TR(tdl/sdl/hkdl)-> This Is Where Your Dream Begins; A New World in Every Chapter. COMPLETED 12/8!!!

[Aussie Wendy]

Sounds like some mad expedition we'd do - and fail! At least you got to see it a bit! I've had friends get great (distant) pics from the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo. We didn't even try!

 

[MomoMama]

Sorry to hear your Mt. Fuji day did not turn out to be what you hoped for! When you mentioned about going to Mt. Fuji, I assumed you were joining one of those tours that would take you to the viewing spot by bus. So you just took the regular bus to Kawaguhiko? That did not take you to the Kawaguchiko train station? I think Kawaguchiko train station itself is a tourist-y place, with gift shops, tour busses, and all. They say you can view the mountain from the station, and also I thought the lake is very close. I have not done a lot of research about Mt.Fuji myself, but reading your experience, I think I should do more research when I go!

 

[katt789]

October 8th/2016


Thanks to a good night’s sleep, and it being a new day, we were off to a good start today! We got ready, ate some breakfast at the house, and headed off to the bus stop. Our luck faltered a little bit when we realized that the bus hadn’t come on time because it was Saturday! #whoops. Good thing we didn’t have too much time to wait past that!


The train took us straight to Tsukiji Station, where we simply had to actually GET to the market from there, we’d gotten to ground level no longer than a few seconds before an older Japanese woman came right up t us to help us out! She was SUPER nice and helped us find our way, even giving us her map!! SO NICE!! We joked that the only time that happened in Europe was when it was a scam & you were being pick pocketed lol!! The Market wasn’t far from the station either!

v1 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

It was Saturday too, so it WAS A BUSY ONE!!! But that’s totally okay, it added to the experience!

v2 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v3 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v4 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


There was SO much SUPER FRESH seafood, fruits and veggies, I seriously wanted to buy so much, but obviously we didn’t have the means to cook it (or keep it cold all day) so I withheld the urges!


v5 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


image by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


We wandered around the market for a bit, exploring, checking everything out, just kinda being swept away with the flow of everything, people watching, the usual. It was actually SO awesome, if I ever did end up living in Tokyo, I would hands down make Tsukiji market a weekly, or every 2 weeks occurrence! Definitely get a lot of my groceries there!!


Hidden amongst all the seafood, were also a bunch of sweets, we weren’t sure if they were mochi, or the rice dessert things that you could get in the Japan pavilion at Epcot (which were not my favorite) BUT they looked super yummy, and we were hungry, so we both picked up a variety of 3.

v7 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
Obviously, food was on our brains; we’d passed a conveyer belt sushi place on our way in, so we headed back that way to see if we could grab a seat to eat some….brunch…? Lol. We were seated right away and happened to be right next to a girl who was from Canada! Even where I used to live, we chatted for a bit before she left, she was super friendly!

v8 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v9 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v10 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

The sushi here was IMMENSELY better than the first place we had tried!! It was WAY fresher, everything tasted better, even the rice, and the “service” was a lot better than the other place too. It was a win all the way around! I even got adventurous and tried some octopus!


image by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


It was super chewy and not the greatest, but at least I can say that I ate it…lol…The way conveyer belt sushi works is that you grab a plate off the belt, eat it, and at the end of the meal simply flag someone down (or start to stand up lol) and they come over to count your stack of plates. The different colors of the plates represent the different prices, and you can order stuff like Miso or Udon soups as well!
v11 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v12 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

It was a fabulous way to kick off our day!! Upon leaving the restaurant, we noticed that the rain had started to pick up, Kara had her raincoat, but I had nothing….whoops…I kept my eyes open for an umbrella, but had no luck so far.
The rain seemed to stay pretty light, so despite the Hama Rikyu Gardens being our next stop, we didn’t vary from our plans! The Gardens cost 300Yen to get into, and I noticed they did have umbrellas at the entrance, but they were the non-collapsible ones, and it was only misting, so I passed on my chance and we entered the gardens!

v13 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


Not too far into our adventuring, we found a nice covered area where we sat around to eat our treats we’d bought at the market. (and where we discovered they were the ones I didn’t really like…whoops…) They had some neat water features around, and I went to change my camera lens and promptly THREW the one I’d taken off onto the cement ground….#sigh I seriously DON’T know how it didn’t break, or even crack, but it was 100% okay….weird…


Kara spent some time creeping on a couple that was taking engagement looking photos where we were, it was super cute!

