Erik Johnson

Thanks for hanging out Chuck! That was a fun week.

I finally earned my Tigris credit at Busch Gardens Tampa this past Monday.

Did someone say Thunderhead retracking????

Right, the only reason I can think of is that they waited until now to process everyone's pass upgrades and all current pass barcodes were "expired" as a result. I still have my original proof of purchase so I'm not too worried about it now. It worked later that evening.

Might be easy for some people. The system does not recognize my ancient 9 Park Plat pass even though the web site still says it still is valid. There are a lot of people on Facebook that are reporting the same problem. I’m sure things will be fixed soon.

Anyone have any photos that they would like to share?

It takes about a day before the online to work for your town unless you started playing before 5:00am this morning. I just had a small online session and it worked really well! Super cute how it works. It is pretty similar to the system from New Leaf.

Oh my, it is actually here!! Yay! Friend Code: SW-0223-1097-9528 Town: Monkey Fruit: Apples

Actually all the photos were from the queue area and in the main hall. I did not take any in the pre show room itself. I was able to see the pre show twice due to the count of how many people were in the room. It was pretty neat so no complains here!

Here are the final batch of photos from DisneySea. I think the rest are evening photos. I did post a few photos from the new Soaring attraction here. Enjoy: More awesome attraction posters. Indiana Jones! Next visit! This again? Oh, alright... Purple buildings are scary! So, the listed time for Soaring got down to about 90 minutes so I decided to go ride it. The ride is pretty much the same as all the others (it switches out footage of The Eiffel Tower for The Tokyo Tower and it ends at DisneySea). The building and the backstory/pre show are certainly top notch. So yeah, I had to finish the trip with a few rides on the Chandu ride. Hi there! Chandu food? Yes please! Nom nom nom nom... I think I ended up riding it three more times that final evening,. Bye Sindbad! Awwww, closed Chandu ride makes me sad. Next time Chandu ride. Aladdin Carousel. I do miss the Tokyo Disney Resort. Till next time.

This next group of photos is from Tokyo Disneyland when I hopped back and forth from DisneySea on my third and fourth days. I figure I will just lump my Disneyland photos together. Enjoy! I am not sure if this could count as a hidden Mickey. I decided to head on over to Tokyo Disneyland first. I like how the World Bazaar is covered. I know who these guys are. I finally took a photo of the castle. Also it is almost time for “Spooky Boo!” It maybe my all time favorite Disney parade. Well, it is right up there with the , “Boo To You” Parade during MNSSHP. Hi there Spooky Goofy! The music, the floats, and the costumes were just awesome. Closer detail on Mickey’s float. All the floats stop around the hub as more performers come out. This would be the Spooky Fantastyland float. The Spooky Country Bears Riverboat was amazing. The whole parade was probably was the biggest entertainment surprise of the trip. One more photo of the Spooky Chip and Dale Splash Mountain float. Time to hit up more Popcorn. What is this #5? I found this one to be pretty tasty. Popcorn #6 was nearby so I might as well. I think I liked this one as well. Nom nom nom nom.... This is a photo from the train station. It is in Adventureland. I always enjoy trains. This looks very familiar. Oh yeah, Thunder Mountain. I thought this was a nice Haunted Mansion tribute in the Star Tours queue. Disney rodent. Daytime photo of the Haunted Mansion. The Small World Sign. Late afternoon. Another castle photo. Yes, another ride on Space Mountain. I had to do the riverboat! It is a real treat. Everyone waves at you as you go by. Big restaurant. I think it is called, The Hungry Bear. I am always impressed with detailed theming that is a bit off the beaten path. I did explore the Hungry Bear. Lots of Woodchuck stuff inside. I do love the attraction posters. Any idea where I could buy these? Space Mountain. Before I leave Tokyo Disneyland, I wanted to share a few photo of the new area under construction. This is where the Beauty and The Beast attractions are bring built. I am looking forward to this. I see you castle. Oh yeah, Baymax. I think it is going to be similar to the Alien Saucer ride that is at Disney Studios in Orlando. Till next time Tokyo Disneyland.

^ I walked around for about five minutes inside. I guess next time I shall go see it.

