Tokyo Disneyland

I never get sick of Tokyo's Disney Resort. Today I visited Tokyo Disneyland for the second time since I've been in Japan. This is the fourth visit to the Resort - twice now to Disneyland, once to Disneysea and once to Ikspiari (on-site shopping centre).

I went with friends and colleagues Jacob, Brooke and Pip. It's the first time I've been with other people but it was good though. Think it best to go alone the first time then you can spend as little or as long as you like exploring various aspects.

The thing that fascinates me most about the Disney experience is how slick they run their operations. Every piece of detail is worked out. The staff are highly trained, know what they're doing and most importantly are customer focused. There are so many things going on at one time, and the resources in a human and capital sense to make these things happen is impressive.

Anyway, about today's adventure. We set off for Chiba Prefecture/State just after the birds woke up this morning and were park side for the 9.00 am opening.

Here is a map of Tokyo Disneyland. We explored the park in clockwise to begin with and then backtracked to things we wanted to see again. Click on the the map for more information.





We spent just on 12 hours at Disneyland. Sounds like a long day but time surely flies when you're having fun.

The three highlights of our visit were the two parades and one of the shows. The grand fire works display was cancelled due to wind. Below are some pictures of each as well as links to the Disney web pages where you can find more information.


Disney Dreams on Parade Moving On

One Man's Dream II - The Magic Lives On

Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights

Sun setting on a great holiday

Today marks the end of my holiday and the start of work again.

It's been great to have a whole nine days off in a row.

As previous posts in my blog indicate, the main reason for this break was because Jacob was arriving. He's now safely settled into his new place, completed his work training and will be fronting his first five classes later this afternoon.

Work is pretty good really. There isn't much stress. It's all well organised, everyone knows what they're doing (mostly).

I think it'd just be nice to be kind of retired - everyday a Sunday type thing.

I've just realised it's Good Friday too. Easter is something that Japan miss off the schedule completely. They don't even attempt to milk its' commercial value like they do for Christmas and Valentines. Easter isn't even in their vocabulary. Can't even buy chocolate eggs!

He has arrived!

Excitement all around yesterday morning when I met my good friend Jacob at Narita International Airport.

I did not sleep so much in the airport hotel on Tuesday night because of the excitement. Anyway, I trekked off to the airport early and he arrived through the arrivals hall just after 8:00 am.

Was great to spend all day yesterday with him. We went to a few random places but after nearly 24 hours of flying for him, one can expect him to be a tired engine.

Today we are exploring areas around Tokyo-ku and Ginza. Who knows what we will do Friday.

Still another 7 days of vacation left after today!

3 more sleeps!

It's just a few short days now until my sensational buddy Jacob arrives in Japan from Wellington, New Zealand.

When he arrives in on Wednesday morning it will be the end of a long wait for his arrival - it's been on the cards since August.

It's great news that a good friend of mine has got a job with the same company as me. I have some great friends up here but I've been hanging out for ages for a fellow kiwi to join the closer ranks.

Been busy planning for weeks. I have said to him that I've even organised a National Guard brass marching band to be on parade at the airport for his arrival this Wednesday. I'm a bit worried I'm not going to be able to pull it off as planned and am fearing being seen as some sort of let down by him. Never mind, I'm more than confident I'll be able to make his arrival equally as welcoming with my other plans.

Jacob's arrival also marks the start of 9 days holiday for me!