robbalvey

Oh, I forgot to mention in my text above that I saw a total of *ONE* ECV in my entire four days at Tokyo Disney and those dreaded "double-wide" strollers are few and far between. For some reason this is a really huge deal for me. The abuse and over-use of both of those things here in America is just embarrassing.

We are here! Tokyo Disney! While the main goal of this trip was to hit every single Disney park in Asia, and both Shanghai and Hong Kong were highlights for different reasons, we most certainly were saving the best for last! Tokyo Disney is by far my favorite theme park destination in the world and if I had to pick one place to go and never be able to visit anywhere else, I'd be completely happy going here the rest of my life. It's not just the amazing attractions that made the resort great. It's the amazing attention to all sorts of details, the staff who are the most helpful and friendly of any park you'll ever see, and not just "better" but light years, in a totally different category better. The level of service at these parks is not even something you can really describe in photos, video, or text. It's just something you have to experience, and once someone experiences, they get it. And then of course the clientele of the park helps make of the rest of the awesome. It's very very rare that you will ever encounter anyone rude or obnoxious, and if you do, chances are very high it's an American or Chinese guest. There is no theme park guest culture more polite and in tune with common sense as Tokyo Disney. And IMO, the guests around you make up a HUGE part of the overall experience. I mean, I feel my liking of Shanghai Disneyland would have been so much better if it wasn't filled with the local clientele. And coming to Tokyo Disney just makes you appreciate the Japanese so much more after being in China. As you read the report below, some of you may ask "why did we go during such a busy time?" The answer: COUNTDOWN PARTY!!! Countdown Party or "New Years Eve" is a very special time at Tokyo Disney. They open the parks for a special "overnight" new years event from 7pm - 7am. It's the only time the parks stay open later than 10pm, they do a very special fireworks show, and it's one the hardest tickets to get of any Disney event around the world! You either have to be staying at a resort hotel on New Years Eve (and just look up the prices! The hotel we were staying at was $1,000 per night, and that's one of the CHEAPER options) or you have to enter a Japan-only lottery for tickets! It's a wonderful event and if you've been to the parks before, it's not a huge deal with the crowds. Anyway, we've talked about Tokyo Disney so much that I'm not sure what more there is to say, but please feel free to ask questions as it's a park we love to talk about. Let's get on to some photos and video.... There is no better sight in the world than this right here! Tokyo Disney Resort taking us to Ikspiari for some dinner & shopping! Going to head there tonight since our first full day at the park is tomorrow! [twitter] [/twitter] Nice to see this pizza place at Ikspiari still delivering amazing food! Current view of Tokyo from our hotel room at Tokyo Disney! We are here!!! A little bit of morning glow behind the castle! We are in line for Pooh and already have our first FastPass in hand! About to ride one of the greatest Disney rides ever created! Pooh's Hunny Hunt really is an amazing example of "trackless dark ride" technology! Absolutely incredible! Just like to point out we're currently in a switchback without a rope & Japanese are perfectly obeying it. No line jumping of any sort. No one crossing over. Just a single file line switching back at the end as if there was a rope in place. Never in America! It's a requirement that every Japanese guest have something Duffy on their person. Elissa is so happy her rodents are being featured on the current seasonal merch/food guide! Yes, they do Haunted Mansion Holiday at Tokyo Disney and this makes us very happy! Really love Haunted Mansion Holiday. Hope someday it comes to WDW! It's one of the busiest day of the year here but we've already done Pooh & Mansion and have FP for Monsters and Thunder! Next up... a tour through the Jungle! #JungleCruiseHumor Japanese Jungle Cruise was great! Loved the indoor projection mapped scene! Our skipper was awesome! This crazy line to get FP took less than 5 minutes due to the amazing Japanese staff & clientele! Been crazy busy day but we've already gotten on Mansion, Pooh, Monsters, Jungle & have FP for Thunder & Space! If you know how to navigate the park, even when it's very busy you can get on a lot of stuff. You don't have to rush around like crazy but GET TO THE PARK EARLY! We suggest an hour before the park opens. That might sound rough, but it's WORTH IT when you see just how much more you can get done! We've taken a lunch break from the park to go cook up some raw meat in Ikspiari! Remember this place at Tokyo Disney Ikspiari! Delicious lunch full of meat! I love that they have Clarice as a character here at Tokyo Disney! This 45-minute line for Pirates took a total of 22 minutes! Gotta love Japanese efficiency! Tokyo has the classic version of Pirates with the Jack Sparrow upgrade. Please replace this version and all old and outdated versions with the new Shanghai version! In a past life and an alternate universe, a mouse once paid me to work here... Time lapse video of the Western River Railroad! [twitter] [/twitter] Current line for Big Thunder Mountain is 180 minutes! But not for us! Thank you FastPass! Just for you BIG ladies... I love that the Country Bear Jamboree here is half in Japanese and half English! This woman making the Mickey waffles may be my favorite person of all Tokyo Disney!!! [twitter] [/twitter] Would you believe this is the first popcorn we've had all day? And yes it's delicious! It's SHOWTIME! Gonna check out the Main Street Electrical Parade: Dream Lights and Once Upon a Time. Anyone who knows me fairly well knows that I am *NOT* a fan of the classic Main Street Electrical Parade (other than the world's longest bacon strip float) but Dream Lights is, IMO, the version of the Electrical Parade they should have EVERYWHERE! In fact, whenever I hear someone say "oh, Orlando should get Paint the Night" I assume they haven't seen Dream Lights. I'm not even a parade person and it's fantastic! Here's the replay of our live stream from our visit... [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew] Just watched the Electrical Parade! Now going to hop on Splash Mountain! Single rider line FTW! Love the Tokyo Disney version of Splash Mountain! So very similar but also different than Florida's version! Up next...Once Upon a Time! Their amazing castle projection show! While Walt Disney World now has a version of this castle show, it's not the same. The Orlando version doesn't have all the segments, the lasers, as much pyro, or the additional projections on the side. It's still a great show though, but the Tokyo one is amazing! Here's our replay from the live stream: [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew] Time for a ride on Space Mountain! Here one minute of the light show on Tokyo's mountain! [twitter] [/twitter] Yay! Space Mountain!!! Just did a one-two punch in ToonTown with Roger Rabbit and Gadget's Go Coaster! And we are ending our day at Tokyo Disney just like we started it! On Pooh's Hunny Hunt! Wow! What an absolutely amazing first day at Tokyo Disney! We got an insane amount done for such a busy day! Other than the slight pain of getting up at 6am to be at the park by 7am, at no point were we "rushed" through the day. We took it easy, got lots of FastPasses, and even took two hours out of our day for lunch. But look at how much we accomplished! This is one of the busiest days of the year and we still did every "mountain" in the park, lots of dark rides, saw two shows (technically three as we did watch the fireworks also) and really just had a fantastic day! More updates from Tokyo Disney coming soon! CLICK HERE FOR TOKYO DISNEYSEA PHOTOS!

