More pics of Tokyo DisneySea

Jared and I in the Mira Costa lobby on our last day.... The view from our hotel room overlooking the main entrance of Disney Sea park.
Some more of our room....


The main walkway to get to transportation (monorail).
A view of the side of the hotel from the monorail walkway. From all sides, this hotel was very detailed and beautiful.
The fountain at the front of the Hotel Mira Costa.
The picture above is one of the most amazing pictures to me...I was walking over to the monorail at 7:30 in the morning to go to Disneyland park, and as you walk past, you can see the main turnstiles into DisneySea park. I thought I liked being early at the gates, but this is ridiculous! The park opened at 10, and the lines were already backing up this long at 7:30 in the morning. I could not believe it! I knew if it was backed up this bad at Disney Sea, then how bad would it be at Disneyland where I was heading only an hour before opening????
The people in Japan line up for the concession stands almost as long as the lines for the rides. This Gyoza Sausage Bun cart was always super busy and super long--but it went fairly quick. I had to give one a try, but I did not like it much at all. There were also super long lines at the popcorn carts, (they had special keepsake buckets they came in, and the popcorn was in different flavors depending which cart you were at.) and the coin presses??!!! It was funny to see things there that had super long lines, that never have lines here in the USA parks.
They are building a Tower of Terror set to open in September of 2006. It looks about done, and WAY more elaborate on the outside than its American predicessors. I wonder how detailed the inside will be??
This land was one of Jared's favorites, and also had his favorite ride, "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" This whole land, or port as it is referred to (Mysterious Island) was based on the works of Jules Verne. Very impressive to science fiction fans! I loved the "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" ride, which is NOTHING like the Disneyland/WDW ancestor.



One of my favorite movies as a child was The Rescuers. I was delighted to see Bernard and Bianca. (Never seen in the American parks.) I almost got a picture with them together, but they wander around seperately and I missed them. They had characters here that I have never seen before....

More Japan pictures--Tokyo DisneySea and Hotel Mira Costa

On the monorail over to Tokyo Disneyland. The theming in and around this park is really detailed...even the hand holds on the train are mickey shaped.
The ceiling in the lobby of the Hotel Mira Costa. This place made me forget that I was in Japan and made me think I was in Italy again....


Hotel Mira Costa is situated at the entrance to the DisneySea. It looks like an italian village from the inside of the park.

The entrance to Disney sea is just to the right for the general admittance. The hotel guests have their own private entrance right underneath the bay shaped window in the picture above. We were allowed into the park a little early to beat the HORDES of people right behind. They do not do early entry for hotel guests, because they do not have to. The hotel is always booked and has no need to offer perks for staying there!
A view from across the bay near the entrance of the park.
Mount Promethius---kinda the center icon like the castles are in the Disney theme parks. This volcano would erupt every so often just like the volcano at the Mirage in Las Vegas.
Another view across the bay. More incredible theming....those Disney Imagineers without a budget can do great things.....

One of the "ports" is the Arabian village.

There is NO WAY that displays like this can be set up at an American Disney park. Little glass bottles and clay pots just sitting there. It is really refreshing to see the respect people can have for common property. These would be broken in a few days at DisneyWorld.


Ariel's Grotto. This place was incredible both on the inside and outside. The inside had simple kiddie carnival rides like some of the ones in California Adventures but all themed in under the sea type rides. Here is where most of the few strollers were.

Some Japan pictures:

I was enthralled with this little display set up in our first hotel. It was so cute and detailed in miniature!



We made it here after a delay due to bad weather, and an even worse airline choice. We chose United because it made one stop less than Delta, but since United's main hub was in San Francisco, and it got extremely backed up due to weather, we started out in Boise in really bad trouble. One delay led to another, and we missed our international flight by about an hour. International flights are rarely delayed, so we really missed it. All of the other business people who even had a better shot making their connections, missed theirs as well. So we were all lined up in San Francisco waiting to have our tickets reissued, hoping there would even be room with all of the missed flights. The ticket agent said it had been that way (backed up) for 4 days....

Thankfully we had the agent in Boise book us as a back up plan on the next day's Japan flight--just in case, so we just needed seat assignments. They even put us up in a hotel and gave us meal vouchers, even though they were not supposed to since it was weather and not mechanical related. We had a nice relaxing dinner and night, and even though it took up an extra day in Japan it ended up being a nice break up of the flights.

We stayed at Okura Frontier Hotel in Tsukuba for a night...boy the rooms here are pretty small, and we had internet, but no adapter to charge or plug in the laptop.

Then we transferred to Hotel Mira Costa for 2 nights at Tokyo Disneyland. Now THAT is a hotel....much better! But no internet at it--at least we had an adapter to charge up the camera and camcorder.
Then last night we transferred to Urvest Kamata Hotel in Tokyo. This room was even smaller than the first, but it had internet, and an adapter, so I am finally able to use the laptop. I will be posting pictures, etc while Jared works a half day in Tokyo before our train leaves at 12. We will be flying out of Japan and going to Shanghai and arriving in the evening sometime. Our hotel there is supposed to be really nice. We shall see.....

Things that we love about Japan/Tokyo: (in not particular order) We knew alot of these things before we left, but it was nice to see it for ourselves.
1. The culture
2. The hospitality without an ulterior motive to be tipped
3. No tipping :)
4. The Olympic coverage!!! (puts America's coverage to shame!)
5. Alot of things (signs) are in English as well as Japanese
6. Respect for other people and their property
7. People will help you with directions just out of kindness
8. Their commercials and TV programs (hahaha)
9. Everything perfectly on time
10. Cleanliness

Things we did NOT love about Japan/Tokyo:
1. Walking in the streets
2. The smells
3. The food
4. Desserts
5. Busy times in the stations
6. Sticking out in crowds---lack of Westerners
7. Their camp out mentality
8. Sometimes they are too patient
9. The expense of things
10. The smoking everywhere (this was no surprise, but we still hated it)

If I think of more I will add it, but for now, check out time has moved up about 2 hours and I need to get going. I hope the next hotel has internet so I can post some pictures.

Getting ready to go to Japan and China....

Jared and I are going to be leaving soon to go to Tokyo, Japan, and Shanghai China. We have been making preparations the last few weeks (months) to get ready to go...Getting immunizations, getting our Chinese Visas, making flight arrangements, researching the areas.

It has been very overwhelming, especially for me, because I am usually an expert on anyplace that I am visiting before I get there.... Well, not this time. I am completely overwhelmed, and still have no clue to what I am doing, and where I am going.

Jared will be working most of the time, and I will be on my own alot. We will be taking a side trip for a few days to Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea. They are supposed to be the number one attended theme parks, with theming and rides like no other Disney park in the world. They say it is like how American Disney parks would be if the imagineers had no budget. I am excited to check this out. We will have pictures up, stay tuned! :)