A (2019) HalloXmas trip to Asia - Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo! - COMPLETED 5/1!!!

A couple hours later it was time for dinner. I originally considered going back to Ikspiari to get food from one of the options there. But I was tired so ended up deciding to just go to the Grand Café Buffet downstairs, as the elevator advertisement photos looked good!

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For the fall, all of the tables were given this bread, which was so so so delicious! I think it was purple sweet potato and pumpkin. I ate the whole thing and was so sad whenever I saw a table who hadn’t even touched theirs!

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I tried to take buffet photos but got some weird looks from other people, so I couldn’t take too many! These show the pizza (margherita, & onion and smoked salmon (can’t tell what the third one was)), chicken and pumpkin cream stew, some sushi type of rice thing

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My food dishes – various types of pasta, pizza, rice… gotta love the carbs! (You can see some things I took very small portions of to see if I liked them or not!)

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Dessert foods – these were awesome! Sweet potato panacotta, autumn pudding, white grape jelly, sweet potato steamed souffle, panda and koala bread, muffins/cupcakes, fruit tarts, tea & green apple mousse, purple sweet potato choux cream, pumpkin mousse, caramel chocolate cake. (One thing about Tokyo Disney buffets - they go all out on their desserts!)

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The kids section included chicken nugget and potato wedge baskets, crab cream croquettes, pancakes with chocolate sauce, chocolate penguins,

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The kids plates and utensils were pretty cutely arranged – and made me laugh since I recognize those plates from ikea!

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Japanese sweets (I figured out later these were mochi) and a popcorn machine

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I liked the Halloween decorations!

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Overall, I really liked this meal. It had lots of options and, while it wasn’t cheap, there was a significant discount for hotel guests. It’s a solid option, especially for people staying at the Sheraton, though there are also lots of other places in the Disney hotels or Ikspiari I would like to try!

Sometime this day I did go and buy my park ticket from the hotel desk. Pretty cute design! Technically I could have gotten my tickets online but I was having real issues with that, so I just gave up and decided to buy when I was there.

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On my way back to the room I checked out the Disney store in the hotel lobby – pretty basic but had some good options.

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This is the one photo I have of merch I had bought this day – a folder to be able to keep my tickets and park maps secure, a parade mat, and a hand towel (I heard often in Japan they don’t have paper towels in bathrooms, so recommend you have a hand towel, though I didn’t have the biggest issue with that because I think most places I visited had hand dryers).

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Back in the room I relaxed a bit and prepped for the next day – time for Tokyo Disneyland!


Coming up - Tokyo Disneyland!
 
I would honestly need a whole separate suitcase whenever I visited TDR. I'd buy up every item in sight. Even things I didn't need. It's so unique and cute. They have so much of it, it seems even more than say WDW. Props to you for showing enough restraint, cause I know if I saw that Mickey soap dispenser, it would go right into my cart or basket. No questions.
 
Some pass cases. I ended up getting a couple of these for friends and family!
We LOVE ours :hug:

I really wanted to bring home this soap dispenser, but I didn’t end up having room for it! It makes mickey heads out of the foam!
There's a lady on instagram that makes an attachment for the method hand soaps from Target that does the exact same thing! I'm a Little Something is her shop name.

I love all the different types of merch they offer!! The things for home, nail clippers, etc. are all so adorable. It would definitely be hard to say no! I like the parade mat, hand towel and ticket organizer you chose. Very practical :) PS it makes me sad your calendar is in your office and you haven't seen it in 6 months!
 


Dying over all the cute merchandise!!

And I had to laugh at the Outback Steakhouse lol

Sounds like a good dinner at the buffet!
 
I would honestly need a whole separate suitcase whenever I visited TDR. I'd buy up every item in sight. Even things I didn't need. It's so unique and cute. They have so much of it, it seems even more than say WDW. Props to you for showing enough restraint, cause I know if I saw that Mickey soap dispenser, it would go right into my cart or basket. No questions.
I know - merch was crazy in Asia! I really wanted that soap dispenser, but it was pretty heavy and bulky!
We LOVE ours :hug:


There's a lady on instagram that makes an attachment for the method hand soaps from Target that does the exact same thing! I'm a Little Something is her shop name.

I love all the different types of merch they offer!! The things for home, nail clippers, etc. are all so adorable. It would definitely be hard to say no! I like the parade mat, hand towel and ticket organizer you chose. Very practical :) PS it makes me sad your calendar is in your office and you haven't seen it in 6 months!
Lol, I forgot I got one for you guys!

I'll need to look up that shop! And yeah, TDR has such random, but somewhat useful stuff! Easy to make a full Disney home.

