Japan Diaries [Day 7]

Day 7 [October 2nd]

* Today is…Disneyland Tokyo day!! I am very excited about this, and not even an overcast/lightly raining day can quell my happiness! Apparently Tokyo’s theme park is very close in structure to the original park in the US. However, we are completely overwhelmed by people who are queuing for rides – most with a 1-2hr wait, even at 10:30am! (I knew it’d be busy, but not to this degree…) We discover the ‘Fast Pass’, which is used to secure a time to go on a ride but depends on the length of the queue and time of day (and you can only use your ticket to do this once every four hours, to make it fair). We try the Fast Pass and a little ticket spits out saying the next available time is 6pm… yikes! (7 hours away!)

* I order our lunch completely in Japanese and it STILL comes out wrong (even though I knew what I was saying was right). Oh well, just like in Australia, you win some and you lose some. Slices of pizza containing mushroom, pumpkin and cheese…looks kind of strange, but weirdly satisfying (I’m in heaven, considering I haven’t really had any cheese since arriving in Japan).

* A good time to mention the being in Disneyland was doubly foreign to me: 1 – theme park culture; 2 – Japan is very much into Halloween! I didn’t realise that they celebrated here until we arrived, stores are filled with costumes, novelties and other such things (how I imagine the US would probably be at the moment). Disneyland was no exception, the place was decorated to the nines with pumpkins, ghosts, Autumn (sorry… Fall!) leaves, and more. Lots of people around the theme park are dressed in costume too, which is kind of cool (including a group of ten girls in gothic-loli and pirate-loli attire; sadly I didn’t get a picture… sorry guys!). Goes to show that everyone likes Disneyland though ;)

* There are some renovations going on in the park:
- Splash Mountain (and surrounding area) is closed
- Part of Tomorrowland is closed (I think there were bumper cars there?)
- Cinderella Castle has a fake (flat) front on it, which appears normal from a distance, but didn’t notice until I was close up.

* We still get to ride some of the rides though, including Pirates of the Carribbean, Wild West Railroad (the one we waited 7 hours for, lol), a canoe ride around the lake, and more. As the park gets darker in the evening, I’m more impressed. Great opportunities for night photography too! We watch the Halloween Parade, with dancers etc (that make me want to dance too :P) from a distance and I find a good spot to photograph the fireworks from the castle. Afterwards we catch a crowded train back to Tokyo station (around 9pm).

* Dinner is at Copain Copine again, that Japanese/Korean restaurant we loved so much from the beginning of the trip. More adventurous this time, ordering random cocktails (when they’re huge and only 500Y - $5.00AU, who’s to count?) from pictures alone, and a great main meal involving cooking our own meat at the table (though not okonomiyaki) and yummy desserts. A well-deserved meal (since we’ve been eating really cheaply during the trip!).