Maybe Someday…

At the Shrine

Posted on August 7, 2019 by hjones

This would be our penultimate day here in Tokyo. We still have so much to do!

A quiet morning in Korea town. Notice the orange cones lining the road? We didn’t either. They’ll come into play later.

Another day, another piece of heavenly Japanese toast.

Jeff got what was essentially an egg salad sandwich with a pizza on top.

Making our way to the train we came upon this queue.

What could this be?

Some research upon drafting this installment cleared it up. This is a cafe which is based on a fictional Korean TV series called Coffee Prince. The premise of the show was this: A coffee shop owner decides to only have young, handsome men working at the shop, thus luring in eager young women to the store. The show was such a runaway hit that the filming location in Seoul Korea was turned into a real shop. Now there are many stores such as this one in Shin-Okubo that are just as insanely popular, as you can see from the line. Take a second to scroll back and notice that they are all women in the queue. Now you know about Coffee Prince.

A view from the train platform. We’re acing using the trains BTW.

Shin-Okubo Station.

Today we will be heading to Asakusa to visit the Senso-ji Temple. The last temple we visited was built in the twentieth century, this one originated in 645 AD!

The Kaminarimon or “Thunder Gate”

The large lantern called “chochin” is in in the center of the Kaminarimon.

There’s a wooden carving of a dragon on the bottom of the great red lantern on the Kaminarimon.

Nakamise-dori is lined with vendor stalls selling all manner of things. .

Lots of food and gifts to be found.

An adorable Japanese family.

This gentleman is making rice crackers.

Packaged crackers to go.

Or you can get one freshly made! It was salty.

Jeff’s came with seaweed.

Fancy, expensive cookies.

Another wall of lanterns.

Artwork near the temple telling the history of Senso-ji.

This one was just cute as anything.

This five-storied pagoda, Gojunoto, is one of the most famous in Japan.

Buddha’s ashes, officially inherited from the Isurumuniya temple in Sri Lanka, are stored on the top floor.

We made our way up to the temple.

More elaborate lanterns.

Gorgeous paintings graced the ceiling panels.

We didn’t go into the temple as a matter of respect, but we did catch a glimpse of a ceremony taking place. Something we did participate in was receiving a fortune.

Omikuji Paper Fortune At Sensoji

In these drawers there are 7 types of results for omikuji, ranging from the best daikichi (大吉excellent luck), to the worst daikyou (大凶terrible luck).

You put a 100 yen coin (about a buck) in a box. Then you pick up this cylinder and shake it until a chop stick comes out of a small opening.

Image result for sensoji temple fortunes stick

The chop stick has a number in Japanese characters on it. Now it’s your job to find the corresponding drawer!

You pull out the drawer and there lies your fate!

I got two just in case I had a bad fortune. They were both good ones! I pressed mine in book to be framed later, then forgot which book.

If it’s a bad fortune you fold it up and tie it to this fence and hope for the best!

We walked around the surrounding gardens for a bit. This tree looks ancient.

Signs of spring!

This man was trimming the hedges with a scissor!

He’s using some kind of jig to lean on. That’s dedication.

So guys, it’s hard to see but BOTH these pigeons were missing a leg! What the heck happened? Moving on.

Keeping watch.

There was another area along side the shrine that was separate from Nakamise-dori that had more temporary looking food tents set up. I couldn’t find any info about these. It could have been a festival or something?

More Takiyaki!

Look at the babies!

These were some kind of crab sticks. We took a chance.

They served it up with mayo and seaweed. Pretty good. Weird texture.

Thanks, Mr. Crabby!

Another vendor was making this adorable Kawaii waffles. A couldn’t get a better picture because the guy making these was ironically grumpy.

This vendor was serving straight up potatoes! Potatoes are another result of the Modern Meiji era, if you recall from our last temple visit.

Yet even more Takiyaki. These booths tended to repeat after awhile.

This looks more like your local greasy spoon hash than Japanese food.

More beautiful statuary.

A gorgeous flowering tree. Maybe Camillas?

Another view of the Pagoda.

There were lots of young women dressed in Kimono taking photos. My understanding is that they are not necessarily Geisha, just a little dressing up for pictures.

So many peaceful spaces.

We left the temple area to search out Hoppy Dori. An area known for Izakaya or bars.

We first encountered a covered shopping area.

This was happening.

We wandered down these quaint side streets.

House plants having an outing.

I spot a bar. We didn’t go in. I don’t remember why. Closed?

Come on! So whimsical!

It looked as if venues just dragged out the furniture. It was such a beautiful day!

There was a sketchy looking amusement park through here.

The streets began to widen into a plaza.

Only bicycles allowed.

A sneak peak at cherry blossoms! More to come!

Another bar we didn’t enter. It must have been closed or maybe it seemed too local?

And then we had a face to face with an owl.

I believe we found Hoppy Dori Street, but who’s to say.

I was on a mission to find a street food called Menchi Katsu. I spotted the kiosk and scooted into line.

It was shoulder to shoulder.

Here it is! Its a chopped pork and onion patty coated in panko crumbs and fried to golden perfection!

Wait! You can’t eat that here!!!!

No, sir. You have to move with the herd over to a stall to chew your cud. No eating street food on the street, you silly.

There was actually a uniformed (Officer? ) man hustling you off the street.

We wandered around a bit more, but we really wanted to just sit and have a drink.

We found a cute little lunch place, less like an Izakaya and more like a diner. It seemed friendly enough, so we wandered in and sat up at the counter.

Sake at last. We weren’t hungry at all, but to be polite we really needed to order food.

Now, what to order?

We managed to stumble our way through the menu and ordered a couple dishes. This place was so cute! It was seemingly a mom and pop affair. I got such a hoot out of the wife feverishly bopping around the kitchen, while the husband calmly sliced and diced with precision. Check out her adorable apron.

They put this down when I ordered. Potato? Radish?

Guys, these are fried oysters! They were HUGE and so light and crispy and gorgeously creamy inside. I was not one bit hungry and I ate every morsel.

Jeff got a curry similar to the one from Coco curry. It was delightful.

I think we’ll stop here and digest our lunch. We are making the very most of our last full day in Tokyo! Still to come: More parks, Sakura blossoms, Shrines, Shrine cats, Geisha, a boy band, a Vietnamese dinner, and….the New York lounge. Rest up!

Posted in Dining Review, International Travel, Tokyo, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Go Go Go Tokyo

Posted on July 22, 2019 by hjones

We spent our first night in our teensy weensy Air Bnb. Don’t get me wrong, we loved it, but it was smaller than any tiny home you’d see on HGTV. The whole bathroom was the shower. Just a spigot on the wall and a drain in the middle of the floor. The toilet was just a regular toilet. Boo!

Seriously, I’m backed up against the wall to take this.

The kitchen/laundry/bathroom.

Off to find breakfast.

We found an American style cafe just steps from our room.

Coffee!!!!

Each morning I ordered this heavenly piece of buttered Japanese toast along with a scoop of egg salad. Turns out it came with the coffee. Thanks!

