Day 4 Otherwise Known As Cleanup Day:

So we move to the city tomorrow and finally leave the Tokyo Disney bubble.  I had a fabulous time and yah... it'll be sad to leave.  I am looking forward to seeing the sights and sounds of Tokyo though.

... I'm on my 10th Minute Maid Hot Lemonade bottle.  I'm going to be sad that I can't get this in the States.  It's good and it helps with my cough/sore throat shit I've been hit with since I've gotten here in Japan.

Today I woke up early while Steve and Jeff slept in.  I went to Tokyo Disneyland and hit some stuff that I wasn't able to do... Splash Mountain (with all the effect WORKING unlike the domestic Parks!), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (felt so much like home but didn't), the Enchanted Tiki Room w/ Stitch (it was okay), and the Western River Railway (think Disneyland or Magic Kingdom train but with no stops... even has Primeval World, which I wasn't expecting).  I had lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaruant which actually sells curry and not burgers and fries like back at Disneyland.

RANT TIME!  Okay, at Tokyo Disneyland in Splash Mountain they have an owl Audio-Animatronic WITHIN FUCKING ARM'S REACH.  IN FUCKING ARM'S REACH AND IT'S STILL PERFECT.  No vandalism, it wasn't broken (or fuckin' STOLEN), nothing.  It was perfect and working.  You can't even do something like that in the States because our a lot of members of our society are HORRIBLE PIECES OF CRAP.  Back home if they were stupid enough to even have something within arm's reach, it'd be stolen, broken, ripped off, vandalized... you name it.  It's really sad that I come here and see, once again, how we can't have nice things because our society just raises people to be disrespectful.  Case in point?  Snow White's apple.

I went back to the room then and thought that Steve and Jeff would have left for Tokyo DisneySea, but they were still in the room when I got there.  So after a little bit we went over to Tokyo DisneySea and saw Legend of Mythica again (this time from the fort which was a completely different perspective then the other day when I saw it).  I took video again so I'll have both to show sometime eventually.  Did I mention that Legend of Mythica is like a super cool awesome show?  Well, it is.  That show is fucking awesome.

We then walked around for a bit and just explored a little bit.  We went up and walked around the deck of the S.S. Columbia and went down side streets in Med. Harbor and I was just blown away on how much detail was put into little things that most people wouldn't even notice.  They definately paid attention to detail and spared no expense.

We also explored a little bit of the Hotel Miracosta...  that hotel is OFF-THE-FUCKING-CHAIN.  I also spent a little bit watching the Cast Members and what it seems to be their normal operation.  I want to take a few things that I observed and start doing some of those things when I'm working at my hotel.  It's certainly inspired me.

I took off back towards the room a little early since I was tired.  Today is the last day in the bubble and yah... I'll be sad to leave Tokyo Disney Resort.  The Cast Members, the Guests, the sights and sounds were just so awesome... though it slightly felt like home and what I was used to, it was very different.  I'm blessed for being able to visit this magical place and I can't wait to come back.  I'm thinking Spring 2013.

Cleanup Day Photos (Part 1)

Cleanup Day Photos (Part 2)

Day 3 at Tokyo Disneyland and random UTTER FAILURES OF LIFE:

Today's secret word is... OBAKE.  O-B-A-K-E.  O-B-A-K-E.  OBAKE!

Obake is the Japanese word for spirit or dead people or ghost.  It sounds awfully like BUKKAKE.  Which could actually best some up what happened to us today... and boy did we not like it.

It all started when we got up and went downstairs to the lobby to purchase Cirque du Soleil tickets.  ZED is the show here and it is closing at the end of the year... so we all wanted to see it.  Unfortunately, BUKKAKE decided to rear it's ugly head and made it so there was only ONE seat in the entire house available.  Fail.  So now we're trying to see if we should go on the weekend, since the show is dark on Thursday and Fridays, or if I should try to see it on my own on Monday before my flight.  Scary.  Damn BUKKAKE. :(

So we went to Tokyo Disneyland and also saw the Disneyland Hotel later that day.  Boy, that Disneyland Hotel is so beautiful.  We went to Monster's Inc. and got a Fastpass for that and also hopped in the regular queue.  After that we had to go to lunch to meet up with Steve and Jeff's friend, who had cancelled at the last minute, so we had lunch at some Hawaiian burger place at Iskipari.  Jeff and I had a hawaiian pineapple bacon burger set.  Steve had a major fail and wound up getting a BLT avacado SANDWICH.  Who the hell goes to a good burger joint and gets a sandwich?  Unfortunately, he actually wanted the burger but didn't say that so they gave him the sandwich.  Lulz.

