Living in Color (TDR Report Summer 2023)

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 3: From Adventureland to Critter Country to Westernland and Back

After the parade, we made our way over to Blue Bayou. Like other previous meals, this was a prix fixe menu, with a few different options. We tried the lobster seafood gumbo, a main of pork, beef, and mushroom, and a special dessert plate and beignets. Nothing was a super stand-out dish, but it was all good. And really, it’s not that we booked this for the food- we just like the vibe of sitting by Pirates. (We have done Blue Bayou in Anaheim and Captain Jack’s in Paris.) Our total was $105.03.





We also did the Beaver Brothers Explorer Canoes. Wow, that was a lot more work than I thought it would have been. Major kudos to the cast members for putting in the major effort to get us going. Most people in the canoe just didn’t try. And we were particularly frustrated with a family that kept allowing their kids to stand up in the middle of the ride. Folks, don’t do this. If your kid can’t handle sitting in a canoe, do not take them on the canoe. I felt so bad for the cast members. Still, it was a neat experience- we never did the version in Anaheim.

We also hit up Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I don’t have anything remarkable to say about this. We’ve now been on four of these, and it’s about the same as Anaheim and Orlando.

We then hit up Jungle Cruise. Which yes, is obviously in Japanese, so no, we did not understand what was going on. But it was fun! And like every other ride, all the animatronics worked. Plus, when we got in the queue, some cast members gave us some banners and took our picture as part of the 40th. This was our first of two of these experiences- it was just kind of a fun thing they offered.



The entire time we were under the threat of rain, with a few little sprinkles here and there. The rain was definitely on its way though.

 

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 3: Nightfall Glow and Closing Out the Park

As it rained, we decided to peruse the stores.

So we had originally purchased premier access passes for the nighttime parade, which was supposed to be the Main Street Electrical Parade. Somehow, I have never seen an iteration of this show. And that remained the case, as the rain forced a cancellation. (And yes, we were refunded automatically for the premier access passes.)

Instead, the park put on Nightfall Glow. We easily got front row spots about half an hour before. (At this point, it had stopped raining.) It’s a short parade, with only four floats, but it’s pretty- especially if the water on the ground is built up enough to reflect the lights from the floats.



After that, we visited the castle to see Cinderella’s Fairy Tale Hall, which has dioramas re-telling the story of Cinderella and some other fun features, like Gus and Jaq popping out of the wall and the throne. This is an excellent place to go in the rain (which had just picked up again), as evidenced by how crowded it was compared to the rest of the park.



We spent the remainder of the night in and near Toon Town, which was practically empty. We went on Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, which had a short 10 minute wait. We hit up on Gadget’s Go Coaster, the kid coaster. We walked a bit around the play areas, since they weren’t swarmed by kids like they were earlier in the day. And then we went on Pooh’s Hunny Hunt again because the wait was short and why not?

At that point it was park closing time, so we made our way back to the front of the park to transfer to our next hotel: MiraCosta.

 

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 3: Checking into MiraCosta

I do not recommend what we did, but at the time, it made sense to us.

To get to MiraCosta, we got on a bus to the Ambassador Hotel, and then we walked to MiraCosta. In our defense, the walk was only about 15-20 minutes and just over half a mile. We understood the bus system and knew we could walk that. We had not tried the monorail and didn’t want to attempt it at night and get stranded. We later learned on Day 5 that the monorail was incredibly easy and super cute. That said, our method did work just fine.



When we arrived to MiraCosta, we felt super out of place. MiraCosta- I sound like a broken record- is GORGEOUS. It’s themed after Italian ports and has over-the-top theming, with It is one of the nicest hotels I’ve stayed at. Definitely the nicest Disney hotel I’ve stayed at. And here we are rolling in with squeaky shoes and dried off from the rain.



We checked in for our two-night stay. The cost was $856 (plus whatever portion of the $230 deposit). The staff checking us in was phenomenal and we felt zero judgement for our appearance or that we were checking in so late. He explained where the different shops and restaurants were and where our room was and that our luggage would be waiting for us in our room, and off we went.

The room… look, I took some pictures, I don’t think words do it justice. It is punch-you-in-your-face thematic. The wallpaper. The carpet. The pillows. The tapestries. The CEILING! This is the stuff I want in US parks, not the “everything is white” trend that’s going on. I can stay at a Holiday Inn anywhere; where else can I get this kind of room?






