My Tokyo Disneyland's Tactical Pleasure Management

This blog post marked my second visit to Tokyo Disneyland which I had March 31 ago. 

I've went to Tokyo DisneySea around 3 times, and I'm quite good at managing time, or, I can say, building tactics so that I can enjoy not all, but most of the parades and attractions available.

However, since this is my second visit to Tokyo DisneySea, I'm quite inexperienced with the routes thus I leave everything to my friend (but in the end we kinda figure everything out together due to the unusual crowds) which I went together with since she had been visiting Disneyland more than me.

Bad news first, we went there after several bad rainy days and since the weather of the day we went there were super duper good, I think most of the people just went on-the-spot and It was very crowded!!

This is such a Disney-in-reality:

Insane. See all the baby carts.

Not to mention too that starting April 2016, the Disneyland ticket will increase around 500 yen (I think?) so I suppose people just went there before the ticket price increase? Don't know, but one thing for sure It was damn crowded that dayyyyy urrggg.

However, the (fortunate) good news is that don't know why, we manage to catch quite A LOT of good attractions and parade. Here's the list in order which I went:      

• Cinderella's Fairy Tale Hall
• Easter Parade
• Grand Circuit Raceway
• Mickey's Philharmagic
• Peter Pan's Flight
• Haunted Mansion
• Pooh's Hunny Hunt
• Parade of Light
• Jungle Cruise
• Once Upon a Dream
• Monster Inc's Ride & Go Seek
• Stitch Encounter
• Star Tours

Yes there were a lot more attractions that can be explored of. However, I think I got quite the major attractions and parade there. Since I didn’t know which one is good, my friend (who has been to a lot more attractions than me) recommend me all the good ones and yes, all of them were so nice!! And crowd's favorites too.

I didn’t remember the exact time I went to which attractions; however I want to give you the big picture how my day strategically went that time. From here let's go power point style!

• We met up at the Maihama Station on 09.00, walked to the Disneyland and entered the park around 09.30.
• From there, we walk around 30 minutes on the store area near the main gate to find several accessories to be put on, you know, just to hype things a bit since everyone wear Disney accessories! However we fail to find what we like or If I like it, it was just too expensive ito be true.
• Since we skipped breakfast, we decided to have a little snack on a stall called the Gazebo, tried their bread cone and sit a little bit. Maybe around 15 minutes?
• Not to spend too much time sitting, we went to Cinderella’s Fairy Tale Hall since we saw that the queue were not that much. Took only around 20 minutes to queue, spend around 30 minutes inside.

• Finish with the hall around 10.30, we went to take Monster Inc’s Ride and Seek Fast Pass (which quite surprising since it was still 10.30 but we got the 21.30 fast pass.) At this point we know that the park must be crowded more than usual.
• Took the pass, since the timing is right, we managed to see the Easter Parade.

• After the parade, we directly went to the Grand Circuit Raceway. Queued and played around 1 hour?
• Proceed to Philharmagic Area, at this point, I went queue for the Choco Popcorn and my friend went to take the Hunny Hunt’s fast pass but fail big time since it was sold out, but she managed to take the Haunted Mansion instead. Took several photos during my queue since I was alone and quite bored.

• Finish with the popcorn and fast pass, met again at the Philharmagic area and directly queued for Philharmagic and Peter Pan’s since everything were quite close altogether. Lucky thing, we managed to see the Happiness is Here Parade from the Peter Pan's queue too!

• Hungry. Went to Queen of Heart’s Banquet Hall to eat some (late) lunch. I remember that we finish around 16.30 since we have to catch the Haunted Mansion Fast Pass timing.
• From Haunted Mansion, directly go to Hunny Hunt Attraction (which is the longest we queued, for around 150 minutes). However in the middle we were standing right on the side where I can see the Easter Parade, again! Lucky. We went out from the attractions and It was already dark.

• From there, we managed to go stroll a bit around Toon Town, buy takeout burgers and popcorn from nearby stall and catch the Parade of Light show around 19.30. Note that we took a sit near Haunted Mansion as the starting point is around the same area, so we managed to finish the show around 20.00. We ate our burgers during the show too. Below were my favorite duo Mike and Sully!! But in the photos they look like a little bit high up there hahaha.
• Finished with the show, we dashed to go to Jungle Cruise and see the first Once Upon a Dream show which start around 20.30.
• And from this, miracle happens! We manage to go to 2 super major attractions so fast even without fast pass!! By order, we went to Stitch Encounter even without queuing, after that Monster Inc with fast pass, and after that Star Wars with no queue at all. Cleared all of the attractions less than 1 hour!! Magic.
• Since we get out from Star Wars and every attraction were closed, we decided to shop for souvenirs a little bit asap and went home.

What a day! I and my friends were very surprised that we managed to get so many attractions in one day despite an abnormal crowd on that day. Hence the title of this blog post; tactical pleasure management of Disneyland. I realize that there are several tactics that can be applied to a park visits especially Tokyo Disneyland in this case (Don’t wanna be too general too):

• Skip meal, as in if possible buy takeouts that you can eat during the show or during the time you queue for attractions. Below is my takeout before Parade of Light.

