We had agreed to leave the room by 7:30 because we needed to take our luggage to our new hotel, Disney's MiraCosta, and leave it there until we could get into our room. We checked in, hoping to qualify for Early Entry for hotel guests, but were sadly told no, you can only get in early the morning after you've stayed at the hotel. Drat! We stowed our bags and hurriedly went to get in line for Disneyland. The Japanese Disney parks are notorious for loooooong lines outside the gates prior to each day's opening. The line on Monday was certainly longer than we would've liked, but I've seen videos of it being a whole lot worse, so we took our lumps and dealt with it.
45 minutes later the line started to move and soon we were each scanning our QR code on our phones and were welcomed in by a energetic CM (Cast Member, read: Disney employee) and then we were in! It was fun to watch Leo take it all in and absorb how different it is from the domestic US parks he's been to. "Main Street USA" is called World Bazaar and it is covered, for the inclement weather in Japan, specifically in winter when it rains A LOT. We took our time, but also didn't dilly dally, as we knew we needed to get to certain attractions early so as not to have long waits for them.
We let Leo choose the itinerary and order for the day, since we've been her before. Now, I swear, I didn't have any influence on his choice, but he wanted to do Pooh's Honey Hunt first. He'd watched videos and read articles touting the advanced technology of the ride. Well, it was advanced when it opened 22 years ago, anyway. It's a trackless ride, meaning the ride vehicles don't follow a track on the floor, like most rides do. It's run by magnets *under* the floor. This allows for the ride vehicles to flow around a room and around each other seemingly with no set pattern, yet there is one. We got off there and he expressed how much he really liked it! Yay! He said it's so very well done and he was truly impressed! Yay!
We spent the rest of the day going on attractions (don't you date call them rides around Kenji, unless you're talking about Big Thunder. IYKYK), ducking into shops and restaurants for a/c. We got to experience Pooh (Kenji & Karin rode twice), Haunted Mansion (very much like the one on Florida), Country Bear Jamboree (Vacation, Kenji's least favorite version), Tiki Room Stitch Takeover (I had forgotten about this version), Pirates, Big Thunder RR, Star Tours (where *I* was the Rebel Spy!!!), Jungle Cruise (which was hysterical in a language we didn't understand). The Skipper was so animated and enthusiastic and tossed herself this way and that, if made the cruise soooo much fun! As faithful members of the Carolwood Pacific Railroad Society, we rode the train. The train in Tokyo Disneyland does *not* have multiple stops. It's a round trip from Westernland. If they made multiple stops in Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, like in the US parks, they would have to charge a fee. Remember what I said in Sunday's post about the Monorail?
We had lunch at Pan Galactic Pizza Port. The draw here is the how with Tony Solaroni, an animatronic alien. Kenji said the video and show were exactly the same as 21 years ago! Ha! The food was ok. Kenji and I shared a chicken & cheese calzone and a salami pizza. I don't agree with them calling it salami. It was like Canadian Bacon to my palette, but whatever, Disney. We also shared our first order of the super cute Alien dumplings. Each order comes with 3 dumplings and they are rice flour paste filled with custard, each one a different flavor, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. They were so cute it was a shame it eat them! But, they were yummy!
At 4:30 when our room was ready we went back to the hotel and got the keys to our 2 rooms. Leo had his own room for 3 of the 4 nights were stayed there (the 4th night Mom came back from her conference and we went back to the girls/boys rooming situation) and was very happy not to have to wear earplugs and reports that he slept VERY well those nights! The rooms are elegantly appointed and the characters are well represented. The MiraCosta is themed to Italy and you'd swear you were in an Italian seaside town when you're there. There's an entrance from the hotel to Disney Sea park, which was so very convenient at the end of our days there.
At one point, when I needed an a/c break, the boys went and did Standby for the Beauty and the Beast attraction. It wasn't here when Kenji & I were here 21 years ago. I just didn't have it in me at that point to go stand in line for 40-60 mins. My feet and ankles have been bothering me the whole trip and standing for extended periods of time make them hurt. They came back and told me it was really, really good. Leo got on the app and bought "passes" for all the 3 of us to go back after dinner and go through the Priority Lane. It was about $10.per person, which is more affordable than the Priority attractions you have to pay for in the US parks.
If you don't have plans to get to Tokyo Disneyland, I highly recommend looking on YouTube for a ride-through video of the Beauty and the Beast attraction. The animatronics are stunning, the rooms are beautiful and the Beast's transformation from Beast to Prince is not to be missed! I have no idea (and don't want to, so don't spoil it for me!) how they do it. Disney magic, indeed!
We had dinner at the Queen of Hearts restaurant in Fantasyland. It's a scramble service style restaurant, sort of like a cafeteria where you push your tray along a counter and tell the CMs (Cast Members, Disney-speak for employees) which item you'd like. I chose the roast beef with Japanese sauce, which turned out to be a fruity, sweet sauce that I enjoyed. It came with potato wedges and some lackluster veggies. I also had a cup of the corn chowder which was both chunky with corn and sweet. Kenji had the roast chicken and we traded bites. He was glad to have gotten the chicken as my sauce was too sweet for him. Leo said he wished he'd gotten the chicken as he didn't think the beef was seasoned and he didn't enjoy the sauce either. Oh well. More for me!
We ended the evening with Leo exploring ToonTown while Kenji and I had another ride on Winnie the Pooh. That attraction never gets old. The technology holds up and is still innovative and exciting! I wanted to try the creme' brule churro, but the place that sells it closed at 8:00 pm and we got there about 8:20. Drat! So we stayed in the area and Kenji & I caught most of the Electrical Dream Lights parade and then cut out near what we thought might be the end so we could beat the majority of the crowd to the monorail station. They don't call it the Main Street Electrical Parade because they don't have a Main Street, but it's the same parade, the same floats and the same magic. What a sublime way to end our night!
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