Theme Park Discussion / going to disneysea/japan- advice?

Thought I'd ask you guys for some advice on my trip. Originally posted this at TPR which is why its sort of formal sounding, can't be bothered changing it up to match my hip and down to groove image here at NE
 
"I'm heading to Japan November 12-29 and will be in Tokyo probably for around half that time, although I don't know exactly when (also Kyoto and Osaka most likely). I love theme parks but I love travelling and seeing things maybe even more, so I'll probably only reserve one day for theme parks, which I definitely want to spend at Disneysea. I know, only one day? (Disneyland looks pretty great too, but Disneysea is unique)
 
"So I was wondering- what is the best way to see disneysea in one day? Obviously I won't be able to see all the attractions. I definitely want to go on Journey, Indy, and Tower of Terror, and then whatever other dark rides/ major attractions you would recommend the most. I especially am interested in how to go around the park so I can minimize crowds and still see everything. What I mean is, how would you structure your day to just hit the good stuff: Do you head straight to tower, get a fastpass, then head to journey, then back to tower, etc? I definitely also want to know what rides just aren't worth it.
 
"Other than that, advice on things like where to get the best food, how bad I can expect crowds to be (bad), would be really appreciated!
 
"Also, I'm 18 and speak no Japanese. If I found myself with nothing specific to do one day, would it be difficult (or worth it) to head over to Thunder Dolphin and get some rides in? Might as well ride some roller coasters seeing as there's nothing in Sydney
 
Thanks,
me"

 

end quotation

 

Also, if you've got some general advice about Japan or Japanese themeparks or rollercoaster tycoon (a hobby of mine) I'd love to hear it.

 

why don't we have any japanese players for that matter? hmm
 
this concludes my public broadcast

To have the best possible day at DisneySea, I'd recommend going on a weekday and getting there no later than opening, ideally up to an hour beforehand.  I was there last year around the same time frame, and it wasn't too busy, but we still didn't get on everything (but, it was a weekend).  Lines just to get tickets can be pretty long, and there are few other options for buying them in advance (Japanese Disney Stores should carry them, I know there's one in Aqua City Mall in Odaiba, very close to some of the sights and Joypolis: http://www.disneysto.../store/english/).

 

Once you're inside, I'd recommend getting fastpasses for Tower, then going to Journey (or maybe Midway Mania, if you're interested in that one - I haven't ridden it yet, due to equal parts disinterest, crowds, and being closed).  After Journey, I'd probably hit the following in order, in between using and obtaining new fastpasses: 20000 Leagues Under the Sea (if the park doesn't look too busy you'd probably be safe keeping this one for later, as the line is usually under 45 minutes), Flounder's Flying Fish coaster, Indy (single rider line is usually an option here), Raging Spirits (again, single rider line is usually an option), followed by either Stormrider and Aquatopia, or Sinbad if you don't want to backtrack.  From there you should have most of the park covered.  You should be able to get on all the major rides no problem.  Also, Tower sometimes has single rider available, but I wouldn't count on it (I think I've only used it for the two rides in the Indy area).  The busiest rides will probably be the following, in order: Midway Mania, Tower, Journey, Indy, Raging Spirits, 20000 Leagues, Stormrider, Flounder's, Aquatopia, Sinbad.

 

As for shows, I highly recommend the Little Mermaid show, if it's still playing.  It plays continuously, so it's pretty easy to see.  Fantasmic is good, but to get a decent spot you should show up at least 30 minutes early on a weekday, probably 1hr+ on a weekend.  The Aladdin 3D show is unique to the park so it's worth seeing, but I kind of hate it.  The Big Band show is pretty popular, and good if you like Big Band (I realized during the show that I really don't), but again, you should show up early.  If the park is busy, they might even be doing a lottery for seats for that show.

