Disneyland

Today we are off to Disneyland, yay!!
We’re booked in to catch the 10am shuttle bus direct from our hotel, makes things super easy for us thankfully but unfortunately the last shuttle bus home was completely booked already when we tried to secure our seats last night so we will catch the train home.

Walking through Disneyland is awesome, everything about it makes me smile - the lights, the colours, the music, the shops & knowing there are rides just outside calling my name makes it all the more exciting for me. I am trying so hard to not compare the two parks (Disneyland California & Disneyland Tokyo but it is a bit hard, Cali left a lot to live up too!)

Seeing the Disney castle at the back you can definitely tell this park is Califronia’s little sister but it’s mums first time here and i am definitely keen to be here too!

First challenge of the day was trying to figure out how to operate the lockers for our bags, turns out - if there is a key in the locker it means it is available, you then need to fill the locker with your stuff, put coins in the slot behind the key then close it....seems simple, just not written in English anywhere so it was very much watch and learn ha Next challenge - park maps. I spend way longer than i’d like to admit trying to find the English map of Disneyland and the show times, so much time that I was holding up the queue much to the dismay of the locals behind me who laughed, I then saw an eyeroll, heard a sigh followed by “ah, Internationals!” Haha, I think that’s the first time i’ve been called that.

First off, we decided to stop in at this cute little hot dog counter for a late breakky/early lunch before we started out day in the park. It was super reasonably priced, decently sized and delicious! Then, time for some rides and a browse through the themed shops along the way. We haven’t seen too much of souvenirs so far in Tokyo, none that we’ve overly liked anyway but I will keep looking.

Mum, Pete & I went on almost every ride in the park (except for most of the kiddy ones) they were all really good and mum was so in love with the sets of each ride. They really take you on a journey both over here & in the states with their rides, in a way you can’t even explain to someone until they experience it themselves. They completely put Australian rides to shame (we still have them on fear factor though)

We ended up having dinner on the sidewalk tonight at Disney, we want to watch the parade that starts at 7pm & already, at 6pm people are lining the sidewalks trying to reserve a good spot. We were on the lookout for a restuarant within the park but the line ups for them were huge if you didn’t pre book (which, we hadn’t) & mum hasn’t seen a Disney parade before so front and centre is where we wanted to be. So we ended up settling for Mickey Mouse burgers on the sidewalk while we reserved our prime positions. The wait for the parade was long & boring but the parade itself was amazing and probably totally worth it!

After the parade through the streets we moved over to the front of Disney castle where we secured another great spot (and waited an hour again) for the big end of night theme show where they literally light up the castle - it’s the best show in Disneyland! The show was lovely but unfortunately due to the winds the fireworks display had been cancelled, which truly makes the show a thousand times better although still lovely without....our bad luck didn’t end there. After waiting an hour for the show to start about half way through the 15 minute display it started bucketing down rain, wah! Everyone legged it for some cover, which unfortunately meant we couldn’t truly enjoy the whole show...bummer.

On our way out we stopped in at a few of the shops for some last minute purchases. I bought a Daffy Duck cup to drink out of (it’s

awesome!) and these absolutely stunning Mickey Mouse earrings that i am super in love with! They are 12 Mickey Mouse shaped earrings (just his head) in all different colours of the rainbow - no pairs!! Anyone who knows me will know how perfect a set of coloured earrings that don’t have pairs are 100% me. I rarely will have a pair of matching earrings in my ears, not even kidding.

Another early start for us again tomorrow as we head on over to DisneySea for some more adventure & rides. I have really enjoyed Disneyland today so am hoping that DisneySea is just as great! I’ve seen in the brochure they have the “Indiana Jones” ride, Pete & I went on that in Disneyland California & wanted to go on it a final time before we left but the line was wayyy to long so we missed out. I am definitely looking forward to going on that one again for sure!