2/4/13: Tokyo Disneyland Baby!

 We told Akemi that she could choose either Tokyo Disneyland or Disneyland Seas on this trip since we didn't have time to do both.  She ended up choosing Tokyo Disneyland, citing that they had the Electrical Parade, which she's never seen.  So we headed to the subway and ended up taking three trains/subways to get there.

While on our way to the ticket booth, we saw these girls with "Mickey" hair.  I thought that was cute.

We finally got our tickets and went to stand in line...

The lines were huge considering it was Monday here in Japan.  So much for avoiding the crowds.  I did notice that it was more adults than children though...

We decided to cut through the castle and paused for a quick pix.

Being that Paul and I had come here before, we immediately went for the Pooh's Hunny Hunt fast pass before anything else.  Then we headed for Mickey's Philharmagic... We missed that last time, so I wanted to get in to see it this time for sure.  I give it a thumb's up!  Even though it was all in Japanese, you won't want to miss it.  Besides, who can understand Donald Duck in English anyway?

After Philharmagic, we went on the Haunted House.  Akemi was really scared but wanted to go to see the "original" version since she only remembers the Nighmare Before Christmas version.  What a geek yah?

Next on the agenda was to find a popcorn bucket... The only ones in the area were these ugly Donald Duck butt/feet ones or Marie (cat from Aristocats), which I did not want to pay 1500 yen for.  So I just got the regular box of soy sauce and butter.  Yummy!  I got so jealous seeing everyones cute buckets... especially the mickey ears one.   Here's me with my regular box.  Booo on the box.

Look who we ran into!  He was also signing autographs... Can you guess what he signed it as?  GREEN ARMY MAN!!  Bwahahahahaha!  That is so awesome!

Then we had some time to kill before our return time for Pooh, so Paul and Akemi went on the Sky Jets (rockets).  I took a pass on that one and headed for Mickey's Toon Town.  I must say it was very much the same as the Disneyland version.  I checked out their store and found some cool Japan Disney stuff...

I think this is milk candy.  The packaging is so cute yah?

I thought this packaging was cute, but what's up with the strawberry covered arare?

I thought this was pretty cool... Mickey furikake!

I liked this so much I bought these Mickey and Minnie candy dispensers!  So cute!

I was very tempted to buy these but then decided against it since it looked a bit fragile.

And check this one out!  Everyones in this one!

I tried looking for the Stitch eating the boy's day koi but I think it's gone.  Booooo.

After roaming Toon Town for a bit, I went to meet Paul and Akemi who were just getting off the Sky Jets.  We headed for Pooh's Hunny Hunt to use our fast passes.  Yay!  Sooo glad we did that instead of the regular line.  Akemi really liked this one.  My favorite part was when you bounce along with Tigger.

After Pooh, we went right next door to Small World.  Akemi liked that too since it was different from the DL version.  They had an expanded Japanese and Asian section.  :)


By then I was thirsty and needed a break, so we found this cute teapot vending machine that actually had steam coming out of it!

And then it got really COLD!  Even Paul was freezing...

Before leaving Fantasyland, Akemi wanted to ride Peter Pan. Which is really ironic since she never liked it when she was younger.  It's pretty much the same as the LA version- still one of my faves!

While waiting in line, we caught some of the parade that passed by... Hi Mickey!

Then we headed to Big Thunder Railroad....  The line was super long, but Akemi really wanted to ride it... especially since there's no Matterhorn there.  So we waited over an hour to get on the train.  She said it was totally worth it!  I thought so too since she was screaming the entire time... so funny!  While waiting in line, I saw these girls with Monster's Inc. hard hats!  So cute!

After Thunder Mountain, I forced everyone to eat.  We went somewhere near the ride and ate fried chicken.  Not so good, but it was food.  We did like the Mickey head Churro though!

