Day 19 - Part 2 - A Grand Hotel
Upon arrival we headed to the Tokyo Disney Welcome Centre, to check in to the Tokyo
Disneyland Hotel, buy tickets and drop our luggage. We hadn't used the Welcome Centre before, having gone directly to the Miracosta Hotel by cab on our last trip, and were happy to find the staff here were extremely friendly and courteous, though really we didn't expect any less, it's Tokyo Disney after all. We got our tickets, our monorail passes and checked into the hotel and were all ready to go off and explore until 3pm, when our room would be ready. This suited us find as we needed to find lunch, so we decided to head into Ikspiari. We had originally planned to head into the park this evening as well, and buy a Starlight (after 6pm) pass, however I decided, though I was feeling much better, it might be safer for me to just rest, ready to go for a full day of Tokyo Disney in the morning.
We were so elated at this point, we had arrived in the Disney Bubble and would stay there for the next 4.5 days. In addition we were at Tokyo Disney (my second favourite of all the Disney resorts - Disneyland only just beats it because it was our first resort and I have a nostalgic attachment to it) a park we knew how to tour! I love experiencing new Disney parks for the first time, but I didn't love not really knowing how to best tour those parks in order to get the most out of day. Because of that our Shanghai Disneyland experience was a little stressful for me. However I knew at Tokyo Disney we could succeed with our touring plans because we had before (at a much busier time of year too) and so I was much more relaxed about the whole experience.
We headed into Ikspiari, our goal to head towards the Rainforest Cafe. It may be corny, but we love eating here, we love the faux rainforest environment, the generous portions of food, the huge menu options! I was excited because in the states the Rainforest Cafe has fried cheese on it's menu! Unfortunately the same was not to be said for the Rainforest Cafe at Tokyo Disney, but we enjoyed it none-the-less. Jared was also devastated to find the Japanese version didn't sell Coronaritas, Rainforest Cafe's speciality drink where a margarita is impaled (for lack of a better word) with an upside down Corona!
The Rainforest Cafe is found within an enclosed area of Ikspiari which is supposed to look a little like old style Hollywood I think. The area itself is really beautiful, so we took a whole pile of photos of it.
Ikspiari (which if you haven't worked it out yet it Tokyo Disney's version of Disney Springs/Downtown Disney) is a little confusing, and it took us a long time to find the Rainforest Cafe! The place is like a labyrinth of smaller shopping malls all attached to each other in strange ways, and it can be hard to work out how to get where! Our final stop at Ikpiari was the grocery store, to pick up juice and fruit and a few other things, and it took us a while to find the place! By the time we had boarded the monorail back to the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel it was time for us to check in.
The last time we visited Tokyo Disney we only stayed at the Miracosta Hotel. We managed to book a coveted Porto Paradiso Harbour View room on one night, and moved between three other rooms the other three nights with various views. This time we had decided to stay at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, because it is slightly cheaper, for three nights, stay one night in a Harbour View room at the Miracosta, and our final night at the Tokyo Hilton Bay hotel, which is cheaper again, as an official partner hotel.
The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel blew us away! While the Miracosta is beautiful and so detailed, it's almost a little more laid back with it's Mediterranean style. The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel is just grand, there is no other word for it. In fact, this hotel, and the Miracosta, are the two fanciest hotels we've ever stayed in, both in terms of price and the sheer luxury of the design. I wouldn't know of course, but both hotels seem to evoke an old world charm and luxury, with the kind of attention to detail and craftmanship that was put into Victorian era hotels targeted at rich Lords and Ladies. Staying at both these hotels made us feel like royalty, every detail was perfect, and of course the staff were amazing! Always so courteous and polite, something that is intrinsically inbuilt into Japanese society.
While we waited for the Bell Hop to come for our luggage, I waited on a chaise sofa, and was offered some water by one of the staff! I took it and it was the best water I've ever had! They'd left fresh oranges, lemons and berries in the water cooler to add flavour to the water, and the taste was incredible. I went back for a second glass!
Unsurprisingly the Bell Hop was extremely friendly, made sure to point out plenty of small details about the hotel as he showed us to our room, complimented our Japanese pronunciation (though perhaps he was just being kind), and got very excited hearing about all the other Disney parks we'd visited. He had a proud smile when we told him Tokyo Disney was still one of our very favourite places in the world, because you can't beat the service of the wonderful Japanese Cast Members. When we entered the room he made sure to point out our wifi passwords and other details of the room, he also hung up my coat which had been draped over the edge of the luggage cart! Seriously, I felt like I was at a grand manor at the turn of the century being waited on by a very efficient and friendly footman!
The room itself was stunning, Victorian in design with Disney flourishes all around. The TV Cabinet was made to look like the wardrobe from Beauty and the Beast, there were roses on the toilet door and hidden Mickey's all around. Rather than trying to describe how beautiful the room was how about I just show you!
Let's start with my Princess mirror in the entrance hall! I loved this thing!
Footstall or footdog? It never came to life while we were in the room but perhaps, like Toy Story, we had to leave for the magic to begin!
Fine china cups! It was the thought to the little details that put this room over the top of any other room we'd stayed in on our trip thus far.
You can see the Beauty and the Beast wardrobe from this angle!
The opulence of everything made you feel so fancy! I liked the marble, and flourished mirrors, they were a great touch!
The shower and bath were enclosed inside one room, floor to ceiling marble and beautiful decorative touches everywhere!
Then there was our view. We'd booked a theme park view room as it wasn't really much more expensive than the standard room, and of course we knew we wouldn't have views like what we expected to see at the Miracosta Hotel (which is inside Tokyo Disney Sea park and looks out on it). However, the view we had here was still pretty spectacular by Disney standard, I'm not sure of any other Disney resort where your hotel room is this close to the parks (perhaps Disneyland Paris Hotel, but I haven't been there). We could see plenty of exciting landmarks from our room. The monorail, World Bazaar, Monsters Inc, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror, S.S.Columbia, Mount Promethus and of course Cinderella Castle.
The sun soon began to set and we enjoyed the stunning view from our room!
We had decided to get room service that evening, so I could relax. I also turned on the Japanese version of "Stacey" who was a weird American character trying to sound English in tails and a top hat! It was hilarious, and slightly creep but lots of fun! I hopped into bed and relaxed, and was done for the day, but Jared still had a few more things to do.
Continued in Next Post...