Trip Report *COMPLETED* I've climbed the mountain, I've crossed the river, and I'm almost there!

Introduction

We've only been back from Japan since Saturday night but I am just itching to get started on this report! We had an absolutely AMAZING trip and I'm not ready to let it go, and writing my TR is one way for me to delay the inevitable return back to "the real world." This was the longest vacation I've ever taken, and like any long trip-or any new experience, for that matter-there were ups and downs, good moments and not-so-good moments. There were mistakes, mishaps, mountains, and monkeys. Yes, monkeys! There were surprises and there was DRAMMA!* There were things we will do differently next time we visit Japan, and believe me, we knew less than halfway through the trip that there WILL be a next time someday!

In case you missed the PTR, here it is: Bee's Big Birthday! There you can read about the cast, the general plans, and the reasons for planning this particular trip.

Now about the title: It's a reference to this song from The Princess and the Frog:

​

I have been kind of obsessed with this song lately and I found myself singing it in my head repeatedly during the trip. You'll see why soon!

So, if you're ready for a journey halfway around the world, thousands of photos, and Double Disney bookends, keep reading!

EDIT: The Tokyo Disney stuff starts here.

*I've mentioned it in previous TRs, but I like to spell "dramma" the Italian way because I'm an opera singer and what's more DRAMMAtic than Italian opera?? So please don't think I'm an idiot (for that reason anyway )!

 

[Spash007]

Let's get a move on, shall we? I've got TOKYO DISNEYLAND to report!!

In all seriousness I've loved following the rest of your report and seeing a part of the world I probably wouldn't have otherwise. But it's Tokyo Disneyland!

 

[bee]

Day 16: Tuesday, January 1

Our main goal today was to see and go inside Tokyo Tower. We slept in a bit, enjoyed our breakfast and COFFEE, and headed out. I should note that one of the perks of staying in an American hotel was the American drip coffee maker. After having instant and pourover for the whole trip, a good cup of just regular ol' drip coffee was HEAVENLY.

We took a short subway ride toward the Tower.

Subway ad. OPERA!

For some reason we stopped at a coffee shop? Maybe S needed tea or something? But stop we did. It was really nice inside!

M ordered while I saved us a seat. We sat at a long table that had USB plugs at every seat.

The tiramisu latte! It was sooooo good and really did taste like tiramisu.

After our coffee break we continued toward the tower.

Up next: We arrive at the tower!

 

[bee]

Day 16, cont.

Soon we arrived at the tower.

First we had to walk through "Tokyo Tower Alley:"

On the other side was a display/garden of 60 different coniferous trees to represent the Tower's 60 year history.

We found the line to buy tickets and made our purchase. Then we found the line for ticketholders to actually go inside. The wait wasn't too bad even though it was a holiday and LOTS of people were there.

Inside:

We were loaded into one of the guest elevators to the top.

Up next: At the top!

 

[bee]

Day 16, cont.

Soon we reached the observation deck. It was a clear day and we had fantastic views!

See the temple near the center of this photo? We saw it from above and decided to go there later this day!

It's Mount Fuji!

I had no idea you could see Mount Fuji from the city! It was sooo cool!

Up next: Lunch!

 

[MinnieM123]

I love observation decks at the top of tall buildings -- anywhere in the world, actually!

bee, I'm continuing to enjoy your Japan TR immensely (and not just because of the observation deck!)

 

[bee]

I love observation decks at the top of tall buildings -- anywhere in the world, actually!

bee, I'm continuing to enjoy your Japan TR immensely (and not just because of the observation deck!)

Tokyo Tower was definitely a good one! I haven't done many but I, too, think they are great!

 

[bee]

Day 16, cont.

There are lots of restaurants inside Tokyo Tower so we decided to stay inside the tower for lunch. Most of them were laid out in a food court style with a large shared seating area. M and S went to a pizza place, while I went to a ramen place. I placed my order on a machine and then got a pager.

After receiving my food, I went to find seating. It was veeeeery crowded but I managed to find the only open table in the whole area, far away from the actual restaurants. I sat and waited for M and S.

Spicy miso ramen. Yum!

