Tokyo Disney on 2 Weeks’ Notice: Hightower Halloween Costume!

[lurkyloo]

I whipped out my calculator and began poring over each menu looking for the best way to spend the least amount of money and still qualify for the pin promotion. We decide to split a pasta dish and a meat dish.


Linguine with King Crab, Black Olives, and Garlic-Chili - ¥1,800

Grilled Veal Tenderloin with Onion-Garlic Puree and Violet Mustard - ¥2,300

OK, I *get* fine dining—we eat at plenty of nice places in LA with small portions and understand that quantity is not a measure of quality. But usually the portions are at least big enough to split and maybe augment with an appetizer (which is how we afford to eat at plenty of nice places in LA!). However, at Canna it took a particle accelerator to split our business-card-sized piece of veal tenderloin and the carrot stub it came with! I would say that the meal was nothing to write home about, but I really didn't get to eat enough of it to tell… the pasta was fairly tasty though. I think this is a place we need to plan for next time: If we go in knowing it's a special occasion restaurant and we're just gonna pay the big bucks to each have our own dish, I think we'll probably enjoy it.

One cool thing happened: It turned out that what we ordered didn't qualify for the last stamp we needed to get the first pin in the dining series, but when our server sent the manager over to explain it (unprompted) he took pity on us and gave us the stamp and pin anyway—hooray! Now we can sell it for $3 on eBay!

After lunch we walked back to Bon Voyage to take pictures of merchandise prices for the PassPorter and round out the collection of birthday goodies we'd amassed for Uncle "Not-Travelling" Matt. …Aaaaand we went kinda nuts buying ourselves omiyage in souvenir tins! (I should add that all of it turned out to be surprisingly fresh and tasty. I actually still crave some of the snacks we brought back, something that has never ever happened with the stale pre-packaged food at Disneyland. I guess it's cuz the Japanese individually wrap each cracker or cookie or candy inside the souvenir tin—bad for the planet, good for my tastebuds!)

 

[lurkyloo]

Then it was back through Ikspiari to not find anything to buy for Uncle Matt at the Disney Store. I think we took a picture of this map cuz it was the first overview of the resort we'd seen:

Oh no! Not a pet adoption! We can barely resist these things in the States, let alone in the Capital of Kawaii!

"Konnichiwa, landlubbers!"

"Quick! While One-Eyed Jack's got his head turned—get me outta here!"

We took more pictures of Becker's because, well, I'd just heard so much about it before we got here! Never ate there though…

Burger King makes chips?

This just sounded wrong…

…While these were oh-so right!

So, as we were poking around the gift shop back at the Ambassador, we realized that this sculpture we'd seen in all the shops would be *perfect* for Uncle Matt.

It was a limited edition, featured three great character likenesses and just screamed "Japan"! (You literally have to cover the thing with a pillow every night to keep from hearing it scream "JAPAN!!!!"). The problem was, we were just $20 away from his limit and it was quite a bit more than that. So we cooked up this scheme whereby we'd return another, smaller figure from the same series that we'd already bought him, then take the credit and add some of our own money as a birthday gift to him so we could get him this much cooler sculpture.

In the US, this would have been a fairly simple procedure. In Japan, it became the 2-Hour Odyssey of Confusion. First we tried exchanging it at the hotel gift shop. After a lot of waiting around for a manager and much discreet hand-wringing and polite English conversation with a kind sales clerk, we figured out that a hotel shop could not accept the return of an item purchased elsewhere on property even if the shop sold that very item—but Bon Voyage could.

 

[lurkyloo]

While I was sorting things out, I spotted a bride walking through the lobby and sent Patrick out to stalk her!

So we trudged back out through Ikspiari to Bon Voyage, where we tracked down a clerk who'd helped us earlier that day and spoke good English so we could explain our situation. He gathered some other clerks, and pretty soon there were SIX PEOPLE buzzing around a cash register, making phone calls, furrowing their brows and shaking their heads as our pal sporadically tried to explain what was going on.

We took more pictures.

At last he told us that they were very sorry, but there was no way for them to give us a refund for the original sculpture. I pointed to some words in my phrase book to ask if we could just exchange it and their faces all lit up—of *course* we could exchange it! WHEW!

You would think at that point I'd never want to set foot in another gift shop, but I was in "when are we ever gonna come back here?" mode, so I dragged Patrick back to the gift shop at the Disneyland Hotel, where I'd spotted a set of fabulous tea cups with the hotel logo and decided they would be perfect for drinking all that 100% Chocolate Café cocoa I bought. Bless that man for not complaining! (I'll have pictures of all these souvenirs in the final installment of this trip report… what's that you say? There will TOO be a final installment of this trip report! Sheesh!!!)

By now it was getting dark, so we decided to wait out rush hour and have something to eat before heading back to Tokyo and checking into the next hotel. We went for Mystery Dinner at Ikspiari food court, where I picked up a couple bento boxes of stuff that I didn’t know what it was… and it was delicious!

