Tokyo Disneyland Everything Else (Part 2)

They post about Tokyo Disneyland was becoming too long, especially with pictures, so I am breaking it down into two posts. The first one focuses on the rides, this one on everything else.


There were a few surprises of the day. The first was that, while we know we are in Japan, we expected to see more non-Asian people. After all, when we go to Disneyland we see people of all races. Especially on that first super rainy day, we felt like the only non-Asian people at Disneyland.The rain kept away most characters. It also kept the PhotoPass photographers home. Speaking of PhotoPass photographers, before they take your picture with their camera, they try to sell you on the photograph. If you don't want it, they'll still take a picture with your camera, but if you want it, you are given a ticket and a 2-hour time window in which to pick up the photograph. Almost reminded me of the days before Disneyland switched to the PhotoPass card system and we came home with a slew of tickets. Except in those days, they did not try to sell their pictures and just took them.

The theme park tickets seemed cheaper than the US parks – even factoring in 100 Yen to a US Dollar (now down to 94 Yen to the dollar, not good). I wondered if one of the reasons is because Cast Members have to pay to get into Disney when they are not working. They also do not get passes to allow their friends to come in for free. Fortunately our friend, Masumi, has an annual pass and could join us in the park after her shift.

Oddly the way the passes worked you had to choose one park for days 1 and 2 of the pass, and could park hop on the third and fourth days. There is a fee to ride the monorail between the parks. We opted for the three-day monorail pass at 1100 YEN ($12) after trying to walk there on our first day. 

Our hotel is directly across the street from one of the four monorail stations. Unlike Florida and California, though, you have to pay to ride this one. Even though the theme parks are within sight (our view from the Hilton Tokyo Bay is almost identical to our view from HoJo Anaheim) it was a half an hour walk the first time we did it (after being in an airplane for more hours than we care to count, it felt good to walk). 

Lunch included a drink if you bought the "set" for an additional 200 YEN (think value meal for $2.25). I had iced oolong tea. I was pleasantly surprised to find iced tea since I could not find it in Canada. I couldn’t even explain the concept to servers, even when I had a friend with me who speaks Canadian French. It just was not happening.

Lunch was at Grandma Sara’s Kitchen. American food with Japanese twists. My BBQ chicken dinner came with ride “from Japan.” Ashley had a tiny sampler platter with a miniscule beef patty, corn, rice balls, French fries and shrimp. She told us later she loves corn chowder, so she’ll have that today for lunch. The corn in the salad was delicious – rivaling the freshness of Jersey corn.

Seems it is not a trip to Disney without a trip to First Aid. This time it was Ashley’s contact lenses. They are new and taking some time to adjust. We successfully described the issue and found a solution. Score one for us! They have three First Aids - -two of which are back stage. We were escorted to the one in Fantasy Land that is backstage. Score one for Tokyo Disney –even with a small park they still have three first aids.

Main Street is covered. It really changes the feel. There were the usual shops, including the art gallery where Ashley took a drawing class. Just off Main Street (on a different covered section) is Club 33. When you leave the covered section, you are not far from the castle. The overall layout is more square than circular, which probably aids in overall traffic flow.

Don had a dream come true – we saw the bicycle piano player – Steve from British Columbia. Steve entertained the crowd in the center of Main Street in Japanese, with a few American phrases tossed in for us Americans. He played a Mary Poppins medly (thought of Ragtime Robert) and then “the boss’s song” in Japanese (“Mickey Mouse”). It sounds like he has worked at Tokyo Disney for years and is a crowd favorite.

We ended the evening in the castle walking through Cinderella’s Fairy Tale Hall. We were thinking it was like the Sleeping Beauty walk-through in California, but we could not be more wrong. There was often a 20 minute wait, which was completely justified. The rooms were filled with art depicting scenes from Disney’s Cinderella. Some were made from cut out paper, others from metal, wood, all sorts of art forms. The highlight was in the last room where they had a couple of magic pictures. I have never seen anything like it. A swirl magically appears if you use your flash, but not if you don't.

When we finally did see the characters, the interaction was amazing. Trust me, we've had some amazing experiences and I can tell you these were supercalifragiliciousexpialidocious! 

