|
 |
Hello everyone,
In part one of this Tokyo Disney Resort trip report I covered the Disney Resort Hotels, the Disney Resort Line monorail, Ikspiari, and Bon Voyage. In this second part I am going to share our adventures within the magical lands of World Bazaar and Adventureland, at Tokyo Disneyland park.
Arriving at Tokyo Disneyland is an interesting experience. It is both one of pure joy and excitement, and one of sheer terror. Tokyo Disney Resort (TDR) has a very different feel to it, and really makes a Disney fan's emotions and senses go into over drive! Whether you arrive at the park via the monorail from the on site hotels, bus, or walking from Maihama (or any one of the other multitude of ways of arriving), you will ultimately find yourself on the vast concourse in front of Tokyo Disneyland park (TDL). You'll find a number of amenities, including a guest relations booth, picnic area (park left), coffee shop (park right), the TDL monorail station, and towering above everything, the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel (see part one for details of the monorail system and hotels).
There is a large, curved, entry system that contains the ticket booths and turnstiles beyond, which you will nearly always find completely packed with people at least [ Read More... ] |
|
|
 |
Hello everyone,
Last month Jon and I were in Tokyo Disney Resort for a week during their Christmas season. You can read about our Tokyo city experience, shopping, trains, our hotel near the resort and the airport, all in my Two Lost Boys trip report, which can be found here.
In this first Disney part of my reports, I am going to cover the Disney Resort Hotels, the monorail, and some of the other resort areas. Later this week I'll write the Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea parts.
Let's start with the first thing that you see when arriving at [ Read More... ] |
|
|
 |
Hello everyone,
Today the Disney Parks Blog announced that Kylo Ren, the main villain of the new "Star Wars - Force Awakens" movie, will be coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disneyland park in California. Kylo Ren will feature at the Star Wars Launch Bay at both parks, replacing Darth Vader. It is not currently known if he will also appear at the Disney Visa meet 'n' greet at Disney's Hollywood Studios, replacing Darth Vader when he appears there, too. This is really exciting news for Star Wars fans, and fans of the new movie, as it will, for the first time, bring a [ Read More... ] |
|
|
 |
Hello everyone,
Today the full Shanghai Disney Resort website went live for the first time, complete with park information, hotel information (with prices coming soon, apparently) and character and entertainment listings!
Yesterday Disney announced that the resort would open on June 16th this year, and so launching the official website today was a smart move.
So, let's take a look at what character offerings and entertainment we can expect at this brand new park!
[ Read More... ] |
|
|
 |
Hello everyone,
In the first part of this report, I shared our adventures at the Hong Kong Disneyland (HKDL) hotels, resort esplanade area and train, Main Street USA, Flights of Fantasy Parade, Disney Paint the Night Parade, the Disney in the Stars Fireworks, and the Frozen Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.
[ Read More... ] |
|
|
 |
Hello everyone,
We have been exceptionally busy over the holiday season, so I have been a bit behind on the news front, but I finally have time today to provide a few small updates.
Earlier last month the new Star Wars Launch Bay opened at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. They feature meet 'n' greets with Darth Vader and Chewbacca, as well as random appearances by some roaming characters such as Greedo and the Jawas. With the opening of the Launch Bay and preparations for Star Wars Land, we now know that Star Wars Weekends will not be returning, which is a huge shame.
Captain Phasma made her Disney parks debut at the Christmas parade taping during Christmas season at the Magic Kingdom, and subsequently appeared at a special post-premier event at Disney's Hollywood Studios. She has since appeared on the Star Wars float during the Rose Parade in California, where Kylo Ren also appeared, marking his Disney debut, albeit not in the parks.
Along similar lines, the Seventh Sister now appears during the new version of the Jedi Training Academy in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
Finally for Star Wars, the First Order Stormtroopers now appear randomly, not just at Disney's Hollywood Studios outside the Launch Bay, but also in Tomorrowland at Hong Kong Disneyland.
Baymax made a welcomed return to Epcot last month, at Innoventions, and it is strongly rumoured that Joy and Sadness might be appearing there soon, too - although that is purely rumour and unconfirmed right now.
Tow Mater, Lightning McQueen, Phineas and Ferb are leaving Disney's Hollywood Studios next week, according to various internet reports. This will mark the end of an era for the Disney Channel superstars, and their final appearance at DHS will be the last time they will be seen regularly at any Disney park.
At Disneyland Paris, the sorely missed hotel greetings have returned for a limited time, until the first week of March, 2016. The hotel characters were a staple of on-site stays for twenty years, and there was much uproar when Disney ended them last year. It is unclear as to why there has been a sudden, if only temporary, change of heart, but we can only speculate that the in-park greetings haven't been as well received as they'd anticipated (with many complaints about the long lines, limited numbers of characters out, etc).
Disneyland Paris also recently confirmed that there would be an increased character presence in Disneyland Park until the spring. Of course, what was really confirmed was the characters that already appear "randomly" (not on the schedule), but are actually always there, will now be made more available and easier to find, with (hopefully) longer hours, a queue line and some sort of schedule listing.
Finally, DLP has been working on a new show for the Chaparral Theatre, "The Forest of Enchantment", which is due to start on 10th February. Sadly it looks to only be a temporary show (ending 8th May), which is weird since they appear to be putting a lot of effort into it. We can hope that it'll run past the official end date and will be more permanent, as the park definitely needs some more permanent stage entertainment.
Ok, that's everything for now!
Have a great weekend everyone,
Dan. |
|
|
 |
Hello everyone,
At the end of November Jon and I travelled to Asia for a multi-stop trip to Tokyo and Hong Kong. We started in Hong Kong, flew to Japan, then flew back to Hong Kong before coming back home. In this part of my report on our travels, I will be sharing with you our adventures at Hong Kong Disneyland on both ends of the trip, which ended up stretching from the end of November, until the first week of December. I am actually going to break up this Hong Kong Disneyland report into several smaller parts, as it will be quite long. Here, in part one, I'll talk about the resort overall, resort hotels, and Main Street USA (including characters and entertainment on Main Street).
During the first part of our stay, we actually stayed in a hotel in the city, and used the opportunity to visit various places in the city. You can read my report for that, which I published this week, on my Two Lost Boys blog, here. On the second part of our stay in Hong Kong we stayed on site at Disney's Hollywood Hotel. Between the two ends of the trip, we ended up having a total of four days at the resort and in the park.
Rather than jump around, telling you everything in the random order in which we did them, I'm going to group different themes together to keep everything organised and less confused.
[ Read More... ] |
|
|
 |
Hello everyone,
Today is the 20th December, so it's time to find out who is behind today's very special Character Central advent calendar door!
Here we go...
[ Read More... ] |
|
|
 |
Hello everyone,
We have been exceptionally busy over the past few days, so I didn't get chance to post this - but we're here now! So, without another moment to lose, let's find out who was behind doors 18 and 19 of our very special Character Central advent calendar!
[ Read More... ] |
|
|
|