Tokyo Disneyland
Opening
While I will be the first to praise the efforts of the parks operations team, I just don’t understand its procedures during opening of the park. You have sat out side your gate a massive crowd waiting for the park to open, so why wouldn’t you do what the other Disney parks often do and open up World Bazaar earlier so the crowd has something to do while waiting for rope drop. There may even purchase some food and merchandise items while waiting, and it would also result in a more organise flow than the usual and dangerous early morning dash you get. The mayhem each morning is just crazy and could be better organised doing it this way. On the positive side I do enjoy the Characters all coming out and warming up the crowd a few minutes before opening.
Food
I didn’t really notice a big difference in the selection of food available compare with previous trips, but no more Mickey shaped Burgers, a big surprise especially since Disneyland Paris has started selling its own take on the burger recently. Food portions still on the small size, and could be in many cases could be referred to as kid size portions, like the cup size for drinks. Also has the Resort started putting its prices up because I seem to go though a lot more money than I usually would do here.
Merchandise
I’m not really in the target audience but I did purchase and find a few cool items. Items of interest for me were a great set of Monsters Inc figurines, some of the 26th Anniversary Monsters Inc related stuff like a Mickey in Cast Member costume. And I added a few titles to my media collection. Love how two of the previous stage shows have been released for purchase on DVD.
Crowds
Granted I only visited on Weekdays but crowds were not too bad, obviously Monsters Inc had the longest wait time at about 220 minutes, but the longest I personally waited was only 65 minutes, so the wait times posted like previously stated on message boards were not accurate here. A tip I found is to hit this attraction first thing and skip the FastPass queue and head straight for the stand by line which usually reaches Space Mountain first thing in the morning. But here’s the thing with out FastPass being used that queue moves very quickly and the wait time is only about 30 - 40 minutes. My longest wait the whole trip was about 90 minutes for Splash Mountain, but as the weather was rather beautiful and hot, so I think a lot of people were using Splash Mountain as a way to cool off. While lines were still posting long waits at 120 minutes on average. These were manageable compare to the wait times I have encountered in September during the popular Halloween Events.
Monsters Inc
I’m not quite sure what to make of this new attraction. First the location is a bit odd with it kind of being located between both World Bazaar and Tomorrowland, as it doesn’t belong in either land and kind of doesn’t as its in its own mini Monstropolis land. The queue starts outside the Monsters Inc building where the slogan that featured in the movie has changed from We’re Scare Because We Care, to Its Laughter We’re After. A short video in Japanese is shown explaining the attraction’s storyline. Before we enter the main show building, which is an exact replica from the movie including Roz reception desk. The attraction vehicle I think may cause a bit of trouble for anyone over a certain height as leg room was on the premium bit is not as bad as the knee scraping you get on Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
Ok on to the ride itself, and we are shown in my opinion some impressive show scenes and AA’s though out the short ride. The facades during the Monstropolis scenes gave you the impression you were really in the world of Monsters Inc. But the flashlight given to look for the Monsters is very repetitive after a while and does distract from the overall enjoyment of the ride. I would prefer if the ride was slower too as its hard to take in all the details of this well themed environment. So if it was up to me I would take away the silly tag system which serves no real purpose apart from distracting you from enjoying the ride, and to be fair after about three trips on the attraction you would of seen all the Rocky’s, BLT’s and what ever other Monsters are hidden. I also would of prefer if the likes of Rocky were given more of a backstory here as I didn’t feel the need to go searching for the character with my flashlight, as I have no connection or feel for the Character in anyway, not like I do with Mike and Sulley. Its my understanding Pixar were heavily involved in the character development of the new characters, so there could of done more in creating back story’s for the new characters. So my recommendation is to scrap the flashlight and enjoy what is a beautiful and well themed dark ride that the entire family can enjoy together.
Leaving the attraction a Cast Members was handing out the Monsters Eye Newsletter which is a promotional tool to help push the various Monster Inc related merchandise and food items currently on sale. You than end up in the Gift shop where a ton of Monsters Inc related items can be found on sale, including much of it devoted to Rocky. Unfortunately if the Resort is trying to make Rocky the next Duffy, I think there have there work cut out here, as I found no one walking around with Rocky soft toys. I predict within a years time the role of Rocky will be downplayed within the attraction, and a tip from me is to buy your Rocky pins and phone straps now as I don’t see them being around forever.
