5/26: My surreal Disney life...

Got off the bus today (Good Neighbor Hotel transfer bus from Keio Plaza in Shinjuku, Tokyo to Tokyo Disneyland) and recognized the music immediately...I was taken back to the Ticket and Transportation Center where I work. This is just the start of the unreal feeling I'm getting while being at Disneyland!

However, today started out with checking out of the hotel and then taking our final adventure to Asakusa for some last morning shopping. My fellow Map Master and I led my mom and our friend on our journey! We finally got our picture taken with the "saving electricity" sticker on the window of the subway. It's a picture of a lightbulb with it's eyes closed. After a week of taking the subway everywhere and spending it watching people on their cell phones or sitting with their eyes closed it reminded us of the locals on the trains....so naturally we had to take our own picture with the sticker!

After going the wrong way out of the station for a bit (my fault) because we didn't transfer to the other subway line (Aaron's fault) we eventually made it to Asakusa. While wandering around the shopping area I finally found a few things I wanted and a few gifts to be given. We also managed to be found by a group of high schoolers out doing homework with a goal of finding people who spoke English...we were quickly eagle eyed and approached...ding ding ding! English speakers present! They got to ask if this was our first trip, what our favorite Japanese food was and which of the boys we thought was the cutest, haha!! Totally made my morning :)

Then it was on to our last subway adventure...back to the Asakusa line to catch a connection on the Oedo line to the hotel. The best part is when we disembarked for our connection we had to go outside and walk another 400+m to get to the next/connection station...we would have done better just walking to the station in the first place!! But eventually we got back to the hotel and got checked in for the hotel shuttle and had to say bye to my fellow Map Master...definitely had some tears going :( But I did remind him that I will be enjoying my summer break and will remind everyone of that while they're in class!

After dragging our thousand pound suitcases through the bus load zones, past the monorail station, through the back entrance of the hotel, up the elevator and back to the lobby we finally could look around and just say wow....after a week of living in Tokyo and feeling a sense of living in a version of fantasy in the very real world I finally feel that this is normal and it should feel like Disney because it is Disney!

Just after arriving there are so many differences that I can see and have experienced already!
1. There is no early check-in. Check-in begins promptly at 3pm, you can take your bags to the bell captain and have them stored until it is time to check-in.
2. When the line starts to get long they get out a few rolling stanchions to mark the end of the line. You will also get a small cup of juice to drink while waiting.
3. When you check-in you will wait in the lobby until your name is called by the bell hop assigned to you, they bring your suitcases and escort you to your room. The nearest emergency exit is pointed out and you get a full tour of your room....which is amazing.

This is the 30th anniversary of the Tokyo Disneyland resort, it's a celebration of Happiness and during this time there are special menus planned for this anniversary. I must say I've been very proud of myself for all the foods I have been willing to try! Today I had tuna for the second time ever and smoked salmon for the second time as well...traveling international is fun! At some point in time you stop thinking and just eat it or at least try it...unless it's tofu. Then you pretend it's not there, unless it's fried. We had lunch in the Dreamer's Lounge, got my first free refil in Japan today...it was on iced coffee (there is an obsession with iced coffee here but it's really good)!

This room we're in is seriously beyond amazing...the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel is no joke and not nearly as expensive as some of the deluxe resorts (hooray for a favorable exchange rate for US to Japan). My jaw literally dropped when we walked in our room. There is a Grand Floridian style with an emphasis on Beauty and the Beast, our room overlooks the monorail station and the theme park.

There are so many products for free here...it's no wonder the Japanese people come to Disney with one small bag...they dont' have to pack anything. Even pajamas are provided...I can only imagine what happens when the Japanese tourists come to the US and find that there are no pj's in the drawer!

 

 

The shower is huge...it's an entire room with an amazing bathtub in it...I had to sit in it right away!

 

 

Finally, after a week of rotating jeans and sweating in them and walking in them all day, everyday this past week we hit up the laundry room to wash clothes. Wanna know fun? Go into a laundry room and have not a single bit of English on the machines...the only thing I understood was 100. Then go buy laundry detergent that doesn't have any English on it. Thank goodness for universal symbols on the care label and on the box of detergent! There will be a picture of this on here eventually. The washers are awesome and I learned why people hang their clothing outside to dry, the machine takes forever. We finally had to give up and bring clothes back, which are hanging all over the room to finish drying.

 

 

We took a trip on the monorail tonight to head to what is essentially the equivalent of Downtown Disney...just multi-level and more third party presence. We went to a place called Trail and Track for dinner, the menu had not a lick of English on it and when I asked about an English menu our server said he knows only a little bit of English...so we never got a different menu! Hooray for pictures, that saved us a bit this evening!

 

 

I can't wait to start my real vacation and experience Tokyo Disneyland tomorrow, and practice some Japanese phrases before I head back.

The courtyard of the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel

 





 

Taking the opportunity to call it a night rather than spend my time making sentences up to post on my blog!