"At Last I See the Light" - Our Nov 2024 Anniversary Trip Report

[Nakkira]

Day 8 Part 4
TeamLabs Planets

We arrived at Ikspiari around 7pm



I was really worried about being late for our reservation so we just hit McDonald's as a quick and easy option. I figured we could explore it more another time.

This time I tried the Egg burger which was just a qrt pounder with an egg. Nothing special. I had an orange juice with because I wanted to keep so Vitamin C going in me so this head-cold didn't get the better of me.

Thankfully we got to teamLab Planets at 8:00 so plenty of time to spare.


We had to sit and wait for a bit before we could even line up for our entry time group.
Once your time window arrives they let people in (in waves so as not to back up the locker room and have too many people in a room at an area at a time).

Protip: Try not to get the last booking of the day. Pretty much as soon as we entered we told that the water room would be closing soon. This made us feel a little rushed when going through the rooms preceding it.

This place is truly an immersive experience. The light room was dazzling. None of my photos did it justice.




I swear I was really happy, but you can tell that I am feeling pretty under the weather. LOL



The water room with the Fish and Flower projections was Hubby's favorite (I knew it would be) and quite unknowingly he had worn the perfect shirt to theme. He knew very little going it. This was pretty much all my idea. He was a little dubious about the barefoot thing but that ended up not being a big deal. They do clean your feet as you are entering the galleries. No funky foot smells I swear.



Another of my favorite rooms was "Floating in the Falling Universe of Flowers"

It did not photograph well so I just let myself experience it. You would have to go yourself or watch a video.

Weird room with cool glowing "Ovoids"


The hanging Orchid room was pretty too. Even if there was on odd issue with the mechanism that lowers the orchids from the ceiling over you. It rises again when you leave. When it was our turn to go in it had started lowering before everyone was seated and my hair got tangled in on of the hanging orchids.
Only me....



We were there for an hour. Had it not been so late in the evening and I wasn't getting my but kicked by this cold, I think I could have easily spent another 30 minutes and gone through the rooms a bit slower. We didn't speed through, but I think a slightly more leisurely pace would have been nice.

Overall I would rate it a 9 of 10. Would recommend.

When we got back to Maihama Station it was a zoo. Everyone was trying to get back to their hotels after park close.
The line for the buses was pretty long. It took us a while to realize that different busses came to the same spot for each hotel so not all those people were trying to get on the same bus.. We actually tried to get a taxi (Uber) but our ride was canceled in the app 3 times. Oh well. In the end we only waited about 40 or 50 minutes, it just felt like forever with the way I was feeling.

We showered and crashed. Had to repeat the duvet trick on the bed again, but I was asleep very fast that night.

Step Count: 17,129

 

[Disneyhanna]

I think you look beautiful, but I completely understand how you feel. I too worry about my size and feel such shame about it. I just wanted you to know that I understand, I hear you. Thank you for sharing so much of your journey. I love your posts!

Agree! We are our own worst critics. Glad the women's robe fit much better, sizing is so weird!

I really think only another Disney Adult would understand the sheer thrill it gives to finally reach the Disney Bubble.

I feel this! Japan was so wonderful and it looks like you had an amazing time exploring, but there is something so comforting about being back to Disney. I loved having Disney at the end of the trip. Really enjoying your TR and looking forward to reading more!

 

[Nakkira]

Day 9

Woke up feeling pretty crummy. I know whatever else we did that day I did need to find a drug store to get something for my cold.

We went downstairs to have breakfast and figure out a game plan for the day.

The breakfast here was buffet style. I had lucked out on Expedia and gotten breakfast added onto my reservation for only about $11 more day (this was for both of us not per person). I say "lucked out" because right now it would be $33 on Expedia to add the breakfast. We were given vouchers for each day that let us know where breakfast would be served. They had the main buffet restaurant "All Day California" open each day but on some busier days they also served in other restaurants/banquet rooms.
They explained that the food was the exact same in each location.
The food on the buffet was very similar to the one in Kyoto (a mix of Japanese, Chinese, and Western option). Plenty of options.
However the quality was lacking. Think school cafeteria (in the US) quality. All the foods were bland, lesser quality, and worse never warm (even the dishes that SHOULD be).
For the record I am not picky. It wasn't "BAD" (although by morning 5 were totally over it). Just merely edible. Although the coffee machine was nice. We could and did manage to fill our bellies each morning, but I would not recommend it if the cost is more than $10.
If you paid OOP it was 29,00 yen per person.