Ok onto DisneySea! Yes it is an amazing park and I have photos to share. Things are a bit chaotic because I present them in the order that I experienced the park and I was in a bit of theme park shell shock. The photos do get a bit better in the last 1/3 of the report and they will in the next 2 updates. I tend to be short of words and like to post lots of photos so here they are: There is a lot of construction going on outside my hotel room. Yes, it is the huge expansion to DisneySea! I have to admit that I did not get up for park opening the next three days. I’m must be getting old. The Hilton had a great breakfast buffet. Take me to DisneySea please. Oh my goodness, it is actually happening! These photos are in real time. Lol Again, in order as I am walking in... Well, there it is. It actually is much larger than I was expecting. Yes, Impressive. A Scrooge Mcduck store? Cool. I will check it later. I first needed to get a fast pass. I also wanted to get some popcorn. Popcorn #3. Strawberry Popcorn. I liked this one quite a bit. This is a box of yummy! I enjoyed the Halloween harbor show. My photos came out terrible as we did not have a good location. I just will post this one to represent the show. Journey was in the middle of a 3 month refurb. We knew this months before the trip but that is ok. There will usually always be some big ride closed somewhere. I got everything else. Walking the the back half of the park. I mean, come on... Theming 120% This is why I am here, I will just call it The Chandu ride. It is my favorite ride at the Tokyo Disney Resort, I ended up riding it 7 or 8 times. Lol Compass Of Your Heart is now my favorite Disney song. I would be willing to trade pretty much any Florida Disney ride for a version of this. Lol Hi Chandu After a long voyage, Chandu is sleeping at the end. Our Tower fast passes were ready so we needed to use a quick shortcut through here. Oh my word... Some of the Halloween themed rodent banners. Tower of Terror in Orlando is still my favorite Disney attraction, I really liked this version as well. The theming on this one really is the best in the world. Something really bad happened here. I really loved all of the Hightower adventure murals. The preshow is the absolute highlight of the attraction. Yes, I will spend money on you in the gift shop. Yeah, I did not pay attention to the signs. I am a bad tourist. In case if you did not know, DisneySea is actually built right next to Tokyo Bay. This is the sea wall. Just amazing theming to be theming. Aquatopia. So much fun. Raging Spirits Time. It actually was a bit better than I was expecting. Wheeeeee! The theming is really pretty neat for a somewhat simple coaster. Poof! Out of the fog comes a coaster train. Let us head down into the Mysterious Island section. Again, just amazing theming. Just super details everywhere. I believe this was a ramp down to the 20,000 Leagues ride. 20,000 Leagues was the biggest surprise of the trip. No, you do not ride in the old submarines like these on this version. So close, but this gives me another reason to come back to Japan right? It is ok as EVERTHING else was open and amazing. Yummy yummy Mickey Mummy. I may have eaten more than one. Did you know that DisneySea had a double carousel? Neither did I. I think this is Popcorn #4? This one was my favorite on the trip? Lots of flavor. Just right for me. I may have ridden this a few more times again. I may have purchased something in the gift shop. I may have purchased these as well. I simply love the “Spooky Boo” Parade. I promise you some photos in the next update. I understand the Fantasmic is leaving Tokyo soon, so I made sure that I saw it. I have seen the other two versions so I might as well finish out the set before this one is gone forever. The show is very similar to the other versions. This one has a big freaking volcano in the back so it makes it the best one. Again, I love Disney parks at night. I will leave you with a few nighttime photos of DisneySea. I ended up not riding Toy Story Mania here due to the wait times. Maybe next visit. Boy, the building looks amazing at night. Just amazing at night. This is how the sign is presented here. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...... Zap! Just more amazing. Volcano. I forgot to ride The Nemo ride. Next time. Oops. Oh yeah, this was great! I thought it was a notch better than the California version. Night lighting. Again, just amazing. OOoooo.... Raging Spirits looks much cooler at night. Here comes a train! Swooosh! I’m sorry, not you. Yes, you Chandu. I heard it is even better at night. Just in case if you needed another reminder what I was going to ride again. Yes, I did.....lol. At least I waited right up until closing. As you can tell I quickly took the photo. Little Mermaid land. I honestly can’t remember the official name. Wow....again just amazing color. Mysterious Island maybe the best themed land ever. Mysterious Island. Soaring is the newest attraction at DisneySea. I did check out the next day. I will post photos from it in the next update. Close up of the building sign. The Halloween sign in the front of the park all lit up. One last photo of this update. Ok, you were probably wondering what was in the bag. Lol

Tokyo Disneyland Part 2: Popcorn #2: Soy Sauce and Butter. It looked like that it was the most popular flavor of the day due to the size of the queue. I honestly thought it could have used more flavoring. Oh, I don’t care what anyone says. I love The Country Bears. My family always made sure to see this show every year in Orlando. I had to see it in Japan. Yay. Another classic Disney ride. Welcome Explorers Our boat arrives More Halloween decorations. Splash Mountain was good. I think it was pretty much the same as the one in Florida. Disney at night is my favorite time. Small World at Night. Themed exit sign. I see you Space Mountain. The Electric Light Parade destroys all other versions. Really just a super wow! I mean just wow! Green Space Mountain. Halloween decoration at night. Goofy Donald The Mansion looks like a painting in the low light. Yes, I did....lol. I had to close out with another ride on Pooh. Night Tokyo Disneyland. Disney Sea soon.