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Pretty sure this is a Pachislo machine. Basically the slot machine version of a Pachinko machine Yes, that's exactly what it is. I knew "what" it was, my joke was about the pretty girls in the artwork and wondering what the theme was. Honestly, the caption was just a "joke" and probably not a good one, and certainly not meant to be taken so literally or seriously.

Not all of it was Disney themed. There were other non-Disney artists also showing their work.

You buy each ala carte. And yes, you are right!

Are people bitching about this? Please tell me this disclaimer wasn't put here because people are bitching about this now. Please. Yes, of course people complained when it was announced because that's all people do now... *sigh* But let's just break that down for a moment. Let's assume that even if you weren't interested in this festival at all, what is the alternative? Having just normal Epcot with no extra features? And trust me, I *LOVE* regular old classic "Vanilla" Epcot, and that is still one of my favorite parks in the world. So that being said, again, let's just assume you don't care about this event at all... Tell me what is the harm in walking around World Showcase and in addition to the already fantastic park, you have some amazing looking Disney-inspired art all over the place, new little "touches" like the added signage, Disney legend artwork on display, wonderful Disney music being sung by professional talented artists, and decent food placed around the world showcase. Tell me again what the "downside" to this event happening is? It's like you have said, there is literally NO REASON for anyone to complain at all, but instead of not bitching and being happy, they are coming up with the most inane reasons to complain about, simply because people feel that's what should be done now instead of actually appreciating something new and refreshing that DOESN'T COST THEM A SINGLE PENNY on top of the park entrance ticket and if you wanted to completely avoid it and not pay any attention to anything at the event at all, you easily could. Shake My Head!

