The rest of our days in Tokyo

After our two-day Disney extravaganza, we spent all Friday sleeping and recuperating! We slept in way too late, ordered the hotel breakfast and snoozed the day away. Jacob found a delicious western restaurant, Franklins, that specializes in burgers and fries! We stuffed our faces with bacon cheeseburgers, french fries and a milkshake!

Best burgers ever

Shibuya Crossing (In Tokyo Drift)

Saturday we went to the world famous Shibuya neighborhood. The Shibuya crossing is the classic scene in movies that take place in Tokyo. Basically, its a huge 5-way, bustling intersection. The whole area had a ton to do. We found a tiny little coffee shop that serves Stumptown coffee, went to Tower Records (a huge music store, record shop), checked out an old antique store, and went into and out of several shopping buildings.

After an all day outing to Shibuya, we slept in... again... and spent the afternoon and evening at the Rainbow Bridge. The bridge was supposed to be a huge tourist attraction, but we waited for hours for the bridge to light up in rainbow colors and disappointingly, it never did. However, the whole Rainbow Bridge area also had loads to do! We took a ton of time walking around and shopping, eating dinner/dessert, and enjoying the cool evening.

Surprise! Nikki was being a brat again.

Think this is the first time I've ever seen Nikki sitting patiently

We spent our last day in Tokyo at the local zoo!
We woke up relatively early to make the hour and a half long subway trip out to the zoo. Unfortunately, the minute we got to the zoo it started raining. We walked around until lunchtime and by then the weather had just completely fallen apart, it was raining sideways! We ducked into the only little restaurant they had, split some spaghetti and waited for the storm to pass. The last couple of hours of the afternoon we finished touring the zoo and made it back to our hotel to dry off and clean up.

Red Light District entrance

I wanted to spend the rest of the evening packing our things and resting in bed. Meanwhile, I gave permission (yes, permission), to go to the famous red light district. He braved the subway system by himself and spent the entire evening exploring.

TOKYO DISNEY AND TOKYO DISNEY SEA!

Wednesday

THE DAY HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!!!! We got up at 4:30 am for Tokyo Disney!!! We left the hotel by 5:30 am and were standing in line waiting to get in the park at 6:30. The park opened at 8 am. I was so pumped on adrenaline, I was a little psycho. Everything about the park was incredible! I love the amount of detail Disney puts into everything. There was no Main Street, but there was a HUGE covered "World Bazaar" that you have to walk through in order to get to the rest of the park. Since dad wasn't there to be keeper of the "official map", I had to keep track of everything on my own!

We hit Fantasyland first and knocked out Snow White, Pinocchio, Pooh's Honey Hut, and the Haunted Mansion relatively quickly. Unfortunately, Peter Pan was closed :(. We totally forgot that we were in a foreign country. All the rides were in Japanese so that was a little disappointing but made the Haunted Mansion WAY LESS intimidating!

After Fantasyland I was FAMISHED! We went to get Mickey Mouse waffles and then headed right around the corner to Pirates! Fortunately, none of the lines were too horrific. I don't think we waited more than 20 minutes for any one ride. After Pirates we went over to Tomorrowland where we went on Monsters Inc. Jacob was such a sweetheart and didn't go on any of the big attraction that were off limits to pregnant ladies.
That means, no Space Mountain, no Big Thunder, and no Splash Mountain! We read online that most of these big attractions were basically the same as Disneyland in California so we didn't feel like we were missing out on much.








By the time we finished Monsters Inc, it was lunchtime! We got in line and waited at the Blue Bayou for lunch. The menu was definitely different... no Monte Cristos and no Mint Juleps.  I ordered a huge, delicious steak and Jacob ordered a roasted chicken with potato soup. Disneyland Blue Bayou was way better!

After a kind of late lunch we hopped on the Western Railroad and then went to stand in line at the Jungle Cruise. Again, the cruise was all in Japanese so the ride didn't do much for me. We had a late afternoon ice cream snack and then waited for the "Happiness is Here" parade. The parades and shows were really one of the best parts about being there. I was a kid again! I didn't have a worry in the world. When the parade finished we ran over to Grandma Sara's Kitchen for a quick dinner before finding a good spot for the Dreamlights show, which was also a knockout! We stayed in our same seats for the last show of the night "Once Upon a Time." Disney's own description, "Cinderella Castle is transformed into a 'storybook come to life' with scenes and music from Disney films." I may have shed a few tears.