Jet lag knocked Ashley out by 4. Don carried her for a bit, we sat for a bit. She woke up around 7:30 to see the Electric Light Parade – people sat to watch it, longer than US, many new floats, different parade – about 25 minutes long. She had enough of a second wind to close the park at 10 PM. A surprise to us all. Fortunately she slept through the second night, after rousing at 3 AM on the first night. Hopefully she can stay awake longer today.

It poured all morning. It was a nice, steady rain. Perfectly fine with a rain jacket. We were the only people we saw without an umbrella or rain poncho! We knew Californians melt in the rain, therefore they stay home when the weather is the least bit off. Well, the Japanese just deal with the weather in their own way. Too bad since once they took off their ponchos we saw some of the most creative and beautiful outfits, including a little girl dressed as Donald Duck.

Our next day took us to DisneySea, where I’ve been told there is often an hour-long ride just to pick up a FP for ToyStory. While that is our favorite ride, we can’t justify that amount of time. We’ve heard this park is completely different.

More pictures from Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disney Parkhoppers

This is our third full day in Japan, and our third full day at Tokyo Disney. We purchased a three day pass. Tokyo Disney has a quirk, though. For the first two days you have to choose which park you are going to visit. On days three and four (if applicable) you can jump between the two parks. There is a monorail between the Disney hotels, the two parks, and the Disney-friendly hotels (like the Hilton where we are staying). There is a fee for this service, but it is amazing! The trains run every 3-6 minute. They are clean and smooth and overall fantastic.

It turned out to be a bit of a crazy day, but loads of fun. We started the day at Disney Sea and hightailed it to ride Toy Story Midway Mania. Yes, I know I said the line was too long. Don spent 20 minutes in the most organized FastPass lane I have ever seen. Ashley and I spent 45 minutes in line to ride it. Don did not feel comfortable joining us, so he met up with us at the exit. His FastPass was for 3:15 PM (by now it was almost 10 AM) so we went to DisneyLand.

We signed Ashley up for the 2 PM drawing class. Yes, the class was entirely in Japanese. This anchored our day even further.

We rode the tea cups and found our friend Ayako (who we also met in California a few years ago). While in line we saw a woman wearing a t-shirt designed by our mutual friend, Brianna, from California. Start singing "It's a Small World" now. Bonus points if you can do it in Japanese.

I had curry for lunch. Don and Ashley had bacon and pineapple pizza (almost a Hawaiian pizza). 

We saw the Country Bear Jamboree on Vacation. The cast member said it was in English and Japanese, so we didn't need a translation. Hm....the songs were in English (Beach Boys, etc.) but the dialogue was all in Japanese. Fairly easy plot to figure out.

We popped through Swiss Family Treehouse. It seemed familiar, though i'm more familiar with the Tarzan version at Disneyland. 

Picked up FastPasses for Splash Mountain. The challenge was the timing of it all with the drawing class and Toy Story FPs. We hung out until it was for the optimal time.

Ashley did amazing in her drawing class. 

Tried to hightail it back to Disney Sea to use our FPs, but got sidetracked

when we bumped into a bunch of characters and NO LINES by the Main Gate. In quick succession she saw Alice, Prince Charming, and Robin Hood and his Merry Men. We spotted Smee, Belle, Eeyore, Piglet, Aurora and Prince Philip, but were not fast enough to catch them all before they went inside. 

Mad dash to Toy Story. After riding, Don and Ashley opted to wait in line to do it again. The line was only an hour (took them closer to 35 minutes, though). While they rode it a second time, I took Ashley's Panda Bear (Bailashu) on the Duffy tour. There are a bunch of photo spots where you can place your stuffed Duffy and it looks like he is on a world tour. It is a really neat concept. 

I kept bumping into rare characters -- 3 Callebreros and Genie, I also spotted Aladdin and Jasmine playing hide and seek together. Saw Cruella DeVil and told her how nice it was to see her. It really is a treat hearing American English this far away from home. They seemed to enjoy seeing us, too.

I also rode 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Someday I'll figure out the rides are all in Japanese. I don't remember the original. I will say I loved the cars -- they each seated 6 people and were not at all claustrophobic. I have not gone back on the Nemo ride at Disneyland because of the tight quarters. This did not have that issue, but I couldn't follow it.

Met up with Don and Ashley who were tired of waiting (we only have one cell phone between the three of us that works in Japan).

I talked them into riding the gondolas before dashing back for the 5 PM Splash Mountain FP. I'm so glad we did. It reminded me of our trip to Venice nearly 14 years ago, and a different trip we took to Vegas. 

