Disneyland!

Irving had so much fun at DisneySea last year that we decided to visit Tokyo Disneyland, in the other half of the resort this year. We took along Nozomi, the girl Samantha tutors every Thursday night (I teach her mother). We went early enough this year to catch the special "New Years Greeting" where all the characters put on kimonos and other traditional Japanese costumes and march in a quick parade. Partially as a result, this year was much, much more crowded than last. Lines at most rides were over two hours long. Still, we managed to have a lot of fun.


Irving insisted that his picture be taken in front of the entrance. He was far more excited than he appears in the photo.


Cinderella's castle was impressive, though much smaller than the one in Florida, I'm told. I told Irving I'll have to take him to Neuschwanstein some day.


We only arrived in the park about 10 minutes before the New Years Greeting started, so we didn't have the best seats. But this should give you an idea. The mouses were quite cute in their kimonos (and I never knew Mickey was so multilingual).


Nozomi and Sam, with Thunder Mountain in the distance behind them. This was taken during the 130 minute wait for Splash Mountain (fairly early on, when they could still smile).


Apparently as a young girl of 5, Samantha was scared senseless by one of the larger rides at Disneyland in California. Her mother consoled her by taking her on It's A Small World over and over again for an entire afternoon. Our trip through the ride brought back many happy memories.