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

[katt789]

Okay guys…bear with me…I have pictures and minimal notes to go by on this day, I'll do my best!
**
Kara & I began the routine as normal today, getting up and getting ready right at the same time as Dante, and were headed out the door and to Tokyo Disneyland at the usual time! Today, we could finally park hop. Park hopping isn't REALLY necessary in Tokyo, especially since it costs money to use the monorail, but we had some entertainment reasons why we wanted to today!

We began our adventures in Disneyland, and with the crowds today, headed STAIGHT OFF TO HUNNY HUNT!!

The ride was JUST as amazing as it was the first time, and I found some amazing stuff in the gift stop afterwards!

Low key regret not buying it, low key regret not buying EVERYTHING in the Winnie the Pooh Store!

We didn’t really have any strong urge to find some Monsters again this morning, but we headed over to Tomorrowland to try our hand at the Lottery for One Man's Dream. I got Kara to do it this time, see if her luck was any better…SPOILER ALERT….it wasn't. BOO

To cheer ourselves up we BLASTED OFF through space and conquered that mountain before realizing that we desperately needed some breakfast. Thankfully, just off Main Street, across from Pirates, there's a waffle shop that we picked up the most delicious of meals!

The waffles were seriously amazing, and we both really enjoyed the berry and custard toppings! YUM! When we'd finished our meals, I had my coffee to go, and we headed back over to Fantasyland for some character hunting! We knew a Sleepy Princesses would be out that we'd want to see, and hoped maybe we'd find a Gypsy or a chimney sweep!

Aurora was easy to find, and I took the time to facetime a friend back home so they could spend some time chatting as well.

It was AMAZING to see her, we chatted about all of our adventures and how much we loved the kingdom over here, and exchanged the best of hugs

Also, in case you couldn't tell by our outfits, it was pretty chilly today, I was actually surprised to see none of the characters were in winter wear considering they're outside for longer periods of time!

We had enough time to pick another character before they went in, so we naturally chose a dashing looking ruffian across the way, who was quick to pick us to come up. Flynn asked what kingdom we were from, and if we had a castle there, we explained we basically did, since we spent so much time in that Orlando kingdom. When he asked about our prince situation, we laughed and said it was non existent, so he taught us how to smoulder!

HANDS DOWN one of the best pictures and meet and greets, it was a GREAT morning so far!!

Kara & I had no immediate plans, and since we were at the back of the castle, why not venture THROUGH IT?!

The walk through was much more extensive than the Stateside parks versions, even Lady Tremaine made an apperance

The main room of the walk through has gorgeous ceilings, windows looking out onto Fantasyland, and multiple picture opportunities!

I was thankful to have known that there's (obviously) a little magic here too, there's a portait of the Fairy Godmother to take pictures with, with no flash, it comes out pretty "muggle" like

But once that flash hits, Fairy Godmother can ENCHANT YOU

Also I'm 100% missing pictures of Kara from this little tour, I KNOW we have them, I just can't find them, ugh lol!
We headed out of the castle, and over to the left, I had to take another shot ode to my lovely Tremaine Family,since that's where they meet in Florida

And we took a few shots over by Snow White's wishing well

THEN, it was time to check out something completely new! Which meant we had a line to wait in….see, we didn't win the lottery for One Man's Dream, but we could still watch the first show of the day Standby, so we headed over to Tomorrowland, very happy with what our day had accomplished so far!

 

[katt789]

It appeared we got there right on time, or the crowds weren't too bad yet, because even without lottery tickets, we got pretty good seats for the show!

Now, I can NOT tell you what the heck the show's about, it's ALL in Japanese, but It starts out in black & white with Mickey & Minnie;

And then EXPLODES into COLOUR

And the OG princess appears

Before we escape into the Jungle!
IMG_0196 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
Which then moves into an entire Bugs Life portion which we have no evidence of, before it changes 100% into Dream Along with Mickey….bahaha! I kid, I kid, but the song for the Peter Pan section is EXACTLY THE SAME (though as I type this I'm watching a video with "English subtitles" that the words aren't the same, but Kara and I had a good time fake doing Dream Along choreo in our seats. It was also around this time that I realized my memory card was full, and quickly changed it without really paying attention…

IMG_0203 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

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However it was the appearance of Tick Tock that CRACKED Kara & I up like NO TOMORROW
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The really cool part of the show was that Peter & Wendy literally flew!

