Tokyo Disneyland Life in Japan EP 300
We’re celebrating our 300th episode of Life in Japan by visiting a magical place just outside of Tokyo, And we're not alone... Look at the sea of people here! We’re arriving 15 minutes before the gates open, but if you want to be first in line at Tokyo Disneyland, you need to come while it’s still dark. Soon the gates opened, and we slowly made our way into the park. We had a plan that would hopefully get us onto all the rides, old and new, that we wanted to ride.
Now it was go time. We are in! Okay! It is windy and chilly today, I don't know if you can feel it through there, But can you also feel the excitement in the air? Here we go to our first ride. Keep going, I'll hold your hand. Okay!
You hold Sarah's hand. Everything bottlenecks as soon as you enter the park. But something else happens. You get your first iconic look at the castle.
But don’t get too distracted! Via the Disney app, you are now able to book a fast pass, each guest gets one to use at a time. But you need to move fast, before they run out. Crazy, so many people! I'm going to get the... Monsters Inc, it's from 12:05. Ruth booked us a fast pass for Monsters Inc as we headed towards an area we had never been to before and were excited to see. We have a plan to go to the Beauty and the Beast ride right away, It's got long lines usually, so it's the first one we're going to hit, if...
Whoa!! Windy! It's windy! This is my favorite area of the park already! Is this the part where you sing "Little town, it's a quiet village." That's the idea. Not so quiet today, though. We thought we were beating the rush, but had a not-so nice surprise. It's 180 minutes already! Oh my goodness! A 180 minute wait- a 3-hour wait! We're going to make another plan here.
Popcorn! Popcorn plan! Potato man is waiting so long for this. Yes, for popcorn, I think so. The line for that is just ridiculous. The line goes all the way through here. Don’t worry, in this video we get to go on all the best rides at Disneyland, Including Beauty and the Beast so watch to the end to see the very best. We have a new plan now, There's a lot of rides that are a 5-10 minute wait Like "It's a Small World" and little adventures like that that we're going to do.
Something got in my eye. In your eye? No Becca! This is still the line for it! This is still the line for Beauty and the Beast! Can you imagine paying everything just to come in and do one ride?! Oh my. And then going home. Or two rides, that ride in the morning and something else. And soon the first good option, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, came into view.
The song “When You Wish Upon a Star” is from the movie Pinocchio, for which this ride gets it’s name. Many rides at Disney specialize in retelling their classic stories in a fun, interactive way. Well this one's fast, there's not much of a line here.
Whew! Whoa! Do you guys know the story of Pinocchio? Yea, we watched it. Did you?! Pleasure Island! It's not so pleasurable. Whoa! Wow! How cool! Is this? And it's warm in here! Whoa! This is where Pinocchio gets in trouble. He gets in with the wrong crowd. You get in with the wrong crowd, it's not good news, is it? Oh no- Pinocchio! Oh no! Oh, Jiminy Crickets! Oh my goodness! Geppetto! Aw- happy ending! Guys, what did you think about our first ride? That was actually pretty fun. That was better than I thought it would be.
It was pretty good. We got right on, didn't we? Yea. But you know what, we're going to have to start waiting in some lines. But do you want to for the haunted house? Or should we go to Thunder Mountain? Yea! Thunder Mountain guys, or Haunted House? Which one? Thunder. But mama chan convinced us to go ahead and wait for the haunted house now.
Surpringly I didn't have coffee today and I'm not tired. Hi Sarah. You know the cool thing about the lines here? It's fun. They're fun. There are fun things to see here in line at Disney.
Interesting. Wow, look at this! Isn't that so cool? Whoa! Oh my goodness. That grave is my favorite one...
Brother Dave, He chased a bear into a cave, And he died. Rest in Peace. Haunted Mansion Here we go! Going in. What is a haunted house? This is a ride! Already the entrance is so cool! Oh, we've reached the house and you can feel the heat! I think we might walk through this one.
Oh it's warm! Oh, it is warm. Oh my goodness! I have a feeilng a dead spider's going to pop out. Oh, we're going in there. Oh, we're on the other side.
That guy's seen better days right there. His eyeballs are still there. I can't see anything... I don't even know where mommy is.
