Tokyo Disney Sea

I would say "magical", but that would be repeating myself...

But it really is its own brand of magical...

Imagine all the best parts of Epcot and MGM and throw in the perfection of the Japanese culture and you can get a fuzzy image of the detail that is DisneySea. You actually are transported to the inside of a volcano, you might as well be looking out on the Atlantic from the Maine Coast instead of Tokyo Bay from reclaimed land, and if an Italian village is actually that charming, I wanna relocate there right now.

In true Tokyo irony, Evan, Christine and I woke up early to try and leave by 9:00 to get to the park, but the impending typhoon had other ideas. It was pouring, Christine had overslept, and Evan and I weren't particularly optimistic about the skies clearing up. But for some crazy reason, at 10 AM, we decided we would go to the park anyway because it would probably be really empty, I was prepared like a boy scout with lots of extra layers and dry clothes, and we were only concerned that the Halloween events might get cancelled. I guess we just had our hearts set on going, and were willing to make the most out of the yucky weather.

Which is ironic, because in that hour, I was chatting with my young cousin online about the different flavors of popcorn at Disney and the fact that the pouring rain was preventing me from getting to try the strawberry.

So off we went in the rain, and I finally got to ride the Disney Monorail Resort Line. And if by "got to", I mean overpaid by about 150% for the most overpriced commodity in Shin-Urayasu. It's awesome, but I'm not sure why it costs as much to ride from the station to DisneySea as it does to ride from Shin-Urayasu to the Tokyo Dome. Lame.

But the Mickey windows and handles are pretty cool, and you get to see the layout of all the land they reclaimed from Tokyo Bay and now call Tokyo Disney Resort.

Soon we were at the entrance to Sea, and much to our chagrin they were already finished giving out FastPasses for 5 of the attractions for the day. Little did we know...

We got some wonderful photos of the globe in the rain, which feels a bit random compared to the giant ball of Epcot and Universal's signature, but then again, the water that runs over the oceans on it is pretty darn cool.

And we knew it was going to be one heck of a day when we walked under the MiraCosta hotel and right there were Mickey, Donald, PLUTO!, Chip&Dale, Jiminy Cricket and more for us to meet! We didn't have to try at all and they were staying nice and dry.

So I finally got my picture with Pluto, which as you'll see, was the only one for the day when I didn't have my Pluto ears on.

Then, as we emerged from under the hotel, you are greeted by the site of the huge lake surrounded by the castle, Mt. Prometheus (the big volcano) and of course, all of Mediterranean Harbor.

We picked up our one and only FastPass for Journey to the Center of the Earth (which is the volcano ride) and then wound down into the depths of the crater for our 5 minute wait for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. At which point I realized that it wasn't that those 5 rides from before were sold out of FastPasses, they weren't even distributing them since attendance was so low. HOLLA!

Journey is this crazy dark ride that actually makes you think you're underwater until halfway through the ride you realize you aren't underwater. Which to me is disappointing since I knew you were once upon a time in the original Disneyland. But it's still really magical and infinitely detailed and even slightly scary. Especially when you have NO IDEA what's happening because it's in Japanese. But, I mean, that's to be expected and we found that all day long...

We moved on in the rain to catch our first show, "Mystic Rhythms", starring several of our friends from E-Village. We had a little bit of time to kill, but the Indy ride line was 30 minutes, and we wanted to get a great seat for Mystic. And naturally we still hadn't figured out that NO ONE was at the park. So we had perfect 6th row center seats since we were like the 6th people in line 20 minutes before, and thus began Evan's annoyance for the day. He had bought a clear rain slicker for 500 yen once we got inside the park and his umbrella decided to completely break, and for whatever reason, on almost EVERY ride and attraction, he had to take it off. Now my regular old Columbia raincoat and everyone else's were fine, but apparently the clear ones are just too darn unacceptable for rides in Japan. (We think it had to do with getting the seats wet, etc, and they can't tell us to take off our non-Disney-purchased coats, but still.. huh??!)

