Living in Color (TDR Report Summer 2023)

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 3: From Adventureland to Critter Country to Westernland and Back

After the parade, we made our way over to Blue Bayou. Like other previous meals, this was a prix fixe menu, with a few different options. We tried the lobster seafood gumbo, a main of pork, beef, and mushroom, and a special dessert plate and beignets. Nothing was a super stand-out dish, but it was all good. And really, it’s not that we booked this for the food- we just like the vibe of sitting by Pirates. (We have done Blue Bayou in Anaheim and Captain Jack’s in Paris.) Our total was $105.03.





We also did the Beaver Brothers Explorer Canoes. Wow, that was a lot more work than I thought it would have been. Major kudos to the cast members for putting in the major effort to get us going. Most people in the canoe just didn’t try. And we were particularly frustrated with a family that kept allowing their kids to stand up in the middle of the ride. Folks, don’t do this. If your kid can’t handle sitting in a canoe, do not take them on the canoe. I felt so bad for the cast members. Still, it was a neat experience- we never did the version in Anaheim.

We also hit up Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I don’t have anything remarkable to say about this. We’ve now been on four of these, and it’s about the same as Anaheim and Orlando.

We then hit up Jungle Cruise. Which yes, is obviously in Japanese, so no, we did not understand what was going on. But it was fun! And like every other ride, all the animatronics worked. Plus, when we got in the queue, some cast members gave us some banners and took our picture as part of the 40th. This was our first of two of these experiences- it was just kind of a fun thing they offered.



The entire time we were under the threat of rain, with a few little sprinkles here and there. The rain was definitely on its way though.

 

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 3: Nightfall Glow and Closing Out the Park

As it rained, we decided to peruse the stores.

So we had originally purchased premier access passes for the nighttime parade, which was supposed to be the Main Street Electrical Parade. Somehow, I have never seen an iteration of this show. And that remained the case, as the rain forced a cancellation. (And yes, we were refunded automatically for the premier access passes.)

Instead, the park put on Nightfall Glow. We easily got front row spots about half an hour before. (At this point, it had stopped raining.) It’s a short parade, with only four floats, but it’s pretty- especially if the water on the ground is built up enough to reflect the lights from the floats.



After that, we visited the castle to see Cinderella’s Fairy Tale Hall, which has dioramas re-telling the story of Cinderella and some other fun features, like Gus and Jaq popping out of the wall and the throne. This is an excellent place to go in the rain (which had just picked up again), as evidenced by how crowded it was compared to the rest of the park.



We spent the remainder of the night in and near Toon Town, which was practically empty. We went on Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, which had a short 10 minute wait. We hit up on Gadget’s Go Coaster, the kid coaster. We walked a bit around the play areas, since they weren’t swarmed by kids like they were earlier in the day. And then we went on Pooh’s Hunny Hunt again because the wait was short and why not?

At that point it was park closing time, so we made our way back to the front of the park to transfer to our next hotel: MiraCosta.

 

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 3: Checking into MiraCosta

I do not recommend what we did, but at the time, it made sense to us.

To get to MiraCosta, we got on a bus to the Ambassador Hotel, and then we walked to MiraCosta. In our defense, the walk was only about 15-20 minutes and just over half a mile. We understood the bus system and knew we could walk that. We had not tried the monorail and didn’t want to attempt it at night and get stranded. We later learned on Day 5 that the monorail was incredibly easy and super cute. That said, our method did work just fine.



When we arrived to MiraCosta, we felt super out of place. MiraCosta- I sound like a broken record- is GORGEOUS. It’s themed after Italian ports and has over-the-top theming, with It is one of the nicest hotels I’ve stayed at. Definitely the nicest Disney hotel I’ve stayed at. And here we are rolling in with squeaky shoes and dried off from the rain.



We checked in for our two-night stay. The cost was $856 (plus whatever portion of the $230 deposit). The staff checking us in was phenomenal and we felt zero judgement for our appearance or that we were checking in so late. He explained where the different shops and restaurants were and where our room was and that our luggage would be waiting for us in our room, and off we went.

The room… look, I took some pictures, I don’t think words do it justice. It is punch-you-in-your-face thematic. The wallpaper. The carpet. The pillows. The tapestries. The CEILING! This is the stuff I want in US parks, not the “everything is white” trend that’s going on. I can stay at a Holiday Inn anywhere; where else can I get this kind of room?






Our specific view wasn’t of the park- those rooms weren’t available when we booked- but our view was still pretty nice. I don’t think the courtyard was actually accessible, so it’s literally just there for the guests to look at.



Like the Ambassador, we were provided toothbrushes and other toiletries, this time in little tin cases. We also got MiraCosta branded reusable bags for our trip. And of course we were given pajamas and slippers.

It was off to bed to get some sleep before another fun day at Tokyo DisneySea.

 

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 4: Welcome Back to Tokyo DisneySea

Since we were staying at MiraCosta, we had another day of early entry. Once again, this meant entry into the park 15 minutes before the official opening. And once again, we blew it on meeting the characters. What can I say- I’m a sucker for character meets. But where else can I see Clarice?

Besides, we still made it to Journey to the Center of the Earth just as the park officially opened. We didn’t have to wait at all for our first ride, and only waited about 20 minutes for a second re-ride. (And most of that waiting was spent right before the elevator part.) This is the ride in the volcano Mount Prometheus in the center of Tokyo DisneySea. Per the ride title, you go on a trip to the center of the Earth, coming across many kinds of creatures- including one pretty large animatronic. This is a slot car ride like Test Track and Radiator Springs Racers, but I think this is more “thrilling.”