v14 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Snacks consumed, and creeping finished with, we continued around on our garden adventures!

v15 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v16 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v17 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


Most of the pathways were pretty well covered by trees and greenery, so we didn’t really need to worry about the rain, which was an added bonus.

v18 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Which naturally….only lasted so long…we got to this LARGELY OPEN part of the garden, and it just started pouring…. Kara obviously, was more than fine, having her rain coat…but I was not…it was WET, and I was hiding….

v19 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v20 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Sigh….you think living in Vancouver and having lived in Florida I would own a raincoat by now…but nope…Kara took cover with me under the awning for a bit while we waited for it to die down…

v21 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v22 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v23 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Not too long into it though, I started to get bored and fed up with waiting, and it looked like it had lightened up a little bit, so we made a run for it. First we sped walked our way to a more covered by tree area, and then RAN through this big clearing, laughing at the whole situation while we tried to avoid all the puddles, until we found the side entrance to the park, where I was finally able to buy an umbrella! Kara & I soon found ourselves back at the entrance, so we concluded our visit to the Hama Rikyu Gardens and called it a day. We wanted to see Tokyo Station, and figured out how to get there, only to get distracted by another Donki store!!! It, again, had no onesies (though each one did have a large Halloween section full of costumes and the occasional onesies, so we think maybe the time of year might affect the onesie population…). I picked up a collapsible umbrella, and a super cheap memory card, and we continued along our way.


I pulled out my phone to double check something about getting to Tokyo Station, and the screen promptly FROZE, TURNED PURPLE, and then wouldn’t do anything…well…that was no good… I attempted to restart it as we continued to the Station.

 

[katt789]

v24 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Tokyo Station looked like it would normally be a very impressive and beautiful place, but it was SO under construction that it just looked like a hot mess…and you couldn’t get the full effect of seeing it all from the front without walls up…


image by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


A bit bummed, we headed down the street to the Imperial Palace!

v25 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v26 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v27 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

I don’t know why there isn’t a photo of Kara…perhaps it was on my camera….but I was happy to FINALLY be able to pose like a princess and not be judged for it…bahaha…seriously... I don’t know how else to pose myself…. You couldn’t get too close to the palace, as the emperor (?) still resided there, so, you know…safety…but we did get to see a little changing of the guards which was pretty cool.

v28 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Finding out that we couldn’t really go any further, and everything being wet, we discussed what to do next. I asked Kara if she could Google where an Apple Store was; there was one near us, and another location in Shibuya (among others) but we chose the Shibuya one. We figured we could fix my phone and hit up the Monster Café by going back there tonight, rather than sticking around the ritzy area we were in!


The Apple store was RIGHT at the metro exit, so it was easy to find, and we were able to get someone who spoke English to make an appointment for me! We spent some time wandering Shibuya, and even popped into McDonalds for a snack, lol! They had these Pumpkin Spice French Fries we’d wanted to try.

v38 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Yeah…turns out they’re just fries with chocolate & orange icing on top of them, but hey, we tried something new! Snack done, we traipsed back to the Apple store, where I was able to drop off my phone, while we were waiting, and I was worried that it was water damaged from the rain earlier, I did pry off the screen protector, thinking maybe water had gotten under it? I was told that it might be an issue with the screen, which could be replaced, and then if that didn’t work, I could get a new phone. Naturally, this would be free…unless there was water damage…I was rather nervous…..also nervous about potentially having to replace my phone with a Japanese one…


We had about an hour to kill before it would be fixed, so Kara and I headed back into the streets of Harajuku! It was MUCH different on a Saturday night, a way different feel to it, it was really cool, and Kara finally got to see a few Harajuku girls! (Though I’m pretty sure none of them were actually Japanese…lol). We both bought a few things at Daiso this time around, and then discovered the STICKY PICS!!!! I can’t remember WHAT they’re actually called, but basically you go into a photo booth, and take a bunch of cute posed photos, then you go around to the booth attached to it where you can edit them, add stickers, filters, all that kind of thing. It was SUPER fun, but also SO STRESSFUL since it’s timed and ALL IN JAPANESE!! Lol!


image by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


We ended up with some super kawaii ones though!! Luckily, when that was done, my phone was ready! There had been now water damage and it was fixed!! I did pay for a new screen protector and to have it applied, an we were on our way to the Monster Café!

v37 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

We had to wait an hour to get seated, which was a huge pain, our feet were super sore and we just wanted to siiiiiit!!


