shocked to see absolutely none. From my understanding, the parks can never close late as all the Cast Members overwhelmingly use the train to get home, and it stops running pretty early from my understanding. So for them to get home, they have to close the parks at 9PM at the latest every night in order for the Cast Members to be able to use the train to get home. Upon planning this trip the park hours do not ever seem to ever waiver unlike at Disney World where they adjust the hours based on the crowd. Tokyo Disney has the exact same hours everyday regardless of the crowd except in a rare situation where it closes even earlier, likely due to a private event. 9:00PM hits and that is closing time for the park and it empties out.

We try to make it to midnight given it’s New Year’s Eve, but it’s been a crazy busy couple days so we hit decide to hit the hay at about 10:00PM to the sounds of muffled theme park music outside our window and Elsa’s castle overlooking our room.

Day 13, December 31th, 2024 Step Count – 13,264 Steps

Total Step Count – 208,339

 

[Rimmit]

Day 14 - Tokyo DisneySea
“Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.”

I was up at 4:15AM today. Given I went to bed about 10:00PM that tells me I’m getting back to a more normal schedule as I traditionally only sleep about 5-6 hours at home. I decide since I’m up, I might as well do some of laundry as I missed some of the laundry yesterday.

I’m continuing to enjoy the beauty and simplicity of this laundromat. To be honest, though, I’m not sure if I’m just so traumatized by my last laundromat relationship that this might have become my rebound laundromat. It could be , or it could be love, but for now I’m just living in the moment.

Unfortunately, my love affair with the laundromat died faster than a snowflake in August. I thought yesterday it was me overloading the dryer as the reason it was taking so long to dry. I thought I was the problem, it’s me. Well today I had no more than a handful of pieces and I divided them up into two dryers. After 60 minutes it was still damp. Apparently, I was NOT the problem in this relationship, and it was actually the dryers. This was definitely a rebound laundromat, and the magic I felt between us quickly evaporated. It was so sad but we always knew it was a one night stand at best anyway.

I head back to the room after another round of drying finally got the clothes to at least be in packable condition. The sun is now up and it’s a beautiful day.

We have till 11:00AM to check out so for that reason we decided to put off packing for now as we have an exclusive early entry which I am going to dub “Happy Happy Entry.” Just regular Happy Entry is being allowed to enter into Tokyo Disneysea 15 minutes before the general population. This is available to guests staying at the Fantasy Springs Fantasy Chateau and the Hotel Miracosta. Since we are staying at Fantasy Springs Grand Chateau, we are allowed to be in the park 15 minutes before Happy Entry for a total of 30 minutes before any other guests. There are only 56 rooms eligible for this benefit making it very exclusive.

So we head to the elevators right around the corner from our room at 7:45AM where they instructed us to meet for the Happy Happy Entry yesterday. Not surprisingly we are nowhere near the first in line and there are at least 40 people already ahead of us. They slowly ferry us all via the elevator down to the private entrance to the park and we wait in line at the entrance a floor down.

I honestly think we are in the 2nd closest room to a park gate in the ENTIRE world, as I honestly don’t see how a hotel room could be much closer, and we’ve stayed in nearly every Disney hotel that is attached to a park except the Hotel Miracosta, which we will stay at in two nights, and the Grand Californian. The layout for those hotels does not have any rooms as close our current room. We get in shortly after 8:00 AM. Not surprisingly there is absolutely no one around till about 8:15AM. We take some pics as there is nothing else you can do right now as the rides do not open till 8:30AM.

Once Happy Entry starts at 8:15AM Fantasy Springs starts to get a little more crowded, but still minimal crowd, as most are entering the park from the front entrance which is about a 20 minute walk away.

Our first priority was to do Tinker Bells Busy Buggies. This may seem like an odd pick for our first ride given it’s a kiddie ride, but we picked it because today we had the Fantasy Springs Passport ticket. This is a ticket only available to those with either a Vacation Package or staying at Fantasy Springd Hotel. This ticket allows you unlimited access to Fantasy Springs and unlimited use of the Premiere Access lines for three out of four Fantasy Springs rides.

The only one that is not included is Tinker Bell Busy Buggies. For that reason we wanted to do it before a line formed. We got in line about 8:20AM and were the first in line.

They opened the ride right at 8:30AM and we walked quickly through the queue. I wish we had more time to look at it as it was a very cute queue.

We walk right onto the ride. It’s short cute ride, and actually better than expected which isn’t saying much as our expectations are pretty low. It’s kinda like a Mr. Toad’s wild ride but outdoors.

It’s nothing spectacular and not very long, but if we still had younger children it would be very enjoyable ride for the younger crowd. I definitely wouldn’t devote any time to do it again though. They did have a nice animatronic at the end which was cute.

Today is one of the few days we actually have a scheduled sit down breakfast and it is at 8:40AM at La Liebellule so the moment we get off the ride we head back to the hotel to make our reservation. From the Grand Chateau entrance to the restaurant is a 2 minute walk at most, so we make it to the restaurant right on time.

La Libellule is the Grand Chateau’s exclusive restaurant. In order to eat here you must be staying at the Grand Chateau. This is only our 4th sit down meal this whole vacation, so it’s kinda nice to take a moment to just relax, eat, and be served.

We initially had not planned on eating breakfast here, as it is very hard to get a reservation and I didn’t feel like stalking down a reservation. Interestingly enough, 10 days prior the concierge contacted me asking some questions about our stay, and they said they’d made a reservation for us at the restaurant for breakfast. It was kinda random, as I never asked for a breakfast reservation and they are hard to come by, but they made me one anyway.

We were kinda curious about the restaurant so figured we’d just keep the reservation.