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Things get a little dark too, as our Evil Queen pays a visit to the stage…

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AND THESE SUPER COOL DANCERS COME OUT AND SHE TRANSFORMS TO THE OLD HAD AND I DIE OF MY VILLAIN LOVE

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ALSO FLAILED at this point as I realized the song during the villains part, USED TO BE PART OF THE LOOP MUSIC AT MNSSHP IN FLORIDA! IT WAS ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS AND I COULD NEVER FIND IT ONLINE AND NOW I KNEW WHY.

THEN, that creepy judge came by…

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Lastly, the queen of all darkness and her minions take over
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The show then cuts from Malificient saying "she'll sleep forever" to my GURL!

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And her prince coming to save her!

True love's kiss works!

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[katt789]

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They waltz, along with the other OG's, Cinderella and Snow White!

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I had seen pictures of the show before on Tumblr, not knowing they were from this show, and being a ballroom dancer, HAD COMPLETELY FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THEIR DRESSES (and chroreo) the nod to the original princesses with the style of the dresses and how they mixed into moving so beautifully with the dancing, it just amazed me. I LOVED the chorus girls dresses too, the whole segment was just beautiful from end to finish!
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Then the show went some super weird direction, there was a movie being made, there was so much going on, and all in a different language, I lost it lol.
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The finale brought out most of the main characters(fab 5, Peter, fur characters mainly, along with the dancers to finish off the show!)
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Obvs big movies stars they all are now!
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Overall, we thought the show was cute, it wasn't worth watching twice during our trip, partially due to the Language barrier. The dancing was great, and we had a good laugh over the very similar dream along bits, but we enjoyed it!

Kara& I were both in search of some noms post show, and headed over to Toon Town where we'd seen some PIZZA SPRING ROLLS, cause like, you can't turn those down!

And stopped for some Mickey Nugs to go along

One our mission from grabbing these snacks and heading to our parade spots, we SAW THE FAMOUS SCRUMP MOCHIS! We both thought they were limited time only ,so to know they were still here, was INSANE! We took note of where they were, and grabbed our spots for parade!

 

[missangelalexis]

The castle walk through looks amazing!

Love your pics from One Man's Dream- so colorful!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I just watched a ride through of Pooh's Hunny Hunt on youtube and the ride is super cute - so much better than the Pooh ride we have stateside .... do they offer it in English at all? I was thrown not just by the Japanese but that their voices sounded totally different as well

One Man's Dream looks pretty fun - glad you got to see it

 

[MomoMama]

So happy to see you are continuing with your TR!
Again, amazing photos... you girls are such talented photographers.

I too have read others' reviews on King Triton's court and Fantasmic! being not so great, but I loved them. When Ariel swam above us and waved at my daughter, it felt so magical. And you saw Big Band Beat! We did not get lucky with the lottery and could not stay in the long standby line. The show sounds so good, I hope the third time will be a charm and we will win the lottery next time! Reading your TR makes me want to go back to TDR so bad!!

 

[katt789]

The castle walk through looks amazing!

Love your pics from One Man's Dream- so colorful!

It really is!! It was gorgeous!! And thank you! The show was fun, that's for sure!

I just watched a ride through of Pooh's Hunny Hunt on youtube and the ride is super cute - so much better than the Pooh ride we have stateside .... do they offer it in English at all? I was thrown not just by the Japanese but that their voices sounded totally different as well
One Man's Dream looks pretty fun - glad you got to see it

It's amazing!!!! And no, it was all in Japanese, but that was totally fine for us lol, a lot of the attractions are all Japanese, and MAN yes, the voices throw you off so much!! Sometimes it's hard to not laugh at how they sound!

So happy to see you are continuing with your TR!
Again, amazing photos... you girls are such talented photographers.

I too have read others' reviews on King Triton's court and Fantasmic! being not so great, but I loved them. When Ariel swam above us and waved at my daughter, it felt so magical. And you saw Big Band Beat! We did not get lucky with the lottery and could not stay in the long standby line. The show sounds so good, I hope the third time will be a charm and we will win the lottery next time! Reading your TR makes me want to go back to TDR so bad!!

