Tokyo Disneyland

October 3rd--Just write "suckers" all over our foreheads because we caved in and went to Disneyland today. This morning while eating breakfast, we talked it over and decided it was such a waste to be staying right here on Disney property and not go to Disneyland. It was off-and-on showers during the morning so we waited until 2:00 to make our final decision about whether or not to go to Disneyland. About this time was when the rain began letting up, so we purchased the discounted Starlight ticket that allowed us to enter the park at 3:00 and off we went. We entered the park at 3:00 with thousands of other people. We were immediately greeted by Pooh, Pinocchio, and the 7 dwarfs so it was instant entertainment. From the entrance, we made our way through Cinderella’s Castle to Fantasyland. I stood in line at the Peter Pan ride while Mike headed off to get a Fastpass. When he returned, there were no more Fastpasses to be given out today and the main rides were at 100 minute long waits. We didn’t let the crowd or the wait times ruin our day. We just patiently waited in line for Peter Pan, Dumbo and then Pinocchio all while enjoying chocolate popcorn and a parade that went right by us. At about 5:00, we headed into Toontown where we rode the Gadget's Go Coaster, visited Chip & Dale’s tree house, Donald’s boat, and Minnie’s house. From Toontown, we went to Autopia. Austin had seen the cars from the top of the roller coaster and really wanted to go drive a car. Luckily, the line was pretty short for this one. We never really stopped for dinner. We all just snacked along the way with lots of popcorn, pizza spring rolls, and donuts too. By this time, it was 7:30 and time for the Electrical Parade. The Japanese have it going on with the whole parade process. They require you to sit down and to fold down your strollers. So, we were a good 5 rows back from the curb, but had no problem seeing the parade. All I can remember from past Disney parades is you are just fighting to get to the front to see. Anyway, the Electrical Parade was so good and exactly how I remember the “true” Electrical Parade to be. It was over about 8:00 and we made a mad dash for the Snow White ride and found ourselves in a short line. After the ride, the kids really wanted to do the Pooh ride. This ride was top on our list and the kids kept begging to ride it. We kept checking the wait time all day and it ranged anywhere from 60-100 minutes. At this point in the day though, we weren’t sure what else we were going to do so we all went and stood in line. The line went by fairly quickly especially since we got to enjoy the fireworks from the line. Pooh’s Hunny Hunt was well worth the wait. It was different than anything we had ridden and very cute. We also got out of the ride just in time to see the last parade of the day, Bansai Villain. By the time the parade was over it was after 9:30 and the park closed at 10:00. So, we just made our way toward the exit, going into a few shops and exited at 10:00. It was a great decision to go to Disneyland. Even with the crowds, we had a great time. Also, after today, we can describe the Japanese as clean and efficient. We had already noticed this, but it was proven very true at Disneyland with the way the lines and rides functioned.

Tokyo Giants

October 2nd--We woke up today to more rain. We obviously got lucky yesterday to have blue skies and sun. We had planned to spend the day exploring Tokyo, but decided to stay around this hotel this morning instead. However, we still plan on going into Tokyo because we have tickets to the Tokyo Giants game. The Tokyo Giants are THE baseball team here in Japan. And if you don't know, baseball is HUGE in Japan. So, being baseball fans, we were excited to see a game here in Japan. We were also lucky that the Giants play in the Tokyo Dome, so no worries about the weather. We arrived at the Tokyo Dome a couple of hours before the game started. This gave us plenty of time to walk around the Tokyo Dome City which is the area outside of the dome with an amusement park and many shops. We went into the dome and promptly met the mascot for the Giants. We went to find our seats before walking around the inside of the dome. It was interesting to not see the normal ball game food that we are used to. The food stands were filled with Japanese food (of course). The only Americanized food was hot dog which the kids had for dinner. It was also a little weired to sit in the stands and smell fish! We watched the normal pre-game activities, but of course, weren't sure exactly what was happening because everything was in Japanese. Once the game started, it was just like any other game, except for the Japanese announcers. We enjoyed watching the game and cheering on the Giants. Unfortunately, the Giants lost, but they did have a 9th inning rally, which created some excitement for the kids. After the game, we left the dome and caught the subway back to the hotel. It was a fun evening in Tokyo.

