Easter and The Year of Wishes… food allergy princess goes to Tokyo Disney! -June 2016 TR

[wanderlust7]

Were you in the back row on the balcony (highest step)? Your view looks pretty good. We did Oceano buffet for dinner and watched Fantasmic. I was in the second row carrying DD and the view wasn't very good. The sorcerer's hat was blocked by the trellis and a big light used for the show. DH was with DS in the back row, I think his view was better. I didn't realize that the balcony would be sideways to the harbor. I saw another balcony that was more full on view, probably that one was for the course meal.

Very smart of you to go there on a non-park day, so it's like you got something extra. We went on a park day and I kind of felt like we should have stayed in the harbor for the show.

 

[MomoMama]

Were you in the back row on the balcony (highest step)? Your view looks pretty good. We did Oceano buffet for dinner and watched Fantasmic. I was in the second row carrying DD and the view wasn't very good. The sorcerer's hat was blocked by the trellis and a big light used for the show. DH was with DS in the back row, I think his view was better. I didn't realize that the balcony would be sideways to the harbor. I saw another balcony that was more full on view, probably that one was for the course meal.

Very smart of you to go there on a non-park day, so it's like you got something extra. We went on a park day and I kind of felt like we should have stayed in the harbor for the show.

Yes, we stood on the highest step. The front row was already taken, and I thought it would be easier for DD to see it from the highest step.

I knew we were not getting the best balcony view. I have read that the Oceano's course meal and Silk Road's course meal would have better view, but I also saw the warning that course meal may not be able to accommodate all food allergies, so I chose to book the buffet. Also Bellavista Lounge seems to have great views, but I guess there is no terrace there? I thought If your table is not by the windows, you may not get a good look of the show.

Being able to see the show on a non-park day was great , and I will do it again!

 

[MomoMama]

When the show was over, we went back to our table and finished our meal. DD wanted to take the paper placemat home. It had pop-up characters, and was quite cute. DD put the name sticker she got on the placemat. As I was folding the placemat to take it home, a CM noticed and gave us another new placemat, along with Ariel activity sheet. She put them in a bag for me, so nice!!

Here is what the kid’s placemat looks like… DD drew on it after we got home. She drew the picture of Gelatoni painting picture of Duffy. This surprised me. We saw Gelatoni briefly during the Crystal Wishes Journey show, and nowhere else. Maybe she saw something in the gift shop, but somehow she picked up Gelatoni was an artist. I didn’t!

And here is the activity sheet. We did not get it when we got to our table, but I assume that is because we were at the buffet section and did not have to wait for the meals to be prepared.

 

[MomoMama]

We had time before the limo bus would arrive, so we checked out the gift shop there. The store was not as big as the one in the Disneyland hotel, but still had nice selections of the merchandise.

I picked up this Minnie bag with candies to give out as gifts. The bag is made of fabric and re-usable. Inside there supposed to be Mickey-shaped hard candies.

Since I was buying more than one, it was obvious I was buying them as gifts. CM asked me if I wanted extra bags. Well sure!

Here is the cute plastic bags they had. One side is Disneyland Easter…

…and the other side is DisneySea 15th year celebration!

 

[MomoMama]

We picked up our bags from the bell desk and went outside to wait for the bus.

A CM approached us and checked the bus guest list she had. I told her I had the bus reservation but had not paid yet. Then she told me to go to the bell desk and buy the bus ticket. I had less than 10 minutes before the bus would arrive, so hurried back to the bell desk. While standing in the line, I was worried we would miss the bus. Since the people in front of us were taking long time to get whatever it was done, another CM approached us and asked what we needed. I told him I needed to buy the bus ticket, but the bus would be leaving soon! He told me to pay the bus fare by cash, and led us to the bus, and we made it! It was not a problem to pay the bus fare as we got off at Haneda airport. I knew the cost and had the exact change in my hand. But wish I knew I could buy the ticket at the bell service, and would have done so when I dropped off/picked up our bags!