The restaurant was very nice and was very spacious. I’m used to the restaurants in WDW that pack as many tables as possible into a small amount of space. The space between tables here is pretty immense and gives it a very luxurious feel. Felt more like a setting for a super fancy tea, then a breakfast in Disneyland.

In Disney World this would have three times more tables at minimum.

 

[Rimmit]

The breakfast was composed of some pastries and charcuterie on a buffet and an a la carte selection from the menu.

Kendall and I chose the Pancakes with Cream Cheese with Vanilla served with Three Types of Condiments and Lucy ordered some eggs and bacon from the kids menu. While we waited and snacked on the buffet we also were served some croissants. They were very large and fluffy. We really enjoyed them.

It was super duper fancy and definitely the fanciest breakfast we’ve ever had. They also brought out a salad which I definitely did not touch. For those that do not know me personally, I am a meatatarian. I avoid vegetables pretty much at all costs unless it’s a potato or corn.

The pancake was kinda interesting in appearance, but actually tasted pretty good. It was definitely not the kind of pancake you get at IHOP.

Most food was not to our taste to be honest but the presentation and service were top notch. They even made eggs and bacon look good.

Since I did zero research for this restaurant I had no idea it came with a meet and greet. Apparently, we get to meet Mickey as part of the breakfast. Unlike a typical character breakfast where the characters walk around from table to table, here you just sit at your table and when it’s your turn they come get you and escort you to a small separate room where you meet Mickey.

This was much less hectic than having a character walk around the room taking pictures and a pleasant surprise. Also of note, here they are very eager to take your camera and take pictures for you. No asking required. They literally ask you to hand them your camera the moment you walk in the room. This is nice so you can focus on the character and not your camera. This was the way it was in Paris as well. It’s definitely a contrast to the US where you need to proactively ask them to take your camera for a picture.

After the meet and greet, we finish up our breakfast and pay our check. It was just 16,000 yen which is just over $100 USD. For the fanciness of the meal and an included meet and greet this felt like an absolute bargain compared to US pricing. We go back to the room and pack it up. At Tokyo Disney Resort you can just leave your bags in the room, and they will transport them to your next hotel for you while you are at the park, which is a huge convenience as it is EXTREMELY common to have to bounce around hotels in Tokyo Disney.

 

[Rimmit]

We check out and bring the wheelchair this time as Tokyo Disney Sea is a huge park, and we are doing three straight park days so Kendall opts for a wheelchair so we don’t potentially burn her foot out.

Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey is supposedly the best ride in Fantasy Springs and the entire DisneySea based on some blogger’s opinions so we decide we will start with it. We have unlimited Disney Premiere Access for all the rides in Fantasy Springs via the Fantasy Springs Passport so we just use the Premiere Access line. It took about 15 minutes after entering the line to board the ride which is a dark boat ride similar to the other Frozen rides, but that’s where the similarities end.

The ride was absolutely stunning. The show scenes were totally different from Hong Kong and Epcot.

The ride is also much longer than the Frozen rides. It tells the whole story from the beginning and has some very impressive special effects. They play the majority of the songs from the movie although there was no “In Summer”. It would not have fit thematically so I was ok with the omission. It was definitely one of the best rides we went on this vacation thus far for sure.

Afterwards, we start walking toward Peter Pan’s Neverland Adventure. On the way we pass a popcorn cart and get in line. We get to the front of the line to discover that apparently they only sell one flavor of popcorn which is apparently roast beef.

We decide to give it a shot despite not being super enthused about roast beef as a popcorn flavor.

Unfortunately, none of us were a fan of roast beef popcorn, but we at least gave it a try. We then arrive at Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure. I guess Peter Pan is notably more popular in Japan as I just can’t imagine devoting an E-ticket level attraction in this day and age to Peter Pan in the US with so many other IPs available.

We enter via the Premiere Access line. The queue is well themed to a Lost Boys hideout.

There was a short pre-show in Japanese, and then you exit toward the ride. The ride vehicles were themed to a small ship that could fly.

The ride was quite impressive and very long. It did require 3D glasses as there was a combination of physical and screen elements. Overall ride was very similar to the Spider-Man ride at Universal Studios Orlando. The ride technology was impressive, and definitely one of the funner non thrill rides we’ve done on this vacation.

We then head to Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival. We use the Premiere Access line and the wait isn’t even 5 minutes.

This a boat ride that initially starts outdoors and then transitions into an indoor show building. You pass by a tower that has a Rapunzel that sings random songs. The ride is pretty short, and to be honest pretty underwhelming except for one thing. It has the most beautiful scene of ANY RIDE IN ANY DISNEY PARK.

The lantern festival scene is just JAW DROPPING and pictures do not do it justice. The combination of the lighting, suspended lanterns, and the song “I See the Light” playing in the background just makes the ride, and it’s worth doing the ride just to experience this scene. It really is unfortunate they did not make the ride longer.

Afterwards, we decide to go on Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey again. Having the unlimited Premiere Access truly helps simplify our day, as during this time of year, there are many people that do not even get to go on this ride AT ALL, due to the fact that in order to ride this ride, you either need to purchase a Premiere Access pass or obtain a Standby Pass. A Standby Pass is just a pass that allows you to stand in the regular queue. These Standby Passes run out incredibly fast, and often will run out minutes after the park opens. People who arrive early to enter the park on time, often do not even have a chance as by the time they cross the turnstile the passes have already run out. So even with arriving BEFORE park opening they did not even have the opportunity to obtain a pass to ride the ride. This is very similar to the issues many had when Rise of the Resistance first opened up. The ability for us to literally go on any of the rides in Fantasy Springs whenever we wanted and use the Premiere Access line is truly a life saver.

