Disneyland

Wednesday, April 05, 2017
Urayasu-shi, Chiba-ken, Japan
An early start today so we could hit Disneyland before the crowds - or so I thought! Unfortunately, we were using trains right in the middle of peak hour. One of the trains we got on was already pretty packed when we got on. Then, there was a push and we squished a little more. Then, another push. By this stage, I wasn't holding onto anything as I couldn't lift my arms and was just held in place by the bodies around me. Then, another push! I actually laughed out loud because it was something I knew I'd have trouble explaining. No one even batted an eyelid. It was so completely normal to them!!

Thankfully, many people got off at the next station and we had room to breathe for the rest of the trip to Disneyland . I strategically picked today as our Disneyland day as the predictor websites for how busy the park was going to be this week indicated today as the quietest day. Well, I would hate to see it on a busy day. It was absolutely crazy!

The first line we noticed was stretched more than 20m and we were a little confused about what they were lining up for. Turns out it was for popcorn. Soya sauce and butter flavoured popcorn. We couldn't believe it. The biggest lines at vendors around the park were for different flavours of popcorn. Every second person had a themed popcorn container hanging around their neck. My favourites were Dumbo, Mr Potato Head and Olaf! I've included some pictures from Google so you can see what they are as I didn't get any photos of them during the day. Apparently the flavours are changed regularly during the year and are often found nearby the attractions they are related to i.e. honey flavoured popcorn could be found near Pooh's Hunny Hunt ride!

During the day, we only got to go on four rides due to the amount of people in the park . You can only get one FastPass ticket at a time, so we got one for Space Mountain as soon as we arrived. By the time we had gone on that ride later in the day, the rest of the FastPass tickets had closed for the day. It then took us 60mins to wait for Thunder Mountain - jury is out as to whether it was worth it!

Interesting fact - Tokyo Disneyland has a model of Cinderella's castle, not Sleeping Beauty's castle as seen in California, Paris and Hong Kong. Apparently Cinderella's "virtues of duty and a devoted work ethic resonates more deeply in Japanese culture than Sleeping Beauty"!

The weather turned cold and we decided to call it a day before seeing the parade in the evening. This was probably a good decision as we missed peak hour on the train home and then managed to fit in a nap before dinner. The last few days have been exhausting - another 13kms walked today!

We found online what looked like a great restaurant nearby in Shinjuku and found it after a few detours (following maps is often very confusing and you can't read street names, plus the tall buildings affect the accuracy of location services) . Unfortunately, we were greeted with another line about 30 people deep and decided to try elsewhere as it was already after 9pm by this stage. We found another restaurant with an English menu (this is very important as what may look delicious in a picture can in fact be horse or chicken gizzards or heart sashimi or something equally disgusting) and negotiated with the man outside to go in. But we had to quickly leave once we realised the whole restaurant was filled with cigarette smoke. It fascinates me that they aren't allowed to smoke as they walk the streets but they are allowed to smoke in restaurants. It also fascinates me that they are so conscious of their health and wear face masks, yet don't care about cigarette smoke.

I was so tired that we decided to call it a night and have Maccas back in our room. Thankfully, nothing fancy on our double cheeseburger and chicken burgers and it hit the spot beautifully. We are looking forward to a more relaxing day tomorrow exploring more of Tokyo and its cherry blossoms.

Love Lisa and Dylan x

Comments

Bec
2017-04-05

I think I will be eating a LOT of Maccas when I go to Japan!!

barb
2017-04-06

Loved hearing about your Disneyland day but not so sure I want to fight the crowds to visit there. Enjoying your blog and love the photos you have posted.

Sue Milligan
2017-04-06

loved your Disneyland stories!! Hope the crowds thin out as you move away from Tokyo!!!!

2025-02-14

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