Holidays and the Year of Wishes…food allergy princess goes back to Tokyo Disney! –November 2016 TR

[MomoMama]

Then we went to see the show, One Man's Dream II. We had enough time, so just sat and waited. DD was afraid her view would be blocked when seats in front of us were occupied. There was nothing much we could do about that…we could only hope small children would take those seats. The show started, and the seat in front of us remained empty! We thought we were so lucky to have the open view. I took few photos since photography is allowed as long as you don't use flash or raise your arms higher than your eye level.

Then in the middle of the show, 3 people showed up and took the seats in front of us. They were not small children, so DD was not happy. I pulled DD closer to me, so she could see the show from a small gap between them. I noticed those people were just looking down at the phones and not the show, then towards the end of the show, they looked up and started to take video...looks like they were just there to see Donald Duck at the end of the show. I get that some people are into certain characters only, but I thought the entire show was so wonderful, and could not imagine to be there just see one or two characters. DD and I both loved the show, it felt so magical and “Disney.” The show was another highlight of our Disney trip!

One thing I did not know and learned from this trip…that Terk is a girl! I always thought Terk was a boy, but this Terk was dressed in pink and speaking like a real girl. I was confused and thought maybe it’s a different character. Then later I checked...and learned that Terk is a girl! Learn something new everyday.

 

[MomoMama]

Later while we were walking around, we noticed CMs clearing the way. I asked what was happening, and was told there would be characters greetings soon. So we took a spot and waited. Turned out, the character greeting was more like a mini parade.

First came out the elves in rain coat. Then floats...all the characters were wearing clear rain coats. We got a glimpse of the Christmas parade, and I could see how it would have been hard to do in the rain!

Even though we were standing in the front row (I think almost everyone was), I had hard time taking photos. Two ladies who squeezed themselves in next to DD was wearing those Mickey ears on their heads, and kept stepping forward to take photos...that was annoying. But the mini parade was good to see. We were so happy to see Anna and Elsa! I told DD to ask Elsa to stop this winter, so she did, but I don’t think Elsa heard us…

 

[katt789]

So glad that you're able to find so many options for dd with the allergies!! Though I would expect that at Disney!!
We loved Tiki Room, despite not being able to understand a lick of it, bahahah!!
Bummer that the xmas parade was cancelled, I'm sad we didn't end up back in the parks to see it! We never did catch the halloween one when we were there either. I seriously love all the raincoats on the characters. I wish Florida had something a little more like that, Tokyo has so many weather alternatives while Fl just cancels stuff or pushes things out when it's not 100% safe, bahahaha.

 

[MomoMama]

So glad that you're able to find so many options for dd with the allergies!! Though I would expect that at Disney!!
We loved Tiki Room, despite not being able to understand a lick of it, bahahah!!
Bummer that the xmas parade was cancelled, I'm sad we didn't end up back in the parks to see it! We never did catch the halloween one when we were there either. I seriously love all the raincoats on the characters. I wish Florida had something a little more like that, Tokyo has so many weather alternatives while Fl just cancels stuff or pushes things out when it's not 100% safe, bahahaha.

We had only 1 day at TDL, so not being able to see the Christmas parade was disappointing. But glad we saw the mini parade, I can see they work hard to please the guests!
I am sure Tokyo Disney is concerned about the safety too, but I bet they don't have to worry about getting sued as much as the U.S. Disney!

 

[MomoMama]

I let DD have popcorn. We were going to get the Stitch bucket, but we were not seeing it. And I thought the Stitch shaped bucket would be hard to bring back when we come back to Tokyo Disney next time. The Olaf bucket we got last time sure did not make it back this trip. So we picked Minnie's bow shaped bucket, and got it filled with caramel popcorn. We got it somewhere in the Adventureland. But DD wanted to save the popcorn for later, wanted to eat it back in the hotel room.

DD had her little Pocahontas doll with her again this trip. She wanted to meet Pocahontas with Little Po (that is what we call the doll), so I took her to Westernland. I asked one of the CM there, and was told Pocahontas usually appears at Critter Country. The CM was not sure if the greeting was happening because of the bad weather and it was getting late. But I thanked the CM and we headed to the Critter Country.

