Got about 2 hours of sleep which was expected due to the jet lag. I was kind of surprised there were several izakayas around that closed at 5am but I didn’t want to deal with translating the menu so we settled on the always reliable 7-11.

Joanna and I have been on a year long fitness and nutrition plan which we started in January and has been working great for us so far. We will be “trying” to stay on our goals during this trip, keyword is trying. I picked items at the convenience store that had more protein to get us through the morning. They also had these frozen smoothie cups for like $2 that you scan into a machine and it blends it fresh for you.

The first portion of the trip while we are in Tokyo is to visit the two Disney Parks at Tokyo Disney: Disneyland and DisneySea. I’m not much of a theme park person but we figured we should check these off the list as people have raved about the food at the parks. We’re staying at a cheap business hotel for $90 that includes a free shuttle service to the park but the earliest we could get in was at 8am while youtubers were recommending to get to the park earlier because Japanese people, like the British, are experts at queuing for things.

We caught the subway and then a bus to the park. I was not prepared for how many people were already in line at 7:30 when the park doesn’t open until 9am. It also didn’t help that it was 32f outside and a little breezy while waiting to be let in. I am so thankful we went to Uniqlo the night before to get a puffer jacket. I would not have been able to survive the day without it.

The top ride we wanted to check out was the Beauty and the Beast one as I’ve heard they had some really impressive animatronics for it. If anyone is planning on visiting the park. The only way to get a fast pass is by being admitted into the park first and then you can buy the pass for specific rides. We stepped into the park and immediately jumped on it and paid the extra $13 to get to the front of the line. It was seriously a good thing we did because the line was over 2 hours long by the time we walked to that part of the park.

Here’s my summary of the rides we went on:

  • Beauty and the Beast: It’s like they took it straight out of the animated movie. Very cool experience. The part where the beast turns into the prince was seriously magical. I still can’t figure out how they did the transformation. Joanna walked out of the ride saying “I don’t know why I expected that to be in English”. If you’ve seen the movie, I think you’ll get the gist of it even if it was in Japanese. Our wait in line with the fast pass and the ride itself was about 25 min start to finish. When we got back to the ride entrance, the wait was almost 3 hours long.
  • It’s a Small World: Was not expecting this to be my favorite ride out of the 4 we went on. I waived this ride off when we walked past because it’s 60 years old, what could they have changed since I rode it when I was a kid? BUT then we saw Groot was on the sign. Disney managed to integrate its princess characters and Marvel properties into the ride and it was so much fun to pick them out. Would definitely ride this again and it was only a 15 min wait.
  • Winnie the Pooh: This was ok, nothing really to say about it
  • Haunted Mansion: The scariness of the ride really gets lost when you need subtitles for what the ghosts are saying.

Every December Joanna’s company throws a company conference in Orlando in December. They very generously include airfare and hotel for spouses to come along as well. Last year we went to Hollywood Studios in DisneyWorld and I’m really glad that we did to appreciate the comparison between park experiences.

First, the kids here are SO well behaved and patient (this is more of a testament to Asian vs Western parenting). I don’t think I saw kids of any age on a phone, maybe a few Nintendo switches for the older kids but everyone was quiet, walking with their parents, and not having a meltdown whereas in Orlando, I saw a dad literally shove and threaten his crying son while in line for a ride in front of us. Next, it felt like there were a lot more people wearing Disney merch here. We checked out the stores and prices seemed really fair. Like $15 for a hat or $20 for a tshirt. A lot of people were walking around with collectable popcorn buckets on shoulder straps because you get a discount on refills which I thought was a neat idea. Lastly, WOW the food was SO good today and cheap too.

We got little green men mochi balls filled with chocolate, strawberry, and custard filling for $3, Carbonated apple tea soda for $3, fried chicken and egg salad in a steamed bun shaped like Mickey’s hand for $4, fried shrimp cutlet in a steamed bun shaped like Donald’s foot for $4. In writing this, I just realized the morbidity of the situation where we mainly ate severed heads and appendages from animated Disney characters.

I noticed people were sitting on the sides of the street since around the time we arrived at the park and they had stuffed animals lined up to watch the parade. Most of them had blankets and brought chairs, others had really expensive cameras and lenses. Parades are a big deal for the park and guests were parked to watch at least 2 hours before the parade began.

We decided to leave the park around 4pm because jet lag was setting in. Joanna didn’t want to go back to the hotel just yet because we would end up napping longer than intended so I suggested we check out a teddy bear restaurant I saw on instagram in Shibuya and maybe do a bit of shopping.

The journey there took almost a full hour. I passed out on the train but set a backup alarm to wake me up.

I’ve been to Shibuya station 3 times in the last 10 years and I swear it’s always under construction which makes navigating this huge area difficult with hundreds of people pushing through narrow corridors.

Joanna and I actually celebrated new years eve in 2017 the last time we were in Tokyo

Dinner was up the street from Shibuya crossing at Kumachan Onsen, a shabu shabu (hot pot) restaurant where they serve your soup broth in a teddy bear mold and you watch as it slowly melts to become your dinner. It’s cute and morbid at the same time. The host said we were required to wear bear ears because we had to be a bear so that we could eat the bear.

The food was just ok, $58 for both of us including a drink. It was a fun experience but I wouldn’t do it again. There are much better tasting foods for cheaper in Tokyo.

I made a little timelapse of the bear melting into the pot

We did a tiny bit of shopping to eat up some more time but by 8pm, I was dragging my feet and it would take about 50 minutes to get back to our hotel. Joanna got a 2nd wind because we ran into a gachapon station and they had teeth capsules which she basically got all the ones that were left in the machine.

Got back to the hotel and our bags did indeed arrive as promised! We’re heading to DisneySea tomorrow so I’m looking forward to more delicious severed appendages.