Miscellaneous Tokyo Thoughts

[Disney Analyst]

Unless they are posted as being under refurb for your travel dates, you'll get to enjoy the Christmas parade, regular day parade, AND Dreamlights all on the same day.

It's tooooo much! HAH. I need more time in a day

 

[AxolotlTales]

Stoked that there is a new Christmas parade!

Do they run the normal day parade also? What should we prioritize...

Any seasonal offerings for TDL are additions for future references. So it'll just be an extra parade they do

Edit: Previous messages didn't show

 

[PiratesMansion]

It's tooooo much! HAH. I need more time in a day

Just remember that the normal day parade and Dreamlights both only run once a day. IIRC during my visits, Dreamlights would run about 7:30 and the Fireworks (if they weren't canceled) were around 8:30. That was summer and fall, though; I'm not sure how their performance times might be different during Christmas.

Since the Christmas parade is new, it will probably have multiple showings. But good news, people in Japan sit (and you are probably taller than most Japanese people), so parade viewing is easier than you might expect.

I like watching parades by Haunted Mansion, as that's where they start, and then you can quickly get to your next destination while most everyone else is still watching the parade.

Definitely take as much time at the Tokyo parks as you can get!

 

[Disney Analyst]

Just remember that the normal day parade and Dreamlights both only run once a day. IIRC during my visits, Dreamlights would run about 7:30 and the Fireworks (if they weren't canceled) were around 8:30. That was summer and fall, though; I'm not sure how their performance times might be different during Christmas.

Since the Christmas parade is new, it will probably have multiple showings. But good news, people in Japan sit (and you are probably taller than most Japanese people), so parade viewing is easier than you might expect.

I like watching parades by Haunted Mansion, as that's where they start, and then you can quickly get to your next destination while most everyone else is still watching the parade.

Definitely take as much time at the Tokyo parks as you can get!

It's easy to walk up to get a spot in that area you think? Any idea how early we need to arrive and get a "Standing" spot behind the sitters?

 

[PiratesMansion]

It's easy to walk up to get a spot in that area you think? Any idea how early we need to arrive and get a "Standing" spot behind the sitters?

You really don't need a standing spot, most parade viewing space in Tokyo is seated and it's honestly better that way IMO. Parades would be much more pleasant if we did that in the US and in other countries that had Disney parks. But you can definitely find standing spots if that's what you'd prefer. They are very strict on what are sitting spots and what are standing and they will not hesitate to tell you if you're not in the right space for what you're doing.

People will line up and stake out spots FAR in advance and you'll see plenty of parade mats designating each party's space. What will feel like WAY more people than in the US will snag spots hours in advance. BUT, as I said, you guys are likely taller than most Japanese people and most parade viewing is seated, so you can probably get a decent spot less than 30 minutes before the parade starts with little to no visual barrier between you and the parade even if there are rows of people in front of you.

I can't speak to the TDS harbor shows now that there are apparently upcharge viewing areas and I'm not sure how that show is oriented to its viewing areas, but I have never failed to find a decent spot ~30 minutes or less before the parade starts, so scout it out. You might be pleasantly surprised to find a good spot closer to the parade start time than you might expect.

 

[jrhwdw]

Just remember that the normal day parade and Dreamlights both only run once a day. IIRC during my visits, Dreamlights would run about 7:30 and the Fireworks (if they weren't canceled) were around 8:30. That was summer and fall, though; I'm not sure how their performance times might be different during Christmas.

Since the Christmas parade is new, it will probably have multiple showings. But good news, people in Japan sit (and you are probably taller than most Japanese people), so parade viewing is easier than you might expect.

I like watching parades by Haunted Mansion, as that's where they start, and then you can quickly get to your next destination while most everyone else is still watching the parade.

Definitely take as much time at the Tokyo parks as you can get!

Unfortunately Seasonal Parades are still once a Day.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Unfortunately Seasonal Parades are still once a Day.

Do we know this for a fact?

The reason I ask is that during my first visit, there was a brand new Halloween parade. It ran multiple times a day, and that was 2010.

 

[AxolotlTales]

Do we know this for a fact?

The reason I ask is that during my first visit, there was a brand new Halloween parade. It ran multiple times a day, and that was 2010.

Yes it's true. Aside from the baymax one they've been running in the summer, none of the full-scale parades have ran twice a day in a while and I don't think it's something they've prioritize in years with regular operations. This is the current showtimes for the October Halloween Season for an idea.

 

[AxolotlTales]

A first look at the new Christmas Parade's floats

 

[CosmicDuck]

The new royal park hotel is destroying sightlines at Tokyo DisneySea and You know OLC will be mad at this.




Funfact When Eurasia hotel opened it’s brought a sightline issue within the harbor to AW.
and as a punishment they didn’t allow them to have a bus stop within the parks even maihama station.

Seems to be going very viral on japanese twitter at least, I just came over from there to see if people here were discussing it. It's an atrocious issue, it's terrible there's no height regulations that close to the resort. Will OLC actually spend the money to fix that? If so, god bless that company.

It warms my heart the japanese audience still cares so deeply about sightline issues unlike most of ours. I genuinely couldn't believe how atrocious sightlines were at Epic Universe, easily my biggest complaint about that park.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Seems to be going very viral on japanese twitter at least, I just came over from there to see if people here were discussing it. It's an atrocious issue, it's terrible there's no height regulations that close to the resort. Will OLC actually spend the money to fix that? If so, god bless that company.