M's margherita pizza. She liked it.

Someone's fries

After eating we checked out the gift shops.

I don't think any of us bought anything there, however. Side note: S commented sometime before we got to Tokyo that M and I were barely buying anything compared to their family members who had visited them previously. We are just not that into "stuff" and souvenirs most of the time. I think it's because we've had to move so many times!

We exited the tower and checked out the trees outside again.

Across the street

Up next: Experiencing a temple on New Years Day!

 

[bee]

Day 16, cont.

Remember the temple from the observation deck photos? That's where we went next! It is very popular for Japanese people to visit temples and shrines on New Years Day or within a few days after as it's supposed to bring luck for the whole year. We knew it would be crowded but we braved the crowds anyway!

Our next destination required a subway ride, so we walked toward the station.

Sexy Zone

Up next: We take on Tokyo Station!

 

[bee]

Day 16, cont.

We arrived at Tokyo Station and exited the train.

The music is the tune of "Peace Like a River" lololol

Um. If we thought Kyoto Station was big...

Our goal was to find a store called Tokyo Gashapon Street. In case I didn't mention it before, gashapons are little plastic toys sold in vending machines that accept coins. Gashapon can also refer to the machines themselves. More info from Wikipedia.

Anyway, we stopped at an information desk to ask where to find Gashapon Street, and the information person was kind enough to give us a map and draw arrows and directions on it.

We followed her directions and found herself in an area with tons of stores.

These Gashapon machines weren't even in the Gashapon store; they were just out in the shopping area.

There was a Pokemon store nearby and M's brother is a big Pokemon fan so she got him some souvenirs there.

Different Pokemon stores throughout Japan have different location-specific Pikachus for sale. This store had train conductors for Tokyo Station, and we found a store later in the airport that had pilot Pikachus.

The Pokemon store even had its own Gashapons!

A bag full of souvenirs for my BIL

At last we got to explore the Gashapon store!

OBVIOUSLY I needed at least one of these large Disney princess dolls! The smaller toys were only 100-300 yen, but these bigger ones were 500 yen. Totally worth it!

The first one I got was Cinderella. I reeeeeeally wanted a Snow White so I tried again. Obviously you can't return or exchange what you get (that would be a mess!) so I was willing to take the risk and try again. Luckily, the second time I got Snow! I assembled them later at the hotel so I will post those photos later (but you can also see what they look like assembled in the photo above). I thought it was super clever how the round plastic "container" became the bottom of the dress!

Up next: More Tokyo Station

 

[bee]

Day 16, cont.

We needed to take a different train line to get back to the hotel, so we set off to find it.

Eataly!

We're coming for you, Tokyo Disneyland!!!

We found our train and rode a few stops to get back to the hotel's neighborhood.

Once we got off we decided to visit a garden before heading back to the hotel.

S also took some cute photos of me and M in front of the heart sculpture

Up next: Back to the hotel

 

[bee]

Day 16, cont.

We walked back to the hotel from the garden...

These flowers were in a planter on the sidewalk.

Several young adults were racing go-karts dressed as Disney characters

We passed the Grand Hyatt to which we had ridden the Airport Limousine bus, haha

I got a vending machine drink on the way up

Gashapon instructions

Pieces of Snow White

Fully assembled princesses!

Up next: An odd dinner choice

 

[amjt660]

It is actually real life Mario Kart!!
I did not get the chance but many of my work mates tried it
You dress up as Mario or Disney or other characters and tour the city in a go cart
Tokyo and Osaka for sure
I think it is going to Nagoya next
All you need is an international driving license

Max

 

[bee]

It is actually real life Mario Kart!!
I did not get the chance but many of my work mates tried it
You dress up as Mario or Disney or other characters and tour the city in a go cart
Tokyo and Osaka for sure
I think it is going to Nagoya next
All you need is an international driving license

View attachment 363705

Max

Amazing!

 

[bee]

Day 16, cont.

As I mentioned previously, lots of restaurants were closed for New Year's Day, so our choices for dinner were limited. Normally when I travel I try to eat lots of things I've never had that are more specific to the location where I'm visiting. However, since this was a longer trip I was definitely not above having some American fast food. Neither was anyone else, so we headed to Shake Shack. It was only about a 12 minute walk away from the hotel so at least we got a little exercise before eating junk, haha!

