Why I Oughta...

Since my trip to the Tokyo Disney Resort, I've posted a bunch of times showing some of the  highlights and items that I brought back home including this pin marking the 35th Anniversary Celebration of the resort and the latest versions of the two park maps  and the resort-specific bandaids - which I love.  But none of the things that I brought home top this:  the fleece Winnie the Pooh Bear blanket or cape or shawl with a hood.  My middle child has a snuggle pal of Pooh Bear that she adores and after seeing this, I couldn't come home without it.    I mean...come on, right?  Just 'adorbies', as she says.  Nat took this photo and I couldn't help but share it here on the blog. I found this product photo on this ebay listing that shows how it lays out: Those dots are snaps that bring it together in the front.  I think they technically list it as a 'wearable blanket', but I'd rather call it a cape.  They had a bunch of ch...

If you've been to a Disney Park here in the US, you can't swing your double stroller around in a store like the Emporium on MainStreet USA without seeing some form of merchandise with the name of the park on it.  There's shirts and mugs with Magic Kingdom on them.  There's tons of items with Epcot Center on it - including some vintage logo things like hats.  Same with Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.  Then there's all the merchandise that have the opening year of the entire resort on them like WDW '71. But, one of the things that I noticed during my trips to the Tokyo parks was that there isn't a lot of stuff that they sell that actually has the name of the parks/resort on the merchandise.  There's ONE shirt that I found - a plain grey shirt with blue words on it that has the park names on it in each of Land and Sea parks.  No kids clothes with the name of the resort/parks what so ever. What they DO have is what I'd describe as character-foc...

I've now been on three different Pirates of the Caribbean rides in three different parks.  The first one I ever rode was down in Walt Disney World.  And it is great.  Has just one drop and what I thought was a really nice show.  But then, I rode the one in Disneyland.  Woah.  Totally different and ummm...better?  Like, first there's the pre-pre show.  The whole seeing the boats come around the Blue Bayou restaurant into the loading area.  Then the whole bayou scene with the guy playing the banjo and the fireflies buzzing around.  Then the drops.  There's more than one!  That was nuts to me. And now I have these (admittedly) blurry photos of the Pirates of the Carribbean at Tokyo Disneyland.  The reason they are all blurry is that there are tons of signs advising one to NOT take photos on the rides and so I wasn't sure what to do.  I was worried about the brightness being seen from my phone screen on the ride, so ...

The two resorts at the Tokyo Disney Resort are connected with a Monorail that circles the property.  It makes a stop at a train station in between the two parks and to be honest, I've only been on this monorail twice and both times I did the same route:  DisneySea Station --> Disneyland Station.  So, I'm not totally sure where else it runs to and how long the route is, but I thought I'd share my experience. The trip between the two parks is a really nice experience and one that is totally on-theme.  You exit DisneySea and head out to the station.  Buying your one-way ticket at a machine, then you get through the turnstiles and head upstairs to the platform.  A few minutes later...the monorail arrives. And it is full of Mickey Heads.  The outside windows are Mickeys. And so are the handles you use when you are stuck standing as the train moves. Pretty simple, but adds so much to the experience. There was this one last touch in the ...

I came home with a bunch of stuff for the kids from my visit to both Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disneysea including pins and easter stuff , but above you see both park maps.  I'm writing this post to go along with the deposit I'm making in my 'stash box'. Having gone to these two parks was on my Disney Bucket list and having gone to them both, I can now check them off.  Into the stash box they go, with this reminder of why they're there. It isn't used for the 'stash' you're probably thinking of, but rather is just a collection of my personal effects and items that I've come across and accumulated over the years.  Everything from race medals to cufflinks that were given to me as a gift to a bunch of lapel pins (fraternity, secret service cleared, etc).  There's a few paper items in there as well.  And now, it will include these maps.  Speaking of my stash box, I think it might be time to upgrade it in size.  Having a small one has been...

I stayed at Tokyo Disneyland until late in the evening and long enough to see their main nighttime parade called " Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights ".  We've seen the the "Main Street Electrical Parade" at WDW and we've seen "Paint the Night" parade at DLR and this is kind of a combination of both of those things.  And because of that, it is awesome.  You get all the lights and action from "Paint the Night", but you get Baroque Hoedown blasting over the speakers .  (go ahead...click that link and listen to the song.  It transports you, like it does me???) Above you see the Casey Jr. train float with Mickey, Minnie and Goof on it.  (You'll also note the 2 dudes snapping vertical video/photos.  C'mon man.  Landscape mode, dudes.  Landscape mode!) And below you see the photo, the first float is lead by the Blue Fairy from Pinnochio.  And then is followed by the locomotive and big drum you see above.  Those are fl...

Last week, I posted a photo of the Tokyo DisneySea pin that I picked up on my trip there for one of the girl's collection.  Today, here's the companion Tokyo Disneyland pin for the other girl.  They're very close in terms of looks and this was, as far as I could tell the only version of the park-centric pins that were available.  (at least in the store I was in at DisneySea) The cards on these are plastic, so that's a big difference between these Tokyo Disney pins and the domestic ones sold in the US parks.  Also, the backs are quite different as each of these has the specific park listed on the backs, which is kind of neat.  I bought another pin (non-park-specific) and that back is different than these, so I'm thinking that the park-specific ones have their own stamped backs.