I'll need to use white out to just reset the calendar for another year!
Wow...what an adventure! Loving your report!
Thanks!
Dying over all the cute merchandise!!

And I had to laugh at the Outback Steakhouse lol

Sounds like a good dinner at the buffet!
Yeah, Outback and I think Cheesecake Factory!
 
Day 9 – Tokyo Disneyland
Monday, October 28, 2019

Part 1 – Visiting Tony Solari is priority #1!

I’m going to preface this by reminding everyone, these were my experiences. Probably not the same as most reports you hear from Tokyo Disneyland. I definitely made some mistakes in planning, but unfortunately that happens, especially if it is a new park and different style. So, there were some highlights but also some low lights. I guess, just brace yourself!

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Today the park was set to open at 8am. I thought I would try to avoid the rope drop crowds, who I know collect like mad in the front of the park, and instead arrive shortly after park opening. Yeah…not a good idea!

Anyways, the monorail station was pretty busy! I think the ticket design I really wanted was no longer available unfortunately. So I was stuck with Frozen (each machine has a different ticket design which is displayed above it).

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I think the monorail station was rather busy this morning! Though there were a lot of people who got off at DisneySea (the loop goes: Resort Gateway Station (Ikspiari) – Disneyland – Bayside Station (non-Disney hotels), DisneySea).

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Some decorations at the Disneyland stop.

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Welcome to Disneyland…

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And the crowds and construction walls…

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Unfortunately my visit coincided with TDR redoing the entrance to Disneyland, which meant half of the entrance tapstiles were blocked off and everyone was pushed into the other half. This was not fun to put it lightly!

Welcome to Tokyo Disneyland!

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Anyways, I made it into the park around 8:20 and once I scanned in, I stepped to the side and grabbed my first fastpass. So, in the months before my trip, TDR switched from a paper fastpass system to a digital & paper system (basically the same as MaxPass at Disneyland, but it didn’t cost money). Unfortunately the only way (at that time) to get a digital fastpass would be to use the Tokyo Disney app, which meant I had to download the app (which is only available on the Japanese app store, so involved changing my physical address on my phone), and also create an account on the Japanese language version of the Disney site (which took me hours and creating basically a fake name/address). I know I have seen recently that they made a version of the app available in English and also you could create an account on the English version of the site, however I’m not sure if that version will allow for digital fastpasses (which are suspended during the post-Covid shutdown era).

So, anyways, my first fastpass was for Space Mountain. I would have picked one fo the unique offerings like Monsters Go Seek or Honey Hunt, but Space was going down for refurb the next day, so this was my only chance to ride!

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After grabbing that pass, it was time to walk up and into the park! Definitely a different approach with the covered main area. But it was cool!

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I had about an hour before my fastpass. While it was still early in the day, I wasn’t too excited with the wait times, so I decided to do something else instead…eat! Tokyo Disney has the best seasonal dishes – like so many! And I only had 1 day to try the Halloween options at Disneyland, so better make the most!

On my way I passed the standby line for One Man’s Dream, which was ending about a month after my trip. Unfortunately I never won the lottery for this show and didn’t end up seeing it as the standby line filled up hours beforehand!

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I guess before eating I also went to enter the show lottery. For Tokyo Disney Resort, in order to see them, you enter a lottery, where you scan your ticket, pick the show and time, and cross your fingers! You can enter each show once per day. At Disneyland there were three options: Spooky Boo Parade, One Man’s Dream II, or Let’s Party Gras. No winners this morning unfortunately.

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Now food! First stop – Pan Galactic Pizza Port. While I wasn’t getting Halloween food here, the restaurant was closing a few days later (and would remain closed until the park reopened post-shutdown), so it was my only chance to see it (this was a common thing throughout my trip, with some things going down or reopening during my trip so I double checked things to make sure I did everything I would be able to).

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Pan Galactic Pizza Port is the home to Tony Solaroni, who is the intergalactic pizza delivery man! I loved the animatronic, so made sure to get plenty of photos/video! I loved his pizza machine!

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To eat, I got the Chicken and Tomato Calzone, which was good – sort of like a hot pocket. I think the dough was a bit on the pink side, which was cute and it was nice and chewy, which is my favorite.

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And of course I had to get the Green Alien Mochi! This was the thing I was looking forward to most in Tokyo Disney! And I had to get the cute container! One was vanilla, one was chocolate, and one was strawberry. I think vanilla and strawberry were my favorite and chocolate was (surprisingly) my least favorite – still delicious though!

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Overall, a yummy breakfast. (I think there was a pumpkin mousse cake with a souvenir plate which I wanted, but was already sold out for the season; that is something to note, if you want a seasonal food item which comes with a souvenir, once the souvenir sells out they stop offering the food.)