For our second ride, I let Lucy take some pics with my camera. This makes for a much more relaxing experience and I enjoy ride even more. You definitely notice more of the small details when you’re not taking pictures.

Then we head to the Fantasy Springs gift shop.

I look for a Fantasy Springs hotel magnet but sadly there is none. Doing our research prior to arrival, I had read about how the prices at Tokyo Disney are considerably more reasonable than the prices in the US, and they weren’t kidding. Lucy got a pack of 4 pens for 12.73 USD. One pen at Disney World is 12.99 + tax.

It was then time for lunch and we headed over to The Snuggly Duckling.

In order to enter the restaurant you needed to make a mobile order. We made our order and waited a short bit and then were notified our order was ready. We entered and were very impressed with the theming. The interior definitely looked like what you would have expected the interior of The Snuggly Duckling to look like.

We order two cheeseburgers and fries to split.

To our complete shock when we open our hamburger there was actually ham on it!!! I’ll never totally understand the fact we call what are technically “beef”burgers, hamburgers but I guess in Japan they realized that the rest of the world needs to get their act together and actually put ham on a hamburger.

We did end up separating the ham from the beef burger as while I love meat, a hambeefburger might have been a little too much. The ham was actually very good and tasted similar to typical ham you’d get for breakfast. We finished up our lunch and then went to bathroom which was located in Arendelle. It was one of the best themedh bathrooms I have seen in Disney competing with the bathrooms in Galaxy’s Edge for theming. For privacy I have no pics, but even the bathroom doors were even themed to Arendelle.

As we walk around we definitely notice that themed popcorn buckets are definitely a thing. At least 75 percent of families have at least one, if not multiple popcorn buckets. We felt a little awkward without a popcorn bucket, but we will get ours tomorrow with our Vacation Package.

Prior to leaving Fantasy Springs we decide to do Peter Pan again. It was a slightly shorter wait this time using the Premiere Access line. It was just as enjoyable the second time. It’s a pity we don’t have a ride similar to this in any US parks.

Afterwards, Lucy wants to go play in the pirate ship.

 

[Rimmit]

It’s not exactly a playground in the traditional sense, but it is pretty neat with lots of things to explore and play with.

For our last ride prior to venturing outside Fantasy Springs we decide to go on Tangled one last time. While it is very short the ending scene is just jaw dropping and makes it well worth doing the ride again. This ride reminds me so much of Navi River in Animal Kingdom in that’s very beautiful, just too short.

I do appreciate the detail on the ground outside the ride.

It’s getting to be early afternoon and we then head out of Fantasy Springs. While we don’t have unlimited Premiere Access on the rides outside of Fantasy Springs we do have 3 attraction passes per person that came with our Grand Chateau room. These passes allow us to enter the Premier Access line once per pass at any time, so we have 3 rides can skip the line for.

Raging Spirits is the only roller coaster in DisneySea, has a Premier Access line, and it just happens to be right outside of Fantasy Springs so we figure we might as try it out.

Everyone in our party loves roller coasters so we figured this would be pretty fun. It definitely looked it.

The theming was great as well.

The expectations were even further amped as they actually had me leave my camera in a locker. There is only one other ride in all the Disney Parks that require a locker and that’s Tron in Magic Kingdom and it’s a a great coaster. Unfortunately, unlike Tron this coaster is incredibly tame and boring. It lacks speed and any excitement. It actually has a loop, but there is so little speed I was impressed it made it all the way around the loop. Despite the incredible theming and a loop, this was actually one of the worst attractions we went on this vacation. It had gotten mediocre reviews but I figured how bad could a coaster be?? Apparently pretty bad.

Our showtime for Big Band Beat was then coming up and from where we were it was at least a 20 minute walk as it was located in the American Waterfront on the other side of the park so we start trekking. Then started trek to big band beat. Long 20 min walk. On the way we kept looking for regular popcorn but could not find any. They have tons of flavors like soy sauce and curry, but no regular in site.

While there was no popcorn we did meet Max on the way.

We eventually find a stand with milk chocolate popcorn and that sounded appealing so we got some. It actually tasted ok. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad either. It was at least tolerable unlike roast beef. Another, interesting observation is that they don’t sell drinks at the popcorn stands. If you want a drink you’ll need to find another stand. Popcorn stands only sell ONE flavor of popcorn and that’s it. We continue walking toward the America Waterfront. On the way we pass by an area that feels like Cape Cod.

We notice a ton of birds in the water. They are so evenly spaced I thought they were fake.

New flash! They actually are not. They definitely fly and move. We continue to search for a stand with a drink as we are dying of thirst. As we walk, we pass by a replica ocean liner, Columbia.

This ship is definitely different from the Columbia in Disneyland which is a replica sailing ship and used in Fantasmic.

We finally find a drink at a stand close to the theater. Another observation, snack vendors AND restaurants sell very minimal selections. Almost every snack stand only sells ONE item. If it sells popcorn, it only sells popcorn. If it sells a churro it only sells a churro. It is very rare to actually have a choice and not every stand sells a drink. If you find a stand that sells a drink you typically have only one option, tea. If you are lucky they may sell tea AND Coke or tea and another option like juice. The restaurants only sell between 1-3 entrees. They also may have 1-2 dessert items and typically 4-5 drink options so you at least get just a little more selection at a restaurant. For example, the hot dog stand where we bought a Coke only sold hot dogs and 2 drinks, tea and Coca-Cola.

It’s now time for Big Band Beat and we arrive about 15 minutes early. This is in the area of the park called the American Waterfront, and they do a great job simulating America in the 1940s.