Today we attended the media event for Epcot's new "Festival of the Arts" event which runs weekends (Fri-Mon) January 13th - February 20th. Now before you might be all "Wait, another festival at Epcot???" please remember that between Christmas and Flower & Garden, there isn't really anything going on at Epcot, *AND* Disney used to hold an event called "Festival of the Masters" at Downtown Disney which featured Florida local and Disney artists to come display and sell their items for one weekend. This festival ran for I believe 38 years until the construction of Disney Springs caused the event to be put on hiatus. Now, this new event at Epcot is basically the "spiritual successor" to Festival of the Masters but it is also expanded in many ways. First off, the event runs several weekends, not just one. The "arts" features more than just "artwork" it showcases paintings, photography, food, and musical theater. (yay! for the last part!) We had a really good time at the event today and I look forward to this becoming yet another Epcot festival tradition that grows and changes over the years! Here's the photos & a video from today's event! (make sure you watch the video with the sound up!) [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew] This morning we are checking out the brand new Festival of the Arts! We've got our media credentials, event passport, and park guide and ready to check out this new event! Disney artist Larry Dotson signing his amazing artwork in Norway today! If you remember Festival of Masters that used to be at Disney Springs this event is very similar. And we think that's GREAT! The folks from Pop Gallery at Disney Springs have a booth with artists signing their work every weekend! We LOVE Walt Disney World events that include food booths! Here's a couple you'll see around Festival of the Arts. WDW Merchandise guru Steve Miller talks event swag like the new Figment World Showcase scavenger hunt for kids! Some of the food items are almost too pretty to eat! (But we are going to because they are delicious!) The amount of amazing Disney artwork being offered is absolutely amazing! My wallet hates this event! LOL! Carlos is one of the local Florida artists invited to display and sell his amazing photography! If you're looking for original art, Boiled Books is another local artist featured at the event. Was cool getting to see Disney artist Joe Kaminski painting today! I think Elissa would want the rodents! We are attending one of the free art seminars. This one features animation and includes a free pin! YAY!!! Disney animator Lynn Rippberger talks about working on films like Mulan, Beauty & The Beast, and Little Mermaid. This PhotoPass photo op is hilarious & amazing! Who looks better? Me as The Scream or Craig as Mona Lisa? On display is some work from legendary Disney artist Herbert Ryman. Do we have any Figment fans? Here's his topiary as part of Festival of the Arts! Disney artist Don "Ducky" Williams will be at the Festival most days signing his artwork! Looking for Event merchandise? You can find some in the Art of Disney store! Yay! We got a cookie shaped like an artists palate! I love the Disney on Broadway series they're doing for the event! Over the next few weeks, we will hear songs from Disney shows including my favorite, Newsies! Here's a couple Mickey Mouse paintings by Joe Kaminski available during Festival of the Arts. Wow! The line to see Ashley Brown and Joshua Strickland stretches all the way back to Germany! The Newsies logo came up while waiting for the Disney on Broadway show & King of NY is playing and it makes me so happy! Taking the stage is Broadway's Ashley Brown (the original Mary Poppins) and Joshua Strickland! (The original Tarzan) and they are singing songs from Tarzan & Beauty & The Beast! Wonderful!!! Since Frozen on Broadway is coming next year, they sung Let it Go! (You can also hear Ashley sing Part of Your World in the video I linked above!) [twitter] [/twitter] Had a REALLY great day at the new Epcot Festival of the Arts! Highly recommend! Especially if you miss Festival of the Masters!

I'm going to assume this is to stop the horrible SoCal passholders from just frivolously booking a crapton of FastPasses they are never going to use. IMO, this completely makes sense. Do we know if by spending the $10 that guarantees you will get some FastPasses on the day you book? I assume the answer is yes. Because then if you said, for example, "Hey, lets go to the park at 5pm and get some FP between 6-10pm tonight" and then you got there and they were all sold out, that would be a waste of $10. But I assume that $10 would be money well spent if you knew you could show up at 5pm and get FP for rides like Space, Thunder, and Matterhorn for the rest of your evening without much hassle.