I took no pictures of breakfast any of the days. Just didn't feel worth it to me.

This day I had left free for Hubby to decided what we would do (Part of why we had booked teamLab for the night before to leave this on day in Tokyo free).
He had a few things that he had been thinking of doing before we came.
The only priorities I had were drugstore and some souvenir shopping. I let him know that due to how I was feeling, I would be perfectly okay if he went off on his own for most of the day. He's usually okay with splitting up for a half a day on a vacation but I think as he was still recovering from his own cold he would rather just take it easy. He researched on his phone where would be the best place to shop (not too far, but had a good mix of the stores we wanted)

He decided on DiverCity Tokyo Plaza.

I have to admit I was a total Zombie for this excursion. We did find me meds at the drugstore. We shopped around all the floors, purchased some souvenirs, and I did play a little at a crane game store and even managed to win a nice Kuromi tote bag in six tries. I only spent about ¥1400 in total there so not bad at all.

I was also on the hunt for a Totoro gift for my friend's daughter. There was a small shop that had Studio Ghibli merch but not a lot of selection. Happily though, I did manage to find her a couple of small things.

The food court was packed. Took hubby about 40 minutes to procure some noodles and tempura which I sat in a Zombie stouper at the table.

On our way we stopped at the Hello Kitty store and I just had to get the Gudetama Popcorn from the Machine. Yes, this is the first time I even had the urge to take a picture all day. LOL

It was honestly just a bag of microwave popcorn, nothing special, but it was too cute to resist and Gudetama sang and talked to me while it popped!
Hubby also bought these adorable fresh Gudetama Sponge cakes that we enjoyed back at the hotel.


On our way back I did manage to take a couple fo photos of the Resort buses. I am so in love with the design of them.



We were back by mid-afternoon and honestly just relaxed at the hotel the rest of the afternoon and evening. We had thought about going out for dinner but in the end we just ate instant ramen and a sandwich we got from the convenience store downstairs. We really didn't have the spoons to go out for anything and the restaurant in our hotel has mediocre reviews but a five-star price tag. After having breakfast there we more than believed that the Dinner buffet was not worth the ¥7900 per person they were charging.

We also picked up a couple more of these:


We have both been chugging these (or similar) for a few days. They were actually pretty good and we figured the vitamin C would help banish the ick

I explored the Disney Resort store at the hotel as well. It was small but had a nice selection of items from the parks.

Love the view that we had from our room (4th floor) although I think these were waken from the window near the elevators we could see the same.


I love a good city skyline at night.

Step Total: 12,005

Next Day Disney Sea!!!!!

 

[Nakkira]

Day 10 Part 1
Tokyo DisneySea
AUTHOR's NOTE: Please forgive in advance if I may forget what type of pass I had for what ride here and there. I ididn't get to take screenshots because things were all on my hubby's phone.

The night before I had laid out my clothes and recommended that my hubby do the same

He did not. LOL
My original plan was to get up at 6:30 (the earliest I could get him to agree to) grab a couple of pastries from the breakfast buffet and get to the Park as soon as possible.
He was in no hurry, he took time getting ready and we didn't get downstairs till after 7.
Then, he spent 15 minutes at breakfast trying (unsuccessfully) to make toast in the apparently malfunctioning toaster.

I started to get a bit grumpy with him but then had to let it go. It's his vacation too.

We didn't get to the park until just after 8pm.



Took this photo for comedic effect for my Facebook. We were not actually grumpy.



My cold was feeling a bit better and I had Disney adrenaline going for me.
I was very glad for the DISboards and Facebook forums. If I hadn't done my research in advance I would have been freaking out over the size of the crowd.

I heard one lady near by reassure her companions not to worry, they would be inside within an hour. One of them replied "I think toy mean 3 hours"

We were inside the park about 9:15.