We then went back to Tokyo Disneyland and tried to get a Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Fastpass.  Well, we would have if we got there 10 seconds sooner because right as we popped our tickets in the machine, they ran out.   Queue the Price is Right fail horn sound.   FAIL.  BUKKAKE'd #3.

We then sat down to watch the Halloween parade, "Welcome to Spooky Street", which I got good video of and will post soon.  Horrible.  That's when we learned a new Japanese word.  OBAKE.  Again, sounds awfully like BUKKAKE.  O-B-A-K-E.  They also had this weird Macarena-style hand motion thing dance weird OBAKE thing.  It was hilarious to watch.

We saw Haunted Mansion Holiday which was AWESOME.  It's just weird to see Disneyland's version and then see what WDW's could be (since TDL's Mansion is almost exactly like WDW's version minus the upgrades in the last few years) and it made me sad because WDW really needs Haunted Mansion Holiday.  Fuck the tourists.

We then got a waffle!  They have a place that sells Mickey waffles ALL DAY LONG.  I was in heaven.

We then went back to use our Monster's Inc. Fastpasses and then went to the Disneyland Hotel.  The Disneyland Hotel is AMAZING.  Absolutely amazing.  Such detail and it's just so wonderful.  Speaking of Monster's Inc... that ride is amazing too.  So much fun.

After the Disneyland Hotel we went back to the room for a quick nap before heading outside of the Disney bubble to meet up with Steve and Jeff's friend who couldn't meet up with us for lunch.  We went to like this dive Japanese restaurant but it was fun.  My first visit outside of the bubble though was this really kinda rundown shopping mall that was kinda scary but hey, that's part of the real Tokyo right?

Boy, what a long day but super amazing.  So many people dressed up in costume (one of the few times of the year during Halloween season where even adults can go in full costume) and a lot of them were really good.

Rant time!

What is up with Tokyo Disney Resort's merchandise situation?  There is like NO good merchandise anywhere... and all the cool stuff I had heard about (like Shirki stuff at Tower of Terror and the Rocky character stuff from Monster's Inc.) is all gone and replaced with generic shit.  Seriously, that's the one thing that I don't like about Tokyo Disney Resort... the merchandise selection sucks balls.  Total bukkake.

The Cast Members are so polite and wonderful though... they thank you for waiting even if you only waited for like five seconds.  They spiel to Guests in walkways and attractions, even if there is no one to spiel to... they are constantly waving at you as you pass by them on foot or on an attraction.  The Guests don't raise their voice, I didn't see anyone screaming at anyone else, at parades and shows everyone is seated and doesn't crowd around you, there is no flash bulbs going off in ANY show or attraction... it's like the Twilight Zone of Disney Parks.  I wish we in the States could learn a lesson from the Guest and Cast Members here on how to fucking behave.  Being here for the last few days makes me realize how fucking awful we as a society are... it's really sad.

Last day at the Tokyo Disney Resort tomorrow!  I can't wait to see the shit that I didn't yet and then move to the city the next day.

OBAKE Photo Album!

SoCal & Day 1 in Tokyo, Japan:

Good lord... after all the stress of moving into a new (though temporary) place and then two days later coming out for BlizzCon only to then head out to Tokyo, it was damned worth it.  BlizzCon was a blast this year and I even got to hang out with some old friends to celebrate with lunch at Club 33 for their 25th wedding anniversary.  I went on Little Mermaid (SUPER AWESOME!), Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Ghost Galaxy, and Haunted Mansion Holiday while I was there as well.

The flight out to Tokyo wasn't too bad, though I had this older Korean gentleman that either didn't realize it's a TOUCHSCREEN in front of him and not actual push buttons or he was just kicking my seat.  I wanted to yell at him in Korean but I didn't.

We arrival into the airport was long and man, where there a LOT of people!  Holy crap.  We bought our train tickets into the city and just chatted.  The N'ex is awesome.  The seats move so two rows can face each other and there's a vendor girl in there with drinks and snacks and stuff.  45 minutes later we were in Tokyo station and geeze, even MORE people.  AN INSANE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE.  We had to transfer to another line which was a pretty long walk to get to Maihama station, which is where Tokyo Disney Resort is at.  All in all, I think it took like two hours or so.

We checked into the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay which is off-the-hook and get this, they have a Disney Cruiser Bus that takes you from the monorail station to the hotel... which is RIGHT ACCROSS THE STREET.  It was like a minute ride and would have been like a three minute walk, but they have a flippin' bus that runs if you don't want to walk.  We dropped off our stuff in the room, had enough time to take pictures of the bidet/heated seat toilet (it's nice!) and we bolted back to the Tokyo Disney Line (their monorail that you pay for) to get to Tokyo DisneySea for a few hours.