There was an all night bar on our street. I’m pretty proud that we didn’t have 3:00 am Sake.

Today we will be heading to the Tsukiji Fish Market. I went back and forth about visiting this because a good portion of the operation moved the previous fall. The market has been running since the 1930’s and has two main areas: The inner market where wholesale dealers run auctions and where most of the processing of the fish take place, and the outer market (jōgai-shijō) which is a mixture of wholesale and retail shops that sell Japanese kitchen tools, restaurant supplies, groceries, seafood, with tons of food stalls restaurants, especially sushi. The inner market was proving to be outdated for health and safety so after a lot of wrangling, it was moved to a much more high tech facility. Word is that it’s lost its charms. Not to worry, there was plenty to experience at the outer market.

Dried things.

We got some fresh oysters, straight away.

I have no idea.

Gorgeous knives. Probably not TSA friendly.

Some battered potato wedges. That’s the ticket!

Hey, wait a minute!

This small temple was tucked into the market.

Sliding doors.

You better, watch out, fishies!

Stone lantern.

Something fried, probably the little fishies,

Not a clue.

Okay…

Some very oily mackerel.

What we had next was so awful, I’m strill triggered by the picture. It was eel guts. Eel guts.

The worst thing I’ve ever eaten, hands down.

We needed to find a beer, STAT!

This way!

Aah… sweet Kirin.

I tried to find out what these are called, but all I found was”Japanese Lantern Wall”.

We were ready to try more food. This was bread with red bean paste and a boiled chestnut. Yummy!

I think we’ve seen it all here.

Next we headed over to Shibuya. Our main destination was the famous Shibuya scramble crossing, but first, we had a dog to visit.

Hachikō the dog.

Hidesaburō Ueno was a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University. His dog, Hachikō would meet Ueno at Shibuya Station every day after his commute home. Ueno died suddenly in 1925, but his loyal companion would wait everyday at Shibuya Station for Ueno’s return. To this day Hachiko is honored for his loyalty.

That’s a good boy!

On to Shibuya crossing!

This is known as the world’s busiest crosswalk. Thousands of pedestrians scramble across here everyday. We visited on a weekend so it wasn’t as crazy as it is during the work week, but you get the feel of it. There’s a Starbucks overlooking the crossing that’s a great place to post up. It is also one of the busiest in the world, so be prepared to wait a bit.

We got a window seat to view the action.

I took a time lapse video too. It took me forever to get it uploaded to the blog, so it would make me feel like less of a fool if you watch it.

Another Japanese Lantern Wall

We had an important dinner date to get to.

This part of Shibuya was more like San Francisco with all the hills.

Climbing

You guys, we’re in the wrong spot.

Back down the hill.

Almost there.

We met back up with the kiddos.

So our lunch was at Coco Curry. This is a very popular Japanese curry chain, hence heading to the wrong location earlier. There’s quite a few of them.

The menu book. I had a primer on how to order from the Youtubes.

Kirin, as usual.

The main deal here is the Katsu or fried pork ,accompanied by a deep, rich, spicy brown curry. You can choose the heat level. I chose the slightly runny nose level.

The food was simply amazing! We enjoyed hanging out with the kids again and hearing about their adventures in Kyoto. We wouldn’t see the whole gang again until we met at the airport. We’ll see Meghan ans Evan a bit later.

The walk from the train to our neighborhood.

The line-up for the Jongno (cheese sticks) was massive.

Post-nap and look! The line is still as long! Why?

Our little neighborhood street was packed tight enough…

Then a car tries to pass!

A nice view from a foot bridge.

We made our way back to the Shibuya area to nearby Ginza. This is a more of a high end shopping destination.

These purses are a gazllion yen. You can work out the exchange rate yourself.

We had plans to meet up at this high end Whiskey Bar in Ginza.

It was adjacent to this lovely church courtyard.

Beautiful lighting.

They weren’t kidding about the whiskey. Oy vey!

We weren’t able to get seated with the kids so we just smiled and waved across the room. The hostess frowned upon me squatting next to their table.

We got a couple gorgeous, American sized Manhattens.

This place was exquisite!

See the host climbing the Library style ladder!?

Jeff ordered us two drams of this Japanese Whisky. It cast somewhere around one of those fancy purses.

Heading back to Shinjuku.

We were feeling a bit peckish and happened upon an Izakaya that I wanted to check out, Torikizoku. Like Coco Curry, this is also a chain. There are several hundred of these across Japan. It’s known for cheap Yakitori. Sounds good to me!

This bar has the ordering system right at the table!

Beer!

My ordering started out poor. I manged to choose more guts!

Chicken Livers. AAAGH!

Yay! Finally some chicken.

Chicken skins. Amazing!

With our bellies full, we ambled back to our cozy home.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Tokyo! We’ll get Lost in Translation !

Posted in Dining Review, Tokyo, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Welcome to Tokyo

Posted on July 13, 2019 by hjones

Though we were done with Tokyo Disneyland and Disneysea proper, we still had one more sleep before venturing out to the city. We decided to have dinner at Ikspiari, the shopping area where we met up with the kids for drinks. We wandered a bit and landed at this Shabu Shabu restaurant.

Clean and bright.

A bit of Sake to start. I saved that piece of rice paper. I’m not sure why.

So, what’s the deal with Shabu Shabu? It’s basically a hot pot that they plug in at your table. We had thinly sliced Wagu style beef (of which I forgot to take a picture) that we were tasked with cooking in the broth.

Shabu Shabu Pot

Bits and bobs of condiments. I know nothing.

After all the beef has been cooked, noodles are brought to soak up the savory broth.

We finished with some tea.

The next morning we got one last look at our Tokyo Bay view.

You thought we were done with Mickey, but not so fast! You may recall that we stopped at the bakery the day before. I got our last Disney treats to have for breakfast.

Mickey Bread!

I really got this for the novelty and expected it to be dry and not worth the calories. Not so, my friends! It was amazing! Each ear had a different custard filling, one strawberry, the other chocolate. The rest of the bun was filled with a yummy vanilla custard. The bread was pudding-like and luscious. We ate every bit. We also got a Mike Wazowski Melon Bread.

Guess what? It tasted just like cantaloupe. How, Disney? How?

Now we were off! The thing I was most concerned about was navigating the immense, complex transportation system here. We managed to find the Maihama train station. First steps!

Shouldn’t be too difficult, right?

Next, we got our Suica cards. Suica or Pasmo are really the same thing. You pre-pay for your fares so that you don’t need to fuss about buying tickets every time. This goes beyond the “Charlie Card” aspect, because different lines are owned by different train companies. These cover everything. Plus you can use it as currency for other things like cab fares and vending machines. Brilliant!

Please have an English option….

We did it! Our AirBnB was located near the Shin-Okubo Station in the Shinjuku prefect of Tokyo. It took a bit to find it. Our hosts were wonderful. They actually sent us pictures of the building and walkways. We would not have been able to find it otherwise. The address and house numbers are quite complex.

