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When I first arrived in Japan I taught lessons about traveling since it is my passion in life. I told my students about all the incredible places I had been and intended to go, including places like living on a boat for a week in the countryside of England, eating the best baguettes in the world in the south of France, hiking the Swiss Alps, scuba diving in Mexico, drinking Czech beer in Prague, riding a camel in Tunisia, and wandering the canals and red light district of Amsterdam (now I am just bragging!). As the year went on I boasted about hiking Fuji-san, riding a bicycle to Shikoku, and my desire to harvest rice. All these amazing things did nothing for my students. I soon realized that a) leaving Japan was not high on their priority lists and b) the temples of Kyoto were about as exciting to them as riding a cable car in San Francisco was to me.

The Happiest Place On Earth

Casey Lary
2007-04-27 21:49:04

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Mickey gear, returning again to experience more fun. I almost had a heart attack of excitement when the monorail pulled up to take us to Sea Disney - the windows and hand-holds were in the shape of Mickey! We bought our tickets, then made a scene when I screamed entering the park, my feet barely touching the ground I was so thrilled.

Disney Sea
Disney Sea is only found in Tokyo. It differs from Disneyland because you can drink there (hence why more
adults prefer this one), and showcases some of the more recent movies. It vaguely reminded me of Epcot Center in Florida. The numerous 'lands' include Mediterranean Harbor , American Waterfront, Arabian Coast, Lost River Delta, and the Mermaid Lagoon. Since it was winter we figured crowds would be down. The architects of this park were very clever because although it felt empty, there were lines for miles tucked away. All the really cool rides had 1-2 hour waits. We thought it was similar to U.S. Disney and that you can get as many fastpasses as possible. At Mysterious Island we quickly went to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and got a fastpass - for 4 hours later! We scurried over to Journey to the Center of the Earth to get a fast-pass there, only to be informed that we could only get one fastpass every two hours! We totally wasted our fastpass! Yet neither of us were too discouraged. Tokyo Disneyland was absolutely gorgeous and we just enjoyed wandering around to all the different places eating and taking photos.

We wandered in to Arabian Nights (by foot, no flying carpet in sight) to get a dose of Aladdin. Not wanting to wait 90 minutes to see the 3-D Magic Lamp Theater, alternatively we went on the Caravan Carousel! It wasn't Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull, but hey, the line was only a 5 minute wait. The Imagineering Team of Disneyland is amazing. The stuff they come up with is truly a dream come true. You honestly felt like you were in another country, ...