Our specific view wasn’t of the park- those rooms weren’t available when we booked- but our view was still pretty nice. I don’t think the courtyard was actually accessible, so it’s literally just there for the guests to look at.



Like the Ambassador, we were provided toothbrushes and other toiletries, this time in little tin cases. We also got MiraCosta branded reusable bags for our trip. And of course we were given pajamas and slippers.

It was off to bed to get some sleep before another fun day at Tokyo DisneySea.

 

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 4: Welcome Back to Tokyo DisneySea

Since we were staying at MiraCosta, we had another day of early entry. Once again, this meant entry into the park 15 minutes before the official opening. And once again, we blew it on meeting the characters. What can I say- I’m a sucker for character meets. But where else can I see Clarice?

Besides, we still made it to Journey to the Center of the Earth just as the park officially opened. We didn’t have to wait at all for our first ride, and only waited about 20 minutes for a second re-ride. (And most of that waiting was spent right before the elevator part.) This is the ride in the volcano Mount Prometheus in the center of Tokyo DisneySea. Per the ride title, you go on a trip to the center of the Earth, coming across many kinds of creatures- including one pretty large animatronic. This is a slot car ride like Test Track and Radiator Springs Racers, but I think this is more “thrilling.”



We then went on Nemo & Friends SeaRider, which is a simulator ride that “shrinks” you down to the size of a fish so you can see the sea life. It’s cute, though I’m sure we missed a lot since it was all in Japanese. (Again, understandably so!) The line for this seemed annoyingly long, though I don’t think we waited more than 30 minutes. It’s probably because it’s a show, so there’s a lot of movement, and then no movement.

Since we were so close and the wait was non-existent, we tried out Aquatopia, a trackless water ride. Though it’s not necessarily a “you-will-get-wet” water ride. In our case, we got maybe some light splashing- definitely less than we got from the rain and not enough that I would qualify it as a water ride. I have heard over the hottest parts of summer that they turn up the jets on one side so you will get wet. I actually really liked this ride. There are two sides, and each side has a variety of different paths your hovercar can take. We ended up going on this three times since there was no wait, and we ended up on a different path every time.



We got a quick snack of milk chocolate popcorn, which was okay, but nothing too exciting. We also got soy sauce popcorn, which seemed lightly flavored. Again, nothing too exciting, but I liked this.

We explored a bit of the American Waterfront before making our way to Tower of Terror.

 

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 4: Tower of Terror and Surprise Encounters

I had been on three Towers before the Tokyo version: Hollywood Studios, California Adventure (Guardians of the Galaxy version), and Walt Disney Studios (Paris). The plot for this is still in the scary side like HS and WDS, but has a distinctly different story. Instead of being set in the Twilight Zone, the tower is called Hotel Hightower, and was built by the adventure Harrison Hightower, III. Hightower had a penchant for collecting artifacts from his different adventures- including artifacts he should have left alone. At some point, he stole an idol and was cursed. After mocking the idol’s curse, he took the elevator in the tower, and ended up plunging to his… well, I suppose death, though his body was never found.

Guests of the ride are going on a tour of the hotel. The queue is packed with different “artifacts” and portraits of Hightower. There’s a pre-show where Hightower’s spirit comes back to warn the guests to get out and that the curse is real. And then of course none of the guests listen and we all end up on an elevator and get dropped like Hightower was.

Oh, and another fun thing: Hightower is physically modeled off of Joe Rohde.




I still personally prefer the Mission Breakout version (I know, blasphemy), but this is a worthy version and makes it a “do not miss” (if at all possible).

There was a fun surprise after we exited the gift shop: Donald and Daisy were doing meet and greets! Like the morning meet and greets, there were no lines for this- you were basically at the whim of whether the character would choose to interact with you (and the whims of everyone else crowding around). But thankfully we were able to meet with them both. Gosh, I love how sassy they let the characters be. Daisy took our phone to take her own selfie. It was adorable.



We also noticed ShellieMay had a meeting area and was seeing guests, but we skipped that.

Instead of having a proper lunch, we bought more popcorn and an ukiwa bun shaped like Mickey. The bun was shaped like Mickey and contained chicken and was VERY filling on its own, so I’m glad we split it. The popcorn we got this time around was garlic shrimp and berry cheesecake- very different flavors! I loved the berry cheesecake flavor. The garlic shrimp popcorn was also a hit, even though it seemed very strange of a flavor.