We then went on Nemo & Friends SeaRider, which is a simulator ride that “shrinks” you down to the size of a fish so you can see the sea life. It’s cute, though I’m sure we missed a lot since it was all in Japanese. (Again, understandably so!) The line for this seemed annoyingly long, though I don’t think we waited more than 30 minutes. It’s probably because it’s a show, so there’s a lot of movement, and then no movement.

Since we were so close and the wait was non-existent, we tried out Aquatopia, a trackless water ride. Though it’s not necessarily a “you-will-get-wet” water ride. In our case, we got maybe some light splashing- definitely less than we got from the rain and not enough that I would qualify it as a water ride. I have heard over the hottest parts of summer that they turn up the jets on one side so you will get wet. I actually really liked this ride. There are two sides, and each side has a variety of different paths your hovercar can take. We ended up going on this three times since there was no wait, and we ended up on a different path every time.



We got a quick snack of milk chocolate popcorn, which was okay, but nothing too exciting. We also got soy sauce popcorn, which seemed lightly flavored. Again, nothing too exciting, but I liked this.

We explored a bit of the American Waterfront before making our way to Tower of Terror.

 

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 4: Tower of Terror and Surprise Encounters

I had been on three Towers before the Tokyo version: Hollywood Studios, California Adventure (Guardians of the Galaxy version), and Walt Disney Studios (Paris). The plot for this is still in the scary side like HS and WDS, but has a distinctly different story. Instead of being set in the Twilight Zone, the tower is called Hotel Hightower, and was built by the adventure Harrison Hightower, III. Hightower had a penchant for collecting artifacts from his different adventures- including artifacts he should have left alone. At some point, he stole an idol and was cursed. After mocking the idol’s curse, he took the elevator in the tower, and ended up plunging to his… well, I suppose death, though his body was never found.

Guests of the ride are going on a tour of the hotel. The queue is packed with different “artifacts” and portraits of Hightower. There’s a pre-show where Hightower’s spirit comes back to warn the guests to get out and that the curse is real. And then of course none of the guests listen and we all end up on an elevator and get dropped like Hightower was.

Oh, and another fun thing: Hightower is physically modeled off of Joe Rohde.




I still personally prefer the Mission Breakout version (I know, blasphemy), but this is a worthy version and makes it a “do not miss” (if at all possible).

There was a fun surprise after we exited the gift shop: Donald and Daisy were doing meet and greets! Like the morning meet and greets, there were no lines for this- you were basically at the whim of whether the character would choose to interact with you (and the whims of everyone else crowding around). But thankfully we were able to meet with them both. Gosh, I love how sassy they let the characters be. Daisy took our phone to take her own selfie. It was adorable.



We also noticed ShellieMay had a meeting area and was seeing guests, but we skipped that.

Instead of having a proper lunch, we bought more popcorn and an ukiwa bun shaped like Mickey. The bun was shaped like Mickey and contained chicken and was VERY filling on its own, so I’m glad we split it. The popcorn we got this time around was garlic shrimp and berry cheesecake- very different flavors! I loved the berry cheesecake flavor. The garlic shrimp popcorn was also a hit, even though it seemed very strange of a flavor.

Filled with snacks and a bit overheated from the weather, we headed back to MiraCosta for a quick break.

 

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 4: Taking a Break Before Meeting Duffy

MiraCosta is in Tokyo DisneySea. Not just next to it, but in it. There is a separate entrance area you can use, which makes it extremely easy to pop in and out during the day. (Note that we did not use this for early entry- our understanding was that it’s only available at or after official park opening.) In retrospect, we probably should have planned our visit so that we did Disneyland while at the Ambassador and DisneySea while at MiraCosta, but we had opted for every-other-days (day 1 DL, day 2 DS, day 3 DL, etc.) to have a balance in case some emergency happened that would have cut our trip short.

I am very much a rope drop to park close person, but I have to admit- it felt kinda nice and luxurious to pop into our room for a break. Maybe the next time we go to Disneyland we’ll stay at the Grand Californian!

We took an hour or so break in our room and changed. (It was SO hot, I needed fresh clothing!)

We also visited MickeyAngelo (ha), the gift shop. There were not many merchandise options here. A few hotel-specific items (exclusive plush and bags), some 40th merchandise. Most of the items here were consumables.

Then it was back through our private entrance for the remainder of the day.

Once we got back into the park, we wandered over to the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge to see if they had openings. This was a location that I couldn’t seem to book in advance- it was constantly full. They didn’t have any at that moment, but they were able to find a spot a few hours from then.

In the meantime, we decided to finally go and meet Duffy.

Prior to meeting Duffy, I had purchased LinaBell ears and a LinaBell plush and a bunch of Duffy and friends plush badges. Basically, I was ALL IN on Duffy, even though I hadn’t met him yet.

The wait for Duffy was 45 minutes. It felt like we went SO SLOW.

But then… we got to meet Duffy.

And it was not a disappointment. Obviously, like all similar characters, Duffy doesn’t talk, but the cast members did a great job with communicating. We “talked” about LinaBell and how great of a detective she is and how nice the Cape Cod area was at DisneySea.

Seriously, what were we THINKING when the US parks got rid of Duffy? He and his friends are so merchandisable and it would be so easy to bring them in for meet and greets and a character dining experience.