I noticed we didn't have anything in this thread yet and I was curious what the Tokyo park was like. I came across this interesting site: http://www.tdrfan.com/ I haven't had a chance to read a lot of the topics, but it has some decent pics.
WOAH! On a whim I clicked on the Tokyo Disneysea, a park I know very little about, and checked out the Journey to the Center of the Earth ride. Now that's more like what I'm looking for! Plus I have a SERIOUS subterranean bent. I really like the movie based on the book that the ride appears to be based on (I must admit to never having read the book). The idea of exploring a subterranean world like that REALLY captivates me. I had the thrill of a life time many years ago when I took a trip to Colorado and drove out to a cave that I'd found out about. This was the real deal, you go down a narrow pipe with a ladder in it (not for the claustrophobic!) and end up in a larger chamber that leads to other areas. Unfortunately I was in poor physical shape and the altitude alone, plus the hard hike required to get from the parking lot to the cave entrance (which involved going considerably higher still) completely wiped me out. I had to admit defeat before I'd seen nearly any of it. I found a curious connection between DisneySea and Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. They both have a Sinbad attraction! In Islands it's a live stunt show, at DisneySea it appears to be a cross between a dark ride and a boat ride. Very interesting site. I don't really see this happening, but I'd like to be able to see Tokyo Disneyland in person. They put a lot of work into the theming, I've practically fallen in love with the Mysterious Island area in particular. They even have a restaurant themed as if it were a geothermal power station inside a cave. I love all the green copper structures (presumably fake) and retro futuristic touches. At least I can check out the theming online. On more comment on what I found in there. The Tokyo version of the Enchanted Tiki room has RAPPING BIRDS! The preshow appears to feature two birds who rap, complete with a scene where one of the birds seems to do some "scratching" with his beak, he has what looks like a bamboo encased record player and he lowers his beak down to it and moves it back and forth as if he was rotating the record back and forth. The description says that the entire attraction has been rethemed to focus more on American pop music and less on Polynesia. I also can't get over thinking that one of the rapping birds sounds exactly like Cartman from South Park.
