We woke up at 7:15 to get an early start. Me and Chelsea put our Mickey ears on ready to go. Some people needed to top up their Suicas so Chelsea got itchy feet. We eventually made it to Disney after 3 trains and a bit of walking. There was a shop right at the entrance but we convinced Chelsea we’d do that one at the end. We didn’t have to queue to get in and all went through the bag check fine. We wanted to go and investigate lunch and dinner. The friends went off to go on as many rides as possible. On the way to finding lunch we stopped at a stall and Chelsea bought a Baymax hat. We then found lunch and realised it wasn’t open yet and we didn’t need to make a reservation.
Me and Chelsea did the Western Railroad together, which took us on a tour of the park. We hardly had to queue at all. We then saw the friends who had done Pirates of the Carribean and the Jungle Cruise.
We all queued up for Big Thunder Mountain together which was a bit of a longer queue but not too bad. It was a pretty fast rollercoaster with lots of sharp turns and drops but not too scary. We even waved our arms in the air.
It was only 11, but we were pretty hungry so went to Camp Woodchuck kitchen. Me and Chelsea had a set meal each which came with cheesy potato things, big fried chicken, small fried chicken, sausage, chips, green crisps, and a Mickey shaped cake. I swapped my green crisps for Chelsea’s sausage.
We wanted to do Pirates of the Carribean so split up with the friends again. We got a bit lost on the way there. We looked at the app and it said it was closed but we went anyway and luckily it was open. There was no queue at all. We sat on a little boat and it took you through various scenes from the movies, but in Japanese. There was also a bit of the ride that went through a pirate themed restaurant which Chelsea thought was cool for us but awkward for the people eating. The end of the ride took you through a shop and I bought a t-shirt that I changed into so I could be more Disney-themed.
We stopped at another stall and Chelsea bought a Pascal shoulder buddy that clipped to her backpack and sat on her shoulder all day.
After we were properly Disney-ified, we headed to Tomorrowland in search of the Star Wars ride. It was a bit knock-off, even though Disney own Star Wars. It was named “Star Tours” and some of the things were just close enough to be out of copyright. The walk through from the ride entrance to the ride start was good, they had lots of droids and a spaceship and Star Wars music playing. There was no queue, so we hurried through, but I imagine you’d get to appreciate it more with the normal 3 hour queues. On the ride, you got to take a “Starspeeder 1000” across the galaxy. We were given some 3D glasses, which I couldn’t put on properly because of my actual glasses. We got taken to a cinema room with rows of seats that we had to strap into. Then the ride began. It was a short, ~3 minute, movie where we got taken through the galaxy, shown some rebels, some imperials, all while the room moved around to simulate us flying through space. We’d never done one of those 4D cinemas before, so had good fun.
We walked through Tomorrowland in search of a snack. We found the Pan Galactic Pizza Port and ordered some mochi that looked like the little green aliens from Toy Story. They were strawberry, chocolate and vanilla flavoured. I took one bite and said they were the wrong texture so left Chelsea to eat the rest. We also got a Mango and Passionfruit sparkling drink to wash it all down. I didn’t like that either because it had bubble tea bubbles at the bottom.
Space Mountain was just across from where we were sitting so we went there next. The queue was fairly long and we were with some cosplayers. It had also got really hot, so we were sweating. We saw the others go past and they said the ride was good. We got to the end of the queue and went up a space escalator into Space Mountain. There was some more queuing inside, but it went quickly. We sat on the rollercoaster, strapped in, and we were off. It went really fast, and it was really dark. You could only really tell how fast you were going by the G Force and the wind rushing past your face. There was also a light show going on at some bits, so you couldn’t really have your eyes closed. The ride finished and we both felt rather sick, but exhilarated too. The queue had completely disappeared when we got out, which was rather annoying. We saw Asian Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain America and Stitch doing a meet and greet.
Chelsea practically pulled Joe’s arm off trying to get to the Baymax ride. She was really excited because she’d been wearing the hat all day and been waiting for this one ride. It was the longest queue at the park, at about 40 minutes, but it was worth it. Whilst we queued, we got to see everyone be happy on the ride listening to the Happy Baymax songs. We also tried to learn the dances for when it was our turn. Our favourite was B-A-Y-M-A-X like Y-M-C-A, and the happy ride song. We got on the ride which was a kart being pulled around by Baymax, sort of like the waltzers, but less intense. I filmed a little so we could get our happy faces singing along. The ride was over in about 30 seconds but it was Chelsea’s favourite ride.
We decided that after 2 rides we were hungry again so headed over to The Big Pop, a popcorn shop. Chelsea had been wanting a Tangled popcorn bucket for ages, which was a Tokyo Disneyland Exclusive, but they’d sold out. We got a 40th Anniversary bucket instead with caramel popcorn. I don’t like popcorn that much so ate half and carried the bucket around playing with the light when it got dark.