It was pretty crowded and all of the inside tables were taken, and a lot of the outside tables were as well. M and S went inside to order while I saved us a table outside. It was on the cold side this evening, but I didn't mind.

S got her food way before M and I did, but of course we told her to go ahead and eat. After what felt like a very long time, our buzzer finally went off and we got our food.

Two veggie burgers, regular fries, and cheese fries!

Everything was good! I have actually only been to a Shake Shack once in the US, when I lived in Miami, so it was 5-6+ years ago. We were all left full and satisfied.

Back at the hotel, we all repacked and discussed our plans for the next day. To get to Tokyo Disneyland, we could either take a cab (fast but pricey) or take two trains (cheap but slower). We went back and forth on this quite a bit and in the end decided just to take the trains. Lots of stations had elevators and it would be way cheaper, but not actually take that much longer than a cab.

M and I wanted some more drinks and I went in search of ice. The night before we couldn't figure out where the ice machines were and it was so late that the office was closed. On this evening the office was still open so I went upstairs (we were in room 402 and the office was on the fifth floor) to ask where it was. The person at the desk told me it was on the fourth floor...which is where we were staying! Turns out it was obvious and clearly labeled and I had walked right by it.

We went to bed knowing that the next day we'd be finally going to DISNEY!!!

Day 16 Stats
Distance: 6.6 miles
Steps: 15429
Flights: 9

Up next: DISNEYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bee]

Day 17: Wednesday, January 2

We woke up around 5:00am with the goal of getting to our hotel by 7:00am and into the park by the 8:00am opening. Would we actually achieve this?? Stay tuned...

Breakfast

We gathered all our things and checked out in the office, then headed to the nearby train station. Unfortunately we realized there were no elevators down to this particular station, so we had to drag our suitcases down the stairs. This caused a delay because it took us so long to get down the stairs that we missed the train we were intending to take, and had to wait about 12 minutes because it was so early they weren't running as frequently.

Eventually we did get on a train and had a short ride to the next station. But there was no elevator at this station either. This time we had to get UP stairs and then down a different set of stairs to get to the JR Keiyo train line, which is the line that goes to Tokyo Disneyland. But we made it and didn't have to wait waaaay too long for the Keiyo line train. The good thing was, at this hour the trains were not crowded at all and we had no trouble getting a seat and holding on to our luggage on the train.

The sun rose while we were on the Keiyo train and we had a great view of it!

Ferris wheel

All in all it didn't take too long and soon we were exiting at Maihama Station!

...and we were not the only ones!

Up next: The Tokyo Disneyland Monorail!!!

 

[bee]

Day 17, cont.

After we got off the train we went downstairs and followed the masses to the monorail station, which was a very short walk away.

HOW FRIGGIN' CUTE IS THIS MONORAIL?????

At the station we bought our monorail tickets. If you don't already know, the Tokyo Disneyland Monorail is not free. You must purchase either a one-time use ticket or a multi-use ticket depending on the number of days you'll be there. S bought a one day ticket and M and I bought three day tickets. Our three day passes were 1100 yen each, or around $11.

After making the purchases, we went up the escalator to the monorail platform. There is only one monorail line here and it runs in a continuous loop. There were signs at the platform saying when the next train would come.

This train was just leaving as we arrived.

We could see the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel not far away.

Sunrise in the other direction

Gate to the monorail doors

Our train arrived in just a few minutes.

These are the ADORABLE hand holds for standing passengers.

Up next: Our hotel

 

[bee]

Day 17, cont.

We exited the monorail at Bayside Station, which is the stop for the Sheraton, Hilton, and other on-site but not "Disney Disney" hotels.

The monorail station is right across from the Sheraton, but there were also small, free buses to take guests between the hotel and the station.

Inside the lobby:

We got at the back of the VEEEEEEERY long check in/check out line. It was clear from the number of people waiting that it would be a very long line. Since the reservation was under my name, I waited on line while M and S sat with the luggage.

