Family Vacation @ Tokyo - Day 3, Disneyland

The magical day that my girl has been waiting for: Disneyland!

We gotten ready by 8.30am and made our way to the train station. It was still drizzling in the morning. Lucky the weather changed for the better by noon. Since we have explored the train lines and routes yesterday, we decided that our breakfast will be made up of rice rolls, bread and pastries along the Keio street in Tokyo Station (along the way to Keio Line).

After breakfast, we continued the train ride to Maihama Station. Blessed with good weather (windy & sunny), we walked from the station to Disneyland. When we reached the entrance, there was a musical band playing the Disney songs and it enhances the overall Disney magical happiness. I can't wait to explore the magical land especially since we were not able to cover much of DisneySea yesterday due to the bad weather.

We saw people queuing to take photos with Mickey Mouse and wanted to join the queue but the staff told us that they are stopping the queue line due to the weather (the wind was coming very strong). Nonetheless, the kind staff told me that we can get our photos taken with Mickey at his house in Toon Town when she saw Janelle's disappointed face after I told her that we cannot join the queue.

Getting excited in the train. We gotten the Mickey headband for Janelle in DisneySea.

The magical land of happiness and fun

Hand-in-hand to Disneyland. Sweet!

A picture taken with Mickey passport. Jayven was fascinated by Mickey.

Tokyo Disneyland is celebrating its 30th anniversary with Halloween theme (you can see the pumpkins decoration on the pillars)

 

More pumpkins! Big & small

Our first stop in Disneyland was lunch in the Japanese Restaurant known as Restaurant Hokusai in World Bazaar. And that was our first Japanese meal since we reached Tokyo. They have children's menu and they provide craft paper for the kids to keep them occupied while waiting for their food.

All of us ordered set meals and we loved the food. Yummy tempura & udon. Even their pickles tasted nicer than those that I have tasted in Singapore restaurants. A pity I forgotten to take pictures as we were all famished so we tucked in once they served the meals.

During lunch, I was studying the map and a timetable that they have provided for all parades, shows and performances. And I spotted that the first parade will be in an hour's time. Hence after lunch, we went to the parade square to wait for the parade.

The Japanese were really organised as the staff will get us to sit on the floor to watch the parade. If you do not wish to sit, you can also stand at a farther distance. I like this arrangement as it allows everyone a good view of watching the parade. I went to HK Disneyland 2 years back and everyone was standing. I had to stand on tiptoe throughout the parade while carrying my girl so that we could get a better view. Thumbs up for the Japanese staff!

The Disney happiness parade is a must-watch as it simply adds on to the wonderful magical feeling and make you happy. My kids even dance along with the Disney music before the characters appeared. Janelle was busy identifying the characters and watching them pass by in excitement. Jayven couldn't keep his eyes off and keep pointing and woo-ing througout the parade. I'm glad that we managed to catch all 3 parades in Disneyland. 

My girl busy with the craft paper provided by the restaurant

She lurvveee the udon. Finished the bowl of udon and asked for second serving.

The happy Minnie with her Minnie popcorn. Isn't she sweet?

Even my mum was immersed in the Disney magic

We spotted this Donald Duck costume since DisneySea till Disneyland. My hubs wanted to get the costume for the lil ones but we were not able to find it in all the stores. He took this picture to ask the staff (language barrier) where he can get this costume but still unable to find.

Janelle was not keen in any rides and kept insisting that she want to find Mickey Mouse at Toon Town. So we brought her to Toon Town where she visited Goofy Play N Paint House, Donald's Boat and Mickey's House where we queued for slightly more than an hour to meet Mickey. The queue was formed within Mickey's House so at least we were not bored.

We were just in time to catch the Halloween's Special Parade (the second parade. It was a bonus parade to celebrate Halloween. Usually the park only run 2 parades) when we came out of Mickey's House. Another moment of halloween magic!

After the parade, we saw Chip N Dale and Goofy. There was no proper queue line and everyone just jumped in at every opportunity to take photos with them. Lucky Janelle managed to take photo with Chip while her brother was changing diapers. We decided to skip Goofy as it was too crowded. There is a Meet N Greet point in Toon Town too. A queue was formed at the point but they will change the mascot every 30minutes. By the time it was our turn, it was Professor and Janelle call him "Donald's grandpa" haha.

Photo taken with Professor

Slide found in Donald's Boat

Pluto's kennel in Mickey's House. Photo taken while queuing to meet Mickey

Finally! A photo taken with Mickey after queuing for more than an hour

Mickey hugging Janelle. Jayven want to touch Mickey too.

Mickey with Jayven

Say cheese with Chip

I couldn't resist the Minnie's popsicle so I gotten it though the weather was cold. See the greedy boy's expression! Cos the popsicle tasted sour :p

Apart from parades, the shows are a must-watch too. However, we realised some of the shows require tickets and the tickets have to be collected much earlier. Once all tickets are given out, we are not able to view the show. Nontheless we managed to catch Minnie Oh! Minnie at Theatre Orleans which is outdoor (no advance tickets required). It was a 6.30pm show but the skies was already dark. And the show lights help the performance to stand out. It was a great show.

The next parade was a nighttime parade scheduled at 7.30pm. Hence after the show, we proceeded to the parade square. It was freezing by then with the cold wind blowing. We decided to grab some hotdogs buns, fries and hot chocolate as dinner while waiting for the parade to start.

It was an electrifying nighttime parade with all the colourful sparkling lights. Jayven fell asleep halfway through the parade. I can imagine how exhausted he must be. It was getting very late by the time the parade ended and it was time for us to make our way back to Shinjuku. The 2 kids were totally exhausted and were cranky on the train ride back. Oh! Did I forget to mention that the Japanese were not exactly the most considerate commuter? We were with 2 kids and a stroller but no one will offer seats to us when it was crowded. And we realised that we were standing at the priority seats cabin.

All cuddled up warm and comfy in the stroller. He curled up asleep on his own.

Buys from Disneyland. Janelle hugging her Daisy Duck and Jayven with Donald Duck (janelle chose for him while she was asleep in Disney stores)

Anyway after all the fussing on the journey back, we reached the hotel after an hour train ride. Bathed the kids and they fell asleep soon after. It was much easier to get them to sleep in the hotel than back at home. I figured they must be very tired after a lonngggg day of fun. It was definitely a fun and happy day for the family.

Due to the good weather, we managed to cover much more in Disneyland than DisneySea. But we are still unable to cover the entire park as there were alot of stops in between for water and snack breaks, toilet breaks, diaper changes and time spent in queuing for meet and greet, parades and shows.

Janelle has enjoyed herself meeting her favourite and familiar characters, watching them at the spectacular performances. But she also commented that she liked Disneyland more than DisneySea. Guess it was due to the poor weather when we were in DisneySea that resulted in us seeking shelter more than exploring the park. Even then, I also feel that Disneyland is more magical than DisneySea.

If given a chance, I would love to return again and continue exploring the rest of the magical land.