I am a bad wife. Today I shamefully went to Tokyo Disneyland for the first time EVER, on a day that Patrick couldn't go. But I have a really good excuse: Initially I was just going to go down there to shoot pix of the resort area and the local hotels, but then we found out Monsters Inc. Ride ‘n’ Go Seek would be closed for rehab by the time we got there for our official Disney trip. I couldn't very well travel aaaalllll the way to Japan (this phrase eventually became our excuse to do just about anything) and NOT ride Monsters Inc. if I had the chance.
My punishment was that I did it all wrong. For a veteran Disney park tourist who times every move down to the second to avoid lines and crowds and maximize fun, this is almost a fate worse than death. For starters, I should have gone the previous day, a Friday, when I could have bought the After 6 Passport for a mere ¥3,100. Instead, I went on THE busiest day of the week at the start of Top Season and paid ¥4,700 for the Starlight Passport, which meant I had to wait til 3pm to enter the park and only saved ¥1,100 (remember, this is like $11.99 in real money). Stoopid! Stoopid! It woulda been worth the 12 extra bucks for a full-day passport just to get there at park opening and run to Monsters Inc. first, instead of entering the park at peak time and having to wait in The Longest Disney Park Line I Have Ever Waited In EVER.
But first, we had breakfast. And I only mention this because it was one of those cafes you hear about where you look at the fake food display, make your selection, and pay at a machine outside. Then you take the receipt it spits out and go inside to get your food!
"Let's see… I'll have the plastic noodles in lacquer with a vinyl poached egg!"
What struck me was that it was an otherwise primitive little place inside, with no tables, just a counter around the perimeter, and one guy working in the kitchen. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this part.
I set out for Disney after I sent Patrick off to the TV shoot, his upper lip stiff as he tried to see through stinging tears of disappointment. I managed to get down to Disney on the JR train OK using a combination of directions from Kevin Yee’s book and the Tokyo Disney forum on Mice Chat. Basically, at Tokyo Station you just follow signs for the JR Keiyo Line, which is red, to Maihama. When you get to Platform 3 & 4, the trains on both sides go to Maihama, but one is a rapid train that only makes 3 stops instead of 6 (in my three trips to Disney, this was always the one at Platform 4). The express train seemed to shave maybe 10 or 12 minutes off the trip, but it never took longer than 30 minutes on the regular train.
I was compelled to shoot all the signs for you.
I was also intent on photographing the infamous Tokyo Station Tunnel of Doom and its corresponding Staircase of Despair, both of which have been frequently discussed on Mice Chat as major impediments to taking the subway from Narita or Tokyo to Disney if you have luggage.
No elevator here!
Will it ever END?!!
Why didn't I leave my luggage here – WHY?!
I must admit, it IS a long tunnel. Like 10-minutes-of-walking long… But when Patrick saw the Staircase of Despair later, after my days of build-up, he was like "What's the big deal? Just carry your luggage up one piece at a time." However, I noticed we never did end up making that trek in either direction with our luggage….
The first thing you see when you get off the train at Maihama (besides, you know, the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, Space Mountain, Ikspiari and Bon Voyage…) is this beacon of Disney in an unfamiliar land:
It felt weird the whole day—everything was simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar to this Disney vet. It didn't help that Maihama Station was a madhouse of Saturday-morning crowds, with the people darting everywhere giving me the feeling that I needed to start darting too!
(Madhouse not entirely pictured)
Another place much discussed among Westerners is the Becker's restaurant in Maihama Station. Apparently it's a good place for a cheap, familiar meal. I didn't fly aaaalllll the way to Tokyo to eat food I could get back home, though, so we never tried it. Also, I was confused because there appeared to be
two Becker's… unless "Beck's" is a brazenly named competitor…
To the left as you come out of the station are the Tokyo Disney Resort Welcome Center and the Ikspiari shopping mall that stands in for Downtown Disney.
If you're staying at one of the Disney hotels or partner hotels, you can check into your hotel and hand off your luggage at the Welcome Center and even buy your tickets there so you can go straight to the parks.
It took being shuttled among three different cast members for me to find out that day guests can't buy park tickets here—for that, you have to go to the park gate. More time wasted – stoopid! Stoopid! EDIT: I realize now that there *was* a ticket counter at the Welcome Center, but it was on the bottom floor and had only been open a few days at that point. Heck, maybe the CMs were even trying to direct me there! At any rate, future visitors take note: you can buy your park tix at the Welcome Center if you want to.
The Tokyo Disney Resort Line (i.e. the Monorail) is between the Welcome Center and Ikspiari. Taking pictures of all this stuff helped me get my bearings.
Buses, including the shuttles from the partner hotels, stop on the ground level below the station.
The Disney Resort Cruiser (bus) connects the Ambassador Hotel with the two theme parks, since it's the only Disney resort not on the monorail line.
Actually, I'm gonna borrow Disney's map and put it here, cuz I think it will really help:
I set out on the bridge from Maihama Station to Disneyland, which passes a giant suitcase housing the mega gift shop Bon Voyage. It's closer to a World of Disney than a
Disney Store, (which is inside Ikspiari) but is much smaller than either of the ones at the US parks.
I love that one of the doors is in the latch!
Along the way, I saw another familiar-yet-strangely-unfamiliar site…
! I loved the story about the loyal dog - so sad. And the Japanese version of history is interesting! In their classrooms, the "fire" came out of nowhere! 
Now the question is, do any of us still have that Barbie? 
I know I don't, but when I was cleaning out my dad's house, I discovered that I do still have the dress from the one pictured in the box!
to hear you enjoyed those reports.
I have never been out of North America so I am super excited! Let the planning begin!
