Easter and The Year of Wishes… food allergy princess goes to Tokyo Disney! -June 2016 TR

[MomoMama]

As we got ready to go back to the park, DD remembered to bring the Olaf bucket. I almost forgot, but I did promise DD another popcorn day. A little nap was not going to let her forget about that!

At the entrance we saw Goofy. I am a Goofy fan and DD knows it. If you read my last TR, you would see I did not miss a chance to have the photos taken with him. DD offered to take a photo of me and Goofy, and I was going to…but then I felt odd. This Goofy was…well shorter than usual. I like my Goofy tall, dark (hair) and goofy.

Goofy came to DD, and I took photos of them together, but I declined DD’s offer to have my photo taken with him.

We tried the lottery for Big Band Beat show, but did not win… We saw the promotional video on the bus and DD wanted to see this show, so that was a bit disappointing. But I told her we would try the standby later.

 

[MomoMama]

We noticed the Crystal Wishes Journey, the special show for the 15th year celebration, was about to start. There were many people in front of the center stage, but we found a spot on the right side of the lake. Let the celebration begin!

This show was…fantastic! The use of the colors was amazing. There were three boats with the characters on, and they made a grand entrance.

The wish fairy talked to the characters about their crystals and the colors. Minnie’s red crystal represents love, Goofy’s green crystal represents energy, Donald’s blue crystal represents friendship. Then the fairy explained why Mickey’s crystal is clear, because that is the color you see when all the other colors get together. Mickey wishes to continue his journey with all of his friends!

Now I did not catch it during the show, but according to the TDR website, Chip n Dale’s yellow crystal represents fun, Daisy’s purple crystal represents joy, Pluto’s orange crystal represents smiles, Duffy’s light green colored crystal represents luck, and Mickey’s crystal means “Wishes Come True.”

I did hear Chip and Dale say they wanted to eat all the food as much as they wanted.

 

[MomoMama]

And the characters danced alongside the lake, not just on the center stage, so even if you are not in front of the stage, you get to see some of them up close! DD was standing by the fence, and got to high-five Goofy!

When the show was over, I felt like I was filled with this beautiful feelings inside of me.

DD was ready for some fun, and we started to walk towards Arabian Coast again.

 

[MomoMama]

On the way, we saw a popcorn stand that was selling cappuccino flavor popcorn. At DisneySea, The popcorn flavors DD could eat was plain salt, caramel, and cappuccino. DD had never had anything with coffee flavor, so I asked the CM if it was possible to have a sample. I was told they do not give away samples, but could sell half portion. Also told me cappuccino is sweet, almost like caramel flavor. I asked DD if she wanted to try, she thought about it, and said she would want caramel. I thanked the CM and left. And when we came to Mermaid Lagoon, we saw caramel flavored popcorn, and got our Olaf re-filled.

When we got to Arabian Coast, I took DD to the Magic Lamp Theater.

Before entering the main theater room, we are placed in a room where you would hear the story setting, a story about a magician and his servant boy, and of course Genie! There is no Aladdin in this show, so I explained DD what the story settings were there. I thought the show was fun. It seems they do have English subtitles option, but I don’t think DD could have read it fast enough to follow. She understood the show with my simplified explanation, and enjoyed it.

 

[MomoMama]

We walked through Abu’s Bazaar. The game prizes (cute plush!) were VERY tempting, but those games had long lines!

Then we rode Jasmine’s Flying Carpets. First time I rode on the flying carpets at WDW, I did not know about the water-spitting camels. I did not want my camera to be wet, so I asked a CM if I was going to get wet on this ride. She said no…and seemed to be thinking what an odd question I was asking. Understandable, because there are no camels at TDS…

We went to Lost River Delta area. DD did not pass the height requirements for Indiana Jones and Raging Spirits, so we just walked through this area.

 

[MomoMama]

We came to Port Discovery, and tried Aquatopia. This may not be one of the most popular attractions, but we enjoyed it, especially DD… She pretended to be the boat’s captain, tried to figure out which way it was going to move!