I immediately pulled us to the side to scan our tickets and look for DPA's.

Frozen DPA was available! Sadly I kept dropping connection and then had issues with the credit card.
I quickly pulled up the Digital Sim card I had purchased but hadn't thought we'd need and my hubby set it up on his phone.
After that we were able to have better luck on Hubby's phone and got everything set up in about 11 minutes (felt like forever).
Sadly Frozen passes were gone for the day. I did manage to snake a DPA for Rapunzel's Lantern Festival for 3:30 pm. I was happy enough that we could get into Fantasy Springs anyway. Then I got an Anniversary pass for 20,000 Leagues for 10:30. After than I tried the show lotteries but got nothing.

I had deliberately not really looked around yet so once we had those set up we got up, walked back to the entrance and took of real "First look"



I promise he isn't grumpy, he just doesn't like selfies (but loves me so he indulges me)



I caught a glimpse of Mickey but didn't try to go up to him as there were so many people in the area. I was trilled just to see him out and about! He did wave at me when I called his name, but then went over to greet some kids.


We took our time for the first 15 minutes or so just looking and enjoying before trying to getting our bearing to head towards Mysterious Island.

 

[Nakkira]

Day 10 Part 2
DisnerySea


I know I am not the first to say it, but I think this is the most beautiful theme park I have ever been to.

Forgive that there is not much text here but mostly a shameless photo dump as we made our way towards Mysterious Island.


We went to the left first because I need a bathroom and I didn't want to use the ones near the entrance (long lines).



There was almost no wait over at the bathrooms by the gondolas.




We stopped briefly in Villa Donald Home Shop.
This display though...


Loved the Venetian theming.

 

[Nakkira]

Day 10 Part 2
DisnerySea


I am pretty sure we took the long way to get where we were going but weren't in too big of a hurry with an hour window for our ride.





The Popcorn cart lines we kept passing were very intimidating to me so while I wanted some I passed them by for the now.

As we were passing Aquatopia close to 10 am I saw that the line was only 15 or 20 minutes so we decided to ride that first.


Yes, the grumpy face is pretty deliberate at this point. It's his thing....

It was cute and fun. I wouldn't have wanted to wait in a longer line for it, but I am glad we rode it.

Then we got in line for SeaRider because it too was showing only a 20 minute wait but it changed to 40 minutes just was we were going the line so we left to continue on to 20,000 Leagues.



I was kind of sorry we rode that. It had everything to do with us though. As previously mentioned, we are over weight and we were very uncomfortably squeezed in here. I am also quite tall. I could not see anything through the little window without hurting my back hunching over. Also I feel like this was a ride where not understanding Japanese made a difference because I had no idea what was going on, especially since I couldn't see.
I am not saying it was a bad ride. Just that WE did not get much out of it.

I was really sad that Journey to the Center of the Earth wasn't running during our trip. I had really wanted to ride that when we first started our trip planning.

I really wanted some new Mickey Ears so we stopped in Nautilus gift after the ride. I found my perfect pair! Pearls and sequins, yes please! I can't get over how much more affordable they are than Disney World.


We took a rest on some benches in the Caves Near Journey. At some point I had scored a 1pm DPA for Tower of Tower.


So again we meandered in the general direction of our next ride, but first Ice Cream!
Dispite the snack cart lines being crazy long elsewhere I randomly found one with No line at all so I snagged a couple.

Not exactly my beloved Mickey Bar but it still has my friend Mr. Mouse on it so acceptable substitute.

I really enjoyed this as did "S". The coffee flavor was barely there (which hubby appreciated as he is not big on coffee flavor) but good quality ice-cream and cookie.

 

[Nakkira]

Day 10 Part 3
DisnerySea

I love Mickey Balloons. I have never purchased one but just seeing them brings me that feeling of "I'm in Disney". There was a lady selling them right by where we were eating our ice cream so I HAD to get a photo.



While we rested we looked at the menu's to decide what to have for lunch. "S" really like to look of an item at the Dockside Dinner so we placed out first mobile order.

