Tray Tables and Time Zones

Disney Dreams Part 3A: Disney With a Passport

• Josh Bogle • Episode 20

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 21:57

Ever watched travel videos and casually suggested an overseas trip, only for someone to call your bluff? That's exactly what happened when my wife asked, "Well, are you going to go?" after I mentioned Tokyo Disney while watching YouTube. Next thing I knew, I was researching flights and discovering three simultaneous festivals at Tokyo Disney Resort—the Food and Wine Festival and Duffy's 20th anniversary at DisneySea, plus a Donald Duck celebration at Disneyland.

With surprisingly reasonable flights from Houston and some strategic planning, this quick five-day adventure suddenly made perfect sense. I'll spend two days at Tokyo Disney Resort, staying at the Oriental Hotel Tokyo Bay (a Disney partner hotel with convenient shuttles), followed by three days exploring Tokyo proper from a hotel in Okachimachi—perfectly positioned between Akihabara and Ueno stations on the Yamanote Line.

Beyond Disney magic, Tokyo offers endless treasures: hunting for unique Japanese trading cards in Akihabara, feasting at my favorite sushi restaurant in Ikebukuro, and procuring coveted Liberty of London fabric for my quilting-enthusiast wife. I'll bring my podcast equipment to record real-time reactions throughout the adventure, creating an authentic "in-the-moment" experience that captures the magic of international Disney parks and Japanese culture. The resulting episode will combine these fresh Tokyo impressions with my previous experiences at Hong Kong Disneyland, giving listeners comprehensive insights into Disney's Asian destinations.

Follow along on Instagram @TrayTablesandTimeZones for real-time photos and updates from Tokyo! And remember—sometimes the best travel experiences come from simply saying "yes" when someone asks if you're really going to take that dream trip. Where will your next spontaneous adventure take you?

Podcast Takeoff Introduction

Speaker 1

Flight 527, runway 8K. You're cleared for takeoff. This is your captain speaking. If you love travel, and we know you do, buckle your seatbelts and keep your tray tables in the upright position. You should be seeing the illuminated fun signs throughout the aircraft because we're about to take off on a chat of epic proportions. Welcome to Tray Tables and Time Zones, the podcast where travel isn't just about taking vacations, it's about enriching your life. We'll dive into the highs, the lows and the downright absurd moments that come with exploring the world. Whether it's food poisoning on a long-haul flight, trekking to Mount Everest Base Camp or traveling to Disney parks worldwide, we cover it all Serious at moments, but mostly we're here to laugh and share some brutally honest travel stories. So let's do it one time zone at a time. This is Trey Tableson, time Zones, and this is your host, josh Bogle. Tables and Time Zones, and this is your host, josh Bogle.

Speaker 2

Hey everyone and welcome back to another episode of Trade Tables and Time Zones. I'm your host, josh Bogle, and today I call another audible on our episode order in the Disney series and bring forward the International Parks. Let's talk about it. So originally, today's episode was going to be once again Disney World and Disneyland the originals in the United States but such is life. Things need to change a little bit in order to accommodate something that actually I think will be very awesome to do and I think you guys will like it a lot. So today, instead of the US parks, I'm going to introduce basically an upcoming trip that will lead into the next episode in this series, which I was going to do anyway, but this trip is just going to make it that much better.

Booking the Spontaneous Tokyo Trip

Speaker 2

So my wife and I were sitting around talking and we had watched a YouTube video, or a couple of YouTube videos actually, about some of the Disney parks, especially overseas, and I kind of threw out there, as one will do, especially me something about going to Tokyo for a trip and discussed back and forth and kind of talked, you know, joked around, laughed and everything. And then my wife asked me well, are you going to go? And I kind of looked at her and said, yeah, let me look into it. And so that's what I did. And again, it turns out that right now there are three festivals going on at Tokyo Disney. One is the Tokyo Sea Food and Wine Festival, another one is the 20th anniversary of Duffy and the third one is a Donald celebration at Tokyo Disneyland. And hey, I love festivals at Disney parks. I especially love the unique merch that tends to come with those and the characters and the decorations and all the things that come along with the festivals. And so when I took that into consideration now I'm really interested, right, and so I get on the internet and I start digging around and, lo and behold, flights are incredibly reasonable, especially out of Houston, where I live, going to Tokyo.

