A Magical Day At Tokyo Disneyland

There's something with Disney that transcends generations. So when the occasion came for me to visit Tokyo, I wanted a trip to Disneyland. The last time I was in Disneyland was in California in 2002 and I had a marvelous time and didn't know how it happened but I managed to ride even roller coasters and thrill rides. I missed the happiness and even with people telling me to go to Disney Sea, as it was more for adults, I wanted to relive the nostalgia of my childhood first and went to Disneyland in Tokyo.

With Google Maps, it was easy to get to Tokyo Disneyland via train. Before going there, I already watched travel vlogs and ride walkthroughs so I could know where to go. To save time, we already bought our tickets ahead of time via Klook.com and I downloaded the Tokyo Disneyland Wait Time App in my phone so we could plan out the rides and check out parade and character greeting schedules. To get there, you need to get to Maihama station and from there take a 6-minute walk to Disneyland, the happiest place on earth.

We go to Disneyland on a Tuesday, which was a relatively light weekday. In weekends, the park reaches maximum capacity. We were also lucky that it didn't rain and it was quite sunny (and a bit hot) during noontime.

The moment I saw Cinderalla's castle and Disney music started wafting on air, I cried. It was just the right time we got there because the Spooky Boo Parade (annual Halloween Parade) was about to start. As it was Halloween, the park was decorated with pumpkins and halloween decor. Guests even came in Disney-related costumes. When I mean Disney-related costumes I meant full gear, with wigs, makeup, and shoes. It was actually hard to distinguish who was the park guest and the cast member.

wore my Little Mermaid t-shirt for this occasion.
Next time, I'm going full gear.

The Spooky Boo parade featured classic characters such as Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Chip and Dale in Halloween floats and cast members dressed like ghouls and skulls dancing.

Before the parade started, the cast members taught the guests a bit of choreography to join in. Since it was in Japanese, I couldn't understand it though but I watched the guests who did the choreography.

What I did notice in the parades was that everyone was sitting down. Even if there were lots of people watching the parade, it was very orderly and I was able to take decent photos.

check out the guests in full costume

Fantasyland had almost all the nostalgic Disney rides there. There was the Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White's Adventure, and Pinnochio ride there too. The first ride we had was It's a  Small World, which had a relatively short wait time (25 minutes)

It's A Small World gets a different upgrade since popular Disney characters were included in the ride. I was able to spot Peter Pan, Lilo and Stitch, Moana, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Mulan, Mushu, and Ariel making cameos in Small World children form.

Of course, who wouldn't forget that sole Filipina every Pinoy takes photos of?

By the time the first ride was done, we were hungry. Since it wasn't lunchtime yet, we decided to get popcorn with an unusual flavor. Hence, the honey-flavored popcorn near Pooh's Hunny Hunt.

I was super surprised too that not only was there presence of very popular Disney characters and characters we see in Disney channel, even super throwback and lesser-known characters were there too. Guests dressed as them too. I was only able to take a photo with one character, Max Goof, from A Goofy Movie, which I used to watch.

I swear the cast members are the sweetest. They give super tight hugs to guests and even kiss the little children. A little girl even came back to give Alice a few more hugs.

 There were lots of photo-op corners in the park, and interactive displays especially in Toon Town, which took you to a quirky land reminsicent of Roger Rabbit cartoons complete with sound effects. It was also in Toon Town where we watched the second parade of the day.

Mickey!!!!!!!!!!

When I was a little girl, I was quietly watching the parade. Now, I was waving back at the characters and singing with the songs and saying "Hi Minnie! Hi Mickey!!!!" But wait, am I not a cat person?

The main waterworks for me for this was the floats of the Disney Princesses. As a little girl, Cinderella was my Disney princess. Then, it became Ariel when The Little Mermaid came. When Frozen was shown, I added Queen Elsa to my list. Well, here I saw one of my princesses and I super waved at her.