OMG.  The details EVERYWHERE were just absolutely amazing.  Even things like the monorail platform and the station... the details everywhere were just mind-blowing.  When I walked into DisneySea and saw the huge globe that graces their entryway... I literally cried.  I've always wanted to come to Japan and see Tokyo Disney and I'm finally here.  I didn't take a lot of pictures because we only had a few hours but today I will.  Folks were waiting for FANTASMIC! but even then lines were still long at the major attractions.

The detail, the sights, the smells... the sheer amount of people was absolutely mind-blowing.  The details everywhere, like the outside, were just awesome.  I couldn't even believe how awesome everything was.  That night we hit 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (which I thought was a walk-through display attraction BUT IT WAS A FLIPPIN' AWESOME DARK RIDE), Sinbad, StormChasers, Aquatopia, and the ferry ride back to the entrance.  We had a gyoza sausage roll (you know the one, the one with the pictures with like the two hour line or whatever for a outdoor vending cart!) which only took like five minutes.  They are SO efficient here... even on a short line they had someone in front taking orders and it was all like clockwork it was rediculous.

I saw like four popcorn carts (black pepper, curry, caramel, and strawberry) while I was here but didn't try any of them.  Maybe today I'll sample a few.

After the Park closed we went to the hotel bar and had a few drinks... two (very strong) screwdrivers and I was out for the night.  I feel pretty good right now.

Going back to DisneySea today so it should be very cool.  Will take pictures and the like today (maybe some video with my PlaySport).  I still can't believe I'm actually here and it's a dream come true.  I am so thankful for my friends Jeff and Steve and that they would be willing to let me tag along and for other stuff... and I can't thank them enough.  I'd never be able to do this on my own so it's nice to have friends that can show me around.  Thank GOD I didn't have to navigate the airport and train stations by myself like I was originally supposed to.

Day 2 here in Tokyo, Japan awaits!  Now to just get Jeff out of bed.

BlizzCon 2011 (didn't take much)

Club 33 / Trader Sam's / Disneyland Hotel

Arrival in Tokyo and a Few Hours at Tokyo DisneySea

Things that I'll miss...

So there's a bunch of things that I'll miss when I head off to Orlando. Nevermind the things like family and friends (I'll miss you guys sooo much!) but like locations and stuff... like Disneyland. So here's a list of stuff that I'll miss...

First off... In 'n Out. Omg. I know that some folks out there thinks that it's overrated and such, but man is it good. I'll miss that a lot. I'll know how my friends feel when they come down for the Disney Podcast Network's Westfest gathering every year and the first thing that they want is In 'n Out. I know that'll be the first place I'll want to hit when I come down for Westfest 2010.

Disneyland is a place where I spent literally years at. I worked at Disneyland for 12 out of the last 15 years... I spent a lot of time working and playing there. I'll miss our attractions, our shows... I'll miss a lot of stuff that's being built and will debut soon. I'll miss the World of Color opening and the rest of the DCA makeover. I'll miss the friends I've made throughout the years working at the Happiest Place on Earth... from co-workers to Disney podcast fans to folks I met on the various Disney message boards.

There's a bunch more stuff, but I got to go. I'll just edit this when I think of more stuff. :D

I'm really gonna miss the DLR. With all the hours I've worked and all the time I've spent playing at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure... you could say it would add up to a good year's worth of time of my life, if not more. 12 out of the last 15 years I spent working for the Mouse at Walt's original Magic Kingdom... I really am gonna miss it here. Last night I went to Disneyland with a few friends and watched Magical!... and frankly, I lost it towards the end. I think it's just now setting in that I'm not going to be able to come here whenever I want, even though I will have Walt Disney World's four Parks and such to enjoy, it's probably not going to be the same.

My life is filled with great, and not-so-great, memories of my time working when it was just Disneyland to the present day Disneyland Resort. I saw a lot of changes, lots of additions including being part of the grand opening team for Disney's California Adventure, and a lot of closures. I saw the Main Street Electrical Parade glow away, only to come back the year or so after Disney's California Adventure opened. I remember spending every weekend that I could at Disneyland to watch the Lion King Celebration, in my opinion the best parade Disneyland has ever done (and makes me sad to replay it back in my mind when people proclaim Parade of Dreams to be a "good" parade, they have no idea what a good parade was back in the day). I'll remember all the Cast Premieres, starting with the Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye, I got to attend. I'll remember the special media/press events and things like the Mighty Ducks FanFaire or the very first Mickey's Halloween Treat that I got to work.

Yah, I'm gonna miss this place.