Speaker 2

Now, coming back was a little bit of a different story, but I had some points that I could use to get a flight home, and so I started looking around and looking at it and it just made a ton of sense. There wasn't, uh, it was going to be, you know, fairly reasonable. It wasn't going to be, you know, crazy expensive to fly, um, and so, you know, the more I looked at it, the more it made sense, the more I thought about the things I could do while I was there. And it would have to be a quick trip. You know, because of uh, we've have some travels in the future this year I think I've mentioned them on here before but uh, my wife and I are going with some friends to South Africa, to Cape town and um Stellenbosch and Kruger national park and all those things, so we're really excited about that trip. But I had to be cognizant of that because I've only got so much vacation time and so I had to be able to make this work. And so, you know, looked at the calendar and kind of looked at you know family activities that were going on and you know kids and sports and school and all those things, and tried to make the plan that would make the most sense and not cause, you know, a huge amount of disruption. And so I dug around for a little while and I found it and I got it figured out.

Speaker 2

And so on the 21st of April I am going to board a plane on zip air, which you guys have heard me talk about before. I did a ramble episode on flying Zip Air from Tokyo to LA. Well, they now fly out of Houston, and so I am going to board a Zip Air 787 on Monday and fly to Tokyo, arriving on Tuesday early afternoon, and I'm going to proceed from the airport to go check into the Oriental Hotel Tokyo Bay. That's where I'm going to be staying for the first two nights, and the reason for that is that's a Disney partner hotel and it's also connected to a train station that will get me to the rest of the city and they have shuttle service over to the parks. Being a partner hotel, they offer that service and I'd never stayed there before, but it seemed really reasonable, it was a good price and it seems nice.

Disney Park Festival Plans

Speaker 2

I like to have in the access of being able to basically walk across a skybridge right into the train station and then having you know, transportation back and forth to the park, so it made a ton of sense. There's also like a mall next door, so there's plenty of places to go and, you know, get some food or snacks. There's even a Lawson in the lobby of the hotel. So I'm looking forward to stay at this hotel. It'll be a new place to stay at for me in Tokyo, and so I'm excited to try it out and see if it's something that you know, I would recommend to the folks that are coming to Tokyo Disney that may not want to stay on the park or may not want to spend the money to stay on the parks, then this might be a good option. But anyway, we'll talk about that on the episode.

Speaker 2

So I'm staying there for two nights and I'm going to do one day at Tokyo Disneyland. The first day, that'll be on Wednesday, and then on Thursday I'm going to go to DisneySea. Now, having been there a couple of times before, I've kind of mapped out what I want to do and I'm I'm more focused on, you know, getting to experience some of these festivals and these special things that are going to be going on. Then, just, you know, straight rides and everything. Of course I'm going to do some rides while I'm there, but I'm really going to be concerned about about these festivals and and food and those types of things. So it should be a really fun trip and um, so I'll go to the Donald festival at Disney land on Wednesday and then on Thursday I'm going to go to Tokyo Disney sea, where the Duffy festival is going on, and so is the food and wine. So that should be an absolute blast.

Speaker 2

Plus, I'm going to be picking up a metric shit ton of merch. I mean, my daughter loves Duffy stuff. She loves was proudly wearing her her tokyo disney duffy gear on the cruise we took recently, and so she's a huge fan and she's already sent me pictures of you know, the things that she wants from this, this duffy festival, and so between her and my son and and my wife and some friends of ours and stuff like that, we're gonna I'm gonna be bringing home quite a few uh souvenirs. I'm I'm afraid, but that that's fine with me, cause I I collect Disney pins and Disney souvenirs and, um, you know, there's a ton of them sitting right behind me right now in the studio, um, up on the shelves. So I love uh finding unique Disney items, so there will be no short of me pulling stuff in for myself as well.

Tokyo Exploration Beyond Disney

Speaker 2

So I'm going to do that and I'm going to stay at the Tokyo Bay, like I said, the Oriental Hotel in Tokyo Bay, and then I'm going to transfer over to another hotel, actually into Tokyo, more in Tokyo proper, at Okachimachi, which is actually an area we stayed in the last trip to Tokyo over the summer different hotel but the same train station. So it's a really good spot. It's it's between um Akihabara and Ueno station, so it's right there on the Yamanote line. Uh, you've got easy access down to Tokyo station and then it's just, you know, riding the Yamanote line up and around to get over to, like, shinjuku, shibuya, ikebara, that area so nice area, it's more low key, it's not quite as crazy as some of the other huge stops, but it's still in the heart of a lot of things and very easy access.