Because of the rain, there was no water art on the ground....but we saw this Mickey leaves art!

I asked another CM, and was told Pocahontas might not be there, but usually she would be in the back of the Critter County, so we walked all the way back...and we did not see her. Too bad, but nothing we could do.

It was getting even colder, and DD wanted to go back to the hotel. So we walked towards the park entrance. When we passed the Haunted Mansion, DD wanted to ride it again!

So we went in...The line was short again. I believe we had less people than expected in the park that day because of the bad weather. When DD saw Jack the Sandy Claus, she screamed, “I want Lego for Halloween!!” I pointed out to her that she wished for Halloween. So when she saw Jack again at the last scene, this time she screamed, “I want Lego for Christmas!” Yeah, I think Sandy Claus heard that…

We came out of the ride, all happy and hamming the song. Then we also rode Star Tours again. DD was starting to feel better, so we also went in to Monsters.Inc ride with our Fastpass. By this time DD could not wait any longer and started to eat the popcorn.

 

[MomoMama]

We stopped at the gift shop at the World Bazaar. I found the Stitch pillow plush I failed to get last time we were there. I was not going to wait till the next day this time, I bought the last one on the shelf!

He is so soft!!! Love him!!!

Then I asked a CM about the cute Mickey and Minnie snowmen candy cases I saw on "Today" guide. I was told that shop we were at did not sell any food, so we went to the shop next door that sells all the food items. There, I was told that was only sold at the restaurants. So we checked out the nearby hotdog restaurant. There I saw them! They come in chocolate or gummy candies, and this restaurant only had the chocolates. I asked to check the ingredients, and sadly, the chocolates had eggs in them...I asked where I could get the gummy, and was told a booth in the center garden area would have them. I was told to hurry because the booth would close at 6 pm, and we had 10 minutes!

We found the booth, and asked to check the ingredients for gummy candies. The CM had the book to check, but also made a phone call to be sure. Yes, DD could eat those gummy candies! DD was asking for Minnie version, but I bought them both. I mean, how can I get just one? Mickey and Minnie must be together!

Here are the gummies that go in them…few of them are marked with Mickey!

 

[MomoMama]

I kind of used those snowmen candies and the fact DD wanted to go to Toontown as bribes, and asked her if she was feeling well enough to go see Mickey. Because of the smaller crowds, I was hoping the wait to see Mickey would not be too long. DD reluctantly agreed, and we walked to the Toontown.

We went to Mickey's House. The wait posted was 40 minutes, but I thought the line did not look that long, so we went in. I think we ended up waiting for little over 30 minutes.

We were amazed how Mickey's House was much bigger than we thought. While waiting we checked the things around, and DD seemed to be again feeling better.

Mickey was very friendly. He hugged DD, and then hugged me too. He also asked for high-five from me. We were only allowed to have 1 photo taken with our own camera, so I got in the photo too. The photographer took the interaction photos. I asked for the photokeycard there. I meant to get the card earlier during the day, but I was not seeing the photographers at where they were supposed to be. I wonder if they were not out there when it rains.

We said good bye to Mickey, and went in to the Minnie's House next door.

Then we went to Goofy’s House for some paint play. DD wanted to go to Donald’s Boat and I wanted to check out Chip 'n Dale's Treehouse since we missed it last time, but they were closed off.

 

[MomoMama]

Then we decided to leave the park. I wanted to have dinner in the park where DD would have more options, but she just wanted to leave. She was not very hungry and said she only wanted one onigiri from the convenience store.

I snapped few photos as we walked out.

Tokyo Disneyland station was decorated nicely too.

When we got back to the hotel, we went to the convenience store. I got onigiri for her, and noodle and mochi for me. The mochi they had there contained eggs so DD could not eat them. Back in the room, I made hot tea and we had a quick dinner. We watched a TV show, in which Japanese celebrities were deep-sea fishing and competing in teams. I guess it was funny enough for DD to watch. She was amazed to see those deep-sea fish popped out their eyes as they come out of the water. They were fishing for a monster-looking fish, and DD wanted to see them catch it.

