As some of you may already know I went to Tokyo Disneyland yesterday. I am not really a big Disneyland kind of guy but I was curious about the experience and it was definitely better than just hanging out around my hometown. First of all, if you were to remove the Japanese people from Tokyo Disney and replace them with Americans, there would be almost no way you could tell you were in Japan. English is the primary written language, with tiny Japanese subtitles, although all the people speak Japanese of course. There was only 1 Japanese restaurant! I was actually disappointed how little was different. It felt exactly like the American Disney with a few notable exceptions.

The biggest difference was the how wide the streets were. Up until 3 years ago Tokyo Disneyland was the number 1 most visited theme park in the world, with Toko Disneysea being number 2 (Together they make up Tokyo Disney, but we only had time for Tokyo Disneyland). The park planners knew that it would be super crowded so it has the widest streets of any Disneypark. Luckily, it was a wednesday and we got there early so we never had to wait more than 40 minutes for a ride and that was buzz lightyear. I also think the rides are run faster here because they want to move more people through. Maybe I am crazy, and it has been a long time since I have been to disneyworld, but I actually had a hard time taking in everything on the rides.

Also, another difference is that in Japan, is the existance of Disneysea. While I didn’t make it there they make it a point to not have any characters (besides the traditional disney ones, like mickey, minnie, donald, pluto and goofy) overlap in the parks. That is to say since there is a Aladdin section in Disneysea, there is no Aladdin anywhere in Disneyland. Disneysea is more of a date spot and you can drink alchohol there while Disneyland is dry. Disneysea is also nautical themed (obviously) with each different world (e.g. The Aladdin World) being a different port. I think you can take ships between the ports, but you don’t have too.

Minor differences are:

Stitch from “Lilo and Stitch” is by far the most popular character. People literally would run after him and moms would swarm him shove their kids near him and snap pictures. However you could never get a picture  with just you and stitch, that is how crazy popular he is. They don’t like the movie though, just the look of Stitch. I bet Stitch is another character that is able to transcend the Disneyland/Disneysea demarkcation

You don’t get splashed on splash mountain, it is seen as uncomfortable to be wet wearing clothes, and rude to make your guests uncomfortable. Ergo, no splash.

The Haunted Mansion had made decked out in a Nightmare before Christmas theme for the holidays. They totally changed the whole ride and it was super awesome. I never really liked Nightmare before Christmas as a kid, but i like the look of Tim Burton’s stop motion and it translated amazingly well to the anamatronics of the ride.

I dunno that is all I can think of right now… I am sure there is more, maybe I will edit this later.