Hello everyone!!  I am home from my amazing trip to Japan + Taiwan and am thrilled to share that the wedding on Sunday was incredible!  🙂  I feel immeasurably blessed to have been a part of the special celebration and look forward to sharing it all with you soon!  In the meanwhile, I still have a few more travel posts to share with you. My biz year is also still going, with one wedding left (the LA reception for the same client with whom I went to Taiwan!).  I’m also dreaming up something very special, less than 2 weeks away — a baby shower for my best friend Kristin of Petal and Thorn!  Lots of fun things ahead. <3  I have TONS of weddings and beautiful things to blog soon, too… so thank you for your patience amidst my travel entries!

Today’s Tokyo travel snapshot is focused on the Tokyo Disney Resort.  🙂  It would have been impossible for me to miss visiting Tokyo Disney.  Erik and I both have Disneyland passes, and we’ve been to Disneyworld twice since 2005.  Don’t worry (or jump to any conclusions…lol) — we don’t have any Mickey bedsheets or posters on the wall.  But, we do share a general love for all things Disney.  So, we were thrilled to spend two days visiting the incredible Tokyo Disney Resort — one at their Disneyland, and the one at their second park: Tokyo DisneySea.  My main takeaways from Tokyo Disney:

• The Japanese have a passionate love for Disney that makes American Disney-fans look downright cold.
• Mickey has reason to fear for his place at the top of the character totem pole… there is a new character in Tokyo with whom people are OBSESSED.  More below… 🙂
• Tokyo Disney was beautifully designed and built.  The details were amazing…
• Their amusement park food is awesome.  <3
• Tokyoites must not be thrillseekers, because all of their rides are tame…even by Disney standards.  In general, all of their interpretations of classic rides were taken down a notch or two on the intensity scale.

Now for the photos!!

{ Tokyo Disneyland }

their take on “main street u.s.a.” — the world bazaar

Parades are serious draws here.  People bring mats and snacks and “camp out” for over an hour before parade time.

Look familiar?  Their Disneyland, like the Magic Kingdom at Disneyworld, is based on our Disneyland…albeit with a few changes.  Most signage was in English with small Japanese subtitles.

Disney headgear is serious here.  Mouse ears are ubiquitous here… and so were these character caps that feature an oversized character head with a tiny body hanging from the back.  (can you spot them??)  I found it somewhat macabre.  LOL  (And no, I didn’t indulge in any Disney headgear.  I don’t even own a pair of nostalgic ears!)

Yum!!!  Lunch at Tomorrowland Terrace.  I had the tastiest shrimp cutlet sandwich… a breaded pile of whole shrimp (not processed, ground up shrimp — whole large shrimp!), shredded cabbage and delicious sweet + tangy sauce on a wheat (standard, not an upgrade) bun.  Craving it now!!  The ketchup packets are long and skinny (bottom left) and their drinks (one size) are tiny… smaller than our “small” and no refills.  No America-sized food here.  haha

A huuuuuuge Tokyo Disney-ism — popcorn!!  This is THE most popular snack in both parks, and between the two of them they have 9 unique flavor offerings.  Of course Erik and I embarked on a mission to try as many as possible… we did 5 in 2 days!  LOL  This one (soy sauce and butter) was scrumptious and one of my faves.  Other ones we tried: milk tea, strawberry, chocolate, and honey.  We skipped the ones we thought sounded “boring”: caramel, black pepper, salt, and curry (not boring, of course!!).  I was actually dying to try curry popcorn but Erik couldn’t get over the pungent smell of it.  The second day the lines were just too long for the curry popcorn, so I missed my chance!  Another fun fact: each cart sells a souvenir popcorn bucket that you can refill.  EVERYONE has one.  Seriously.  They LOVE their popcorn.

By far and away, the most popular ride at Tokyo Disneyland is Pooh’s Hunny Hunt.  Unique to this park, the ride is a “trackless” ride that operates using a custom LPS (local positioning system)… basically a computer telling the cars where to move.  It was really impressed by the technology… and the ride itself was playful and adorable.  Glad we got a Fastpass — the lines were 3+ hours all.day.long.  (**Note, this ride, and one other in DisneySea, are currently the only two LPS rides in the world.)

Castle, day & night.  Their castle is MUCH larger than ours… and is absolutely lovely.

us!

I thought I could do both Disneyland + DisneySea in one post, but I think this is getting too long already.  😉  Check back for DisneySea in a couple of days, and then a final wrap up of our time in Tokyo later this week!  Thanks for reading & sharing in my journey!!  <3  xox

love,

Jet-lagged-and-missing-Tokyo-but-overwhelmingly-delighted-to-be-home, Angel