Mystic is such an incredible spectacle. It's in this abandoned hangar that has a full out jungle on stage, replete with waterfall, trees, a POOL, and multiple levels. Basically think a Cirque du Soleil show in 30 minutes with every jungle creature imaginable. It was also my first "Majide?! of the day, because the show is so magical and so NOT Disney, and to me it's everything they could have done with Tarzan on Broadway. Because, if you can do that, why did you have a blow up set and retarded spider for Bway? Cuz I mean, the alligator swims, the butterfly is just freakin' cool, and there's flashpots everywhere!

We also got our first popcorn of the day, Christine's favorite: chocolate. I was happy much later when we finally got to dry the delicious (as expected) strawberry.

After the show we rode the Indy ride which was foolish on our parts to wait 30 minutes in standby when everything else was so slow, but we had a fun time staying dry. The ride is awesome and scary and has something to do with Crystal Skulls though apparently ones that have nothing to do with the recent movie. At one point, the ride shoots out this mind-blowing smoke ring from a cannon that goes right around your head. AWESOME. However, as per usual... Indy speaking Japanese? Bizarre.

From Indy we rode Raging Spirits, which only is called a rollercoaster because you go through a loop and some fog. The rest of it is so baby and kiddie coaster intense that only Disney could get away with it. To be honest, it's not even themed that well nor does it have a story. Which makes me think that DisneySea just wanted to say they have a rollercoaster. Which is dumb cuz it's not a thrilling ride.

Then we got shot out of a volcano!

And it was by far my favorite ride of the day. Journey to the Center of the Earth takes you down, down, down, then there's the coolest animatronic giant monster I've ever seen and then you are rocketed like Test Track up and out the volcano! It's pretty much one of the most unexpectedly awesome rides I've ever been on.

We got to see the beautiful and inspiring rain version of Mythica complete with Jetskis and fireworks and a smoke-breathing dragon. We got a great spot since the dancers were cut and the park was so empty, and I loved seeing Mickey 50 feet up on his tower above the water.
Tower of Terror came next since the line was a whopping 10 minutes long. They have the coolest special effect when you watch the story in the first room here. (It's a different story with some evil idol from Africa that makes the owner disappear). The stained glass windows keep changing to tell the story and this innocent idol that sits there the whole time magically disappears since it's a hologram. BUT YOU HAVE NO IDEA. It's amazing.

Which, to me is disappointing because the rest of the ride was uneventful. Even though we had prime front row seats, the tower doesn't really drop you that far, and I missed the part that's unique to Florida, where you actually go through the twilight zone and switch tracks. (Of course, it breaks down a lot more often there). But being stuck in the same elevator shaft here is just not as thrilling.... Which seemed to be the theme of the day with Raging Spirits and Tower of Terror, but NOT Journey.

As a nice break, we had delicious pasta for lunch... and BEER! Because you can drink in DisneySea! We were all super excited won the lottery to see the Halloween show in front of BBB/Tower of Terror!

Then we staked out a spot near the stage for Christine's (the other) Halloween parade, Mousequerade Dance, but we were thwarted when the rain forced them to present a character greeting instead. But we got to see the costumes and our favorite characters (and some of our friends!) again.

Then we killed time around the American Waterfront until we got to go see Big Band Beat! Which, even though I had no desire to do all day, turned out to be such a highlight and a treat. It was so special to see the magic that I'm a part of in the way our guests do. And all my friends (especially those Japanese girls) were KILLING it. Just straight up living onstage.

We unfortunately knew by the time BBB ended that we would not be using our lottery win to see the Halloween show (and all my summer party friends). While seriously bummed, what can you do when the rain takes over? So we rode Turtle Talk instead which was by far the longest and most painful ride of the day. Since it's actually a 20-minute "show", you just end up standing in line in one place for 20 minutes, which is by far the worst way to stand in line. A la Fuji Q. YUCK.

The show was just as great as I remembered from Florida, but I was disappointed that, even though it was obviously all in Japanese, Crush didn't even say "dude" or "totally" or "noggin" even once. But that animation is still one of the most magical things I've ever seen. The way he just talks right to someone and his facial expressions are PERFECT. Wow, imagineers.