She wanted to ride it again, but I took her to see Big Band Beat …and we were too late! The closed the standby line just as we got there! And it was the last show of the day. So we missed it, and DD was disappointed too. But that is always a reason to come back again!

DD wanted to go back to Aquatopia, so we walked all the way back to Port Discovery. I did not object...DD was not tall enough to ride Journey to the Center of the Earth either, and 20000 Leagues Under the Sea was closed. Since the Aquatopia line was short and moved quickly, we rode it 2 more times. On the last ride, we made the CM stop the ride briefly because our Olaf’s hand got stuck on the storage net. We could not get it out in time, and CM had to stop the ride, very briefly. The CMs were very nice about it, but I was already regretting getting the Olaf bucket!

 

[MomoMama]

We went back to Arabian Coast, and rode the Flying Carpets 2 more times, of course while humming the Aladdin theme song.

Rajah looks quite cute!

Then we checked out Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage. It was a cute, nicely done ride, but DD needed some explanations as we rode.

Then DD said she was hungry. She was not being full with popcorn…she prefers plain slat flavored popcorn, and ate maybe less than half of the caramel popcorn. I let her choose between going to see Fantasmic! or going to a restaurant. She wanted to eat.

Since we were at Arabian Coast, we went to Casbah Food Court. There she had low-allergen curry and rice. I think this was not a kid plate, as it was big! But DD ate almost all of it…or she ate it all, can’t remember!

It was getting late, but the games at Abu’s Bazaar still had long lines. I wanted to try to win those cute plush people were carrying around, but I was not going to stay in line for the games I may or may not win the prize…

 

[MomoMama]

We walked through the volcano. DD kept asking if it was real. She still asks, and says it must be real because she saw the fire!

The “Crystal Point” looked pretty at night. You would need the compass they sell at the gift shops to activate the extra feature, but it did light up with just a touch too.
Magic!

We came back to American Waterfront. DD asked if we were riding Tower of Terror. Well I was full again after the dinner, and the wait time was like 70 minutes. No, we were not riding it...DD was relieved.

 

[MomoMama]

DD asked to go back to Toy Story Mania! The wait time posted was 60 minutes, and I saw the long line. I really did not want to, but DD begged and begged. And I said fine…since we missed some rides because of the height requirements, and we also missed Big Band Beat show.

I thought this would be the last ride…but I was thinking tired DD would say she would want to leave while waiting in line. Surprisingly she did not… we waited and waited, and DD did not complain!

Her score improved. But she was still upset that she did not beat me…

When we came out the ride, it was late. I let her play a little again with the kids games next-door. Then I looked back, I saw the wait time posted was 20 minutes. I jokingly asked DD if she wanted to go back. And of course she said YES!!! Oh, why did I ask that!?? I don’t know…but since I did, we went back in.

The line was much shorter, but we still had to wait. My arm was kind of hurting after the last ride, and I wanted to let DD win, so I slacked. I intentionally shot less and missed, and still came out higher score…

But I told DD our accuracies were the same, and she had improved! Somehow she concluded that meant she had won!
I did not argue…

It was after the park closing time, and we were exhausted. I did not think coming back to the park for the 3rd day was a good idea, and DD agreed. We left without upgrading our pack tickets.

We walked a lot in those 2 days. If we had a plan and conquered the areas one by one, we would not have walked that much. But we just walked around as we wanted, jumping from area to area, going back and forth. I knew it was not very efficient, but I think of it as a good exercise. And my little girl does not get tired or complain when she is having fun!

 

[MomoMama]

Thursday

So this was our last day to spent at Tokyo Disney Resort. Since we did not upgrade our park tickets to 3-day pass, we were not going to the parks. But I already had a lunch reservation at Oceano in Hotel Miracosta!

I let DD sleep in a little late. But we had to pack and check out the hotel that morning. The checkout time was 12:00, but we were leaving earlier to go to the Disney gift store, Bon Voyage!

We had a light breakfast again from the convenience store, as we were going to the buffet lunch later. I actually ate the leftover popcorn for breakfast.

