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

The princess float – OMG so beautiful! And the movement was just perfect! Though the fairy godmother did have the potential to give me nightmares!

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Mary Poppins and peter pan – this was THE FLOAT TO END ALL FLOATS! Like, OMG wow!

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Lots of random characters at the end!

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I just couldn’t get over it! And I knew I would be seeing it again and again! And I still hum the music, months later!

Coming up – A bit of an emotional breakdown… ☹
 
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!

That is the cutest. I would have such a hard time not buying everything!

Wow, what a difference in the crowds between HKDL and Tokyo. I'm sorry it was difficult to deal with the crowds. That parade looked amazing though. I don't usually bother with parades, but that one looks like it was worth staking out a spot for...though I still can't see doing it hours before!
 
WOW that parade looks super elaborate!! Guess that's why they stake out in advance ++++ ..
 


HOLY MOLEY!!! Just the sheer size of all those floats is astounding besides all the amazing details and characters. I absolutely love the Princess float. That stained glass look and princesses on the pedestals is breathtaking! I have serious parade envy from this and the Halloween parade, too!

Uh oh, emotional breakdown does not sound good. I'll send you a preemptive hug! :hug:
 
Forever obsessed with this parade OMG I have the soundtrack saved to my phone and listen to it just as much as *sniffles* Paint and *openly sobs* MAP!!! Also, even just looking at a photo of the Peter & Wendy float flying, I bawl. It is just so perfect. Festival of Fantasy and Magic Happens found dead. I'm so glad to hear you had such a great experience with DU.

Noooo, not an emotional breakdown. :(
 
That is the cutest. I would have such a hard time not buying everything!

Wow, what a difference in the crowds between HKDL and Tokyo. I'm sorry it was difficult to deal with the crowds. That parade looked amazing though. I don't usually bother with parades, but that one looks like it was worth staking out a spot for...though I still can't see doing it hours before!
Yeah, it definitely was an unpleasant surprise about crowds. I knew they would be worse, but going from Shanghai (which had high crowds but ways to get around that), HK (with no one), and now Tokyo with just scores of people!

The parade was pretty great, and honestly considering how long the ride lines were, I'd prefer to wait for that spot than in those!
WOW that parade looks super elaborate!! Guess that's why they stake out in advance ++++ ..
Yup! I didn't have the worst trouble getting good spots for this one since it had been on for about 1.5 yrs at this point. The seasonal ones are the big problem.
HOLY MOLEY!!! Just the sheer size of all those floats is astounding besides all the amazing details and characters. I absolutely love the Princess float. That stained glass look and princesses on the pedestals is breathtaking! I have serious parade envy from this and the Halloween parade, too!

Uh oh, emotional breakdown does not sound good. I'll send you a preemptive hug! :hug:
Yeah, the floats were just perfect! Thanks for the hug, lol!
Forever obsessed with this parade OMG I have the soundtrack saved to my phone and listen to it just as much as *sniffles* Paint and *openly sobs* MAP!!! Also, even just looking at a photo of the Peter & Wendy float flying, I bawl. It is just so perfect. Festival of Fantasy and Magic Happens found dead. I'm so glad to hear you had such a great experience with DU.

Noooo, not an emotional breakdown. :(
It really is amazing!

Yeah, and go from a high to a low...not fun!
 
Part 5 A low point. And some good shows…

Ok…this was a bad part.

So after the Dreaming Up parade I figured I would follow it into the Hub and try to grab a spot for the next Spooky Boo parade in about 2 hrs. It was a longer wait than I wanted, but I would deal with that. Because of course people would be leaving the Hub spots after the main parade…right?
I followed the CMs closing out the parade and I wasn’t alone. Though we got to the bridge separating Westernland from the Hub and they held us up, diverting people towards the pathway outside the crowds. I had hoped to walk down the street but thought people followed the rules. Well, turns out there are different rules, that they just don’t tell you.
Once the parade made it across the bridge, the CMs started walking that crowd across. But I was already further away from them, so ended up getting held at another spot. I finally made it out into the street, but by that time lots of other people had as well. And, well then there the crowds in the Hub. Turns out…the people there planned on staying there all day long until the second Halloween parade. A couple spots opened up but they were grabbed by people who had skipped ahead of me. If I had known I could have squeezed into the back, I would have tried that, but unfortunately I didn’t. I was really discouraged. And when I thought I did find a spot somewhat in the area (though further back than I would have liked), but turns out that was going to become a walkway pre-parade, so the CMs shooed us all away. Ugh.
I know its silly, but I really was disappointed. I just felt like I was totally alone. Everyone was staring at me. And I didn’t know what to do in order to see this parade I had really been looking forward to. I just was defeated. And I felt with the crowds and really only doing one mediocre ride so far that day, it was a waste (I realize now it wasn’t, but this was my feeling in the moment).
I ended up going into Adventureland and tried to find a quiet spot (this was also hard due to crowds and I just sort of tried to find something slightly out of the way). And really I broke down. I just started crying (though I was wearing sunglasses so it wasn’t too obvious to people walking by). I couldn’t deal with it all. I did get to vent to my friend, Rachelle (as she was in Australia so similar time zone, while it was the middle of the night back home in the US).

So I just was over it all…

You can see at this point, there was only 1 FP left, for Star Tours. Everything else was super long wait (~90 minutes) and I just didn’t want to deal with those.

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After I got it together, I decided to make the most of the rest of my day.
 
I did have to get some decoration photos in Adventureland, so creative!