I finally was able to visit the Tokyo Disney Resort last October as part of the TPR Japan trip. My #1 Theme Park goal has been Tokyo Disney for quite a few years now especially since I found about the existence of Disney Sea. After many false starts, I was able to finally make it there and it did not disappoint. I am going through many photos and I promise not to post all of them, though there still will probably be too many, lol. Anyways let us start: Tokyo Disneyland Part 1: Yes, I am beyond excited! Good morning Mickey! Maybe he is not a early morning rodent. The Grand Ambassador Hotel does look nice. It is a good ides to get to Disneyland early, though it only took about 5 minutes to get through the gates once they were open. My ticket for fun! I started with Tokyo Disneyland first. It was recommended that I went over to Monsters Inc. first to grab a fast pass. I believe that this is still the most popular ride in the park. Well, we all knew where I probably was going to go for my first ride of the day. Pooh’s Hunny Hunt. I think the queue was more around the 15-20 minute range. There were a few cute items in the queue. Sorry for the lack of on ride photos. I just wanted take it all in. Sure, I still have time until my fast pass is ready. The building is sure colorful. The loading area is also full off color. Oh, the have the Disney characters on this version too. I hope that Orlando does this in the future. Hello there Moana! Another Small World credit done. Our fastpass is ready, let us head on over. The dome in the queue had some monsterific artwork. Hi there! My Monster Buggy Arrives It is Halloween time in the parks. Oh yeah, popcorn. I had to try as many popcorn stands while I was here. Honey was the first one. The honey flavoring was very light. I honestly could have used a bit more flavoring. Monsters Inc. Time! Hi there Space Mountain!! Yay! Space Mountain! This walkway into Tomorrowland really reminds me of how Orlando’s used to look like in the 1980’s. Is this how California’s version used to be? I approve of this sponsor. AKA The Chicken Exit. These rides are fun. Oooooooooo. Time for breakfast. Making the waffles. This was extra yummy! Oh, Frontierland has a slightly different name here. Ooooo, Splash Mountain. We will come back to you later. Again, all kinds of Halloween theming all over the park. I have to admit that I am not the biggest parade fan, but I ended up watching all of the parades, some more than once, while at the resort. Chip. Dale is on the other side. The costumes and floats were extremely top notch. Yeah, you know you have an awesome ride here. Not the best picture, but you can still see all the detail that goes into one of these parade floats. Oh wow a Big Hero Six float? I love Big Hero Six! Ok, it is time for this. I have done the one out in California before so I am looking forward to this. It did not disappoint. My guess is this version would be like if they did it in Orlando since the Tokyo Mansion is very similar to the Orlando one. Sponsored by a beer company? It looks very similar to the one in California. That is a good thing. Queue artwork.

This music is pretty much what I remember from that day. trim.0494D3F2-9093-4412-9510-1B209B1F9795.MOV Trick or Treat music.

I was able to spend an afternoon/evening in the far west side of Kyoto in the Arashiyama area. You can find a ton of monkeys at the Arashiyama Monkey Park. It is basically a mountain that you climb that has a bunch of monkeys at the top. You do get a nice view of Kyoto. The Arashiyama Bamboo Forest is nearby as well and worth the visit. Thanks for your photos.

For me, Wild Eagle’s vest restraint suffocated me more than all the others. Valravn would cone in second. I did not have too much of a problem with Gatekeeper last time or Banshee when it opened. I am somewhat of a tall, thin, individual. I hope it is true that they adjusted the restraints as they simply ruin the ride for me.

I loved Osaka. I want to go back!!!!!

Seriously, my new favorite coaster shirt. I just love how simple it is. This is the artwork on the arms. Close up of the logo.

Whenever I make it to DisneySEA, the Sindbad ride will be my most anticipated ride. I may go crazy buying all of the tiger merchandise.

Don't rain on my parade of a trackless dark ride through the Mary Poppins Universe complete with a Lin-Manuel Miranda animatronic! That would be amazing!!!!

I think the Mary Poppins attraction is more of a walkthrough attraction instead of a ride. At least that is how I am understanding the description.

Some of those indoor queue photos started to remind me of the Kong: Skull Island queue at IOA. I found it hilarious that at the end of those series of photos was that King Kong ride. I am probably the only one dorkishly enough to find that funny. Looking forward to the rest. This random photo of Larry cracked me up.