Tokyo DisneySea

October 1st--We woke up this morning to just cloudy skies so it was off to DisneySea. DisneySea is unique to Tokyo and is based on ocean legends and myths. It offers seven ports of call including Mediterranean Harbor, Mysterious Island, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery and American Waterfront. After a quick breakfast, we were out the door of the hotel a little before 9:00. It was great to be so close to the park so it only took us about 5 minutes before we were inside the park seeing the Disney AquaSphere (a water fountain with a large model of the earth) and taking pictures with Goofy and Pluto. The park was totally decorated with Halloween stuff too. Mediterranean Harbor is the entrance "port of call" that is designed to look like Venice with a little bit of Italian fishing village thrown in there. It is so neat for us to be able to see things like this and say "we've actually been there". Anyway, we decided to immediately start heading to Mermaid Lagoon, but on our way we stopped off in Mysterious Island "port of call" to ride 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Mysterious Island is not an island though. It is built into the side of Mount Prometheus which is the giant volcano located in the center of the park. From here, we made our way to Mermaid Lagoon. We first stopped off to meet Ariel since this "port of call" is based on the film The Little Mermaid. We rode every ride there was to ride in this area including the Whirlpool (picture tea cup ride). As we were standing in line with 2 excited kids, Mike looks at me and says "I don't think I can ride this" and bails on me. I was stuck riding the ride and by the time it was over, I know my face was as green as my shirt. It took me a little while to get over it, but I was able to recover while watching 'Under the Sea' in the Mermaid Lagoon Theater. Most of the rides in the Mermaid Lagoon are inside an area that looks like the Palace of King Triton and gives the feeling of being underwater. From here, we went to the Arabian Coast "port of call". Mike and the kids rode the carousel as I was out on anything that turned in a circle at this point. Amazingly, by this point, the sun had come out and it was blue skies! Then we went into the Magic Lamp Theater to watch a 3D movie featuring the Genie from Aladdin. On our way to ride Sinbad's Storybook Voyage, we made a short stop to visit Mickey Mouse all dressed up. The kids were thrilled to meet Mickey and the excitement lasted into the next ride. Sinbad's Storybook Voyage is very similar to "It's A Small World". By the time we finished up on this ride, it was time for lunch. We ventured into the next "port of call", Lost River Delta to find some lunch. Since the rides in this port had requirements taller than the kids, we moved on to the next port, Port Discovery, known as the marina of the future with Stormride. This was the first ride that we had to stand in line for, but we enjoyed strawberry popcorn along the way. The ride itself is a simulator ride that took us into the eye of the storm and was a little intense for the kids. From here, we rode Aquatopia before making our way into the last "port of call", American Waterfront. We saw a long line into a store and at first couldn't figure out what it was, but soon did when I peeked in. We had seen so many people inside the hotel and all around DisneySea carrying stuffed bears around. Up until this point, we didn't understand what it was all about. Well, we stood in line to go check out these bears and soon found out that it is Duffy, The Disney Bear. At this point though, the kids decided they didn't want a bear. So off we go to ride the Transit Steam Liner around the entire park. It was a round trip ride back to the Cap Code section. While pulling back into the port, Abby decided that she did want to go back and get Duffy. Once we were inside the store (after standing in line again), we found out that Duffy is exclusive to Tokyo. The Japanese are crazy about this bear. I would almost argue that he is more popular than Mickey Mouse here. Austin decided that he wanted one as well. They are really cute bears and Abby called hers Stuffy. So, now with 2 bears in tow, we made our way through American Waterfront to stand in line at Tower of Terror. We enjoyed some more strawberry popcorn and black pepper popcorn while waiting in line. Luckily for the kids, the ride doesn't last very long. Abby is very proud in saying that she didn't cry because she kept telling herself to "suck it up". Her face was frozen the whole ride though. Now as for Austin, he just had that curious look on his face during the ride, but once it stopped all his fear came out with a big cry. He left the ride crying and saying "I don't 'yike' that ride". I'm sure not too many 3 years can say that they've rode the Tower of Terror though. After this ride, we had basically made our way around the entire park and could successfully say that we had done everything that the kids could do. So, we grabbed a quick bite for dinner and rode a couple of rides again before the laser/fire/water show. The show was done in the Mediterranean Harbor all in the water. It was a great show. After the show, we sat down for dessert before the fireworks show. When the fireworks were over, we exited the park and headed back to our hotel. At this point, we were so glad that we were 5 minutes away from our hotel. We arrived back just a little after 9:00 with very tired, but happy kids. Our day flowed really nicely. The crowds were very minimal and the weather was perfect so it was a great day at DisneySea.