 

For food, obviously try all the popcorn.  My DisneySea favorites (in order) are apple cinnamon, black pepper, strawberry, milk tea, and curry.  Caramel and sea salt are skippable.  Magellan's is a great sit down experience, and has reasonably priced lunch meals (still pricey though).  Reservations might be needed for lunch, and almost certainly are needed for dinner.  Recommend either eating very early, getting counter service, or making reservations, as every sitdown restaurant seems to get slam packed for dinner.  I usually seem to end up at the Indian place near Sinbad or at the Chinese place in Mysterious Island.  The park generally has interesting food, I tried a bunch of stands the last time I was there.  The most popular is probably the floppy gyoza stand in Mysterious Island, you can probably spot it from the line.  Pretty tasty, but not worth a long wait.

 

Not knowing much Japanese shouldn't be a problem, I don't know much and it's usually worked out ok.  Many Japanese people either speak very little English or are too shy to try (unlike Europe, where maybe 75% of people seem to be fluent), but they're exceedingly patient and will try their best to understand.  I recommend learning at least the basics, like yes (hi), no (iie), please/excuse me (sumimasen), thank you (arigato gozaimas), hello (konichiwa), water (mizu), and the like.  I've been listening to Pimsleur's Conversational Japanese, and that's helped a lot.

 

Tokyo Dome is very easy to get to from the Tokyo/Akihabara/Ginza/Asakusa area; it's surrounded by several train and subway stations and is one or two stops from Akihabara.  I usually use Suidobashi station, since I tend to avoid the subways.  It's a very worthwhile visit, IMO, even moreso since it's open late-ish and you have the option of night wristbands or individual tickets, if you don't want to stay long.  It's my favorite time-killer park in Tokyo, since it's so easy to get to, and Thunder Dolphin is fun (but not amazing).  Also, don't miss the Tokyo Panic Cruise "Android Cat-Girl Spiderman" darkride.  They also have a shooting darkride, but it's nothing amazing.

 

I'm pretty familiar with Japan, so let me know if you have any specific questions, especially about Tokyo or Kyoto sightseeing, food (I could go on forever about the various foods), or any parks (especially how to reach them).  Most of the parks around Tokyo are pretty easy to get to, except for Fuji-Q and Nasu Highland.  You could probably even squeeze several parks in after sightseeing; Seibuen Yuenchi, Yomiuriland, and Sea Paradise might be open late for Christmas lights, Joypolis is always open very late, and Cosmoworld, LaQua, and Aqua Stadium are probably open late-ish (always check their sites, and double check against the Japanese pages by using a translator).  And if you don't already know about it, www.hyperdia.com/en is your friend.  Also, seriously consider a JR Railpass, if you haven't already bought one.

 

Here's my list of some of my favorite sights:

Tokyo Outskirts:

* Kamakura (worth a day, the big sights are the Daibutsu, Hase-dera - don't miss the cave, Engaku-ji, and the Tsuruoka Hachiman-gu shrine)

* Kawagoe

* Hakone and Nikko are also supposed to be nice, but I haven't been yet

* Yokohama (I've mostly been to the Ramen Museum and the harbor area near Cosmoworld)

* Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka

* Tokyo-Edo Open Air Architecture museum

 

Near Shinjuku/Shibuya (West Tokyo):

* Shinjuku skyscrapers, Shinjuku Golden Gai bar area

* Harajuku (mostly down that super-crowded ???-dori street near the station, there's also a big 100-yen store there) & Meiji Shrine

* Shibuya (do the crossing at night when it's super busy)

* Roppongi (mostly Roppongi Hills and the Mori Tower for the views)

* Tokyo Tower & the nearby temple

* Yebisu (beer!)