I'm over here. Oh, right over here. Look at that, way up there! This whole thing was a line! It's just a line still, huh? I thought it was a roller coaster! I was kind of sad when we walked through here and I was like "That's it?" That was cool, but that's just the line. Now we're waiting to get on the ride maybe? Oh my goodness. Bye guys, here we go! Let's go! Hi! You ready, Dude? Oh my goodness! The eyes follow you! Oh, do they?! Oh you're right! Oh those faces are like backwards, aren't they?! Do you see that, Dude? Whoa, look at that! A coffin, and somebody trying to get out! You know what that looks like?! It looks like Hyrule Castle, Dude! I know! Doesn't it? It does! Whoa Dude! Thank you! Whoa, how about that?! That was so long! That was long, and cool! Wasn't it? I got jump scared two times. Jump scared! You got jump scared twice?! Oh I screamed! I did not scream at all.
The wind was sure ripping through the park, and we were headed to another classic. In the meantime mama chan was concocting a plan to get us to all on the best rides. What do you think of using the app so far? OK, so the app is amazingly good, And you have to use it pretty much to get any *fast* pass. However, it reloads every time, Do not try to do anything before you enter the park, because the internet is ridiculous. Mine wouldn't load at all. So make sure your tickets are downloaded before you get here.
But otherwise it's great! Soon we were ready to take off on one of my all-time favorites, Peter Pan’s Flight. Here we go Dude, whoa! We're flying already, out of the house! Over London! Dude, how cool is this?! Whoa, look at the stars! Neverland! How do you know all this? Because it's from the movie! Have you seen Peter Pan the movie? I think I have. Oh, there's the girls over there! Hi! Whoa my goodness, the big skull rock. There's Wendy, they're going to make her walk the plank! Whoa! Oh, and there's Peter Pan and Captain Hook fighting! An alligator! An alligator, you're right! There he is! Oh but they defeated everyone, look! They took over the ship. Took care of the pirates! Yeah! Oh, and there's Smee down there... And Captain Hook! Oh my goodness! Don't get swallowed! Well that was cool, huh Dude?! The morning was marked by the ever-pressing question: what next? Well we're going to go to the train, Or I'm wondering if you should go ahead and go do "It's a Small World."
I really want to do It's a Small World. We can, yeah. You want to? Small World? It's a 30 minute wait. Oh that's not bad. Can we have popcorn while we wait?
Yea, let's find some popcorn. Let's find some popcorn. We got some popcorn with Mr Potato Head, but something else would happen before reaching our next attraction.
OK, let's go to Pirates of the Caribbean then. Oh, Pirates of the Caribbean! We, however, did not make it to Pirates of Caribbean right away. While the ladies shop, we found a nice fountain to sit at here.
Right? Yep. There it is. And we're just waiting for the ladies, And then we're going to go Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars, We have Monsters Inc, We bought a Fast Pass for Beauty and the Beast, We're going to do Thunder Mountain... Wow! Yes! We got some fun stuff coming up, huh? Here's what we're looking at.
Just pure stores. It's a lot of stores right around here. And soon we were off again on the great plan to conquer Tokyo Disneyland in a day. It looks tropical, but it doesn't feel tropical out! Oh what's the- what's the popcorn here? Carmel! Here's our ride, presented by Kirin. Oh up there, let's go! It's 15 minutes.
In true Disney fashion, the waiting area is made to transport you to another time and another place, a setting where you can imagine whatever story you’re about to embark upon possible. In this case, it’s New Orleans. It looks like our bay window, almost.
Are you sure this is only a 20-minute wait? Ho ho ho! It's a restaurant! Getting into the boat! Alright, I have Joshua and Mama chan with me, And the girls in front of us, here we go! Restaurant. It's warm in here. It feels like the bayou. Wait, we're in the water! The ride lulls you into a false sense of security, before perhaps one of the most exciting starts to any of Disney’s classic rides. That's such a cool restaurant over there! Oh there's a person rocking in a chair.
Rocking away in the chair. Do you think he's going to stare at us? Nope. He's having a nice ol' time, that's all. And now the story begins. It sounds like a waterfall... [screams] That was not expected! I thought I was going to get soaked! That was a big start! I kind of got wet. Soon we emerged in the underground hideout of the pirates.