Here it is!

Our apartment home for the week.

We were ’round the back.

Our apartment was nestled in the Korea Town section of Shin-Okubu. It was just perfect. We felt like we were really experiencing local life.

There were tons of little bars and restaurants.

Check out the nest of power lines.

There was a huge Don Quixote Store right around the corner. This store sells everything from Pokemon to roasted sweet whole potatoes. Really.

Our first order of business was to visit a shrine. The Meiji Jingu Shibuya Shrine was just ten minute train ride away.

Meiji Jingu entrance.

This massive Torii gate leads into the largest shrine in Tokyo.

Enormous trees lined the path leading to the Shrine.

Elaborate Lanterns

We didn’t get very far before we stumbled upon a Dango Stand. Shall we?

Dango being cooked over a coal fire.

Thanks!

This is similar to mochi in texture but it’s just solid. There was a sweet soy glaze and powdered ginger on top.

It was a lot. We should have shared.

More of the Shrine! This shrine is not hundreds of years old like you’d expect. It is dedicated to Emperor Meiji, the first emperor of modern Japan. During the Meiji Period Japan modernized and westernized to join the world’s major powers. Emperor Meiji passed away in 1912. The Shrine was built in 1920 and subsequently rebuilt after World War ll.

Emperor Meiji embraced Western culture and, in particular, wine. These barrels are donated by the wineries of Burgundy each year to honor Meiji.

Nearby the wine you’ll see a huge collection of sake barrels. These kazaridaru are a decorative display.They have been donated by sake brewers from around Japan. The Sake is used for shrine ceremonies and festivals.

Each cask is different.

Another Torii Gate

We are now at the heart of the shrine.

One should ceremoniously wash their hands first. There is a method which I forget now. Hopefully I did it right.

The entrance to the main courtyard.

Torii

Inside the courtyard.

The crowds were pretty light.

Prayers written by visitors.

We didn’t enter the Shrine itself. There is a series of bows that I didn’t feel I could manage. This is a sacred space.

A stunning light fixture.

More details.

Carvings.

The shrine opens up into a beautiful park area.

There is a museum on the property that sadly was closed for renovations.

Homotsuden (the Treasure Museum)

Signs alerting us of the closing

Iron details

We wove our way around to the exit.

The shrine is right near the Harijuku prefect. This area is known for it’s colorful fashions geared towards teens. Takeshita Street is lined with trendy shops, fashion boutiques, used clothes stores, crepe stands and fast food.

Takeshida Street Harijuku

This area was packed.

Plastic food crepes.

…and more crepes.

We were in the mood for something more savory. I squealed with delight when we rounded the corner to find a Takoyaki stand!

The Gindaco

Takoyaki are octopus dumplings made from grilled batter with a chunk of boiled-octopus in the middle. Okay, I guess it doesn’t sound that great, but it is! I had some at a Japanese place in Orlando, but they had nothing on these. What’s miraculous about this is how they are made…

The cook pours a very thin batter into a cast iron grill fitted with half moon molds.

Then they use two metal chopstick to pull the batter as it cooks.

They manipulate this batter moving quickly and suddenly these perfect spheres of octopus dumplings appear!

Amazing!

The result! The dumplings are topped with bonita flakes, seaweed, mayo and a sweet sticky soy glaze.

I call it “three textures for the price of one” – a soft outer shell, gooey (boiling hot) batter inside that, with a chewy octopus center. This may have been my favorite bite of the entire trip!

We ducked into an arcade for a look around.

So close!

The Kawaii game was strong here.

I don’t know what these are but I want the one with his tushy out.

We were long over due for a beer. What we found in short supply were bars open during the day. Now, we did find plenty of lunch spots that had beer, but it is not cool to take a seat without ordering food. We picked a little Izakaya and tackled the ordering kiosk and headed in.

We’re getting a handle on things.

This is the name of the place., I think.

Ice cold beer!

Most Izakaya will have little pots of pickled things and sauces. This is complimentary. I’m not sure we would ever figure what’s supposed to go with what.

I discovered something about these tooth picks.

You snap the end of to rest your pick down after you use it. Stop leaving your tooth picks on the table, you savages!

We ordered some dumplings to share. Still not what you’re supposed to do. These were heavenly! Look how delicate!

We wandered aimlessly for awhile.

Even in the most modern parts of Tokyo you’ll find Shrines tucked in between towering buildings.

More wandering.

Hurrah! We found a real pub! An Irish bar preparing for both St. Patrick’s Day and Sakura season. Only in Japan!

A perfect, two minute pour!

We were about ready for a beer nap. We made our way back to our Korea town flat.

Vending Machines everywhere!

A peek into the Don Quixote. Stuff!

The Korean Street food in our neighborhood is more like what you’d expect at the Minnesota State Fair. In the late afternoon you’ll see eighty percent of the people on this street eating a Jongno.

Jongno Stand

Excuse me, ladies!

On the grill here is a Korean pancake.

We walked our snacks back to the room.

So this is Jongno. Cheese on a stick, rolled bread crumbs, potato bits, then Fried. Not done yet…it’s rolled in salted sugar then topped with ketchup and mustard. Holey Moley!

This soft pancake is filled with Korean Kimchee.

The verdict: Loved the pancake! It was superb! The Jongno was just too much. We only had one bite.

After our nap and some regrouping, we headed out on the town! Shinjuku to be precise.

Isn’t this just what you pictured?

Everything is big, bright and loud!

This isn’t the busiest crossing we’ll see.

Locals all headed home from work.

The Shinjuku district of Tokyo is a bustling, hectic, and very modern part of the city, however, only steps away, you can turn down Memory Lane. Sound romantic? Well, this is also known as “Piss Alley”.

Just around the corner…

Through the dark alleyway.

Piss Alley

Piss Alley started out as an illegal drinking quarter in the late 1940s, Due to the lack of restroom facilities, patrons would wander off and relieve themselves on the nearby train tracks, hence the name. In 1999, a fire destroyed the area and the whole maze needed to be rebuilt. Thankfully, it was completely replicated with the addition of bathrooms and other amenities. Someone in PR renamed it Memory lane, but the old moniker prevails!

Japanese “Salary Men” enjoying a post work beer.

This is a popular tourist attraction, however, it remain a respite for locals as well. As you walk through you see that some Izakaya will only have Japanese signage. This indicates that it’s for the locals.

No English here.

There are also Izakaya that caters more to tourists. We we lured into this one by our host. Pictures don’t really show how tiny these places are. It’s like a narrow walk-in closet. This place served Yakitori. Each skewer was about 200 yen or two dollars.

Platters of skewers are on the bar waiting to be grilled over hot coals.

Beef Yakitori.

We got some kimche on the side.

Grilled pork belly and green onion.

Things started to pile up.

He was a good salesman.

We strolled back to our cozy room.

Okay, one more beer at the pub. That’s a supposed shot of Jameson on the side. Look harder, its there.