 

Near Ginza/Tokyo/Asakusa/Ueno (East Tokyo):

* Ginza (at night especially; also, the kabuki theater is near here)

* The area around the fish market

* Asakusa, Senso-ji Temple, market (recommend taking a boat cruise to/from Hama-rikyu Gardens. Also, a good area to see the Sky Tree)

* Ueno Park & the Tokyo National Museum (also a good number of temples around here)

* Akihabara (I go for model shops, arcades, and the electronics booths in the alley)

* the Howl's Moving Castle clock in Tokyo Shiodome (near the Hama-rikyu Gardens)

* Odaiba (especially the Giant Gundam statue, views of Rainbow Bridge at night, and Joypolis - a good nighttime area after everything else has closed)

* Tokyo Station, the Imperial Palace and Gardens (the gardens are especially nice around the little pond)

* Tokyo-Edo Museum

 

Kyoto Outskirts:

* Nara (especially the park, the giant buddha temple, and the temple with all the lanterns)

* Byodo-In and Uji (buy your green tea here)

* Fushimi-Inari shrine (the one with the 100000000 torii gates leading up the hillside)

 

Within Kyoto (I don't remember exactly where anything is, I just remember some of my itineraries)

* Kinkakuji, Ryoanji, Ninnaji (worthwhile and easy to hit all three)

* Ginkakuji, Philosopher's Walk, Heian Jingu Shrine & garden (I did these in combination with the above, I wouldn't go out of my way otherwise)

* Sanjusendo (I've never been, but it's supposed to be nice), Nijo-jo and gardens, Imperial Palace (again, never been)

* Gion district, Yasaka Shrine (since it's close), Gion Corner (a bit touristy, but it's a good sampling of different theater arts), Kiyomizu-dera, and everywhere in between.  This is probably my favorite part of town for just wandering.

 

And with that, I'm off to get some sushi.

wow, what an answer! thanks so much! I'll definitely try and go to disneysea on a weekday.

 

as for the other parks, how much are they worth it? I'm all about having a good experience at parks, rather than upping coaster counters or anything. It seems to me like a lot of the parks are somewhat mediocre with a bunch of togo jet coasters (I could be wrong though). Which ones have rides or interesting things that would make it worth it to go out of my way to visit them?

 

ps I'll totally be taking photos of things I want to build in rct, I feel like its sometimes hard to just find photos of architecture and theming in disney and whatnot, people tend to just snap the big monuments and leave it at that

 

other random question: the drinking age in japan is 20 (I'm 18). How strict are they about underage drinking? Other sites seemed to imply they were very nonchalant and didn't care, although I do look a little young. Could I just grab a beer in a bar without hassle?

 

I'll definitely look into the sort of parks you can hit in the evening after doing other things, that seems right up my alley, if I want to do other touristy things during the day.

 

is there anything I need to buy/book in advance? you said something about buying a railpass- is that something I do once I get there, or order it online, or what? any advice for navigating the maze-like train system?

 

thanks!

Not much to say that XCoaster hasn't already. 

I went to DisneySea on a weekday last November and it was still really busy but we did get on everything except midway mania. Make sure you stay after dark the park is stunning at night. 

We booked tickets online before we went and picked them up before we got on the monorail to DisneySea 

 

As an aside apparently there is an odd Japanese law that means you have to pay for the disney monorail in Tokyo. Apparently the same reason the parks railway only has one stop.

 

If you can drink then I highly recommend getting a whisky at the Roosevelt bar on board the Columbia. The ice cube in mine was a massive solid globe of Ice. 

 

In Tokyo if you want to experience something completely different and insane in a good way i highly recommend the Alcatraz ER restaurant. One of the coolest yet most insane places I've ever been.  

 

Studio Gibhli is also worth a look if you've ever seen any of their films (and even if you haven't) but you must book in advance as there's only limited tickets each day. 

 

Other parks wise I have a soft spot for Yomuri Land (or however you spell it) as it is in a gorgeous location. Fuji Q has some great coasters but it can be a pain with some pretty long queues and poor loading ops if you go the wrong day. 

 

Train wise book a Bullet train pass before you go. its only available to tourists and if I remember correctly you cant get it in Japan. You just take your receipt to one of the main stations in Tokyo (or other city) and exchange it there. Then whenever you go through the turnstiles just show it to the guards and they will let you through. 

 

Almost all the destination are in English as well as Japanese (Bullet trains always are) the only time I found this isn't true is on the smaller commuter lines.

