Miscellaneous Tokyo Thoughts

[PiratesMansion]

I have never been to TDR... what is so bad about their food? And has the quality changed over the years?

Pre-Pandemic, I thought they had excellent food. Maybe the best in the world in terms of overall quality and certainly in price. Reportedly post-2020 the quality has gone downhill and options are fewer.

(Which isn't necessarily different from the US parks, at least on the surface, but Tokyo frequenters seem more vocal about their disdain for their current food offerings than US fans.)

 

[SweetDuffy101]

I have never been to TDR... what is so bad about their food? And has the quality changed over the years?

oh.. honey people in the west thinks that TDR is still the best place in the world, Reality is after 2 years of COVID-19 the park is just sad in all across the board, just ask the people on twitter. We all have the same sentiments.

The offerings and ticket prices are just not worth another visit for the time being especially TDS is not worth the full day price.
and like i said before the wait times are accurate now meaning if it shows 180 wait for an attraction believe me its true.

theres no fastpass only premiere access on 3 attractions resort wide.

you only get exclusive passes if you opt for the overpriced vacation packages for us locals arent enticing.

 

[PiratesMansion]

oh.. honey people in the west thinks that TDR is still the best place in the world, Reality is after 2 years of COVID-19 the park is just sad in all across the board, just ask the people on twitter. We all have the same sentiments.

The offerings and ticket prices are just not worth another visit for the time being especially TDS is not worth the full day price.
and like i said before the wait times are accurate now meaning if it shows 180 wait for an attraction believe me its true.

theres no fastpass only premiere access on 3 attractions resort wide.

you only get exclusive passes if you opt for the overpriced vacation packages for us locals arent enticing.

I understand that things aren't where people want them to be, but at least your tickets are still much cheaper and your parks are still doing maintenance.

 

[Shiriki_Utundu]

the park is just sad in all across the board,

but even a garden variety sad TDR day beats a well oiled WDW outing

 

[Shiriki_Utundu]

"across the board" ???

but that means customer service, cleanliness, ride operations and effects, hours, gate prices, food offerings, food quality, street performances, shop merchandise, shows and parades, wait times are in a poor state.

Is it truly everything or select aspects?

 

[SweetDuffy101]

"across the board" ???

but that means customer service, cleanliness, ride operations and effects, hours, gate prices, food offerings, food quality, street performances, shop merchandise, shows and parades, wait times are in a poor state.

Is it truly everything or select aspects?

yes, like literally. Call me exaggerated i mean look at the entertainment lineup, seasonal food has downgraded yes the merch is there but, the crazy wait times no FP, we literally have a parade with no dancers no nighttime spectaculars besides dreamlights.

Like i said TDS is in a very sad state. Until Believe comes out.

(One greeting barge show and a kiddie show if you didnt win the lottery and 5 minutes fireworks show. oh and BBB and with you show at hangar stage is lackluster)

 

[Soleurs]

"across the board" ???

but that means customer service, cleanliness, ride operations and effects, hours, gate prices, food offerings, food quality, street performances, shop merchandise, shows and parades, wait times are in a poor state.

Is it truly everything or select aspects?

I'd like to go through this item by item because I agree with pretty much everything SweetDuffy101 has said on this issue.

