Disneyland

We did it! Jeff and I finally went to Disneyland! It was soo much fun! I have to say that Tokyo Disneyland's Space Mountain is 100x faster than the one back at home. We rode on it 3x, and on the last time, we sat in the front seat...the best ever! Yaay for fast rides where you can't take a breath of air to continue screaming!

I got up at 4am in order to catch my 5:16am train to Disneyland. I was not happy about that. It was freakin' cold-as and completely dark outside. Very scary. Anyway, I think Jeff and I each bought an entire conbini with us on our train ride. We had soo many snacks and caffeine drinks you'd think we're going camping or something. We got to Disneyland at around 8:30, and surprisingly, there weren't many people there yet. That's when we took full advantage of our fast passes. We pretty much rode on all the major rides by 11am. Yaay for us! Thank goodness we are the same person, allowing us to take on various priorities at different times during the day, i.e.) rides, souvenir shopping, churro/pumpkin soft cream/pastry/lunch/dinner/coconut popcorn stops, and of course, picture-taking. Um yeah, I still can't post pictures yet. I'm sure Jeff will have some photos on his blog though.

I was surprised to see that the lines for food and souvenirs were just as long as the lines for the rides. I kid you not. Jeff and I would walk by a line of people and say, "I wonder what this ride is...must be good since the line wraps around the corner..." only to realize that people were lining up for turkey legs. Uh, yeah. All the souvenir shops were soo crowded as well, b/c the Japanese have the tradition of bringing back omiyage (souvenirs) for their friends, family, co-workers, etc. when going on a trip...even to Disneyland. Things, random souvenir items, were selling like hotcakes...the shelves were emptying out well before closing. Also, everyone, and I mean everyone, bought a "fast pass holder" which is essentially a piece of string attached to a plastic pouch that people wore around their necks to "carry" their fast passes. This costs $5 per holder. Jeff and I found a much more convenient and cheaper "fast pass holder"....our pockets. Another thing was that everyone seemed to have ears/hats. Mickey, Minnie, Pooh, Goofy, whatever the character, people loved them silly ears and hats. Some of them looked totally retarded, especially the teenage punks who wore the cute little Mickey ears, thinking they were all hard and stuff. Um...gangsta doesn't equal Mickey ears. However, I do have to admit that I fell for one of the other "must-have" items at Tokyo Disney....a Chip N' Dale popcorn bucket. It was filled with coconut popcorn, has a shoulder strap and everything! I know I'm a dork, but you have to see it! At first I thought it was stupid, but it definitely grew on me. I am using it as a Halloween bucket for stickers at school...I'll blog about that later.

The decorations at Tokyo Disney were beautiful. I do love all the Halloween stuff they put up, especially how they've transformed The Haunted Mansion. Soo fun! They also have a waay better Sleeping Beauty Castle than the one back at home...it's not neon pink. Hmm...what else. Oh yeah, I inevitably ran into one of my students at the gift shop. It figures that it was in her class that I told them that I was not going anywhere for the 3-day weekend. There goes my lil' secret. Oh well. Apparently, tons of my students saw me there as I was informed in my classes today...they just didn't say hello to me. Damn, maybe I should've worn one of those silly hats and gone incognito.

One last thing. I got pushed by a Chinese lady. Jeff and I were taking a look at our picture in front of the Disneyland sign when a lady pushed me aside and said, "Move! We need to take a picture!" in Chinese. I know I'm a self-hater, but Chinese people can be soo freakin' rude sometimes! Argghhh!!

But in all, it turned out to be a really fun trip. This was a great first experience at Tokyo Disneyland, thanks to great company! We laughed soo much...mainly being bitter and making fun of people...but that's what we do. We shall hit Disney Sea next! We took the first train there and the last train back. I slept for 11 hours that night...a much needed deep sleep.