We made it to the American Waterfront by noon
I could not resist posing with this guy (I had to wait for three others to go first)



Our order window was at 12:10p.m. I beleive. It was a good thing we had done the Mobile order because the lines were insane!

After about 10 minutes or order was ready.
Hubby had the Danish Sandwich set (Pastrami & Cheese)
I ordered the Fried Chicken Rice Bowl (BBQ Sauce).



I had total food envy. His pastrami Danish was flakey and delicious, the pastrami was tender and flavorful (so no pic of it unwrapped) We always try each other's food.
The rice bowl was "ok". The sauce was a bit too sweet for me. I would have liked it to be more spicy or tangy.

We shared the Blackcurrant Jellied Dessert & Raspberry Mousse cake.


OMG it had glitter.

This I really liked. Was refreshing, light, and not Too sweet. Also I love black currents.

We linger awhile after lunch outside. (Hubby wanted to be in the air)
I noticed a cast member giving out trick-or-treats or something to some kids.

Looks like I took another shameless selfie with my new ears. Hey, I LOVE them.

Finally it was time to ride Tower of Terror.
It's been a long time favorite of mine at Hollywood studios and I was looking forward to this version, knowing it had a whole different storyline.

It did not disappoint.


This is one of those cases where the visual story telling was good enough that I didn't feel like I was lost just because I don't speak Japanese.

We got to sit at the front of the Elevator car which made me so happy.
FTR I love thrill rides with free falls. They give me a rush.
The girls we were riding with though, seriously started screaming before anything happened.




My hubby deliberately made a weird and funny noise so I started laughing, like a full on unhinged laughter enhanced by the the adrenaline rush from the ride.
I am pretty sure the cast members and people we were riding with thought I lost my mind.


Lost it a long time ago my friends and I don't really miss it....

 

[Disneyhanna]

Your DisneySea pictures are beautiful! Now I wish I "stopped and smelled the roses" more because the theming really is amazing. Easy to overlook when you are go go go! I did not get 20,000 Leagues at all either

And those ears are so pretty! I don't remember seeing those when I was there. I so wish the ear prices were like that in the US!

 

[Nakkira]

Your DisneySea pictures are beautiful! Now I wish I "stopped and smelled the roses" more because the theming really is amazing. Easy to overlook when you are go go go! I did not get 20,000 Leagues at all either

And those ears are so pretty! I don't remember seeing those when I was there. I so wish the ear prices were like that in the US!

Right? I admit to wearing "knock-off" ears most of the time because I just can't bring myself to pay the US prices for the ears. These were not only reasonable but Very well made and quite comfortable! Headbands usually give me a headache after awhile but these did not.

 

[Nakkira]

Day 10 Part 4
DisnerySea - Fantasy Springs.

We finally started to make our way over to Springs around 2:30 (I beleive our Entry time was for 3:30 so we could take out time).

I got in line for my fist Popcorn cart - Soy Sauce and Butter. I love soy sauce and the line didn't look as bad as some of the others so I got in line.
I believe we waited about 15-20 minutes.

It was..interesting. I think I would have liked it to be more salty but I did enjoy the flavor, hubby wasn't a fan.
It did leave an aftertaste in my mouth that was more reminiscent of the fermented side of soy sauce.. kind of "yeasty".
I ate about half of it and finished of the rest back in the hotel room that night with some sake.

We got to Fantasy Springs around 3pm.

OMG, just the entry was magical..



We were a little to early to scan in so we found a spot on the ground and sat until it was time. I got up to look at a souvenir cart and somehow came back with these:




I needed to get the soy sauce popcorn after taste out of my mouth.

This would have been Very refreshing on a hot day but it made me too cold. The air was starting to get a bit nippy and the sun was hiding behind clouds.

It was yummy (also big). I think the peach flavor came out stronger than the raspberry and if we had been there in the summer I am sure I would have them a couple times.

When it was closer to time we queued up to scan in. An American woman a little older than me approached me and asked if we were American. I affirmed we were.

"What's this line for?" she asked.



I explained that it was for entry to Fantasy Springs and she asked did you need a separate ticket.