And the story unfolded in front of us — in Japanese, of course. There's all the treasure. Touch it if you dare! I would actually like to touch it. You want to touch it? But touching a pirates treasure isn’t always the best idea, because of the dubious ways they go about getting that treasure, as we would soon see. I found myself rooting for the villagers, defending their hometown and warding off the pirates! Now that would be a good ending.
From here it was a short walk to our next two rides, taking us past the main entrance once again. There's Smee. The girls planned to shop along this main strip later, but for now our main priority was getting to the latest attractions that promised to be a lot of fun. Okay we have a fast pass for that which will start here pretty soon, But we're going to go up here to Star Tours first. This is cool, I don't know if I've done this one. I don't think so.
Star Tours! It feels almost jolting, going from the Disney universe to the Star Wars universe, but it was a fun change of pace. In true Disney fashion, the lines were just as entertaining as the rides themselves, winding back through a star port waiting to board an airship that would take us deep into the Star Wars universe. We recently watched the John Williams orchestra... Yep, that's John Williams for sure! Is this a shooting game? The Monsters Inc one, I think, is.
Soon we would reach the star port and discover just what type of ride we were going on. Does this feel like you're inside a Star Wars movie? Oh, we put glasses on. Yep. It's probably a 3-d ride. Now we can’t show you what the ride was like, Becca, let's see the glasses but we can certainly show you how you ride it! Oh yea! Oh yea, look at that. You guys are all ready, very nice.
Whoa, that was cool! There's our next ride right there! Monsters Inc! So Star *Tours* is a great ride, You we are 3-D glasses and it moves around, And it seems like you're flying all around the universe in a battle and everything, It was fun but it kind of made the ladies nauseous. Our last ride before lunch was coming up, and because of our fast pass, we got right on with barely any wait. It's like we're in the movie! How cool is that?! It is! I just realized that! Monsters Inc is all about scaring the monsters away with your flashlight, and boy is it fun! Oh, like right there- see? Oh! Yeah! Whoa! Whenever you saw a helmet, you wanted to hit with your flashlight. Helmet! Look at all the helmets, Dude! Oh see! See! There we go! Oh yes! Now it's working! Oh, look at all of them! Look look! Alright! Yes! Yes! Wow, that's cool Dude! Wow! Whoa! Because of the interactive element, this ride really kept you on your toes! Oh look at all the little helmets on that one.
Oh there's some up there! I got 'em! There's some in the windows! Oh over here! Over here! Whoa!! Coming out of the ride, the girls got a taste of more of the shopping they wanted to do. Oh my goodness. I want a pencil. Ruth! Magnets. We want Leroy and Stitch, right? Shopping is fun, but something else was currently more pressing. Okay, I think we should go and eat.
Yes! Ah, but the sweatshirts! We had almost made it out. What about you Anna? Maybe? I'm like so hungry I need to eat. I know, me too! Eat time, let's go. We did all of those rides in about the same time it would have taken us to wait for Beauty and the Beast, and now we were hungry. A while ago, I think it was actually during COVID, A fan wrote us and said "Hey, I have a bunch of coupons for Disney. Would you like them?"
And we said "Oh! Absolutely!" So we haven't been to Disney since she gave them to us, So today we are using them! Look at that! Look at those! So cool! You almost don't want to spend them they look so cool. Nope, but thank you to our friend! That's right! After lunch it was finally time to tackle some of the biggest rides in our line up, and this time we were ready. We paid for this fast pass for Beauty and the Beast, But I tell you what, it was worth it, It's over a 2-hour wait for it... 3 hour!
Our time has come! Wow, this is crazy! Whoa! 1, 2, 3! Okay This is more than a ride or an attraction the entire surrounding area and castle transport you to the mythical town in France where the whole story takes place. Oh my! How cool! Wow! Waaa! Totally worth the money! It's so worth it! Isn't this like totally we're in the castle! What's your favorite Disney? Beauty and the Beast I agree. That's mine too. The cartoon, not the live one. Oh, I like the live one too, but The live one is good, but the cartoon is classic.
I like the next song in it. Yes! "Now I know she'll never leave me..." If you watch it, you'll never stop singing it! "...Even as she runs away..." It's crazy! Just like the movie, the attraction sets the back story with a dramatic introduction.