Thnak you!! I'll do my best to stay more up to date on things now! Lol. And thank you so much!! It's been such a passion for us over the past few years! The shows really are amazing at Tokyo, they just go a whole other level!! Awe man, BBB was SO good!!! Haha, writing it makes me miss it too! I can't wait to go back!!

 

[Karin1984]

Can you check your photo account? All the pictures on the first pages are gone

And one question for planning my own trip, how did you know where which characters were? I thought Tokyo didn't publish the times of character sets like other parks do.
I plan to do a lot of character hunting in Asia but then I do need to know where to look!

*Edit* I went back and read your report again, you had locals via Instagram helping you where to find characters? Can I ask which accounts?

 

[katt789]

Can you check your photo account? All the pictures on the first pages are gone

And one question for planning my own trip, how did you know where which characters were? I thought Tokyo didn't publish the times of character sets like other parks do.
I plan to do a lot of character hunting in Asia but then I do need to know where to look!

*Edit* I went back and read your report again, you had locals via Instagram helping you where to find characters? Can I ask which accounts?

The photos are just beign a SUPER PAIN! I've linked them through facebook from Kara's page (esp since I have no pictures from Tokyo) and the link has apparently expired? I'm not quite sure how to fix it! Hopefully for the future updates I can sort something out to fix them, or download pics from facebook to reupload them, ugh, suepr frustrating!

Hahaha, we NEVER did, the only time we 100% guaranteed knew was Aurora, and I'd been chatting with a very close friend of hers all morning Otherwise, they come out on the 0:15 and the 0:45 in Fantasyland & at the Front of the park, find the hoards of younger guests with camera's, and you'll know you're in the right spot!

 

[katt789]

If you guessed our next stop was HAPPPINESS IS HERE, you so wrong

Just kidding

You so right!

This is a celebration of smiles and joy​

IMG_0399 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

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Smile happiness Is here​

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Just turn and spin, give us a grin​

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Jump, shout, let it all out​

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Let your heart find, and we'll gone on and on, happiness is here​

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One of my favorites of the trip right there
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Sparkles in your eyes, suddenly feel alive​

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[katt789]

LIFE UPDATE/PSA:
From THIS update onward I am downloading pics from Facebook to RE upload to flickr so the links will NOT be broken, I will WORK on getting all the older ones done so the TR still looks good from the start!
I also only have 1 update left to type, everything else is typed up already in the notes I found, so all I have to do is add pictures, updates should be coming much faster now!
Happy May!!

********************
Happiness is Here ended, left us with SO much happiness in our lives, and we turned back around to head into Tomorrowland! We HAD TO GET THOSE SCRUMP MOCHIS!
v1 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
14581322_10157781145425647_4053915137215076396_n by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
They automatically came in the souvenir tub, which I 100% thought I'd end up dumping somewhere along our trip, but it actually made it all the way home! I LOVED the dumplings! They were a mango, a passion fruit & banana (I think lol) I actually liked them more than the green alien ones, but the cost of them (because of the dish) would keep me from buying them again on this trip.

It was getting a little bit MORE chilly as the day went on, so we spent some time looking for some sweaters that we liked, especially since the Duffy ones were sold out. We had no luck, I settled for a cappuccino to attempt to warm me up, and it was time to leave the park, we had an important date over at Disney Sea!!

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We had 1000000% LUCKED OUT in having a friend hanging around somewhere we had been VERY excited to see, and obviously couldn't wait.
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Take a step into the darkest night

This is where the villains shine their light

With passion
So strong ​

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Elegance beyond compare

Piercing beauty with the midnight stare​

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Welcome, to the villains world
there every move is cool and simply thrilling
Tonight they are willing, chilling, thrilling villains​

[/I]

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I'm NOT even sorry in the slightest that there's so much Evil Queen in there, she SLAYED, killed it, was absolutely incredible, Kara & I were completely in love. During the show we had what I would say was our ONLY interaction with some slightly "obnoxious" Instagrammers. They were younger, and more in your face than most of the other ones we'd encountered seemed, but still like 100 times better than the obnoxious ones in the States, bahaha!