Now, I'm guessing you're tired of reading this by now, which is about how we started to feel at this point in the day. A little snack of beef jerky kept us ready for our last few attractions...
Aquatopia is basically some spinning vehicles in a big waterfall maze that is almost cooler to watch than to ride. It operates on the same system as Hunny Hunt (they're the only two in the world) so I wanted to ride it out of sheer geekiness. And naturally, since the ride is supposed to be random and "different" every time, we tested it out a second time. And wouldn't you know that we got the same, IDENTICAL course through the maze except for one 5 second path! Naturally.

We also rode StormRider which is a motion simulator that takes you into a storm. It ends very anti-climactically (we think we died), we got wetter on the ride than we did outside (which is why Evan was REALLY annoyed he had to take his raincoat off again), and it seemed to fit the Japanese theme of less-than-thrilling (that Tower of Terror and Raging Spirits fell into). But we rode it!

Finally we headed over to Mermaid Lagoon to see our last show of the day (we skipped BraviSEAmo! since it would be a cut version and Evan and I both will be going back to the park again), but sadly it was 55 minutes till the next show (they have a dinner break). So we meandered through the Arabian Coast and rode the amazing double decker Carousel. We even got in trouble for standing up! Which seriously, why do they always freak out on Carousels? It's a KIDDIE ride. Who cares if you're not sitting on the horse (or Genie)?

We also had time to catch the Magic Lamp Theater show which is billed as a combination of 3D movie and live actors show featuring the Genie. Aka it's weird and bizarre and the English translation box only makes it worse. It's just really one of the strangest attractions ever from Disney and sadly, it's not very good.

But the MERMAIDS are!!!!!

Mermaid Lagoon might be one of the best shows I've ever seen. And again, I'll ask, "MAJIDE?" You thought putting people on heelies was a good idea for Broadway when people have seen THIS?!

Basically in 15 minutes a whole show takes place above and around you, with Ariel flipping and floating and swimming through the air on her harness, a 40 foot Ursula puppet that has to be the best animatronics ever designed, and some of the most imaginative costuming ever.
There are fish that flip and float and swim above you, Flotsam and Jetsam puppets that are perfectly synced, and the whole time you are literally in awe of the magic that has been created.
I literally can't say enough about how amazingly stunning that show is, and those Ariel girls must be knackered after flipping and swimming and kicking in a fin for 15 minutes 4 times a day. Wow.

As we left the park we got a few more pictures in and then (quite brilliantly) caught the free shuttle bus back to the Oriental Hotel. We pigged out to our hearts desires at Saizeria and came back to watch Hercules as the fitting end to our DisneySea day.

All I can say is, despite the few complaints of this spoiled brat, I had one of the most detailed and thorough and magical experiences in DisneySea. I have been nowhere else on Earth that has so thoroughly transported me outside myself and my worries and my daily life... and I work there! Brava!

I'm not gonna post pictures here out of sheer volume, but if you wanna see them, just click here!

Blow, Gabriel, Blow

Okay.

So I think this typhoon is having an identity crisis.

I mean, it had a pretty good idea of how to behave last night. It threw out some pretty nasty wind and a little bit of rain while we were sleeping. And it did a good job of waking me up every 30 minutes from 6:30 this morning and making me want to stay asleep all day.

But it got a little confused around 8:30 AM. It seemed to think that merely heaving and whistling and blowing like the wolf attacking those poor 3 pigs would be enough. And as I took some extra time to get ready (since we were warned about the possibility of difficulty getting to work) I looked out the window and was a bit confused. See, it was sunny outside. Not just sunny, but cloudless blue sunny skies. And warm. Seriously. Like a solid 65 or 70 degrees. With just some crazy wind. And not a drop of rain.

It was like the Santa Anas.

Well I'm guessing it's like the Santa Anas since I've never lived in California to experience them.

