Japan - Day 13 - Hanging out at Tokyo Disneyland

Our 2nd to last day at Disneyland started off slowly.  We slept in until 9am hung around the room for a bit and then jumped on the monorail to the park.  We ended up hitting the gates right around 10am.  

Here's the view from our 11th floor room.

After seeing the weather report for Saturday being rainy all day, we decided we’d rather do another Disney day than going out into Tokyo on the subways and going in and out of temples and museums.  Adding a 3rd day to our passes we super easy.  We went through the turnstiles, over to guest services and the cast member was able to upgrade our tickets no problem.

After getting our tickets, we high tailed it over to Winnie the Pooh.  The Disneyland Band was performing in the hub, but we were on a mission.  Off to see Pooh!

Oh no! Pooh had planters surrounding the whole front of the ride and was closed for renovation.  Theresa was sad.  We were glad to have been able to go on it so many times when we were here a week ago. 

Instead we walked over to Haunted Mansion and got a fastpass for that instead.  It was really close to parade time, Welcome to Spookyville.  We sat down right near the front of the mansion and were in the very front row.  Just a few minutes later, the area all around us was packed.  We’d caught glimpses of the parade last week, but this was the first time we’d sat down to see it.  

Before the parade started there was a little hand motion you did with the music.  The cast members led us in how to do it, and then pulled little kids from the audience to do it with them in front of everyone.  I love the guest interaction during the parade. 

The parade was really well done.  The costumes all looked amazing.

And the floats were really elaborate.

I liked how these girls would pop out and surprise people.

Last time we watched the parade, we saw the floats go by and thought that was it.  Nope!  The floats parked and there was a show. 

Huey, Dewey and Louie leading us in the hand movements we learned earlier.

Cast members blocked off the end of the street. 

You have to love all the guest interaction.

After the parade, we walked over to the Main Street bakery.

We were hungry, having not had breakfast yet. 

Theresa had a Ratatouille Focaccia, which was focaccia in name only, because that was just the regular white bun they put everything on.  I had an apple pastry, which was also a big letdown in that it might have had a tablespoon of filling and the rest was just flaky pastry, and not good flaky pastry.  Dry and not flavorful.  I won't recommend either of them.  Oh well.

We saw the Disneyland Band lining up to perform, so we went over to hear them play.  One of my favorite parts of the Anaheim Disneyland is all the live music. 

My favorite song they played was “Grim Grinning Ghosts”.  Enjoy the video!

We really wanted to do things today we didn't get a chance to do the first few days we were here.  We walked over to a show called "Super Duper Jumping Time".  While waiting I noticed this girl's nails.  I was impressed and she even let me take a photo.

The main stage area was sectioned off with benches.  The kids who got there super early got to sit in the front with no adults!

Just as the show was starting, a group of the Jungle Book monkeys ran out through the group of the kids then sat down beside some of them.  Of course a few of them freaked out and scrambled away, but this guy took it all in stride.

Then Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Chip and Dale came out on stage.  Oh those poor cast members who had the job of keeping the kids off stage.  With no parents around, as soon as the kids got excited, a few of them just jumped up and ran towards the characters.  There was this one girl who must have been 2-3 who kept wanting to walk up the stairs to the stage.  The cast member would grab her and take her near the back of the rest of the kids and then turn to do something else.  And then wouldn’t you know it, a minute later, the same girl has made her way back to the front and it climbing up the steps again. 

The entire show was in Japanese, so I can't really say what was going on.

But I thought this was really cute.  Mickey Mouse with a puppet Mickey Mouse.

And Donald.

Actually just about all the characters had puppets. 

Here's a Disney character you hardly ever see anymore.

My favorite part of the show was when after having to sit away from the stage and away from the characters, the characters all came out into the audience with all the kids.  They were absolutely swarmed as the kids jumped up and hugged and held hands and just talked to the characters.  Mickey had a swarm around him the entire time. 

These smiling faces just made my day.  You could tell how much they loved them..

I think Theresa's got the Japanese pose down.

We walked back into Toontown to get Theresa a pretzel with sweet cream cheese.  It was the same as we have at Disneyland, just a little smaller.  We walked around the stores trying to find gifts, but didn’t have much luck.  Half the store is Halloween things, which is great, but not so much as things to bring back home.  I wonder what the store looks like during non holiday seasons.

Mansion had a 50 minute wait, so instead we walked back to Splash Mountain to try a tortilla hotdog.  It might not look like much but it was actually pretty tasty.

We then took a raft over to Tom Sawyer Island to explore.  

It was fun playing all on the rocks. 

This skeleton head would spit water. 

And we get to go inside!  I've wanted to do this ever since they closed up Fort Wilderness on Tom Sawyer island at Anaheim Disneyland.

Just outside there were even teepees!  I thought that was pretty cool.  Just like the Kingdom Keepers...  Sadly I didn't turn invisible (and if you get that reference you truly are a Disney geek like me)

Again, back inside Fort Sam Clemens, there was a food stand.  They had a frozen pineapple filled with grape jelly that looked interesting.

But Theresa was really wanting these!

Grr.

We continued exploring the island.  Playing on the floating barrels.

And the suspended bridge.

And even walked around Injun Joe's cave.  I wonder how well Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn translate to Japanese.

After seeing the Mark Twain go around so many times, we just had to ride it.

