A Journey of the Last Full Day

We got to breakfast about 8 am so we could get out to today's 1 item on our docket before the crowds got bad.  We had breakfast at the hotel's buffet.  We had breakfast here yesterday, too, I forgot to mention in Sunday's blog.  It's an East/West buffet with rice, seaweed, soup, yogurt, very soft scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit, salad, hash brown sticks and other items.  We had juice, coffee and melon Fanta.  Leo joined us yesterday but not today.

The 3 adults headed out to walk through the Nakamise Shopping Street while the shops were open.  Mom was wanting to buy a fridge magnet with the Japanese flag on it.  We both found magnets we liked so we bought them.  As we got up to the shrine I rinsed my hands as is the custom and tossed most of our coins we had left into the offering.

I wanted to try the fortune shaker box thing at the shrine that I had seen on YouTube.  I did this when we were at the Miyajima Shrine, too.  It's a metal box with lots of wooden sticks in it.  You shake it around and shake one out of the small hole in the bottom.  I got my stick, found the number written on it and the small drawer with the same corresponding number on it.  I put the stick back in the box and took out my fortune.  All I saw was BAD FORTUNE.  I decided not to read further!  The directions near the shaker box said that if you get a bad fortune that you can tie it to a specific place nearby and leave it behind, so I did.  No bad juju!

We met up with Leo and walked across the street to the Asakusa Tourist Center and took the elevator up to the 8th floor for a view from their observation deck.  it wasn't very high, but we were going to take a look and see if it satisfied Mom's desire to get a sense of the size of the city.  And it was free, so... she was satisfied with it so we didn't need to go to Skytree and pay $20 each to go up for a super high view.  

Leo wanted another katsu sandwich for lunch so he and Google maps took us on a winding trip to find the Komeda Coffee restaurant, which is part of the chain we ate at couple of times at the start of the trip.  Remember pizza toast with plenty of egg?  LOL.  Same place.  He said it was the best katsu sandwich he had all month and he wanted another one.  So off  went.  Kenji and I shared a side salad and I had a piece of his katsu sandwich.  Yummy!  Mom just had the side salad.

We're all just so beat and exhausted after a month away and in the heat and humidity that an afternoon in the hotel room reading, napping, blogging and packing was just fine with us.

We ventured out for dinner and found a small place where were all had the friend noodles, Mom also ordered edamame, I ordered 3 skewers (the minimum allowed) and Kenji ordered kaarage (friend chicken chunks).  I also had a shochu lemon drink.  It was all light and yummy and just enough.

We then went to Family Mart and 7/11 to try and spend down our Suica cards so we don't leave any money on them, cuz we can't get refunds.  Snacks and breakfast were purchased.

Off to sleep.  Planes don't wait for anyone!

A Journey to Buy Stuff

Sunday came early.  All the mornings seem early.  There's light coming in the windows before 5 am.

Mom and I decided not to go to the Imperial Palace after all due to the heat and humidity predictions and the fact that there aren't many flowers to be seen right now, just some roses.

Instead we went to a POP Mart store to look for Labubu toys for my Accountant, who had asked me to look for his kids.  Really long story short, the line was 2+ hours long, in the 95 degree heat with 70% humidity.  I easily decided against that.

So off we went in search of the Kitamura store.  Kitamura is an upscale handbag line.  When Kenji & I were here in '04 I got a lovely small-ish "date night" purse that I really loved.  It has their trademark "K" on the front which sealed the deal for this gal whose name starts with K.  However, my 2004 purse has begun to fall apart, so I wanted to find a new one.

Mom and I took a couple of trains to the Skinjuku area and walked towards the direction Google Maps said to.  When it said we were there I didn't see any Kitamura signs.  We walked around the big block and finally I realized that Google Maps said it was on the 2nd floor of the department store.  Doh!  In we went and found them on the 2nd floor.  Not a whole Kitamura store.  Ok then.  I looked around and did not see the same design as I had before.  Darn.  So I looked for what I liked from what they had.  A woman working there approached me and was very helpful and kind and her English was excellent!  She pointed out the purse I was leaning towards was not real leather but fake leather and that sealed the deal.

