After a 9 hour red eye flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Tokyo, Japan, we look a coach bus from the airport to the Tokyo Disney resort area. We stayed at the Hilton Tokyo Bay and it was amazing! Even the 24-hour convenience store in the lobby was fantastic. Luckily, we were able to check in to our room early, so we all took a much needed nap.
Funny story-- on our last day at the Hilton, a full cast and production were in the cafe/breakfast area, shooting a Japanese drama show. That was interesting to peek in on!
Our "Happy Family" room with bunk beds.
First evening out, we went to Ikspiari, a nearby shopping and dining area. We had dinner at Ippudo Ramen. My dream come true-- eating ramen in Japan!
We're here! Tokyo Disneyland!
Waiting for our first ride-- Pooh's Hunny Hunt. As you can see in this picture, Parker was not a fan of the heat and humidity. I don't think he completely understood why we were spending all this time lining up in the heat. He was much happier once he realized what Disney had to offer.
This ride was one of our favorites. The area outside of the ride smells like honey because they sell honey popcorn from a nearby cart. It makes the experience even more magical. To give you an idea, this ride opened at Tokyo Disneyland in 2000 and 19 years later, it still has really long lines. It's a ride completely unique to Tokyo Disney, so it was a fun one to experience.
After our first ride, we knew we needed to get some refreshments. The heat index was between 106 and 108 degrees Fahrenheit. We put a two hundred yen (~USD $2) into a vending machine and Jack pressed the button, thinking he was buying a bottle of water. It turned out of be a Aquarius, a drink that tastes like Gatorade (but much more delicious). I looked it up and found out that the flavor is grapefruit. This stuff is so good. We got it every time we saw it.
Tokyo Disney has so many unique snacks, meals and merchandise. This is a tropical fruit Mickey ice bar. We had many frozen treats during our two days at Disney.
I ordered a chicken curry (for breakfast!) and it came with this Mickey egg-- isn't it amazing?!
We had to ride Bryan's favorite ride-- Pirates of the Caribbean. Parker was a fan. He was not a fan of my favorite ride-- Haunted Mansion.
Parker liked helping us navigate with the map.
Isn't this great?
See, I told you we love Aquarius! So refreshing on a hot and sunny day.
Look at the size of this Mickey burger purse!
There's the egg as earrings.
Even the monorail was adorable.
Outside Monsters Inc Ride and Go Seek.
We've been following many blogs and YouTube vlogs about Tokyo Disney and we knew we had to try these green alien mochi. There were three flavors-- strawberry, chocolate and vanilla.
This is the Mike Wazowski melon bread. Yup, bread that tastes like... melon. Think Hawaiian bun, but with a hint of cantaloupe.
Salisbury steak with the Mickey egg.
The sun goes down on Tokyo Disneyland. It was a fun first day at the parks.
Day two. I knew how to better prepare myself. The night before, I stopped by the convenience store and picked up some coffee and some purse snacks (we ate many onigiri (Japanese rice balls) along the way).
Sophie fully played the role of Tokyo Disney fan :)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was our first ride at Tokyo DisneySea. Our favorite ride at DisneySea was Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Even the restrooms had Mickey foam soap dispensers. They sold a version at the gift shop and it's now in our bathroom at home. A nice way to bring a little Disney magic back home.
Feels like I'm back in Boston.
Beautiful mural in the electric train station.
A kind cast member saw our family looking overwhelmed in a Duffy gift shop (seriously, they love Duffy in Japan!). She asked if this was our first visit and then gave us these stickers.
Minnie raspberry peach ice pop. This one melted fast in the hot sun.
We went to the Mermaid Lagoon indoor area to get out of the sun and enjoy some air conditioning.
Hey, there's Mickey and Donald!
There's even a hotel inside DisneySea.
The Tower of Terror. There's a different story here, since the Twilight Zone is not popular in Japan.
These kids have traveled around the world!
We ended the night with Fantasmic.
The next day, we slept in and then headed back to Ikspiari for sushi.
Parker, frequent flyer.
My view to the right.
All of this fun is exhausting.
I like buying Christmas ornaments as souvenirs and couldn't find any, so I picked up a couple of keychains that I'll use as ornaments. Disney sushi and ramen. How perfect!
There are so many food-themed souvenirs.
Of course, I had to spend our leftover yen on special flavored KitKat.
We got this from a vending machine at the airport. It's like vanilla soft serve from a pouch. Pretty tasty.
Thanks for taking the journey through our summer vacation photos. We had so much fun on our trip. Tokyo DisneySea is easily my favorite Disney park.