So we made it around the city just fine! It was a busy first day and we are already smitten with this city! So much more to see ahead…

Posted in Dining Review, Tokyo, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Adventure is a Wonderful Thing

Posted on June 29, 2019 by hjones

This would be our last full day on Disney property before we head out to “Real Tokyo” . Once again, the weather was beyond perfect!

Blue skies

Tokyo’s version of the Plaza Restaurant. No fried chicken on this menu though.

We queued up up for a cruise on the Riverboat.

Some passengers checking the itinerary.

Everything looks in order here.

Model of the Mark Twain

Flags a-Flyin

What I love about a ride on the river boat, or the train etc. is the unique, elevated views you get of the park.

A view of the train.

A nefarious looking rock on Tom Sawyer Island.

Big Thunder Mountain

After cruising the Mighty Mississippi,we were right hungry. We headed to Westernland, a land unique to Tokyo, to wrangle the waffle sandwich I’d had my eye on.

Camp Wood Chuck

What an incredible coincidence.

Jeff got in line and I scoped out some seating.

Not here.

Here!

Some built in seating.

Cute, hand-sewn looking banners adorned the outdoor area.

large fire pit

Just LOOK at how cute the wrappers are!

There she is…

A little closer.

This was delectable! The chicken was spicy and crisp. It had some sauteed vegetable and served with maple syrup for you to judiciously drizzle over top of everything. I still had sticky everywhere after.

We decided to get a ginger lemonade. The cups are so cute!!!

A little boba too.

After lunch we scooted over Tomorrowland to experience Star Tours again. It was one of the few rides with a reasonable wait. We ran into something quite curious on the way.

What’s happening here?

There was a long wall in the land blocking the view of some new construction. As Disney does, the wall was decorated so as to not look so terrible during the transition. Apparently the Japanese guests thought this wall was worthy of taking a photo in front of. Not unusual, but in this instance, they were facing the wall as if the were on a time out, while a friend took a picture of the back their head.

Looks like the last scene in The Blair Witch Project!

On to Star Tours!

I’ve made a lot of silly observations about the Japanese Disney fans. I’ll throw one more in the mix. They adore popcorn buckets. Now, Disney parks in the states will have an occasional holiday popcorn bucket or the like. In Tokyo, they are ubiquitous. Fans wear them with or without being jammed with a tasty popcorn treat. I tried to take some pictures on the sly without seeming like an American creep, so they are not so artistic.

This is a suitcase popcorn bucket.

A Lightening McQueen from Cars.

He’s rockin’ Winnie the Pooh.

She’s dressed up like Duffy the Bear and sporting a Duffy bucket.

Another fun ride through the galaxy.

The exit dumps you out on a foot bridge. Nice view from up here!

Next we made our way to Fantasyland for Philharmagic. This is one of my favorites in the states, despite being 3D which usually doesn’t work for me.

Mickey!

Adorable posters line the vestibule.

They had some practical displays of the show scenes here. Much nicer than Orlando.

Here we go!

So far all of the classic attractions have had a combination of English and Japanese. I figured the dialogue for Philharmagic would be Japanese, but all the classic songs like, “Be our Guest” and “Part of That World” would be the original recordings. Not so! All the songs were Japanese re-recordings! You’re not allowed to take any pictures or video, but someone on Youtube broke the rules. Check it out if you wish:

Back out to the castle!

Sorcerer Mickey doing his thing.

Much more detail on this castle.

We watched the school girls take their selfies for a bit.

This is all selfie town.

Instead of going back for a nap, we decided a cocktail was in order instead. I had wanted to explore the Disneyland Hotel anyway.

Hello, gorgeous!

They let us through the gates.

There are shops that line the courtyard.

A royal staircase greats you as you enter.

The whole resort is Alice in Wonderland Themed.

Playing with Queen of Hearts!

Alice is Aces.

This hotel is certainly reminiscent of the Grand Floridian. However, the scale of this lobby is even more grander!

Fountain in the lobby.

Three story windows and full palm tress.

Gorgeous marble inlay floors.

Your host.

As with all the other lounges, despite there being only one person seated at the bar, we were required to wait about ten minutes.

The lounge area viewed from the bar.

Gorgeous mirror above the bar and up to that tray ceiling.

The adorable bartender had no idea what a Manhattan was. She was so sweet just yessing us then thumbing through a big binder trying to figure it out. We played a game of “hotter/colder” as she reached for rum or gin instead of whisky. Then a manager came to the rescue!

That’s the right stuff.

The manager knew her way around and mixed us up the best drinks of the trip AND they were full sized!

Double score!

I noticed that in Tokyo, when you order a cocktail, they leave the bottle right in front of you for about five or ten minutes after they’ve served you. I’m guessing it’s to show that you’ve gotten a quality spirit in your drink.

We finished our american sized Manhattans as we gazed out to the park.

Time to head back in.

There was a little more elbow room in World Bazaar.

You can actually see the pavement.

I love the smell of the Confectionary!!!

Here’s that guy again!

We set about finding a little something to bring back to my mom. What’s neat about the souvenir boxes and tins here is that they have a display in a lucite box showing what exactly is inside. No guessing!

Cookies and crackers in the 35th box.

Fab Four shortbread cookies.

This column of candy was not for sale!

We wandered out of World Bizarre.

We made a brief stop at the bakery. I got some treats, but you can’t see those until tomorrow! By tomorrow I mean whenever I write the next installment.

Next, we explored more of Adventureland. We really hadn’t been here in the daytime.

The Tiki room! That’s never crowded!!

Never mind.

Wanna ride the railroad? Me neither.

Not to worry! There was some fun, live entertainment right near by.

Best cast member costumes, ever.

Bird or monkey?

Now, that’s a monkey!

Ooh, ooh ooh. Aah, aah, aah. I speak monkey.

Leading down the path…

I was unaware that there was a New Orleans Square type of area.

Familiar ironwork.

Someone last their beads.

The waffles smelled A-mazing!

We discovered a small, covered alleyway.

We took a rest under this (real?) tree.

Got to witness a cute interaction with a cast member and a tot.

The cast members here are just wonderful.

A little hide-n’seek with the castle.

The day wore on.

Splendid plantings.

The evening sun made the facade of small world look magical.

It was time to redeem our very last fastpass in Tokyo Disneyland, Pooh’s Hunny Hunt.

This was the last coveted attraction and I’m so glad we got to experience it.

Our story begins…

The queue was so pretty.

A Trelised alley.

Christopher Robins House?

This cartographer seems a bit suspect.

You can call him Winnie.

The titular page of the book.

Here we go!

We boarded our honey pots and I was, as usual, told “no pictures”.

This was perhaps my farovrite attraction of the trip. It was so cute and so well done. The ride vehicles are trackless so they swirl and bounce around depending on the show scene you are in. Below is a very high quality ride through video. My favorite scene is when pooh goes on a honey induced LSD style trip.

So that was then end of our Tokyo Disneyland vacation. This was a ten year bucket list item that this lady really didn’t think would ever happen. It was all that I hoped for and more. The weather cooperated, which was a huge bonus. More than that, the Japanese culture of service and excellence simply shines here.