We saw lots of people sitting for the Spooky Boo Parade so joined them and saw the Halloween themed floats driving by the castle. I sat on a wall and watched from afar whilst Chelsea went real up close to get some photos. Chelsea was worried that she wouldn’t be able to find me again because she’d already run off by the time I’d finished saying I was going for a sit down, and she had no data, but she just didn’t want to miss the Spooky Boo.
Once the parade had finished, we met back up again successfully. We went over to the other side of the park, after taking some photos in front of the castle of course.
We went to It’s A Small World, which Chelsea had heard about on Disney-tok from the American parks. I got pre-warned it was weird and weird it was. Although most of the American moms love it. It was a water ride and you sat in a boat while travelling down a river seeing animatronic dolls moving and singing. The purpose of the ride was to show other countries and cultures. It was all on one ride, so was supposed to make you realise we’re all on this planet together, we’re all different but similar, and should celebrate our differences.
We were glad that weird ride was over. We needed something a bit calmer, so went on a ride in a Pirate Ship to Neverland with Peter Pan and Wendy. In the queue, Chelsea made friends with a cute Japanese baby, who ended up grabbing a clump of her hair. The mum awkwardly got the baby to let go. Chelsea learnt never to smile at a baby again. It was difficult getting on the ride because it was a treadmill next to the Pirate Ship. We had to run to make sure we didn’t miss it. The ride was dark at first, but slowly revealed scenes from the story which were lit up. We floated over London before ending up at Neverland where we saw Peter Pan and Captain Hook having a fight on their pirate ship. It was a pretty small ride and at the end we had to launch ourselves out of the Pirate Ship in a similar fashion to how we got on.
The Snow White Adventure was next door, and very similar, but we wanted to make the most of our day. This time we were in a kart on the ground and drove through scenes from the story. It was supposed to be a bit scary, but more for 4 year olds.
We wanted a bigger ride next, so had a wander over to Critter Country for Splash Mountain. Chelsea didn’t want to get wet, but I convinced her to go. The queue was fairly short and we walked through before sitting in the rollercoaster. We tried to put our stuff as far under the seat as we could and then the ride set off. Seeing as Chelsea was apprehensive, she found it really good, and didn’t even get that wet. It didn’t feel as fast as Space Mountain which was nice.
We were starting to get a bit hungry so made a slow walk to Tomorrowland Terrace for a Baymax Burger. We had to walk through the Disney Castle again to get there, so I convinced Chelsea to stop at the Cinderalla’s Castle ride. It was a bit awkward as we had to get in a lift with other people, whereas all day we’d had our rides to ourselves. Once we’d gone up in the lift we were out into the castle which was decorated beautifully. Chelsea liked a sign on the door which said Royal Attendants Only, meaning staff only. There were lots of cosplayers taking photos for Instagram. After we’d walked through a couple of rooms we saw Cinderalla’s throne, which I made Chelsea sit on and take an Instagram photo.
We made it to Tomorrowland Terrace just as everything was gearing up for the Dreamlights parade. I sat down and saved us a spot at the front of the pavement so we had a good view this time whilst Chelsea went and got us our Baymax burgers. It was delicious. Chelsea had a pot of Mickey chicken nuggets.
It was properly nighttime now so very atmospheric and romantic. We watched float after float come past, all with a different Disney movie theme. There was Tangled, Frozen, Aladin, Beauty in the Beast, Toy Story, pretty much everything you can imagine. All the floats were lit up and some even had dancers.
It was nearly park closing time but we wanted to squeeze one last ride in so ran to Beauty and the Beast. Everyone had had the same idea so there was a bit of a queue getting in. We got into giant teacups that zoomed round the room. The teacups crashed through doors to open them and projectors played out scenes from the story. We saw the beast, the beauty, the love, Chip, Mrs Potts, Lumiere, Coggsworth, the rose, the fight, and finally joined in in their last dance. It was Chelsea’s joint best ride along with Baymax and she would have queued up to go on it again straight after if the park wasn’t closing.
We made another mad dash for the shops and got in most of them before they closed. We got some Disney pot noodles, a Disney Takara Tomy car, and Chelsea got a hoodie. The shops at the end didn’t really have that much different from those throughout the park.
We sat just before the exit and looked at the castle one last time, breathing in all of the Disney magic before we had to go, much to Chelsea’s disappointment. I think she would have lived there if I let her! We got the train home and said hello to the friends who had gone home in the early afternoon. We then crashed ready for DisneySea tomorrow. Overall I really enjoyed it and Chelsea says it was the best day of her life!!