So we left Tokyo Disney Resort kind of in a hurry. It was sad to say good-bye from the bus, but not as badly as we felt in the previous Disney trips. Maybe because we left in a hurry and was glad we did not miss the bus, or maybe because this was a shorter trip, or maybe we were sure we would be back!

 

[MomoMama]

That is the end to the Tokyo Disney part of our Japan trip. Later while we were still in Japan, we picked up few more Disney-related things.

We found the Stitch pencil case from a discount store, and the mini purse from a 300yen store. The other side of the pencil case has scrump’s face.

When we were thirsty, we bought a bottle of water from a vending machine. The Stitch label water comes from Mt. Fuji!

We won this fluffy Dale by playing a “UFO Catcher” game at a game arcade! The first try!

 

[MomoMama]

Since I used Photokeycard, I ordered a photo CD. They let you choose the CD label design, and I chose DisneySea 15th anniversary edition.

The photo service works differently in Japan. You can view the photos online few days after they are taken. And you can place the order for CD, prints, photobook, postcard, etc. online. I am not sure if they ship the products overseas, but the website seems to accept only the Japanese addresses, and I don’t see the shipping cost for the international delivery. I was lucky that we were staying with a relative after the trip, I had the CD sent to their home. 1 to 3 photos in 1 CD is 3600yen, and 4 to 80 photos in 1 CD is 5660yen.

There really are not many photographers in the parks. According to their website, there are 4 photographer spots in TDL and TDS each. I only had the photos taken 3 times in 2 days, and one of them was Ariel M&G. I have 25 photos in this CD, and most of them are from Ariel M&G. I forgot about getting the ride photos included! I wished we had more photos, and wished M&G photos were better, but still bought them because the photographers took better photos using their cameras than using mine, and I really wanted those photos of me and DD together.

 

[MomoMama]

And finally this really isn’t Disney’s…but…

DD got this picture book (Maeterlinch’s Blue Bird) as a gift. This page shows clearly the illustrator is influenced by a Disney movie. All I could think was how is the publisher not in trouble???

So this concludes the Disney part of my trip report. I hope our experiences provide useful information to those planning to visit Tokyo Disney!

I will write a little more about DD’s food options and places we visited in Japan. Keep reading if you are interested…

 

[wanderlust7]

We took the limo bus from MiraCosta to Haneda too. How many hours before your flight was your bus? The bell hop told me the recommendation was to take a bus 2 hours before our flight, even for an international flight. I was very surprised since I'm used to ARRIVAL at the airport 2 hours before for a domestic flight in the U.S. It worked out fine and we had about 15 minutes for the shops at the airport, but really no room for error. I'm wondering if that really is the recommendation or there was some sort of communication error.

You got a lot done at TDR over 2 days! We missed the magic shop and the games near Toy Story Mania - more reason to go back.

 

[MomoMama]

I think the recommendation is the same in Japan too, that you should arrive at the airport 2 hours before the flight. Maybe the bell hop meant to say so, or maybe the bell hop knew that was enough time for non-busy days.

I took the bus that was estimated to arrive 1.5 hours before our domestic flight's departure. The bus arrived at the airport earlier. We did not have to rush and had time to check stores too. There were no lines at the luggage drop off or at the security check. Things were so smooth. Still it was good to have that extra time, as I had to walk around looking for the terminal. It turned out that my terminal was located on the ground floor, and we took a bus to the plane.

I did not expect to do so many things at TDR, but we did!
Lines for the attractions were much shorter than I anticipated, and that was really a big relief. I was thinking this trip would be just for checking out and see what TDR was like. We certainly did that and more.

 

[wanderlust7]

Good to know, thanks! I'm going to make sure to get an earlier bus next time. But all's well that ends well.

 

[MomoMama]

Allergy-friendly food in Japan

Whenever we were out and needed to eat, I first looked for “family restaurants” in the area. Family restaurants are chain restaurants, they offer cheap meals and relaxed atmosphere. They usually have kids' menu, so they are popular to families with small children. The food is not the best, but they are decent and I think they are better than Chili’s quality. Some of them have a “low-allergen (for major allergens) kids plate” in the kids' menu, and that is the reason we would go there.