It warms my heart the japanese audience still cares so deeply about sightline issues unlike most of ours. I genuinely couldn't believe how atrocious sightlines were at Epic Universe, easily my biggest complaint about that park.

Let's not give them TOO much credit.

Yes, sightlines are better than a lot of other parks, but sightlines of park infrastructure outside the park are quite bad, worse than the US parks.

And you can still see Splash Mountain and the castle quite easily from DisneySea.

I'm sure some of that can't be helped because of how close everything is to each other, but it's not like TDR previously had no sightline issues until this happened.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Let's not give them TOO much credit.

Yes, sightlines are better than a lot of other parks, but sightlines of park infrastructure outside the park are quite bad, worse than the US parks.

And you can still see Splash Mountain and the castle quite easily from DisneySea.

I'm sure some of that can't be helped because of how close everything is to each other, but it's not like TDR previously had no sightline issues until this happened.

While not ideal, seeing well themed Disney icons from another Disney park is the least bit offensive compared to a modern hotel, which breaks the Disney illusion fully.

 

[PiratesMansion]

While not ideal, seeing well themed Disney icons from another Disney park is the least bit offensive compared to a modern hotel, which breaks the Disney illusion fully.

That said, it's not as if Disney's building hotels to their old standard.

The Fantasy Springs Hotel is no MiraCosta.

And again, I could go on with the illusion breaking. You could absolutely see Tokyo from the Swiss Family Treehouse. Coaster Studios recently pointed out that you could see the Tokyo Skytree from Splash Mountain. The green illuminated logo of the adjacent Sheraton was easily visible during my first visit, if not my second.

People who yammer on about "WDW's Bubble" often conveniently ignore the fact that there's an enormous off-property ferris wheel visible from the monorail line and it has been that way for years.

This is not the first time nor the last that the illusion has been broken, nor is it among the most egregious examples.

So I guess my attitude is that it's unfortunate, but what are people going to do about it, really? I'm really not sure what people expect OLC to do about it, given that they (so far as I know) have no control whatsoever with what other people do outside of their land, unless there's some sort of height ordinance such as that around the original Disneyland that restricts local building heights within a certain perimeter of the park.

 

[Disney Analyst]

That said, it's not as if Disney's building hotels to their old standard.

The Fantasy Springs Hotel is no MiraCosta.

And again, I could go on with the illusion breaking. You could absolutely see Tokyo from the Swiss Family Treehouse. Coaster Studios recently pointed out that you could see the Tokyo Skytree from Splash Mountain. The green illuminated logo of the adjacent Sheraton was easily visible during my first visit, if not my second.

People who yammer on about "WDW's Bubble" often conveniently ignore the fact that there's an enormous off-property ferris wheel visible from the monorail line and it has been that way for years.

This is not the first time nor the last that the illusion has been broken, nor is it among the most egregious examples.

So I guess my attitude is that it's unfortunate, but what are people going to do about it, really? I'm really not sure what people expect OLC to do about it, given that they (so far as I know) have no control whatsoever with what other people do outside of their land, unless there's some sort of height ordinance such as that around the original Disneyland that restricts local building heights within a certain perimeter of the park.

This is why I believe they should try their best, but the audience does have to be willing to suspend belief.

 

[ThemeParkTraveller]

Seems to be going very viral on japanese twitter at least, I just came over from there to see if people here were discussing it. It's an atrocious issue, it's terrible there's no height regulations that close to the resort. Will OLC actually spend the money to fix that? If so, god bless that company.

It warms my heart the japanese audience still cares so deeply about sightline issues unlike most of ours. I genuinely couldn't believe how atrocious sightlines were at Epic Universe, easily my biggest complaint about that park.

Although it may not happen for a while, that particular sightline will naturally be fixed as OLC inevitably uses the expansion pad there.

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

The new royal park hotel is destroying sightlines at Tokyo DisneySea and You know OLC will be mad at this.




Funfact When Eurasia hotel opened it’s brought a sightline issue within the harbor to AW.
and as a punishment they didn’t allow them to have a bus stop within the parks even maihama station.

Meanwhile at USJ:

 

[J4546]

regardless of sightline, its almost impossible to feel really immersed in any land nowadays becauase they are completely full of people wearing their disney or whatever graphic tee shirts lol

 

[PiratesMansion]

regardless of sightline, its almost impossible to feel really immersed in any land nowadays becauase they are completely full of people wearing their disney or whatever graphic tee shirts lol

Oh no, people wearing Disney shirts at a Disney park, can you imagine?!?!?

 

[J4546]

Oh no, people wearing Disney shirts at a Disney park, can you imagine?!?!?

im not complaining, i just think its funny

 

[Kevin_W]

That said, it's not as if Disney's building hotels to their old standard.

The Fantasy Springs Hotel is no MiraCosta.

I was at TDS last week and really enjoyed wandering the Fantasy Springs area. I'd read the complaints about the hotel, but thought to myself that it looked pretty nice and I really liked the fountains and stonework.

Then I walked back to the front of the park and saw Mira Costa over the harbor and remembered what the standard for an in-park hotel had been. Mira Costa is amazing and doesn't eve look like a hotel, just part of the Mediteranean waterfront.