I waited over twenty minutes just to be called to the desk, and then I understood why everything was taking so long. The staff members were veeeeeery thorough with check in and the check in/out process itself took a long time.

When I did finally get to the counter, I said (in Japanese), "Good morning. Do you speak English?" and the staff member replied with, "Yes, and your Japanese is very good!" I was proud of myself for at least pronouncing things well enough to be understood.

I paid for the stay, signed all the paperwork I need to sign, and then the staff member said, "You are very lucky! Your room is ready!" Considering we arrived around 7:15am, I think we were very lucky indeed! She also thanked me for being a Silver Elite Marriott Rewards member (thanks, Swolphin stays!) and sent me on my way with the keys. Our room was 402, the same as our room at the army hotel.

Hallway carpet

More hallway carpet

Drink machine in the hall

Our room had two double beds and one rollaway twin bed. We did not make anyone sleep in the rollaway lol

I took many more room photos later, but at the moment we just wanted to leave our stuff and get to the park!

Up next: There's Disney crowded, and then there's TOKYO Disney crowded!

 

[bee]

Day 17, cont.

We left our luggage in the room and took the elevator back to the lobby level.

View from the elevator

We crossed the street to the monorail station and were on a train in no time. During the entire trip we never waited more than 3-4 minutes for a train, and they were never super crowded. We were usually able to get a seat, and even when they were standing room only it wasn't cramped.

We exited and joined the masses waiting on line.

We were on line by 7:54 for an 8:00 opening.

We watched the app as wait times climbed minutes after park opening.

As we waited we discussed our Fastpass/ride strategy. All the online guides say to go right to either Tower of Terror or Toy Story as those FPs will run out first. M and I don't like to ride ToT as we don't like to be dropped, so we thought about going to Toy Story first. As I would learn soon, S is not a Disney person and is a Universal and thrill rides person. She wouldn't come out and say it, but she didn't really want to ride Toy Story. M and I didn't really care to ride it either as we have ridden it in DHS and DCA. But none of us wanted to say anything because we all thought the others really wanted to ride it. Finally someone suggested doing something else first (I don't remember who) and we all quickly agreed.

Almost there!

We finally decided that we would go to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea first to get FPs, then wait standby for Journey to the Center of the Earth. We knew the line would be longer for Journey, but our thinking was that if we got the 20,000 FP first we would have an earlier FP time and have more time to get the next FP.

Up next: Will we ever get into the park???

 

[bee]

Day 17, cont.

Eventually we got to the security check part of the line, which fed directly into the ticket scanning part of the line. At last we entered the park at 8:18. Not bad for getting on line so close to park opening.

Loved the spinning globe at the front of the park!!

Year of the boar!

When we arrived at 20,000 Leagues, a CM was carefully guarding the FP machines and no one seemed to be actually making one. I said, "FastPass?" and she pointed to the standby wait sign and said, "Only five minutes!" We didn't know if we weren't allowed to make FPs yet or what, and didn't have the language skills between all of us to ask. So, we abandoned our initial FP plan and went to JTTCOTE to grab a FP for that.

No smart phone app or fancy kiosks here! Just old-fashioned PAPER.

With FPs in hand we went BACK to 20K to ride standby.

It was a short wait, as predicted. Obviously all the ride narration was in Japanese, so our understanding was limited, but there was enough context from sounds and sights inside and outside the ride vehicle for it to be enjoyable.

(Blurry, sorry. It was dark!)

We had some time until our Journey FP so we did some exploring. It was really weird not having any clue about the layout of the park!

Up next: Under the Sea!

 

[bee]

Day 17, cont.

Soon we found ourselves in Mermaid Lagoon.

We could see a DisneySea Transit Steamer Line boat going by.

In the distance we could see Arabian Coast.

It was weird to see a plane over the park!

Next we rode Scuttle's Scooters, which was a fun kiddie ride. S was not thrilled about the idea of riding it, but she agreed. The ride vehicles spin so you can see the people behind and in front of you and every time we saw her she was laughing, so she must have had a good time.

We decided to check our Arabian Coast next.

I know her!

Up next: A song gets stuck in my head forever