This was the only reservable show option in DisneySea. It was in a beautiful indoor theater and in all honestly the theater was nice enough to where you coulda convinced me I was seeing a broadway show on broadway rather than a theme park production show. Our reserved seats were in a great location on the first row of the second section.

No pictures were allowed during the show so I have none.
This show pre-covid had a live band and was supposedly amazing. Most bloggers say it’s just a shell of its former self since the loss of the live band. We still found it high energy and fun. There were lots of dance routines to 1920s era big band songs, and we really enjoyed it. I can see where a live band would bring even more energy though and make it even more entertaining.

After it ends we start walking toward Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull. This ride has no relation to the movie. Since we didn’t have unlimited Premiere Access today we did use the free 40th Anniversary pass system which is basically a free fast pass for certain less high profile rides. I managed to snag a time Indiana Jones for after our show so we were in a minor rush to make it in time. The annoying thing is that this ride was by Raging Spirits which meant it was on the exact opposite side of the park 20 minutes away where we just came from. We take a different way back and we see the Mount Prometheus, the volcano, for the first time.

It is absolutely huge, and without a doubt the biggest of any mountain in any Disney Park anywhere.

 

[Rimmit]

It houses not one, but TWO rides, Journey into the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. We also see Mediterranean Harbor for the first time as well.

Lucy has been looking for a churro all day and on the way we finally find a churro stand and buy one.

I didn’t notice this but Lucy noted that the churros here are in the shape of Mickey. We really need to bring these to the US.

We make it to Indiana Jones just in time for our standby pass.

The temple is beautifully lit at night and looks like something you’d see in the middle of a jungle.

Despite using the Premiere Access line, the queue for Indiana Jones was quite long taking about 20 minutes to board the ride. The queue was very elaborate. It had been since 2017 since I was in the Indiana Jones queue in Disneyland but I don’t remember it being this elaborate. It was missing the “traps” that definitely added to the Disneyland version.

It has the exact same ride vehicle as the California version.

The ride was amazing and just as enjoyable if not more enjoyable than the Disneyland version. It’s very similar and at the same time different than Disneyland and 1,000 times better than Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom despite using the EXACT same ride system and track. This ride has some effects that they don’t have at Disneyland which were pretty neat. This is a perfect example of how it’s not just the ride but the theming that makes an attraction.

Lucy absolutely loves it and wants to do it again, but we don’t have time today but we’ll definitely do it again in two days for our second DisneySea day.

There are still two attraction passes we need to use, so we pick Journey to the Center of the Earth for our next one. I had avoided reading about almost all the rides we were going to go on this vacation aside from some very basic reviews so I could I could go into them completely blind, unbiased, and unspoiled. I had no idea what this ride would entail to be completely honest. We walk back to Mount Prometheus where the attraction is. To go through the volcano there are a variety of tunnels that allow you cut through.

Journey to the Center of the Earth is exclusive to Tokyo DisneySea and is their headliner ride that exists inside the volcano which is the parks centerpiece.

We get into the queue and I must say it is an incredible queue. It definitely feels like you are going into the center of the earth based on the queue especially when combined with the fact you already walked inside the volcano to get there.

It’s loosely based on the Jules Verne book. There isn’t a preshow in the traditional sense, but there are a variety of props to give you the sense you are exploring into the center of the earth from an underground research lab.

You then take an elevator down “deep” into the earth to board the ride vehicle.

I won’t talk too much about this ride as I don’t want to spoil anything, but having zero expectations or knowledge of what the ride was going into it, we were all totally impressed. It’s basically a dark ride, but definitely different from any other dark ride we’ve done. It was Lucy’s absolute favorite ride to date this vacation and has now named it “Whoop! Jump Scare!” Both Kendall and I absolutely loved it as well, and it was one of the funnest moments of the vacation that left us talking about the ride for days. The theming was incredible and it definitely does a great job of misdirection and doing the unexpected.

For our final attraction pass of the night we decide to do Soarin’. I was skeptical to do Soarin’ as we have done it a ton of times in Epcot and California Adventure, but everyone said that this is the best version and the story is totally different from the other Soarin’s so we feel the need to experience it.

I must say that the story and queue and theming are 100 percent different.

The whole ride has an Italian Renaissance theme, which is vastly superior to the hanger bay theme of the US Soarin’. I’m not sure if you could really even call the US versions themed to be honest as the theming is so weak.

 

[Rimmit]

The story and preshow were told in Japanese so I am not 100 percent sure what the story was, but based on the queue, I’m pretty sure it was about the history of flight. The ride is the exact same except the ending sequence that has you return to Tokyo instead of Disney World or Disneyland.

We are out of attraction tickets at this point and it’s about 7:00PM so we go decide to go and pick up our vacation package from the Hotel Miracosta which is the hotel connected to DisneySea. We were told at check in at the Grand Chateau we could not get it the day before. The online bloggers and people in the Facebook groups say you can so we went to try and pick it up. The vacation package was in a very nice plastic envelope which would make a nice souvenir.

Picking it up now saves a ton of time in the AM, as the Vacation Package contains your park tickets, and unlimited Premier Access passes, and pretty much EVERYTHING you need to actually go to the parks. It is only available for pick up a the hotel you are staying in for your vacation package which is for us is the Hotel Miracosta. Tonight we are staying at the Disneyland Hotel which is right across from Disneyland. If we did not pick it up tonight then we’d have to take the monorail over to the Hotel MiraCosta in the morning, pick up the vacation package, and then ride the monorail back to Disneyland which is a total waste of time. The Hotel Miracosta is literally connected to Tokyo DisneySea via a hotel entrance so we just exit via that entrance and go to the front desk. Thankfully, the bloggers were right and we pick up our vacation package without issue.

