It wasn’t too hard getting everyone out the door on time but with the carrot of “Disney” seemed to help. After last nights walk with the suitcases from the closest JR Station, it was decided to catch a local train to that station. The local line is the Shin Keisei traveling from our local station, Minoridai through to Yabashira. The fare was Y150 (A$1.90) to go one station which is about 1 km but it saved 20 minutes of walking. I think we will get a bit in today.
Onto the JR train at Shin-Yahashira and we were on our way to Disney. The train was a little full but not sardines and we got a chance to see where we traveled last night in the dark. On arrival at Maihama, the crowds were starting to get bigger and today was supposedly a quiet day with around 32000 in the Disney Parks. We still got a 900 metre walk in from the train station to the DisneySea entrance. Walking along the roadway, you could have thought you were in California with the palm trees and the monorail and very US style Disney Hotels.
On entering into the main courtyard we were wondering whether we had stumbled into Universal Studios as they have a large rotating Earth in the middle. From here you pass through an enclosed entry mall with shops lining each side then it expands into a large Mediterranean Sea with a volcano and Da Vinci’s Castle on the volcano slopes. The stand out attraction at this point is the “Tower of Terror” although we never ventured on it today.
The rides were similar to the US Disney except that all instructions and speaking was in Japanese. It was just like going to the opera I expect but I have never been to the opera. There is also a lot of bowing and waving and smiling. It seems to be the happiest place on earth.
It must be the healthiest place on earth as there seemed to be a distinct lack of the signature face masks you see everywhere around here. Something on those facemasks. I would suggest that wearing them would be ineffective as the sides are not sealed so air is going to take the path of least resistance and come in bringing the germs. The only thing the masks will stop is if someone directly coughed on your face and not sure that that would happen much.
We spent the day going from ride to performance to ride. The rides were not extreme as others we have been on such as 6 Flags in the US. They weren’t even a problem with me as supposedly I have a heart condition 😉
We were certainly the minority with us and a few other Westerners in the Park. It was a good day but it got very cold around 2:30pm even though the sun was still shining. It is easy to forget that it is winter over here.
The wind this afternoon had an effect on the big presentations with the “Happiest Celebration on the Sea” being modified and the “Fantasmic” being cancelled. It was then a mass migration out of the Park with closing time at 7pm.
We were now going to experience what sardines experience in their can. It was still peak hour on the transit system so the trains were coming into Maihama full then we were jammed in as well. We had 8 stops to our station, Shin-Yahashira and around half an hour. From Maihama it is the Keiyo Line which changes to the Musashino Line at Nishi-Funabashi. It is a very quiet time with those sitting mostly asleep and everyone standing on their phones.
One more short train ride on the local Shin Keisei line and we were back at our station, Minoridai. I had managed to break the kids as they were tired, hungry and grumpy. They wanted to find a restaurant for tea but I knew that once we got back to the apartment there was no going out again. Luckily there is a Hello Mart on the short walk so into there and grab some quick items for tea. We met up with the Filipino teacher Jenny befriended last night. Yamie has now met the whole family. Shopping is interesting here with everything in Japanese but a lot of things have photos on them.
Everyone was up for a sleep-in tomorrow so sumo will be postponed for a day.
My steps for the day are 18000, no wonder the feet, legs and back are screaming a little.
