Tokyo Disneyland to Tokyo Adventures: My Journey and Return to the Magic

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Leaving Tokyo Disneyland in the middle of the day, why?

Yes. I got bored of Tokyo Disneyland. But in reality it was a mixture of reasons that led me to leave this park, at least for a few hours, and then come back, just like I would eventually do in Hong Kong Disneyland:

1. I am very familiar with the Magic Kingdom or Disneyland style parks. Beside a few thrilling rides or nostalgic attractions, the rest of the park is mostly curated towards little kids, so running out of things to do is very easy.
2. Not being able to Park Hop like in Orlando or California is really crazy. If this existed in Tokyo I would have just jumped to Tokyo DisneySea and explore it in the meantime, and then come back. But no, Tokyo forces you to at least be in the city a couple of days if you want to see only a few things from each park.
3. Only having a few days in Tokyo left me no option but to sacrifice one of the parks to be able to explore the city. This Round The World trip was very short and condensed. I needed to squeeze walking around some spots, even if I did this the last time I visited Tokyo.
4. The weather was really bad. Some attractions were closed or working with long lines like Splash Mountain. Walking around the park was very bad because of this.
5. The Entry Requests for Mickey’s Magical Musical World, one of the best shows, were gone for all the times, after a few minutes of opening. If I gotten one spot while I was supposed to leave then I would have stayed.
6. I had already seen what I wanted to see. In the morning I accomplished seeing or riding: Space Mountain, Star Tours, Haunted Mansion, Enchanted Tale of Beauty and The Beast (New), and after coming back I was aiming to do more.

Shibuya Crossing

Well, I was officially out of the park, walked to the Maihama Station and got on the train station to Shibuya Crossing.

This area is mentioned as the Times Square of Tokyo for the big screens and billboards, but it is also famous for having “the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world” with an estimate as much as 500,000 people crossing it on the busiest days.

Just next to it you can see the Hachikō Memorial Statue, the dog that waited for 9 years on this spot for his owner to come back, when unfortunately he had died at work. This sad story was then replicated in one of the best episodes of Futurama, one of my favorite TV shows growing up.

And now, the time has come to finally cross the Shibuya Crossing. It seems like a lot of people were tourist and were filming the entire experience. This must be even busier at night time.

Chidorigafuchi Park

A few stations away you can find the Chidorigafuchi Park, which I visited just to see if there was still something left for this Spring. Located right next to the Imperial Palace, this park gets very beautiful during the Cherry Blossom (Sakura) season.

But it seems I was one week late, most flowers were gone and now it was just an empty-ish park. Some tourists were still around trying to catch some late blossoms just like me.

And thankfully, after getting closer to the moat that surrounds the castle, I found some cherry blossoms.

They all looked so beautiful, and definitely gave some color to this very gray and overcast day.

I wish I had planned this trip closer to the actual blossoms days, but it is difficult to guess when the best time is, especially if you plan a trip with months in advance. Late March is a good bet for this show of Mother Nature.

I had experience these cherry blossoms in New York, DC and other cities, but had never been to one of the most famous ones here in Japan. Fortunately, I was going to go south, were the season was amost finishing, I was going to catch a bit of the cherry blossoms, more than here in Tokyo. Osaka was waiting for me in a few days.

As I was walking towards the north, more and more flowers would appear, but I suddendly remember that I was supposed to be in Tokyo Disneyland, so I walked to the closest train station and went on that direction.

Back to Tokyo Disneyland

The little detour to see a couple of spots in Tokyo lasted almost 4 hours, and now I was back to see if I could the fireworks tonight and get on a couple more of rides.

After getting my stamped wrist check, I entered the park, and now it was time for one of the Entry Requests I got this morning: Club Mouse Beat.

Club Mouse Beat

The show is located at Theater presented by: Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. and it might be a cute attraction for little kids. Although, you could tell why it did not sell out as fast as for example Mickey’s Magical Musical World. At least the Sensational Six were here, and it is a good moment to relax from the running and rushing of these parks.

Jungle Cruise and Adventureland

After the show, I headed to a line that was not as long: Jungle Cruise: Wildlife Expeditions, in Adventureland. I am always interested in seeing adaptations of this ride in different parks. Unfortunately for me, and not like in Hong Kong Disneyland, there was no line for English language. So I could not understand any of the jokes.

But the boat ride was very cute, and perfect for this weather. It had a few differences, but the heart of the attraction was the same.

When I got off the boat, a nice memory came to me after seeing The Enchanted Tiki Room: Stitch Presents “Aloha E Komo Mai!” and its tower. The only difference, saddly there was no Dole Whip in this area. I would usually go to Aloha Isle and get one, no matter what the temperature was lol.

While Disneyland California has 58 (or more) attractions, Tokyo Disneyland only has 29, and many of them are not rides. So, lines can get very long. Wait times go above 100 minutes, and there are not many Disney Premier Access Experiences in this park. For example, now I was going towards Big Thunder Mountain in Westernland, and the line was very long. Also, not like Tokyo DisneySea, this park did not have any Single Rider lines. They should learn from Universal Japan, where they have many of those.

End of a Fabulous (?) day

The sun was setting anf after the splendid ride on Big Thunder Mountain, I was feeling hungry, so I checked one of the staples of this park: The BayMax Burger as part of the Baymax Egg & Pork Burger Set – ¥1170 (approx. 11 USD).

The flavor was definitely there, but the presentation was horrible. I was expecting a more smooth and whiter bun, making it similar to Baymax, but then I was given an old looking piece of bread. If you dare, you can get this at Tomorrowland Terrace, close to the Happy Ride with Baymax, one of the most popular rides in this park.

While I was eating my meal, and now dark outside, they announced the terrible but expected news: the fireworks show had been cancelled.

With nothing else to do, the park closing, the rain getting worse, and having to wake up early the next day for Tokyo DisneySea, I decided to leave the park. I would check the stores on Main Street for a last time and then leave.

People were already on their way out, and I could not blame them.

I took the Monorail (Disney Resort Line) back to the Bayside Station to get to my hotel: Grand Nikko Tokyo Bay Maihama.

Conclusions

Even though I feel like I expected to do more, I felt a bit accomplished with the rides and shows I did:

1. Space Mountain
2. Star Tours
3. Haunted Mansion
4. Enchanted Tale of Beauty and The Beast (New)
5. Beat Club Mouse
6. Jungle Cruise
7. Big Thunder Mountain

Even though only 7 attractions sounds like too little for a whole day, for a kids oriented park is enough. In my opinion they should include Marvel and Star Wars more, to bring more adults, just like they did in Hong Kong Disneyland. Or just add more thrilling attractions like they did in Magic Kingdom with Tron.

As I approached my bedtime, I was more excited now for Tokyo DisneySea, was it going to be the park in this side of the Pacific Ocean? You can read it for yourself now.