Japan - Day 7 (Tokyo Disneyland)

Disney Day!!!!

                        

I should back up.  We are staying at a really nice hotel called the New Sanno Hotel. 

It is owned and run by the armed services and falls under the navy.  So they operate with US currency and they have restaurants with American food.  It's such a nice break to have familiar food and have the menus in English so we know what we are getting.  The first thing we had were hamburgers.

So, on to our Disney day.  We took the subway and then the train.  They call the train the "JR" which stands for Japan Railroad.  Most often they run info about the train stops in Japanese, but they follow in English - thank goodness.  If not, we would have to count stops.  We boarded the subway at about 8:30 and let me say, it reminded me of seeing how many people you could get in a Volkswagen. We were as squished as we could possibly be on this subway, then another 15 people would shove and push their way through the doors.  This happened stop after stop.  We were on it for 8 stops.  You didn't need to really hold on because you couldn't move, so I thought.  Then the brakes went on and everyone shuffled and smashed even more so into others. Then of course we got the giggles because it was all so surreal. It was a rush hour I don't care to repeat.

Then we transferred to the JR and took that right to Disneyland. 

I took this picture because it's the day my

mother was born, November 18, 1928.  The same

date as Mickey Mouse.

This is their version of main street.

The day was perfect weather.  It was about 70 with a little breeze once in a while.  It wasn't too crowded. 

The Japanese schools just went back in session last week.  There were a bunch of school kids who were probably in middle school.  All kids wear uniforms.  They are all black or navy blue.  The boys have suits and ties and the girls have mostly pleated skirts, white blouses, jackets and some sort of bow or tie around their necks.  So they came there in uniform.  They were divided into groups of 3 or 4 kids of the same gender.  I guess they each have an assignment.  One is in charge of the schedule, one is I charge of the money, one is in charge of the memories (taking pictures and documenting memories is very important to their culture) and I can't remember what else they are in charge of.

We went on the usual rides, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, then Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Small World,etc.  Everything was in Japanese and the Jungle Cruise was pretty funny to listen to in Japanese. 

Of course there was the castle...

...and Mickey and Minnie looking like Easter eggs.

We stayed about 6 hours.  We never had to wait over 15 minutes, if that.  All the ride operators and other workers were again so happy to be there.

Kyle didn't go with us; he toured on his own and went to the Tokyo dome for a baseball game.
Every day we pass little kids walking down the street to school.  I'm talking 1st and 2nd grade kids walking by themselves getting on buses and subways.  The little boys have short shorts on and the little girls wear skirts to their knees.  They all have white shirts and of course coats.  They are very clean and tidy. These little kids have "Madeline" type hats and are so cute.

All the men wear black suits and the women do too.  So it's a sea of dark, formal clothing on the trains and subways.