We went to several of those family restaurants. Some may not be nation-wide and only available in certain areas.

Gusto

Gusto restaurant seemed to be everywhere. We ended up going there 4 times during this trip!

Here is what low-allergen plate at Gusto looks like. Now looking at the photos, I noticed the difference in the portion at the different Gusto locations!

Gusto uses popular Japanese cartoon character, Anpanman for the kids’ meals. Anpanman and his friends are very popular to Japanese preschoolers, and DD has watched the cartoon too. She is not crazy about those characters as much as when she was 3 years old, but still likes them. Since we went to Gusto 4 times, we collected enough points (they gave DD a scratch card every time we ordered a kids plate) to receive a free plate with Anpanman on it.

 

[MomoMama]

Denny’s

Denny’s in Japan is different from the one in the U.S. Their menu is a lot more diverse, and food is better.

Here is what low-allergen plate at Denny’s looks like. Denny’s uses Pokemon character for the kids’ meals. DD wished to have the pancake with Pikachu face on it (decorated with powder sugar), but of course she could not. Still she was happy to have the burger.

Both Gusto and Denny’s had sauteed spinach DD could eat. Denny’s also had some dessert options for her.

We ordered this green tea shaved ice with red beans and mochi to share. DD did not like it much… so DH and I finished it.

 

[MomoMama]

CoCo Ichibannya

This is a curry and rice restaurant. You can choose the sauce, toppings, how spicy you want it to be… but of course, there is no such options for the low-allergen curry. They were afraid to get DD’s plate contaminated, so they warmed up the instant pouches and asked us to open them at the table.

This presentation surprised me, but at least they had something DD could eat, and I appreciate them being careful. And DD liked the curry, finished all 2 pouches! She also loved that they would give her a coin to play the toy vending machine!

Also DH was impressed with his curry, said the seafood curry was one of the best meals he had in Japan!

 

[MomoMama]

Kurazushi

Kurazushi is one of those places that offer sushi in rotating belt and charges 100yen for each plate (most).

DD can eat fish, but does not like raw fish. When she goes to a Japanese restaurant, she usually order cucumber rolls, miso soup, and edamame. She loves cucumber rolls, and I carry gluten-free soy sauce in to-go packet. Kurazushi was one of DD’s favorite restasurants, because they have a game and you could win a toy prize. Every time you place 5 plates to a slot at the end of the table, they would play a game on your screen (you don’t get to control it). If you win, a toy vending machine will release one toy for you. There was one Kurazushi close to where we were staying, so we went there 3 times, and DD got to take home 2 toys, which were imitation food key chains.

Another reason DD loved this place was that they had dessert options for her. She could eat sweet potato dish or warabi-mochi there. I liked this place because they post the allergy information online, and they say their food has no preservatives/additives.

 

[MomoMama]

Addition to the family restaurant, I looked for one particular fast food restaurant (besides Mr.Donut, which I already talked about and they only had sweet options for DD) whenever we were searching for a place to eat.

Mos Burger

Mos burger has low-allergen burgers, and they have rice burger and bread burger options. I heard about low-allergen hotdog too, but I did not see it on the menu at the 2 Mos burgers we visited.

It’s a plain kids’ burger and quite small. Since she could not eat their fries, I had to order 2 of those burgers for her to make her full.

She was just so happy that she could eat a burger at a fast food restaurant, like everyone else!

They also have soy milk based desserts, but we did not try them.

 

[MomoMama]

Besides those chain restaurants, I found some specialty restaurants that offered something for DD.

Iyashiyamaru (in Himeji)

I found this macrobiotic café in AEON shopping mall in Himeji. It was a bit far from the Himeji station and there was nothing else we wanted from the mall, but it was worth going there, at least for us, because DD could eat almost everything on the menu.

Pizza!