Next stop... spending some time at Sega Joypolis and the Tokyo Decks area! If you are spending some time in Tokyo and you're looking for a place that is uniquely "Japanese" filled with all those wacky arcades, attractions, and shopping areas you see in so many TV shows about Japan, you need to stop at the Toyko Decks area (right outside of the Tokyo Teleport JR Train Station) and you can easily fill a good portion of a day here! Everytime we go we see things we had never seen before and we like this area even more! Here are some photos... This morning we are heading to Tokyo Joypolis at the Tokyo Decks! Here's the crazy looking Fuji TV building just outside! Spending our day Joypolis! Love this indoor park! The world's only launching looping spinning shooting/interactive indoor themed coaster with on-board audio! It's awesome! [twitter] [/twitter] This Half Pipe ride where you have to work together spin and score points is so much fun! [twitter] [/twitter] Because everything at Tokyo Joypolis is a video game... even when you pee! [twitter] [/twitter] If simulators and VR attractions are your thing, Joypolis has plenty of good ones! Of course you will find a lot of Sonic themed games and attractions here! Let's just make one thing perfectly clear... Japanese toilets are smarter than you'll ever be. Did we mention that being winter they all have seat warmers in them? They make fresh crepes at Joypolis as well as all over Japan and they make us so happy! There are also plenty of video games and claw machines! Dear jack, the Odiaba Ferris Wheel says hello. The Odaiba area is one of our favorite places in Tokyo! Amazing attractions, amusements, and shopping! This is the best arcade in the area! Tons of capsule machines, claw machines, arcade games and totally random stuff! Japan amusement parks are famous for these ride-on plush animals! These coin pusher machines are so insanely complex and amazing! Yes, that is a single-player ping pong machine! Here you can catch and win an actual fish! Sushi anyone? And of course plenty of awesome Japanese arcade games! I'm not even sure how to classify some of the games you find in this arcade! But they are all so much fun, wacky and awesome! I'm not sure what this machine is selling, but whatever it is, I'm buying! These TsumTsum scooper machines are amazing! Check out my winnings so far! MegaWeb is an amazing showcase for Toyota cars! There is a Japanese Taco Bell here! It's amazing! So much better and different from in the US! These are the latest craze in Japan. The next TsumTsum they say. You heard it here first! Yes, we found a Baymax tissue box holder and yes we bought it! If you want a cat or a dog in Japan is will only cost you seven or eight thousand dollars!!! These augmented reality screens at Joypolis were incredible and so much fun! [twitter] [/twitter] For some reason, the Statue of Liberty is here in Odaiba! I love being in Japan in the winter! You get both hot and cold beverages out of the same vending machine! This Caramel Macchiato is GREAT! We actually won & bought so much stuff today that we had to buy an extra luggage! lol Elissa is not amused but Kristen and I think it's GREAT!!! lol "Welcome home!" Can you guys what our next update is going to be? CLICK HERE FOR TOKYO DISNEYLAND PHOTOS!

It's not odd at all. The clientele and culture of the two parks is radically different. The average guest at WDW is probably spending $5k - $10k on their "vacation of a lifetime" and your average Disneyland guest is spending a few hundred to almost nothing if you're an Annual Passholder per visit. And with the attitudes of the typical SoCal Disneyland guest, I can only imagine the abuse that would occur if this feature was free. That being said, I would actually welcome an upcharge version of MyMagic+ in WDW that increases your availability of some FastPass or dining reservation options or allows you to book more FP+ at once. Either way though, you cannot go wrong with being able to book FP+ in advance.

But they don't have early opening and late closing hours. The latest Toverland stays open in the summer is 6pm. YOU only remember them having early opening and late closing hours because TPR bought out those parks early in the morning and later in the evening. Again, and I'm going to ask this as nice as possible, if your name isn't "Alvey" please do not give people advice in the "Ask Alvey" forum, especially if you don't know what you are talking about!!!!!

You were banned once for behavior like this on the forum for a month. This is the "Ask ALVEY" thread. Not "Ask Alvey and then someone who has little traveling skills should come along and give advice" forum. Please refrain from posting in this forum in the future. Thank you.

The creators of Kidzania tried the concept in the USA called "Wanadoo City" and it failed. Stories I was told from people who visited the location was that the concept just didn't work with "American's" in that, overall, American's don't value their jobs like some other cultures do, and guests found a theme park based around careers and learning to be "boring." Much the same way the original concept of Epcot has been thrown out the window because people don't want "edutainment" in this country. There also stories how self-entitled American's didn't like things like the parents sitting outside of the career location while they watch their kids inside. They had to be able to get as many photos of their precious little snowflake children and would break the rules and concept of the park. It really is just something that would never work in America, sadly, because it seems to work in like EVERY OTHER culture in the world if you look at the locations they are in. What it comes down to is that American's aren't smart enough, nor patient or understanding enough for this concept to work in the USA.