Speaker 2

And so the plan there is is to just go do some exploring around Tokyo and, you know, take those extra days, uh, through Sunday. I fly back on that Sunday, so I'll be there for five days basically. So take those extra days and go see some of my favorite things in Tokyo and go see some new stuff in Tokyo. My kids are both really into Pokemon and One Piece cards and Lorkana cards and I'm into those things as well. So I like the sports cards and training cards and everything. So I'm going to go try to find some unique ones from Japan while I'm there and, being near Akihabara, that'll be a good starting point and then slide over to Ikebure and go look around over there, because that's, those are two big, you know, otaku, culture kind of areas. Plus, my favorite sushi place in Tokyo is at Ikebure, at the Cebu department store on the was it the eighth floor, ninth floor, anyway? So of course I'm going to go over there cause I'm going to have to get sushi while I'm in town.

Speaker 2

And uh, also, one of the reasons for staying out of Kachimachi is the um uh, there's a department store there that carries a huge amount of Liberty of London fabric produced in Japan, and that is one of my. Well, it is my wife's absolute favorite fabric for, uh, quilting, because she's she makes quilts and that's one of her hobbies is she's a quilt maker and so she loves liberty of London fabric, loves using it, and so anytime we are, you know, in London or in Tokyo especially, we bring back a ton of fabric. So this time I'm going to go and get her a large amount of fabric to bring back so that she won't be running out anytime soon. And you know, the rest of the time will just be like I said we'll go see some sites, go eat some, try some new restaurants, maybe go to a couple of favorites, wander around Tokyo. The weather's supposed to be great Seventies during the day, you know high forties, low fifties at night, so it won't be too hot yet it's going to be, you know, awesome.

Speaker 2

And then I fly back on United and I have to fly through DC and then onto Houston. So that should be. It's going to be a long day and there's a long layover in DC which I may try to get around and see if I can get an earlier flight so I can get home sooner. But both flights are going to be in coach, so there's not going to be a ton to talk about there. I won't have any good stories of business class luxury or anything like that, like I've had a couple of times, because I just didn't have enough points to do that. But it doesn't really matter. I'm getting to go to Japan. I'll sit and coach all day long If that means I get to go and and explore Japan more. You know, like I say, I love Japan. It's probably one of my absolute favorite places to travel and I love Disney, and getting to blend those two is always a blast, and especially getting to do it as part of this series.

Speaker 2

So to get back to the plan at Disney now that I've kind of given a quick overview is what I could plan to do is kind of like what I did when I recently traveled to Finland and Sweden, is that I'm going to bring along my pal mic and everything and I'm going to, you know, and my video cameras and everything, and I will do a lot of voice work while I'm there, you know, and basically giving instant feedback. I'm there, you know, and basically giving instant feedback. You know, I might be sitting on a park bench, um, you know, in the Cape Cod area of Tokyo, disney sea, or you know, sitting right off main street in, uh, disneyland or wherever, and we'll, you know, sit down and give my thoughts about if there's something unique, something interesting. You know, talk about these, uh, the food and wine fest, or the Duffy celebration, or the the uh Donald celebration, or food or or whatever I'm seeing at the parks. Uh, definitely, will you know kind of give my instant reaction on those things, and then I'll take all that audio back with me and cut it up and add it into my overall podcast for when the real part three, which is the now, the international parks, uh, when I put that podcast together, when I get back, because that podcast will also include me, uh, getting to talk about Hong Kong Disney, because I've been there as well. So I it'll have a fresh take on Disney, uh, tokyo Disney, and then it'll have my my thoughts on Hong Kong Disney as well. Still have two more to get, still have to go to Paris and do that one, and I still have to get to get to Disney in China. So hopefully I'll get to those soon.

Recording Live from Tokyo Disney

Speaker 2

But you know, with this kind of trip it's it's gotta be something more that you know, um, just because it's so fast and I want to go somewhere that I know and that I feel comfortable with right out the jump, and Tokyo and Tokyo Disney is certainly those things. So I'm really, really, really excited. I've already started setting aside clothes and electronics and all that stuff to make sure I don't forget anything, um, and then I'm going to have to pack a big ass collapsible duffel bag because, man, I am going to be hauling back a ton of merch I mean a ton and what I'll do is I'll probably share a lot of that, of that in real time on Instagram. So be sure, and follow the Instagram feed for the show, because I'll probably be doing quite a bit on there Photos of food and merchandise and characters and anything. I see fun Not just at Disney, but also for the other three days while I'm in Tokyo. So I'm really excited. I think it's going to be awesome. It's going to be cool to get to kind of live stream it in a way. I mean, I don't actually live stream it, but to give my live real-time thoughts as they're happening and then being able to roll that back into the podcast is going to be a blast, because then it's more fresh, it's more in the heat of the moment and a lot of times those instant reactions are the best. So, really looking forward to it and I think it's going to be an absolute blast and I hope you guys will look forward to it as well.