For dessert, Patrick got some fruity nonsense and I got the first cupcake I’d seen in Japan, at Starbucks, and discovered it tasted just like the ones at Starbucks in the US, i.e., dry. In fact the frosting was so dry, the entire blob popped off and hit the floor before I’d had two bites— doh!

The cupcake, in happier times…

Fruity nonsense

Apparently I still had an unfulfilled longing for one of these Belgian waffle sammiches, cuz they turned up in the camera again!

When we got to the Ambassador to get our bags out of hock, the bell hop took one look at our ginormous pile of luggage and politely suggested we might have trouble hauling them on the subway, which had been my plan. Suddenly I felt very unprepared and almost stranded—I can't believe I thought we could schlep six bags of luggage and souvenirs on the subway! Seeing my consternation, she dashed out to the front of the hotel and found a taxi big enough to fit our luggage (another challenge that hadn't even occurred to me) found out how much it would cost to get us to our hotel, helped us cram everything in the car, and explained to the driver where we needed to go! We were SO relieved and grateful – I said, “I feel like giving you a hug!” and she said, “That’s OK!” so I did!

The taxi ride was fairly uneventful. One thing I thought was funny was being asked whether we wanted to go on the highway or city streets. I guess this is so you don't think the guy is taking you the long way around the bend in order to run up the fare, but it's not like we had any clue which would be better. Also very interesting was that traffic on the highway was bumper-to-bumper at 9:00 on a Saturday night. We live in traffic central, but you would never see this in LA on a Saturday night! Wait, OK, unless you were going past the Staples center after an event…

The first thing I noticed when we got back to Tokyo was that the cherry trees had finally blossomed! When the taxi turned down the small street our hotel was on, it almost felt like it had snowed—a carpet of petals lay under a tunnel of cherry blossom branches, and the night was illuminated by light reflecting off the white and pink flowers. It was almost magical!

Other, less magical things we saw…

We were booked into the Yaesu Terminal Hotel, the cheapest centrally located hotel we could find for our "extra" night between Disney and our 5-day stint at the Metropolitan Marunouchi Hotel. If I'd known we were gonna need a taxi, I would have booked someplace a little nicer but farther away for the same price. But this place is right around the corner from Tokyo Station so it would have been walkable had we used the subway.


Yaesu Terminal Hotel

This is definitely the kind of hotel people are talking about when they say that Tokyo hotels are tiny and overpriced. Our room was conveniently located next to the coffin-like elevator. We had to split up our luggage and go up one at a time.

 

[lurkyloo]

The room was so small (and devoid of closets) that we had to stack all the furniture except the bed in a big pile in order to fit our suitcases!

Meanwhile, the bathroom was so small that one could practically shower, shave at the sink, and sit on the john simultaneously!

Why, even the trash can is miniature!

Patrick pointed out that if we were staying at a friend's house, we'd be OK with staying in a room this size, so that's what he was pretending. I was just going by the size of the bathroom, which looked like the head on a cut-rate cruise ship, so that's what I was pretending.

Because I was a lady, I was handed a convenience pack at check-in that included such items as…

Hey, free scrubbie, free hair clip—what am I complaining about?

…Well, I'll tell you what I'm complaining about: the view! (which we had to wait to shoot until the next day)

That's right, our view was of a wall. Oh wait, *and* a dangling bundle of cable! (I think that cost extra.)


From the sublime….

… to the ridiculous!

Don't look down.

I told you not to look down!!!


I decided we should go out and walk the route to our next hotel so we'd know exactly where to go the following day as we lugged all six bags. As we were leaving the room, Patrick was like, “Close the window,” and I was like, “Who’s gonna be able to get way up here?” and he was like “…Ninjas?”

So for the rest of the night, every time we heard a crash or a bang (which was often) we'd look at each other and whisper, “Ninjas!”


Up Next: Tokyo! Kyoto! And yes, could it be… more Disney?!!!

 

[Zuzu03]

Great update and well worth the wait! You're right - the Ambassador pool is GORGEOUS! And it's remarkable how pretty all of their sweets are! I wouldn't want to eat them (well, I'd only hesitate a moment) because they're so beautiful. And, haha, the "Barbapapa" tin was the only thing I could read on any of those packages and it's hilarious - can I use that photo to show my French students? What a culture shock from your beautiful rooms at TDR and that tiny room! At least it looked clean!

Thanks for the awesome update!!!

 

[onelilspark]

You've got yourself one smart man there...always need to be cautious of ninjas.

 

[ChrisFL]

wow, I won't stay at that hotel, especially if Ninjas are on the prowl! lol!

It seems like the Ambassador hotel does get overlooked when speaking about the Disney area resorts, but it looks quite nice! I'm a sucker for Art Deco styling and some of those pics are stunning!