Kara desperately wanted to see if Stitch & Angel were out, so we attempted to find our way over to the Arabian Coast. This was when we realized how much we had been following Chi the previous day, we had like, NO idea where we were/where we were going, bahaha! DisneySea can be SUPER confusing lol! Eventually we did find our way out, and I'm saddened to report that Angel & Stitch were nowhere to be found. Waah!

I picked up another Chandu tail to eat, and we figured now was a good of time as any to head back over to Disneyland (we were here to Evil Queen, lets be real).

v13 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Back over in the land of Magic and castles, we headed to our new favorite spot for dinner, Gramma Sarah's!
k3 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

I tried a different set this time, it was still good, but not as great as the Fall themed one, and was a little bit more expensive than the special set, but I still really enjoyed it! The tart for dessert was a sweet potato tart, and it was definitely the best part. The two of us sat there a bit longer than we had planned to, we were tired, and I was starting to feel sick, I don't think the Chandu tail was sitting well with me. Ugh. Luckily, it was time to bundle up and just SIT for a bit while we claimed our spots for Dreamlights! [/CENTER]

 

[Karin1984]

Hahaha, we NEVER did, the only time we 100% guaranteed knew was Aurora, and I'd been chatting with a very close friend of hers all morning Otherwise, they come out on the 0:15 and the 0:45 in Fantasyland & at the Front of the park, find the hoards of younger guests with camera's, and you'll know you're in the right spot!

Check! I will look for the cameras! I have found some clips on youtube and Instagram of the door to backstage where characters appear and disappear. So I know what it looks like


Your parade pictures are amazing! I love the costumes, those of the chorus members are so colorful and happy

 

[missangelalexis]

As always, more great photos! The little Stitch container for the mochi is so cute!

 

[katt789]

This update's gonna be super short, lol, sorry about that?

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Post Dream Lights, we wandered back through Adventureland and ended up doing Tiki Room again, enjoying it just as much but also realizing how EXHAUSTED we were!! We opted to just grab a snack and head out of the parks for the night

IMG_0970 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

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Pumpkin churros! Yum!a

 

[katt789]

Check! I will look for the cameras! I have found some clips on youtube and Instagram of the door to backstage where characters appear and disappear. So I know what it looks like
Your parade pictures are amazing! I love the costumes, those of the chorus members are so colorful and happy

No worries!! Yeah, they do end up being pretty easy to find, I BELIEVE, they came out on the 0:15 in Fantasyland, and 0:45 at the main gate!
Thank you so much!! They're all so cute & excited, the parade's amazing

As always, more great photos! The little Stitch container for the mochi is so cute!

Thank you so much!! Right?! Everything's just so much more adorable over there!

 

[missangelalexis]

Those Dream Lights pictures!! That parade looks so phenomenal.

 

[katt789]

Friday October 14th
Good mooooooorning. Are you ready to get up?! Because we certainly WERE NOT! It had been one HECK of a busy past 3 days of hard-core Disney-ing & the day had come that was our LAST in the parks!!! Waaaaaahhh!! Slowly, very slowly, the three of us clambered out of bed and started to get ready. A short walk down to the station, and the line for the bus wasn't too bad today! Another plus side, when it pulled up THERE WERE STILL SEATS!!! Whaaaaaat?!

This was a sign of what was to come as when we arrived at Disneyland, the lines for the turnstiles were HALF of what they were our last few days in the park! Wait... What? We knew Disneyland was closing early for a private event, but still thought that it would be CRAZY crowded because it was Friday. Guess not!! While we were waiting a CM came around & was handing out cards that said the park was closing at 6:30 and because of that, you could show the card & your park ticket at the ticket booth for DisneySea & upgrade your ticket for 2000 YEN! That's like, $20 guys... Because the park closed early.... It didn't effect us because we were on day 4 and able to park hop now, but what an AMAZING gesture for those on day 1 or 2!!

The "rope" dropped right at 8:00am exactly like the days previous, and we headed off to the lands we had barely set foot in so far, Westernland! We hit up Big Thunder first, and while we both enjoyed it, we agreed that it wasn't *as* fun as the Stateside parks because there was a divide in the seat & you had your own lap bar! Splash was our next adventure, we barely waited & were soaring through the briar patch before we knew it. I was super glad we didn't get wet since it was still pretty chilly out!

v17 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

The 2 big rides Kara & I hadn't done out of the way, we started the search for something to fill our tummies; and let me tell you, this was not an easy task! I know Japan isn't big on "regular" American styled breakfasts, but ALL there is, is the waffle place! We found a couple carts open selling hot dogs & burgers, but opted to pretend that a sweet cream cheese filled pretzel was a better option. To balance out our breakfast we stopped to refill Stitch with some honey popcorn!