Then the mad dash back....

They rode Splash Mountain, I kept everything dry. Not a bad deal in my book.

Had dinner in Tomorrowland, where we then saw the Electric Light Parade with Masumi. After the parade we rode a few favorites (Haunted Mansion, Pooh, Big Thunder Mountain) again and left as the Park was closing.

Now back at the hotel we are packing up for an early start tomorrow where Masumi and Hiroko will take us to Nikko to see Tom. I anticipate we'll be without WiFi for a couple of days. Then we'll be in Tokyo for a night before heading to Kyoto, Osaka and Nara.

So far we did a pretty decent job with packing. Wishing I packed a three-prong to two-prong outlet converter, band-aids and Noxema. Not the end of the world, but with being at Disney and about to go to the countryside, shopping is on hold.

Wishing I took a picture in the bakery of all the tasty treats. We left without buying any souvenirs. Yes, hard to believe. The picture frames were too small, there were not any Christmas ornaments to be found (a long-shot in June in any country) and nothing else jumped out at us.

More in a few days, unless we find WiFi sooner.

Tokyo Disneyland's Animation Academy

When I wrote a post last February about Ashley's love for the Animation Academy at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, I had no idea the class is also offered at Tokyo Disneyland, and that she would take it.

On our first day at Tokyo Disneyland we saw the sign about the class, but wrote it off in order to do other things. After all, the class would be in Japanese. How much would Ashley really get out of it?

That wasn't the only difference. The class at Tokyo Disneyland is by reservation only, and has a small fee attached to it (most classes are about 500 YEN, or $5 in our mind). It is set in a room within the art gallery on Main Street. Instead of one person in the front of the room breezing through the drawing, there is the instructor, plus two people going around the room making sure everyone is staying on track.

Ashley was only one of three kids -- the other two had parents with them, and the only non-Japanese speaker. She sat up in the front of the room. We sat in the far back, not close enough to participate, but close enough to keep an eye on her. Probably unnecessary as Tokyo Disneyland only requires kids under 7 to be with an adult. It was fun for us, so we stayed. Every so often one of the assistants would give us a thumbs up sign that she was on track. Ashley later said that the instructor did a great job of miming what she was going to do before she actually drew the shape, this way she saw it happen twice.

I thought the design looked challenging -- Donald Duck holding onto a celebration balloon in honor of Tokyo Disneyland' 30th anniversary.

As you can see, Ashley did not struggle with the image at all.

The class also included a nice portfolio for her picture, which helped us get it back to NJ safely.

The whole class was only 23 minutes long from introduction to putting the last lines on the drawing.

At the end of the trip, Ashley said this was one of her highlights. I'm so proud of her! 

Tokyo DisneyLand Rides (part 1)

We finally made it! It is unbelievable. Tokyo Disney is so familiar, yet so different. To start, the park is about the size of California’s Disneyland, as opposed to enormous like the Magic Kingdom in Florida. They have the usual rides, but with twists – some expected and some unexpected.

I’d say the good and the bad, but there was no bad.

Since this post is becoming way too long, I divided it into two sections. This one will focus on the rides, the other one will talk about everything else.

A high priority was riding Space Mountain because (according to their website), Space Mountain was going down for a refurbishment on Monday.  We rode it twice. The track felt similar to Disneyland’s track, but the ride was much smoother and less jerky. (Picture is a view from the Space Mountain line.)

The Haunted Mansion was mostly in Japanese. It was almost jarring, yet familiar, to hear Madame Leota’s chants in English. The ballroom scene seemed more vivid.

The second surprise was that the Pooh ride has a fast pass. Yes, digest that a moment major Disney fans. And, the FP is totally merited. There are three cars, they run around on an invisible track. The best is when the cars bounce to Tigger’s song. We rode it THREE times in one day. During the peak of the day the line is more than an hour long. 

Pirates was completely in English. Reminded me of the version at Disneyland, but without the Blue Bayou.

Jungle Cruise goes clockwise instead of counter clockwise. To the best of my knowledge (not speaking any Japanese) it is filled with the same corny jokes. The animals were in the same place as in California (plus or minus) but the order was backwards because the boats go the opposite way. It was still fun to ride. 

