Tokyo Disneyland Part II

Well here is part 2 of my Tokyo Disney blogs!! Last time I covered my trip to Tokyo Disney Sea.  This time I'll be focusing on the Land!  My friend Donald and I spotted each other from far away:

Of course a huge gust of wind came right when our picture was being taken with him:

Here I am with Prince John, sucking my thumb.  (It's a reference to the movie.  Robin Hood, the one with the foxes.  Prince John sucks his thumb and goes, "Mummy!" a few times.  This isn't my normal photo pose.)

We saw the castle as we walked in!

Hooray!

 

We were there for "Easter Wonderland" (like Tokyo Disney Sea's "Spring Carnival") and there were eggs all over the park of characters!  I have at least one picture of an egg later on but here's the big egg centerpiece of the park (I forgot I'd given myself bunny ears):

 

 Here's a cute window display near the entrance:

There was a Monsters, Inc. ride (Ride and Go Seek) that I was super excited about, but the wait was FOUR HOURS and all the Fast Passes were done for the day, so I missed that.  

                            

 I found one of the eggs here:

                                      

At least they have themed souvenir shops for most of the rides!  I found a Monsters, Inc. hardhat.  It matched my dress!

Disney is so great about all the little details, like these on the walls of the shop (you can click them to make them bigger):

They also had Roz's glasses for sale, which I really wanted (with the pearl chain and everything), but ended up not buying.  Now, years later, I have real cat-eye glasses with my prescription :)

Then there were the classic rides, like It's a Small World:

I don't usually take pictures during the "cruise" because it takes away from the first-hand experience.  But this was in Tokyo so I tried to take some memories home :)  This came out a little blurry but it's the best of them:

We didn't ride Dumbo, but here's a cute photo-op next to it:

And Timothy S. Mouse on the top of the ride:

 

Here's Peter Pan's Flight:

And Pinnochio:

They also had Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain.  You could meet Cowboy Goofy, Woody, and Jesse!  The crowds were so big I hardly got to see anyone but I came pretty close!

Here's another egg in front of Splash Mountain :)

And another adorable Disney detail, a scene where I guess Chip and Dale have been:

Here's a really cute snack we had:

An awesome Up scene:

There was this really cute version of the Tiki Room featuring Stitch (in Japan they call him Stitchy, which is so cute) called Aloha E Komo Mai.  Stitch's paw prints were on the ceiling, and there's actually a whole synopsis of the ride on wikipedia (I looked it up so I could remember exactly what it was, and it's really cute).

Anyway, it was an awesome time and I just adored both days.  What a great place to spend with my brothers.  It really was the cutest.  I'd love to go back there!  Notice the eggs with Mickeys on them on this lit-up sign as we exited.  Sigh... that was so great.  Goodbye, Tokyo Disney!

Oh Boy! I'm going to MNSSHP!!!

If you aren't up with the hip lingo, you're probably thinking, "Should I call a doctor?" or, "No!  Don't MNSSHP on my shoes!"  Settle down, friends.  It's only an acronym for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (although the acronym is nearly as long-winded to say as the full name itself).

Believe me, I feel spoiled to be going to the wonderful world of Disney twice in one year.  I also feel lucky.  I can't wait!!  It's going to be a special father-daughter trip.  My dad is waaay overdue for a trip to Disney.  And, since we're going in October, we're also attending MNSSHP.  There's a great website that explains what it is, followed by pictures and videos of celebrations from the year(s) past.  There's also a great blog I found, written by a mother of two who takes her kids regularly to the parks.  She's prepared to give us the skinny about MNSSHP 2012 after she attends the first day!

While I try to contain myself, I have to let some of the magic spill out of me.  I painted my nails in this Mickey-inspired design this afternoon:

A little messy around the edges, I know, but what are you gonna do.  (I know, I'm supposed to roll a q-tip in nail polish remover & clean it up, but we don't have q-tips)  Anyway, that'll keep me excited every time I look at my nails for about a week!!  :)  I'm thinking I'll do Disney-inspired nails up until the big trip (and probably after, too!) which I will, of course, post here on my blog.

If you feel inspired to paint your nails Disney, too, here's a video I just watched on how to make Lion King-inspired nails!  (It looks pretty difficult and requires a few tools, but where people use "dotters," I use toothpicks, if that helps!!)

In the meantime, I'll be planning away!  (and maybe posting that Tokyo Disneyland Part II)....

Cinderella's Next Makeover

Looks like Cinderella's fairy godmother has paid her another visit!  Disney has given her a new makeover.  I only noticed this because I work at a bookstore and we recently received a new sign for children's books that has Cinderella on it.  I did a double-take when I saw it, because she now has a side-part and looks more like Barbie.  Oh, Cinderella!  Don't go changin'....

Here's how she generally looked before (although when I was Google image-searching, I found that in the original movie her hair was more light brown/reddish). 

Here's how she looks now:

Her headband no longer connects to her earrings (and she has ears), she has a side-part, and her bun is much more actual-bun than three poofs hanging over the headband.  Of course, that's how I knew her and I let my brain think it was an actual way to style your hair.  She does look much younger (which I guess makes sense since most fairy tale princesses are 14-16--yes, I did take a course in fairy tales in college!)  However there's a small blurb explaining some of this on the website I got this image from.