That's so real! That was scary! Then, just like the movie, you are whisked away to meet all of the lovable castle characters, even to the point of pitying the beast along the way. How about all the keys? The front door key is huge! What's this key? That's probably his room where he has his rose. Welcome to the kitchen. From the kitchen, all of the groups are split up in to several different tea cups, and we got ours.
and we got ours. Are you guys ready for this? Yea. I have no idea what to expect! I expect Beauty and the Beast! Yea.
Whoa look! How cool! There's Belle! Oh how cool! This is so fun! Whew! And it's cold in here too! Where's Belle? Oh Belle's over there! Is she? Right there! Oh you're right! Now he's turning nice by now. How cool! Oh Belle is here! Anna, do we have a new favorite [ride] do you think? This is hard to beat. Did you hear the horse? Yeah. Aww, love love. The doggie! Oh the rose! That was awesome! So cool! That was the best one! That was awesome. That was so far my favorite.
That was great! Whoa, look at the exit here! It's okay. Even the exit is cool. I like Beauty and the Beast more now. Yea, do you? That was fantastic! And I will tell you what, that is next level. Next level. This new area is very cool and very crowded. It's a Small World — we're heading towards it! With Groot! Whoa, that's cool. While no ride would probably impress us more than Beauty and the Beast, Disney’s most exciting ride was still to come, plus a couple of other classics.
No drop on this one. This one's nice and easy, Dude. Here we go! Oh, it's a bumpy small world. And so the song starts.
They've redone a lot of this. Yea the have. There's Groot — he's all over. There's Rapunzal! Rapunzal, you're right! There's Groot again — in Venice.
Oh girls! You're back in Venice! The revamped attraction now includes not only includes Disney princesses hidden about the ride, but several Marvel characters as well. It’s a nice touch that keeps you looking for what you may find around the next corner. Antman! Groot! You like this? It's fun though. Japan already has great vending machines, but how about Tokyo Disneyland? I've been asking! Okay. There's Big Thunder Mountain! Get the last drink before going on Big Thunder.
We were fortunate to avoid most of the lines on this busy day, but here at Big Thunder Mountain, there was no avoiding the nearly one hour wait. Sarah has been the faithful keeper of Mr Potato Head today. I know, we've only bought popcorn one time. We only filled it one time, we need to fill it again, huh Sarah? Let's ask Mr Potato Man what his favorite ride was so far... Okay, Mr Potato Head? I think I know it. He said he liked the haunted house.
Yea, the Haunted House. The Haunted House was his favorite? Not Beauty and the Beast?! He couldn't see Beauty and the Beast. Oh, okay, I see. Otherwise it probably would have been that.
You're a sweet Mr Potato Head Don't drop it Sarah! Not into the giant wheel. We bought the Mr Potato Head maybe about nine years ago. He's been with us for all of our adventures for Disney. Expectation continues to ratchet up as you wait and watch the mine train full of people rocketing around the mountain.
What Big Thunder Mountain lacks in height, it makes up for in excitement. What do you think guys? We're about to do that! I'm going to wave at them! Yes. It's 2, 2 and 2.
Finally it was our turn. I present to you Big Thunder Mountain. Look at the cave, oh my goodness! Oh man! We're heading up! We're heading up! Here we go! Oh Mr Potato Head! Look at the track down there, oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Here we go! Hands in the air! Oh yea! Why's it not going fast? Because you have to wait for the back! Wow, look at that! That is awesome, isn't it? That was good. Good thing Potato man didn't have any popcorn in him. Whoa, that was fun! Okay, time for Tom Sawyer Island. I don't know what we're going to discover here 'Cause honestly I don't think I've ever done this.
But there it is — it's that island out there. We headed to the island themed after the adventures of Tom Sawyer by boat ferry. Many of the adventures are based around the famous Mississippi River, not to far from where I grew up in Illinois.
Here we go. Onto the island. Watch your step.
What are you most looking forward to, Becca? Sleeping in my bed. Sleeping in your bed tonight?! That is the reward after Disney, huh? This is so fun. A treehouse. I know, this has been a great way to celebrate episode 300 of Life in Japan. I'm going to take you up the treehouse. It's so tight. Wait, wait! Take turns.