After our meal, Akemi wanted to go to Adventureland to go on Pirates.  We made our way there and I spotted the coolest popcorn container ever!!  It's Stitch in his spaceship!!!  And he's very nice looking (for a nice price too).  I was so happy- can you tell?  We are outside of the Tiki Room, but there's a twist on this classic...

Here's the signs heading into the Tiki Room... Any guesses?

Yes!  Stitch takes over the Tiki Room!!!  I actually enjoyed it even though it was all in Japanese.  LA needs to update theirs too.

After the Tiki Room we practically walked onto Pirates.  Yay!  I think that was the fastest I got on the ride!  It was pretty much the same as DL but some parts were in Japanese.

Oh... before I forget... Note To Self... the Chiba Traders store in Adventureland was good.  Remember to go there again!  I got a nice fan with Tsuru, Mickey heads and the castle!  I'll take a photo of it when I get home.

After Pirates, we headed to Mike & Sully's Adventure to see how the line was.  We stopped by the castle to see if we could get a photo, but I guess even though the castle was lit, you couldn't tell.  The Cast Member was nice enough to offer to take our photo, so we jumped at the chance since we rarely had one with the three of us in it!

On our way to Mike and Sully, we saw these dudes outside of the Astro Blasters ride.  That ride is really popular!  They just opened Toy Story Mania in Tokyo Seas, but I guess they still like this one.  What we forgot to take a photo of was the other alien taking their photo!

We finally made it to Mike and Sulley, but it was over 1 hr wait.  It would conflict with the Electrical Parade, so we decided to do the parade instead.  Paul & Akemi went to reserve seats on a bench (Yay!), while I did some shopping.  Before we left the area, they took a ride in Mike's car!

Boy was it cold where we were sitting!!!  We were dummies and did't bring our thick jackets.  I didn't bring my gloves either, so I was really cold.  Akemi was sitting on me so that I could keep warm!  Thank goodness I brought the scarf that Aunty Jan made for me.  Since it was really long, I was able to wrap it around my neck twice which really helped!  Thanks Aunty!

Yay!  Time for the Electrical Parade!  Woo Hoo!!  Akemi totally ejoyed it.  I think that was the highlight of our trip to Disneyland!

I especially liked the Genie float.  I don't remember it from last time, but he changed colors and even looked like other characters!

Then it was time to say goodbye to the Magic Kingdom... We had fun!  Till next time!

In the train station we found this!  I guess everyone is getting ready for Hina Matsui.

Getting a late start today after a long day yesterday.  Going to Odaiba and Tokyo Tower.  Also going to try to go Sengaku Ji- 47 Ronin Shrine.

2/3/13: Nakamise and Ueno Zoo

Ohayogozaimasu!  I crashed out last night and got a good 10 hours of sleep, so we are all good to go for Tokyo Disneyland today!  Woo Hoo!

But first... wondering what we ended up doing yesterday?  Here's the recap....

Started off with some hotel breakfast.  This time, they keep changing the food, so its a different story every morning.  Instead of musubi's, they had sushi rice.  They also had potato salad, toast, miso soup, teri meatballs and coffee.

Paul headed to his taiko lesson, so Akemi and I hung out at the room for a bit until the stores opened.  We actually left the room walked about 2 blocks, then turned around because it was so cold!  We had to add more layers.  I think we thought it would be warm like yesterday- we were actually sweating in Harajuku.  Here's Akemi with all her gear..

First stop was Mr. Donut!!!  Yay!  Mr. Donut was happy to see us!  See? We found the Pon De Ring!  Yay!  I think this is the lion donut Joy Shimabukuro was telling me about last year.  Thanks Joy!  Akemi is now a big Mr. Donut fan.  OMG tastes just like mochi!!

After some donut goodness, we headed towards Nakamise.  Before the main area, we took a detour to find an "arcade", which turned out to be a pachinko arcade and we were quickly hustled out.   Totally thought we would find more gachapon machines, but I guess I was wrong!!