Inside was definitely…interesting…we were seated, given menus, and told to press the button on our table when we were ready to order. I got a beer, Kara got a non alcoholic drink that came in a mason jar, and we ordered a meal of beef & chicken that came with some veggies and potatoes!

v36 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v29 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


image by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


The picture doesn’t make it look very appealing, but it was super good!!! Most of the food was made for sharing, and was Western style too! After we were finished eating, we pushed the button again for the bill. There is a cover charge of 500Yen to get in (per person) and our bill was 7000Yen for 2 beers, a fancy mocktail, and a meal for 2, so decent! After we paid we spent some time exploring the place;


image by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v30 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v35 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


The place had a very interesting vibe to it, marketed as a Café, and it was a family restaurant, there were multiple kids there when we were, but it had a very “club” esque vibe to it, heck, there was a little show going on that was very “go-go dancer” esque…it was all just very strange.

v31 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v32 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v33 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

When they were done with the dancing, they posed for some pictures, and called Kara up to say hello!

v34 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

It was just a very interesting place…very clearly a tourist attraction, but it just couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a club, or a family restaurant…nothing too fancy, but a cool experience I’m glad we did!

With dinner finished, it was time for BED, we were both SO incredibly tired, and just wanted to sleeeeeeeeeep!! These Tokyo days were LONG, and full of walking, basically every train station we went into we had multiple flights of stairs to go up and down, multiple times a day…..it really took it out of ya!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

What an exciting day you had. So sorry about the phone but glad it wasn't wet and able to be fixed.

Five hours to get to Mount Fuji is crazy! What determination you had. I think I would have given up. Thank goodness the clouds parted and you finally got to see it and take a few pictures.

I love that the pictures of the food market also had prices in U.S. dollars. I think that is so cool.

 

[jelloarms]

Totally following! I was in Japan around the same time as you..wish I could have stayed longer though! I have a TR going too...link in my signature. We didn't do any "nature sightseeing" because we were so pressed for time. I'll just live vicariously through your photos.

The dog statue's name is Hachi btw!

I'm curious as to how Air BnB works...if Dante wasn't yet home when you guys arrived, how did you get in? Do they mail you a key beforehand? Or was it one of those electronic numeric code locks?

 

[katt789]

Oh man, sorry you didn't get a great view of Fuji! There are a lot of places to see it, but it really depends on the weather. (I actually saw it from Disneyland last week! First time that happened. ) Once I was in Fujinomiya, right by the mountain, and we couldn't see it. My friend's dad (Japanese), said that the mountain was embarrassed because such beautiful women were there, so it was hiding from us. XD

Definitely true!! We did end up seeing it from the monorail station later in the trip, lol!!! Aahaha, that's such a cute saying!! I think we just needed to do a bit more research on it too, I definitely wanted to go to the lake at the base of the mountain, shoulda read more into it lol

Oh what a fun trip so far! Well, except for the 5 hour trip to Mt Fiji...Looking forward to more (meanwhile I am busily planning MY trip to Vancouver for my DCL cruise!).

Hahaha!!! Yeah, it was still fun though!!

How awesome!!! I don't know much about touristy things to do here since I wasn't born here ,but I can definitely try to help if you have any quesdtions!!

5 hours?! Woof that sounds frustrating! I'm sorry the day didn't turn out exactly as planned and that you didn't get the best view of Mt. Fuji. But it sounds like you made the best out of it! And that little girl sounds adorable!!

Hahaha, yup, it was insane!! She was super cute, definitely brightened the day!

Sounds like some mad expedition we'd do - and fail! At least you got to see it a bit! I've had friends get great (distant) pics from the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo. We didn't even try!

It was quite crazy!!! We tried to spot it on our multiple train trips alter on but didn't manage to see it

Sorry to hear your Mt. Fuji day did not turn out to be what you hoped for! When you mentioned about going to Mt. Fuji, I assumed you were joining one of those tours that would take you to the viewing spot by bus. So you just took the regular bus to Kawaguhiko? That did not take you to the Kawaguchiko train station? I think Kawaguchiko train station itself is a tourist-y place, with gift shops, tour busses, and all. They say you can view the mountain from the station, and also I thought the lake is very close. I have not done a lot of research about Mt.Fuji myself, but reading your experience, I think I should do more research when I go!