Filled with snacks and a bit overheated from the weather, we headed back to MiraCosta for a quick break.

 

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 4: Taking a Break Before Meeting Duffy

MiraCosta is in Tokyo DisneySea. Not just next to it, but in it. There is a separate entrance area you can use, which makes it extremely easy to pop in and out during the day. (Note that we did not use this for early entry- our understanding was that it’s only available at or after official park opening.) In retrospect, we probably should have planned our visit so that we did Disneyland while at the Ambassador and DisneySea while at MiraCosta, but we had opted for every-other-days (day 1 DL, day 2 DS, day 3 DL, etc.) to have a balance in case some emergency happened that would have cut our trip short.

I am very much a rope drop to park close person, but I have to admit- it felt kinda nice and luxurious to pop into our room for a break. Maybe the next time we go to Disneyland we’ll stay at the Grand Californian!

We took an hour or so break in our room and changed. (It was SO hot, I needed fresh clothing!)

We also visited MickeyAngelo (ha), the gift shop. There were not many merchandise options here. A few hotel-specific items (exclusive plush and bags), some 40th merchandise. Most of the items here were consumables.

Then it was back through our private entrance for the remainder of the day.

Once we got back into the park, we wandered over to the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge to see if they had openings. This was a location that I couldn’t seem to book in advance- it was constantly full. They didn’t have any at that moment, but they were able to find a spot a few hours from then.

In the meantime, we decided to finally go and meet Duffy.

Prior to meeting Duffy, I had purchased LinaBell ears and a LinaBell plush and a bunch of Duffy and friends plush badges. Basically, I was ALL IN on Duffy, even though I hadn’t met him yet.

The wait for Duffy was 45 minutes. It felt like we went SO SLOW.

But then… we got to meet Duffy.

And it was not a disappointment. Obviously, like all similar characters, Duffy doesn’t talk, but the cast members did a great job with communicating. We “talked” about LinaBell and how great of a detective she is and how nice the Cape Cod area was at DisneySea.

Seriously, what were we THINKING when the US parks got rid of Duffy? He and his friends are so merchandisable and it would be so easy to bring them in for meet and greets and a character dining experience.

 

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 4: A Final Night at Tokyo DisneySea

At this point, it was time for our Teddy Roosevelt reservation. We headed over to the SS Columbia and were directed to head up to the bar area.



The bar is themed after President Teddy Roosevelt. In true DisneySea fashion, the themes are over-the-top detailed, with wood detailing, bear decor, paintings, photos, leather couches, and even a fireplace. They have display cases with what I assume are real and from Roosevelt’s era. It feels weird to me that a place like this exists in Japan and not, say, by the Hall of Presidents. (Yes, yes, I know alcohol at the parks is relatively new thing, but still.)

The menu for this place is… extensive. Pages and pages of drinks. We ordered two different drinks and a tray of desserts (I think the total was around $35). They were amazing, and I wish we had more time. They are pretty strict on how long you can be there- only 70 minutes. So if you think you want more than one drink, be sure to order your second right away.



After our drinks, we wandered around on the upper deck of the SS Columbia, and then we just wandered around DisneySea some more, taking pictures and appreciating the atmosphere.

I picked up a sea salt monaka for about $2. The ice cream is basically vanilla ice cream in a shell wafer- and it is delicious. 10/10 recommended.

For dinner, we had reservations at Ristorante di Canaletto, an Italian place. We each ordered a pasta entree dish (which was very good). Total cost: $28. Not each, total. I seriously could not believe the prices on this trip. And it was good!



We continued to walk around and take photos, but we also headed to Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage again. And I bought a little clip on Chandu. (I sort of regret not getting a full plush!)



We then headed to the reserved area for Believe! Sea of Dreams. We had bought the Premier Pass earlier in the day. We got to the area about 45 minutes before the show, and there were already enough people there that we were in the middle of the section. There was a section in front of ours that appeared to be for vacation package bookings. This was a better view than the one we had two nights previously, so I’m glad we did it once, but I don’t think it’s necessary if you’re willing to stake out a spot a few hours before the show. (Maybe grab some snacks and drinks while you wait.)



After the show, we walked around the park, taking in the night sites and getting another ride in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Now here’s where we messed up. We knew that attractions will close the line off early so that the last riders would exit at park close. So we had planned to enter the line for Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage well before close. The ride itself didn’t have a wait that late at night and the ride was only 10 minutes. We got to the ride, saw it was still open, stopped to take a quick picture of the night skyline… and turned around to find it closed 20 minutes before the park closed. I was crushed, since I really wanted to make this my last ride.

