The first thing we did wrong is not stay at a Disney Resort since our sole purpose of going was Disney. We were being economical, so we stayed at an Army MWR facility called Hardy Barracks in Roppongi, which is a bustling district of Tokyo. Roppongi itself was fantastic. And Hardy Barracks was great - a short 5-minute walk to two different metro stations, lots of dining options and tons of shopping, huge rooms, and only $45 a night! Military peeps reading this, I highly recommend Hardy Barracks...just not if you're doing Tokyo Disney with kids under 5. It took us an hour to get to the park every day and we had to take 3 different trains (4 on the day we went to Disney Sea and had to take the Disney train). And the metro system in Tokyo is odd - lots of walking between platforms. One stop required that we walk 800 meters just to switch platforms. So with preschoolers and no stroller, that meant one of two things: a) kids were pretty much worn out from walking by the time we reached the park or b) Mom's and Dad's backs were broken from carrying kids. It just wasn't ideal. Spend the money - stay at the park or one of the partner hotels if you are doing the Disney thing.
Mistake number two: We went on a weekend. I hadn't given it much thought when I booked it. It was what worked for us and it was not during the Japanese school break, which was in March and April, so I thought it would be fine. I was wrong. Very wrong. It seemed like everyone in Japan was at Disney that weekend. We arrived at Disney Land on Saturday at around 9:30, went to the FastPass machine for the Monsters Inc ride and got passes for 9:45 p.m. They were sold out 2 minutes later. And that's how it went for every single ride. Lines at everything were 90+ minutes. The entire park was so crowded - with adults wearing obnoxious hats - that we just felt herded and stifled the entire day. We rode 4 rides and at 5:30, the kids were done and were begging to leave. So we took the hour train ride back to Roppongi and ate dinner at Hard Rock Tokyo. Then we went back to the room and Alan and I drank beer while the kids watched a movie. And we talked about how much of a nightmare the day was. We were going to need more beer, especially if tomorrow was going to be the same story.
Sunday, we headed to Disney Sea. This day was much better - probably mostly due to the fact that we found and rented two strollers. Disney Sea did not seem as crowded as the other park. But we were also more willing to take on the lines that day. The first thing we did was wait 2 hours to ride the Toy Story Mania ride (because at 9 a.m. the Fast Passes were sold out). We were able to split it up, I took Adam in search of a popcorn bucket and a new flavor of popcorn (it's a "thing" there) while Alan and the twins held our spot, then Alan took them to the bathroom and to stretch their legs while we held the spot. It went by pretty quickly and the ride was definitely worth it. The kids loved it. We rode a bunch of rides that day and even saw the virtual, talking Crush show in Japanese (same one they do at Disney World). Awesome. I took this video before they made me shut off my camera:
Here are some "memories" made...Pardon my incorrect grammar during the boat ride. Yes, I know I should have said "There ARE nothing but grown-ups", but it cannot be changed. It is what it is...