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And then I stopped in to see The Enchanted Tiki Room, Stitch Presents Aloha E Komo Mai! (Basically Stitch takes over the Tiki Room.) I know I wanted to see this because it was also going down for refurb!

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I love the blue paint and details everywhere in the queue!

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The room itself looked the same as the other versions.

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Though it looks like the ladies had some extra headwear!

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And stitch shows up in the center. (The show was in Japanese so I didn’t follow the storyline, if there was one)

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At the end of the show, we saw some of Stitch’s handiwork! So I thought it was cute enough. And since I’ve see regular tiki room so many times, might as well see something new!

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A video of the show, again not from me:

 
Now time for some Westernland decorations!

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And Country Bear Jamboree, Summer Vacation! They have regular country bear jamboree, the vacation (which runs until end of Halloween), and the Christmas versions! It was cool to see other options!

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Into the show. I wasn’t totally sure if you were allowed to take photos/video in here (Tokyo Disney has weird rules where sometimes you are ok, other times you aren’t). But I saw a couple other people doing it, so I did too (though discretely so excuse the head shots)

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A full video of the show


Coming up – Trying to salvage the day
 
Oh, that really sucks about the parade meltdown, but I would've melted down, too!!! Glad you had a friend to talk to at least.

LOVE the idea of Country Bears having different shows. I can't get enough of those outfit pics!
 
Awwww hugs to you. I have had the same thing happen to me on trips where I get over tired. I lost it in the Hilton in Las Vegas when a machine ate my money and I couldn't find an attendant. I was getting a cold and way over tired from the prior work week and flight. I always say I would make a terrible spy, because the tiniest amount of sleep deprivation and I would crack like a nut.

Loving your trip report! Thanks for being so truthful.
 
The parade looks incredible!!

I'm sorry you had a breakdown :( It's hard when things start to go wrong and you have no control over it!

So cool that the Country Bear Jamboree has different versions!
 
I'm sorry the crowds and Tokyo's unspoken rules made you not enjoy the Spooky parade properly. I totally understand your frustration, but at least you were able to get yourself together and not let the day be ruined by that.

I've heard mixed things about Stitch. I heard overall as an overlay it is MILES better than Under New Management, but varied opinions on if it's better than the original. I'm very curious about it.

I'm so jealous Tokyo has the Country Bear Vacation and the Christmas one. Did you know they used to have these overlays in the states? They didn't last long at WDW but they were there all the way until DLR closed their CBJ. I wish we still had them. They look like so much fun especially Vacation.
 
Boo. That would have really discouraged me, too!
Yeah, it really sucked!
Oh, that really sucks about the parade meltdown, but I would've melted down, too!!! Glad you had a friend to talk to at least.

LOVE the idea of Country Bears having different shows. I can't get enough of those outfit pics!
Glad you understand!

Yeah I liked the different overlays! CBJ is also such a big thing in Tokyo that they have two theatres!
Awwww hugs to you. I have had the same thing happen to me on trips where I get over tired. I lost it in the Hilton in Las Vegas when a machine ate my money and I couldn't find an attendant. I was getting a cold and way over tired from the prior work week and flight. I always say I would make a terrible spy, because the tiniest amount of sleep deprivation and I would crack like a nut.

Loving your trip report! Thanks for being so truthful.
Ugh, yeah I know! exhaustion and emotion don't mix well!
The parade looks incredible!!

I'm sorry you had a breakdown :( It's hard when things start to go wrong and you have no control over it!

So cool that the Country Bear Jamboree has different versions!
Parade and CBJ were great! But yeah, thanks for understanding!
I'm sorry the crowds and Tokyo's unspoken rules made you not enjoy the Spooky parade properly. I totally understand your frustration, but at least you were able to get yourself together and not let the day be ruined by that.

I've heard mixed things about Stitch. I heard overall as an overlay it is MILES better than Under New Management, but varied opinions on if it's better than the original. I'm very curious about it.

I'm so jealous Tokyo has the Country Bear Vacation and the Christmas one. Did you know they used to have these overlays in the states? They didn't last long at WDW but they were there all the way until DLR closed their CBJ. I wish we still had them. They look like so much fun especially Vacation.
Unfortunately it wasn't the last time I got down at TDR. But I think it was the last real time I was down in TDL, so that's good...at least?

I never saw Under New Management! I think overall I prefer the original, as it is a DL classic. But it was cool to see something different for a change!

I must have seen CBJ Holiday at some point over the years, but never remembered it! (We weren't really a big show family.)
 
Part 6 – Monsters, Spooky Boo x2, Twilight

It was now finally time for my Monsters fastpass!

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I was pretty excited for this ride as I had heard good things from people.

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…but unfortunately I was underwhelmed. It was weird because you use a flashlight to activate certain effects, but it doesn’t keep score or anything. So feels like a dark ride which tries a bit harder. I don’t know, maybe I’m not the market for it, but I didn’t care that much for it. So here it was, I had done 2 rides and didn’t really care about either of them… uh oh!

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Maybe you’ll like the ride better, so here’s a POV.


It was about time for the second Halloween parade, and obviously I wasn’t going to get a good spot. I ended up finding a place pretty far back but at least was at a railing. So again, it felt like I was just an outsider. I was just tired of that feeling.

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Anyways, some parade photos/videos

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Performers walking out to the street

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I just really wish I could have seen this parade again up close! It just seemed like so much fun. And I think this was where I made a mistake of only giving myself one day at each park for Halloween. Oh well, maybe I’ll get back there while this parade is still happening (but Tokyo switches up their entertainment every few years, so maybe not).
 

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