So do not be me. Don’t have your heart set on a specific final ride. And don’t pause to take a photo, just get on the ride.

We ended up on Jasmine’s Flying Carpets. This is basically the Magic Carpets from Magic Kingdom. It is not as good as Storybook Voyage.

By the time we got off, the park was about to close, so we slowly walked back to the MiraCosta, packed up our stuff, and crawled into bed.

 

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 5: Last Morning at Tokyo Disneyland

For our last Disney day, we dropped our bags off at the front desk, and did something we hadn’t done yet- we got on the monorail.

Why the heck did we not take the monorail before? We had been able to rely on buses and walking up to this point, but we wanted to go to Disneyland from MiraCosta. And honestly, I don’t know why we had avoided it. For one, it was very convenient- we just used our Pasmo cards. For another, it’s super cute! The monorail trains have Mickey shaped windows, Mickey holding straps, and themed color motifs. Plus it’s efficient.

We arrived for the early 15 minute entry and caught some of the characters walking by to greet guests. And when the time came to enter, we booked it to meet Donald in front of the castle. Seriously, these early 15 minutes are great for these kinds of character meets. Though we obviously lost out on getting in lines quickly. But how can I say no to my duck?



We then headed over to Beauty and the Beast right as the park was officially opening. This meant we did have to wait through the queue, but it was only about 45 minutes. And unlike before, when we used the Premier Pass, we got to experience the queue line- which yes, is highly detailed and themed. I know that’s a surprise. While waiting, we booked a Premier Pass for the Happy Ride with Baymax to use later.



Next up was Monsters, Inc. Ride and Go Seek, which is a dark ride that takes place in Monsters, Inc., but after they changed to laugh power. Boo is back for a game of flashlight tag, and we’re along for the ride. It’s a cute ride. Nothing too exciting and about in pay with the Monsters, Inc. ride in California Adventure. (The queue here is superior though- you walk through the factory’s lobby, which is pretty impressive.)



Since we were feeling a bit hungry, we stopped for some snacks at Pan Galactic Pizza Port, which features an animatronic alien called Tony Salorini. (No idea is Tony is related to Cosmic Ray.) The pizza was good, but the real treats were the alien “mochi.” Each alien was filled with a different cream (chocolate, strawberry, or custard). I wish I had ordered more.





Then it was time for Happy Ride with Baymax. This is just like Alien Swirling Saucers, but Big Hero 6 themed- and with such poppy, happy music. The music seriously rebates this and we left this ride with bounces in our steps. And like the Jungle Cruise two days prior, cast members grabbed us to take a photo with the 40th pennant flag string. Seriously, these tiny interactions added so much magic to our stay.

 

[Kestryl]

TDR Day 5: Now It’s Time to Say Goodbye

We grabbed some more snacks back in Toontown at the Huey, Dewey, and Louie’s Good Time Café. I got a “shrimp burger” that had a bun in the shape of Donald’s feet. Why is the food here so cute?

We then decided we should meet Mickey Mouse. The queue, themed to Mickey’s house, backyard, and barn, was packed with Disney references and Mickey was dressed in his Sorcerer’s Apprentice outfit. And as always, we were limited to one posed photo, though the cast members took lots of photos of us interacting with Mickey.



We had another round on Pirates of the Caribbean.

And for our final ride, we decided to end where we started- with Star Tours. Love those Hitchhiking Droids.



Oh, and then I got the peach raspberry Minnie popsicle, because it was hot and I needed it.

And with that, we took a last look at the castle and headed out to the monorail.



(I want to quickly add on that after we picked up our bags from MiraCosta, we took the monorail back to Ikspiari, their version of Downtown Disney. We did hit up Bon Voyage but didn’t see any merchandise that we couldn’t have bought in the parks- and they did not have much. No Duffy section, for example. So make sure you buy as you go and don’t rely on picking up souvenirs from Bon Voyage.)

 

[Kestryl]

(Since the rest is non-Disney, I’ll keep the summaries of what we did each day brief, but feel free to ask me anything!)



Post Disney: Tokyo to Osaka

To get from Tokyo to Osaka, we ended up taking the shinkansen (bullet train), as we had the JR Pass. My understanding is that the price has gone up quite a bit, but for us it made sense given our itinerary. We booked a back row in one of the cars so that we could keep our luggage in the designated space.