We had a park view room, and the fireworks started while we were watching TV. I must say it did not feel magical watching the fireworks from the hotel room, but still it was nice to be able to see them. DD did not care much about the fireworks, and just kept watching the TV show…they did not catch the monster fish.


DD was getting sleepy, but I had to give her shower. After shower she went to sleep right away!

 

[MomoMama]

Disney Day 2

Alarm woke me up that morning, not an earthquake. We were going to DisneySea and they were opening at 8 am!

I went downstairs to get a cup of coffee...and found the wine/coffee bar was closed. It was to open at 7:30 am. I saw the takeout food store's shutter was half open and a lady was getting ready to open the store. I asked her what time it would open, and was told 7 am. I had few minutes before 7, so told her I would wait. Then the nice lady at the store prepared coffee for me right away and also let me buy a piece of bread before the opening time. Great service! Great way to start the day!

It was not supposed to rain that day, but was still going to be a cold day. So we dressed in layers again. I was relieved to see my shoes had dried up overnight!

When we got to the park, it was a little after the park opening time. We saw some characters greeting and music playing at the entrance. We did not stay and watch them, as we wanted to get the Fastpass for Toy Story Mania! But after we passed the bridge to American Waterfront, we saw the line for the Fastpass was there already. I guessed the wait time just to get the passes would be more than 1 hour. I asked DD if we needed to ride Toy Story Mania...she said no. Though she loves the ride and we rode it 3 times last time, she does not love it enough to stay in that ridiculously long line! So we got out of there.

Unlike the day before, it was a sunny day!

 

[MomoMama]

I took her to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

It was closed last time we were there, and I really wanted to try it. I talked to DD about the deep-sea fishing show we saw on TV the night before, and told her we might see those fish. I liked the ride, I thought it was very nicely done. I thought DD would like it too, but she got a little scared. She told me she would not want to ride it again. But later during the day she said she wanted to go back...by that time the line was longer and I was not willing to line up for it.

There are those Wish spots where you can use your wand to activate. It would lights up just with a touch by hand too, but for extra features you would have to buy the want from a gift shop. I didn’t, as DD has enough toys and wands already. So we just used our hands.

Here is a good alternatives for little children, a stamp booklet. You don’t get prize or anything for completing it, but you can collect 4 stamps from CMs at the designated spot. Young children may enjoy it. This may not come in English, but I think it’s easy to understand where you are supposed to go. I picked this up at a restaurant, but maybe there are other places you can get it. We did not collect the stamps, and DD just drew the crystals herself.

 

[MomoMama]

We went to the Mermaid Lagoon. Ariel was not appearing at her greeting spot until 9:30 am. So we decided to ride something. We checked Scuttle's Scooters, but it was not operating. The CM said the ride was frozen so they had to check.

We went to Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster, and it was operating. DD liked it, we rode it twice.

Then DD wanted to ride Jasmine’s Flying Carpets, so we walked towards the Arabian Coast.

We walked through Lost River Delta. When we passed Raging Spirits, I asked a CM to check DD's height. I was sure DD was not tall enough yet, but I just wanted to see how much more she needed to grow. To our surprises, she passed the height requirement! She did not pass it in June and I was not expecting her to pass it this time at all, so this was a huge surprise. The CM told me that children's height vary depending on the time of the day, so told us to keep the wristband on. With that wristband on, she could ride ALL the attractions in DisneySea!

 

[MomoMama]

We both wanted to try Raging Spirits, but first DD wanted the magic carpets ride. So we rode that once. There was no wait.

I knew going to the Flying Carpets first was not a smart move, and the line for Raging Spirits had gotten longer when we came back. But I did not want to put DD in a bad mood…and the line was still not too bad. DD proudly showed her wristband, and we marched on!

