Truett and Theo go to Tokyo | Disneyland

So the real reason why we went to Tokyo was for some of this.

I was talking with my mom the other day and she was like “every trip you take is all about disney, don’t you ever get bored…you should visit new places” and I’m like “you say it like it’s a bad thing but if every trip I took had a bit of disney magic in it, I’d be happy. Besides, this Disney is a new place.”

Tokyo has been on my radar ever since Tokyo Disneysea opened and I’ve been hearing amazing things about Tokyo’s parks. My only hesitation was the language issue, not just that I don’t understand Japanese but because having all these Disney characters speak in Japanese would severely burst my Disney bubble. It’s like this one time when I made the kids watch Disney Junior in Mandarin (dual sound for the win!) so they’d be exposed to the language and they were utterly horrified. They couldn’t speak for several minutes and they stared at the tv like their little dreams had been crushed. Finally, Kirsten said “this is wrong, make it stop saying Chinese things.”

I’m happy to say that the language thing isn’t really a dealbreaker after all. Maybe it’s because we’ve been hearing people speak in Japanese for 4 days prior so there was some level of conditioning there but Tokyo Disneyland definitely manages to keep the magic magical. The only thing is that we had to skip most of the shows. As for general conversations with cast members, a combination of English words and gestures worked really well.

So what’s great about Tokyo Disneyland?

Theming. The theming at Tokyo Disneyland was excellent, and in many cases, superior to the parks in both Orlando and Anaheim. The attention to detail was remarkable – all the little details were executed to perfection and the parks were incredibly well maintained. Most of the lands were similar to Magic Kingdom but with a slightly different spin. I think they took the theme and really ran with it.

Also, characters. There were the usual characters but in fun new costumes, as well as really rare characters that we didn’t get a chance to interact with in the US parks.

We were walking past It’s A Small World when next to me, a familiar tune from Snow White started playing and the 7 dwarfs came marching out. They were all there, all 7 of them. They marched out, danced a bit and just hung out with the guests, taking photos and signing autographs.

We met Dopey, Doc, Grumpy, Bashful, Sneezy, Happy and Sleepy. That’s one item off my Disney bucket list right there.

Oh, why yes, I do have a Disney bucket list and I’ll share some of them with you.

• Bring all my kids to Disney (Finn’s first Disney experience coming up soon-ish!!)
• Spend a night in Cinderella’s Castle.
• Stay for The Kiss Goodnight Closing Announcement.
• Ride on a parade float.
• Visit all the Disney parks (I’m short of Paris!).
• Dinner at Club 33 and drinks at 1901 Lounge.
• Break the high score record on Toy Story Midway Mania.
• Shoot hoops from Matterhorn Basketball Court.

This experience to Tokyo Disneyland wasn’t like our usual all out commando Disney trips. With baby Theo along with us, we took things a lot easier and slower. No rope drop queues or mad dashes around the park. The husband went with Truett on all the crazy rides while I mostly sat on pretty benches to nurse my baby, just watching the magic unfold and soaking up the fairy dust. Selfies with my baby. Watching him get to know the parks I’m so in love with.

It was really nice. I think maybe I’ll mix things up a bit on future disney trips and do this a little more.