We tried to take a bus, but couldn't figure out where to find the station, so we took the trains all the way out, and went to Kawaguchiko station. It was cute, there were some touristy things and lots of tourists around but we just mustve started off going the wrong way, we went down to kawaguchiko lake first, thinking fuji could be seen from down there, when it fact it was directly behind the station the whole time

 

[katt789]

What an exciting day you had. So sorry about the phone but glad it wasn't wet and able to be fixed.

Five hours to get to Mount Fuji is crazy! What determination you had. I think I would have given up. Thank goodness the clouds parted and you finally got to see it and take a few pictures.

I love that the pictures of the food market also had prices in U.S. dollars. I think that is so cool.

It really was!! Ugh, I still don't know what happened to it but at least it was fixable!!

Hahaha, yeah, we gave up right at the end so im glad it worked out for us!

I think the prices are still in Yen, it's just a super easy conversion, 200Yen is just $2.00, easy enough!!

Totally following! I was in Japan around the same time as you..wish I could have stayed longer though! I have a TR going too...link in my signature. We didn't do any "nature sightseeing" because we were so pressed for time. I'll just live vicariously through your photos.

The dog statue's name is Hachi btw!

I'm curious as to how Air BnB works...if Dante wasn't yet home when you guys arrived, how did you get in? Do they mail you a key beforehand? Or was it one of those electronic numeric code locks?

Awe how neat!!! I wish we'd stayed longer too, lol!! It's such an amazing place!!

Ah! Thank you!!

It depends on the place, with Dante's there was a padlock with a code on the door handle that held the key. Everywhere else we stayed the owner was not with us so we just had the key to the house

 

[missangelalexis]

The market looks so cool! And glad you were able to find a good sushi place!

The rain sounds like a bummer but you got some beautiful pictures.

Glad you were able to fix your phone, I would've been freaking out! Those sticky pics are adorable, something I definitely would like haha

 

[katt789]

Sunday October 9/2016

Sleeeeeeepppyyyy HEADS we were today!!! We didn’t get up til around 9:00, and then took even longer to actually start getting ready for the day. I personally, still had super sore feet from walking in wet shoes all day the day before, and we were both just plain tired from all our tourist-ing!


It wasn’t until around NOON that we finally got on the train at Kasai Station! Now, that lateness, accompanied by the fact that it was a weekend (and a holiday weekend at that) made itself known as soon as we arrived at Senso-ji and it WAS PACKED.

v3 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v4 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


It was quick to be apparent too the amount of tourists that were around, we’d managed to avoid them so far this trip, but today, there were lots of them and they were all obnoxious!!

v5 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Senso-ji started out with long rows of shopping stalls leading up to the temple itself, lots of over priced touristy stuff.

v6 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v7 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v8 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v9 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


After battling our way through the crowded stalls, we found ourselves in the temple’s main courtyard. Off to the sides, were the part I was most excited about, the fortunes!! You picked up this metal box and shook it until a chopstick like stick came out, and then would match the character on it to a drawer, where you would pull out your fortune!

v10 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v11 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


Kara got the medium fortune, while I got the good fortune! YAY! They also have racks where you’re supposed to tie your bad fortune if you get one, so that it doesn’t follow you….something like that…

v12 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Before the actual temple itself, there is a smoke cleansing stop, I can’t remember the tradition behind it, but know that you’re supposed to “wash” yourself with the smoke.

v13 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v14 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Up the stairs in the temple itself, was neat, lol. It was SUPER packed with people, and I’m 99% sure that photography was not allowed. Off to the side of the Senso-ji Temple itself was a little garden/grounds, where we explored for a little bit.

v15 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v16 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


The crowds were getting to us, and we knew we needed to eat sometime soon, so we left the temple to explore Asakusa, the neighborhood we were currently in. We found a place that seemed to have decent food, and was cheap! It kinda reminded me of a Denny’s, and it again had the buttons to push when you needed to order or anything, SO HANDY!!! We both got burgers without buns, and they were good. Afterwards we spent some time exploring around and seeing what else we may have missed!

v17 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

After lunch we jumped back onto the Metro to head to Akihabara, the Anime central of Tokyo! It was kind of a struggle at first as we were looking specifically for Sailor Moon stuff. We realized we were just going to have to walk into a store and explore, and ended up in an electronics store, whoops. Next door we ended up finding the right kind of store, but after like, 10 floors, there was nothing worthwhile for Sailor Moon but a phone case for Kara. Everything was way too pricey for the quality it was!

v1 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v2 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

It had been such a long day, and to be completely honest, I was over it. I wasn’t in the mood to search through shelf after shelf to find 2 Sailor Moon things that I wouldn’t want to spend that much money on, again….whether Kara could tell, or was also tired, we decided it was time to head home. SO TIRED.