Go Dude. Here, let me hold the camera while you do this. No No, I got this. I got this. Okay, wait I'm stuck. There's Daddy and Mommy. Hi! I always wanted to live in a treehouse.
Imagine living in this. Dance, dance, dance, dance... I think someone's coming, let's go! Daddy's videoing! Thanks for coming on this ride with me. See you next time. Bye bye. Suspension bridge! That was cool. Sarah chan is getting the map out, she's going to navigate.
Oh there we are! We're at Barrel Bridge. This is so weird! Oh my! Is this what it feels like walking on water? You're walking on water — so to speak. Whoa Beccster! Almost lost it. I almost fell off the end. Oh, I'm glad you didn't. Secret Passage to Castle Dungeon! Let's go.
Oh, it feels so good on my legs actually. It does not. Let's venture on... And find some popcorn somewhere.
Alright, taking off. We headed back to Disney’s mainline and found the popcorn flavor everyone wanted. There were lines for the popcorn as well. Well we got popcorn. Carmel popcorn finally! And Mr Potato Head is happy, full again! Yeah.
Oh! Whoops. I want some drink! As the sun began to set, the temperature started to plummet. Put your hat on please. Maybe put your gloves on too, honey. It's kind of funny being at Disney Land and it's so cold! I'm used to Disneyland being hot in Orlando, Florida, Here's the castle! Well, everyone's looking for a gift now, some memorabilia. Joshua found a Simba puppet, is that what it was? More shopping.
The gift cards we received from our fan perfectly covered our two meals, popcorn and gifts from the gift shop. What a blessing! Joshua, what did you get? A puppet. A puppet. Look at that puppet. Sarah is looking for something now, isn't she? And so is Becca and Anna. Yep.
Here we go, doing laps. But the search for just the right souvenir sent us all over Disneyland. Finally we found what Sarah was looking for. Sarah, did you find what you wanted finally? We looked all over for this Stitch and we found it. Oh we didn't look all over... Yes we did! We walked all over Disneyland for it.
My feet hurt. I know, we've been walking a ton! Beauty and the Beast’s Castle looks amazing in the twilight, but the best show happens on the original Disney castle itself. But our crew was tired, cold and hungry from such a full day, so we found a place to eat some dinner while enjoying the rest of the show. There's so much in here! Well guys, 300 episodes of Life in Japan! This is number 300! It's too cold! That's hard to believe. It's hard to believe, huh? Next time I hope we have it around aki (Fall) or something. It's so cold! It's so cold that I think we're going to go home after this, huh? You guys are probably watching this in your nice warm house, ah, so amazing! We are freezing! We are frigidly cold! You do not even notice how cold we are because you can't feel it. We're shivering!
You know what, the wind was bad today. The wind was so windy. They had to cancel one of the shows. When the sun was out, it was doable. But once the sun went to bed... Now that and the wind, I think it's time to go home. Yeah! Okay, let's go. Celebrate good times, come on!
The castle at night... Oh, how pretty! Okay, we're going to get a picture, guys. Okay! Look at the moon coming up over there! It's so big and bright! Crazy! On the way out, we picked up our last souvenir — this one for Becca. This is what you want, Becca? Yea, smell it. I can't really smell it.
It smell like strawberry? It's supposed to smell like strawberry... Oh, it smells. Does it? Mm hmm. That's what Becca wanted, it's our last purchase of the day. Here we— well, we think it is... Finally. Hopefully.
Hopefully, it's warm in here though, so that's nice. These stores just keep going and going and going... Oh here. Ruth wanted a bag, an Ecco bag. Look, there's Stitch, now we have— what's his name? I have no idea.
Freddy-baby Anna got Pooh, and there's Joshua's puppet... And what did Daddy get? I got this video and this memory. Doesn't this kind of look like a Sam? Don’t forget, this year we’re reaching for the stars with 500,000 subscribers. It's time for the Reutters to head home. I don't want to go home, but we kind of have to go home, And it's so cold out here. You don't want to go home?!
I don't want to go home! Because I want to stay here. What do you want to do here? I don't know, stay here. Really? Hotel! Do you want to stay here? No! No! But I want to go home. Oh. I want to stay and go home at the same time, it's amazing. It's too late.
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2025-03-10 20:14