 

The underground can be a bit confusing in Tokyo as there are actually 2 separate companies who own different parts of the system (Toei Subway and Tokyo Metro). But you can buy day passes for both at any station (The little machines in each station have an English menu option too)

 

If I can think of anything else I'll post later

Oh and if you are able to try and get to Seibuen Yuenchi's Star Kingdom Christmas light event. Its an amusement park with a ton of christmas lights all over the hillside and the trees. I just missed it last year and was gutted. I assume Xcoaster will know a bit more on this since I assume this is his trip report.

 

http://themeparkrevi...php?f=2&t=61423

 

I'm not quite sure on the dates this year but it starts some time in November. 

The thing with parks in Japan is the coasters usually aren't that great (the best ones around Tokyo are probably Kawasemi, Eejanaika, Takabisha, Dodonpa, Fujiyama, Bandit, Thunder Dolphin, and Surf Coaster, and maybe only the first three deserve a top ten spot IMO), but they're worth checking out to see the Japanese approach to coaster design, and more importantly, the parks are actually pretty cool, even as a cultural experience.  Plus, it's a good opportunity to see Japanese people having fun.  

 

I think you'd definitely like LaQua/Tokyo Dome, even if for only a hour, as the architecture and coaster interaction is pretty cool.  

 

Yomiuriland is a good touchstone for Japanese parks; it has as little bit of everything, it's not too hard to reach, Bandit is fairly good, and taking the cable car in is fun (just make sure you go to the correct train station; Keioyomiuriland, NOT Yomiurilandmae).  Also, I did the Christmas light event there last year, which was really cool (but it was also pretty crowded; they practically give away the park admission/ride pass when they have these things).  

 

I think you'd also like Cosmoworld and the surrounding area at night, though the coasters aren't very good (check out the Japanese haunted house darkride though; and look for them at other parks).  We went there after my last trip to Kamakura, so there's always that bundle possibility.  It's a lot more crowded at night though, especially on the weekend, but it's pretty nice looking.  Actually, it's cool during the day too, so, whenever.  The giant ferris wheel has a great view.

 

Odaiba and Joypolis is definitely worth a visit, for culture and architecture.  Besides the coaster at Joypolis, the best attraction is the Room of Living Dolls.  Pretty creepy.  

 

Galaxy Express at Aqua Stadium is probably the easiest credit to get, as it's a short walk from Shinagawa station, but it's not a terribly interesting experience otherwise, IMO.  

 

Toshimaen is a very nice little park with a few fun coasters, and a penchant for building rides on top of buildings.  It wasn't hard too reach either, iirc, but I don't think it's open very late.  They also have a Japanese haunted darkride (plus a walkthrough, and mirror maze).  

 

I'd probably skip Fuji-Q in your position, since you'd need to allocate a full day and a fair amount of money towards it, and all it really has going for it are some of the better coasters in Japan, a cool Evangelion exhibit, a massive haunted walkthrough, and a ton of hassle waiting in line (or buying 1000 yen line jumping passes).  

 

Nasu Highland is another nice park, with a bunch of credits, but it's also a pretty big hassle to reach.

 

Two other things, don't discount the Togo coasters in Japan, they're actually pretty good.  The other thing, pretty much everything shuts down if there's any rain.

 

For photos, everything in Japan is AMAZING.  For the first few days in Japan, just take pictures of EVERYTHING, before you start getting jaded.

 

For drinking, you can get beer out of vending machines if you want, no joke.  The thing you need to understand with Japan, is everyone is very respectful, and no one breaks the rules.  The vending machines are on an honor system.  I've never visited while underage, but I assume they won't question if you ask for a beer.  I don't recall ever being carded (or passported, as the case may be).