Rainy Tokyo

September 30th--We had planned to go to DisneySea today, but after seeing the weather forecast and waking up to rain, we decided to wait until tomorrow. Today was spent just hanging around the hotel. The kids played in the play area downstairs for a good while this morning and then we headed to the indoor pool. The whole swimming process is quite an ordeal around here. We first had to shower from head to toe making sure we washed our hair before entering the pool. Then after swimming, of course, we wanted to shower from head to toe again (washing our hair). After going through this process, we had a light lunch before heading up to the room to rest for a few hours. After resting, we did head back down to the pool for a couple of hours. Yes, went through the whole showering process again and again. This is a little bit more challenging for Abby and I than the boys. It's not fun washing our hair 4 times in one day, but the payoff of swimming was worth it. We had a lot of fun playing around in the pool. After showering off, we all got dressed and headed to the Rainforest Cafe (appropriate for today's rainy weather) which is right here on the Disney Resort. Both kids really enjoyed the atmosphere at the restaurant especially the animals. After dinner, we took 2 very tired kids back to the room for bed. I believe they were both sound asleep by 7:30. Even though we stayed inside most of the day, we definitely wore them out. Mike and I caught up on some of the new Fall shows before heading to bed.

Happy Magic Room

September 29th--We arrived safely to Tokyo after a 2 hour train and a short subway ride. Upon getting off the subway, we got on the monorail that took us to our hotel. We are staying at the Hilton Tokyo Bay on the Disneyland Resort. I have to say it's a nice change and the kids were so excited to see all the Disney stuff everywhere. We arrived at the hotel a little before 2:00, but couldn't check in until 3:00. So, we grabbed a quick bite to eat while watching the kids play. The Hilton has 2 play areas in the lobby that include a TV, legos and a ball pit. Around 3:00, we got checked in and headed up to our Happy Magic Room. The room is awesome...it is totally designed with kids in mind. The hotel has 3 floors full of these rooms. You'll have to look at the pictures to get the full image of the fantasy world we are living in for the next 6 nights. Also, there are several different animals associated with this theme and we are ironically enough in the frog room. After finding all the fun activities in the room, we headed out to go to Ikspiari, the town area that is filled with shopping and entertainment. The kids were so excited to be on the Disney Resort, but couldn't understand why they couldn't go to Disneyland RIGHT NOW. So, we thought we'd appease them with going to the Bon Voyage store that houses a ton of Disney products. Austin picked out a Halloween DisneySea boat and Abby got a Minnie Mouse bow. She immediately put it in her hair. At this time, it was close to dinner and we decided just to go back to the hotel to eat. We ate Italian food for dinner and headed to bed.

Monkeying Around in Kyoto

September 28th--Today was our last day in Kyoto so we had a few must sees for the day. The morning started off cloudy, but was very pleasant. However, as the day went on it turned humid and rainy at times, but it didn't stop us from what we wanted to see. Our first stop of the day was to the Nijo Castle. It was a nice change from all the temples. The Nijo Castle (Nijojo) was the Tokugawa shogun's Kyoto home built in 1603. The main building, Ninomaru Palace, had nightingale floors. These wood floors made a sound like birds when walked on. This was to protect the shogun from enemies, even though the palace was surrounded by a moat and stone walls. Outside of the palace, we really enjoyed the beauty of the garden and loved the beginning colors of Fall. From the castle, we caught a bus to the Arashiyama area of Kyoto. It was here that we decided on a quick lunch before heading into the Bamboo Forest. While walking to the forest, we saw 2 Geisha girls being pulled on a rickshaw. It was so neat to see them in such a "traditional" environment. There is no other way to describe the Bamboo Forest than to say "picture a forest, except for all the trees, there were Bamboo trees all over the place". Mike's first comment upon seeing all the bamboo was "Wow, we would of had a heyday here for Pike Swamp". We walked through the forest and then down by the Katsura River where we enjoyed some ice cream. After our snack, we went to the Iwatayama Monkey Park. We really love our kids because at this time it was raining and to get to where the actual monkeys were, we had to walk to the top of Mount Arashiyama. This required us to climb up a very steep mountain path in the rain. It was a fun experience though once we got to the top and recovered from our climb. We entered into a room where the windows were covered with cages. We purchased a bag of peanuts and a bag of apples to feed the Japanese macaque monkeys. There's a reason we were protected by the cage because these animals are definitely wild. We were told not to touch them, feed them outside, or look them in the eye. After feeding them, we did step outside and get a beautiful view of Kyoto down below. From here, we made our descent down which was a whole lot easier. When we got to the bottom, we were pretty tired so we hoped on a bus back to our room to regroup. We had thought about going to eat downtown, but everyone was tired so it was back Kyo-Chabana for one last pancake. We will definitely miss that restaurant and it's great food.

