The Log Dog Blog: Land of the Rising Sun: Day 5

Tuesday, April 11

So I have made mention of jet lag, but it has proven to be more of a challenge than we anticipated! We have been falling asleep SO early - we didn't eat dinner on our first four nights in Japan because we fell asleep between 6:30 and 7:30 pm each night!

This means, of course, that we were awake between 3:30 and 4:30 every single morning, and we vowed to break the cycle today! After waking up extremely early again today, we decided to wander through the hotel from 5:00 - 6:00 am to take photos before there was anyone around, which was awesome! I love this hotel and if the parks weren't calling me, I would be thrilled to just stay inside this hotel and never set foot outdoors. It is fabulous! (More to come on the hotel later in the week!)

We ate breakfast at a restaurant called Sherwood Gardens, which is on the first floor of the hotel - very good, but I couldn't help feeling slightly disappointed by the lack of fried rice being offered!

We headed out for Tokyo Disney Sea (the second theme park here) in the pouring rain, outfitted with jackets, ponchos, and umbrellas. Let's just say we lasted less than an hour because the weather was pretty miserable - in addition to the rain, it was chilly and windy. Not a great combination. We tried a few varieties of popcorn (black pepper was so yum!) and looked through the shops to get out of the cold and the rain, and I had two thoughts:

First, I continue to be shocked at how little merchandise actually says "Toyko Disneyland"/"Tokyo DisneySea"/"Tokyo Disney Resort" on it! Shocked. There's lots of cute stuff, but I am pretty particular about souvenirs. I anticipated buying a ton of stuff, but I've hardly bought anything. Not that it's a bad thing, but I really thought I'd find way more that I wanted to bring home than would be feasible, and instead, I've been searching and searching without much luck. I'd hoped to bring family and friends some neat souvenirs, but thus far, that quest has been a bit of a bust.

Second, guests here are crazy for Duffy and his assorted friends. If you don't know who Duffy is, that's because he is not super popular in the U.S. parks. I'd read about how popular he is here, but I was not prepared for the ferocity of the adoration I've been witnessing. Apparently a new character debuted recently - a rabbit, named Stella Lou - and you would not believe the lines to get into the shops that sell items involving that character! I'm talking standing outside in the cold, pouring rain in huge long lines that did not appear to be moving whatsoever. Unbelievable!

Monorail

Mickey straps for standing passengers!

Monorail Station

My favorite light fixture so far!

Entrance to Tokyo DisneySea!

Aurora & Phillip

Pluto <3

Trying new popcorn flavors!

Caramel Popcorn!

Black Pepper Popcorn!

White Chocolate Popcorn!

Honey Popcorn!

The terrible weather was just not fun, so we decided to spend a few hours checking out the other two Disney hotels here - Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta and Disney Ambassador Hotel. They were both very nice, but just don't compare to the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. Maybe if we came back here multiple times I would stay at them, but I'm feeling pretty spoiled where we are!

The bottom of a door in a gift shop!

Pluto <3

After visiting the two hotels, we went to Ikspiari (a shopping area sort of similar to Downtown Disney) to grab some lunch before heading back to our hotel for a nap in an attempt to combat jet lag. We slept from 2:00 - 6:00 pm (as you might know, I have a very strong affinity for naps!) and woke up feeling much better!

Minnie Mouse Topiary!

Tokyo Disneyland Hotel!

Best towel animal we've ever received...Dumbo! <3

Water bottles with Disney Characters on them!

After our nap, we walked over to Tokyo Disneyland. It was still raining, but not nearly as heavily, and we were hoping to see the nighttime parade. Unfortunately, the weather resulted in the parade being cancelled, which you might think left us disappointed. On the contrary, we were thrilled because there was a mass exodus out of the park, so we had 2.5 hours with hardly anyone else in the park!

We walked on to Peter Pan's Flight, Haunted Mansion, Alice's Tea Party, Snow White's Adventures, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Space Mountain, Star Tours, and Monsters, Inc. Ride and Go Seek! - twice! Peter Pan's Flight is my favorite attraction, and while it is similar to the WDW and DL versions, the one here is better, which sophisticated details throughout the attraction. The queue for PPF at WDW cannot be beat, but the TDL attraction was just a little bit better than the other versions at every turn, making for a fantastic experience!

We also managed to have dinner for the first time since arriving in Japan because we were actually awake past 6:30 pm! We ate at the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall, and it was AMAZING! Quite possibly the very best themed restaurant we've ever been to! Look at the pictures below! It was incredible! I love Alice in Wonderland and I was blown away by this counter service restaurant!!!