Ever since I visited Disneyland as a teenager, I've dreamt of going back and taking the boys there. I decided we would end our trip to Japan by going to Disneyland and DisneySea. I joined a Facebook group that gives you tips and tricks to get the most out of going to the Disney parks and Universal Studios in Japan and it helped us get the most out of our days there.
I didn't want to be tired our whole trip, so we would just take it slow in the mornings since we were out until late. I told the boys that our Disney days were going to be different - there was no sleeping in as we had to be in the line up before the park opened, because once you are scanned in you can access express passes on the app and they go pretty quickly. Some people line up as early as 4:30 am but we were not that crazy and left our hotel about 7:30 am (the park opened at 9 am).
We've been to the theme parks in Queensland many times and I always hate how expensive the tickets are, but I felt like the Disneyland and DisneySea tickets were so much more reasonable at about $89 Aus when we were there.
On top of the normal park pass, you can choose to buy express passes as well. There are two different types of express passes - Disney Premier Access where you pay extra to skip the queue for an individual ride and Priority Pass which is free but also a way to skip the queue. You can only do this for certain rides, and they only release a certain amount during the day and usually once they're gone it can be hard to get one later in the day as you have to constantly watch the app to see if they've released more.
You can only get one Premier Access and one Priority Pass at a time and can't get another one until two hours after you got the first one, or after you scan into the ride.
We had a game plan to run to the Beauty and the Beast ride, which is the most popular ride at the park, but everyone else had the same game plan. Instead, we went to the closest ride when we got in that is also very popular - Monsters Inc. It was only about a 20-minute wait when we went but later in the day the wait was always a couple of hours, so I'm glad we did it early.
Jalen and I had a game plan and were both on the app at the same time. His job was to get a Priority Pass while I got a Premier Access pass. I was able to get a Premier Pass for Beauty and the Beast, which is what I really wanted and once I knew I had that, I was very happy. The passes were about $20 each and I really didn't care that I was spending money on it, because it guaranteed that we got to do the ride, we skipped a 3-hour long line up and I wasn't sure if I'd ever be back to Disneyland in Japan, so I'd made sure I'd saved up enough money so that we could really enjoy the day.
We did a couple of rides and then as we came off the Star Tours ride (which I loved) we came across Mr and Mrs Incredible characters. Mrs Incredible was hilarious and was gesturing how tall and handsome Harri was, which cracked us up.
Our third ride was Beauty and the Beast and thank goodness we got the Priority Pass, because the line was so long when we went to line up in the priority line. Even the priority line took about half an hour to get through, but I can see why people line up and wait so long for it. It amazes me how many people they can get on a ride at once. It was absolutely beautiful and made me want to cry. I loved hearing all the songs in Japanese.
I loved how the ballroom went from daylight to sunset.
We were able to get a few priority passes during the day which meant we knew we had to turn up to those rides at a certain time and could get straight on, and in the meantime, we lined up at other rides, watched the parades, and got food. It didn't feel at all like we were lining up all day and the day just flew. We loved seeing Woody.
We loved all the classic Disneyland rides. The boys said Splash Mountain was one of their favourites.
It's a Small World had a special thing on where Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy was placed in different parts of the world which the boys thought was hilarious.
Groot was in Australia, playing the didgeridoo.
A huge thing at the parks are different flavoured popcorn and collectable buckets. So many people have a whole plan of getting the different buckets and trying all the flavours. We didn't get a bucket as I didn't want to be carrying crap home that I would eventually get sick of and just throw out, but we did try a couple of different popcorns but kept it pretty safe. We weren't keen on trying the curry popcorn or roast beef flavour.
At both parks I ended up dropping half of our popcorn and at Disneyland two Japanese girls thought it was absolutely hilarious as I was complaining about dropping it and then was getting scared of all the birds that were coming over to eat it. We had some funny moments with them laughing at us.
These mochi were not only cute but were also delicious. They were three different flavours.
I loved going on rides that I could remember from Disneyland in LA like the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean and Big Thunder Railroad. I loved hearing Japanese all day on the rides.
It's a huge thing in Japan to get a spot for the parades hours before they start. Lots of people buy little Disney themed mats which they place on the ground and just plonk themselves down to save spots for their group. We just kept lining up for rides and got food and then stood behind the crowds when the parades started and still felt like we saw it so well. We were amazed at how long the parades were. Each float was so beautiful and professional, and they just kept coming and coming.
There were two parades in the day, and the second one was a candy theme which was very popular with the Japanese people. It was beautiful but it just went on and on. When we got back to our hotel Harri was saying how the same song over and over again was driving him crazy, so Jalen had to find it on YouTube to sing it to us.
We loved the Pooh's Honey Hunt ride as it was so cute.
Because our hotel was just a 10-minute train trip from Disneyland, Jay and Harri ended up going back to our hotel for a rest. The park didn't close until 9 pm and I knew that there would be fireworks at the castle towards the end of the night, so they said they'd come back for that. I kind of wanted to join them in having a break but also knew that it was our one and only day there and didn't want to miss anything. Kobe and I took a break inside the park and sat down to eat and rest and waited for the light show on the castle.
I'm so glad that we waited because it was absolutely incredible. It was a lot like the illumination we saw at the Government Building a few days before, but all Disney themed.
After the light show we knew that we had about an hour and a half before the next parade and fireworks, so Kobe and I decided to go back to the hotel to meet the boys. It was all very pretty lit up at night.
Before the fireworks we went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again as we were able to get a free priority pass and then walked through the middle of the castle.
The fireworks were beautiful and made me feel quite emotional.
We had such a fun day, and it was all that I hoped it would be. We definitely felt like we got our money's worth. We all love huge thrill rides and big rollercoasters so I wasn't really sure what the boys would think of Disneyland. After our trip I asked them what their favourite theme park in Japan was and they all said Disneyland, even though it doesn't have big thrill rides. They just loved all the theming, nostalgia and just loved the whole vibe of the day. There was so much to see and do in between the rides, so it felt like no time was wasted. It was another bucket list item ticked off.
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