My friends, this may seem an end, but it’s just the beginning. Next we will be leaving this cushy bubble of Disney and heading out to real Tokyo!!!

See ya real soon!

Posted in Disneyland, International Travel, Tokyo, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Tokyo Twilight

Posted on June 21, 2019 by hjones

We rose early in order to get to the parks ahead of the crowds.

Did not work out so well.

We were warned that the parks would be at full capacity today. No worries, we had a mission to execute. Besides, it was just a beauty of a day!

Heading in with the crowds.

The decor began to switch from the 35th anniversary to Pixar Playtime. They never stop celebrating here!

Doesn’t look so busy from here.

We made our way over to the New York area to snag a fastpass for Tower of Terror.

A better look at the rail cars.

There it is in the far distance!

Guys, this is the line just for fastpass. To be fair, it moved right along.

See you in eight hours!

Fastpasses in hand, we took a nice stroll away from the crowds. As you can see, even at full capacity one can really enjoy the beauty of this park.

A walk trough the Mediterranean.

Hellooooo!!!!!

I’ve mentioned the American waterfront a couple times, but really gives me a laugh is that a significant section is dedicated to CAPE COD!

Yes, we traveled halfway around the freaknin’ world for salt box houses and an old Congregational Church.

New England kitchen garden. Looks familiar.

Understandably, we didn’t spend much time in Cape Cod. We booted over to Mysterious Island to grab more fastpasses, this time for some special guests.

Something exploded.

We couldn’t resist.

An interior shot.

It was time to hop on the monorail. We were meeting up with the kids for lunch at the “Downtown Disney” area.

Just like that, everything is Pixar.

Ikspiari Shopping and Dining

There were a few familiar sights.

I spy, with my little eye….

We met up with the young ones and looked for a good place for a beer and a bite.

A display of plastic food. Remarkable how real it all looks.

I didn’t nerd out with the camera around the kids. We had some beers and a comically bad communication gap with our server. We had two rounds of Non alcoholic beer served to us before we got it sorted. We wandered around the shopping areas for a bit.

Grocery convenience store.

All of the ready made food here is just amazing.

Japan is kind of known for crazy flavored Kit Kats. Because of the season, we grabbed a Sakura flavored bag of minis.

I still have two left that I can’t bear to open.

Meghan was craving more sweets.

Matcha tea ice cream. I got a lick.

We parted ways with the children. Jeff and I had that Tower fastpass to use.

Gorgeous details.

We got the low down on the story line in this room. Basically it’s the “ole’ stolen cursed Idol” scenario.

Some of the treasures absconded by our host.

Pilferers get all the ladies.

This show building and attraction queue is the best of all the Towers I’ve experienced. The ride itself was just okay. I’m going to hazard a guess that the ride drops were shortened due to the overwhelming capacity. Orlando is still my fave.

Venice looking splendid as we exited.

We scooted back to our room for a bit of a rest before meeting back up with the kids.

Well, what’s this?

It’s a cake and an apology for losing our luggage on day one. Nice touch, Hilton.

This view!!!!

Again, I didn’t take a ton of pictures with the kids. Everyone was in good spirits, but I knew, and had warned them that due to the crowds, they would not be going on too many attractions. I had procured one set of Fastpasses for them and that was it. We had a fantastic Moroccan dinner Al Fresco and took in one more ride, but that was it. I hoped they enjoyed the beauty of the place, but I knew that breaking away from their “real Japan” trip was a sacrifice and an extra expense. Tomorrow we’ll be meeting up again and going “off campus” to take in a one of a kind museum.

Good night, Mount Prometheus.

The next morning we met up with the kiddos and grabbed an Uber over to Odaiba. This is an area that I may not have visited if it weren’t for this outing. It’s very modern with shopping malls and techno-nerd type museums. It was a simply gorgeous morning!

Hey guys, wait up!

The Digital Art Museum is why were here.

We walked through some sort of an expo space on the way.

Not sure what goes on here, but it looks like fun.

Keen eyes may have seen this Ferris wheel from our room!

We didn’t ride it.

The youths.

Truth be told, I wasn’t really jazzed about the idea of this museum. Everybody else was pretty psyched. We got our tickets weeks ahead because Meghan said they sell out on the day. I just wanted to spend time with these guys. Online, it looked to me that it was just a series of rooms with digital projections on the walls. Not that exciting to me. The first room we walked into kind of validated that.

Cool projections on the walls.

Find the Jeff!

Find anything!

Honestly, my mind was quickly changed as we made our way through the exhibits. They were so much more than projections. It was a totally immersive experience, visually and audibly. Below was my favorite exhibit.

You start off dwarfed by these “lily pads” that are dancing with projections.

As you move through this forest, you feel as if you’re getting taller and or the plants are shrinking.

The floor was pitched as if you were climbing a steep hill.

Suddenly you stand tall over the digital forest.

All the while there is powerful music accompanying the changing lights.

There were at least a dozen of these exhibits. Each were unique, some more impressive than others. Just like when I checked out the website, I realize it’s really hard to get a sense of how immersive this is. The photos below are of a “rain room” with mirrors above and below with pulsing lights. It’s so disorienting that I dare say you may want to skip this if you’re prone to seizures.

This last exhibit was stunning. There are just a couple dozen of these lanterns hanging in the room, but they look infinite in the mirrors. The best part was that they only let a few people in the room at a time so that the reflections were unadulterated.

We were all done playing at the museum. We had intentions of meeting the kids for lunch but we ended up going in opposite directions, and they were heading out on the train for Kyoto. Before lunch, we stopped at one of the many vending machines for a drink. This one only had cold beverages, but some have hot cans of coffee or tea.

Your guess is as good as mine.

I got an obvious coffee type drink.

I made Jeff get this for research. I think it was peach?

This outdoor spaces were lovely.

I can imagine how beautiful this is in summer.

This guy tried to keep us from our lunch.

He was no match for Captain Hungry.

Little Guy VS. Bumble Bee

This is the Fuji TV building. A pretty famous piece of architecture. We” get a closer look later.

There were panoramic views of the Tokyo Skyline.

A little peek at some cherry blossoms.

All you need is Love…and ramen! Let’s eat!

More plastic food. We didn’t eat here. It was mostly Katsu or fried pork. We were after ramen.

Getting closer.

Here it is!

Something that takes a bit getting used to is that most Ramen places have an ordering kiosk. You choose your food and beverage from a ATM type machine and pay with cash outside the restaurant. Then you hand your ticket to a server and find a seat. This sounds easy if everything is in English. It is not. We fiddled around and hoped we hadn’t ordered forty bowls of ramen by mistake.

We managed to get some beers!

This is the face of a man who has no idea he’ll be having horrible heartburn in a couple of hours.

We ordered two types of Tsukemen ramen. This is where cold noodles are served separately from the hot broth. This is so you can eat the noodles more slowly, whereas regular ramen requires that you eat quickly so that the noodles don’t turn to mush. We’re learning so much!