Thumper & Mrs Bunny
Question how long has Thumper from Bambi and his Girlfriend been out doing meet & greets? I was shocked to see both out posing for pictures in Fantasyland during my visit!
Tiki Room featuring Stitch
Now just to set the record straight I am not one of these people who hates the characters, and if Disney choose to add characters to every attraction inside the parks I’m not going to loose sleep over it, but I do draw the line when the attractions end up being as terrible as the latest version of the Tiki Room. I don’t have a problem with Stitch and was all for them introducing him to the Tiki Room, but sadly the new show sucks. The pre show is gone and the new show is not only a lot shorter but its even missing the main title song. This show had so much potential and the Imagineers totally missed the point and have created a show that makes the Tiki Room Under New Management sound good. The attraction is stuck with some stupid storyline about the birds being concerned over this God who ends up being Stitch. The few songs that are played are incredibly short and appear to be filler to introduce the next hint that the Big Khuna or what ever he’s called is actually Stitch. The show is a pile of crap and where were the Elvis songs, at least the AA Stitch saves the day for the female audience who are in love with Stitch and think he’s cute. Bring back Get the Fever.
Jubilation
I had spent the last couple of years gathering up as much information as I could on Tokyo Disneyland’s 25th Anniversary Parade Jubilation. I knew first hand that the Tokyo Disney Resort knew how to put on a show and parades were there strong point. It was also during my first trip to Japan in 2006 that I was able to watch Legend of Mythica and Dreamlights. The scale of production for both shows/parades were huge and this gave me high hopes that Jubilation would impress me in the same way.
I am happy to report that despite one or two issues, Jubilation did meet my high expectations. If I talk about the negative bits first, I wasn’t that keen on the parade’s soundtrack, don’t get me wrong I love how the music altered to reflect the various stages of the Parade and didn’t stick to just one loop. It executed this very well, but the music just did not blend in well with what I was watching. The other issue is that some of the floats are very beautiful and elegant and I will go on record to say its Disney’s best work to date. But some of the other floats were in my view just average, and the flow just didn’t work for me. Take the circus float for instance, wow I was buzzing after seeing the detail and movement was outstanding, but unfortunately the Pixar floats followed and non of them were able to top what I had just seen previously, so it lowered the mood a little.
The scale and scope of Jubilation is massive and there were many moment where my jaw dropped to the floor. Just take a look at the costumes each float had its own unique set of performers wearing some of the most stunning costumes I’ve ever seen inside a Disney park, and each group of performers had there own dance routines. Jubilation is certainly not one of these parades you will find repetitive after a while, as the mood and setting changes with each passing float. 90 % of all Tokyo Disney Resort Guest are repeat visitors and this parade is ideal for this kind of audience because the pace changes so much that its impossible to capture everything that’s happening in just one showing.
Jubilation is a thumbs up from me, it’s a very ambitious parade and one that will be enjoyed I’m sure for years to come, I only wish it was a bit more consistent though out. Every part of a parade in my opinion should be as strong as the one that follows it.
Attractions
I was fortunate enough to get a few rides on my favourite signature attractions here are my thoughts on some of them.
* Big Thunder Mountain may not be as good as the version in Paris but in my view its not far of it. Love this attraction and its nice not to be knocked about like the death trap version in Orlando.
* Splash Mountain is best enjoyed on a hot day and I’m happy to report I took advantage of the heat and did multiple rides.
* This was my first time in Tokyo’s Haunted Mansion that did not feature the Jack Skellington overlay and I enjoyed it, because the effects were all in excellent condition. While I have done the Haunted Mansion more times than I can recall, riding this version was like riding it for the first time. I felt the same way when it came to POTC and the Country Bears, so nice not to hear any clicking noises.
Fireworks
I’m starting to question the point to the Fireworks, because most nights there end up being cancelled. Personally I would just scrap them as it saves disappointment. Most people end up leaving after them anyway so it doesn’t end the day on a high note.
Right that’s my thoughts on Tokyo Disneyland out the way, next we’ll move on to Tokyo and Mt Fuji.