I really was not sure how DD would react to this ride...this was her first time trying out a coaster that goes in loop. I don’t think DD cared about the theme of what the ride was…she was just so happy to hear she could ride everything, and was eager to try this one. And the verdict...she LOVED it! The loop was smaller than I thought it would be, and I guess that did not scare her. She wanted to go back, but the line was getting much longer, and now that she could ride anything, I wanted to go get Fastpass for Journey to the Center of the Earth!

We walked through the Mermaid Lagoon. The wait posted for Ariel M&G was 50 minutes! I told DD we would come back later.

We went to get the Fastpass for Journey to the Center of the Earth. A CM tried to warn us about the height requirement, but DD happily showed off her wristband!

 

[MomoMama]

Then we went back to Mermaid Lagoon. We saw Scuttle's Scooters were up and running, so we tried it.

DD liked it and wanted to try one more time. On our second ride I noticed the parents in front of us were letting their kids ride on their own. I asked a CM how old the kids had to be to ride on their own. I was kind of hoping to let DD ride all those kiddie ride by herself, but I was told she needed to be 7...

Then we went to The King Triton's Court. King Triton sure was in a festive mood!

We rode Whirlpool, and then Jumpin' Jellyfish. There is not much to say about those kiddie rides, but DD still love those.

Waiting time to meet Ariel was not getting any shorter. We checked out a gift shop to spend few minutes we had before we could use the Fastpass. Then DD showed off her wristband to all the CMs and marched on to Journey to the Center of the Earth! It was first time for me too, and I was not sure what to expect. Would DD be too scared...? The verdict...she was a bit scared of the monsters, but liked the ride! She wanted to go back again, so we got the Fastpass again.

 

[MomoMama]

I had the lunch reservation for 11:20 at Ristorante di Canaletto. I was SO hoping to get the reservation at Horizon Bay for their character dining, but I messed up the time they start to accept the reservations. I had my calendar marked, but did not get the correct time. The restaurant was completely full for all day by the time I checked online. So my second choice was Ristorante di Canaletto…I knew DD could eat pasta again, and I have read good things about this restaurant!

We walked to Mediterranean Harbor. After making sure we knew where the restaurant was, we tried our luck at the show lottery. One show we both wanted to see was Big Band Beat. I asked DD to give me the good luck kiss again, and…we did not win. Disappointed, but I told DD we will try the standby later.

We still had time before our reservation, so went to the Plaza at the entrance to see who would be out there.

We saw Minnie, and she had a long line. We also saw Pluto and Goofy, and they were free-style greetings. We went to see Pluto first, but he was very popular, and it was hard for DD to put herself in front of the others. I saw DD was getting frustrated, so I took her to see Goofy. There were less people around him, and DD was able to get Goofy’s attention.

We went back to Pluto. There were still many people around him. His CM noticed DD trying to get Pluto’s attention, and said go right in front of him so he could see her. It took her few tries, but finally Pluto noticed DD!

Then we headed to the restaurant. On the way we saw this pretty painting…painted by Gelatoni himself!

 

[MomoMama]

At Ristorante di Canaletto, they asked me if we wanted a table outside or inside. It was not too cold by then and I wanted the outside table, but DD insisted on sitting inside. We were seated at a big booth table near the entrance. I mentioned we would need the low-allergen plate, and again the manager came to take the note. He showed me the menu, and I asked him to just remove the things DD would not eat, like scallop and jelly dessert.

DD ate the Mickey-shaped carrot before I could snap a photo. She did not drop it this time!

Again DD did not like the soup…it was corn soup this time. I guess they must use soy milk instead of regular milk, and DD may not like the flavor. She ate everything else, because I told her she was not getting popcorn if she didn’t.

For my lunch course, I chose antipasto mist, seafood pasta, and chestnut and cassis mousse.

The only thing I did not finish was the anchovy mousse from the antipasto. It was too sour for me and a little piece of bread stick was not enough to eat with all that mousse. I don't have a pic of it, but the pasta was very good. It was better than the pasta I at the Eastside Café the day before. The dessert was quite good too. I like to try desserts I usually can’t get in the U.S., and I like how they are not too sweet in Japan.