Nara, Japan

September 27th--Today, I decided to get up early (4:45am) in order to attend a 6am Zen meditation session. It was held at a temple on the eastern side of Kyoto. I walked to the bus station, only to find out that the buses don't start running that early. So I hopped in a cab and headed to the Nanzenji Temple. It didn't take that long in a taxi so I arrived around 5:30. There were a couple of other people walking through the grounds so I followed them. They went into a building next to the main temple but I stayed outside for a few more minutes. It was nice to enjoy the cool, peaceful early morning. A few minutes before 6:00, I headed in, took off my shoes and headed up stairs. I was greeted in Japanese and handed a piece of paper with Japanese writing. I was a little nervous because I didn't know if it was going to be an issue that I didn't speak Japanese. I then entered a large room and there were mats sat out on the floor facing the front of the room. There were about 50 people already sitting on the floor in silence. I found a place and sat down, Indian style, trying to follow the lead of the others. An older man was going around positioning everyone and of course, he came over to me. He took my legs and crossed them so that one foot was up top when crossed ...I think this position is called lotus in yoga. He also straightened my back and positioned my hands. Shortly after, the monk at the front of the room began the session. I must say that while I was looking forward to enjoying some peaceful meditation, I found myself spending the majority of the time thinking about how uncomfortable I was. It was really hard to sit completely still on the floor for so long. My legs started going to sleep and then my knees and back started hurting. After around 40 minutes of silent meditation, the monk began to speak and the rest of the session was all in Japanese, so I was a little lost. Suffice it to say, it wasn't the "relaxing meditation" I had hoped for. However, the early morning walk on the temple grounds at sunrise and then the walk around afterwards, were very peaceful. It's nice to see temple grounds like this without the crowds. I did have to make a stop at a nearby Starbucks before heading back to the room to meet up with Amy and the kids. They were just getting up and ready and so we decided to head out for the day to the nearby town of Nara. In order to get to Nara, we hoped on the rapid train from Kyoto that took about 50 minutes. We arrived in Nara right about 11:00 a.m. We immediately started walking toward the main attraction in Nara...the Great Buddha. The temple was quite a walk and so after a while, everyone was getting hungry for lunch. We really wanted to just find something quick and so we gave into the kids request to eat at McDonald's...or I should say the 3 of us ate at McD's. Amy ran into a pita shop across the street to grab her lunch to go. After lunch, we continued our walk and were shortly greeted by our first deer. In Nara Park, over a 1,000 deer roam freely because they are considered to be divine messengers. The kids weren't sure about the deer, but they quickly adapted and were wanting to feed all the deer. It was just the craziest thing to see deer allowing humans to touch them and they weren't scared. We actually commented on how we would never, ever see anything like this in Texas. In fact, the closer we go to the Todaji Temple, the more deer we saw. They were literally all over the place, but were kept out of the temple itself. We entered the temple area and immediately saw the Daibutsuden which is the wooden structure (the largest wooden structure in the world) that houses the Great Buddha (the largest bronze Buddha in Japan). We walked in a circle in order to see the Great Buddha from all angles. Behind Buddha is a huge wooden column with a small hole in it near the ground. According to popular belief, if you can manage to crawl through this opening, you'll be sure to reach enlightenment. Abby and Austin climbed through it with no problems. Amy was contemplating whether or not to do it until she saw several women really struggle to get through it and decided that she probably wouldn't have been very graceful at it. From here, Amy and I got our fortune by shaking a bamboo canister until a wooden stick with a number came out. The number corresponded with a piece of paper. Amy was thrilled with hers of 'Good Luck'. I, on the other hand, received one that said "No Luck". However, I had the opportunity to negate my fortune by tying in on a rack at the Temple! After leaving the temple, we got snow cones and wandered back through all the deer. We made it all the way back to the park area and bought deer food to feed the deer one last time, except for one problem, we couldn't find any deer in the area we were in. It was absolutely amazing that there were so many deer around us before and now we couldn't find a single one. So we walked toward the Kofukuji Temple which has a five-story pagoda. It was close to this temple where we finally found a few deer to feed before heading back to the train station. On our walk back to the train station, we looked in a few shops. Our train left Nara a little after 4:00 and arrived back in Kyoto around 5:00. The kids were hungry so we headed to dinner and went back to the restaurant we ate at the first night, Kyo-Chabana. Tonight we all tried something different and the food was wonderful (well at least for 3 of us, Abby got really picky tonight). After dinner, it was laundry time. We were lucky to have a coin laundry right here at the hostel so we decided after a week of not doing laundry, it was a must tonight.