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I added onto this well balance breakfast by picking up a purple sweet potato churro! Everything was good obviously, but I wish they had more breakfasty stuff, or even like, a smoothie would be nice!
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Well we munched away (and legitimately DEVOURED the popcorn, we picked up a fast pass for Hunny Hunt since we were in the area! Our other big plan on our last day was to find a few more characters, Esmerelda, and a few familiar faces we knew would be a fun time. Since we were in the area, we hung around Fantasyland to see a handful of fur characters, Snow Prince & Prince Charming come out. Cool & all, but nothing we needed to wait around for. We also found it hilarious and slightly odd that Snow Prince had a SOLO meet and greet here meanwhile he was barely recognizable in Florida, bahahah! After spending some time watching the on goings in Fantasyland we started to head back down to Main Gate, but not before getting distracted!! I noticed a stationary shop we hadn't been in yet and wanted to check for some post cards for friends back home! WELL WERE WE EVER IN FOR A SURPRISE! We spent a decent amount of time in stationary HEAVEN!! Not even kidding guys, everything was beautiful! They had NUMEROUS journals, agendas, calendars, everything!! I knew I wanted a new agenda but there were so many choices! Specific princess/characters, ones with photography from around the park, and some post card type things I knew I needed. We had barely scratched the surface when we had to head to the front to see the characters, vowing that we would be back!!

Unluckily for us, Main Gate was even less fun than Fantasyland had been. I knew Aurora would be out after parade, so we hoped some other friends would be too, and promptly headed back to stationary heaven!

Kara & I ended up both getting the agenda that had ALL the princesses in it with art from concept art to full animation it's gorgeous! I also picked up some little note cards w/envelopes that had Cinderella, Ariel or Rapunzel on them, super cute & the closest thing I could find to post cards! Since we were in the shopping mood, we continued over into the Emporium to browse through searching for anything we might need for ourselves or people back home. I ended up with a bag w/the Tangled pattern that's the same as the shirt we wanted (Kara got the same & the BATB one), and the Aurora shoe key chain

Since the park was closing earlier tonight, the day parade was also happening earlier, and it was nearly time! WAAAAHHH! We really didn't want it to be our last time seeing Happiness is Here! Food was on our minds, I mean, our breakfast was SOOOOO healthy, lol, so we made a brief stop at Tomorrowland Terrace to pick up some burger sets for lunch. It set me back ¥980, was a Mickey shaped burger, fries & tea. Kara got the one with egg on the burger simply because the box had Stitch on it, bahahaha!

k24 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Lunch in hand we picked our spots for HiH, we were gonna try from the opposite side of the street but the way the hub curved meant it was not prime for viewing or picture taking, so we ended up in what had become "our spot" over the last few days and settled in for our last parade! Just before it started we noticed a couple of people that had "that look" of entertainment faces, and hey, its not as easy to blend in when it's Tokyo!

In case you couldn't tell from previous updates, we absolutely fell in LOVE with Happiness is Here, Kara even said she might like it more than Festival of Fantasy in WDW. It's super hard to compare, for me, it's the people that make FoF, but there are parts of the parade that are "lull's" to me, that doesn't happen with HiH. There was something about it that last day too, something extra, all the performers were ON POINT, we got so much love from so many people & I was like, nearly tearing up by the end of it thinking this could be the last time ever seeing it, truly magical. We were both just So happy & exhilarated by the end of it!

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Ugh. I die. She's just perfect.

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Post parade, we had Hunny Hunt fp's to use; we were a little worried since we'd had to wait for the parade to pass a point so we could cross into Fantasyland, and were a little late for our return time. Apparently they let it slide a bit post parade as we had no problem! After our spin through the 100 Acre Wood we were off to check on those characters, and were mighty confused when it was the same old fur characters & JUST Princes... No girls in sight! We figured they were still busy post parade but who knows? While we were on the hunt for some friends, a friend spotted US! The girl who'd been Insta dm'ing me info about the parks, a mutual follower, saw us and came up to say Hi. She didn't speak much English but it was still super nice to get to meet her, and thank her for all the help!

