Disneyland Japan is, basically, the same as Disneyland in California but bigger, newer and more crowded. We didn't really manage our time there as best we might as we haven't been to a Disneyland of any description for about 8 years. Will found a ride he wanted to go on (Pirates of the Caribbean) and we were able to get onto it pretty quickly. But we soon realised that the fastest way to get on to any ride was to use the FastPass option. This basically allows you to book a time when you can access the ride, and allows you to generally walk straight on while the general punters line up for an hour or two in the standby queue.
We all booked in for Big Thunder Mountain and then went looking for Will's other preference, Space Mountain. This popular ride, at 11 am, was booked out until around 8pm; not a time when we had any intention of still being in the park. So that option wasn't looking too good. A bit of wandering around, riding on the Mark Twain Riverboat and it seemed like time for lunch.
My brother had asked me to try to get him something so we found the shops and decided on a quick hot dog before continuing. Will and I then went off to look around when the 2014 Tokyo Earthquake hit. We had entered a shop only to find the sales assistant yelling at everyone in Japanese and gesturing for them to get down. It took me a few moments to realise that something had happened and we figured it was an earthquake though we hadn't felt a thing.
We couldn't find what we were looking for and went back to Robyn who said we had felt it quite easily and was rather amazed that we didn't feel a thing. We later found out that it was measured at 5.6 which is sizeable. It's just odd that neither Will nor I felt anything. "No sense, no feeling", something like that.
The crowds at Disneyland
After lunch we decided to check out the Space Mountain ride only to find out it had stopped because of the earthquake. I was glad I wasn't inside when that had happened but I suspect the quake had less shaking than the actual roller-coaster ride. A short time, after a bit of aimless wandering around we arrived back at Space Mountain just as they were opening up again. Will and I decided to risk waiting in the standby line - even though before the quake the wait had been 130 minutes and now nothing was showing on the monitors - Robyn wandered off to look at the shops.
After 30 minutes in the bottom queue and then another 25 at the top and another 15 minutes inside the ride we were finally seated. And five minutes later we were out again. Seems like a lot of effort for not much reward. So we decided to treat ourselves to a Mickey Mouse burger. Might as well eat the company emblem when you get the chance.
Mickey Mouse burger
Robyn had lost her ticket for Big Thunder Mountain sometime during the day which was probably a good thing. Will and I got through on the FastPass line and thought that one was the best of the day. Rob would have hated it.
We headed back to the station for the ride home hoping that the ATM there would provide us with some cash. But no luck. We brought over some cash from Australia but that had now nearly run out and we were struggling to find any ATMs which would accept the Commonwealth Bank Travel card we'd loaded with yen. Added to that we'd found that Will's laptop didn't fit the Japanese plug adapter we'd brought with us, so we were encountering a few difficulties (hence some delays in writing blog entries).
By the time we got back to our apartment we were exhausted. A quick change of clothes and we headed out to a small cafe at the base of the apartment complex for a quick bite to eat. We had heard that the owner was from Melbourne and had just opened the place and we were lucky to find him behind the counter. A few questions later and we had all the details we needed: where to get money (he'd had the same problem when he moved to Tokyo) and where to buy a new power adapter.
Our feet hurt, Will's knees hurt, and we were exhausted. But the day had turned out well in the end - we hoped.
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