Tokyo Disneyland has The Swiss Family Robinson tree house. Part of me still thinks I heard the Tarzan music as we "swung" through it.

Alice's Tea Cups are covered, as they are in Florida. We were able to catch up with our friend, Ayako, while she was working at it.

Speaking of friends, we caught up with Masumi at the Snow White ride (which is scarier than the one in California), but did not see Keiko as she is in the states visiting her sister.

Especially since it was raining, and the characters were not out, we rode a lot of rides. Big Thunder Mountain is a favorite in any park. Don and Ashley also rode Splash Mountain (we were already wet, so what difference did it make?). I used that time to go souvenir shopping, but (oddly) left Disneyland without any trinkets. I almost bought a picture frame, but realized the size was too small for a 4x6 image, so I passed. Still looking for the perfect souvenir, besides the giant scrapbook I plan to create when I get home.

More pictures from Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo DisneySea

We were woefully unprepared for our day at Tokyo Disney Sea in that I did not do any research about the Park. The night before we asked Masumi for advice about must-sees at Tokyo Disney Sea. She told us we had to do everything because it is all so different from other Disney parks. Her preference is for the shows, which was a challenge for us due to the language barrier. I did find it amusing, though, when I heard Lumiere speak Japanese with a French accent during an outdoor show! More on the language-barrier later.

So it was onto the rides. Almost as soon as we entered the park we bumped into Gepetto, Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket, and the villains from their movie. They were a lot of fun. The characters reminded us of the ones in DisneyLand versus the ones at Walt Disney World. Nothing against them in Florida, but most of our magical character interactions have been in California. Each character made us feel special. After waiting a while, that is a nice feeling.

Unfortunately a few minutes later I realized I had the new camera in the wrong setting. 

Wait, that’s not a ride. Hmm…

After yesterday’s experience with Space Mountain where we told Ashley she would like this version of the ride because it is smoother than the versions in Florida and California, yet she really didn’t like it  we’ve taken to pre-screening rides first. Don rode “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” and picked up fast passes for later. He talked me into doing it, but not Ashley. It was a very mild ride with a lot of theming. I joked that it was the opposite of Space Mountain because it goes inside the earth and instead of into outer space. In truth, though, this was much gentler. We use seat restraints as a guide. This one uses a loose lap bar. That makes it a fairly easy ride.

We walked through Mermaid Lagoon. What amazed us most was how Tokyo Disney utilizes the vertical space. I quipped that is much easier to do when you are not worrying about being ADA compliant. I noticed overall strollers are smaller at Tokyo Disney than at Disney World and Disney Land. More parents seem to carry their babies than push them around in strollers. I only saw a handful of wheelchairs, and only two ECVs. The place is designed for people with two working legs.

The overall theming is amazing and stunning. Don and Ashley compared it to EPCOT, but it was even more than that. The theming reminded me of Universal Studios in Florida (where Harry Potter World is located). The theming is that intense and believable. The use of large walls separated lands which transformed each section into the next. There are clear changes in the path to indicate when you have left one Land and entered the next one.

At Masumi’s encouragement, we had lunch so we could see Duffy’s Show at the Cape Cod Cook-Off. The wait for the food was much longer than his show, but we are glad we did it. The plot was very light. We figured it out without a language guide. The food was okay. A thought on the food – here the choices are as a “set” or “single.” Set is like a value meal – drink and often a salad or dessert includes the meal, the single is just the item itself. They always seem to have cups and a water fountain so you can just have a glass of water. So far my stomach has been fine with the water (it gets upset in Bethlehem, PA and the south end of my own town, so I wasn’t sure).

Duffy is huge here! “Duffy who?” you ask. Duffy is Mickey Mouse’s stuffed bear, lovingly made by Minnie Mouse. His line is often an hour long. In California and Florida, his line is moments long. There are spots along the way that have little chairs for Duffy to sit in so you can take a picture of Duffy having adventures. We want to return tomorrow to take pictures with Ashley’s stuffed critter – Bialashu the panda bear.

Overall I was in awe of the theming in the American Waterfront. They a section dedicated to early 20^th century New York City and another part for New England. This and the Mediterranean Harbor were the most photogenic and stunning areas from an architectural standpoint. Much of the entire park is extremely photogenic just by itself, again like EPCOT.