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I still had time til my fastpass, so I stopped in the little store (more like an alcove), where I had to check more hats! I regretted not getting some of these charm/keychains!

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And I made a quick stop in the bathroom – a bit of adjustment in there. Every stall had fancy toilets and also played background music. I did have to get some mickey soap though (which I think was meant for little kids, but, whatever!

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While I was in Tomorrowland I heard some music, so stopped over to the main area and got to watch the Tokyo Disneyland Band. I love how they had the Halloween outfits! Very talented and a fun atmosphere!

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And since I still had some food items to try, I stopped into Sweetheart Café. Unfortunately the outside was undergoing refurb, so didn’t look the best!

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Lots of bakery items, including Custard Bread, Curry Bread, chocolate muffins, banana & walnut muffins, apple pie, pretzel filled with sweet cream cheese, meat pie, sweet potato pie, rice bread with sweet bread filling, meat patty Danish, taramo salad Danish, raisin & nut rye bread with cream cheese, sausage Danish, tuna & corn Danish, mike melon bread, orange Danish, dark cherry Danish, croissants

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And some other dishes like cheesecake bar, roasted vegetable and egg salad with tomato-onion dressing, mickey mousse verrine (passion fruit & chocolate mousse), Minnie mouse verrine (strawberry sauce, spongecake & cheese cream). You can also see the Jack special set, which I think was some type of beef and cheese sandwich, but I wasn’t interested in that as the sauce looked like way too much mayo.

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Instead I got the Orange jelly and vanilla mousse with souvenir cup. I liked how the mousse was in a totally separate container and they also gave you bubble wrap for the cup. I do remember this being so good – like jell-o with whipped cream!

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I admired some of the World Bazaar Halloween windows.

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I think at this point I also grabbed a locker to store things, including the Mochi container and Mug. However, I didn’t realize the lockers are single-use, not per day, which is pretty annoying since when I went to store more things I realized I would have had to pay all over again, so I just carried everything with me. So, just be aware of that if you plan to use a locker at Tokyo Disney (at least until they change things up).
 
It was now time for my fastpass. (First I made sure to grab a FP for Monsters Inc Hide and Seek, which wasn’t until about 3:30 (it was 9:30am). But it was the best I could do and I knew this was one of the most popular rides, so might as well!

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There was a fairly long line at the fastpass area and I had to keep assuring CMs that I actually had a fastpass! They never trusted me anywhere in these parks!

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A view of Tomorrowland from above. You can see construction on the Baymax ride (a version of Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree/Alien Swirling Saucers) and pathways too. (Updated: this area just opened about 2 weeks ago!)

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Into the ride. The queue is pretty much the same as Disneyland’s version of the ride. Well, also with Coca Cola sponsorship everywhere!

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The ride itself – meh. Pretty much the same as Disneyland, but I think the music wasn’t working in my car (or not very loud). I honestly was disappointed! And wasn’t upset it was closing for refurb for the rest of my trip.

Coming up: Spooky Boo Parade and even more food and decorations!

 
I literally said, "oh, my God!" when I saw these pictures. I cannot even imagine!!!!

Love how some of the seasonal treats come with a souvenir! Totally more fun than just buying a souvenir or a snack by itself. This is genius marketing, LOL.

Kind of a bummer that Space Mountain wasn't anything super special, but at least you got to ride it. I'm amazed at all the hoops you had to jump through to be able to access the digital FPs, but if anyone would get it done, I know it'd be you!!!
 
Sounds like a yummy, food filled morning!

Sorry you were disappointed in SM- at least you wouldn't be missing out since it was closing the next day!
 
Aaaahhhh, the Alien Mochi! Top of my list of things I need to try there. Souvenir holder and all. Love me some cute mochi.

I was wondering why you went to Space first out of everything. I've always heard it's a carbon copy minus some things in the queue. Sorry to hear it disappointed, but at least you could check it off.

Looking forward to the rest of your time at TDR!! :mickeyjum
 
Enjoying your report! Thanks for telling it like it is. I must say if you think you have mistakes with planning after all your work/research (e.g. ap!) There would be no hope for the rest of us!
 
I literally said, "oh, my God!" when I saw these pictures. I cannot even imagine!!!!

Love how some of the seasonal treats come with a souvenir! Totally more fun than just buying a souvenir or a snack by itself. This is genius marketing, LOL.

Kind of a bummer that Space Mountain wasn't anything super special, but at least you got to ride it. I'm amazed at all the hoops you had to jump through to be able to access the digital FPs, but if anyone would get it done, I know it'd be you!!!
Yeah, crowds were no joke! It seems like almost every monday some local school had a holiday, so the crowds would still be heavy on Mondays!