Jeff’s Tsukemen had a spicy broth. Hence the future heartburn.

Mind was milder and was a bit fishy.

The depth of flavor of these broths was intense. It was oily and rich a so full of flavor!

Arigato!

We took in some more views before heading out.

What a skyline!

We waited for our taxi right under the Death Star portion of the Fuji TV Building.

We taxied back to the Hilton for a bit of rest. I don’t know what to say about these sunsets anymore.

At this point in the evening, Jeff was feeling pretty miserable. He was a real sport and came back out with me to Disneysea. We had no agenda other than walking about and taking in the sights.

Venice

Mount Prometheus from the Canals.

A bit of New York

We wandered over to the Trolley Park area. This is simply ablaze with lights! This is where you’ll find Toy Story Midway Mania. We skipped it because it’s the same as the US parks… and the lines were insane.

Stunning!

Do you think people might walk by and not see Woody?

Some carnival games.

So pretty.

Jeff was starting to feel good enough to try and have a cocktail. We meandered over to Mediterranean harbor to seek out Magellan’s, another signature lounge in the park. Like the Roosevelt Lounge, we had to put our name in and wait.

We got in!

This globe is massive!

I got a split bottle of Italian wine for my self. Jeff had gin and soda for his tummy.

This place was simply marvelous. Wood carving and iron work everywhere.

This sconce shows the level of detail.

A look at the constellation ceiling.

Was it in the stars that we would have one more fantastic day at Tokyo Disney? Signs point to yes!

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A World Within a World

Posted on June 12, 2019 by hjones

After some downtime at the Hilton were ready to return to the park. Before we stroll back in, I should say that the whole reason I wanted to come here was to experience the reputed “Best Disney Park in the world”, Disneysea. The way the tickets work here is a bit confusing as far as how many days you can buy and which park you can visit on each day, therefore I had to wait to see the pièce de résistance, as it were. I should look up what that would be in Japanese… Anyway, truth be told I would not have come all this way to see this version of the “Magic Kingdom”. As lovely as it is, it’s just not that different than what you can experience in the states aside from everything being in a different language. At this point I was hoping that Jeff was having good time here and not regretting coming half way around the world for seemingly what we could see in USA.

Onward!

The Grand Finale! Wait, we’re just getting started!

World Bazaar was lit up beautifully.

Music was blaring!

People were stopped to witness the dancing lights.

We were feeling a bit peckish. Jeff got a special 35th Anniversary food item that’s not as it seems at first glance… can you guess what this is?

Wrong! It’s braised beef, rice and gravy…in an ice cream cone.

I’ve gone K-razy with the anniversary foods!

Off to some attractions! First up, the Jungle Cruise.

The signage was mostly in English.

The Skipper’s jokes, were not:

I had curated a long list of snacks I wanted to try here. Below is a teriyaki chicken thigh that sounded good, tasted amazing and looked like something you’d see in a burn unit. Scroll past if you’re squeamish.

Ewww.

Flavored popcorn is a big deal here in the parks, and people will queue up for super long waits for it. The flavors can get kind of weird here but most are familiar. They had garlic shrimp, blueberry, herb tomato to name a few. I really wanted to try the Curry.

Found it!. The aroma was undeniable.

One popcorn, please Mr. Roasty Toasty.

Salty and delish.

Next, we made our way to the Haunted Mansion.

Move all the way to the Dead Center.

Amazing Details

This ride was narrated in Japanese, but the classic songs were in English. You just never know.

Gorgeous Small World facade. Different than either in the states.

Space Mountain. We’ve aged out of this one.

While I just went on and on about how everything is pretty mush the same in this park as in the states, here is an exception. This Monster’s Inc. attraction is unique to this park. We managed to snag a fast-pass and it was time to check it out!

The facade and queue area are replicas of the facility from the movie.

The mural of the world made up of doors.

Very cute.

Why oh why can’t we buy these posters?

Can you set me up, Sully?

Celia must be on break.

This ride was very cute and interactive, but with regular wait times around two hours, I would never do this with out a fast-pass. Even traveling around the globe for it.

We did what we set out to do so it was time to retire for the evening. Good night, gang!

Good morning! Do you feel rested? Good. This trip took place in March and I was well aware that it is rainy season in Japan. I resigned myself to this fact and just tried to prepare as well as I could.

This was a little worse than I hoped.

We decided to wait out the rain by exploring this beautiful hotel.

Patio area where one could dine if it weren’t a monsoon.

A nice view of the ocean and a good indication of the force of the winds.

Looking down over the buffet dining room. We did not participate.

There were beautiful Kimono on display, mostly for brides.

Lush, dense gardens.

A tea house across the garden.

We didn’t sign up for the buffet, but we did enjoy breakfast each morning during our stay. There was an Italian cafe in the lobby that served the creamiest cappuccino I’ve ever tasted.

Let me call you Sweetheart, I’m in love with you!

I had this avocado and shrimp panini every morning they had it. They ran out some days. Boo!

Just like that, the rain cleared. Look at the rainbow!

You can see all the way to Odaiba from our room. I told you the view from our room would get even better!

I bought this cute raincoat for this trip and I’m wearin’ it, gol dangit!

The monorail was just steps from our hotel.

Okay, guys. Here we are at Tokyo Disneysea! So here’s the thing. I didn’t take a whole bunch of photos of the entrance because we needed to beat feet over to the most popular attraction to get fastpasses. After this we can relax and take a look around.

The open plaza leading to the entrance.

Just through the archway now.

One could easily assume (as I did) that a park called “DisneySea” would be a marine park something like Sea World in the states. This is not the case at all. This park is elaborately themed around different “ports of call”. The entrance to the park is Mediterranean Harbor, which opens up to six more nautically themed ports: American Waterfront, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, and Mysterious Island. The last of these was our goal to get those fastpasses. Let’s gazelle on over there.

We made it!

This machine is boring.

20.000 leagues

We secured our fastpasses so we needed to reward ourselves with some food and drink.

Beer. You don’t have a choice of fancy IPAs here, it’s just beer.

Still celebrating!

This baby was the next on my list. A giant Gyoza. Like the best steamed Peking ravioli ever!!!!

Now to walk about. We headed over to Mermaid lagoon. This is the only area that is specifically for children. The rest of the park is more like World Showcase in Epcot writ large.

King Triton’s Palace

The level of detail is astounding.

The king himself!

Kids or not, it’s well worth it to walk through this place. It’s an indoor kiddie park that is fashioned to make you feel like you’re under water!

Can you hold your breath?

Exit through the belly of the whale.

Next, we made our way to the Arabian Coast. Dedicated readers of my blog (I’m looking at you, Erin) may recall that the Morocco pavilion at Epcot is me very favorite. Oh my goodness. I think I’m ruined.

Huge plaza

There’s a double decker carousel in there.

Gorgeous tiled archway.

Oh look! A gaggle of school girls. We’ll be seeing more of this.

There are quiet paths to get lost in.