While she went to the storeroom to get a new purse and Mom and I looked at wallets to pass the time.  When she came back I went to the register to pay and she gave me a brochure and my receipt and explained if i went to the basement floor I could go to the Tax Refund Center and get the tax back, since I'm not a resident of Japan.  Great!  We learned quickly that any purchase over 5,500 yen (about $37) is eligible for returning the tax for non-residents.  As I turned to leave Mom sidled up to the register, trying to be sneaky.  I think she bought a wallet I had looked at.  We both went with our receipts down to the Tax Refund Center and got our tax back in cash.  I got about $12!

We headed back to the hotel, changed clothes and relaxed and cooled off for a bit, watching the last day of the sumo tournament.  What ever shall we do tomorrow with no sumo to watch???  The tournament has been 3-6 pm each day since July 13.  However, tonight it ended just before 5:30 and the remaining time was used for the presentation of trophies (I swear it seemed like at least 10 different trophies and cups and all sorts and manner of congratulatory items).  He was feted like the champion he was and interviewed and the whole ceremony took the remaining 30 minutes.

We went to meet the guys and walk around to find dinner.  We walked through the Senso-ji Shrine grounds and it was lovely in the night with the lights illuminating it.  We walked down the Nakamise Shopping Street and most of the shops were closed, but that gave us a chance to see the beautiful artistic paintings on the roll down steel doors.  It was all lovely in the night light.

We found a ramen place for dinner nearby.  I ordered a cold noodle ramen which hit the spot!  Mom had a warm ramen and so did the guys.  A stop at Family Mart for ice cream and back to the rooms for the night.

A Journey of Nothing Really

This AM we left the Hilton and took an Uber to the train station and took a train into Tokyo proper.  Then we took an Uber the rest of the way to our hotel, or else we would've had to take 2 more trains and walk a bit to our hotel.

We checked in and found out that I had only made a reservation for 1 room.  Uh-oh.  I scrolled through my emails furiously, trying t find the other one, but it wasn't there.  I got very lucky that they had another room available.  Phew!  We had to wait about 90 minutes until check-in time so we walked down the street to a place Kenji found online that had good reviews.  There was a wait outside, so that was a good sign.  I wrote Kenji on the wait list outside, the only name in Latin letters, so I figured the guy would know if was the White folks who were waiting.  We also were the only party of 4.  The guy going back and forth inside and outside gave us a menu in English after I used my phrase asking for one.

As folks' names were coming up next he asked them to give him their orders, before being seated.  I did a Google Translate and asked him if he wanted our order, too.  He seemed surprised and said yes.  So we ordered.  Finally, a table for 4 came up and we were seated.  That had taken about a half hour.  Now we needed to wait another hour before our rooms would be ready.

The guys both ordered the chicken cutlet, Mom had a burger patty with Japanese sauce and I had beef curry and rice.  We all reported they were all yummy!

We walked into the hotel and got our room keys and got busy sorting and starting laundry.  And that was how the rest of the day was spent.  Laundry and just chilling in our rooms. Relaxing and not tourist-ing.

We got dinner from the Family Mart next door and just stayed in, decompressing, then going to bed.

A Journey of the Beginning of the End

I felt bad leaving Mom at the hotel while we went off for our last day at the parks, but it was ok because we found out that check out wasn't until noon, so she got to stay in the room the whole time and didn't have to sit in the lobby waiting for us.

We had park hoppers today, which meant we could go to both parks, to hop back and forth.  While it's not as easy here as in Anaheim, it's not as difficult or time-consuming as in Florida.  The other park in a monorail ride away.  We started in DisneySea since it's the park our hotel is attached to and is very quick to get into.  We showed our Hotel Guest passes and were inside after a short wait.