• Customer service is still fine, it's Japan after all. Morale has taken a bit of a beating in CMs but outside of a particularly low period from July to December of 2020, the ones they still have are pretty great. But OLC has never had a reputation for being a great company to work for.
• Cleanliness is also still impeccable, because again Japan.
• Ride maintenance is great. They'll never abandon that either.
• Hours are still cut down. Parks used to operate 8am to 10pm, we're still at 9am to 9pm every day. They let everyone in at around 8:30 most days, but only to pack the lines. Outside of BatB, Baymax, and Soaring, the ride will NOT start until 9am. Contrast that with USJ who opens their park an hour or more ahead of schedule every day with everything already operating. Bit of an absurd ops choice in my opinion.
• Gate prices are up as high as 20% compared to pre-COVID. Yes it looks appealing to foreigners now, but that's just because of the dollar strengthening against just about every other currency. One day used to be ¥7400, now it goes as high as ¥9400, but mostly hovers around the ¥8400/¥8900 range.
• Food offerings and quality have both taken a dive since the pandemic. A lot of menus were cut down in July 2020 to reduce costs, which lead to a number of great items to be cut or have their ingredients cheapened out. French fries are smaller and less good across the board, and we lost the chicken and maple syrup waffle sandwich at Camp Woodchuck Kitchen, for example. I can think of four restaurants I regularly eat at in Tokyo Disneyland and three at Tokyo DisneySea, everything else is pretty terrible. There were some definite losers before COVID too, but nearly every restaurant had something edible back then.
• Street performances are nonexistent. There's the Tokyo Disneyland Band and the Tokyo DisneySea Maritime Band, and the Bicycling Pianist at TDL... and that's it. All the other street performers were fired in May 2020.
• Merchandise is still great quality, although prices have been driven up by OLC's desire to boost guest spend and supply chain/inflation matters alike. Prices have barely shifted if you factor in the yen's devaluation against the dollar, honestly. But the variety is certainly less for the half-hearted seasonal events we sorta do.
• Shows and parades are also in a sad state. Dreaming Up and DreamLights have no dancers and only one character per float. The two stage shows introduced last year at TDL are both excellent, but have less dancers to accommodate for distancing. Seasonal parades have no dancers either and no show stop, which was always the best part. Plus we're still missing Tanabata, summer, and a real winter event. Over at Tokyo DisneySea, it's even worse. The harbor entertainment has been reduced to a single blue barge with a changing medallion for whatever event, the Fab Four (or Five) in a seasonal event costume from pre-COVID as they sail in circles around the harbor for 10 minutes. They do a dance from the old show, wave, and then go back inside. No dancers, no use of the stage areas, nada. Big Band Beat has been cut down to exclude the foreign hosts (because they were also fired in May 2020) and has no live band, plus less dancers. Both TDL and TDS put on the exact same Jamboree Mickey show at one of their respective stages, which isn't even as fun as it used to be because the audience has to sit and dance rather than dance with their whole body like the original Jamboree Mickey show. But the absolute worst thing is the "With You" shows. Two character, two hosts, maybe a dancer or two, in front of a giant projected screen showing DVD clips of old entertainment at the parks, designed to sell Vacation Packages. Day guests hate it because they don't get it, fans hate it because it reminds them of when the parks were good. They're wholly depressing, low effort shows. Entertainment, particularly at Sea, is just pathetic.
• And finally, wait times. Most wait times at the parks are negligible unless you go on a particularly busy weekend. The lack of FastPass does hurt for some rides like Tower of Terror or Journey to the Center of the Earth sometimes, and Premier Access is clearly a cash grab just like Genie+/Lightning Lane is in the domestic parks. But things aren't necessarily out of control most days like they could often be before COVID, but it's not really ideal either.

 

[jrhwdw]

Would be nice if Believe! Sea Of Dreams starts TDR on the right Entertainment Path again!!!!

I'm not hating on TDL'S Parades, but they need Dancers back!!!!! Same with Daytime Habor Shows at TDS!!!!

4 Weeks till Real Nighttime Entertainment returns to TDR, thank goodness!!!!!

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

I have never been to TDR... what is so bad about their food? And has the quality changed over the years?

I think we've had this exact conversation in this thread before, but I just want to point out that last time I brought this up I was criticizing options at TDR, this time I'm criticizing quality.

Whenever I go to TDR I typically eat at the basic quick service places, which while not terrible, are just average overpriced assembly line theme park food. When I went to USJ this month I ate at their two flagship theme restaurants, 3 Broomsticks and Kinopio Cafe, and while the food was very expensive, the quality was very good bordering on great. Granted I know it is not exactly an apples to apples comparison (I am not as familiar with TDR's table service restaurants as their menus don't really appeal to me), but just want to point out that both of those USJ restaurants are actually a tier below table service and you can easily eat there without reservations.

oh.. honey people in the west thinks that TDR is still the best place in the world, Reality is after 2 years of COVID-19 the park is just sad in all across the board, just ask the people on twitter. We all have the same sentiments.