Look!  A burning settlers camp!

Can you believe this was the very first popcorn of the day?  Yummy caramel popcorn, and its so popular it's always freshly popped.

After the popcorn, we walked over to get in line for Minnie Oh Minnie, a latin dance show. 

Good thing we went over when we did.  It was still 40 minutes to showtime and there was a snaking line already.  We sat down about 20 minutes later, with okay seats.  Theresa was on the end of the aisle towards the stage, so that was good for her.  And again reminders from the cast member to take off large hats and never hold a camera above your head.  Love it!

The show itself was good.  Lots of costume changes.  It seems like Tokyo Disney really puts a lot of effort into the shows. 

It was dinnertime so we headed to the Center Street Coffeehouse just off Main Street.  I saw these place mats that were for kids I'm guessing, but I knew I'd enjoy my meal just a little more if I was eating off one of these.  And I was right.  It was better eating off one of these.

I had the chicken curry and Theresa had spaghetti with meat sauce.  Not too bad for 1000 yen each.  Both tasted pretty good too. 

We used our Haunted Mansion fastpass.  Each time we went on it, I’m hoping it will break down like the first time.  Is that bad?  

We sat down for the electric parade around 6:15pm and the parade was supposed to start at 7:30pm.  Already we were in the 2nd row of people waiting.  Right at 6:30pm when the announcement came on and said you could put out your mats, about a minute later a little trickle of rain starts.  A minute after that, and the trickle had turned into a downpour.  People were frantically packing up their things and heading for cover.  Good thing we brought our rain gear.  We walked on Snow White while everyone was running for cover.  We then rode Pinocchio, and It’s a Small world after that.  All were walk-on.  With the rain still coming down we went to Toontown and rode Toontown spin. 

So obviously the Electric Parade was cancelled, but there was an announcement that there would be a short parade instead, starting in Toontown, going into Westernland and ending in Fantasyland.  The rain had let up a bit, so we stood by the parade route to watch.  All that rain did make those brightly lit up parade floats look awesome though.  The reflections looked cool through my camera.

We walked over to Pirates and it was a walk on as well.  If you don't mind getting a little wet, you can really get in a lot of rides on a rainy day. 

I've probably mentioned this before, but here was the heart of Davy Jones.  You can hear a heartbeat as you float by.

Here we see the cursed Aztec gold.  As we were passing by, Theresa said "Hidden Mickey!!!"  Well I didn't see it in time, so as soon as we got off the ride, we walked right back to the entrance to ride it again. 

Sure enough, there was a Hidden Mickey in one of the gold coins.

We decided to finish out the night on Mansion.  I love the socks that were hung by the fireplace.

Once inside the stretching room, again I hear Theresa say "Hidden Mickey!"  She's on a roll now!

It's awesome seeing Sally and Scary Teddy. 

No gingerbread house here, but there's a not-so-hidden Mickey in the plates.

Now it was my turn to find a Hidden Mickey.  This one is completely unique to the Haunted Mansion at Tokyo Disneyland.  When we came home and went to the Anaheim Disneyland, I specifically looked for this and didn't see it.  So where is it?

As soon as you exit the attic in the Haunted Mansion, there is a rooftop to your right covered with snow.  Unfortunately it's very very dark in this area so I wasn't sure if I could get a decent photo.  Of course I didn't want to use the flash.  For those who are interested in such things, this was taken at f/1.4 1/50s ISO 12,800 and I still had to push it 2 stops in post processing.

With such short lines, of course we went back on Haunted Mansion again.

Puddles are wonderful.

We were starting to get tired, so it was time to head back to the hotel.

One stop on the monorail and we were there.  A quick check of the mini-fridge and yes, they did restock the complimentary sodas, hooray!  We then went downstairs and grabbed a cup of noodles and pastry for breakfast tomorrow morning.  I got a chocolate bread to snack on from the convenience store, while T got an apple cinnamon something from the patisserie.  Mine was good.  Hers she said tasted like it had been sitting for 2 days.  It was no longer flaky and tasted old.  She ended up throwing it out.  If you do go to the patisserie at the Tokyo Bay Hilton, keep this in mind so you're not disappointed.  

A couple of hot showers and then we started watching Aladdin on the laptop.  Theresa started falling asleep before we even got to see the Cave of Wonders, so I knew it was time to turn it off and go to bed.  

Tomorrow is our last full day in Japan.  We are spending the day at Disney Sea and Disneyland, and again the forecast calls for rain.  Let’s hope that means empty parks and short lines!


Click here to go to Day 14 - Last Day in Japan 
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Day 1 - Flight to Japan
Day 2 - First Day at Tokyo Disneyland
Day 3 - Tokyo Disney Sea
Day 4 - A Rainy Day at Tokyo Disneyland
Day 5 - The Last Day at Disneyland
Day 6 - Leaving Disneyland and the first day in Tokyo
Day 7 - Exploring Tokyo 
Day 8 - Off to Hakone
Day 9 - Off to Kyoto
Day 10 - Exploring Kyoto
Day 11 - Even more Kyoto
Day 12 - Leaving Jacob and Ruston and heading back to Tokyo Disney Sea
Day 13 - Hanging out at Tokyo Disneyland 
Day 14 - Last Day in Japan
Day 12 to14 - Ruston and Jacob's last few days in Japan
Day 15 - Leaving Japan