Tokyo Disney Day 2 - Disneyland!

 On Tuesday we headed out of the hotel to take the monorail over to Tokyo Disneyland. We left at about 8am and there were already lots of people lined up outside of the Disney Sea park which didn't open until 10am!

Sasha and Teddy brought their personalized ears that they made at the Magic Kingdom last year. They don't sell these ears in Tokyo so their hats got a lot of attention!

 We participated in a rather scary stampede to the main attractions, got a Pooh fastpass, and then rode "Pooh's Honey Hunt" - the most popular ride at TDL! Then we headed to Dumbo, where else? They were nice enough to give Jeff this instruction sheet in English about how to ride Dumbo. Cast members can always spot the ones that need extra help......

 Cycle rides: gotta get to 'em early am I right? Dumbo is one we just can't pass up. It makes to me so sad to think of how few years I have left to ride Dumbo with these 2. Before I am ready they'll be pulling the "Aww Mom, that ride's for babies, lets go straight to the Haunted Mansion Dude!". Then I'll have to wait for grand kids to ride Dumbo. Or I can take Timmy's kids - SWEET!

 Next we did Peter Pan, then the Haunted Mansion. Sasha LOVED the mansion last year at WDW. She went on the ride about 7 times. This year she was terrified. Go figure. Then we did the Carousel, The Snow White Ride and a Pinocchio Ride.

 Next we used our Fastpasses to ride Pooh again. Good thing because the standby line was 90 minutes! The fastpasses for this ride were GONE by noon - that's how popular the ride is. Why? The ride is unique to Tokyo first of all, it's not a copy of the US versions. The theming is AMAZING - you have to walk through the pages of the storybook to get to the ride vehicle:

 The ride is also track-less. You ride in a big Hunny Pot and the ride vehicles are controlled by magnets in the floor. This makes them go all over and it's really cool. Sometimes you pass the pot ahead of you and sometimes take a completely different route through the ride. I wish we had this version of the ride in the US.

 We ate at the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall in Fantasyland. This has the best theming of any counter service restaurant I have been to in a Disney park. All Alice in Wonderland. Pretty darn great!

 We grabbed fastpasses for Space Mountain, and then headed back to the Miracosta for a mid day rest. Here's a shot of one of the other Resort Hotels, The Disneyland Hotel. Looks pretty swanky:

 Here is a shot of Team Stolasz about to go on Space Mountain for the first time! (it was closed for refurbishment when we were at WDW last year) Teddy looks terrified but he is just lobbying for "no pictures let's DO THIS!" so he was pretty psyched. No one was disappointed. Space Mountain was my favorite ride when I was 5 and it's still pretty great!

 After Space we rode Star Tours and ate Dinner at the Eastside Cafe which turned out to be a really nice table service restaurant. Then we staked out a parade spot and the kids and I nabbed some honey popcorn and rode "Small World" while Dad saved our spot for us. That ride triggers Jeff's gag reflex so it was a good arrangement for everyone. Here's my 2 fantastic kiddos in front of the castle:

 Another night shot:

 The Japanese sit for parades. This is fantastic as you don't need to stake out a spot as far in advance as you do at the US parks. Also even many rows back you get a great view of the parade. It's nice to sit and take a break for 20 minutes instead of standing on your tip-toes with a kid on your shoulders!

 "Dreamlights" was a total blind-side. When I was 5 my parents gave me to strangers so the strangers could take me to Disney as a buddy for their only-child. GEEZ Mom, I can hear you from here.... OK, OK they weren't exactly strangers - I had met them like once the week before at a dinner party and I guess they took a shine to me and then wanted me for a week. So my parents handed me over and off I went with the strangers. Now they turned out to be very, very nice strangers and not traffikers or anything so the story has a happy ending. One of my favorite things I saw on that first trip was the Main Street Electrical Parade. I loved it so much that the strangers bought me a record of the soundtrack. The record was the coolest thing ever because it was covered in designs and colors all the way to it's edges and it still played. I loved it. And I listened to it a TON so I knew the music pretty darn well. (Mom do we still have this anywhere? It's probably worth about a thousand bucks now...). So when the music for "Dreamlights" started it was like a magical blast from the past. The music is the same, the first part of the parade is the same. I mean there was a "Pete's Dragon" float! Seriously! It was wonderful and literally made tears come to my eyes. (Ok, I usually tear up at Disney parades and fireworks anyway, sucker that I am, but this one was really special).  I have some video of the parade as well:

Dreamlights!

 Steam boat:

 After the parade we hit Toontown. We decided against doing this at lunch time after Jeff's report and I am so glad we waited until night. The kids both had great naps so we were all feeling fresh. We did Rodger Rabbit's ride, The Go-Coaster, and explored all around Toontown. Everything was a walk on and we almost had the place to ourselves!

All together now! 1, 2, 3, Pull!

 Exploring Chip and Dale's treehouse:

 We rode the astro-orbiter on the way back to the entrance and then headed back to the hotel at around 9:30. Back at the hotel I took some pictures of the great details in our room. One of the things that I love about the Disney hotels is that they don't rub your face in primary colors and kiddy decor. If you looked at a room at the Miracosta you would think it was just a really nice, fabulously decorated hotel room. It's only when you look closely that you notice the Disney details. Hidden Mickey's in the wallpaper:

 Frosted glass on the door to the shower room showing Cleo in a fishbowl:

 The wallpaper has all the Pinocchio characters. Click on this one and you can see Cleo again, Jiminey Cricket, and Guipetto:

It was a crowded but wonderful day, but the longest we waited for any attraction was 25 minutes so we felt like TDL champs!