Tokyo Disneyland
Topic: Second visit to TDR, trip report with photos

#	Author	Message
31	X-san Tue 5/20/2008 8:19a	Yup...definitely creepy (no matter what country you're in!).
32	gurgitoy2 Tue 5/20/2008 9:35a	Well, I don't know how the performers react to this either. What do you say to them if they've tracked you down at your local hangout? It makes things very awkward...poor guys!
33	SMCD Wed 5/21/2008 4:57a	<<You managed to do quite a bit though anyway, nice job! The two things I'd have done differently (just out of general experience, if it were my first time I'd probably have done it exactly the same way SMCD did!) would be to save Pirates for later.>> Thanks, and yes, the Pirates queue was only 10 minutes when we left the park. Well, well. <<Sounds like an average day, crowd wise, at Tokyo Disneyland.>> Really? Wow. I was however puzzled how quiet DisneySea was in comparison to Disneyland. I guess Disneyland is the original and all that, but being as good as it is, DisneySea should have been packed. << I've tried that, barboy, but the line for a FastPass for Pooh gets quite long because many Japanese go right for the FastPass first thing.>> The length of the line for FastPass was what made us decide to go for the Stand By line on Pooh.
34	X-san Wed 5/21/2008 6:47a	***I was however puzzled how quiet DisneySea was in comparison to Disneyland.*** I've seen DisneySea pretty busy over holiday and summer events, but it has never been comparable to Tokyo Disneyland (except for the year of the grand opening at times, and pretty much every new year where both parks are ridiculously busy). Which is understandable, but also a bit strange when you look at the "official" OLC numbers. According to them, DisneySea is very nearly as crowded as TDL in terms of yearly numbers, but that's hard to believe given the fact that TDL hits capacity often while DisneySea rarely does, not to mention the fact that DisneySea has a lower capacity number than TDL to begin with...plus the fact that it's pretty obvious whenever you walk into DisneySea that is it, almost always, far less busy. One might almost imagine OLC is cooking the books. Nah...that's impossible. ;)
35	Bob Paris Wed 5/21/2008 2:16p	When the OLC starts giving away the sister park on desperate twofers and billing The Delltones as the big summer entertainment, THEN you can worry about how TDS is doing.
36	Malin Fri 5/30/2008 4:36a	<<< One might almost imagine OLC is cooking the books. >>> I would be very interested to see the real attendance figures for both parks which OLC is hiding away from Shareholders due to the amount it spent of the park in the first place. I remember visiting TDS on a Holiday Weekend and watching a performance of Big Band Beat in a theatre not filled to capacity and only waiting 40 minutes for the Tower of Terror. While over at TDL the lines were insane. I have never worked out why TDS has failed to compete with TDL as its a fantastic park with a massive budget. It also has some of the best attractions and shows found anywhere, but its never that busy. Clearly something about the park is failing to win the Japanese over.
37	X-san Fri 5/30/2008 5:03a	***I have never worked out why TDS has failed to compete with TDL*** Such a weird situation, isn't it? I suppose according to the official numbers it's no failure at all. But I have to wonder...whenever you go to DisneySea it is NOTICEABLY less busy than TDL. TDL frequently closes its doors in the late morning, TDS almost never. TDS has a lower capacity and less attractions, and still appears far less busy. And yet according to the "official" numbers TDS welcomes almost the same amount of visitors as TDL? Really?? Hard to believe.
38	The Goddess Mara Fri 5/30/2008 8:10a	Why is Tokyo DisneySea not as busy as Tokyo Disneyland? For the same reason that California Adventure is not as popular as Disneyland. It has nothing to do with the quality of the park, or the amount of money spent on it. I believe that the reason is because neither group is willing to accept the second gate as a "Disney" park. In other words, because they've only had one park, a Magic Kingdom, for so long, no matter what the other park is they're not going to accept it in the way they accept a Magic Kingdom. (It's the same in Paris, by the way, but Walt Disney Studios Paris really is a turd and not worth more than a few hours attention.) The only place in the world where the multiple park concept has entirely succeeded is Orlando, where everyone now accepts that a park doesn't have to be a Magic Kingdom in order to be a "Disney" park. Perhaps it's because most of the visitors are not locals, but people coming from a long distance--why that might make a difference I don't know. But only in Orlando do people embrace the other three parks. All are busy. You don't leave the busy Magic Kingdom and hop over to Animal Kingdom and find no lines and few people. Yet that is precisely what happens when you leave Tokyo Disneyland and take the Resort Liner around to DisneySea: far fewer people, always far fewer people. Most ride lines managable. It parallels exactly the experience when Disneyland in Anaheim is insanely busy. You go across the way to California Adventure and there are far fewer people and the lines are managable.
39	SuperDry Fri 5/30/2008 9:07a	<<< Perhaps it's because most of the visitors are not locals, but people coming from a long distance--why that might make a difference I don't know. >>> I suspect it has a lot to do with the average length of stay. Rounded to the nearest whole day, it would not surprise me if the mean number of days in a row for a TDR stay is 1. Although people staying on property are going to stay longer for the most part, there are only so many rooms, and it's small as compared to daily park capacity. For those not staying on-site, I suspect that a great majority of them are there on day trips. And if you had only one day to spend at the resort, which park will most people pick? That, combined with how many guests seem to be character fanatics to a degree unseen in the US parks, is going to make TDL much more popular. Orlando is a totally different story. The average length of stay is probably more in the 4-6 day range, if not longer.
40	X-san Fri 5/30/2008 6:14p	But that's the strange thing to me...I would EXPECT DisneySea to be less popular and it certainly seems more empty, but haven't the official reports indicated that it's almost the same (like 12 million guests versus 13 million or something...though I know I'm quoting old numbers here)?

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