I had my suitcase sent to our next destination from the hotel. But I still had to carry a duffle bag to keep the things I needed that day and the next day. We were going to take an airport limousine bus to Haneda airport, and I could have: 1)left my bags at the Oriental hotel bell desk, come back and catch the bus from the hotel (actually the bus was leaving from the train station next to the hotel), or 2)taken my bags and catch the bus from Miracosta. We took the option #2, as I did not want to spent time coming back to the Oriental hotel, and the limousine bus from Miracosta was accepting a reservation. Turned out the limo bus from Miracosta was not full at all, but I like being prepared. I heard during the peak season limo busses to Haneda airport from Tokyo Disney can easily get full.

So we checked out the hotel. I had to pay 20 yen or something like that for the phone charge, I used it to call Oceano the day before to tell them about DD’s allergies. The restaurant was not taking the allergy information on the online reservation, they asked to call in to notify.

 

[MomoMama]

We got off the shuttle bus at Disneyland stop. There is a coin locker right in front of the bus stop, and I was going to put my bags there while we go shopping… but then we saw the lockers were closed for remodeling!? Really??? I had to carry the bags to the store…

When I got to Bon Voyage, I asked a CM where the nearest locker was, and she told me that would be in the train station (Maihama). They had plenty of lockers on the ground floor. The small locker was just enough to put my duffle bag, DD’s backpack, and the popcorn bucket.

We went back to Bon Voyage. To be honest I was surprised the store was not as big as I thought it would be. They say this is the biggest Disney store in Japan, and I thought they would have merchandise in both floors, but only the second floor was the shop. The first floor had restrooms and the customer service counter.

Still the store was cute and very well organized.

And we saw the Stitch popcorn bucket there! Aw, another to-do (or rather to-get) for the next time!

 

[MomoMama]

We checked out those headbands and hats many people were wearing in the parks. They were tempting, but we decided not to get them. Those hats would not be comfortable to wear in hot weather, and the headbands never stays on DD’s head well. We would not wear them outside the parks anyway.

I saw almost everyone had those cute pass holder, and I thought of getting one… but didn't. They were quite small, and the only one that would hold my phone was green alien. Again, we would not use them outside of the parks if it couldn’t even fit a phone…

 

[MomoMama]

I was ready to buy the huggable pillow Stitch I had seen in the parks, and went to the pillow section. And they did not have Stitch!! They had huggable Pooh and Cheshire Cat, but no Stitch! I asked a CM, and she checked for me…told me that Stitch is sold only IN the parks. I thought everything sold in the parks were available in Bon Voyage, the biggest Disney store in Japan!!! But that was not the case…

I still wanted to get something from the store, to remember this mother-daughter Disney trip we took. So from the DisneySea 15th celebration collection, I got those key chains (or they call “purse charms”) for us. Chip n Dale for me, and Minnie for DD.

As I paid for those, I asked the cashier if it was possible to check Stitch plush’ s availability at other gift shops. I remember seeing a gift shop just outside of Disneyland entrance, and since we were going to Miracosta, I asked her to check the gift shop in there too. The nice CM made the calls for me, and when she told me the bad news, she seemed truly sorry for us. I really should have gotten it when I had a chance! I actually missed on getting Stitch plush during the last Disney cruise...I waited and it got sold out. I really learned my lesson now.

 

[MomoMama]

We left Bon Voyage, and went to check out Ikspiari. This shopping mall was not busy at all, it was kind of deserted, but maybe it was due to being weekday morning. I was expecting Easter décor and events, but there was nothing going on, and the plain décor and fake flowers did not impress me.

But as we walked around…we saw a Disney store!

This may have been the only store that had some people there. They had Alice in Wonderland tea party décor right at the entrance, and they set it up in the way you could sit at the table and have a picture taken.

Oh, the settings were so cute!!!

