Reporter: Hey Topper Harley, now that you've killed the bad guy and made the world safe for democracy, what are you going to do to cash in on your new found fame?
Topper Harley: I'm goin' to Disneyland.
Yes, today we went to the Magic Kingdom, or is that the Evil Empire... I'm a confused gen Xer.
After waking up at a reasonable hour (we are supposed to be on holidays remember!) we got ready and went to Jonathan's for breakfast. Jonathan's is a family restaurant chain akin to Denny's, so we knew we could get some more normal food. Me, Dean and Whitney got a toasted bacon sandwich,, while mum got the egg and bacon set, and Conrad got the scrambled egg set. Fortunatlely Jonathan's had a machine, because I think I've had just about as much watery drip filtered coffee as I can take. After munging down and paying we headed to Tokyo Station. I had read on the net that you could buy Disneyland tickets from the station office at Tokyo central, so I tried asking the guy. I didn't work because first he tried giving me directions to some restaurants down stairs, then to the platfrom we needed to take there. I got a little frustrated, and if I had wifi access I would have just used the translation app that I have, but with no free wifi around, I had to get Whitney to ask. She soon got to the heart of the matter, with the young guy telling us that it was actually cheaper to buy the tickets at the gate, and that we should just get the train tickets there. So after doing so, we then walked about 600m towards the right platform. Tokyo station is fairly big, with over 24 platforms on various subterranean levels. We walked to the Musashino line which took us to Maihama station, a short walk from the entry gate. 5800Y poorer and I was in.
Up until now, I had been trying to convince Dean that it wouldn't be that bad, but after getting it, I realised that Disneyland would be the same the world over. Targetted at idealistic under 5's, and girls who never grew up. It was good for doing a spot of people watching though, as there were stacks of people there. After a brief meander through the gift shops at the front of the park, we came to Tomorrowland. We went on a Star Tours "ride", but in reality it was 35mins waiting in line for a 4 min Star Wars based flight simulator. I was a bit ho-hum by this stage, and I didn't really get out of that all day.
Not much to report other than we spent the next 8 hours or so wandering between the various areas of the park. We waited for ages in line for the Gadget's Go-Coaster (Gadget from Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers), but after minute it was all over. Maybe I'm just "hard-core" because my car goes from 0-100km/h in 3secs and could probably pull 2G's in the corners, but a mini rollercoaster the does a couple of banked corners and doesn't go over 50km/h isn't really scary. That pretty much sums up the whole park. It was designed to impress 5 year olds. If I was 5 again, I would have loved it, but when you are quite a bit older it's not very interesting. Perhaps if I was taking a lady friend along, it would be a different story, but for the most part, there isn't a lot that would appeal to anyone that wasn't taking kids along.
We were there until nearly 7pm, when Whitney had enough. Now it was my time to be selfish. I wanted to go to Super Autobacs which was only a transfer and 2 stops away. Really, I was looking at parts for my car, and if I had planned it better I would have liked it more. But for the meantime, I'll just have to order stuff over the net, because they didn't have the brake pads that I wanted instock/available for shipping back to Australia.
It was now nearly 8 o'clock so after dragging ourselves back to Tokyo station, we headed for the Genki Sushi place at the end of Yaesu Mall. We had been here last year as well, and the quality of the sushi couldn't be faulted. We were all starving, having not eaten since about 12pm Disney time, so we gorged ourselves on seared Salmon, scallops, eel and anything else we felt like.
Our feet were tired so after they said last orders, we paid our bill and headed back to the hotel, via the Lawson's Station convenience store. We got some ice cream to go (their own brand rum n raisin is quite nice) and went back to our hotel room for a quick soiree. It didn't last very long though, because with all of us being on our feet all day, we needed sleep.... Dean's currently snoring like a diesel tractor, and Conrad has passed out for the evening. I'm about to do the same, so for now, it's zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
Topper Harley: I'm goin' to Disneyland.