A nod to modern-time Disney was this Baymax float

This is Peter Pan, the first person who showed us that adulting sucks.

I'm not really much of a roller coaster fan (lol, such a tita) and since this version of Tomorrowland was full of them, we decided to make our Tomorrowland experience to be where to have lunch. Park food can get quite expensive. However, it's also part of the experience. So what you can do is eat small bites or share food. That way, your tummy isn't super full so you can maximize your ride time too. I just had nuggets and a melon soda sugar churro that looked like a lightsaber. How does melon soda sugar churros taste like? Like Froot Loops. Not bad.

Also, even it was fall, it does get a bit hot during noon time. Have a reusable water bottle with you that you can fill up with water so you stay hydrated all the time.

Most of the afternoon was busy exploring the park and riding rides. One ride that we waited super long was The Haunted Mansion, which took 40 minutes. However, it wasn't much of a long wait because the mansion itself had a lot of decor to take photos of.

The Haunted Mansion takes a different spin because the ghost host happened to be Jack Skellington of Nightmare Before Christmas, and this feature would continue over at the Holidays. It was a total Tim Burton-fest with more creepy creatures and monsters, not just ghosts.

I also saw one of my favorite rides of my childhood - Splash Mountain.

Did anyone dare try ride this? I remember it not being super fast though with the thrill part being just the 52-feet drop.

Mark Twain Steamboat made me sing Pocahontas songs in my brain and took amazing photos of the sunset.

It captured autumn leaves and sunset colors at just the right moment. Honestly, it was a ride I would definitely ride twice.

While I was doing my Disney research, I came across the waffle cone. It does look like an ice cream cone but it wasn't as it was a steak and potatoes cone. For 500 Yen, you get this cute cone which had beef in yakiniku sauce and purple potato on top with a bit of cheese sauce.

This is not ice cream. 

 At first I thought it was weird, but I wanted to try it since it seemed like a bestseller. It was pretty good actually. It would have made a good lunch or pre-fireworks snack. There was also  maple churros as a special autumn food but since I already had my melon churros, I thought I would have just one churros for the day.

The Celebrate! Tokyo Disneyland at Cinderella's castle had fountains, lights, pyrotechnic effects, and music show attractions and throwback Disney clips which got adults who have been going to Disneyland as kids sentimental. I guess this was the show/parade that made me cry a lot since I saw all the rides, even the rides I no longer ride and the cartoons I used to watch. This was the perfect feature that showed that the magic of Disney reaches many generations as it will definitely live in many people's hearts forever.

A day in Disneyland would not be complete without the Nighttime Parade. So another tip for those going to Disneyland, be prepared to stay until nighttime because these are shows you wouldn't want to miss. If you are bringing children, have them nap first in the afternoon because they would surely not want to miss this as well.

You get your usual Mickey and the gang, classic Disney characters like Alice, Pete's Dragon, and every little girl's favorite- The Princesses, from classics like Cinderella and Belle up to today's Rapunzel and Frozen. I was happy to see two of my Disney Princesses and even sang their songs with them.

I think I cried probably about 7 times in this visit. I cried at the park when I saw the entrance. I cried in all 3 parades and in Celebrate! I cried at It's a Small World. When the park was closing and we had to go home, I also cried. Even though that Disneyland was the "kiddie" version, I enjoyed every minute of it. Maybe the cold weather helped but I didn't realized that I walked so much steps in that day with no complaints at all. It was super nice to relive the nostalgia of Disney and just like Peter Pan, being a kid is super fun!

Is a Tokyo Disneyland trip worth visiting and returning to? Yes. They change every season and they have different character greetings every time. Maybe when I'm ready to grow up, I can go give Disney Sea a visit as well and see Ariel too. As Disney transcends many generations, It's a perfect place to bring your children. Don't forget to take plenty of photos and relive the magic and share it with your loved ones. Now that I know, maybe I'll level up my dress up a bit.