We decided to stay in Osaka since it had easy access to Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Nara (plus Kobe, though that was decided while we were there), and we had plans for Universal. Osaka was very easy to use as a base, and I’m glad we did this. Kyoto would have been another option, though we found Kyoto more crowded and chaotic with the bus system there.



Kobe Day

Admittedly, the biggest draw to Kobe was to eat Kobe steak in Kobe. And yes, it’s touristy, but the food was really, really good and we basically had a private chef.

We also hit up the Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens & Ropeway (which was nice just for a break from the cities) and Arima Onsen to dip our feet in the iron water (kinsen) outside of out of the onsens. If we had more time, I would have opted to do a full onsen experience. I guess that’s what future trips are for. Oh, and I drank some spring water near a shrine. I don’t recommend it, it was pretty gross.

We headed back to Osaka for dinner at some tiny place in Dotonbori.





Hiroshima and Miyajima

This was a very long day, but doable. The trip is about an hour and a half from Osaka. While in Hiroshima, we visited in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park (where the A-Bomb Dome is) and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. It is an incredibly sobering experience.



We also took the ferry out to Miyajima, which is known for the Itsukushima Shrine with a torii out in the water. We stayed long enough that the tide started ebbing and we were able to walk halfway out to the gate. The shrine itself was very crowded. We took a ropeway up to Mount Misen and hiked down. On one hand, I’m glad we did it, but on the other, I was really stressed about making the last ferry back. (But we had plenty of time.) Miyajima also has deer, though these are not the bowing deer of Nara. I think it would have been interesting to stay here overnight after most of the day tourists have left.



We got dinner in Hiroshima, though it took a while to find a place that would let us in. (Most places were crowded, but one nearly empty place just said “no English,” so not sure what went on there.) Thankfully the place we found was happy with us pointing to the picture and holding up two fingers for two orders.



Nara

This was surprisingly my favorite part (outside of Disney). Nara was once the capitol of Japan and is known for its shrines, temples, and bowing deer. We fed the deer and spent much of the time just wandering around the parks and temples and shrines. My favorite was Kasuga Shrine, which is surrounded by a primeval forest and features thousands of lanterns.

 

[Kestryl]

Universal Studios Japan

I highly, highly recommend an express pass that guarantees entry into Super Nintendo World. It removed a lot of our stress.

I do not understand when USJ opens. We got there just under an hour before official opening and people were already in the park riding rides.

Interestingly, while we were there in June and Easter was on April 9, they still had Easter decorations up.



Many of the ride lines were just too excessive to deal with (I’ll do a lot to get on a new ride, but waiting four hours is not one of those things), so I’m glad our express passes let us skip a bunch of lines. Some of the highlights were Jaws, the Pokémon food, sitting by the lake at Hogwarts, meeting the creatures in Wizarding Worlds (nifflers!), and of course Super Nintendo World. We bought the bracelets so we could play the minigames and just had a grand old time running around the land.







We bought a lot of merchandise- plush (nifflers and Yoshi and Jaws/Jurassic Park mashups), Mario Kart pins, keychains, a wand exclusive to USJ- but we kept that closer to the end of the day so we didn’t have to haul things around.

If you do get an express pass with guaranteed Nintendo entry, you can also get a second entry- which is what we did. We had an assigned time during the day, but while in the park we scanned the QR code and got a second entry for late at night.

Oh, if you are a glasses-wearer, bring a strap. But even with the strap, you will likely have to explain multiple times at each ride that your glasses will not fall off with the strap. (This was where I drew the line to just do everything without question, as I am incredibly near-sighted and would not have been able to walk from the lockers to the coaster without my glasses.)

 

[Kestryl]

Kyoto

Kyoto felt incredibly crowded in many of the shrines and temples, except for the ones that had admission fees (which were practically empty). Some of the places we visited were Kiyomizu-dera, Yasaka Koshindo, Yasaka Shrine, and Nanzen-ji. We ate a lot of snacks and ice cream from street booths and little shops. I know we only saw a small sliver of Kyoto, so its unfair to make a judgment based on that, but it was just so crowded and the bus system made us miss the subways.




Fushimi Inari and Nara

For our last full day in Japan, we opted to split our time between Kyoto and Nara.

In Kyoto, we visited Fushimi Inari Taisha and did the full hike. We are glad we brought bug spray wipes because the mosquitos were something else. We got there pretty early and saw fewer and fewer people as we ascended through the hike, but were greeted by the crowds when we reached back to the bottom.

