Our second ride of the day
was the Western River Railroad in Adventureland. Tokyo
Disneyland does not have a steam engine railroad that circles the entire
park with various stops; rather, the Western River Railroad is slightly
reminiscent of the old Rainbow Caverns Mine Train with far less
atmosphere. The track skirts the canals of the Jungle Cruise and the
Rivers of America.
The engineer provided narration, all in Japanese of course, as we
viewed various animatronics of western wildlife and Native Americans,
similar to those we’re used to seeing from the Mark Twain as we circle
Tom Sawyer’s Island in the U.S.
The train then circles back through Big Thunder Mountain, where there
are shortened versions of the Grand Canyon and Primeval World dioramas.
We then returned to the boarding station and disembarked down the stairs
to ride the Jungle Cruise, directly below.
The queue area for the Jungle
Cruise, our third attraction of the day, is very much like
Anaheim Disneyland but was surprisingly less-themed. The cruise itself
is virtually identical to the U.S. versions, except that we floated
through a large, dark temple toward the end of the ride.
The spiel was, of course, entirely in Japanese, so we could make up
our own jokes! The guide was very animated, though, and was entertaining
to watch (and, incidentally, this Jungle Cruise still uses the guns,
unlike Disneyland where they have been removed). Even though we couldn’t
understand anything the guide said we were still able to follow the ride
narrative pretty well, since we’ve been on the Jungle Cruise at
Disneyland so many times.
After Jungle Cruise, we headed over to Adventureland (another view
above) to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Again, this was
virtually identical to the U.S. versions, with only one big hill to go
down. Also, all the scenes are much closer together and a bit smaller
than Anaheim Disneyland (perhaps there was a space issue during design
of the ride). The narration and songs were in English so we could sing
along (yo-ho, yo-ho)!
We continued to retrace our steps
back to World Bazaar (below) and found the stairs to the Disney
Gallery, about halfway down "Main Street" on the left.
There were lots of original artifacts, sketches, and artwork; it was set
up more like a museum than the original Disney Gallery in Anaheim
Disneyland, and is much larger as well. In the last section, a video
from Roy Disney was played describing how Japanese children submitted
stories for "Imagination Day" in celebration of Walt’s 100th
birthday.
100 stories were selected from all those submitted; animators then
created artwork to accompany these stories, and they were all displayed
in the gallery. One of those stories was then picked to become an actual
animated short, which was completed and is shown on video. We both
thought this was a really neat way for Disney to inspire kids’
imaginations. There is also a small selection of collector’s items
available for purchase, similar to things one might find at the Anaheim
Disneyland Gallery. Do not miss this attraction! You’ll be glad you
took the time to see the wonderful artifacts and artwork inside.
We continued browsing
through some of the World Bazaar shops and then decided to have lunch at
the Pan Galactic Pizza Port in Tomorrowland (the entrance to the land is
shown above). The pizza was not too bad, but they did not have Diet
Coke; diet soft drinks are hard to find in the Tokyo Disney parks--you’re
best off bringing in your own if you really need or want a diet drink.
There is a large animatronic "factory" over the whole order
counter that shows how the pizzas are made.
We were delighted to hear Thurl Ravenscroft’s voice being used over
the speakers in the restaurant as part of the running space port spiel.
(For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Ravenscroft’s name, he is the
voice of Tony the Tiger, as well as the narrator on the Disneyland
Railroad, the voice of Buff (the large mounted buffalo head) in the
now-closed Country Bear Jamboree, and one of the singing ghost busts in
the Haunted Mansion). Hearing his voice was very reassuring—even
though we were really thousands of miles away from the U.S., it was like
being somewhere safe and familiar, or feeling like part of an extended
family.
The author on the way to Endor
We decided next to ride Star
Tours, our sixth ride of the day. We walked right on at 1:15
p.m. The pre-loading queue area is just like that in the U.S. with the
large overhead screen, a Star Speeder with R2-D2 at the helm, and C-3P0
at the control panel. C-3P0 speaks Japanese, of course, which is funny
to hear. The queue then goes past the G2 droids to a large, open
community boarding platform area with entrances to 6 Star Speeder
simulators, 3 on each side. The ride itself is identical to Disneyland
or Walt Disney World.
The exit area looks more like an actual airport, where you travel
down a jetway (shown below) to a larger open "terminal" area
and the exterior exit, instead of being spit out into a shop! This was a
very nice touch of theming.
Since we were already in
Tomorrowland, we decided to ride Space Mountain
next. The exterior structure is painted off-white, just like the old
Space Mountain in California before the Tomorrowland re-do in the
mid-1990’s. Tokyo Disneyland’s Space Mountain has Fastpass
capabilities, but, again, was not in use the day we were there due to
the short wait time (we waited 5 minutes at the most in line).
Just ahead of us in line was a Sumo wrestler and his wife or
girlfriend, presumably visiting the park following the just completed
Emperor’s New Year Sumo tournament, which takes place over a couple of
weeks in early- to mid-January. We wondered how the cast members might
handle the larger size of this guest, and noticed that 2 of them
gingerly approached him and assumed that they asked him politely if he
would prefer to ride with an empty seat next to him to better
accommodate him.
It was interesting to see the manner in which this was handled—the
cast members anticipated the guest’s needs before he could even ask,
while treating him with respect and consideration. This truly is typical
of how one is treated most anywhere in Japan, and it was a welcome
change to the seeming impersonal nature of U.S. cast members who just
sort of wave you on without any communication or personal contact. As
for the ride itself, the Space Mountain interior and ride is, again,
very similar to the same attractions in the U.S.
Also in Tomorrowland was
MicroAdventure. We hoped it might be the Tokyo
Disneyland version of the old Adventures Through Inner Space
ride, but found out that it really was their version of Honey, I
Shrunk the Audience. Fearing an all-Japanese narration, and also not
entirely thrilled with seeing the show after multiple Walt Disney World
and Disneyland viewings, we skipped it. Judging by the similarities in
other attractions, it is probably mostly the same as its U.S.
counterparts.
Strangely, Microadventure is equipped with Fastpass, which is an
indicator of how popular all the theater-type attractions and shows are
with the Japanese. We eventually deduced that they somehow feel
obligated to attend any and all shows that are presented within the
parks. This would account for the more widespread entertainment and show
opportunities that exist within both Tokyo parks, and the long lines
that exist for those waiting to get into one of the shows.
CONTINUE
You can write Lisa at:
scarlett1214@ yahoo.com