I’m running out of gushing descriptions of these details. Stunning!

You’re not allowed to go up those stairs. Trust me.

These guests aren’t waiting for an attraction. They’re in line for churros.

A regal palm.

There’s just a couple attractions here. The carousel I pointed out earlier, a magic carpet ride and a dark ride, Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage. Even if the park is packed this attraction never has more than a five minute wait. It’s a hidden gem.

A preview of what’s to come.

People refer to this as a “Small World” type experience. Yes, it’s a boat ride and yes, there are animatronics, but this goes far beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. It features original music by Alan Menkin and a story line that is well, impossible to perceive in Japanese but it’s presented in gorgeous vignettes of fluidly moving characters.

I really don’t know what’s happening here, but look at those colors!

This doesn’t look good for Sinbad.

This guy was two stories tall.

Who knows what the story was, it was an amazing attraction and with a five minute wait, why not?

We circled around to the next land, “Lost River Delta”. This has a Aztec theme to it with two majorly popular attractions: Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull which is mostly the same as the Anaheim version and a roller coaster called Raging Spirits. We did the former via the single rider line. We skipped the latter due to the incredible lines. We didn’t chicken out, really.

Lost River Delta

I waited for a shot of the Raging Spirits Roller Coaster. Unsuccessful.

Impressive facades.

Now for some more helpful information if you’re planning your trip to Tokyo Disneyland. Japanese students go to school eleven months out of the year. Their only break is….drum roll….March!!! Yes, exactly when we are here. This park was 85% students and it was a full capacity.

Feeling a bit crowded?

It gets worse.

This was what we were dealing with, folks. Just like in the states, you can have a fabulous time if you have a bit of a plan and a good attitude. Each day we hustled to get at least one coveted fast pass, then we just strolled around checking out the beautiful sights. The crowd above wasn’t everywhere, just near the most popular attractions.

See, peaceful.

Can i jump in one of those boats?

We hopped on the electric railway and got some keen views of the American Waterfront.

New York, New York!

Big Band Beat concert…we’ll be checking that out later.

It was probably well past noon so a cocktail was in order. There are several high end lounges around Disneysea. In the American Waterfront you’ll find a full scale steam ship, the S.S. Columbia. Nestled inside is the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge.

Brought to you by Kirin.

The man himself.

It was here that we discovered something interesting about Japanese lounges; you can’t just walk up and sit down at the bar. Even if there are plenty of open seats, you still have to give your name and wait. I’m only swinging a big guess here, but waiting and queuing up just seem to be a part of the culture. There must be order and propriety. We’ll see more of this once we explore “real Tokyo” .

Plenty of room at the bar. Still had to wait ten minutes.

Another teensy Manhattan.

A bit of Camembert.

We finished our snacks and took a walk past the Tower of Terror.

The most amazing ToT facade of all the parks!

Just a look for today. We’ll have to work hard to get these fastpasses.

Back around to the beginning.

You nearly saw the whole place! We’re getting pretty tired too. Let’s get a nap in before the night time adventures.

Bye, Mike!

Lookin’ good, Sully!

Another look out the hotel window.

And we’re back! This is the globe fountain we blew past this morning.

It was near dusk and we hadn’t really had a full meal. back in the NYC area we found our first authentic Japanese cuisine.

Under the tracks we rode earlier.

Too chilly to dine outside, but what a view!

I adored the crockery here!

This was the house Sake. Sakura Restaurant also celebrating the Sakura season.

Jeff’s beer.

I got the most delectable tempura.

Jeff got noodles and a whole bunch of stuff that I don’t know what it is.

We finished our dinner and headed back to Mysterious Island to finally use our coveted Journey to the Center of the Earth fast pass. The sun had set and the park was in full illumination.

That sailing ship is a clever children’s play area, we later discovered.

We had a bit of time so we first rode 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. A respectable submarine type of ride.

Lots of steam punk here.

We didn’t have to don these.

Your ride vehicle.

Now, for the big Tuna. This attraction is the only one of it’s kind and I was not disappointed. I’ll let Wikipedia tell you more about it:

Riders then board steam-powered mine vehicles that travel through pre-drilled tunnels into the heart of the Earth. The ride begins through a cavern of colorful glowing crystals, before entering a giant Mushroom Forest, which is inhabited by strange insect and amphibian-like life forms. Before the car can proceed further, an earthquake causes a cave-in of the tunnel ahead, forcing the car off its planned route and down a side branch filled with giant egg-like sacks that appears to have been dug by a gigantic creature. The car emerges on the shore of the Subterranean Sea, and is nearly struck by a lightning from the electrified gas clouds. The finale comes when riders are forced into the fiery heart of an active volcano, where the riders come face-to-face with the giant, tyrannical centipede-like lava monster that has built a nest there, before escaping back to the surface on the wave of an eruption.

Yup, what he said. It was a blast!!!!

Sorry, no ride pics.

We were making our way back to our hotel, but decided on a night cap at the Hotel Mira Costa, the signature resort at Disneysea. It just happened to have a full view of the Fantasmic water show!

The only picture i got before they asked me to put my camera away.

A peak at the lobby.

Back to the room. We were ready for a good rest. We would be getting up early tomorrow to beat the crowds. We were so naive.

Good night, Tokyo!

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Ticket To Tokyo

Posted on May 29, 2019 by hjones

More than ten years ago I stumbled upon a blog from a Disney adjacent writer. She chronicled her whirlwind, two week trip to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea. I was vaguely aware that there was a Disney park in the far east, but I had no idea of the beauty and scope of this place, especially DisneySea. I hunkered down and read all seventeen installments in one weekend. Ever since then, Tokyo has been a far off distant dream that I hoped would come true, but reality prevailed…until last summer.

My son Matt also longed to visit Japan, but for completely different reasons. He loves Japanese culture and had been keeping an eye out for extremely low airfares. Then, it happened. Round trip tickets for less than $800.00 popped up. Matt, his best friend Bryan, my daughter Meghan and her boyfriend Evan were all going. It took about a half a minute to decide we wanted in! We booked our flights in July of 2018 for a March 2019 trip. So exciting!!!

Now it was all about planning, itineraries and fretting about all the details coming together. Added into the mix were a new job, a move just weeks after we would be coming home, and to top it off, we adopted a dog too. Yeah, it was crazy.

Jeff and I decided to break up the legs of the trip and do an overnight is Los Angeles before the thirteen hour flight to Tokyo. This was a good move. We arrived quite late in LA but we were sure we’d be able to get food and drink. Not so much. The only place open and serving food was a seedy casino.

This will do.

It looks nice in pictures.

We got a nice, cheap and cheerful room at the La Quinta

A beautiful day in sunny California.

We grabbed a Lyft and headed back to the airport. We got there about a million hours early because this lady was a bit uptight about being on time. No worries, there was plenty of food and drink to be had while we wait.

The Border Grill

The food was fantastic and reasonably priced for an airport.

These chips smelled so good frying up, we had to try them. Had to.

It was finally time to board our flight on Singapore Airlines.