One cute thing that happened was we were interviewed by some school groups who were practicing their English. The students were so polite, so I hope we helped them out with their assignment.

We spent the rest of the day at Nara just to wander around some more before heading back to Osaka for dinner.





Last Day

Our travel back to the US involved a flight from Osaka to Tokyo and then eventually back to where we live. We arrived at the Osaka airport about three hours before our flight, which was apparently very baffling to the employees. They ended up bumping us to an earlier flight from Osaka to Tokyo, so we got some extra time in the Tokyo airport to eat and chill before our flight out.

 

[Kestryl]

So that’s it! If you have any questions or want to know more about something, let me know!

 

[zanzibar138]

Thanks for taking the time to do a TR - I've thoroughly enjoyed it!

 

[Kestryl]

Thanks for taking the time to do a TR - I've thoroughly enjoyed it!

Thanks for reading! It took me way too long to finish.

 

[soniam]

Universal Studios Japan

I highly, highly recommend an express pass that guarantees entry into Super Nintendo World. It removed a lot of our stress.

I do not understand when USJ opens. We got there just under an hour before official opening and people were already in the park riding rides.

Interestingly, while we were there in June and Easter was on April 9, they still had Easter decorations up.

View attachment 887722

Many of the ride lines were just too excessive to deal with (I’ll do a lot to get on a new ride, but waiting four hours is not one of those things), so I’m glad our express passes let us skip a bunch of lines. Some of the highlights were Jaws, the Pokémon food, sitting by the lake at Hogwarts, meeting the creatures in Wizarding Worlds (nifflers!), and of course Super Nintendo World. We bought the bracelets so we could play the minigames and just had a grand old time running around the land.

View attachment 887723

View attachment 887724

View attachment 887725

We bought a lot of merchandise- plush (nifflers and Yoshi and Jaws/Jurassic Park mashups), Mario Kart pins, keychains, a wand exclusive to USJ- but we kept that closer to the end of the day so we didn’t have to haul things around.

If you do get an express pass with guaranteed Nintendo entry, you can also get a second entry- which is what we did. We had an assigned time during the day, but while in the park we scanned the QR code and got a second entry for late at night.

Oh, if you are a glasses-wearer, bring a strap. But even with the strap, you will likely have to explain multiple times at each ride that your glasses will not fall off with the strap. (This was where I drew the line to just do everything without question, as I am incredibly near-sighted and would not have been able to walk from the lockers to the coaster without my glasses.)

Absolutely keep your glasses on. I once removed them at Knott’s Berry Farms when requested. I could barely see and almost fell. I was only asked once about my glasses. I wore my eyeglass strap on subsequent rides, because they were too bumpy.

 

[zanzibar138]

Thanks for reading! It took me way too long to finish.

I believe some of my original TRs never did get finished

 

[Kestryl]

Absolutely keep your glasses on. I once removed them at Knott’s Berry Farms when requested. I could barely see and almost fell. I was only asked once about my glasses. I wore my eyeglass strap on subsequent rides, because they were too bumpy.

EXACTLY. I’ve been wearing glasses since third grade, and I’ve had athletic straps for almost that long. I like being able to see where I’m going, even when strapped into a seat going 100 mph.

 

[nono]

I believe some of my original TRs never did get finished

That's why I don't write them anymore. I am thinking of giving it a try. I like Kestryl's summary level style. Maybe I can emulate that...

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

How did you purchase your JR Rail pass? Did you book times / seats on the longer rides (Tokyo to Osaka and Osaka to Hiroshima)? How did you get from Hiroshima to Miyajima? I thought about staying overnight in Hiroshima, but decided that we will use Osaka as our base for 4 nights because I'm not a fan of packing and unpacking too frequently. When I was in Hiroshima in 2019 we had okinomiyaki (sp?) and omgosh I *must* have it again when we are there.

I'm taking ds in February and we are also staying in Osaka. We will also be leaving Tokyo Disney and heading to Osaka by train. He's a meat lover so we will definitely visit Kobe and since he's also a history buff I think we will also visit Hiroshima (I've been, but it was with a tour so I didn't work on the logistics). Do you think USJ is worth a visit after TDL? Neither of us are fans of roller coasters (I was in my much younger years, but find that I can only do 1 a day now).

Thanks so much for your TR! Loved every detail.