 

[A-T-G]

Thank you for the wonderful update! I can't believe you guys still have more time in Japan. SOOOOO excited to see what other fun stuff you get up to.

I swear I'm going to laugh at the thought of you two whispering "Ninjas!" in the dark all day. No! That's going to stay with me for the rest of the week!

...also, my sister and I would do the exact same thing, were we in a hotel in Japan.

 

[Aburns8]

I am so glad that you are back with another update! I love those silverware rests. I want some. I hate putting my silverware on the table at any restaurant. The Disney Ambassador Hotel is gorgeous. I really need to plan a trip there one day and stay at each of the hotels. They all look more grandiose than the hotels at the Disney parks here.

Gotta love those pics of Patrick with statues and greenery! I loved the pics from the Tic Toc Diner. I love retro things and that diner was super cute! Even cuter was the chocolate toon cup. I would want to keep it and never eat it! That Disney Fan cover was spectacular! I can just imagine how much time it took to create that masterpiece!

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

Another great update! I don't think I could resist the cuteness of the chocolate toon cup!

No tattoos in the pool -- never heard of a rule like that before.

 

[cseca]

YAY!!! Lurky's back!

I LOVE the fact that they list allergens in their bakery items display. That is very smart!

Completely agree with you... Mickey holding up Patrick photo is awesome! I think that should be his facebook profile picture.

sigh... TDR hotels are amazing, I wish I could justify staying at one of them instead of at Hilton. But with their price being more than double it just seems not smart for us to do it. Plus DH is not going to be too happy about it... hehe... That just means I have to go back again! Right?

Patrick is such a keeper! I can't believe he agrees to "stalk" the bride to take some pictures... ...
My DH would give me the death stares if I ask him to do something like that. But on the upside he's let me get as many DVC points I've wanted so far...
So there's the plus and minus.

Oh yeah, the no tattoo rule... I JUST read on the TDL FAQ page:
Please cover up tattoos.

 

[PopArtGal]

Let me tell you that you guys are such good sports. I wouldn't be able to change hotel that many times during a trip.

 

[starann]

Carrie,
Thanks so much for another update!!! I know this is a lot of extra work for you and I just wanted to let you know I appreciate it!

WOWSA, that room is TINY!

I had a lot of other comments, but at the moment I have forgotten them all!!! LOL! Guess that is my cue to go to bed! Night!

 

[beatlesblonde]

Yeah for another update! Talk about a shock switching from the Disney hotels to your sardine can of a room, I guess that's what you have to do if you want the entire Tokyo experience (either that or spend on ton on taxi and subway fare). That's kinda disappointing about the no tattoo rule, I guess that means I won't be swimming at any of the pools when we go.

 

[ChrisFL]

I believe the tattoos rule comes from the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) mostly wearing them and having them seen starts problems.

 

[princesslauren6]

another great update carrie!!!
loving it!! i actually had to make myself little nots of things i wanted to say because there is so much!!

i love all the photos you put in of so many little details, its so interesting to see all the little things as well as just things like the castle etc, your photography is amazing!

all the merchandise you can get is *AMAZING* i love the figurine you were geting your uncle! its super cool.......... i think i could go to tokyo disney just to shop!!!

the tattoo thing is of slight concern to me now, i only have 1 small tattoo but its very visible on my wrist, but my fiance has loads!! oh well we will probs be going in winter, so at lease we wouldnt want to swim etc, but we will have to wear long sleeved shirts even inside i guess!! haha he wont be impressed, hes the kind of guy who wears shorts and tshirts in winter!!

the ninja story made me laugh SO much, you are so FUNNY!!!

 

[simzac]

Thanks for another great addition to your trip report. The pictures continue to amaze me. I find myself with a new problem though. Which Disney Hotel to stay at if I ever make it to TDR. All 3 are simply fabulous.

 

[PopArtGal]

The tick tock dinner looks a bit scary to me. Don't know why.

 

[curiouser]

So sorry you hit your head , I would have cried too. Patrick took some really fantastic pictures. The new hotel looks great.

I was reading on the WDW Character Hunt website yesterday and thought of you.

They stated that: Duffy the Disney Bear is going to start making appearances at Epcot, tentative start date is October 14. What is up with that??

Not to hijack the thread, but Duffy's actually been out at WDW before. They usually bring him out for meet and greets during the Bear and Doll Expo they have during Flower and Garden. We got a photo with him in 2006.

Anyway, back to the update -- Ambassador looks just as amazing as I had hoped! That Alice artwork is to die for. The Tik Tock diner looks incredible - except I'd keep expecting that character from Return to Oz to show up.

 

[burly]

Lurkyloo, another stellar update with sublime pictures. I don't know that gorgeous hotel and pool bring out the pretty words. Alas my mouth was gaping open like a child while looking at the pictures. It is mostly because allergies have me stuffed up, but then again.......WOW.........



KIM