In writing, it seemed like we just ate lunch, but I swear, there were a few hours in there (and a lot of wandering around and getting kind of lost). When we got back to Kasai, we decided to try out the ramen place that Dante had suggested. It was one that you order from the machine and then give the ticket to the cook/server, problem being it was 100% in Japanese. I used “WayGo” app I had to try and figure it out but because Japanese is all characters that can mean different things, it wasn’t working too well…I eventually used my other translator to say “no meat” to the guy, and he pointed out what button to push.

v18 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

GUYS!

This ramen was INCREDIBLE!!! Im SO glad that we ended up going to at least one legit ramen place! The stuff at Mt Fuji had tasted a lot like Mr Noodle, and this stuff was amazing!! The beer was also way better lol! The server/cook guy was also super friendly, so it was a great way to end our day!! Kara & I were both very happy campers!!

We decided to walk home from there since it would save us money and only took about 10 minutes, and we were home around 7:00pm to upload some pictures, update blogs and just relax!!

 

[missangelalexis]

The fortunes sound really cool! And I'm glad you found a good ramen place. I can imagine how tired you guys were!

 

[MomoMama]

That crowd at Asakusa looks bad...making a note to myself never to go there on weekends!
The medium fortune basically tells to be careful with everything! Good for you that you got a good fortune. I am too chicken to try it!

That ramen looks pretty good, you are making me hungry!

 

[zanzibar138]

I'm still here and enjoying the ride

Just wanted to say good on you for getting off the tourist track and trying some authentic local cuisine. Reminds me of one of our trips to Thailand. We were in this little town with hardly any other westerners, and barely anyone could speak English. We found this little local restaurant which was pretty full so we thought it must be reasonable. The lady there couldn't speak a single word of English. She motioned to us to sit down and cleared the table for us, gestured two (as in, 2 meals?). We gestured yes, and pointed to a bottle of coke. We had no idea what she was whipping up for us out the back, but she came back to us with the absolute best fried rice I've ever eaten, full of delicious flavour and heaps of juicy prawns. Sounds pretty basic, but it was easily the best meal I've eaten in Thailand, and one of my favourite travel memories!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

We had a similar experience in Osaka before heading out to the airport to meet our daughter - yum! We never made it to Senso-ji - it was some hol when we were there too and it was so crowded at the entrance to the touristy bit leading to the temple we didn't even try! but we had by then seen similar temples in Kyoto and elsewhere.

 

[katt789]

The market looks so cool! And glad you were able to find a good sushi place!

The rain sounds like a bummer but you got some beautiful pictures.

Glad you were able to fix your phone, I would've been freaking out! Those sticky pics are adorable, something I definitely would like haha

It was super awesome!! Thank you!! I was glad it got fixed too, I mean, it wasn't a huge necissity, but at the same time, it kind of was!! Lol. Sticky pics were so fun!! So stressfull too!!

The fortunes sound really cool! And I'm glad you found a good ramen place. I can imagine how tired you guys were!

They were super cool, definitely one of the things I was most excited about!!

That crowd at Asakusa looks bad...making a note to myself never to go there on weekends!
The medium fortune basically tells to be careful with everything! Good for you that you got a good fortune. I am too chicken to try it!

That ramen looks pretty good, you are making me hungry!

It was horrible!!!! Didn't help that we were later in the day too. Lol, yeah, Kara was all "well...this is...interesting..." lol. i'm glad I got a good one!!The ramen was delicious!!!

I'm still here and enjoying the ride

Just wanted to say good on you for getting off the tourist track and trying some authentic local cuisine. Reminds me of one of our trips to Thailand. We were in this little town with hardly any other westerners, and barely anyone could speak English. We found this little local restaurant which was pretty full so we thought it must be reasonable. The lady there couldn't speak a single word of English. She motioned to us to sit down and cleared the table for us, gestured two (as in, 2 meals?). We gestured yes, and pointed to a bottle of coke. We had no idea what she was whipping up for us out the back, but she came back to us with the absolute best fried rice I've ever eaten, full of delicious flavour and heaps of juicy prawns. Sounds pretty basic, but it was easily the best meal I've eaten in Thailand, and one of my favourite travel memories!