 

[MomoMama]

As soon as we entered the store, I asked if they had the huggable Stitch pillow. A friendly CM told me the merchandise they have are not the same as the park merchandise… But she showed me a cute sleeping Stitch plush, and told me that was a new item. It was not the same, and this is not very Stitch-like, but I couldn’t deny its curtness. DD was not going to let it go. I got him and scrump tsum tsum from the store.

It’s just the perfect shape and size to hold and sleep with. DD lets me have him once a week.

Before we left, we had our photos taken at the tea party settings. Across from the tea party settings, there were many cute Alice items that you would not see in the U.S. Alice is so much more popular in Japan!
When I made the purchase, the store gave me an information that they would be giving away a free Alice cup with 3000yen purchase the following weekend. I thought I would go to another Disney store in another city, but I did not have time…

 

[MomoMama]

I was hoping to ride the Disney Resort line, or we would call “Mickey train” that morning. But I did not want to be late for our lunch reservation, so we decided not to. Besides, the fluffy Duffy train was not running that morning according to the schedule. I am not a big Duffy fan, but when I heard about this special edition Duffy and friends’ train that has the seats covered in fluffy teddy bear material, I immediately thought of the cat bus from Totoro! Of course it was not going to as fluffy as that, but still wanted to see. Good thing I did not tell DD about it, as we did not get to try.

We just waved good-by to the 15th celebration train, which should have the special wish crystal strap handles. That would have been cool to see too.

We picked up our bags from the locker, and went back to the shuttle bus stop. Distance to Hotel Miracosta is walk-able, but I did not want to try while carrying the bags. The bus stop is a lot closer to the train station and Bon Voyage.

 

[MomoMama]

So we got to the beautiful Hotel Miracosta. Somehow I did not get the “wow” feeling I got at Disneyland Hotel. I guess I was expecting it to be bigger and grander, as it was the newer hotel. It was still very beautiful, but the lobby felt clump with many people there.

We checked in at Oceano. I asked about the bags I had, and was told I could leave them at the hotel bell desk. I was glad, as I had read that the bell desk would not accept the bags for those who are not the guests at Miracosta but just catching the limousine bus from there. Since we were dining at the restaurant there, we were the “guests!”

 

[MomoMama]

We got there earlier than our reservation time, but they were able to seat us right away. A CM asked me what DD’s name was, wrote it down on a sticker name tag and gave it to her.

I made the reservation for buffet, rather than the course meal. A manager came to talk to me about DD’s allergies. He gave me the print out to show the allergens for each dishes.

He also called a chef to talk to me, and the chef showed me the buffet. The print out showed cheese had eggs in it, so I asked about it. The chef told me it had egg white. This was so good to know. Normally we would get cheese from buffet, and I never expected to have eggs in them!

They said they would make something for DD if there is not enough for her to eat from the buffet, but there was plenty for her. They had pork, chicken, rice, and some vegetables she could eat. DD loves to eat carrots and broccoli, and was happy to see those after few days of not having them.

We made our own Mickey plate, and she loved the meal.

While we were eating, the manager came to check on us, to make sure we did not need to order anything from the kitchen. We did not have to ask to have anything special to be prepared, as DD wanted more of they already had in the buffet.

 

[MomoMama]

For desserts, there were ice cream and jelly DD could have, but she did not like them. I got her some chocolates and candies, and she loved those! DD thanked me for taking her to this restaurant. This was her favorite restaurant during this trip!

I thought the meal was OK, not the best buffet I ever had, but still a nice one. I enjoyed their desserts that were not too sweet. I started out with this…

And ended up eating these

And these.

 

[MomoMama]

During the meal, they announced the starting of Crystal Wishes Journey show. The main reason I booked this restaurant was that we could view the show from the restaurant. This was a good option in case we missed the show while we were at the park, so I made the reservation that matches the show time. We did see the show the day before, but we went to the terrace to watch it again.

Here is the view from the terrace in the buffet section.

Here they come!

This time we were able to see what was happening on the center stage.

On the left side of the lake, I saw Genie, Abu, Angel and Stitch! I could not see them when I saw the show from the right side of the lake the day before.