And it was the most beautiful fall day we've had this week. It seriously has rained and been quite cold for 5 days straight, but the typhoon, in its quest to be unique, felt it better to be clear and sunny.

And, as I've mentioned, quite gusty.

But I didn't really mind, because about 9:30 AM I got a call saying that we would be shuttled from E-Village straight to work at 10:30 AM. Which meant I got an extra half hour to chill on facebook and a free trip to work.

Which is ironic, because, except for the gusty winds, it would've been the nicest commute I've had this week. Except for the fact that the trains weren't working due to high winds which equals free shuttles!

I did look out at the bay on my way downstairs and probably saw the only evidence that a typhoon was really happening. The normally placid waters of the bay were frothing with giant whitecap swells and occasionally you'd see some sea spray crashing up above the sea wall. But don't worry... none of those waves were creeping up too high.

On the shuttle here, I heard stories about a coworker's friend in Osaka being picked up by the wind and thrown into the side of a building! She's fine... just a gash on her head and a hospital visit. And I saw my first car accident in Japan! (It wasn't bad at all either).

Also, my meteorologist friend Carrie sent me links about the typhoon and showed me how it was literally making a huge upside-down U-shape over the island of Japan. We just happen to be in the middle of that upside-down U, surrounded by the typhoon instead of in it, which explains the high winds and clear skies.

At least it kind of does.

But it gets better...

The typhoon did have the BRILLIANT inspiration to blow over and break the Halloween special event stage either sometime last night or this morning. Which I think is pretty fair since I'm mad at the stage too. I mean, we didn't get to see the show on Tuesday, so people today shouldn't either. (Clearly, I'm kidding).

Now how did this benefit me?

Said Halloween stage is in Waterfront Park, which is directly out the front doors of our theatre, and the stage had broken so badly that the whole entire American Waterfront section of the park (in which my theatre is located) was closed to guests until they could clean up the mess.

So, we had the pleasure of arriving at work and finding out our first two shows were cancelled, which, by the way, NEVER happens since we are a fully enclosed indoor attraction immune to the elements. We're about the last attraction they'll cancel, especially because we're so popular they'll do anything not to close our show. But, today, surprise! I only have to do the last 2 shows of the day!

Which, I guess, you could look at as annoying since I arrived at work at 11:15 AM and won't be working until 5:23 PM. But, I just thought, hey, we're getting paid to hang out in the nice safe, non-windy/howly theatre.

Now, foolishly, I did make one mistake, which I didn't realize until too late. Management came on the intercom and said we were allowed to leave as long as we were back by half hour for the third (now first) show and told our stage managers we were going. So I gathered a contingent to meet at Monsoon at 1:30 PM for lunch, and figured I'd take the hour before to just enjoy being at Ikspiari shopping in the sunshine.

Oh, foolish, foolish me.

I didn't think there was a need to be covert since they told us we were allowed to leave, so the translator heard my conversation about Ikspiari. When I went to say I was leaving with Joseph, we were unfortunately informed that due to safety concerns and insurance purposes, we were not allowed to leave backstage areas for the day. We could visit other stages or go to the cafeteria, but we were required to stay inside TDR property.

And this was my first time experiencing the Japanese inability to say no. They can literally craft a sentence and get to the word "no", but it's a serious impediment and they CANNOT answer no. It cracks me up! In the end, I didn't mind staying all day since I had planned on it anyway, but I do feel badly that no one was allowed to leave.

If I'd kept my mouth shut and just told them we were leaving, we'd have had a delicious lunch in our tummies.

Instead, I napped and soon will be doing 2 shows for the minimal park attendees.

And did I mention?

It's not even windy any more.

Clear blue skies, a beautiful warm late summer/early fall day, with just the occasional gentle breeze. You can even smell the ocean outside!

This typhoon sure can't figure itself out, but I don't mind. We got the morning off and it's the most beautiful day we've had in forever!

Typhoon Torment

So I'm in the middle of writing the DisneySea adventure update, but unfortunately, most of today was spent sleeping and/or dealing with life, so you'll have to wait another day...