As we did the first day, we went to Tower of Terror first.  We rode the Electric Railway to the other stop and wandered around a bit.  Leo took off and Kenji and I had some time to walk and reminisce about our first time here and how we enjoyed that for what it was and how we're enjoying seeing Leo's face light up here.  I won't be surprised if he ends up working here as an Imagineer one day.

We met up with him and rode Sinbad again and went and had another farewell gyzoa roll.  I took half of mine back to Mom.  We said goodbye to Leo and went back to the room, got our luggage and Mom and moved hotels for 1 night at the Hilton.  This way we can stay in the parks late and not have to take a long train ride back into Tokyo afterwards.  We took the monorail around to the Bayside Station, which is the station for the non-Disney-owned hotels, the Sheraton, the Grand Nippon and the Hilton, where we'll be staying for one night.  We checked in and let them know that mom would be staying in the lobby til our rooms were ready at 3 pm.  The very nice lady, who spoke almost flawless English, asked if we'd like to request the room for she & I to be ready at 1:30, which was only and hour away.  Yes, please!  That was super nice that she mentioned that as a possibility.  She then asked if it'd be ok for the guys' room to be ready after 5 pm and Kenji said yes.  She gave us a slip of paper which we gave to Mom, that at 1:30 she could take to the check in desk and they would give her a key to our room, we stowed luggage with Bell Services and we were off to hit the monorail and go to Disneyland.

We had been watching the app for Monsters, Inc., Ride and Go Seek to show a wait time.  The attraction has been in refurb and today is the first day it's back open, so we were eager to ride it, but it hadn't shown up as having opened before we left DisneySea to transfer hotels.  On the way to Disneyland Kenji texted Leo and said it's up!  He met us there and we got in line when it said a 30 minute wait.  We got inside and about 5 mins later extra lights came on in and Kenji said "Uh-oh".  The attraction had gone down again and we were asked to leave the building.  Drat!  Kenji and I went to go get in line for Pooh and Leo said he'd wander around a bit waiting for it come back up.  We walked through the gift shop at the end of Pooh and I relented to Kenji's persistent asking if I wanted a new Tokyo Disneyland Resort umbrella.  We got one last time we were here and I still use it.  21 years later.  Ask me in person sometime about the back story about it.

Leo finally gave up and went back to DisneySea.  Kenji and I went to do some last shopping in World Bazaar and were going to head out when he checked the app one last time and lo and behold, the Monsters, Inc. attraction had come back up!  We hurried over there and got in line.  Kenji texted Leo to let him know and Leo's response was "are you kidding me???"  He did not get to us before we got to the front of the line and got in our ride vehicle.

It's a cute ride.  It's similar-ish to Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters in Anaheim, but you don't actually score points.  You use a flashlight and aim it at the Monsters, Inc. hard hats which have light sensor targets on them.  When a flashlight hits it something happens nearby, a monster pops out of hiding, a door opens or perhaps Boo herself pops out of hiding!  It's fun, but one and done.  The ride vehicle is very narrow for larger American bodies, plus Kenji had his camera bag, I had a purse and we had our shopping bag and the umbrella.  We felt rushed to get into the vehicle and sit down before the CM was pushing the safety bar down.  It kind of put a damper on the start of the attraction as we were still trying to get situated.

After that we went back to the Hilton and I got to see the room that Mom had been in since 2:30.  You know how Disney hotels have areas for little kids to sit and watch Disney movies while Mom & Dad check into the hotel?  Well, so did the Hilton and Mom got engrossed in watching Sleeping Beauty and didn't go to the room til an hour after she could've.  LOL.  Meanwhile Leo got over to Disneyland and got in line for Monsters, Inc., but it went down again and he gave up.  Poor kid didn't get to ride it at all.  He went back to DisneySea.