So if you remember from our last year's Japan trip report we went to Tokyo's "Kidzania" for the first time and Kristen absolutely LOVED it! So much so that we decided to go back this visit! To describe Kidzania, it's a heavily themed miniature "city" where a kid can be anything. They can have fun learning real-life careers in this unique theme park! It's amazing! Here's some photos... We have arrived early for KidZania greeted by a long but efficient, quick-moving and orderly line! This is why we love Japan! At KidZania a kid can be anything. They can have fun learning real-life careers in this unique theme park! It's amazing! Kidzania is a very well themed indoor park with an amazing variety of activities for kids! When the park opens the staff greets everyone with a song and dance! It's so Japanese and it makes me so happy! [twitter] [/twitter] Kristen is going to try her hand at being a fire fighter! They suit up, get in a truck, and go put out the fire! Kristen even got to ride in the front of the fire truck and announce on the speaker the fire truck was coming! lol The amount of different "jobs" that kids can do is just amazing! Did we mention it's also adorable as well? Next they are having Kristen do the English parts of the Japanese radio broadcast! This is amazing! [twitter] [/twitter] They actually gave her a CD of her radio broadcast, too! Here is an overview of just a part of KidZania to give you an idea of how big the place is! At KidZania, the kids earn money at their jobs, then need to go to the bank, and then they spend the money shopping! Kristen totally just made a hamburger! And like, a REAL burger that she got to take with her! Everything from being a cheerleader to professional sports to research/development to auto mechanic! All kids career activities at Kidzania. We just got our boarding pass for KidZania Airlines! Let's see what the service is like on this flight! We have boarded our plane at KidZania and so far the cabin crew are pretty decent! My favorite part about Kristen doing @KidZania_T is they teach her a proper Japanese bow! [twitter] [/twitter] These kids are going to go deliver packages all around KidZania! There's several different jobs to choose from on the Metro. Train driver, track repair, train repair. Kristen is going to drive! And because every city needs transportation, kids can rent cars, repair cars or work in the gas station! I mean, how can a place where you can learn how to make sausage not be cool? After this, Kristen is ready for Hell's Kitchen! We seriously like KidZania better than many theme parks! It's intelligent, well themed, a great overall experience. Had a wonderful day! Yakitori may be the most perfect food ever invented. Need more scientific study... It wouldn't be a trip to Japan without a Shibuya Crossing video! [twitter] [/twitter] CLICK HERE FOR SEGA JOYPOLIS PHOTOS!

I felt it the very first ride I took on it, but then was told they turned it off since it was cold out.

^ Thanks! I'm honestly shocked NOBODY commented on that Pirates video! That is seriously one of the best Disney attractions ever made and *crickets*.... weird.

Here's a video of Shanghai Disneyland's version of Pirates. So let me first say that I was very skeptical of this ride because I'm not a huge fan of attractions that use media over physical sets. We were BLOWN AWAY by this attraction! Easily a top 5 Disney ride and most certainly Walt Disney Imagineering at it's best. The "media" sections of this ride are so well done that it's easily the best use and most realistic media I've ever seen. And guess what, Universal? No silly 3D glasses required! lol The other thing that is hard to realize by watching this attraction in a video is that ride vehicle moves much like an Omnimover meaning that while the boat floats one direction down the track, the vehicle itself can move and turn to face set elements. For example, the first time you see Jack Sparrow, that isn't the boat just cruising by him and me moving the camera following the character, that is actually the boat turning to face him. At one point (actually a couple) you're even traveling backwards! The ride system, the use of media mixed with amazing physical sets, just works so well. I'm not even a huge fan of the "classic" version of Pirates nor the movies, but this was just incredible. If they wanted to rip out all the classic versions of Pirates (which I know would make fanboys flip their sh1t, but who cares) and replaced them with this version, I would totally be 100% ok with that! Here's the video...

Epcot is one of the largest, most visited parks in the world, and it's also my #2 favorite park on the planet and it doesn't have a single roller coaster in it.

Leave it to Japan to fix everyone's mistakes!

Yes. Since it wasn't that busy and it was cold out, they would fill the middle of the trains with water dummies so that people could fill the front and the back and still be able to keep the coasters open!

We were invited out for the Motiongate grand opening media event! Since we were out in Asia during this event, and the park had offered to fly us out, we couldn't pass up on that so we sent Jack Crouse and his camera and here are some of the amazing photos he came back with! Here's the first set of photos, and we do have more to post soon! POST YOUR COMMENTS! Tell us what you think of the photos so far...

Kings Island have send us some new Mystic Timbers construction photos! Enjoy...

It's actually exactly BOTH of these!

I also should have pointed out that we were at Nagashima Spaland just a couple of days after Christmas, EVERY SINGLE coaster was open, it was like 45 degrees outside, and the entire park was in operation. Explain to me again why we can't have more parks open in America during the winter?