The American Family Goerss: Tokyo Disneyland!

We got off the ship bright and early and caught a taxi to our hotel near Disneyland. We discovered that the most expensive thing in Japan were the taxis, but the hotel, which was a Sheraton near the park, had been free with our Marriott points, so at least we managed to save some money there.

Our room wasn't ready that early, but we expected that, so we dropped off our bags and headed to Disneyland!

That's the Disney version. In the real world, we had a minor hiccup along the way. Turns out you can only buy monorail tickets a local credit card or cash. Luckily, the hotel is directly across the street from a monorail station, so, when we realized this, I could quickly run back to the hotel and use the ATM there to get cash. We bought two day passes for everyone on the monorail, and caught the first car that came by, which happened to have the 40th anniversary park logo on it.

Looking around the car, we felt a bit under dressed. Everyone was wearing special Disney paraphernalia. Japan is a country that enjoys dressing up, and Disney clearly fits perfectly with that. Vivian decided that she and Elena HAD to have ears, otherwise they would not be able to fully enjoy their Disney experience, so our first stop was the shops on Main Street to buy them ears.

You can actually go into the castle in Tokyo, so that was our first stop.

Disney's attention to detail never ceases to amaze me.

While we were waiting for our turn to enter the throne room. We heard scurrying and talking in the walls and then Jaq and Gus Gus came popping out of one of the pieces of crown molding.

Elena took her turn "trying on" the glass slipper

and talking to the Fairy Godmother.

Then both girls sat on the throne.

While the inside was fantastic, I like our outside pictures better, even though Elena's sequinned ears added some unexpected sparkle to several of our photos.

We went down the stairs and got in line for the first ride we came across, Snow White. It was a classic, but also kind of scary. The boulder almost fell on us!

Elena requested a change of pace after that, so to the teacups we went!

Of course, then we got in line for Pinocchio, which was not exactly light.

Finally, I convinced the family to stand in the slightly longer line for Winnie the Pooh, and everyone enjoyed that one. It's especially cool that it's not on tracks, so you really feel like you're floating through the story.

By then it was time for a lunch break, so we grabbed some Mickey shaped pizza.

Elena had some fun while we were waiting for everyone to finish up bathroom breaks and water bottle refills.

The app for the park was very helpful, and we could see that the Beauty and the Beast ride had an 80-90 minute wait at pretty much all times, so we decided to splurge on a fast pass for that ride. It was about $10 per person, but it was totally worth it when we walked right up to the main ride entrance.

They ushered us into the grand entryway of the castle where the beginning of the story played out on the balconies above us with animatronics. It was all in Japanese, but we know the story well, so we knew what was happening. Then, we were ushered into the kitchen and got into soup bowls for our ride.

Lumiere invited us to be their guest, and our soup bowls danced around the room.

Then we glided into the winter scene.

And finally, we danced along with the happy ending.

I'm not gonna lie, I choked up a little. I am a sucker for Beauty and the Beast.

My emotional state may have been why I thought Space Mountain would be a good choice for Elena's first ever roller coaster.

To her credit, she didn't cry or get hysterical, but she was definitely more shaken than thrilled by the experience and needed to sit down for a bit afterwards. We decided a 4-D Star Wars ride would probably be tame enough.

That was still a little shaky, so we glided along with the Pirates of the Caribbean next.

We sailed past people eating at a restaurant, and we got into a whole debate about whether they were real people or animatronics. I'm pretty sure it's an actual restaurant, but the family members arguing for animatronic pointed out that no one made eye contact or waved at us. It's a testament to Disney magic that the debate was as heated as it was.

By then, Elena was calmed down enough that she was willing to try another rollercoaster, so we took her to Big Thunder Mountain, a classic, and she loved it!

We eyed Splash Mountain, but decided we didn't want to get wet.

We were ready for some air conditioning, so we decided to try the Haunted Mansion. The one in Hong Kong had been really cool with free moving cars. It had also been in English. This one was on a track and in Japanese, so it wasn't as fun, but at least we cooled off.

It was getting to be parade time, and the street was filling up with people getting seats along the route. We decided to forgo the parade in favor of the shorter lines and plenty of seating at the restaurant nearby. It was an Alice in Wonderland theme one, which made Vivi very happy.

Elena loves the theme too.

And they had steak and corn soup. We were a happy family all around.

After a lovely dinner, we bid farewell to our card hosts.

Elena had requested a calm ride after dinner, and we all needed some time to digest. It's a Small World was right next to the restaurant, so in we went.