Kenji left the hotel and went back to close out the night with Leo at DisneySea.  After watching sumo (turns out there was a 15 day tournament so it was on TV everyday from the 13th to the 27th), Mom and I went down to the Hilton's lobby and looked at all of our dining options.  Hotel buffet, nah.  Expensive.  Lawson's (remember, kind of like 7/11 and Family Mart), in a pinch, maybe.  But then we found a bakery/panini place.  Yes, please!  Something different!  I had a mozzarella/tomato/basil panini and some lightly pickled cucumbers from Lawson's.  Mom and I shared a bowl of onion soup and she had an order gyoza.  We brought it all back to the room and ate at the table by the large picture window.  We turned off the lights when we saw fireworks start.  I could tell from the timing that they were from the projection show on the castle at Disneyland.  It was magical and we ooo'd and ahh'd a lot!

Tomorrow we move hotels again, into Tokyo proper.  Off to bed!

A Journey to Reunite

Today is a leisurely day for me. I was planning to take the Skinkansen back to Mishima to meet Mom after her conference, but she found a couple of new friends who are planning to take a Greyhound-type bus from the conference hotel to Tokyo, which saved me a LOT of time, so I took my time getting ready.  I sat and read my book club book for a good long while until she WhatsApp'd me that the bus had left Mishima.  I then left the hotel and made my way to go meet up with her.  

I took a train from Maihama (pronounced: my-i-ha-mah) which is the train station nearest Tokyo Disneyland, to Shibuya, a section of Tokyo.  We had WhatsApp'd and agreed to meet in the Waiting Room on the 4th floor.  Shortly after I got there she called and said she was on the 3rd floor, where the bus had arrived and could I come there and meet her new friends.  After a few minutes I found the escalator to the 3rd floor and found her!  Yay!  It worked!  We dropped her off and I found her again, all in a foreign country navigating public transportation!

After bidding her friends goodbye we found a sandwich shop and had a quick bite as it was now about 1:00 pm and we were hungry.  It was a 30 minute ride back to the Disneyland bubble.  I found the train line we wanted and got on board.  We rode and chatted and I suddenly realized that the stops I had seen on my way into Tokyo proper weren't the ones I was seeing now.  We had gotten on the wrong train!  Yikes!  And she had just complimented me on how well I was doing with it all *face palm*  Like when you're on the freeway and realize you're going the wrong way, we got off, went downstairs, and came back up on the other track headed back the way we came.  We had to change again in Tokyo Station which is a nightmare to navigate, but I found the right path and we were soon arriving at Maihama Station, switching to the Monorail and getting off at the DisneySea Station.  She chuckled a few times along the way as we got close to and then entered the Disney bubble at all the characters on posters and the people wearing Disney outfits and whatnot.

We got to the hotel and had to stop at the front desk to show her passport so they could list her as staying in the hotel.  We knocked on the guys' door and she got to say hi and let them know she's back.  We went to our room next door, cooled off and watched some sumo, which she didn't get to do at the conference cuz she was busy all day.

The guys went back to Disneyland, which is the park they had been at today, and for dinner Mom and I went to Ikspiari and looked at all the restaurants until we chose one we liked.  She had a ground chicken and fried rice bowl with miso soup and I had a curry with cheese and rice dish with miso soup.

We stopped at the grocery store in Ikspiari and picked up some breakfast for tomorrow and went back to the room and crashed.  She is amused with the way is decorated, all the Disney character touches in the wallpaper, the amenities, the wall hangings and pictures.  She's not a Disney Adult.  And that's ok.

A Journey of Continuing the Exploration

Wednesday was a day of repeat attractions and ones we didn't get to on Tuesday.  The guys had already ridden the new Rapunzel attraction in the new-ish Fantasy Springs area, so Leo didn't want to do that again, but Kenji said he'd ride with me.  It was super cute and at less than a 15 minute wait, it was even better.  The animatronics are really so very well done.  They truly are life-like moving figures of animated characters in the movies.  The technology is so amazing.  I absolutely loved the lantern scene!  It was as beautiful as it was in the movie.  We also rode the new Tinker Bell attraction, as Leo wasn't interested in riding that one at the moment, either.  He was off in another part of the park.  This was a real little kids ride, but we enjoyed it!  The colors and attention to detail were spot on.  It's the little things, people.