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Not wanting to deal with crowds back there, we slowly made our way to the front of the park to still not find who we were looking for, but decided to say Hi to Snow White.

k9 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

She was lovely as always, commenting on Kara's bow & how it needed a diamond! She said she would get the dwarves on that to find one for her from the mine! So cute!! We hung around watching some other character interactions for a bit & then I desperately needed a water bottle, so we began the hunt for that. There were NONE (and no coolers) in the confectionary or anywhere along World Bazaar, so we swung into Tomorrowland, where we started to head to a cart, I asked for water, but the cm said it was a sports drink, that or pop. I was bummed a bit, before I remembered the vending machines beside Space Mountain! It seriously a struggle to find water bottles in TDR! I hope that's different in the summer months! While we were on the topic of ingestible things, we realized we had to track down some Soy Sauce popcorn, and there was a cart in Tomorrowland! Literally WHILE WE WERE WALKING UP TO IT, I wondered aloud to Kara how they never run out of popcorn, it's so popular! And we had times at the Canada cart where we simply couldn't keep up with the demand.



...i kid you not... The cart we wanted our treat from... WAS OUT OF POPCORN!!!

Bahahahahahahahah!!!

Knowing there was another cart with the soy sauce flavour, we continued on our quest to find some characters, hoping that our luck would be better now, post parade! We could tell that there were some friends out, and it was Kara who spotted BERT!!! Naturally we went running up to his circle, and he almost immediately turned to us to come say hello!! We were the MOST excited to meet him; 2 years of hearing stories about him and the shenanigans from some mutual friends had lead up to a very exciting meet and greet! He commented that he'd remembered us from the parade earlier asked where we were from, and what kind of adventure's we had been on that day. We said we'd mainly been trying to track down characters as it was our LAST DAY, especially that gypsy & of course himself! Bert commented that gypsy's were rather hard to find, and hoped us luck in finding her; he then asked if we wanted to step in time for our picture!!

k12 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

The meet & greet was seriously everything, we were SUPER excited to finally meet him, and were pretty sure Mr Penguin might've said something about us being there! We bid the Jolly Holiday goodbye & peered around the corner of the castle to find Rapunzel & Flynn doing a greet in a little nook!! And they looked rather familiar Sadly, because they were crazy popular, they had a queue & it was already closed off, though that didn't stop us from watching & being the creepers that we are bahaha.

k13 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Kara & I had ONE last chance to see the characters we'd been waiting on, and I had confirmation Aurora would be hanging around again, so we headed to Main Gate & prayed to the pixie dust Gods for some good fortune. Naturally though, we got distracted by a castle photoshoot before we left, knowing this would probably be the last time we were in Disneyland.

v4 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

k6 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

k7 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v5 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

k8 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


But now…back to praying for pixie dust with our character luck…..

Welp, they must've been wanting wishes on stars, it was the same group as earlier, no gypsy, and not even any Aurora, which was interesting, but at least we'd seen her the other day already! Slightly defeated, and half joking that this meant we HAD to come back to the parks on our 17hr Tokyo layover on the way home, we decided it was time to head over to Disney Sea to finish off our Tokyo Disney Resort Saga!

 

[katt789]

Upon arrival, it was apparent how INSANE it was, especially compared to Disneyland that had been SO EMPTY all day, all the people were here. The crowds for Villains World were too much, we'd watched it twice & evil queen had SLAAAAAYED yesterday, so we opted to head to the Arabian Coast in PRAYERS that Kara would get to see Angel & Stitch today!

Well.... She got to see them....