Believe: Sea of Dreams, the nighttime spectacular, was starting in 45 minutes at 8:00PM but since we still have one more day in the park we decide to see it the second night. Unfortunately, we have to return the wheelchair all the way across the park at the Fantasy Springs Hotel which is a 20 minute walk.

We walk across the park and leave via the Grand Chateau entrance and return the wheelchair.

Then we walk to the monorail station right next to the hotel passing the Fantasy Springs Entrance on the way.

Of note, this entrance is ONLY for use of hotel guests of Fantasy Springs hotel. There are a number of hotels within a 2-3 minute walk of this entrance, but they are not allowed to enter or exit via this entrance. This can be very aggravating as it is a 25 minute walk to the front of the park, and then a monorail ride to the station here, so literally about 35-40 minutes in transit minimum, rather than just walking out this gate. This is a huge point of aggravation for many Tokyo DisneySea goers at this point. The picture below illustrates what an inconvenience this. The red line below shows the distance you’d travel if you could go out the Fantasy Springs gate. The yellow line shows the distance you travel if you are not staying at the Fantasy Springs Hotel. The yellow line involves a monorail ride as well.

We arrive at the Bayside Station.

Unlike the monorails in the US parks that are free the monorails here require you to buy a ticket to ride. I attempt to use my credit card but for some reason it won’t take our card. In general using a US credit card in Asia I’ve noticed is hit or miss. Sometimes some cards work, and sometimes they don’t. It really seems random to be honest if our card gets accepted. We end up just using cash. It’s only 300 yen per adult and 150 yen per child so just 750 yen total, which isn’t even $5 USD.

The monorail compared to the US versions are much bigger and nicer and actually themed.

I would gladly pay the small amount to ride the monorail in the US if it meant they were better maintained and had this level of theming. It was really cute, and just puts you in a Disney mood. We take the monorail to the Disneyland Station.

 

[Rimmit]

It is located right at the entrance to Disneyland Park. The Disneyland Hotel is directly opposite the station.

It is absolutely gorgeous at night. We enter into the lobby, and just like all the other lobbies this vacation it is cavernous and beautiful.

Tonight we booked a Cinderella Suite.

As you can imagine, with a name like Cinderella Suite, it’s themed to Cinderella.

It has a separate living room and bedroom. It’s a beautiful room and we wish we had more time to spend here.

Like many other hotels, they offer reusable bags and amenity kits and themed plastic cups to take home.

We hadn’t had dinner yet so we order some room service. While waiting for room service I head down to the laundromat as the next hotel does not have laundry. I hope to god that this one is relationship material unlike my last two laundromats.

I head down to the laundromat and they have a similar QR code system as the previous. The laundromat is very busy and I was lucky to find an empty washer to do our laundry. I start it up and head back to the room. Room service finally comes around 9:30PM and we eat. We just ordered some pizza and pasta so nothing fancy. It did come with a cream of corn soup that I found to be excellent.

Kendall then get’s Lucy ready for bed while I head back to the laundromat. Unfortunately, I can’t find my laundry. I was about 15 minutes late to move over our laundry as I was eating so I suspect someone moved it but as I don’t see it in any dryer or sitting in a pile around the room. There is a sign that says that laundry that is sitting unattended can be retrieved from bell services. I head to bell services and they have my laundry. I’ll definitely be do a better job of moving my laundry the moment it’s done as there definitely isn’t a grace period.

When I get back all the dryers are occupied but within 10 minutes one frees up. Thankfully the dryers here actually DRY and do it relatively efficiently, and within 30 minutes our small load of laundry was dry. I feel like I’m in laundry heaven. I head upstairs with the laundry. It’s been a long day, and tomorrow isn’t any shorter, so I get ready for bed and hit the sack at about 11:30PM.

Day 14, January 1st, 2025 Step Count – 24,849 Steps

Total Step Count – 233,188

 

[MickeyCB]

I log on each day to read your updates. I am enjoying following along so much.
And I've said before if I ever get to go to Disney in Japan I am going to need a shipping container to get home all of the souveniers! Just the amenity kits you have pics of from your rooms would be coming back home!

 

[Rimmit]

I log on each day to read your updates. I am enjoying following along so much.
And I've said before if I ever get to go to Disney in Japan I am going to need a shipping container to get home all of the souveniers! Just the amenity kits you have pics of from your rooms would be coming back home!

Thanks for following along!

The amount of free stuff in all the Asia Disney rooms was just ridiculous. Plastic cups, amenity kits, bags, slippers. We just didn’t have space and were sad to leave it all behind. It’s like an endless bombardment of stuff.

 

[Rimmit]

Day 15 - Tokyo Disneyland
“There’s a great, big beautiful tomorrow!”

I woke up at 7:30 AM today which was the first day I actually slept a decent amount in a quite a while, and Lucy and Kendall get up shortly after. We all eventually take a shower and get ready.

Today rather than a fancy sit-down breakfast like yesterday, we opt to do the hotel buffet at the Sherwood Garden Restaurant. It’s a hotel buffet and very expansive and large. It reminded me of a buffet on a cruise ship to be honest in terms of the size and selection of foods. They have some cute Mickey plates I feel the need to use.

One of the problems we’ve been running into is that there just isn’t a lot of food available in the hotels after we get back from the parks at night. Our options are typically just room service or some snacks from the convenience store in the hotel if it’s even open. For this reason we decide to go ahead and hit up the convenience store for some Raman as a late night snack as sometimes we don’t make it to the store before it closes. They have a very large raman selection. We opt for the standard flavored Cup Noodle that we are familiar with.

I initially couldn’t figure out how they warm up the ramen they sell in the store as there is no microwave an any of the rooms. It then dawns on me the tea kettle is also used to boil water for the ramen, and not just for tea. I felt so stupid.