Kenji and I sat in a shady place and waited for Leo to get to us as it was time for our Priority Pass for Anna and Elsa's Frozen Adventure.  While not an E-ticket (Disney-speak for one of the best rides in the park) attraction, it is the favorite in Fantasy Springs and was much anticipated when it opened.  It seems to be a cross between the Frozen Ever After at Disney World and a little bit of something all it's own.  It follows the movie and tells the story in about 6.5 minutes.  We floated along gently in a flume log-style vehicle and had a couple of low slopes down a couple of small waterfall drops.  The attraction also employs the technique of moving the boat sideways and floating backward a couple of times.  Fun!  I think this attraction actually made it onto Leo's Top *Ever* 10 list for how well it was done.

It was a day for snacking as we had Linner (lunch/dinner) reservations for 4:00 pm, so we found the potato churro we had heard about and shared that.  It was interesting.  It seemed to be mashed potato extruded into a churro form and had a demi glace squirted into the middle like a jelly donut, but the whole things was very savory.  Leo liked it more than I did, but it was ok and I was glad to try it.  We also had a smoked chicken leg (so much better than the enormous, overly smokey turkey leg in the US parks) and a Lost Kids' Snack Box (we mobile ordered at Lookout Cookout, themed to Peter Pan) and we chose the butter chicken snack box.  It was 3 chicken tenders with seasoning to resemble butter chicken seasonings.  It wasn't wet.  There were a couple of shrimp chips (remember in the 80's the dehydrated disks that you dropped in hot oil, they expanded and got crispy?  Those.) and 3 seaweed fritters. It was yummy and we each got to taste each piece.  And even better, Kenji didn't want his shrimp chip so Leo & I got to share it! And there was one popover that we each had a bite of.

We rode the Electric Railway back to the American Waterfront and found a New York Deli serving pastrami sandwiches, so we got 1 to share.  It was good, but there was definitely more sauce and sauerkraut than pastrami.  I'm really enjoying the different options of soft drinks.  The melon Fanta is amazing!  That they offer other Fanta flavors is fun, lemon and orange, but their orange is not as sticky sweet and tastes more like real oranges.  I've also had apple/tea soda and really need Disneyland/DCA in Anaheim to get on the ginger ale band wagon!

We rode Journey to Center of the Earth and waited like 30 minutes for it.  I remember enjoying it when we were here before.  The guys rode it yesterday while I was resting in the room.  It was super fun!  Then I needed a coo off break and went back to Ariel's Playground and got myself a Sparkling Drink (seriously, that's what it's called on the app) which seemed to be like Sprite Light with some blue syrup and jelly bits as well as small chunks of pineapple.  I was given a large straw like you'd expect to get for a boba drink.  It was super refreshing and I had fun popping the jelly bits and pineapple in my teeth.

Then it was time for Linner.  Leo had made reservations for the food/show with Duffy & Friends.  If you're not familiar with Duffy, he's a small teddy bear that Minnie gave to Sailor Mickey to keep him company on his voyages.  He was introduced in 2002 as the "Disney Bear", and that's how Kenji & I knew him when we were here in '04.  Mickey gave him the name Duffy, because Minnie gave him to Mickey in a duffle bag.  His face is a hidden Mickey.  Since then Disney has introduced a few more "Friends" characters: ShellieMay, Gelatoni, StellaLou, CookieMay, 'Olu Mel, LinaBell and TippyBlu.  So.  Duffy and his friends put on a stage show for us while we ate.  When we got into the restaurant Leo showed our confirmation and we picked up the pre-determined meal of a large bao bun folded like a taco tortilla and was filled with salmon trout (a type of trout raised in Japan known for its firm texture and balance fat content, similar to salmon) that also had avocado, tomato, lettuce, cream cheese and red onion on it.  It was an unusual combination, but I didn't hate it.  I don't need to repeat it again any time soon, though.  Have y'all met my half Japanese husband who doesn't eat seafood unless it's battered, deep fried and called fish & chips?  This wasn't that.  He managed to use Google Translate and let the folks at the counter know that he is allergic to seafood and they gave him a bowl of curry & rice and he was very happy!  We also got a small salad and a gelatin-type dessert and a drink of our choice.  We didn't understand a word of the show but Duffy & his Friends seem to have a good time.  I guess Leo wanted to see the show since we don't have a large Duffy presence at the domestic parks.  I think his girlfriend may have also played a role in us seeing the show.  He bought a stuffed Gelatoni for the 2 of them to adopt and share.

