"Where dreams come true." ~ Tokyo Disneyland Slogan
This 13-day trip to Japan was absolutely magical and a true testament to our resilience. I'm going to break it into 3 parts because there is just too much to share in one post. This is part three where we focus on our time at Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea. We hope you enjoy this amazing adventure!
Day 10:
We woke up early to pack and get breakfast and then walked to the train station early to get more food.
We also had to go to the Sanrio store. It was a challenge finding the store on the second basement but we persevered!
We left at 1201 on the Shinkansen to head back to Tokyo. It was super scary and also funny because Mike almost got on the wrong train but I caught him at the last minute. If he had actually gotten on the train i would have been so confused and wondered where he disappeared to. HAHA!
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We had a smooth train ride back to Tokyo.
Then we had another Transferro driver pick us up at 1430. It was about a 30 minute drive to Tokyo Disneyland. I loved staring out the window at all the Tokyo views and starting to see DIsneyland in the distance. Super exciting!
Check in at the Disneyland Hotel was a 1500 so it worked out perfect.
A few immediate thoughts about Disneyland:
1. The hotel is stunning!!! Absolutely beautiful!!
2. The language barrier is huge here. I got little to no instructions while checking in which caused a few problems later. I think the person checking me in was training and really put in minimal effort, but we figured things out eventually!
3. Instantly regretted not admitting Aidan was a guest. It caused problems with our happy hour entry the next day. The reason I do that is because with 5 people it forces you to book 2 rooms even though all 5 of us fit in one room. So, I admit, we lie and say we have 2 kids to save money. Definitely caused us problems this trip and I wouldn't recommend!
4. It is significantly less expensive here.
5. Food is not quite as good as home, but still edible.
We made it into our Alice in Wonderland character room which was beautiful.
Next we headed to an early dinner. We decided to try out TGIF at Ikspiari. Ikspiari is kind of like downtown Disneyland, but they've got lots more than just Disney merchandise.
We finished with a dessert that consisted of boba and crepes.
We also had to get our Minnie and Mickey ears!
Then the kids showered while Mike and I went for a drink in the lobby and then a walk around Disney. We also figured out the local train which was necessary to get around.
Day 11:
Our first Disney day! We woke up early with the plan to get in line while Mike went to get McDonald's for breakfast as the breaskfast at the hotel started too late. That plan quickly went out the window as there was already a long security line.
And on top of it all it was raining, a lot! We all had raincoats except Mike and we only had one umbrella so we made a quick pit stop to get Mike a poncho and another umbrella. We got in line while Mike and Kendall went to McDonald's. Only to find out it wasn’t open so off to Starbies. The 3 of us made it through security and then Mike and Kendall had to fight their way through. Fortunately they made it! I forgot our happy entry passes which caused more confusion as entry started. Lucky for us, someone finally helped us in.
And we were off to the Beauty and the Beast ride first. While waiting for that we figured out the priority access and got a few of those. The ride was amazing and the animatronics are incredible.
A few Disney thoughts:
Everyone is so friendly!
Amazing rides but many seemed very short.
Love observing the Japan fashion!!!
Food is good, love seeing their take on various cultural foods.
Everything is 1/2 to 1/3 the price when compared to the US. Definitely adds up but so much cheaper overall.
Short wait times for many rides.
Easy to navigate the priority passes.
It was raining soooooo much this day. We had a few challenging moments, but pushed through and really had a fantastic day and we actually did so many rides and ate so much food!
The rides we did:
Beauty and the Beast (Awesome! Definitely a favorite.)
Happy Ride with Baymax (Fun! Very similar to the Mater ride at Disneyland CA.)
We even caught a few people doing the viral dance trend!
Stitch Encounter (It was only in Japanese so felt a little awkward being there because we couldn't understand, but we did our best following along with what everyone else was doing which was actually hilarious! Fortunately for us, they seemed to know not to pick us out of the crowd.)
Star Tours (Very similar to CA.)
Space mountain (Very similar to CA.)
Haunted mansion (Very similar to CA.)
Pirates of the Caribbean (Very similar to CA.)
Jungle cruise (Better than CA!! Even though we couldn't understand the jokes, there's an extra part where you go through some caves that was quite entertaining!)
Peter Pan (Cute ride, similar to CA.)
Thunder mountain (It was open very briefly because of the rain, but we were able to ride once and it was super fun!)