Then we head to the hotel gift shop to get our Vacation Package merch. The Vacation Package comes with 1 shoulder bags per person and 1 gift. We choose as our gift one blanket and two cushions.

In Japan people sit on the sidewalk for shows and parades rather than stand, so everyone brings a cushion or blanket to sit on. We also buy some Mickey knit hats and 3 magnets. It was only $73 dollars for all the stuff. In the US it would be at least $125 ballpark at least for 3 hats and 3 magnets and that’s probably underestimating.

Afterwards we pack up our room and stop by bell services and ask to transfer our luggage to the Hotel Miracosta. We then head to the park which is not even 100m from our hotel.

We cross the turnstiles and head to the wheelchair rental. As always it’s not far from entrance and there are ample wheelchairs lined up unlike at Disneyland Paris. The Tokyo prices could time to shock as a wheelchair rental is just 3.59! It’s cheaper than a cup of Starbucks coffee! An ECV was just 12.73 to rent but they were out. For comparison an ECV to rent for a day in the US is $60.

The World Bazaar is the equivalent of Main Street USA in Tokyo Disneyland, and unlike other Main Streets, this one is actually covered. While not as aesthetically pleasing as an open air Main Street, I do love the practicality of this.

As with all castle parks our first priority is our castle pic, so we march down the World Bazaar straight to Cinderella’s Castle.

I must say, I do prefer the original grey color scheme in comparison to the newer pink one that Magic Kingdom has. It just looks more classic.

We then head over to Fantasyland to do Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast. This is supposedly the BEST ride in all of Tokyo Disneyland and one of the best in the ENTIRE world. It has gotten rave reviews, so we are very excited to see this ride. I have avoided any and all spoilers, while Kendall has seen a handful of Tik-Tok videos.

Thankfully, we have have unlimited Premier Access to rides to rides today via our Vacation Package so any ride with a Premier Access line we can just do over and over again with minimal wait. Thank goodness, as the wait today was 180-220 minutes all day long.

We just would not be able to accomplish that much if we did not utilize some degree of line skipping.

The queue was beautiful, and felt like you were walking right into Beast’s castle.

It was themed incredibly well and the atmosphere really put you into the story. The wait was about 15 minutes to get to the preshow. The preshow took place in the grand staircase room.

Then you had about another 10 minutes or so in line after the preshow.

They had a variety of animatronics in the queue such as Lumiere and Cogsworth and used shadows as as well to convey the story.

The ride vehicles were super cute in that you boarded onto large size tea cups.

The ride itself is a dark trackless ride akin to Rise of the Resistance. The teacups have the ability to sway as well as move which is synchronized to a variety of shows scenes and music. This combination makes for an absolutely spectacular experience.

The story picks up from “Be Our Guest” and the ride incorporates many scenes from this point in the movie onward.

The ride definitely lived up to the hype and then some.

I absolutely loved it. The music, the show scenes, the animatronics, the special effects. It just all clicked and made you feel like you were part of the story.

The animatronics did not really stand out to me, but the show scenes and scale were just incredible. The combination of the practical effects, the music, and ride vehicle was just perfect. There is no dark ride in the US or really any park that could come close to competing in my opinion except for Rise of the Resistance, and I actually liked this better. Rise of the Resistance is really just an incredible testament to technology but this beats it for me in terms of sheer enjoyment.

 

[Rimmit]

Next up is Poohs Honey Hunt which is right next door.

We just used our Premier Access and the wait was not even 10 minutes after entering the line. They set the queue up as though you were walking between a bunch of pages of the books.

We didn’t know what to expect from this ride, but I must say we were very impressed. This was a trackless dark ride, and you board a honey pot as a ride vehicle.

It is hands down the best pooh ride we’ve ever been on, and somewhat similar to Beauty and the Beast at times.

Beauty and the Beast is just bigger, grander, and has better songs. I suspect they looked at this ride design and thought about how they could improve it even more and then decided to do that with Beauty and the Beast. I must say we all found having Pooh speak in Japanese to be quite jarring, as Pooh has such an iconic voice and hearing him in Japanese was just odd.

Haunted mansion is in Fantasyland here so we make a short walk to it next.

At this time it has a holiday overlay, Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare which features Jack Skellington. The preshow was changed to include Jack, and the whole queue was redecorated as well.

We’ve never seen the Disneyland Holiday overlay, but I’m betting this is likely very similar.

I know that the Disneyland overlay is somewhat controversial, but we enjoy it overall.

It is a pretty impressive overlay, and much more thorough than the Jingle Cruise or some other overlays we’ve seen over the years.

We head over to Adventureland next as we are starting to get pretty hungry and there is a quick service restaurant there that serves gumbo and we want to try it out. This is one of the busiest days of the year and I had been warned of the crowds by everyone, but to be honest it’s not any worse than Disney World crowds in my opinion. It is definitely crowded but I have seen Disney at Phase 4 capacity so anything compared to that feels light. It also helps that the Japanese are just more orderly than the US crowds and they are also just more respectful. Thus far in the time we’ve been in Japan we have seen zero “Karen” type moments, whereas in the US, at least once per day I typically see someone making a scene either with a cast member or other guest. On our way to Adventureland we notice everyone is sitting for the parade.

I read that for shows and parades everyone here sits, but it’s still neat to see in person. I really wish this was how things were in the US as it would make it so much easier for everyone to see. Also something we really noticed today is that there is no trash or food on the ground. Despite the obsession with popcorn, somehow Tokyo Disneyland has the most efficient cleaning crew ever. There is also no trash on the ground or gum either. In general the park just felt immaculately clean. What’s also odd, is that trash cans are few and far between unlike in the US. So despite the lack of easily accessible trash cans and a cultural obsession with Disneyland popcorn the parks are somehow notably cleaner and better maintained than the US parks.