Yay!!! GLad you're still here!! We did our best this trip to make sure that we were trying authentic things, and anything away from a touristy area too lol. Until near the end of Japan, noodles were the last thing we wanted!!lol

We had a similar experience in Osaka before heading out to the airport to meet our daughter - yum! We never made it to Senso-ji - it was some hol when we were there too and it was so crowded at the entrance to the touristy bit leading to the temple we didn't even try! but we had by then seen similar temples in Kyoto and elsewhere.

Yeah, the temple itself was pretty meh, the fortunes were the only really cool part about that day!!

 

[katt789]

Hey all!!! Thank you so much for reading along with our journey, and thank you with putting up with the boring Japan stuff, becuase DISNEY IS UP NEXT!!! I've got most of the trip actually all typed up on my phone already so updates should start coming out faster in the next few weeks!!

***********


Monday October 10/2016


TODAY WAS AN EXCITING DAY!!!!



…but we had a bunch of stuff to get through first…


..we also slept in a bit again…


Hey! We had to rest up for Toyko Disneyland! We knew it was going to tire us out so why not rest while we could?!


It took a little bit to get ready and out of the house, BUT, luckily we were earlier than the day before. The train took us up to Ueno Park, and it was definitely a holiday!! It was busier than we’d expected, and we commented that we were both glad we hadn’t said “screw it” and added on an extra Disney day, because the parks were probably PACKED today!

v1 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


The park was certainly pretty, but at this time of year, it wasn’t anything spectacular! You could tell just by the ways the trees hung though, that during cherry blossom season or autumn foliage that it would be absolutely STUNNING!

We did come across some acrobats doing a little show in the park (much like in the China pavilion in wdw lol)

v2 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

The mask dance was super cool, he would change the mask all the time from one to a different one, to a different one, no clue how it works but it was cool! When we had first walked up there was some plate spinning going on & one of the girls had climbed up on someone’s shoulders but couldn’t keep her balance & fell off. I COMPLETELY missed it (minus the gasps from the crowds) so I was fine, but Kara was a little nervous watching the rest. My favorite was the acrobat with the hoops, it reminded me a lot of all the rhythmic gymasntics I used to be able to do bahahah!

v3 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v4 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v6 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

They finished with a guy stacking chairs ontop of each other and hand standing and balancing on top, which was pretty nerve wracking, I just don’t know if there’s like, a way that they latch together, or if the wind shifts a little bit, will they all come crashing down?!?!
v7 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

#stressed

There was a little market set up that we spent a bit of time wandering through, and then the tired Katt here could SMELL the Starbucks, and promptly wanted to get one, BUT, the line was legitimately horrendous. There was a little café across from it, but the prices there were horrendous, so we continued on.

The park was nice to stroll around, we noticed the line to get into the Zoo was backed up MAJORLY, glad we hadn’t planned on going there. To get away from the crowds & tourists, we ended up leaving after our stroll was over. I had spotted a Gap on the way into the park, and wanted to see if I could find some kind of sweater as all I had were pullovers & a heavier one. Luckily, they had a cardigan that was PERFECT, and was 30% off!! Shopping done, we knew it was lunch time, so we wandered a little bit until we found a place that had $2 beer!

k1 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

The added bonus was that with your meal, you also got soup, and rice for free, all you can eat, serve yourself style! BONUS!
k2 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

I had gotten chicken while Kara opted for the steak, hers was definitely better than mine, but hey, we got free rice & soup, it was good lunch!!


Now guys….this is where things get real exciting, and let’s be real, it’s what you’re ACTUALLY reading the trip report for….it’s time for us to actually set foot on DISNEY PROPERTY!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!

We practically RAN to the nearest station to get ourselves over to Disneyland, and were just WAY TOO EXCITED WE COULD BARELY HANDLE IT!!!!

The Metro drops you off at Maihama Station, which is the gateway to the Disney Resort, and the entrance to Ikspiari, their version of Downtown Disney. From the Gateway you can monorail to either of the parks/hotels, or potentially walk to the Disneyland hotel/park. We chose to shop first, obviously. Things like ears and shirts were on the list to get right away, as we wanted to wear them tomorrow!