I went back to the room to cool off, rest and change clothes before our dinner reservation at the SS Columbia.  It's the steamer ship in the American Waterfront that resembles the Queen Mary.  I met the guys there and Kenji & had a drink in the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge before dinner, although we almost didn't.  There was a lot of language barrier confusion about having a drink and being able to make it to our dinner ressie on time.  Kenji said most people come there and stay for an hour our more and order appetizers.  We just wanted a quick drink and the CMs thought that was very odd, but accommodated us.  We had our drink (Moscow Mule for me and a gin & tonic for Kenji) and we made it to our dinner reservation one floor up in plenty of time.

The SS Columbia dining room is themed as you'd think it would be, to a cruise ship dining room.  It was elegant and Leo said it reminded him of the Enchanted Garden restaurant on the Disney Dream cruise ship.  We agreed, although that one is more highly themed and decorated than this was.  It was explained to us that the meal is served in courses (like a cruise ship) and we could choose 1 of 2 appetizers and 1 of 3 entrees.  In between the appetizer and entree course was a fish course.  Kenji said we could split his between us.  Yay!  Kenji & I both order the minestrone soup, which for some reason had bits of chicken & sausage in it.  Leo had the Assorted Appetizers which included small bites of goat cheese and salmon trout, beans and vegetables in jelly (I'm not sure I understand this country's obsession with jelly (gelatin-izing) so much), duck gizzard and beef mousse with nuts.  He declared he enjoyed it all!

The fish course came and I was eager to have more than just my portion as Kenji had said Leo & I could split his.  It was a small piece of sea bream and baked lobster tail (a small one) on a bed of silky mashed potatoes with a Pernod (absinthe) sauce.  It was delicious!  The potatoes were sooo smooth and silky!  However, my dear seafood-averse husband decided to try the sea bream and decided it wasn't awful, so he ate the whole thing!  The nerve!  He did let Leo & share the tiny half a lobster tail and he enjoyed the mashed potatoes and Pernod sauce.  Well, there went *that* dream of having more than my one portion...

We all ordered the roast beef with truffle-scented red wine sauce served with black rice risotto.  It was a fairly thin slice of roast beef and a small portion of black risotto, just as you'd expect to get on a cruise ship, but it was very well prepared and very tasty.   It came with a small puff pastry round that was studded with an asparagus spear and sat on a small smear of what I think was purple mashed potatoes.  I wanted to lick my plate clean, but settled for using a piece of bread to sop it all up at the end.  The dessert was a bowl with very purple jelly (this looked and tasted like straight up jelly, like for toast) and a mousse cake that was held together with a circular mold that we were instructed to remove, but as soon as we did the mousse inside all fell out into the bowl.  I think the flat chocolate figures propped up on the mousse mold were Rapunzel and Flynn Rider.  I ate most of it and left about half of the weird purple jelly.  We were thanked profusely for coming and the service was very nice, if not a little stiff.

We walked slowly out of the area when we were done and Leo broke off to go do something on hi won as Kenji & I wandered though the streets headed back to our hotel.  As we got close to the Mediterranean Harbor it became obvious that the nighttime show was happening.  Yikes!  We were about to get into the middle of an enormous crowd!  We hustled our bustles through the pathways the CMs were keeping clear for folks not watching the show.  Only when we got close to the hotel guests only door did we stop and Kenji got to see a few minutes of the show I had seen last night.  Leo caught up to us by then and we all went into the bakery to grab some items for breakfast.  Only it's not really *that* type of bakery.  They don't have pastries and croissants, etc.  So I got what Leo had yesterday morning which was a Mike Wyzoski custard-stuffed melon bread and a Mickey baguette.  The whole loaf, no matter how you slice it, shows a Mickey head.  Fun!