The line for Toy Story Mania was nearly 2 hours. We were tempted, but we skipped it the first day. The next day we booked it to Toy Story. Don waited in one extremely organized line for 45 minutes to get FastPasses, while Ashley and I waited in a different (also organized line) to ride the ride. The line was just like the one in Florida (mostly indoors). We came back mid-day to ride it again. Then Don and Ashley rode it a third time while I took pictures with Bialashu (the stuffed panda, see the one above).

Raging Spirits – based on the name and the nearby location of lockers, I really

thought this was going to be a water ride. I was wrong. Don went first. I was chicken. He did single rider and felt that took way too long. He liked the ride. I went back alone later. I also did single rider, but made out fine. There is a tiny loop they make a big deal about. Had I realized it was a wooden coaster, I would have been on it much sooner. The only wooden coaster than intimates me is the one at Hershey Park. This ride had a height maximum of 195 cm (6’ 5”). We cleared.

The three of us rode Jasmine’s Magic Carpets together. I believe Dumbo could take some lessons from the Magic Carpet. The line moved much faster than Dumbo in part because we were queued up according to which carpet was ours. No mad dash to get the golden carpet, or whatever the equivalent is (yes, I know the golden vehicle is so 2005).

The two tiered carousel was fun, but Ashley was a little disappointed she missed out on one of the Genie-style “horses.” The cutest thing was seeing a little Jasmine riding a Genie “horse.” Once on it, it did not feel like a two-tier carousel as you didn’t see the other layer. It was even hard to photograph both parts together. At least doubling it up made the line move faster.

Ashley kept asking to ride the boats. We went at 1:15, only to find out they were on a lunch break. There are three ports, we chose the one closest to us I the Mediterranean Harbor not knowing where we would end up (they probably said, but it was in Japanese). We skipped the first port in the American Waterfront. Okay, it must be a full circle tour. But wait – we stopped at the second one in Port Discovery. Not quite where we wanted to be, but we didn’t really have a choice. There was a running commentary in Japanese that we had no hope of understanding. It came across as random to us, but I’m sure it was not.

Aquatopia looked more fun from a distance – looked like bumper boats. Once

on it we discovered there is a track you follow so it is not random. With its name we thought it would be more of a race – like Autotopia.

I went back to Disney Sea at night alone. There is something about Disney that makes it feel safe enough for a woman to travel alone at night. I made out fine. This time I asked cast members for English guides before going on an attraction with words. It was different in DisneyLand where we know the spiels from familiar rides. When I rode Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage the cast member gave me a cartoon sheet I could not read in the dark, but I had the boat all to myself. It was quite amusing. At the Magic Lamp Show a cast member gave me my own gadget so I could see the subtitles. It was programmed in advance so it did not work very well with the ad-libbing that was happening.  The 3D show was not nearly as entertaining as the Hyperion Theater version of Aladdin.

I enjoyed Fantasmic! I've never seen the version in Florida, but the one in California is amazing! While I enjoyed seeing Murray the dragon (isn't that his name?), I missed the scenes Mark Twain and Columbia. I know the story well enough that there wasn't a language barrier, for once.

I rode the DisneySea Electric Railway. Nice high view from up high. I’m glad I finally had a chance to do it. I rode it in both directions and switched sides to get different views.

One of my favorite surprise favorite activities was riding a gondola through  

the "canals of Venice." It reminded me of being in the Bellagio in Vegas and riding a gondola in the real Venice. It was also fun hearing a little bit of Italian even it if was wrong (way too much daylight for buona sera), but it was still good to hear. 

I found one word sentences work best: Water. English. Add Konnichiwa and Arigato and life is really good. We still had some language barriers, but it is Disney so it was possible to find people to help us.

Saw some non-Asian people today. I felt like asking them where they were from and how long they are staying, but left them in peace.

Ashley had a group of Japanese teenage girls ask to have her picture taken with them. Reminded me of the days the Japanese tourists would ask Ashley (who was often dressed as Alice in Wonderland- -- a big character here) to pose with them. This time she was just wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt and shorts. Come to think of it, the group was dressed similarly.

Came back from Disney Sea to find Don and Ashley sound asleep. They fell asleep as I left. I should be resting up for our last day at Tokyo Disney. From here we move onto Nikko where we will be staying in a ryokan. I'd be surprised if we have WiFi service for the next couple of days.

For the real Disney fans who still want to look at more Tokyo Disney pictures, follow this link to my Shutterfly account.