Bon Voyage is their big, park merchandise store, off to the right of the JR Station, so we skipped our way over there, and guys, everything about the merch that you’ve heard is 100% right. It IS JUST AMAZING. I wanted to buy EVERYTHING!!! We bought matching headband bows, and I picked up a DisneySea 15th anniversary travel mug, and at the til, impulsively bought something for our Baymax obsessed friend back home! Kara picked up a couple things too. Sadly, we couldn’t find the shirts we wanted, but figured they might be park exclusive; we headed into the actual Ikspiari area!

v8 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Kara also promptly put her “ears” on because she was so excited. Inside Ikspiari, we noticed it seemed to be a pretty legit and high end shopping mall, so we made straight for the Disney Store instead of making any stops.

v9 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

After finding it had mainly the same merch as the stores we’d already been do, and no Duffy stuff, OR the shirts, we KNEW they had to simply be park exclusive, and we could pick them up tomorrow!

It was time….time to explore the FANCINESS of the hotels! AND TIME TO RIDE THE DISNEY MONORAAAAIIILLLL AAAHHH…just a little bit excited. That excitement continued when I saw the amount of Halloween everywhere….

v10 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

k11 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Everything was all decked out for DisneySea’s 15th anniversary, which was cute, though we were hoping that we would catch a glimpse of the Duffy monorail! Not today though, as we boarded the 15th anniversary one, still adorable! All the hand holders were MICKEY

v15 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v11 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

It was ALL very exciting, and about to get EVEN more exciting!!! We rode a very short distance on the monorail, and hopped off at the Disneyland stop. The Disneyland hotel is directly across from the Disneyland PARK! I somehow didn’t realize it was RIGHT there, despite having looked at so many maps, so it took us by surprise and emotion that we COULD SEE THE CASTLE AND SEE RIGHT INTO DISNEYLAND AND IT WAS JUST A LOT TO DEAL WITH.

v12 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

See…castle…beautiful castle…beautiful park….


Kara & I figured that was our glimpse of the park for the day, so we stood up in the train station staring in, wishing we were inside the park right now, for a few minutes. Upon descending the stairs, WE REALIZED THAT WE COULD LEGITIMATELY WALK RIGHT UP TO THE TURNSTILES


WHAT


I’M SORRY WHAT?!!??!


YOU COULD SEE RIGHT INTO THE PARK


GIDEON WAS STILL OUT DOING SETS



I’M SO CONFUSED AND I LOVE TOKYO SO MUCH


v14 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v13 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Crying…legitimately…

It was just really emotional, like, we’d been dreaming of this for 2 years, been planning, waiting, stressing, and finally, everything was ACTUALLY happening, we were at the gates of TOKYO Disney….it was insane. Naturally, we creeped at the gates for a while, watching the couple of fur characters that were still out, just absolutely dying.

As if we weren’t dying enough…we turned around to the GORGEOUSNESS that is the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel.

k5 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v27 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

These pictures don’t do it justice AT ALL, because it was absolutely gorgeous, especially at dusk! UGH.

k4 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
Looking back to where we had come from, and right into Disneyland park, talk about a short commute!

 

[katt789]

The grand Disneyland hotel stood before us, the train station & Disneyland park at our backs, and we were feeling absolutely amazing filled to the brim will glee, seriously, insane.


image by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v16 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

We were taking pictures of each other with the hotel sign when the lovely door attendant cm came over to take one of both of us, which was super nice!

v17 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
(that would be the cardigan I’d bought earlier in the day….I was cold…lol

Right inside the doors was a smaller staircase that led up to the lobby with a BEAUTIFUL Alice in Wonderland mosaic!

v18 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

And beautiful is just a way to describe this hotel!

v19 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

k3 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
(can you tell which one was my phone vs the dslr….bahahhaha)

The interior was similar to the Grand Floridian in feel, and it was just simply stunning. The cutest thing was the little dollhouse they had on display in the corner, and inside IT, were adorable little Disney touches!

v20 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v21 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Off to that side of the lobby was their gift shop, where we found the usual stuff we’d seen already that night, but spent a good chunk of time looking. The most amazing part was the PRINCESS DRESSES, legit, these are the ones for the KIDS; GUYS!
v25 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
k6 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

JUST LOOK AT THEM!!!! They were made with so much CARE! SO much more detail, the fabric was soft (not itchy glittery crap) and you could tell they would just move beautifully on…I was LEGIT so sad they didn’t come in adult sizes because I wanted to buy them all!!


The doors near the gift shop took us out to the…front? I guess of the hotel, where there was the car drop off/valet area, and a gorgeous Sorcerer Mickey/Fantasia fountain!!
v22 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v24 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v23 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Off to the sides they also had other Fantasia statues, including the hippo ballerinas, which resulted in some awesome dance photos of Kara & I….but alas….those photos are gone…


Having explored the hotel began to head back to the monorail.

k10 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

I was seriously SO in love with everything and we weren’t even IN THE PARKS YET…like…how were we going to deal with tomorrow?!?!!