 

If you get a railpass (http://www.jrpass.com/), you need to get the voucher before you leave your country, and you process the voucher once you get to Japan, at most of the major JR train stations.  The JR Pass gives you unlimited travel on JR Trains (the bulk of the trains in Japan, but not including some local trains and subways), including bullet trains, for a period of 7 ($284), 14 ($453), or 21 days ($580).  Instead of buying a ticket or using as Suica card at every station, you just show the rail pass to the station master as you go in, and again as you go out (and you have to show it if you're booking a seat on a bullet train).  If you're only planning on going between Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka, the 7 day railpass is about the same price as a round trip bullet train ticket (bullet trains are very expensive), so it might not be worth getting more than that if you're only planning on using local trains (which should only cost $10-$20 a day).  Personally, I'd get it to cover your entire trip, just because it's really great having the freedom to take a bullet train anywhere without having to pay $100+ each time (bullet trains are about the same total cost as taking a plane, but without all the inconvenience and waiting around).  Also, a bullet train opens you up to more obscure parks, like Nagashima Spa Land (which is a another of the nicer Japanese parks).

 

On using the trains without a rail pass, the main way to get around is you get to a station, you look at the map above the ticket machines to find your next stop and the price listed below it (in black usually, another color might indicate discount prices), and then use the ticket machine to buy a ticket for that price (look for the "English" button on the ticket machine if needed).  You then insert the ticket, black side down, as you go through the station gates, the gates open (very briefly, you might want to use the station master's aisle if you have luggage), you go through, and you grab the ticket on the other side.  Once you get to your final station (or transfer station, if you have to go between train lines), you exit the station by inserting the ticket, and the gates open.  Many gates will have signs indicating the flow of traffic (a red X means it's one way, and not in your direction).  If you didn't pay enough for your ticket (say you bought the cheapest ticket for 75 yen, and it cost you 240), the gate won't let you through, it'll make a sound like you just lost at a gameshow, and you'll need find a Fare Adjustment machine (or a station master), insert your ticket (or hand it to them, telling them where you came from), pay the missing amount, then use the adjusted ticket to exit the station.  If you aren't sure how much it'll cost to get to your destination, you can always just buy the lowest priced ticket, and use fare adjustment once you arrive (also a good idea if you're prone to losing tickets, as I have a few times - recommend always keeping tickets, railpass, and passport in the same pocket).

 

If you don't want to deal with tickets, you can also get a Suica card (http://www.jreast.co...pass/suica.html, they have different cards for each part of the country, pretty much all with 5 letter names, ie. Pasmo, but they're usually interchangeable).  Suica cards are basically reloadable tickets.  You put on 4000 yen, wave it at the machine as you go through the gate (or insert it into the ticket slot if the gate doesn't have a glowing blue or pink oval on top), then do the same thing as you exit, and the cost of your trip will be deducted.  You can usually recharge them at ticket machines.  If you arrive into Narita, you can buy a Suica + N'EX combo, which will get you a train ticket from the airport (one way or round trip) plus a preloaded Suica card.  That's how I got mine, I'm not sure where you get one otherwise.

 

I'd also recommend finding good maps of the train systems for any cities you're visiting, especially Tokyo and Osaka.  Kyoto mostly uses buses.  I just download a bunch of them for each city to my phone, and refer to it as necessary.  Another useful thing is to download some offline maps for each city, using a App like OsmAnd+, especially if you have GPS, and save locations to the map, for walking around.  Plus, if you get lost and are looking for the nearest train station, you can use it to search for public transit, find the nearest station, then look at the station map and find the station where you want to go.  From there, typically you look to see which trains are coming, and compare the stations they have listed against the route you want to take.  Sometimes more than one variety of train will take the same route (local versus rapid), and the local (usually given a black or white color) will stop at every station on the route, while the rapid (usually green, orange, or red) will stop at only major stations.  Figuring out exactly which train to take is the most difficult part of getting around; just double check station maps, and ask a station master if necessary, until you're sure.  HIGHLY recommend planning out in advance any possible complicated long trips for the day using Hyperdia, saving them to your phone, and referring to that as you go along.  This is most of my preplanning, as I'll typically save a range of schedules to my phone, using different times and nearby stations as backups.  Also, if you're planning on travelling at night after say 9pm, check in advance how long the trains run, as some train lines start shutting down around 11pm, and most are totally shut down by midnight.  This is another reason I usually save several routes and times, I'll usually save a 9pm schedule, 10pm schedule, and a 11pm OMFG-don't-miss-this-train schedule.