First Impressions of Japan, First Hotel

I’m trying to capture my thoughts as they happen before the “wow” becomes normal. This was written on our third night using notes I jotted down on the first night, with a few more tossed in.

We made it to our hotel safely. For me the biggest worry of the trip was how were we going to get from the airport to the hotel. Once at the hotel I knew there would be people who could help us. That portion was extremely easy. We landed. Went through immigration. Picked up our bags. Went through customs. Bought a bus ticket to hotel. Exchanged money via an ATM. Bought subway passes. And connected with Masumi via phone in less than an hour. Felt like a small miracle and a major accomplishment.

We met Masumi for our first meal. Even though the Hawaiian burger place looked good, Masumi encouraged us to eat Japanese food. We went to a food court so we could point and choose. We were actually surprised given that this was still considered Disney, just how little English was around. The bathrooms were labeled “Ladies” and “Gentlemen,” but the food court was all in Japanese. Eating will take a lot of faith and trust. Fortunately we do not have food allergies, but we have plenty of food aversions.

The first night was very muggy! We walked to the “Downtown Disney” area. We thought it would take about 10 minutes, but it was a nearly 30 minute walk along the sea wall. Oh well. We broke down and purchased a 3 day monorail card.

We are staying at a Hilton across

from the monorail station. The place is so luxurious (compared with where we normally stay). Unfortunately it only has wifi in the lobby, so we are slowly severing the technology umbilical cord. Trips into the countryside will further sever our connections.

Our room is gorgeous and fun. I upgrade (for about $4 a night) to the Happy Magic Room. The room has three magical spots. Don and Ashley found 2, I know where the third one is. The mirror in the bathroom has a part that does not fog over when the shower steams up the room. THAT is a really nice feature. The room has a fabulous view of Disneyland that reminds me of the one we have when we stay at Hojo Anaheim.

Our only downside is that while the plugs are the same as ours, and our gadgets can handle both 110 and 220 volts, our laptop has three prongs, and the hotel does not. We borrowed an adapter and will hunt for another one for the rest of our trip. I’ll need it to keep updating the blog.

The room has three separate beds. Each one is about 1 ½ times a US twin. The mattresses are super comfortable. The room is fairly soundproof. And, yes, I should be sleeping instead of typing.

We are encountering interesting toilets – ones with seat warmers and sounds  and bidets. Ashley commented it takes her longer to figure out how to simply flush some toilets.

Ashley was up the first day at 3 AM with jet lag. It is about  a negative 13 hour time difference. Very confusing to see posts on FB about things that have already happened that are just happening in NJ (like Father’s Day celebrations.)

I am so impressed that people dress up to go to Disney. I've noticed the women more than the men, as they are wearing soft, feminine outfits, touting ivory, mauve and other shades of light grey-toned colors in very feminine and lacy fabric. Everything hangs so beautifully and still looks pristine by the end of the day. I wish I had that talent. The women all seem to have amazing shoes that look incredibly painful, but they don’t limp or complain. Reminded me of the book “Why French Women don’t get fat.” The Japanese women seem to have this innate sense of style that I will never accomplish.

They are also much better about not being sun worshipers. They are covered from head to toe, and carry parasols. They are even wearing tights and gloves, but not breaking a sweat.

We have also noticed a lot of people wearing masks to keep out germs. We noticed our first person wearing a mask on the plane. We’ve encountered so many that Ashley asked us about it, which lead to a conversation about SARS.

I suspect we will have even more “first impressions” as we move away from the cocoon called Disney.

Everyone very friendly and willing to help

Sayonara!

Japanese Itinerary

Thought it would be fun to spell out the itinerary from the start and compare it with what really happens in the end. This is also a good launching point for blog posts.

June 14-15: fly to Japan

June 15: Land at 2 PM, maneuver the airport looking for an ATM, a metro pass, and the bus to our hotel. Meet Masumi for dinner after she gets off from work at Tokyo Disney.

June 16-18: Tokyo DisneyLand and DisneySea

June 19-20: car trip to Nikko with Masumi’s friend Hiroko (whom we met in Florida)

June 20: sleep in Tokyo

June 21-24: Bullet train trip to Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara

June 25-29: Tokyo

June 26: Baseball game

June 28: Bus trip to Mt. Fuji

June 29: Fly home

June 30-July 1: SLEEP