And yeah, I loved the souvenir cups/plates. The mugs were also smaller than normal coffee cups, which works well if you just want a little bit to drink!

Getting it set up to do the digital FPs was so frustrating, but ultimately necessary! It would have been a serious disadvantage without it (which was extra frustrating since the OLC - company that owns/runs TDR - just didn't care about foreign tourists).
Sounds like a yummy, food filled morning!

Sorry you were disappointed in SM- at least you wouldn't be missing out since it was closing the next day!
Yeah, it was a yummy, food filled day! (And really trip, lol!)
Aaaahhhh, the Alien Mochi! Top of my list of things I need to try there. Souvenir holder and all. Love me some cute mochi.

I was wondering why you went to Space first out of everything. I've always heard it's a carbon copy minus some things in the queue. Sorry to hear it disappointed, but at least you could check it off.

Looking forward to the rest of your time at TDR!! :mickeyjum
I really miss the mochi aliens! Soooo yummy!

For Space, it definitely was a meh. But the lines were pretty insane the whole day since it was closing for refurb.
Enjoying your report! Thanks for telling it like it is. I must say if you think you have mistakes with planning after all your work/research (e.g. ap!) There would be no hope for the rest of us!
Thanks! I think I just really underestimated the crowding, despite everything I read and researched. Some other things too, which was a result of the Japanese culture, as well as being alone.
 
So, I got an alert that 1 year ago today I left for Shanghai! Wow, so much has changed in a year, and I'm sooo happy I went then. I obviously wouldn't be able to do that trip this year, or anytime in the near future. And so much has changed and fewer offerings (especially in the seasonal stuff, which is almost nonexistent in Tokyo).

(Also this installment will be broken up into more individual posts than normal, because, while I use imgur which lets me put 35 images per post, it still limits youtube/gifs to only 5, and I have a lot of those, lol!)

Part 2 – Spooky Boo Parade!

Now it was time for the Spooky Boo Parade, something I was really really looking forward to based on the photos I had seen from the previous year, as well as this year! It really is such an awesomely designed parade – each float is a different land with a spooky theme! The parade starts at one end, before making a show stop in the Hub, where all the dancers appear (they are offstage scattered in different areas around the Hub and are escorted out). And whats super cool is there is a costume change for all the big characters!

(Again, not my video, but I highly recommend watching it as it’s such a cool parade.)

I had asked around online and people assured me I could find a spot about 30 minutes beforehand. I should have known that wasn’t true when 1 hr before (when I was going to my Space Mountain fastpass) I could see the waiting crowd backing up down the walkways leading out of the Hub. Of course by the time I was done with Space, there were no sidewalk spots left. (Though I realized later I probably could have squeezed into some of the spots in the back and, while it would have been frowned on by the locals, they would have given me leeway due to being a Westerner.) This was what started getting me down about Tokyo Disney. The locals are crazy. Like, they literally show up at park open and get a parade spot, which they do over and over and over again. No chance for occasional visitors to not waste hours in order to get a spot. And then the parade mats – they sound like a good idea, but it really means they could fit about 2x the number of people in the location if everyone didn’t have this huge area to themselves. So, yeah I was a bit bitter.

Eventually I got a spot in the Hub standing against a railing. It wasn’t a perfect view by any means, and due to the nature of the parade, it really felt like I was just an outsider, not included in it. Though it was a really fun parade with awesome floats, costumes, dancing, music! I really wish I could have seen it up close, so I thought I would try harder for the afternoon showing of the parade.

Ok, away from my bitterness, try to enjoy my photos and videos! (A lot of the gifs come direct from the videos, and please excuse the unsteady nature of some of the videos – I was using my phone for video and also my fancy camera for stills, so had both hands working together!)

Before the parade there are instructions so you can participate in the show stop. You can see how the audience already knows it all!

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Max leads out the parade!

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I loved how Donald’s nephews were included! (Horace is on the back of the train.)

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Then Goofy represents Adventureland! Perfect Jungle Cruise boat! (Pluto is on the back)

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Of course Mickey has the castle!


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The ladies (Minnie and Clarice) have Fantasyland/Carousel.


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You can see here Clarice’s change of outfits.

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Donald is on the Westernland float, with Country bears prominently featured! I love how it switched between regular pumpkin faces and bear pumpkin faces!


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That was the extent of the floats I could see before the show stop.
 
The dancers all come rushing out! And their energy is just…amazing!


I think the idea is some of the dancers on the floats have bewitched the characters. At the start of the performance the dancers help change outfits into something more spooky! (I really wish they still had the mini plushes in stock because those actually change outfits too, but they sold out quickly.)


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