While we were having lunch, we could hear the Crystal Wishes Journey show started. I loved the show, but we were skipping it this time to focus on seeing the Christmas show. We can’t try to do everything, and it was time for us to have a nice lunch!

 

[MomoMama]

After lunch we went back to Journey to the Center of the Earth. I thought with our Fastpass, we would get out of the ride with enough time to see “A Perfect Christmas” show. I could see people were already gathering around the Harbor to see the show. Tokyo Disney says you can start reserving the spot 1 hour before a show starts, but people would take places well before that. So it seems “1-hour” rule is not enforced. DD would not just sit and wait for 2 hours, or even 1 hour to see a show. And we were not going to waste our Fastpass!

We went inside the volcano, got on the elevator to get to the center of the earth. We stayed in the line and noticed it was not moving. Then there was an announcement that they had to stop the ride due to technical issues! We were instructed to stay there until CMs would come guide us…that was something we did not expect. DD wanted to know what the problem was, so I said maybe the monster we saw earlier tried to come out. DD seemed to have believed that. I told her we were lucky the ride did not stop while we were on it and right in front of that monster!

We waited…and finally the line started to move to get out of there. At the exit they gave us a special Fastpass (Admission Priority Ticket) that could be used for any ride at Disneyland or DisneySea…except for Toy Story Mania! Boo, that was one ride we would have been happy to use the pass for.

When we came out, I thought we were too late to find a spot to see the show closer to the center area. So we just stood by the lake from Mysterious Island.

I had seen a picture of the characters riding a boat, so I assumed they would appear by boat like they do for the Crystal Wishes show, and I thought we would get a close look at them from there…but I was WRONG. The show started, and the characters appeared on foot from somewhere around Steamer ride is. I used my camera to see what was going on at the center stage or at the Lido isle, but the view was not great at all.

Those were all we could see…

Then a boat appeared from the left side of us. Santa was on it!

Shortly after that, another boat appeared with Ariel and Eric on.

And another with Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie on.

Those boats looked very basic compared to Santa’s ride…

Then DD said she needed to go to restroom…so we left. It’s very likely that Mickey and the gang got on Santa’s boat after that like I have seen in the photos, but I don’t know….the show was over by the time we came out of the restroom.

DD was sorry we missed the end of the show. I told her we would try to see the nighttime show later. One good thing was that we beat the long restroom line that forms right after a show!

 

[MomoMama]

Then we went to see Ariel. I expected the line to be shorter that time because of the Christmas show, but when we got there the posted time was still 40 min! But I looked at the line and thought it should not take 40 min…so we went in. We ended up waiting for 30 to 35 min.

Ariel was lovely and she had Christmas cape on. Her shell was decorated for Christmas as well. We had an odd experience of CM blocking DD from talking to Ariel last time, but this time DD was able to talk to Ariel more. I think she talked about her swimming lessons. DD has taken some swimming lessons since the last visit, and her swimming has improved dramatically. Again, only 1 photo is allowed with our own camera, so the photographer took the interaction photos.

After that we went to ride Raging Spirit again. We got the Fastpass for it sometime earlier. Even with the passes, we had to wait a little longer this time. But the ride was quick and fun!

We came back to Mermaid Lagoon, because we saw a popcorn stand that was selling salted popcorn there. We got our bucket refilled, then I noticed a big crowd by the Ariel’s stature. I peeked to see what was going on, and saw Prince Eric!
Boy, he was popular…he was surrounded by ladies and taking time to talk to each guest. And every time DD tried to step forward, someone else would get picked. But Prince Eric did notice DD, and finally he picked her to talk to. They talked they were both wearing capes…and something else I could not hear and DD can’t remember!

 

[MomoMama]

Back from the holidays to finish up this TR.