I explained it briefly and asked if she had downloaded the app. She had not. I suggested she download it to get the most out of her visit. I explained briefly the benefits to having the app, about the different types of passes you could get to reserve rides and mentioned mobile ordering as an option as well.

I know not everyone goes to the lengths that many of us here at the DISboards do to plan a trip, but it kind of shocks me when people do 0 research before traveling.

Still I am glad I was able to help her.

And then it was our turn, we were in.

 

[pezgirlroy]

Thankfully we got to teamLab Planets at 8:00 so plenty of time to spare.

This looks very cool. Is this something a 9 year old and a 15 year old would find interesting. I might have to add this to the list.

 

[mlaw]

I am really enjoying your review as I plan for our trip this spring. I am kind of worried about rides that are a tight squeeze, if you know what I mean. Sounds like 20000 Leagues is a tight fit. Any other rides in the two parks that you would define as tight fits? I really appreciate any thoughts you have.

 

[fatmanatee]

DisneySea ToT was really fun, may have been in my top three of rides in that park. I knew there would be a lot of Rohde but I really got a kick out of how he was used in the story (which yes, you can follow well enough just through the visuals).

That anecdote about Fantasy Springs reminds me of all the stories about people booking trips during the park reservation times without paying attention and just walking up to parks that were fully booked and getting turned away. If I wasn't here and didn't have as good a feel for how things work these days (this goes for both Fantasy Springs and Super Nintendo World at Universal), there's a good chance I would have screwed this up too.

This looks very cool. Is this something a 9 year old and a 15 year old would find interesting. I might have to add this to the list.

I think so? They have two main locations, this one and Borderless. I did Borderless and really enjoyed, easy to get lost inside though. Maybe show them pics of either location and see if they'd be interested?

 

[Nakkira]

This looks very cool. Is this something a 9 year old and a 15 year old would find interesting. I might have to add this to the list.

It would depend on the 9-year-old and the 15-year-old in question but I would have been completely mesmerized at both ages

 

[Nakkira]

I am really enjoying your review as I plan for our trip this spring. I am kind of worried about rides that are a tight squeeze, if you know what I mean. Sounds like 20000 Leagues is a tight fit. Any other rides in the two parks that you would define as tight fits? I really appreciate any thoughts you have.

There were several rides that were a tight fit but this was the only one I found actively painful to be on. Most we're just slightly uncomfortable around my hips and butt. As I write my trip report, I'll be sure to mention if there's any more that stand out on my mind.

 

[Nakkira]

Day 10 Part 5
DisnerySea - Fantasy Springs.

Originally I had planned to save Rapunzel's Lantern Festival for our last day (the 7th our actual anniversary) however I also didn't want to risk not having a chance again. so when Frozen had sold out that morning I was more than happy to snap it up.
In case you didn't read my other posts, a brief explanation is that my hubby and I had a brief romance when I was 18 and he 21....
It took 15 years for us to get back together again.
The summer after he proposed (2+ years after we found one another again) we went to a lantern festival and of course they played the song from Tangled.
"Now I'm here, suddenly I see
Standing here, it's all so clear
I'm where I'm meant to be"

I KNEW right then, That was the song I wanted playing when I went down the aisle to marry the love of my life.

We headed strait to the ride for our 3:30 DPA.


Others have mentioned, it so awesome the way she sings from her tower and that you can hear and see her even if you can't get on the ride.



Hubby "They never get the nose right"



Can we just talk about the Fluidity of movement these animatronics have?????









This scene was dazzling

And of course there's this:


I admit I cried a little. It was so beautiful. They did such a lovely job. I only wish it was a longer ride. I would have loved to spend a little longer in each scene.
Some ask if it's worth and my opinion is yes. That may be heavily influenced by my personal attachment to the movie and song, but I absolutely LOVED it.

"S" was pretty impressed too and it's not easy to impress him.

 

[Nakkira]

Day 10 Part 6
DisnerySea - Fantasy Springs.

