Tokyo DisneySea Hotel Miracosta Balcony View — Balcony view of Tokyo DisneySea from a room at the in-park hotel, the Miracosta.

Disney Parks Coverage (Portfolio)

April 27, 2024

Webster’s defines “Mickey Mouse” as an adjective for “too easy, small, ineffective, or unimportant to be taken seriously.” The portfolio of a freelance writer who first entered the market online as a Disney parks photoblogger might be worthy of such a description. But that’s what this is. It’s the running list of Disney-related articles, blog entries, and photo galleries that I’ve posted here and off-site under the bylines of “Joshua Meyer” and “The Gaijin Ghost.”

The first-ever Big Hero 6 parade float, featuring the characters Baymax and Hiro Hamada, in Tokyo Disneyland's 35th-anniversary parade, "Dreaming Up!" — The first-ever *Big Hero 6* parade float, featuring the characters Baymax and Hiro Hamada, in Tokyo Disneyland's 35th-anniversary parade, "Dreaming Up!"

Front-Row Pictures of Tokyo Disneyland's New 35th-Anniversary Parade

April 25, 2018

On April 15, 2018, a new daytime parade, “Dreaming Up,” made its official debut at Tokyo Disneyland as the park’s year-long 35th-anniversary celebration began. This parade replaced the long-running “Happiness Is Here,” which started out as the park’s 30th-anniversary parade.

Big-time, U.S.-based Disney blogs like WDW News Today and Disney Tourist Blog were on the frontlines for the earliest run-throughs of the parade, having descended on Tokyo in the days leading up to April 15. Incidentally, that day was a rainy Sunday—not the best parade weather. Since we didn’t want to contend with the opening-week crowds, my significant other and I opted to wait until ten days later before we ventured into the park.

The weather on April 24 wasn’t much better (they didn’t coin that phrase “April showers” for nothing), but we happened to get lucky and win the lottery for the parade viewing area. This enabled us to get front-row seats for “Dreaming Up” without having to stake out a spot on the ground hours beforehand.

Left: mural on the Nemo & Friends SeaRider building at Tokyo DisneySea. Right: mural on The Seas with Nemo & Friends building at Epcot in Walt Disney World.

Nemo & Friends SeaRider vs. The Seas with Nemo & Friends

February 28, 2018

Nemo & Friends SeaRider opened on May 12, 2017 in the building formerly inhabited by StormRider at Tokyo DisneySea. More than just a new attraction, this ride actually brought a whole new theme to the area of Port Discovery in DisneySea.

In this post, you can see 30 photos of the attraction and how it integrates into Port Discovery, along with 4K video of the ride from front row and center in the motion simulator. As we compare the ride with its Florida cousin, The Seas with Nemo & Friends at Epcot, you can also see some additional photos of that attraction.

Goodbye to the Old Tomorrowland: StarJets & Grand Circuit Raceway

October 11, 2017

This year, Tokyo Disneyland retired two of its opening-day attractions, StarJets and Grand Circuit Raceway. Since 1983, both of these rides have formed an integral part of the backdrop for Tomorrowland. Now, they’ve closed in order to make way for the expansion of Fantasyland and redevelopment of Toontown—an ongoing project that is scheduled to be completed in 2020, just in time for the Tokyo Olympics.

Photo Tour of Toyville Trolley Park at Tokyo DisneySea

September 27, 2017

It’s been five months since The Gaijin Ghost first had an article published on another site. In a guest post dated April 27, 2017, yours truly wrote for TDR Explorer about Toyville Trolley Park, which is sort of a sub-port within the larger port of American Waterfront at Tokyo DisneySea. This post was submitted on a trial basis, prior to entering the WordPress system as a contributor over there. Writing it involved referencing some translated information from the official Tokyo Disney Resort blog.

For the author, it was as much a learning experience as it would be for readers, inasmuch as the Tokyo Disney Resort blog called to attention certain unsung details of the Toyville Trolley Park area, things I had never noticed, such as the trolley track and the mock box office windows built into the entrance arch. On a trip to DisneySea earlier this year after the opening of Nemo & Friends SeaRider, I managed to catch Toyville Trolley Park at a time when it was relatively deserted, since its star attraction, the park’s most popular ride, Toy Story Mania!, was temporarily closed for refurbishment.

Polite, But Firm: The Picture Police at Tokyo Disney Resort

June 1, 2017

Veterans of Disney parks in the U.S. will probably be well-acquainted with the words “no flash photography,” having heard the words ad nauseam as part of the regular spiel before rides and shows at Disney. What first-time guests at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea might be surprised to learn is that there are some places inside these two parks where the staff can be downright militant in enforcing a rule of no photography ... period! It all depends on which attraction or show you are in, and which Cast Member you are dealing with at any given time.

The marquee for Big Band Beat and the Broadway Music Theatre in American Waterfront at Tokyo DisneySea. — The marquee for *Big Band Beat* and the Broadway Music Theatre in American Waterfront at Tokyo DisneySea.

Jive Talkin’ Bout ‘Big Band Beat’

April 15, 2017

This post delves more into Big Band Beat, a show that recently made the list of The Gaijin Ghost’s Five Favorite Rides & Shows at Tokyo DisneySea.

Five Favorite Restaurants at Tokyo DisneySea

April 1, 2017

All of these restaurants should be treated like Fastpass attractions. Stop by at 10 a.m. on the day of your park visit to get a Priority Seating ticket for later. Or you can use auto-translate in Google Chrome to navigate the online booking system. The park’s Japanese website accepts reservations up to one month in advance.

Five Favorite Rides & Shows at Tokyo DisneySea

March 31, 2017

If you are visiting Tokyo Disney Resort, but you only have a day or two in each park, this immediately raises the question: which rides should be your top priority?

Streamers fly down at the end of the grand finale during a 2016 showing of A Table Is Waiting in American Waterfront at Tokyo DisneySea. — Streamers fly down at the end of the grand finale during a 2016 showing of *A Table Is Waiting* in American Waterfront at Tokyo DisneySea.

TDR Hall of Fame: 'A Table Is Waiting'

March 17, 2017

A Table Is Waiting, which ran for six years in American Waterfront at Tokyo DisneySea, belongs in its own separate wing of The Gaijin Ghost’s TDR Museum. Simply put, this show is a Hall-of-Famer. The costumes were great, the title song was catchy, and the food theme made it easy to follow the show’s nominal “plot,” even if you were coming at it from the perspective of someone who could not understand a word of Japanese.