• If you come in groups, make use of it! Disperse, and try to get as many fast pass as you can. If everyone have job description it will be even greater; who will buy the drinks, popcorns, or check schedule. Talking about source management too.
• If you want to see parades, always pick the spot near the starting area so that you can finish the parade earlier. The further you went from the starting point, the longer you wait and the longer time needed to see the parade.
• I recognize that after the last show (either in Disneyland or Disneysea), it was the most crucial time of the whole tactics: while most of everyone will go home, chances for you to take the major attractions WITHOUT queue are so high!!! Remember I took Star Wars without queue? The normal queue time needed during the day was 3 hours. Talk about insanity. Last time after the last show in Disney Sea, I managed to do it the same way also; so this last tips I can assure you that it was proven to be true.

I think maybe that’s all?

The main reason why I share this to you is just because I find my trip at that time were very unbelievably lucky (like, big jackpots to several grand attractions) and I would like to know whether you all get the same result if using my strategy? And a little bit image of the day and tips here and there won’t hurt too.  

Do I make sense? Maybe no. But if my blog post made your day (at Disneyland) happier and tactically more success, please let me know! I'm very curious too!

Please do try!! It will be my pleasure.

Sincerely, your Tactical Pleasure Management Director,

See ya on my next one!

Tokyo Disneyland Christmas 2014

Another bucket list came true!!!

Last time after I went to Disneysea, I promise myself to go to Disneyland in Christmas to see how will it be on Christmas. Especially after saw this ad.

The ad was so inviting.

Wah. And after I went, how it turned out to be??? AWESOME. Crazy awesome. All the cold was worth it.

I went with Shelley, my work colleague plus my friend from Singapore!! She works for Muji also fyi. Hahaha. This time since the weather is nice, we targeted all the show plus taking photos, knowing that we arrived there quite late around 11.00 in the afternoon, we don’t have much time to queue for all the rides (which without taking fast pass in the morning, waiting time is average 1 hour for the famous attractions). So in the end we only enter the lousy attraction one which required less than 15 minutes waiting hahah.

Disney Christmas feeling start getting pumped up from the station!!

Start from the gate we were surprised by the big Christmas tree in the middle of the World Bazaar Venue. Took all the photos!!!

And yet we can see here all the people wear costume dress as cute as possible while in Disneyland. Really makes you forget all the difficulty in the world hahahah.

Walk a little bit further, we found the Cinderella Castle, the iconic building of Disneyland. Too bad at that day we have no time to explore the inside, so from here, next journey to Disneyland planned already. Smirk smirk.

The Bazaar Venue from the castle side POV.

Finish taking selfies, we went for the Pirates of Caribbean ride. Quite interesting, but not mind-blowing enough. Just amazed by how the dolls were so unbelievably real-life looking. Finish with the ride, we wait for the “Minnie oh Minnie” Performance show, however too bad due to windy weather, the show were cancelled, but in the end all the cast come out and and say hi!

Feeling quite hungry, unwilling to have a proper meal yet, we went queuing for several stalls that sell chicken teriyaki sticks for 430yen each, turkey legs for 540yen each, mickey strawberry churros for 140yen each, and I bought white chocolate popcorn bucket for 2100yen! Regular popcorn is only 400yen something each cup though, however I have to buy the bucket, Mr Potato Bucket damn cute HAVE TO BUY.

On the middle we prepared for Special Christmas Parade which was to be started on around 4. Shelley brought picnic sheet, place it near the parade line (everyone do that..) and while we eat Turkey Leg, we sat and wait. Too bad I didn’t take too much photos since I record all of the show.

It was, well, happy. This happy feeling after the show that cannot be described. Sooooo happy. It was quite a show. However, there’s still several show that we have to watch so we left the spot  and decided to went in for some shops and buy several accessories and souvenirs. And of course, take photos too.

In between we make a visit to A Small World ride too. It was quite fun.

Our proper meal after the ride was Mickey burger (came as a set, with drink and potato for 1100yen) and I brought another Mickey Strawberry Cheese cake for around 400yen If I’m not wrong.

And too bad, after the meal, my phone completely out of battery, so I cannot take anymore pictures so all these picture are from Shelley’s camera and phone.

After our dinner, we didn’t stroll around that much, but we saw all the parades such as “Electrical Parade Dreamlights”, and the newest projection mapping show on Cinderella Castle “Once Upon a Time” plus the fireworks about 20 minutes each.

Electrical Parade was fabulous.

Once upon a time?

IT.

WAS.

MAGICAL.

I saw the show twice on 7 and on 9 which I didn’t regret because the first show was minus the fireworks due to strong wind, however on 9, all the fireworks came out and it was magic. It was a kind of a show that even a good camera can’t catch how fabulous it is, we can only watch the beauty by our own bare eyes. Fantastic.

Finish with all the parades, we decided to do our last stop of shopping and Shelley brought one big pooh doll, while I buy Mickey Christmas Decoration to be put on my apartment door and until now It still hanging nicely by the way, even though Christmas was over hahahah.

See all the pooh rage. 

Reaching train, we both become jelly, too tired but the euphoria is still high. We don’t know we were that tired until it all finished. It was quite a trip.

And so, with this one day trip to Disneyland is over, but the magic still works until now.

.

.

.

.

That’s why we planned to go to Disneysea again next time next year soon. And can’t wait for that time to come!!!!