We eventually get to Cafe Orleans for a taste of home.

Kendall is from New Orleans so she is somewhat skeptical that this is gonna be any good. While I stand in line for food, Kendall goes to a nearby popcorn stand to get our popcorn bucket included in our vacation package.

We order three bowls of gumbo, and also three soft drinks.

There was some confusion as included in our vacation package is unlimited nonalcoholic beverages in the park. You only need to show your beverage ticket. Apparently, the beverage ticket is also good soup and I did not know this. They thought I was trying to get 3 drinks and 3 soups for free, and I only thought the drink was an option, and was happy to pay for the gumbo. Eventually with some google translate they understood that I was happy to pay for the drinks and get the gumbo for free, and did not expect 6 free items. We also ordered a Mickey Cinnamon roll as a back up option in case the gumbo turned out to be a bust.

Believe it or not, but the gumbo was actually really good. It had a hint of some tomato in it that I’m we’re not used to in any gumbo we’ve ever had, but we all really enjoyed it. It was probably the best thing we’ve eaten in a park since leaving the US. It was really nice to eat something that wasn’t a burger, pizza, pasta or lounge food which has been our primary diet over the last two weeks. Lucy hasn’t been eating too great since we hit Asia so it was good to find something she liked. Of note the prices were very affordable with a cup of gumbo not even costing $5 USD.

 

[Rimmit]

After we are pretty close to Big Thunder Mountain, so we head toward it. On the way we pass by the Enchanted Tiki Room which apparently is run by Stitch here. We wished we had time to do it as Lucy love’s Stitch.

The queue and theming for Big Thunder Mountain is pretty identical to the US, but the track is not.

We found it pretty tame compared to other versions of Big Thunder Mountain.

We still do it twice because we have the Premiere Access and the line isn’t even 5 minutes via the Premier Access. The standby line is pretty intensive though extending far outside the attraction in the walkway area.

We then take a bathroom stop which just happens to be next to the Western Shootin’ gallery.

The irony here is that there is a 5 minute wait to pay 200 Yen for 10 shots. In the US, the WDW version was free, and there were so little playing it that it is now being removed and being replaced by a DVC lounge.

 

[Rimmit]

Big Thunder Mountain is pretty near Splash Mountain so we then head over to Critter Country where it is.

The queue here is loaded from a cavern in the mountain which gives it more of a mysterious feel than the ones in the US.

Like all the Splash Mountains it starts with you climbing ascending the mountain. You get a real nice view of the park from the top.

We really miss Splash Mountain. After having just gone on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure 10 days ago, riding Splash Mountain now makes me realize how much better I like it in comparison to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

It’s just as good as I remember it. While I enjoy Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the new song ending song, Special Spice, doesn’t hold a candle to Zip-a-Dee-Dooh-Dah.

Unfortunately, Lucy gets absolutely soaked. Luckily the weather today isn’t too cold, and her winter coat is waterproof, so she shakes off the water and dries up without too much issue.

Next up is Happy Ride with Baymax over in Tomorrowland so we have to trek back through Fantasyland. We pass by It’s a Small World, but sadly it is closed at this time most likely because they are installing the “I am Groot” overlay.

A short bit later we arrive at The Happy Ride with Baymax.

I was very skeptical of this ride as it’s basically a reskinned Alien Swirling Saucer’s. It has a consistent 80-120 minute wait the whole day so I’m curious as to why people are willing to wait this long for a ride that is basically in any basic amusement park.

I must say the ride is greater than the sum of its parts. The music is SUPER HAPPY, and a large number of the people there REALLY get into the music and start dancing. It’s really hard to be in this line and do the ride and be sad. It’s just a very fun and happy experience. We enjoy the ride about the same as Alien Swirling Saucers, which for us is not that much, but I must say the music and atmosphere is great and is probably the best part of the ride.

Star Tours is right next door so we head to it next and use our Premier Access.

The queue is just like all the other Star Tours.

Of any ride this is probably the most consistent in terms of theming and experience. The boarding area is totally different, felt way more sci-fi than the other boarding areas which can be pretty bland.

The ride is identical to the other Star Tours aside from it being in Japanese. Once we exit Star Tours we start to walk to Monsters, Inc. Ride and Go Seek. On the way we can see Space Mountain behind some barriers being deconstructed.

They are in the process of demolishing Space Mountain Tokyo and are going to rebuild a brand new version.

Monsters, Inc. Ride and Go Seek is an attraction unique to Tokyo Disneyland.

We use the Premier Access line which cuts down on the queue but we still have about a 15 minute wait. The queue is themed to the Monster’s Inc. headquarters, and is very well done.

This is a tracked dark ride where you board a Monsters, Inc. themed vehicle.

There are flashlights in the vehicle that you can shine one targets that activate them and cause them to move.

It adds some interactivity to the ride which elevates the experience so you aren’t just a passive observer. No score is kept, so it’s primarily to just add some interactivity.

 

[Rimmit]

It is a very cute ride, that even without the flashlight it would be a be pretty entertaining ride but the flashlight adds some interactivity.

For those that don’t feel like using the flashlight that’s fine as the ride is good without it. We all really enjoyed it. It’s not a ride I feel is so amazing that you instantly want to do it again, but I’d definitely want to do it at least once per trip.

At this point it’s about 1 hour till Reach for the Stars, the brand new nighttime spectacular so we decide to stake out a spot. One of the only benefits of having a wheelchair in the parks is there is typically a designated wheelchair seating area for the main shows. We eventually find a Cast Member, and with some Google translate they understand we are looking for the wheelchair seating. They then walked us to where the viewing area was, and it was a pretty nice spot just a little off center.