On the topic of TDR declining in general, I think this is partly the result of park local opinions becoming more accessible in English for the first time. I think the truth that a lot of people don't want to hear is that TDR has always been idolized, sometimes ridiculously so, by a lot of western Disney fans. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of great things about TDR, much of which has been mentioned in this thread already. And it's a valid argument to say that those positives make TDR the best resort in the world when weighed against the negatives of the U.S. parks right now. But for me, there has always been something missing at TDR. There's some heart of the Disney experience which isn't present at TDR, or at least it's only present by way of an uncanny foreign imitation. This is actually a feeling I have about a lot of things in Japan, that things are great on paper but the heart of the experience is not there or is not quite understood.

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

Haunted Mansion Holiday has been made standby pass only for the rest of its run this season.

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

At TDL today...

Halloween offerings: take or leave them. The day parade was kind of cute, villains parade was a let down with very few characters and re-using the same floats as day parade. Fireworks were fine but felt really short (~4 mins). Was surprised at how many guests dressed up in costume and the level of detail.

Got to experience HM Holiday in Japan for the first time. Cool seeing all of the new stuff for the different mansion layout.

Got walked off my first attraction at TDR today... And it was... PhilharMagic?! Went to check out the new Coco scene which I still haven't seen, the second the show was about to start a buzzer went off and work lights came on. After a couple minutes of sitting, staff told us they were walking us out and gave us a multiple experiences pass valid for 2 years.

Space Mountain and PotC were both down for their lengthy refurbs (the SM one is not related to the massive rebuilding, that's coming later)

 

[SweetDuffy101]

A recent article has revealed in an interview with the OLC CEO it stated that" when the restrictions are over they are reviewing the return of annual pass but for weekday only" Weekends holidays and busy days will not be included in the package.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

At TDL today...

Halloween offerings: take or leave them. The day parade was kind of cute, villains parade was a let down with very few characters and re-using the same floats as day parade. Fireworks were fine but felt really short (~4 mins). Was surprised at how many guests dressed up in costume and the level of detail.

Got to experience HM Holiday in Japan for the first time. Cool seeing all of the new stuff for the different mansion layout.

This is how I felt seeing the Halloween stuff in 2019. After going for Halloween in WDW, DLR and HKDL, Tokyo felt lacking.

The real star were the guests doing cosplay.

 

[bsod]

Why don't they bring this back this season?

 

[SweetDuffy101]

Why don't they bring this back this season?

Because they're prepping all of the stuff for next year. and unlike other disney parks tokyo disney needs time to prepare for full blown special events.

 

[SweetDuffy101]

http://tdr.eng.mg/b8115

Disney stories Beyond a special event at Tokyo Disneyland begins January 26, 2023.

The first phase of the event will start with classic attraction "The Haunted Mansion".

Disney stories beyond will explore attractions and area around Tokyo Disney Resort.

Taking guests into deep dive into its background stories and characters.

 

[montydysquith-navarro]

http://tdr.eng.mg/b8115

Disney stories Beyond a special event at Tokyo Disneyland begins January 26, 2023.

The first phase of the event will start with classic attraction "The Haunted Mansion".

Disney stories beyond will explore attractions and area around Tokyo Disney Resort.

Taking guests into deep dive into its background stories and characters.

Hmm, is their Bride also named Constance or did they merge the 2 characters together (foreshadowing of sorts)? Because the character design has her wearing Constance's dress and pearls (but still has the beating heart and candlestick in lieu of her axe), and the character description seems Constance-y.

The actual figures in the Mansion:

(L-R): The Bride, Tokyo Disneyland; Constance Hatchaway, Magic Kingdom

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

And here we go....

Disney Premier Access (paid Fastpass) has been expanded to more attractions in both parks:

Tokyo Disneyland
Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast
Happy Ride with Baymax (new)
Splash Mountain (new)

Tokyo DisneySea
Soaring: Fantastic Flight
Believe! Sea of Dreams
Toy Story Mania (new)
Tower of Terror (new)
Journey to the Center of the Earth (new)

 

[tanc]

Ultimate pass coming eventually?

Pirates will probably be added to that too after the renovation.

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

Avatar 2 photo op at DisneySea. There's limited time Avatar food/drink being served at the park also.