...from a distance...

v3 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


WAAAAHHHH

Of COURSE their line was already cut & it was their last set! Daisy was out in the area too, but it was a mad house. To sooth our sorrows, ice lollies were in order!

v2 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

k15 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

We really wanted to catch Big Band Beat again, so we traipsed across the park to find that the standby line for the next show was FULL & there was already a line for the 6:40 show. We could jump in it, but then would DEFINITELY not have a decent it any spot for Fantasmic. I pointed out we hadn't seen A Table is Waiting yet, and it was closing its run after our trip so we headed that way. Not sure if we could go into the seating area (it was mostly full) we claimed a spot by the rope to stand & see perfectly fine, and then noticed people going in still, so we ended up with a seat! The show didn't start right away, but we were completely enamoured by the STUNNING SUNSET anyways!!

v16 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

v15 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Just look at that!! Wowza!!! The show started, and I'm not even really sure what to tell you... It was something, that's for sure. Lumiere hosted it, and there were 2 mic'd performers who also kinda looked as if they were dressed up like Lumiere. It was all spoken in Japanese, with songs in English. I THINK it was about Mickey & his friends travels around the world and all the kinds of food there was? All I'm really sure is there was Chip & Dale with moustaches, ponchos & sombreros, and Daisy Duck singing spice girls & pies were being thrown in peoples faces. It was insane & we laughed through most of it.

IMG_1138 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1147 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

Obviously it was no Big Band Beat, but I am glad we got to experience it! And while our brains were on food, our noses were leading us to The Teddy Roosevelt Lounge, which is also somewhere I had desperately wanted to go! Unluckily for us, there was a large line, we weren't sure how fast it was moving, but knew we probably didn't have enough time for it. Boooo.

Our experience was about the same around the rest of the park, and nothing seemed as good as the Lounge had SMELT! Oh GOD YOU GUYS IT WAS AMAZING! Buttery & garlicy goodness! Waaaah!! Kara & I reached our favorite Fantasmic spot on the wall and decided it was time to sit down, 2.5 hours til show time & there was just enough room for us! I was getting SUPER hungry at this point, and asked Kara if she would mind if I went for a food run first. She didn't, so I set off. The first two, and closest two, were absolutely jam packed, we're talking full inside, full lines & queues extending WAAAYYY longer than anyone sane would wait. Way worse than anything at WDW (though it would probably be faster... Bahaah). I thought I'd be smart & head into Mount Prometheus, where there would be less people, and get food from the restaurant we'd seen in there! Well, for starters, that was a LONG walk, second, I totally turned the wrong way inside the mountain & almost got lost, third, it was still crazy. THEN, I get to the front & of course they don't have take away things. Welp, shoving this into my face here then! I didn't have my phone so I don't have any pictures. I got a set that I chose chicken, fried rice & the Dim Sum set with coke. I ate all the chicken, drank the coke & then noticed the water station... Hmmm... I looked at how much food I had left & figured I could shove the dim sum & rice into a couple of the paper cups, and did just that! I felt super bad for Kara! I knew I'd been gone a long time, and she still had to get somewhere, get food & get back in time for Fantasmic!! I scurried my way back through the dark & oh so crowded park until I was back at the harbour! Kara said I'd been gone around 45 minutes! Maybe longer! GEEZE! She took off next & was back surprisingly quick, she'd chosen a meal from the New York Deli that DID have takeaway, while I munched on my rice....

k17 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1176 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

Luckily, this killed some time, so we didn't have much time to freeze before Fantasmic started. Ugh, it was JUST as amazing as the first time, and always will continue to be. Every version of the show has its amazing qualities, and while I do miss seeing the individual princess floats/segments in WDW, I really appreciate the way Tokyo has shown their love for it. I also really love the "imagination.... Follow your dreams..." Lyrics. Ugh, just incredible.

IMG_1184 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1200 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1208 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1244 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1254 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr



Post show, we gathered up our belongings, our feels & our frozen selves, and didn't really know what to do! The park was closing in about an hour? Maybe 1.5hr? But it WAS SUUUUCH A HOT MESS!! And EVERYONE was leaving, so if we tried to get anywhere but where we were we'd be swimming up a very crowded stream, and that was something neither of us wanted to do. Collectively, we sighed a sigh of defeat, and ended up in the Duffy store, thankful for the one by the entrance, no matter how crowded it was. Kara got her Gelatoni and promptly paid, not wanting to deal people or all the other temptations. The two of us stood outside the shop trying to figure out what to do, and ended up saying that leaving was probably the best choice.


Goodbye DisneySea. We'll FORVER LOVE YOOOOUUUUUU.

Seriously.