The Girls absolutely loved the ride and were so happy they could do it at least once!
It’s a small world (Very similar to CA but all indoors which was nice on this super rainy day.)
Beauty and the Beast again!
Pooh’s Hunny Hunt (Loved this one, definitely a little better than CA, but it was shorter.)
Space mountain again. Kendall did it this time and loved it!!
Nighttime show. What an awesome show!!
Astro Blasters (Very similar to CA. We love this one!)
Food we ate and a favorite drink:
Churro (So yummy!!! Very similar to CA.)
Little green dumplings (Sooo good!!! One chocolate, one strawberry and one vanilla.)
Udon (Pretty good!)
Their take on an alcoholic beverage. I honestly can't remember what it was, but it was good! Not too boozey or sweet, but a lot of fruit.
Then we headed back to the hotel. The park closed exactly at 2100. Thank goodness for a short walk! We got back about 2130 and kids showered and we all went to bed.
Our feet were soaked alllll day!!! It felt so good to finally get our shoes off!!!
Day 12:
Another early morning as we knew this would be a long security line for DisneySea, and we were right! From the Disneyland Hotel, you have to take their local train for 2 stops; otherwise it's a very long walk. The train was pretty packed, but we made it on.
We arrived around 07:30 to the security line, and the line was insanely long (the park didn't open until 09:00!).
We waited patiently and were just happy it wasn’t raining. It actually ended up being quite hot and humid that day; we almost hoped that it would rain a little. Japan was either rainy or sunny and humid.
We made it in at 0845 and immediately took some pictures in front of the globe.
And then got access via priority passes to Fantasy Springs and the Rapunzle ride which was a huge accomplishment!
First we got breakfast of cinnamon rolls and then we started on our rides:
20,000 leagues under the sea (Awful ride, very claustrophobic, dark, and not much to see.)
Then we headed into Fantasy Springs.
Rapunzle ride (This was awesome!!!!)
Explored Fantasy Springs. You need a standby pass for any ride in that area and we were lucky to get one. Thoughts on Fantasy Springs: it was beautiful but since the whole park was new to us it was no more amazing than anywhere else in the park. I think its opening was much more exciting for those that have been going for years. But nevertheless, it was incredible and i feel lucky to have experienced it.
Journey to the Center of Earth (Awesome!!! One of our favs!)
Nemo and Friends Sea Rider (Super cute!!)
Raging Spirits (Awesome! Goes upside down and not rough or too fast.)
Tower of terror (Better than CA but shorter.)
Journey again, but this time with Kendall!!!
Indiana Jones (Similar to CA.)
Flounder (Super cute ride.)
Scuttles Scooters twice (Kids loved this!)
Food we ate, plus one good drink:
Churros:
Salmon:
Turkey legs:
I don't remember what this was, but it was good!
More thoughts about park:
They close early, most rides shut down about 30 minutes before closing at 2100.
They really push you out at 2100.
They are rule followers! We got in trouble with our phones several times for taking pictures on the rides. LOL!!
We headed back to the hotel via the train at 2100. The kids showered while Mike and I grabbed a drink and we had a late bedtime as we were all pretty sad to leave tomorow. :(
Day 13:
We slept in until about 0700 then woke up to pack. We took a break to have breakfast at McDonald's and then back to pack more. We checked out at 1200 and waited for a little in the lobby. It was just so beautiful that I had to get a few more last minute pictures.
We were picked up at 1215 by anther Transferro driver. It took about 1 hour to get to the airport.
Check in was so easy it made me feel like we were missing something. But we weren’t! We got some food.
We had the kids spend the last of our Yen.
Our flight left on time at a little after 1700.
We had a super smooth flight and made it in early at about 1000. Crazy going back in time. I was watching as we crossed the international date line. Super amazing!!
It was so easy going through customs and getting our bags that it was eerie! We've never had such a smooth trip home!!
My mom picked us up about 1100. We headed to In and Out. It was so good. We were sooooo tired.
We made it home a little after 1400 and it felt so incredibly good to be home!!
What an incredibly magical adventure Japan was! I would highly recommend it and can't wait to go back someday. I absolutely loved the people, food, sights, culture, history, fun activities to do, beautiful temples, Disneyland, easy transportation (especially the Shinkansen), and so much more! Thank you Japan!
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