 

Another bit of advice, is try to pack lightly, since train stations can be very crowded, and trains usually have very little room for luggage.  Bullet trains typically have a little room behind the last row of seats in each car for large items, and they have space in the overhead for things the size of medium duffel bags and large backpacks.  My last trip I packed a smallish suitcase and a big rolling briefcase thing, and I was able to pull them around one on top of the other with ease, but each was small enough separately where they fit in the overhead, and in train station lockers.

I forgot a few parks.  Kawasemi at Tobu Zoo is fantastic, but the rest of the park is pretty blah, and Regina (the wood coaster) is very mediocre.  The park is a little out of the way, so I can't strongly recommend it.

 

Sea Paradise isn't far from Cosmoworld, so it could always be bundled with that, but it's also a little out of the way, and not particularly worthwhile, IMO.  The coaster is surprisingly good, and Blue Fall is probably still my favorite drop tower, but unless if you spend time checking out the aquariums you probably won't find much else to do.  I've only been once, and I can literally see the park from where I work (granted, I'd like to go back, they just had really limited hours on my last working trip).

 

Seibuen Yuenchii is almost just enough out of the way that I probably wouldn't recommend it, unless if you were going for the lights (and Yomiuriland also does lights, so you could probably get your fill of them there).  The coaster is pretty good for a loopscrew, but there isn't much else there.

 

Hanayashiki in Asakusa (literally next door to the temple) is worthwhile IMO, primarily as a quick cultural outing, and only for about an hour (it's tiny), if you're in the area (which you should be at some point, the Asakusa temple complex is one of my favorites).  The coaster isn't special, but I think it's the oldest in the Japan, and the park might also be the oldest in Japan.  It has quite a lot of history to it, and they have some displays on it in the Edo-Tokyo museum.  The park itself is weird and very Japanese, and is worthwhile just to gawk at stuff for a bit (plus, I still can't get over that you can see the S&S tower from the temple).  I think they have two darkrides (I didn't do either), a tiny madhouse, a bizarre parachute tower thing (this is the first thing you'll see), and I think one of those uniquely Japanese in the dark headphone attractions (similar to Room of Living Dolls at Joypolis) which I also didn't do.  There also seems to be a shrine on top of the main building.  It's just a super quirky, kind of crappy, little park, in the middle of the tourist area.

 

Also, if you wanted to visit Disneyland, but don't want to dedicate an entire day, they do usually offer nighttime passes at a discounted rate (still pricey, probably $30-$40).  You probably wouldn't get on everything, unless if it was dead, but you could probably hit some of the major stuff, like the coasters and Pooh.

 

Oddly enough, I think the Japanese Disney parks are the cheapest parks in the chain ATM, given the exchange rate.

One more thing, expect that it might be a little chilly.  Pack at least a jacket (preferably water proof, in case of rain), some long sleeve layers, a warm hat, and maybe gloves.  It probably won't be too bad, but just in case.  Last year I was there from about Thanksgiving to Christmas, and it was pretty cold, and the weather had a three day cycle of sunny-cloudy-rain.

wow, so much advice! thanks so much!

 

and yeah, that is definitely xcoaster's trip report, he talks about disneyair! I'll be reading that then

 

the studio ghibli museum looks amazing, I've seen a lot of their films. I had previously been sort of put off the idea because I heard not much is in English and its sort of hard to get to- how much is this the case? Or is there just enough cool stuff to make it worth it anyway?

 

I was also surprised by the prices of the Disney parks (like 65 bucks), especially given that in Australia, even the crappiest theme parks will charge upwards of 70.

 

I think yomuiriland seems the most interesting to me, out of all the other parks. Bandit looks pretty good. I can't see myself going to fuji-q- if I want decent coasters, I'd go somewhere else than Japan, probably, and not bother with the hassle of fuji-q's operations. I can imagine that I would be around Hanayashiki at some point, so there's always a possibility of stopping in. TPR says its pay-per-ride so that means I could just wander around if I felt like it, too.

 

Also, that osmand app you recommended, that looks great! what a useful app!