Up to the rooms and off to sleep.

A Journey 17 Years in the Making

Kenji and I have been eager for today.  Today's the day Leo sees the DisneySea park with his own eyes.  We consider this the gold standard of Disney parks, as do many people.  Disney does not own the parks in Tokyo.  The Oriental Land Company does and they lease the characters and the Disney name from Disney.  They spent boo-koo bucks to build these parks and the attractions are done right, spending a huge amount of money, way more than Disney spends on the domestic parks in the US.  Disney Sea is a spectacular example of that and walking into the park for the first time, Leo was overcome with emotion seeing the beauty of the park for himself.

Since we were staying at a Disney hotel, we got to enter early, like in the US.  But, unlike the US, it's only 15 minutes early.  Boo hiss!  We lingered for a good while in the entrance area, Mediterranean Harbor, taking it all in.  Kenji and I were so happy to be back here after so long, we didn't want to leave the area.  We took lots of pictures and walked slowly towards the American Waterfront area, where Leo had chosen to have Tower of Terror be his first attraction today.

The Tower attraction here is different from the US versions.  The backstory centers around Harrison Hightower III, a wealthy and unscrupulous collector of antiques, who, on one of his expeditions, steals a cursed idol from a native tribe, disrespects it, and brings it back to his New York hotel, the Hotel Hightower.  On New Year's Eve 1899, while riding the elevator to his penthouse with the idol, Hightower mysteriously disappears and the elevator crashes.  The hotel is then known as The Tower of Terror.  A fun fact about Harrison Hightower, as shown in the hotel, is that the face used is that of Joe Rohde, one of Disney's most famous and most respected Imagineers (Disney-speak for a designer/engineer).  It was lots of fun to see how they played with his image and included him in the attraction, despite him not being involved in the design of it at all.  It's the most gentle of the Towers I've ridden (which total a whopping 3).  The drops aren't too much at once.  We walked right on and even had a CM stop and ask us if it was our first ride of the day and when we said yes, she pulled 3 stickers out of her bag and gave them to us.  They said 1st Ride!  Disney magic, people.  It's the little things.

From there we walked through the rest of the American Waterfront, through Cape Cod and into Port Discovery.  Here we wanted to ride Aquatopia, sort of like Autopia in the US, but on water.  And you don't have control of your vehicle.  And your vehicle isn't on a track.  But, other than that, just like it!  LOL.  Kenji and I rode this when we were here 21 years ago, in October.  Now it's summer and a little splashing from the water would feel nice, right?  Little did I know (Kenji did, but didn't tell me) that they add *extra* splashes and squirts and water to the attraction for cooling off in summer.  I had my phone out to try and get some pictures of Leo in his vehicle and literally before I knew it I was squirted  and was drenched!  Kenji handed me a washcloth (have I talked about the need to carry these around here?  There aren't paper towels in the bathrooms, not just at Disneyland, but ALL of Japan. They also are necessary in summer for mopping up sweat). and I wrapped my phone in it, getting NO pictures while on the attraction.  The rest of the time was spent giggling and realizing how absolutely drenched I was.  I was sweaty and now even more wet.  I wasn't happy about it as I was really even more uncomfortable, but I couldn't undo it.  What was done was done.  I just walked around wet for awhile.  You'd think as hot as it was I'd dry off quickly, right?  Wrong!  Have I mentioned yet and the 75-90% humidity each day???  Drying off didn't happen.

