We woke up early again though I think we are nearly adjusted to the time change. We ordered room service breakfast since Disneyland opens at 9am (8:45am for us thanks to the “Happy 15”). We hopped on the monorail that goes from our hotel to a railway station linking the Disney resort to the rest of Tokyo then to the Disneyland Hotel and theme park. 
Unless you are big Disney geeks like Mike and me you may be wondering why we would travel all the way to Japan to visit Disneyland when there’s one just an hour’s flight away from us at home. First, there’s a few rides we don’t have at the Anaheim Disneyland like Monsters Inc Ride and Go Seek and Pooh’s Honey Hunt. Second, many of the rides that are duplicates of Anaheim rides have differences that are fun to experience. Also, it’s fun to have this experience in an entirely different culture.
Mike had a solid plan for our start but it rapidly fell apart due to rides breaking down and other weird circumstances so we winged it most of the morning. We got a fastpass for the Monsters Inc ride and then jumped on Pinocchio’s Journey and Mickey’s Phiharmagic. 
We’d experienced Phiharmagic when we’d gone to Orlando’s Disneyworld and loved it. It’s a fun 3D theater experience where Donald Duck gets a hold of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice hat. Needless to say, chaos ensues. The Goofy voice over in Japanese cracked me up and hearing Donald Duck speak in Japanese was also great. Not sure how old this ride is but the 3D tech is a bit dated cosidering what they’re doing with it these days.
By this time our fastpasses for Monsters were valid so we headed over to Tommorow Land. Disneyland Tokyo is divided into the same lands as Disneyland Anaheim (Tommorow, Fantasy, Adventure, Toon Town, Critter Country) except that Frontier Land is Western Land in Tokyo and Main Street USA is called World Bazaar.
Monsters Inc. Ride and Go Seek
As I think you can see from the picture and video, there are three cars that are connected and travel together throughout the ride. Each person has a “flashlight” that they can point at the Monsters Inc hard hats scatters throughout the ride which activates an effect. Monsters appearing or disappearing, eyes blinking, etc. We were seated in the last car so we were at a bit of a disadvantage since the two cars in front of us could activate effects and most of the time they didn’t have time to reset before we could hit them with our flashlights. Still, the design, while similar to the Anaheim DCA Monsters ride was pretty fun. I had higher hopes for the ride but still give it a thumbs up. It will be interesting to experience it again with adjusted expectations.We grabbed a fastpass for Pooh’s Honey Hunt (which had been broken down since 9am) and decided to hit a bunch of duplicates. 
Pirates
Pirates of the Caribbean was very similar to the Anaheim ride and was mostly in English. Go figure. If you are familiar with Pirates Anaheim you’ll remember the lift hill that your boat travels up to exit the main part of the ride. In the Japanese version you exit before the boat returns to the loading area. This seems very logical to us.
Jungle Cruise
This was my second or third favorite ride today. 
Experiencing this with a Japanese Guide was a treat. Having been on the Anaheim counterpart countless times we could tell most of the time what joke the Guide was telling. His goofiness was delightful. There’s been many times where we’ve been on the Anaheim ride with a boat full of Japanese tourists and I’ve always wondered what their experience was like. Now I know. Feel free to skip the videos if you’re not a fan of the Jungle Cruise.
Tiki Room
Since it was next door to the Jungle Cruise, why not?
This was the Stitch version where the alien from Lilo and Stitch takes over the show. I prefer the kitschy classic (which Mike and I call the clicky clicky, clicky clicky room due to the racket the animatronics make.)
Art’s Travel Adventures 