Our routine continued the same way over to DisneySea, we hopped back on the monorail (didn’t mention this, but you can pay per ride, or buy a day pass if you’re planning on using it a lot, like, more than twice, we paid with our Pasmo cards each time), then stopped to stare into the park for a bit.
v26 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

They had a little lookout point in the train station that we took that from, before heading down to creep from the park gates. We couldn’t see as much from this entrance, really just the globe & ship (which was part of the 15th anniversary). To get to the Miracosta, we bypassed a gift shop, where I found a couple of fun things

k8 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
k9 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

The second one being a Chandu tail key-chain….I seriously regret not buying it…

Now into the Miracosta

k7 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

From everything I’d seen online of the hotel, and read in TR’s, I had expected to FALL IN LOVE with this hotel, everything seemed so grand & spectacular, and prior to actually being in Tokyo in person, I thought I liked it the best…

That was honestly, quickly changed today lol. It was still pretty, and had gorgeous views into the park (which we stared at for a while, but it was dark, so we couldn’t really take pictures). I was a bit disappointed, but I’m sure the rooms make the Miracosta much better, or there was just so much that we missed? Who know?!


It also could be that we were getting pretty hungry, so it was time to head out. Alicia had told us her favorite conveyer sushi place, and there was one in Urayasu near Disney, so our plan was to check it out tonight! Turned out getting there we’d have to bus, and not really knowing if we’d mess that up, we ended up walking, only took about 20 minutes!


When we got there, we had to wait a bit, but it was TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!! Hamazushi is the name, and we were BLESSED to know it was a chain so it would be in other places too! It worked a bit differently, you were seated at a table/bar, in front of a little touch screen, where you could order ANYTHING, there were sushi rolls, nigiri, salads, udon, miso soup, drinks, cakes, mochi, green tea ice cream, everything! Or you could pull off the conveyer belt. When your food came around, it would be on a little riser (how to let other people know not to take it) and IT WOULD PLAY A LITTLE SONG WHEN YOUR FOOD CAME TO YOU!!!


IT WAS AMAZING!!


I did a little dance to it at one point and the ladies beside us hardcore laughed at me but it was a VERY exciting moment.


With sushi completed, it was time to figure out how to get home; we had to walk a ways to a bus stop, and I made Kara stop at a grocery store along the way. I’d been drinking coffee every morning and felt bad that it was almost out, so I wanted to pick some more up. Boy oh boy was THAT stressful!! Lol. Then it was onto a bus to Urayasu station, where we walked the rest of the way home, it wasn’t too far, but we were TIRED when we finally got home.


We got ready for bed and talked to Dante about our adventures through the day, and set our alarms for BRIGHT and early tomorrow morning! IT WAS FINALLY TIME FOR DISNEYLAND!!!



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[missangelalexis]

How exciting getting your first glimpses of Tokyo Disney! So many pretty pictures!

 

[MomoMama]

Awesome photos! I can feel your excitement reading this TR!

I felt the same as you about the Disneyland hotel and Miracosta... I was wowed by the beauty of Disneyland hotel, but not as much as I expected by Miracosta. I think I over-expected because everyone says how grand and beautiful the hotel is.

So what happened to your dancing photo? I took DD's dancing photo there. I love those silly photos.

 

[katt789]

How exciting getting your first glimpses of Tokyo Disney! So many pretty pictures!

It was absolutely thrilling!!! Thank you!! Most of them at this point are Kara's work, but mine come into play later on!

Awesome photos! I can feel your excitement reading this TR!

I felt the same as you about the Disneyland hotel and Miracosta... I was wowed by the beauty of Disneyland hotel, but not as much as I expected by Miracosta. I think I over-expected because everyone says how grand and beautiful the hotel is.

So what happened to your dancing photo? I took DD's dancing photo there. I love those silly photos.

Awwe!! YAY!!! That's what I strive for, for my readers to really experience things themsevles the best they can!!

Yes!!!! I had LOVED the Miracosta from the tr's I'd read, but my views totally changed once I'd seen them in person! Maybe the rooms in the Miracosta are what I was thinking of!

Hahaha. The photos were awesome, there are some hinting towards other photos that may have ran off over the next few days, it'll all get revealed soon!!