Speaker 2

Hopefully I can make it entertaining and fun and give you a lot of good information and some insight into traveling to Tokyo, to go to Disney, because I will tell you it is. I know it's a lot of effort to get there. It's a long flight from the US especially, and it's not cheap, especially if you're bringing, you know, kids and spouses and and everything's like that. I mean, believe me, I know we, we did it last summer but it is an amazing place to go. I mean not just Disney. I mean, disney is phenomenal there, disneyland is phenomenal. Tokyo Disney sea is next level Amazing and it's just, it's remarkable and there's a lot of things there that will shock you as a, especially if you're a frequent visitor to the parks in the U? S. When you go to the ones in Tokyo, it's pretty, pretty amazing. They have some amazing features that we don't necessarily get in the U? S and they have some amazing deals that we don't typically get either. So definitely worth it and I can't wait to share more about it with everyone.

Speaker 2

So that's really kind of what's happening. I mean I'm sorry that you know what I said in the initial intro to this series, that the the, the way the episodes were going to flow, uh, has not turned out that way. It's really just kind of circumstance between the crews and starting off a DCL instead of instead of how it was originally going to go, and then now kicking Disneyland and Disney world to the next episode so that I can talk about international parks because I'm going to Tokyo. But it just makes sense, um, you know, to be able to provide the most up-to-date, fresh information and fresh thoughts that I have on a place. If I've got that opportunity, then I'm going to go ahead and take it. So this will be a fun little exercise in how to discover the parks kind of on the fly and discover Tokyo on the fly, so I'm looking forward to sharing it with you guys.

Speaker 2

So, like I said before, you know, if you're interested in following along and kind of getting a preview of what I'm going to talk about in that podcast, follow the podcast and Instagram. Just a link to it is down below the episode and that way you can see up to date pictures and and maybe some video and things like that of of the trip pretty much in real time. So follow that and then be on the lookout because once I get back I am going to be putting out a new episode. Try to do that fairly quickly. So I get back on that Sunday, which I think is the 27th maybe, anyway, so hopefully not too long after that, the new episode will come out and I'll be able to talk Tokyo Disney and then Hong Kong Disney and then I guess last of all is follow the show, like the show. You know, leave me a rating and review. Those things are great for pushing the podcast up in the world of podcasting so that more people get to see it, more people notice it, it gets shown to more people and we can build the audience.

Speaker 2

Um, because I definitely want to keep doing this, this is I have so much fun talking about the things I enjoy and the ridiculous things that happen to me and the ridiculous things that happen in travel and then, at the same time, learning from all of those things and and figuring out better ways to do travel and better trips to have and all those things. So, be sure, and like the show and the wide range of people that listen, you know, from all over the world, that's really exciting to me because this podcast is about the world. It's not just about America or a singular location. It's about traveling the world and engaging the world and engaging the people of the world and the culture and the experiences that are out there to be had and appreciating those things and not closing yourself off to just one place To see all those different people from all over the world checking out the podcast and maybe giving it a listen and taking in whatever I'm saying.

Speaker 2

I hope I'm doing justice to not only enjoying the podcast and having something to listen to that's funny and and relatable and enjoyable, but I hope it's.

Speaker 2

It's showing that you know there is this thing called you know travel and traveling the world and there's a lot to be gained from it, and no matter what issues you run into or problems you have along the way, those are all worth the trouble to get to experience this place that we, that we live in, this world that we live in. So I'm feel really blessed and thankful that I get to have the opportunity to talk into this microphone and discuss all this stuff with you guys, and I hope you enjoy it too. So, again, be on the lookout for the new episode and follow me on Instagram, because it should be pretty interesting here coming up in a little less than a week Well, right, at a week. So, anyway, I will talk to you guys when I get back and I'll be sharing all that good audio and all the interesting things that happen with this quick trip to Tokyo, and we'll discuss good old Disney Tokyo and Tokyo DisneySea. All right, guys, thanks for everything and I'll see you guys soon. Bye, this has been.

Speaker 1

Trade Tables and Time Zones Worldwide. Travel is one of the funnest things you can do in life and it's our passion to talk about the good, the bad, the funny and the ugly. Nothing is off limits. We hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did, make sure to like, rate and review. We'll be back soon, but in the meantime, find us on Instagram at Trade Tables and Time Zones, and for questions or comments, send your email to tradesandtimes at gmailcom. Take care and see you next time on Trade Tables and Time Zones. Beep, beep.

Head Shot

Josh Bogle

Host