Tokyo Disneyland (Day 6)

So, the last full day I had in Japan, I went to the Meiji Temple in the morning, and headed to Disneyland in the afternoon. Here's the thing about doing Disney on half days. I did that on both days, and while that's sufficient for me to see what I wanted to see, it's not sufficient time to stand in the long queue for the rides.

Fastpass is more used in Disneyland than DisneySea maybe more rides are done that way than not... no idea. But once they allocated the Fastpass for the day, they are done. And I've seen rides that has wait over 110mins. That was just scary.

Before I start, just doing a little back track. Before the Cirque Show, Mom and I went to the food court to have lunch. I've been dying to have some good teppanyaki, the stir fried noodles are delicious. They let you customize the meat, the sauce, and the toppings, for $5 that's more than reasonable. IKSPIARI, sounds like Experience, is more like an open mall. It has clothing, knick knack stores all around and include a movie theatre. Think of a small scale Downtown Disney.

Their food court has Chinese food, Noodles, Teppanyaki, Burger, and most surprising of all, they have a Taqueria. In Japan??? I didn't know that Mexican food is so popular in Japan. I know they are crazy for the French, but didn't know they have a knack for Mexican food as well. Seeing that I'm from a land of Tex-Mex and nearby alot of authentic Mex-Mex, I didn't feel the need to get some Mexican food in Japan, but they do have a decent line there.


Ok, remember yesterday I was telling you that there are different flavors of popcorn? The picture on the left is the Honey Popcorn right outside of Winnie the Pooh ride. The ride is awesome, not only it's because I love Pooh Bear, but the ride was truly innovative where the train car you sit in, splits up to each honey pot, and one of the room you bounced on a trampoline, and on your way out you get a puff of honey smell. How can you not get some honey popcorn?

And yes, I'm one of the suckers who got the commemorative Pooh Bear popcorn bucket that a bunch of kids were carry around. Since I don't know when I'll be back to Japan, I felt totally justify in getting one. Plus, it gives you or the kids something to do while you're in the long line for the ride... why not?!

Lunch, I was near Buzz Lightyear's ride and Monsters Inc. It's a quick lunch. They have your usual park fare, hot dog, churros, burger. But also very popular is curry rice. Yes, you have all these junk food, and you have a formal meal. Go figure.

As you know, Disney don't do things half-ass, of course it tasted good. It was also a good place to sit down and map out the course of the day. Which, of course, is totally blew by the time you wait in line, forget to catch the day time parades, and want to make time for the nighttime ones.

Since it was getting cold it also made it hard to walk around. So I went into alot of stores, which was good because I found a nice little dinner spot. It is cafeteria style, but the food was no cafeteria food. I had the grilled chicken w/ mashed potato that the prix fixe comes with a dessert of tiramisu. All for $17, sign me up!

Food isn't shabby and they bring your tray to a table and you can take your time to enjoy. I say it's a pretty good thing. Another good thing was, since I was hungry earlier than the normal crowd, by the time it's dark, people are either leaving or go get dinner of their own, it makes shorter lines for rides. I totally dig that.

The other thing they do, just so you know, is that sometimes they sit along the parade route almost an hour before it even start to save some good seats. I just catch them about 10 mins before start time and sit on a rock or something. You still get to sit, and still get a good view, most of all, you're higher than the others and get to see the full effect.

Needless to say, when the firework goes off, it stops everyone from what they're doing to go watch. The show wasn't as spectacular as the ones here in US, but to have a firework show daily, that's hard to do. And that's the other thing too, when people are watching the fireworks, also a good time to make it to the line. The 110 min wait, which was for Monsters Inc, was cut down to 45mins... I say that's a progress!