We walked to American Waterfront, hoping to get in the standby for Big Band beat show, and saw many people sitting in front of the theater and waiting. I was told the line had been cut off for the next show, and those people I saw were actually waiting for the show after that! We wanted to see the show, but did not have enough patience to just sit and wait for that long…

We still had the Fastpass we could use on anything (except for Toy Story Mania), so hoping to ride the Tower of Terror…but DD refused. She was pretty happy to learn that she could ride all rides in the park and wanted to try everything…except for the Tower of Terror.

We noticed the CMs clearing the way for The Year of Wishes Greeting Drive. It was to happen soon, so we took a spot and waited. Mickey, Donald, Minnie, and Goofy were in the car. And from the side we were standing, we could see Minnie and Goofy!

It was just one car, and nothing else. We walked towards the ship to see if anything was going on.

Then we heard the Greeting drive will drive through again. We took a spot on the other side of the way to see Mickey and Donald this time. But actually the car made a U-turn and came back, so we were standing on Minnie and Goofy’s side again.

We saw few people were following the car, and DD wanted to follow it too. We walked behind the CMs and followed the car, until it drove into behind the gate…

 

[MomoMama]

I wanted to see if we could see My Friend Duffy show, so we went to Cape Cod Cook-Off. There, I saw a line to see the show outside the restaurant. We didn’t need to stay in the line if we were there just for food & drinks, but had to stay in the line to see the show. We couldn’t tell how long the wait would be, so we moved on.

Duffy and Shellie May were sitting on the fence. I think they were not displayed by TDR, but rather someone left them there. Later I saw they were moved to the bridge at the Mediterranean Harbor. There was some kind of tag attached to them, but I did not get close enough to see it.

DD remembered riding Aquatopia on the last visit, and wanted to ride it again. The wait was about 20 minutes and I agreed to ride it just once. We don’t get to control the ride, but DD pretended to drive it, while guessing which way it was going to go.

Right next to it I saw the construction going on with the sign for new Finding Nemo attraction. I am looking forward to it!

There was nothing much I wanted to do in the area, so I suggested to ride the Electric Railway back to the Harbor, but DD said she wanted to walk. What can you do when your kid rather wants to walk than ride a train…

So we walked back…I saw the wait time posted for Tower of Terror was 120 minutes. I did not bother to check Toy Story Mania.

The Waterfront park area was decorated with lights. There was a pretty Christmas tree that looked like ice, and there was a photographer there. Since the line was not too long, we had our photo taken in front of the tree. There were not many people there, so I let DD dance a little at the park too.

 

[MomoMama]

When we got to Mediterranean Harbor, I heard CMs guiding people to watch a show. I thought it was too early for the Nighttime Wishes, so I asked what was going on. Fantasmic! was about to start in about 15 minutes. I completely forgot about Fantasmic! Since CM was saying there were still rooms in the Lido Isle, we went in there. But when we got there the sitting area was full, so we had to stand behind the short fence and a line of people. When the show started, I told DD to watch the show from a gap between the people In front of us. But a lady in front of us noticed DD and let her stand right next to her against the fence. So nice!

I think I have heard that Fantasmic! is not great at Tokyo, but I loved it! It was different from what I remember seeing at WDW, and I think I actually like the Tokyo version better. But my attempts to take the photos are just sad…you have to see the show in person!

The Lido Isle was pretty close to the dragon and we could feel the fire. It was warm, I wished Maleficent would put up a better fight and keep us warm a bit longer.

It was a sunny day, and was not as cold as I expected it to be during the day. But by the evening the air had gotten chilly. Standing still to watch the show made us feel cold, so DD was done and just wanted to go back to the hotel after the show. Earlier she was asking to have curry for dinner there, but she did not even want that any more. She ate most of the popcorn by herself, and was not feeling very hungry. I REALLY wanted to watch the Nighttime Wishes show… but nothing good comes from forcing a kid to stay outside in the cold. We briefly stopped by stores but did not buy anything. We left… It was only about 6 pm. The park was open till 10 pm that day. I kind of hoped that later DD would say she wanted to go back to the park, but she did not… We picked up quick dinner from the convenience store at the hotel again, and watched the fireworks from the hotel room again. DD was so tired, she just wanted to go to sleep.