Why, thank you.

This is an extremely long flight, and not very comfortable if you’re flying coach as we were. The good people of Singapore Airlines are well aware of this, so they keep you distracted by constantly feeding you, giving you free drinks and lots of hot towels. It helped.

White wine was a-flowin’

Not the best food we had on the trip.

A more familiar snack.

Oh, look! More food.

We made it! FYI: They don’t like it when you take pictures in customs.

We arrived just after 8:00 pm which means everything is closed up tight at the airport. No shuttles would be running to get to Disneyland Hilton where we where staying so we (I) decided that we would stay at an airport hotel rather than try and figure out trains after our brains were scrambled with fatigue. This was a good call.

Ahhhh….

Look at these cute tea cups! I didn’t take them.

The hotel provides a freakin’ IPhone for your use!

Nice clean facilities.

Then, there’s the toilets. My friends, the Japanese toilets are A-mazing! This will not be my last ode to the bidet.

The Japanese know what they’re doing.

This baby had a heated seat, warm water for the forward and the aft.

I forgot to grab any of these.

We found the pub.

A little hint of the “Sakura” or Cherry Blossom fever ahead.

This was our first experience with the diminutive drinks of Japan. This Manhattan had less in the glass than what usually gets spilled on the tray at home. It was cheap though.

Can you see that the cherry takes up half the glass?

We had a good night’s sleep and gathered our things to check out.

Yup, we’re in Tokyo.

A Zen garden in the lobby.

They had a New York themed coffee shop down stairs. Just the ticket.

Coffee!!!

Cute.

There’s always a warm towel for your hands before eating.

Two perfect cups of Joe.

This was even better than it looks, and it looks scrummy.

Back to the airport to take the bus to the Disneyland Resort! First, a pit stop.

Adverts for the super-toilets!

The public toilets are even more elaborate than the hotel.

The button on the far right is for rushing water sounds so that no one hears your business. Too much bathroom talk?

On the bus!!! Are you tired of all the traveling? Me too.

Tadahhh!!! The Disneyland Hotel. We’re not staying here.

We’re in!

They were celebrating 35 years. We’ll be seeing a lot of this.

The monorail here is sooooo cute!!!

Look!!! Mickey shaped everything!

Entering their “Main Street”, called World Bizarre.

This area is all under glass. A stark difference.

Lots of charming facades line the street.

More 35th Celebrations. There was a mini-show of lights and music everything twenty minutes or so.

We decided to just take a walk around a soak things in first.

The castle is similar to Orlando, but much more detailed.

Beautiful!

Gorgeous tile work throughout.

Snow White’s Grotto, just like California.

Spring has sprung! They were a good month ahead of the states.

I had a very long list of foods to try. Disneyland has mostly american foods with a japanese twist. This sandwich is a perfect example:

It’s Mickey Shaped, but it was a juicy chicken thigh instead of a dried out breast patty. Fries were just as expected.

These Little Green Alien Mochi are decidedly Japanese!

Tomorrowland looks quite different.

We finished our lunch and set about trying a few attractions. It was a real trip going on rides you’re familiar with that are completely in Japanese!

A little Star Tours in Japanese.

The Country Bears were strangely about half Japanese and half English.

No videos allowed. Boo!

I’m not much for character greetings in the states. There are long lines in fixed locations, mostly revolving around princesses. Here, there are a plethora of rare random characters just bopping around! If there is a line it is a queue organized by the guests and not ropes.

Geppetto out of the workshop. Note the outfits on the girls. More on that later.

Gideon or Foul Fellow. I’m not sure.

I’ll be making some cultural observations here and there that will be mostly anecdotal and probably ignorant. Japanese people don’t mind queuing up or waiting, no matter how long it takes. They are also polite, conscientious and considerate. No one was pushing or vying for a spot for parades. They bring their mats, set themselves down and wait….quietly.

A sea of patience.

No way I’m doing that!

I said it was a sea of people, right?

We were ready for a nap back at the hotel. We made our way back to the front of the parks, not before running into a few more character friends.

Keen eyes will notice a lot of twinning on the outfits.

The 35th celebration popping off again. You’ll see it all lit up later tonight.

Eeyore was sad to see us go.

I can’t.

If you cant say anything nice, call me!

Time for a nap!

We got checked in to the Tokyo Bay Hilton. Let’s take a tour around the room whilst they look for our lost luggage, shall we?

A king bed.

Lots of sleek storage.

Clean bathroom.

Fancy, magic defogging mirror.

Tea and water. No coffee.

A gift for being Hilton rewards members. I just filled out a form.

This view was fantastic! Ill have better pictures later.

You made it through the most boring bit of the traveling! Well done. Next we’ll be exploring Magic Kingdom lit up in it’s glory.

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Disneyland Day Four

Posted on January 2, 2019 by hjones

This would be our last day at the Happiest Place on Earth! We started at Carsland with a leisurely break fast at Flo’s V8. Thank goodness we discovered the brioche french toast on the last day or we would have eaten it everyday of the trip. We had another ride or two on Radiator Springs Racers, then made our way to Pixar Pier. Meghan had some stiff competish at the carnival games. She lost. Next we headed over to have a snack and watch the Viva Navidad! Festivities. We ate the worst pretzel ever. I’ve never met a pretzel I didn’t like before. The snack was salvaged by a big bowl of traditional Pozole. Delish! I got lots of pictures of this brilliantly colorful parade. We made our way back to Disneyland proper for a couple classic Disney snacks; the Matterhorn macaroon, and of course, a Dole Whip. We ended the trip right where we started, with cocktails at the Carthay Circle Lounge. Now, off to the red eye!

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Disneyland Day Three

Posted on January 2, 2019 by hjones

Today we’ll be heading to Disney California Adventure for a few more laps around Radiator Springs. Then we made our way to Pixar Pier to ride the Giant Wheel of Death or the Pixar Pal Around as they call it. We snacked around the Festival of the Holidays before taking a break in front of the fire at the Grand Californian. Back over in Disneyland proper we visited the Hanuted Mansion once again. Next, we enjoyed he best fried chicken I’ve ever eaten in my entire life…and I’ve eaten a lot of fried chicken, folks. Somehow we ended up at the Tiki bar once again. Oops.

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Disneyland Day Two

Posted on January 2, 2019 by hjones

Today we will be visiting Disneyland proper. One of the main reasons I wanted to drag my family here at this time of year was for the Christmas Holiday hoopla. Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion is completely over-hauled from Halloween until early January by “Nightmare Before Christmas”. Though I’m not a huge fan of the film, the artistry has had me intrigued. Another goal was to visit some vintage rides that the kids haven’t seen on the east coast like Mr.Toad and Storybook Canal boats. For lunch we enjoyed some hearty Tex-Mex food whilst watching the Disney trains pass. Back over in California Adventure we checked in with some Pixar friends on the Pier. Then we strolled back to Disneyland to take in the stunning holiday lights of “It’s small world”. Lastly, we landed once again at Trader Sam’s for drinks and music.