Yes, today we went to the Magic Kingdom, or is that the Evil Empire... I'm a confused gen Xer.
After waking up at a reasonable hour (we are supposed to be on holidays remember!) we got ready and went to Jonathan's for breakfast. Jonathan's is a family restaurant chain akin to Denny's, so we knew we could get some more normal food. Me, Dean and Whitney got a toasted bacon sandwich,, while mum got the egg and bacon set, and Conrad got the scrambled egg set. Fortunatlely Jonathan's had a machine, because I think I've had just about as much watery drip filtered coffee as I can take. After munging down and paying we headed to Tokyo Station. I had read on the net that you could buy Disneyland tickets from the station office at Tokyo central, so I tried asking the guy. I didn't work because first he tried giving me directions to some restaurants down stairs, then to the platfrom we needed to take there. I got a little frustrated, and if I had wifi access I would have just used the translation app that I have, but with no free wifi around, I had to get Whitney to ask. She soon got to the heart of the matter, with the young guy telling us that it was actually cheaper to buy the tickets at the gate, and that we should just get the train tickets there. So after doing so, we then walked about 600m towards the right platform. Tokyo station is fairly big, with over 24 platforms on various subterranean levels. We walked to the Musashino line which took us to Maihama station, a short walk from the entry gate. 5800Y poorer and I was in.
Up until now, I had been trying to convince Dean that it wouldn't be that bad, but after getting it, I realised that Disneyland would be the same the world over. Targetted at idealistic under 5's, and girls who never grew up. It was good for doing a spot of people watching though, as there were stacks of people there. After a brief meander through the gift shops at the front of the park, we came to Tomorrowland. We went on a Star Tours "ride", but in reality it was 35mins waiting in line for a 4 min Star Wars based flight simulator. I was a bit ho-hum by this stage, and I didn't really get out of that all day.
Not much to report other than we spent the next 8 hours or so wandering between the various areas of the park. We waited for ages in line for the Gadget's Go-Coaster (Gadget from Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers), but after minute it was all over. Maybe I'm just "hard-core" because my car goes from 0-100km/h in 3secs and could probably pull 2G's in the corners, but a mini rollercoaster the does a couple of banked corners and doesn't go over 50km/h isn't really scary. That pretty much sums up the whole park. It was designed to impress 5 year olds. If I was 5 again, I would have loved it, but when you are quite a bit older it's not very interesting. Perhaps if I was taking a lady friend along, it would be a different story, but for the most part, there isn't a lot that would appeal to anyone that wasn't taking kids along.
We were there until nearly 7pm, when Whitney had enough. Now it was my time to be selfish. I wanted to go to Super Autobacs which was only a transfer and 2 stops away. Really, I was looking at parts for my car, and if I had planned it better I would have liked it more. But for the meantime, I'll just have to order stuff over the net, because they didn't have the brake pads that I wanted instock/available for shipping back to Australia.
It was now nearly 8 o'clock so after dragging ourselves back to Tokyo station, we headed for the Genki Sushi place at the end of Yaesu Mall. We had been here last year as well, and the quality of the sushi couldn't be faulted. We were all starving, having not eaten since about 12pm Disney time, so we gorged ourselves on seared Salmon, scallops, eel and anything else we felt like.
Our feet were tired so after they said last orders, we paid our bill and headed back to the hotel, via the Lawson's Station convenience store. We got some ice cream to go (their own brand rum n raisin is quite nice) and went back to our hotel room for a quick soiree. It didn't last very long though, because with all of us being on our feet all day, we needed sleep.... Dean's currently snoring like a diesel tractor, and Conrad has passed out for the evening. I'm about to do the same, so for now, it's zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
That sounds like a repeat of HK Disneyland. Yes, they are the same the world over. You've proved it for me.
ReplyDeleteand I can claim Gen X, being only 7 months overtime, you are 2 1/2 years. You are Gen Y - spendthrift!!!! He he he. Loving hearing about stuff.