 

I'll be sure to come back and reference your posts when I need something to do, its like a little travel blog

Regarding the Studio Ghibli museum, I highly, highly recommend going, it's easily one of my favorite things anywhere.  Yeah, there isn't much in English, but there really isn't much in Japanese either.  It's not a typical "read the signage" sort of museum.  The only place I felt I missed out by not knowing the language was during the short film, where it had a few lines in Japanese (not much though, both movies I've seen were very light on dialogue).  

 

On my first trip I bought tickets from a Loppi machine at a Lawson's Minimart, which required getting some assistance from cashier, mainly during the part where I needed to spell my name using hiragana.  The last time I bought them in advance through JTB travel, and had them delivered to my house before I left.  I'd recommend this approach, since even though it's more expensive, you get a lot more flexibility in dates and times, since you're booking them more than a week or two in advance, plus you don't have to choose an entrance time (normal tickets bought in Japan require you to choose a time, either 1000, 1200, 1400, or 1600).

 

And it's really not that hard to get to.  You take a train to Mitaka station (about 15 minutes from Shinjuku), then either catch the bus to the museum, or follow the signs and walk southeast along the canal for about 10 minutes until you get to the park, then walk a few minutes more.  The hardest part is getting tickets in advance.

 

Also, as I obliguely mentioned above, each ticket comes with one admission to their theater to see a short Ghibli film, which can only be seen at the museum.  They have about 8 films on rotation, so it takes a few visits to see them all.  I saw "The Day I Harvested a Star" the first time, which was great, and the next time I saw "Treasure Hunt" which was cute, but not as much to my liking.

 

The only thing I don't like about the museum is that you aren't allowed to take pictures inside.  Here's my terrible inside picture:

 IMG_20130707_144608.jpg (163.05KB)
downloads: 11

 

The signs to the park:

 IMG_0003.JPG (176.12KB)
downloads: 11

 

A neat house/museum on the way to the park:

 IMG_0264.JPG (160.02KB)
downloads: 8

well I'll see if I can't get there then

just thought I'd give a quick update, I arrived in Tokyo last night and trained to Shinjuku, had an awesome dinner at a random restaurant we found and watched Lost in Translation back at my hotel

 

Most likely parks seem to be Disneysea, sega joypolis, and laqua, maybe aqua stadium if I can be bothered figuring out how to get there

 

And of course I'll post pics once I get back!

Epson Aqua Stadium is at the Prince Hotel, just across the street from Shinagawa station (looks like 3 lines & 3 boxes; one of the bigger stations on the Yamanote line). Basically, exit the station at the west exit (possibly the only exit?), walk across the street towards the buildings & McDonalds, keep walking through the mall-like area, then stay to the right once you get to the hotel (look for dolphins).

The coaster is alright, but the preshow takes forever.

Make sure you do Room of Living Dolls at Joypolis and Tokyo Panic Cruise at LaQua.

Have fun!

just thought I'd give a quick update on what I've done (I leave japan tomorrow!)

 

-harayashiki

-visited aqua stadium, but rides were closed , and I never really had time to return

-went to kyoto and akita/kakunodate

-went to fish market, but also closed (got to take the bad luck with the good, I guess)

-saw lots of shit in tokyo, ate lots of brilliant food (including at the park hyatt shinjuku, which was awesome)

-went to laqua and got tons of rides on thunder dolphin

-went to joypolis and had a good time

-went to disneysea and got plenty of rides on everything, except sinbad (closed) and toy story (jesus, the lines!). Lots of inspiration for DisneyEarth too, so everybody wins, especially me

 

I wanted to go to studio ghibli museum, but I didn't book it way in advance so it was all sold out. 

 

A full report will come eventually (probably on tpr, they have a nice image uploading system) but I'll also try and get a flickr album or something so I can post the pictures in full scale (I think TPR limits to 800x600?) Hopefully I'll get this done in the next week or two.

 

I'm spending a couple days in hong kong before returning, and there's some possibility of hitting hong kong disney, so we'll see.