On Wednesday we had breakfast at the hotel. Usually when we go to Disney I pack ziplock "Breakfast Bags" for each day with oatmeal squares, granola bars, dried fruit and nuts or whatever, and then we get up and grab a bag and race out the door so we can be there for park opening. We eat while we are waiting for the park to open or while watching the morning show. In Japan this probably saved us more than $500!! It also makes room for souvenirs in our luggage. On Wednesday though TDS didn't open until 10am so we had planned to actually eat a sit down breakfast. The kids had place mats with character pop ups which Sasha absolutely loved!
I am a big fan of Mickey-shaped foods. Outstanding!
We finished by 9am and didn't need to line up for the park yet, as the Miracosta has a special hotel entrance that guests can use to enter the park 15 minutes early (swanky!) so we explored the hotel. Here's the princess outside the main entrance:
Our side of the hotel was the "Port Paradisio" side: an Italian Harbor, but there is also a "Venice" side to the hotel, complete with canals and gondolas:
Another shot of the "Venice" side of the Hotel:
In the interior of the hotel there are panels all down the corridors showing scenes from Pinocchio:
Another one:
At 9:30 we got in line to go into the park. We moved through the Mediterranean harbor and into the American Waterfront. There are 2 sections to the American Waterfront, a turn of the century New York Harbor area and a Cape Cod fishing village. Here's looking down a New York Street. Check out the "L" train!
Love the coin fountain in front of "McDucks Department Store":
Cape Cod. It's just like home in New England! (I mean except for the massive volcano in the background....)
We nabbed fastpasses for the Tower of Terror on the way through the American Waterfront and then headed to Port Discovery to ride "Aquatopia" We were the first family on it that day! These cool little boats zip randomly all around the harbor and almost run you into other boats, waterfalls, even whirlpools. Same magnetic ride technology as Pooh in TDL.
We did the Storm Rider, a motion simulator akin to Star Tours or Mission Space, and then went back to America to ride the Tower of Terror! The ride in Tokyo has a different storyline about a greedy archaeologist and a cursed Idol. The best effect is during the intro where you are in guy's study and the idol vanishes right in front of your eyes! Teddy wouldn't go near this ride last year. This year he rode it 5 times! The Japanese thought we were crazy going on with a 3 year old. The drops are much tamer in Tokyo though.
Next we headed to the Lost River Delta. Mayan Jungle theme. The boys wanted hot dogs back in the USA so we split up. Sasha and I rode Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull. It's under that temple you see in this pic:
Then we went on "Raging Spirits", a roller coaster with a 360° loop!
We took a picture of some cars going through the loop:
Sasha conquered this ride! Rode it 3 times and loved it!
Next the girls headed over to the Arabian Coast for some curry lunch. I promised you some better pics of this area. Here's a big picture:
And closer up! The music was awesome and you expected to see Jasmine or Aladdin around every corner! We ate at the Casbah Cafe and had 3 different kinds of curry and some Naan. It was excellent!
Then we walked back through Mermaid Lagoon and into the Mysterious Island:
You have to walk through a hole in the side of the Volcano to get back to Mediterranean Harbor. I love this shot:
Back to the Harbor:
We put the kids down for a nap and it was my turn to go out and about a bit in the park. Took this great shot from the bridge with all the little structures on it. This area is called "Castle Explorations". It's a really neat Leonardo DaVinci style castle and a couple of ships. You can run all around and explore and there are rooms with neat little interactive things like remote control ships to sail or planets to move around. So cool....
Then there was a show called "The Legend of Mythica". Not sure what it was about but there were Egg Boats, jet skiis, fireworks, stunt kite flying, and Mickey so what more do you want?
Mickey high up in the center of his boat getting pushed even higher by a jet of water:
I took some time to just stroll around "Italy". There were all these little nooks, side streets and Dead-Ends. They gave the area tons of depth and really made it feel authentic:
Am I in Italy or Tokyo?
Hmmm, where does this lead?
Even in the back alley ways there are little nooks with benches, beautiful gardens, and flowers:
Meanwhile back at the ranch:
When the kids woke up we watched the Fairies show again, but this time from up close down in the Harbor:
Some of the performers, giving it their all:
Sasha and I then split off again and went to a great Broadway tribute performance show called "Big Band Beat" (it was excellent) while the boys went for a few more rides on 20,000 leagues under the sea. We met up for dinner at the Sailing Day Buffet Restaurant in New York Harbor. The restaurant looks like a wharf warehouse and the theming was excellent. The food was just OK.
They did have lots of Mickey shaped things so the kids loved it:
After dinner Teddy wanted to do Tower of Terror again. Here's a shot of the lobby of the hotel from the queue line:
This was our ride picture. We HAD to buy it. Check them both out, they're sooo brave and hard core in line, but the picture tells a different story:
Tokyo Tower of Terror at night is Awesome! Each time an elevator drops there is a bolt of green lightning that starts at the top of the tower and then shoots across the face of the building to the elevator that is about to plummet. Then the screaming begins!
We decided to take a break from touring and go swim that night. We had the pool all to ourselves! The pool area had a long lap pool with a round hot tub to one side and a round kid pool to the other. We all loved it!
I am such a fan of well-done indoor pools:
This was the women-only soaking spa in the ladies area of the pool complex. It was empty so I took a picture. The Japanese are really into public baths. Everyone showers first so it's very clean
Later that night I got to go out into the park at 9pm while Jeff put the kids to bed. (He got to do this the first night). I had one hour before the park closed so I decided to see if I could ride all the height restricted headliners twice each. Ted is too short for these rides so it's harder to work them into our touring plans. I did Journey to the Center of the Earth twice first. The queue lines for this ride are EPIC! I was racing through them but I can only imagine how long the lines must be on a peak day.
It felt like I jogged about a mile before I hit the elevators that take you down to the ride vehicles:
Next I did raging spirits twice, and then moved over to Indiana Jones. Again, the queue line for this ride is fantastic but LONG!! You just walk forever to reach the jeeps and that's once you enter the temple! There is about a 1/2 mile of roped off line potential that I bypassed before you even get inside! Just can't imagine waiting that long for a ride. Here's a shot of an incredible statue inside the temple:
Mayan Murals I jogged past in the queue area:
There is a hole in the side of the temple where the "Sun" shines in and hits this mirror. Even at 9:30 PM!
After that I went into a shop and bought something and then ran around to Aquatopia. Got on at 9:58 and was the last rider of the day. That means I was the first AND last rider on a Disney attraction that day. Hoooah! Also I did 7 attractions and bought a necklace in one hour. That's 7.5 minutes per attraction including the sprint to the next one. It was not possible without running but I did it anyway because I AM A DISNEY COMMANDO!
After that the park was closed so I walked slowly to the hotel just absorbing all the scenery and the music. Love this statue of the Mouse that they have in Cape Cod. Total copy of the "Man at the Wheel" statue that sits in Gloucester, MA. Love that kind of attention to detail...
Final shot of the day (Anyone still with me? Bueller? Crispi?) of the ship all lit up. It was a long one and after touring and eating and shows and swimming and my evening power hour I was pooped, but sooooo happy!
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