We picked up some toys for Sister Stamps displays and then headed towards the washi paper store.  I found my favorite mobile kiosk and picked up a few gifts.

I was happy to see the washi store I got my paper from last time still there and well stocked.  I used my panoramic feature on my iPhone... cool yah?  I need to back and pick some up... I was just spocking it out today... Saw some cute panda and snowman washi papers that I need to have for my collection.

After we left the washi store, we started heading towards the temple, only to get a text from Paul that he was done.. so headed back to meet him at the Kaminarimon.  While he and Akemi went to find a geocash, I found another Totoro store!!  Score!  Bought something for my sis and for me... Very cool to know that there's one right down the street from our hotel!

After that, we decided that we weren't quite ready for lunch yet, so we decided to get an age manju.... Mmmmmm...  Akemi tried her first age manju- custard flavor.  I don't think she liked it as much as we did.... What?  What's wrong with her?

Then we headed to the temple to show Akemi the smoke, fountain and fortune stuff to do... Here's Akemi getting her fortune.  Can you tell what kind of fortune she got?

As you can see from that monku-tare face, the first one was a bad fortune, so she ditched that one and got another one that was a regular fortune. Sounded pretty good so she held onto it.

Here's the one she got...

Then she did the wash hands in the fountain...  I guess I didn't get a photo of the smoke.  I was too busy trying to "heal" my foot.

 We discovered there was a festival near the temple, so we checked out their food booths...  Got some heart shaped yakisoba loco and karaage chicken!

This was the tako yaki stand.  They even put the baby octopus inside- whole!

We thought this was pretty neat... it was ice on the bottom then the girl added fruit and then added the mizu-ame to it.  What? We had to try it...

Look how messy it is!  Akemi said "not my favorite".  It think we'll pass on this if we see it again...

We decided it was time to so somewhere else, but just before we left, we heard everyone running to the temple... We THINK it was the Setsubun Festival... trowing of the soybeans?  Not sure though... There was a big mosh pit right under these guys and they were throwing something at the moshers.  Soon after they were done, everyone left.

We decided we would chance going to the Ueno Zoo.  Last time we came, they didn't have a panda, so we decided not to go.  Now they had 2 pandas, so we were excited to take Akemi...

I forgot what this panda's name is!?  I better go check.  Anyway, he kept walking around in a circle the whole time we were there.  So kawaii!!

I decided to take some photos for my sis in case she needed some references.  I thought this bird was pretty.

I know these little guys are all over the mainland, but us Hawaii folk never see them, so we thought they were so cute...

Akemi and Paul went under the Polar Bear area to watch him swim.  Very cool.

And look, we met Hedwig!  He opened his beady eyes to give me stink eye while I took his picture..

I thought this was cool.. See this guy?  He's a Wattled Crane and I thought he was pretty ugly at first.  I guess I still do.. But he positioned himself at the front of the cage the ENTIRE time I was there.  He checked out every person that came to the cage and did not budge from his post. At first I thought he wanted attention, but then I realized something...

He was actually standing guard...  His mate was watching over her egg.

And I finally got to see a Tsuru!

Look at all the funny animals in the zoo!

I don't know who this guy is but he looks like a Charlie Brown menehune!  BTW, Akemi is really getting the hang of the japanese peace sign.

We finally left the zoo just before they closed and saw these cute panda anpan.

They were still warm, so we gobbled them up.  I even like the bag!

Before we left the park I found the cutest panda mailbox!  The back even had a tail!

 Can you tell I have panda-mania!?  I totally loved the zoo.  It was much better than I anticipated!  I highly recommend it if you have the time.  Akemi was very happy.. I guess since it was something other than shopping.

 We crashed out early and missed dinner, so we're hungry for breakfast.  Need to get an earlier start today to get to Tokyo Disneyland!  Yay!  Akemi is soooo excited.  Can't wait to get some popcorn!