Instead, a typhoon is coming!

And this one apparently is really big and really scary and Japan hasn't had one of its strength in several years. We'll see if it's really that bad or they're just freaking out, but don't worry. Disney don't close. We's DEFINITELY working tomorrow come winds or high water.

And, much to my chagrin, today has been a day with a major pay cut. For multiple reasons.

First, due to day off switches and the impending typhoon of doom, the 12 hours of overtime I was scheduled to receive this week has been reduced to 1. And a solid 8 hours of this is because I had to switch today off because another singer needed to go to the doctor. And when someone's really sick, you can't really justify being mad at them for stealing the "rehearsal on your day off" pay and "new Mickey" rehearsal overtime you were scheduled for. 'Cause that would be rude and inconsiderate.

But I'm still annoyed. I mean, that's 450 bucks I just lost.

Which is exceptionally inconvenient when the last week of your life has found you in this situation:

• Unexpectedly giving up your apartment and having to move out while 7000 miles away.
• Moving your furniture and stuff into your best friend's apartment upon her suggestion.
• Finding out you apparently have way more stuff than was expected and it just adds up to too much stuff in too small of a space.
• Now having to RE-move your belongings on your own dime into storage, whilst still 7000 miles away.

It's kind of like totaling your car and losing your part-time job when you get to work because you were late.

It's inconvenient.

But it's life.

And it's a good reminder to make the best of each situation, and that life (and New York) will throw you a good, solid curveball every once in a while. I'll never forget the time my senior year of college when I made a bus driver pull over in the middle of Hell's Kitchen and let me off the bus so I could sprint the 15 blocks to Penn Station to catch a train back to DC because it was 4 o'clock, there was an accident in the Lincoln Tunnel, and I had to play a show on campus at 8 PM.

So, as a grownup, I'm taking responsibility for my life and my belongings and moving everything into a storage unit that will house my stuff safely until I return.

Besides, who knows what will happen by April? Look what already happened this week!

Any way the cookie crumbles, it's still gonna rain and whistle and howl tonight and the typhoon, like my life, will torment me as it wishes.

Typhoon Torment

Last night, before work, I decided it would be a smart idea to ride my bike to work as I usually do. Except yesterday, we had a lovely typhoon joining us here in Japan. And I naively figured that I could still manage to ride my bike in the rain as the Japanese do...

Holding an umbrella.

And yes, while I'm aware this is not the safest thing in the world, the Japanese do it with such ease I naturally assumed it would be no problem.

Yeah. It definitely was a problem.

See, somehow, riding a bike that's a bit small for you with only one hand to steer while there's a bag full of your crap in the basket over the front wheel throwing off the center of your weight while the typhoon winds and rain beat at you and your favorite new blue plastic umbrella in your other hand isn't as easy at it first seems.

Nor is reading that run-on sentence.

And so, even though I made it to within 20 feet of the parking garage at the station, the typhoon felt it necessary to rip my favorite blue plastic umbrella out of my hand into the middle of a trafficky intersection, and then, when I parked my bike and chased after it into the street, it felt it necessary to gustily blow said umbrella halfway down the block and also gustily blow my bike right over. And dent my lovely front wheel basket.

It's a good thing I was in a good mood and was able to shrug it off, because man, that typhoon did not want me to enjoy my bike ride.

Now said typhoon also discouraged me from doing much of anything today and from going to bed at a decent hour last night. So my day consisted of far too much whiskey and conversation last night, and Domino's pizza and a movie today. Which actually made for a lovely day off. Except the Domino's wasn't nearly as good to my stomach as I remember. Or as quick and cheap. I think I've actually grown accustomed to the Japanese diet and my body isn't a fan of such grease and crap anymore. Wow.

And we had the Sayonara party for the old cast tonight which was lovely and sweet and amazing. It made me wish I had been more able to tell the Japanese in summer party how much I would truly miss them and how much they changed my life in such a short amount of time.

But well, I guess I have to hope they know that in their hearts.

Tomorrow... debut day, A-shift. Woo hoo!