We are pretty hungry at this point and sticking with the theme of if it works, don’t fix it, Lucy and I walk to Adventureland to get gumbo again.

Lucy doesn’t like it as much as the first time as there is a little more tomato taste to it, but thankfully the cinnamon rolls taste identical to last time.

As we wait for the fireworks, everything just seems calmer compared to waiting for fireworks in the US parks. Maybe it’s the cold, but everyone just sits down and sticks to their space. There is no fighting over spaces, no arguments, it’s just people waiting to watch a show. It was the easiest time I’ve ever had waiting for a nighttime show by far.

The show was nice, but in all honesty given this was nighttime spectacular number five of the trip they are all starting to run together. It was also completely in Japanese except for the main theme song which I found odd, given the rest of the show and all the other songs were in Japanese. For that reason I just found it hard for me to really give it a review.

There were lots of movie clips including some from the Marvel movies. It was beautiful as all the nighttime spectaculars are with great projections and lighting. There really wasn’t too much fireworks though. I can’t speak to the narrative due to it all being in Japanese. From a gut feeling perspective, it was just ok for me in comparison to the other shows we’d seen this trip.

Afterwards we go stake out a spot for the night parade, Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights. Yes, that really is the name and it is a mouthful. This parade has rave reviews and many have stated it is the BEST Disney nighttime parade of all time. We decided to go sit somewhere in Fantasyland so afterwards we can head over to the Beauty and the Beast ride one last time before we leave as it was just incredible.

We pass by The Big Pop on the way.

This is the super famous popcorn shop we have read about, and Tik-Tokkers are always advertising. We figure we’ll go stake out a spot real quick and then I’ll head back and get some popcorn. They have a Strawberry Napoleon flavor we thought might be worth a try. So far this trip we’ve had roast beef, milk chocolate, and caramel.

We have not been adventurous nor willing to spend the time to get popular flavors such as soy sauce and butter, garlic shrimp, or curry. We are directed to the wheelchair area, and find a spot. I then head back to The Big Pop. The Big Pop is a nicely themed store devoted to popcorn and popcorn buckets.

It takes about 5 minutes to get into the building. Once I get inside I have an “Aha!” Moment in that The Big Pop is a take on The Big Bang!

I suddenly felt so enlightened and so stupid all at once. The line takes about 10 minutes once I enter the building. Unlike any other place in the park, they serve THREE types of popcorn here instead of one. This is crazy talk. I honestly don’t know what people do given they actually have to make a choice unlike every single other stand that only has one type of popcorn. Here they serve Strawberry Napoleon, Cheddar Cheese, and Salted Caramel. Aside from Strawberry Napoleon, these were the most normal flavors we have seen thus far in Tokyo. The Strawberry Napoleon, which is basically Neopolitan, is an exclusive to The Big Pop and cannot be found anywhere else.

They also sell a variety of popcorn buckets here. From what I can tell, it’s practically every currently available popcorn bucket. Like all popcorn stands there are no soft drinks or drinks of any kind available here. I then get back to our spot and Lucy is dead asleep on the ground.

We have a bit before the parade so we let her nap and eat the Strawberry Napoleon popcorn. It’s actually pretty good. It’s basically three flavors in one just like Neapolitan ice cream.

A random observation, but they stick glow sticks in the rope which is a nice safety feature.

Definitely helps keep people from clotheslining themselves on the rope as it is getting pretty dark at this point.

Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights then starts.

It has the classic electrical parade music much like Disney’s Electrical Sky Parade in Paris. It is absolutely incredible.

 

[Rimmit]

The floats are plentiful, have a lot of variety and are beautifully lit. The parade is VERY long, and might be the longest Disney parade in recent memory. They have a plethora of characters and pretty much cover nearly every era of Disney.

It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip, and we enjoyed it much more than Reach for the Stars. Once it ended we made a beeline for Beauty and the Beast.

Everyone has the same idea, as the lines always go down during the parade and everyone rushes to get in line before it get’s too long. Thankfully, with our Premier Access we don’t have to worry about the line growing too much.

The line goes quickly and we get on Beauty and the Beast one last time. It truly is a spectacular ride, and it only makes me wish they would make dark rides like this and Pooh’s Honey Hunt for the US as they are just so impressive. It’s sad we have no dark ride attractions on this scale for any of the classic movies in the US. The closest thing we have is Rise of the Resistance and it’s based on Star Wars and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure which is not nearly as good as either Pooh’s Honey Hunt or Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast.

At this point it’s getting pretty close to closing time so we start to head out. We walk past Monsters Inc. on the way out. I get a better view of the building at this point and notice it does pretty good job of looking like the HQ.

It’s a little congested in the World Bazaar, and this is probably the biggest crowd we’ve encountered in our time at Tokyo Disneyland thus far. Despite the heavy crowd it is very orderly.

We return the wheelchair just past the entrance.

After we return the wheelchair, we head to the monorail. It’s just a short ride and we arrive at the Tokyo DisneySea station where the Hotel Miracosta is.

Like every hotel so far, the lobby is of course absolutely beautiful.

Check in goes smoothly without issue, and amazingly our luggage is already waiting for us in our room. At the Disneyland Hotel we had to call bell services to bring it up, so this was a very pleasant surprise. We are very excited for this stay as for the first time in 4 hotels, we are going to stay in a room for longer than 1 night. This time we’re going to stay for 2 WHOLE NIGHTS. This was such a treat it felt like we were practically moving in. This greatly simplifies our morning routine as we don’t have to pack in the morning!!