It is truly one of THE greatest theme parks, Disney & the Oriental Land Company have created something completely unique, and amazingly beautiful and SO jam packed with incredible things. It is no wonder why it's considered THE theme park of the world, and why it's so many people's favorites. It takes you from the middle of the Mediterranean, to a gondola in Venice, the streets of New York, a small New England coast town, the MIDDLE OF A VOLCANO, and into the lands of Fantasy where you can swim through Mermaid Lagoon or fly over Agrabah on a flying carpet. The entertainment is all Broadway level, so creative and interesting and is just plain amazing. I wish I could stay forever!! (also throwing this pic in here because I can't remember where it happened…EVEN THE SOAP IS MICKEY SHAPED)

k5 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


Heartwarming part done with... It was time for the heart BREAKING. Earlier in the day I'd noticed the envelope with my full memory cards wasn't in my bag, and thought nothing of it. I'd taken a few pictures of the back of my camera the previous night to send to some friends back home & thought I'd left it out on the desk. Heck, it wasn't even the first thing on my mind as we got back to the house. When I did remember, I checked around the desk to find them not there... And began to internally panic... I checked my bag again... Voiced to Kara what was happening... And then DUMPED my park bag out, tearing through everything



... They were gone...

All I had was what was on my camera, and it wasn't much. Everything from the first 5 days in Tokyo, everything from the first 3 days in the park.

Gone.

I broke down into a hot mess of ugly crying. Honest, tearing up a bit now thinking about it. I did end up finding one card in my wallet, where I had been keeping them, but all it had on it was Villains World from Day 2 in the parks. The one that was in my camera had parts of Day 2, a teeny bit of Day 3 & most of Day 4. I usually ended up filling a card up mid show, so I'd throw it into my bag & start a new one right away, then go back & delete the bad pictures on the full card & continue to use it till it was full again. Because of this, pictures from all over the place were missing & I was seriously just heartbroken.

I had originally been keeping them in my wallet & thought I was being smart by moving them into the park ticket envelope & putting them with my passport. Guess not. I had no clue where they might be either, maybe I did forget to put them back into my bag the night before, and they'd been thrown away by accident in the coffee explosion that happened that morning? Maybe I'd pulled something out of that pocket & they'd dropped? Maybe I'd misplaced them when I was changing them out in the park? I looked up Lost & Found for the resort, and for those already gone, there was a phone number but if you called, it was all in Japanese.

A few days later I did realize that because of WHAT pictures I did have, the last thing I *think* I would've taken with the one missing card was at One Man's Dream. Thinking this must be where they went missing, I messaged Chi & she said she was more than happy to call & try to help find them. The information I gave her ended up being no help, and as of Oct 23, they haven't been found. There's a tiny glimmer of hope though, the optimist in me knows they'll turn up, (lol...that side of me doesn't come out often). We will be back in Tokyo for that layover & I've told Kara I'll be going back to the resort to try & find them at the very least. I'm hoping they'll let me go through any memory cards that might've been found on the 13th & 14th. Japan is a culture where if something does get lost or forgotten, it usually gets turned in, or left just where you left it. I am worried because the envelope might've just gotten swept up, but hoping that a CM would notice it was a ticket envelope & pick it up. So. Here's hoping.

ANYWAY, it was a SUPER sour note to end Tokyo on, the rest of our time had been SO incredible, and to have something so ****ty happen at the end of it just made me NOT a happy camper, I felt bad for the mood I put the room in for Kara too.

The next few days I did realize it COULD always be worse, it could've been mainly Disney stuff that went missing, and it was mainly city stuff. It COULD have happened in Hong Kong, and I might've lost even more pictures. It COULD have been like, 6 memory card, not 2. It COULD ALWAYS BE WORSE. Ugh

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Oh no! You take the most beautiful pictures. I definitely can relate. A few Disney trips ago I was playing with the settings trying to take really cool pictures of the fireworks and I deleted the pictures by mistake. Not just a few but the whole trips worth. Like 400 to 500 pictures. I just stood there and cried. When we got home I took my camera to a camera store to see if there was anyway they could recover the pictures. Nope, they couldn't. At least you have some and hopefully Kara will be able to share with you what she took.

I'm still holding out hope that you will find the memory cards as the trip goes on. You just need a really good dose of pixie dust.

 

[Karin1984]

Omg... first this and then after the trip the problems with your computer.... I agree with Grumpy's Wife, you are in need of some pixie dust!