They even offer desserts that do not use wheat, eggs, or milk!

Their food is home-styled, and the mild taste may not be for everyone, but DD and I liked it. Too bad they do not have other locations!

 

[MomoMama]

Soranoiro Nippon (in Tokyo Ramen Street)

I found this ramen restaurant that offers vegan vegetable noodle soup! Actually we went to Tokyo station planning to go to another ramen restaurant near the station that I read about. Tokyo station is quite big, and if you don’t know what exit you should be taking, you could easily get lost. Well, maybe many can navigate better with a map, but I could not… So when I could not get to the restaurant I planned to go to, I had to look for other options. There were many, many specialty restaurants in Tokyo station, but no family restaurants there. Leaving hungry DD with DH, I walked around and found this place, asked them about their vegan noodle, and was so glad to hear DD could eat it!

I ordered their vegetable ramen without eggs for DD. The noodle is made with brown rice, and DD said the soup tasted like sweet potato. It came with chili paste, which we removed it as it was too spicy for DD. She loved the noodle and gave it thumbs up! It’s not every day this girl gets to eat noodle soup at a restaurant!

And I had their yuzu orange ramen. This was refreshing and different from other ramen I have ever tasted before. Loved it!

DH had their special noodle, I think it’s the basic pork flavor noodle. He loved it too.

 

[MomoMama]

And now to the places we visited…

We visited few places in Tokyo and Kansai (west, Osaka area). We were not visiting the tourist attractions every day, and some days we would just go out to eat and shop without the cameras. Here are highlight of the places we went, and I will write about Tokyo first since many who go to Tokyo Disney seem to explorer Tokyo area only.


Odaiba

I briefly mentioned we went to Odaiba before going to Tokyo Disney. Odaiba has several attractions and shopping malls, so it seems to be very popular.

There was one thing I was interested there: Tokyo Trick Art Museum. I know place like this isn’t for everyone, but I like taking silly photos with those magic paintings.

After about 20 min train ride from Shin-Urayasu, we got to Tokyo Teleport station. And when we came out of the station, I was not sure which way to go. I was looking at the map, but somehow I still managed to go to the wrong way. It wasn’t a bad thing though, because I got to see some beautiful hydrangeas along the way.

This was one thing I liked about going to Japan in June…hydrangeas everywhere! I love the flower, but don’t get to see them much where I live.

And we saw the famous Gundam. He was huge! DD was impressed with the giant robot, and wandered if it was going to move.

Of course you have to see the Statue of Liberty when you go to Tokyo…

And there were those two polar bear brothers. They are crying because they are separated from their mom due to the icebergs melting…

 

[MomoMama]

We took a long walk around to get the right location, the Decks at Odaiba. I believe it was the first shopping mall built in Odaiba. Besides the trick art museum, it houses many attractions such as Tokyo Joypolis (indoor game and amusement park), Madame Tussauds Tokyo, Legoland, retro shopping street, and Takoyaki museum. They also seems to have a monkey show (a monkey would spin plates on a stick) sometimes. I wanted to see this show, but unfortunately they did not have it on the day we visited there.

This Takoyaki museum seems to be a smaller version of the one in Osaka. Takoyaki is a round-shaped savory dumpling with tako(octopus) in it. It is made of wheat flour, and usually with eggs. Since DD could not eat it, we skipped the place. But from what I saw, it looks like a food court with a gift shop.

And we saw a candy artist either at Takoyaki museum, or retro shopping street. It was tempting to let DD have the candy, but since she had already had enough sugar that day, we did not buy it.

We enjoyed going through the retro shopping street. It was fun just looking at the things they sell there. They also had retro game arcade, cartoon portrait, and a haunted house! Japanese haunted houses are creepy… I think it will take years for DD to be ready to go in one!

Sometimes I would see “No Photography” signs at the stores. It was not just at this mall, but any places popular with tourists. I did not see a sign at this store, so took a picture of Woody.

He is wearing a crown, not a cowboy hat!