We wandered around the park, snacking and riding attractions, enjoying watching Leo explore a new park.  We wanted to find the famous Gyoza Roll that we fell in love with when we were here in 2004.  We found it!  It's not just at a cart anymore, then have built an actual counter service place for them and with proper seating!  Sa-weet!  It's outdoors, but in the shade, so ok!  We each got one.  He declared them delicious and I think he had like 4 more over the course of the rest of the days we were there.

I needed an a/c break so they took me to Ariels' Playground, which is an indoor area with all the kiddie attractions.  Think Bug's Land but themed to Ariel and Under the Sea.  It was gloriously cool in there!  I sat for at least a half hour and the guys came to get me to continue on our way.  We rode Sinbad and then went to see the newest area Fantasy Springs, which has been open just over a year.  It's a whole new land and has 4 attractions, Peter Pan's Never Land Adventure, Tinkerbell's Busy Buggies, Rapunzel's Lantern Festival and Anna and Elsa's Frozen Journey.  We all rode Peter Pan together.  Again, the animatronics are amazing!  It's hard to believe they're basically robots.  Later the guys rode Rapunzel's and said it was really good and I should ride it.  Ok, maybe tomorrow when we're back here.  It's a very well themed and immersive area.  I liked it a lot!

We went back to the Mysterious Island area and had lunch at Vulcania, another scramble buffet-style place. I had a cold noodle dish that was very ramen-like, but cold.  It was perfect!  The set (combo) came with a salad that either had shredded zucchini and sliced chicken breast with a sauce I couldn't identify, and a dessert of a yogurt-style Mickey head mold in a sauce of some sort.  Who knows, I only cared that it was yummy!  And everything tastes better when it's Mickey shaped, right?  We were all disappointed that the Mickey glove bread Leo ordered was just a single layer of bao type dough and had no filling. Oh well. better luck with a Mickey shaped food next time. The guys both enjoyed their meals.  I'm loving being able to order drinks like ginger ale and apple-tea soda.  Such a change from the same old same old at home.

After lunch I went back to the room to cool down and change clothes.  The guys stayed and I met them for dinner at Zambini Brothers Italian restaurant just inside the park from the hotel guest only entrance.  Kenji & I both had the spaghetti & meatballs and Leo had the tomato & basil long pizza (that's how it's listed on the menu, folks).  They were all yummy and Kenji & I shared a salad that had prosciutto and Japanese pumpkin in it.  I found a table upstairs facing Mount Prometheus, the park's icon, a volcano.  I had hoped to see it erupt, as I hadn't yet, but alas, it was not to be.

We parted ways after dinner as I wanted to scope out a spot to watch the nighttime show, Believe! Sea of Dreams.  Kenji and I had been blown away by the show we saw on the harbor when we were here in 2004.  I found a low wall to sit on while I waited the nearly 45 minutes until showtime.  Nice!  About 10 minutes before the show started it became obvious to me that I wasn't going to be able to actually see the show from my seat on the wall.  There were just too many people standing at the fence around the harbor and I wasn't going to be able to see over them.  Drat!  So I stood up with a couple of minutes left before the show and joined the throngs of people standing.  I was maybe 4 or 5 people back.  I could see, sort of.  Peering between people's heads I saw a good portion of the show.  From the DisneySea website: Nighttime entertainment where Disney friends remind dreamers to keep on believing and making their wishes come true.  Enjoy this spectacular show, which features large boats gliding dramatically over Mediterranean Harbor, bright lasers and pyrotechnics illuminating the night sky, as well as projection mapping that envelops the vast performance space of the harbor.

Now, I don't know about large boats, plural.  There was *a* boat.  Peter Pan and Wendy were on it.  The rest we large barges with video screen wrapped around them.  It was all based around the IP (intellectual property) that Disney owns, all the movies and characters.  There were inspirational videos clips from Coco, Tangled, Aladdin, Lion King and so many more.  Meh.  The projections on the hotel buildings were really well done and I enjoyed that aspect as it was truly original.  The rest of the show seemed cookie cutter for Disney.  The fireworks were fabulous, of course, but I left feeling I didn't really need to try and see it again, unfortunately, as that was a highlight for us in '04.