And now here's the Barbie I was thinking she looks like (the Barbie from the paperback books at my bookstore):

Maybe this isn't the best example because her hair is a little pink here.. But I hope this gives you an idea of what I was thinking (it's the only one I could find where her side-part is more pronounced).

And then, just to throw you off, there's this:

Barbie as Cinderella.  I prove my point.  (I know, not really). 


Anyway I hope this "trial period" (if that's what it is) doesn't last too long and gets feedback from fans.  You don't want to mess with Disney fans.  Remember when Mr. Toad closed in Disney World?  Yeah.  And they want to change Cinderella's entire head.

The places I got these images are:
http://a.dolimg.com/en-US/disneyfans/media/history/movies/cinderella/mov_cinderella_240x240.jpg
http://cousinorville.com/?p=77
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/i-can-be-a-rock-star-barbie/id419925858?mt=11
http://www.shopping.com/Mattel-Barbie-As-Cinderella-Collector-Edition-Fairy-Tale-Beauty-Who-Lost-Her-Slipper-Doll-1996/info (Really?  Was that the full title of this doll?  "Fairy-Tale Beauty Who Lost Her Slipper" Doll?)

Tokyo Disneyland Part I (Disney Sea)

Let me spend some time telling you about a wonderful Disney experience: Tokyo Disneyland!  My brother David lived in Japan for 7 years before moving back home with his husband at the end of 2010.  On my second and last visit to him 2 years ago, it was my biggest wish to go to Disneyland (and Disney Sea, too!).  Well, that wish was granted and here are photos from that great trip with my brothers, David and Hiro!

Above is a map of the two parks--Disney Sea on the left and Disneyland on the right.  Below are two murals in the Disney monorail station:

Oh, and there were these straps on the monorails (sooo cute):

Our first stop was Tokyo Disney Sea!

We were there in July, just at the end of Spring Carnival.  This was a big flowers & fairies celebration.  Even the monorails were decorated for it!  Here's some of the balloons available (you'll notice if you didn't know already, Marie, the cat from Aristocats, is very popular in Japan!):

Here I am meeting Jiminy Cricket for the first time in any park!

 What a charmer! I wanted to say something when I met him again in Epcot in Disneyworld, but being the big celebrity he is I didn't want him to be embarrassed if he didn't remember me ;)

Here we are with an active volcano (well, Disney active)!!

Then there's Tinkerbell perched on my shoulder:

And of course Captain Jack Sparrow is a Frenchman in Tokyo...

There were a lot of cute things in the gift shops (I bought them instead of taking pictures, except for some things... like this chocolate pop!)

Tower of Terror! (David & Hiro went on.  I hung out and looked at the topiaries.)

I love me some Mickey-face treats!

They had flavored popcorn here.  And I mean all KINDS!  I think this one was cherry blossom flavor?  But every popcorn station you went to there were new and different flavors than before!

Even the popcorn box was adorable:

We got some great food, too, in this dark, indoor Little Mermaid-themed cafeteria:

Sebastian's Calypso Kitchen!  There were fish lights hanging from the ceilings:

And, if you couldn't guess from the name of the park OR the theme of this particular eatery, they mostly had fishy items on the menu.  Here's an adorable sandwich David got, shaped like a shell:

A little Asian packet of ketchup (a thin tube as opposed to a rectangular pouch), stirrer (with Mickey face) and spoon:

Mmm seafood pizza..

And my fish sandwich:

And my favorite Japanese soda, Melon soda!!  It's green!

Here we all are on Genie's carousel.  A highlight for me (well, what part of the trip wasn't a highlight?) because I LOVE carousels!  Especially old-fashioned, or out-of-the-ordinary, like this one:

Sure, there were horses... But there was also Genie!  Of course all the Genies get taken first!  (If you look at the pic above, you can see purple Genie on the left)

There was a whole Agrabah area along with the carousel!  There was this camel...

And the Magic Lamp theater (requiring 3D glasses.  I can't say I remember what the film was about but I'm pretty sure it was one of those 4D experiences, when they squirt water on you and emit wonderful scents).

 

I tried for quite some time to get a good picture of Ariel's castle at night.  The colors were as beautiful as the architecture, which reminded me of Gaudi's work!  Anyway this was the best I could get (I'd actually dropped my camera somewhere in Agrabah and worried about it the rest of the trip):

There was this great statue of Ariel I should have taken a picture of when the sun was still out:

There was also one of King Triton!

There were these great bubbles floating up in those windows in the background.  Here's one of the pillars of the castle that reminded me of Gaudi:

We ate somewhere called NY Deli which was pretty funny (being from NY and all)...  Oh and I found this Cheshire Cat doll with bunny ears (for the Spring Carnival) on the ground and looked around for who it might belong to, but in that crowd the owner was long gone.  To this day I still have it on my backpack :)

I found this great hat in one of the stores (I didn't buy it because where else could I wear it?)

Some nostalgic decorations:

We went back to our hotel soon after that, and got ready for our next big day: Tokyo Disneyland!!

cupcakes!

I made cupcakes the other day to celebrate Disney Pixar's Brave!  You can click here to get to my other blog, easy there cupcake!  You'll see Brave cupcakes as well as Muppet cupcakes from a few months ago!  Woohoo!