A couple of days of business meetings for me in Tokyo was a great reason to take a day of holiday to work in a visit to Tokyo Disney for Julie and Christopher. They spent 5 days between Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea while I got in 3. And since the LONGEST ticket package you can buy there is for four days, we pretty much saw everything. |
| Jungle Cruise |
Julie and I both grew up in Southern California, not too far from Disney in California, so we went a lot in our younger years. Christopher is a Disney encyclopedia of theme park knowledge. All said, we have a fair bit of Disney park understanding.
Rather than go on and on about what is the same in Tokyo, it’s probably more interesting to go through what’s different—and were there ever differences.
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| So Alike! |
First off is language. For those that haven’t been to Japan before let me say that English is not widely spoken. And Disney isn’t all that different from the rest of Tokyo. And my Japanese is limited to “Hello”, “Thank you”, and the ability to count to 3. But it all works. Like virtually everywhere else that we have been if you try with a smile you can usually get things figured out, or at least have a good laugh on both sides at misunderstandings.
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| The Backside of Water |
What surprised me was even the rides were mostly in Japanese. Luckily we knew much of the underlying dialogue, but it was funny sometimes. My favorite one was The Jungle Cruise. This ride is SO DEPENDENT on language for bad puns and jokes that it was completely lost on us, other than the ‘backside of water” joke. (Back in early 2017 we were at Hong Kong Disney and they addressed this issue through having 3 different lines based on language; Mandarin, Cantonese, and English.)
Bear Country Jamboree had many of the songs in English, but the chatter between songs was all in Japanese. You take for granted how much is in English wherever you go in the world and this was a reminder of how we “English only” speakers have it. Japanese narration made for a unique experience.
The other thing that stood out was just how expressive the Japanese were in enjoying rides. One of our first rides was Star Tours and the laughs, giggles, and screams made it so cool to experience (even if we really didn’t completely understand what our pilot C3PO said). In Mickey’s Philharmagic it was the audience members reaching out to the 3D effects that were floating in front of you—it wasn’t just a few people, but half the audience. I loved the enthusiasm and it was contagious to us.
The screams were also a big part of the Space Mountain experience we had, but my favorite part was the unintentional behind the scenes look I got of Space Mountain.
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| "Guests of a certain body size"? |
It was one of the first rides we went on in Tokyo Disney when we got there. We were towards the back of the line when a cast member came up and asked if we had been on the ride yet? I told her that we had just gotten to the park and it was our first ride of the day. She told us how the rides were built for Japanese sized riders and would I mind having a test fitting.
Leaving Julie and Christopher in line (and perhaps a little confused) I followed her to the base of the building where we enter a “Cast Members Only” door and headed down a hallway to another door. There she knocked 3 times, waited a couple of seconds, then opened it up and this time we walked down a long flight of metal stairs to another door. The same knocking sequence and we entered. Inside this room in the bowels of the Space Mountain building was a track siding and a couple of cars. It was here that my “test fitting” would happen.
She pulled over some wooden steps and I climbed up into a seat at the front of the car and struggled to get in and pull the lap bar down. And I did it, but it wasn’t easy. She had me try again but this time cross my feet while standing. As I sat down the lap bar easily pulled across my lap—SUCCESS! I then tried it in a middle row seat—NO PROBLEM! I was set.
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| Matching |
Space Mountain was a throwback to the original one in California—dark with whirling planets and flashing stars projected on the walls. No pounding rock and roll soundtrack, just the screams of other riders. It was fun.
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| Matching |
Another “Only in Japan” experience were the way groups dressed alike. Not just groups of teenage girls dressed as school girls, but groups of teenage boys in matching pants and shirts. There would be large mixed groups of teenagers in a Tigger hat, shirt, and pants. And it wasn’t only teenagers we saw doing this. Couples in their 30s would have matching outfits. And whole families, Mom, Dad, kids, and baby would have matching outfits.
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| Parade Waiting |
Shows and parades are very popular at Tokyo Disney. As we arrived at opening one day, people were already seated and saving places for a parade. And in typical Japanese fashion it was kept clean and orderly by having small plastic mats, many Disney themed. We got up close and personal one day waiting to see Big Band Beat, in which a former schoolmate of Christopher’s had a lead dancing role. We needed to sit on the ground for about 45 minutes and while we were not only the only westerners, I think we were the only ones without our plastic ground mat. We improvised by using a disassembled cardboard carrying tray.
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| Welcome! |
The Japanese can be frugal too and Disney caters to that. They sell evening tickets that start at 6pm until closing at 10pm. Cast members stand inside the entrances of the parks in tight rows with big Mickey gloves, welcoming those entering with high-fives. It was fun to experience and see the enthusiasm of the cast members.
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| Sound Effects |
One other thing stood out. As you may know the Japanese take their toilets and bathrooms very seriously (Fun Fact: 70% of homes have Toto Washlets, yet only 30% have dishwashers). The stalls at Disney’s washrooms have sound machines that emit the sound of running water in the background. Acts as both an incentive and an audio barrier.
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| Tallest person in Tokyo Disney |
Tokyo Disney and DisneySea were definitely worth doing, not only to experience Disney but to see the Japanese version of it. If we did it again we would definitely stay at one of the resort hotels again (Hilton Disney). Also 3-4 days is enough times unless you are hard core like Christopher. What a great experience.