We made a Mobile order for dinner and spent he next hour or so just exploring Fantasy Springs. We kept trying all day to get passes for ANY of the other rides there with zero success. Actually we didn't have success getting passed for another ride in the park at all for the rest of the day (except a couple of rides we had lower interest in or would require us to leave Fantasy Springs)



I haven't really talked much about the costumes/cosplayers. We saw so many impressive costumes this day. So mant Anna & Elsa's. So many princess of all varieties. I fully expected to see more "Official Characters" roaming around but I saw very few (although it's possible that if any were Princesses I didn't realize because of all of the Halloween costumes.
Another Popular theme seem to be Kingdom Hearts.

Unless they were accidentally in the background of any of my photos I didn't take any pictures of the cosplayers.

However I did get the permission of this group. The girl dressed as Wendy was passing by me to pose with all the Peter Pan stuff and I just blurted "Wendy!"

She turned and smiled, then pointed to my Tinker Bell shirt and called over her friend dress as Tink. Of course there whole group came over and they were really sweet and seemed very pleased when I praised their costumes. They let me take their picture and they asked my Hubby to take one on their phone with me included. (sad I didn't feel up to the language skills to get one of them to send it to me.



The Jolly Roger was great but there was such a line to get up to the helm I just gave up and stayed on the main deck.



Next of course we had to check out Arendelle / Frozen Kingdom.


It was very crowded in this area but we poked around looking at the buildings.


Soon we were heading towards Fantasy Springs Hotel. I think I might need a whole new post for all the pictures of the Sculptures.

 

[Nakkira]

Day 10 Part 7
DisnerySea - Fantasy Springs.

I'm about to drop another one of those posts that is more pictures than words, but can you blame me? It's just all so lovely.

Mickey as the Sorcerer's Apprentice is some of my favorite Mickey imagery.


Love the mist/smoke effect from Mailifcent.




Some of these just look so "organic as if the stone just happens to resemble a scene.




Mirror, Mirror on the wall....





We had to leave the area because it was time to go for our Mobile order at the Snuggly Duckling.

 

[Nakkira]

Day 10 Part 8
DisnerySea - Fantasy Springs.

When we first decided to go to Japan this year (and Tokyo Disney) I had planned 1 day for Tokyo DisneySea and one at Tokyo Disneyland.

Later we found out about Fantasy Springs opening (Hey I had been away from the DIS for awhile....) and after consideration it changed to 2 days Sea, 1 day Land.

Hubby had been looking at an article that came up on his feed and excitedly said to be "There's going to be a Snuggly Duckling Restaurant!"

Of course we had to.. again, I was going to plan this for our Anniversary, but since we were already in Fantasy Spring, and had gone on the ride we figured it made just as much sense to eat there that day instead.





We Each ordered the Duckling's Dream Cheeseburger Set. Mine with Fanta Golden Cider. I thinks this was my favorite soda beverage in both parks. Crisp, refreshing, and not too sweet.
We also got the Vegetable Stew with rice to share. This was the first time I had to check the allergen info (needed to make sure there were no mushrooms) and they were very careful and made sure to go over EACH item individually with me before I took my food to the table.




I am not entirely sure why there is a thick slice of ham (bologna?) on the hamburger.. but ok.. also the tomato slice was impressively thick too. Honestly these two things overpowered the taste of the beef but it was alright. The bun was soft and tasty too.
We ended up eating Fries ALOT during our Disney day. Fries are one of my favorite foods though, and I don't get them very often at home. So it's kind of a vacation indulgence to have fries so often (same with ice-cream)

We alos had the Sweet Ever After (Lemon & Strawberry) Dutch Baby to share for dessert.

We both enjoyed it.

and I could not resist adding on the souvenir plate. It was just so darn Pretty! They are thoughtful enough to give you paper to wrap it in and get it home safely. It was also only ¥650!





The décor and theme was also Very on point.

As we finished our meal and headed back out to Fantasy Spring it was just starting to get dark. I was pretty glad we were getting to see the are both during the day and at night with the lights (just in case we didn't make it back in on our 2nd DisneySea day).

 

[Agent 86]

I could not resist adding on the souvenir plate. It was just so darn Pretty! They are thoughtful enough to give you paper to wrap it in and get it home safely. It was also only ¥650!

And it's porcelain and breakable! We got one for our daughter to use, before realising that it wasn't plastic.