When we decided to take a holiday to Tokyo a few months ago, we decided to include a couple of days at the Tokyo Disney Resort.  B is obsessed with The Mickey Mouse Club House, it is seriously the only thing he ever wants to watch with his TV time.   I also was in the Disney College Program when I was in school.  It was such a hugely postie experience for me, and made me rather attached to Mickey myself.  We spent 2 days there, the first at Disney Land and the second at Disney Sea, which is a park specific to Tokyo.  I was a bit surprised at how emotional it was for me to take B there for the first time, I certainly never dreamed that his first park experience would be in Japan!

The front entrance is a little different than the American parks.  There is no Main Street, it is call the Emporium, and is a shop area that leads to the Castle, but it is covered with a really high ceiling.  As we explored Tokyo later in the week, we saw more outside shopping areas with the same type of roof.  I can imagine they do this to accommodate the misty weather in the winter and early spring.

The first thing we did when we got to the park was get in line to meet Mickey.  He was in the front of the park doing a meet and greet with pictures.  The line was of course long, but there was plenty to do while we waited.

B made friends with a little Japanese boy in line behind us that was about the same age as him.  They actually traded toys and played together for quite a while.

There were lots of characters walking around entertaining the kids while in line.

When we finally got up to meet The Mouse.  B freaked out a little, I think it was a little overwhelming for him.  He started to cry and we couldn’t get a picture.  Cast members being cast members, were so wonderful to him.  They had us stand to the side and let him get used to seeing Mickey up close for a few minutes while other people got pictures.  Once B was ready they let us try again.  I was so thankful for their understanding, I wanted it to be a good memory for him not a scary one.

The park was really crowed, I think it was the end of the Japanese spring break so it was crazy busy so the lines for the rides were really long.  We were able to get a fast past to the Hunted Mansion, which has always been one of my favorites.  We told B we were going to Count Mickula’s House (this year’s MMCH Halloween Special).  I think he thought it was pretty cool, he didn’t cry at least.  I didn’t even think about it going in, but the first section where they tell you the legend of the house was in Japanese.  So I cannot tell you if they are using the same story or not, but a lot of the ride was the same as it is at WDW.

We headed over to Toon Town and went in Minnie’s house and Donald’s Boat

While B napped in the afternoon we decided to wait in line for the Jungle Cruise because we knew he would love it.  The wait was like an hour or long, it was the perfect napping spot.  We were not the only ones with this idea, lots of napping kids in strollers.

While we debated staying for the Electric Light Parade we found some ducks on the square by the Castle.  I think that may have been B’s favorite part of the evening.

In the end it was getting chillier by the minute and the parade wasn’t supposed to start for another hour.  We decided to skip it and head back the hotel, B is not used to the cold after having been in Malaysia for 6 months.  It turned out well tough because we could see the fire works perfectly from the balcony of our hotel room.

The next day we headed over to the Disney Sea park for the day.  I am so glad we decided to go check it out.  It was awesome, we all really enjoyed it.  Like every other thing that Disney does, it was incredible well thought out and the details were amazing.  It is built on a lake and has Ports of Call rather than lands.

First was the American Water Front which was done like the Turn of the Century New York, and Old Cape Cod.

The Tower of Terror Tokyo is in the Disney Sea Park.  It is in the American Water Front section of the park.  We didn’t get to ride it because the Fast Passes were already taken by the time we got back there, and well we were there for the toddler. The wait was like 2 hours long.   It looked pretty good though.

 

One thing we noticed while we were in the Parks was the popularity of the Popcorn stands.  They have really long lines. Everyone we saw had a different popcorn jug hanging around their neck.   We figured out that they sell collectible Popcorn holders that you can get refilled from any popcorn stand.  Along with normal flavors like salt and caramel, they had flavors like white chocolate, curry and black pepper.  We love popcorn so we had to try.

The next Port of call we went to was Port of Discovery, which seemed like a Steam Punk adventure land. This area was fairly small, but was very crowded.

We then went over to the Lost River Delta, which is done like old Mexico/South America.  This is where the Indiana Jones Ride is.

This is also the area that has some greeting areas for the Characters.  They have set up the Mickey and Friends Greeting Trail.  It is themed like Mickey and friends are explorers and this is their camp.

You can choose between 3 characters to stand in line to meet.  When we were there Mickey, Minnie and Goofy were available.  B wanted to meet Minnie so we decided to get in her line.

It was the magical moment I so wanted for him to have with Mickey.  Here is the video, if you listen really closely you can hear him say “hi Minnie” in a really soft voice.  It was seriously awesome.  Not going to lie I cried a bit.

Donald just happened to be right across the way at the Saludos Amigos!  Greeting Dock.  So we went over to meet Donald.

Here is a short video of B meeting Donald.

From there we went over to the Arabian Coast which is done up like Aladdin’s Bizarre.  It was really neat, and the curry smelled amazing.

Across the bridge from here is Mermaid Lagoon.   It is a big building that has a meet and greet with Ariel and quite a few carnival rides inside.

From here we went into Mysterious Island.  This is a Jules Vern inspired area.  The 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth  rides are.  The center piece of this port is a giant volcano that you can see for miles.

The final Port of Call is the Mediterranean Harbor. It has a fortress and Jack Sparrow’s pirate ship, as seen above.  It also has a charming Mediterranean village.

We really enjoyed Disney Sea a lot.  It was such a unique park all it’s own.  I am really glad we made the time during our trip to take B, it was a lot of fun for all of us. The Tokyo Disney Cast Members live up to the Disney standard of customer service and creating a magical experience for everyone.  Disney customer service continues to be the best in the world, even with a major language barrier.  Customer service in Malaysia is shall we say different than I am used to in Austin, and can honestly be frustrating at times.  Disney was a huge breath of fresh air.  Everyone was happy to be there, and happy that the guests are there.  That is the Disney way, which is why people go back time and time again.  It will not be B’s last trip to a Disney park, in fact we will probably take him in Hong Kong too at some point while we live in Asia.   I am just thrilled that he had such a fantastic time.  He is still talking about it, and makes my heart smile.