Theme Parks Archives - Your Mileage May Vary

Disney Homage or Ripoff? You Decide. Nara Dreamland Theme Park: The Lost Video Footage

Several months back, I wrote a #TBT post about our visit to Nara Dreamland, which was a theme park in Nara, Japan that opened in the 1960s. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Disneyland should have been very flattered, because Nara Dreamland was an obvious knockoff of (or shall we say “was very much inspired by”) the famous park in Anaheim, CA. As the story goes, the people who were going to build Nara Dreamland were in negotiations with Disney and then…weren’t. But they still kept the Disneyesque look of the park.

Thanks to the building and growth of Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo Disney Sea and Universal Studios Japan, the years hadn’t been kind to Nara Dreamland and by the time we got there in April 2005, it was obviously on its last legs. The park closed in August of 2006 and after sitting abandoned for more than a decade, demolition of the property began in October, 2016.

I had mentioned in my #TBT report that Joe was positive we had video footage of our visit. Well, guess what? We found it!

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When You’re Looking For Universal Studios & Wind Up At An Incinerator

Universal Studios theme parks have a lot going for them – Harry Potter, Despicable Me, Jurassic Park, and many more attractions to make a day or two at the park(s) worth a visit (that’s not even including special events like Halloween Horror Nights). But if you’re going to Universal Studios Japan, make sure that you actually wind up at the theme park and not at the Maishima incineration plant in Osaka.

Wait, WHAT???

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WDW Hotel Expansion, Tricks To Saving Money While Shopping, New Way Of TSA Pre-Check Enrollment & More…

Happy Sunday, travel friends! Here are some articles we’ve read this week from other bloggers (and other sources) that we think you may like, as well, so we’re passing them along.

Jon from No Mas Coach asks the important question, “Why Do We Fart So Much On Airplanes?“
Million Mile Secrets posted about the 349 room expansion to the Walt Disney World Swan hotel. This is great news for those who use Marriott/SPG points to stay at Disney but you’ll need to pay more points to stay there now since the new point charts were released.
Harlan from Out and Out tells the 7 tricks to save when shopping at Costco.
We’re enjoying our service with T-Mobile but I was interested in Greg’s post on Frequent Miler about the different options available when you need to use international roaming on your phone.
Gary from View from the Wing writes about how American Airlines has started to proactively notify passengers about overbooked flights.
The Orlando Weekly has given us a taste of what’s in store for the new Universal theme park that will open in 2020.
One of the hassles of signing up for TSA Precheck is going for the interview. Wait times are long and you might not live near an airport. Well, Miles to Memories let us know that you may now be able to enroll at your local Staples store.
Lucky from One Mile At A Time just flew back from the Canadian Yukon and wrote a review of his flight on Air North, the Yukon airline. From what I can tell, it was a full Canadian experience.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary

You’re Going To WDW For The First Time – How Do You Even Start To Plan?! Here Are Some Tips

With over 20,000,000 visitors in 2017 alone, Walt Disney World (WDW) is the undisputed leader in theme park attendance. It’s a huge complex, with four major theme parks, over 140 restaurants, over twenty five hotels, three 18-hole golf courses, two full-sized water parks, a miniature golf course, a shopping district, special events galore, and dozens of other options packed into a resort that encompasses nearly 25,000 acres or just shy 40 square miles.

For those who visit WDW on a regular or even semi-regular basis, they learn how to negotiate everything that the resort has to offer. But for newbies who have never been before, or who haven’t gone in decades, planning their WDW vacation can be a daunting and even overwhelming task.

Here are some things to make things easier and hopefully give you the lay of the land…

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Where To Get The Best Price On Universal Orlando Tickets

If you live in the U.S., admission tickets to Universal Orlando Resort theme parks are expensive. You can save money, a lot of money in fact, if you do some work ahead of time to find whatever discounts you can. Since you’re reading this article, you’re already on your way to finding cheaper tickets. Congratulations!

I checked out prices from websites offering discounts to see where the cheapest tickets were hiding. Turns out, the prices at one website were consistently lower than everywhere else.

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