All in all, it was a fantastic day! Hot, sweaty, humid, crowded, but worth every second. The one thing missing was my family. Going to any Disney park without the huge Dunham clan just isn't the same. I might have shed another few tears wishing my family was there to experience it with me. But then I realized Jacob and I are building our own family to share these experiences with!

Thursday
Believe it or not day 2 at the Disney parks was even better than the first! We went to Tokyo Disney Sea.

This park was unreal. Seriously GORGEOUS, and lucky for us, the weather held up for most of the day! The forecast said rain and rain it did at 6:30 am waiting in line. By the time we walked through the gates, the sun was up and the clouds were gone! Twenty minutes later is was dumping pretty hard for about 45 minutes and then let up and was sunny for the rest of the day.

Since this park is so unique and unlike any other Disney Park here is a quick rundown. It is set up like Disneyland with different "lands". DisneySea has the American Waterfront, complete with a life-sized S.S Columbia Steamboat replica, walking through the waterfront was like visiting a cozy beach town.

The other lands included the Mermaid Lagoon themed after the Little Mermaid, the Arabian Coast themed after Aladdin, Lost River Delta an ancient civilization in Central America, which housed Indiana Jones, Mysterious Island that had Mt. Prometheus, a huge mountain that actually made eruption sounds and had fire steam out of it every once in a while, and lastly Port Discovery the "Center for Water Control."

Upon entering the park, we have to walk through the Mediterranean Harbor a "romantic Southern

European port town." We had today seriously scheduled in order to fit everything in. We immediately split up and Jacob went to Mt. Prometheus where he went on one of the big attractions, Journey to the Center of the Earth a roller coaster ride. I went over to Port Discovery to FastPass Stormrider and then to Magellan's to make lunch reservations. Walking around in the pouring rain, I slipped and ripped open the blood blister on my toe, a great way to start the day! Luckily, nothing was gonna bring down my day. We met back up after I made lunch reservations to go on one of the only rides I could do-- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Afterward, Jacob went to get an Indiana Jones Fastpass and get in line at the other big attraction Raging Spirits, another roller coaster. Meanwhile, I went to walk through the Arabian Coast and sat down to enjoy some creampuffs and OJ, and rest my disgusting toe. He didn't take too long knocking out Raging Spirits and met me back at the Arabian Coast where I was still eating. Since it was still raining, we didn't want to walk far. We ended going to the second and only other ride I could do, Sindbad's Storybook Voyage, which was basically an Arabian peninsula version of It's A Small World. That ride wasn't really in our plans, but when there is a walk-on, I know better than to pass it up!

After the Arabian Coast, Jacob hustled over to StormRider and I took my time looking at everything and picked up some pepper popcorn. Tokyo DisneySea is apparently famous for their different popcorn choices. Pepper, curry, cappuccino, honey, caramel, chocolate, white chocolate and salted were the options... and I was only brave enough to try the pepper. After scarfing down popcorn I sat under cover on a bench and tried to take a nap while I waited for Jacob to finish his ride.

When he finished we walked over to the American Waterfront and grabbed a quick snack in Teddy Roosevelt's lounge.

WOW. Was this place incredible. We ordered olives and bread & cheese with much needed water. After our snack we were right by Tower of Terror so we fast passed that and went to Magellen's for our lunch reservation. We managed to knock out all of the big attractions, with the exception of Tower of Terror and Indiana Jones, which meant we could take our time for the rest of the day.

Our lunch was very long, relaxing and expensive! By the time we finished lunch Jacob could hop in the Fastpass line for Indiana Jones so he ran over that way and I once again, sat on a bench and enjoyed people watching. He hustled his way back to me after the ride and we enjoyed "A Table is Waiting" show featuring all the famous Disney characters.

We didn't have any other plans for the rest of the day except for the Tower of Terror ride. We walked around all over the park for the rest of the afternoon, we in-depth explored the Mermaid Lagoon, the Arabian Coast and the Mediterranean Harbor, where we won lottery tickets for the Big Band Beat show!

We walked and walked and walked until is was time for his last Fastpass for the day, Tower of Terror! I sat yet again, on another bench, this time in front of the water fountains that kids could run through. After ToT, we got in line for the Big Band Beat show, a live big band, swing, jazz, and appearances by Mickey and other characters. The show was incredible! Neither of us have seen a big band before and it was so much fun!

After the show finished, we didn't have much time before the Fantasmic! show started (kind of like World of Color at California Disney) so we literally ran over to the American waterfront to pick up cheeseburgers and fries to-go and ran back to the Mediterranean Harbor to find a place to stand for the show. We got a great spot where we could see almost everything. We sat on the curb together scarfing down cheeseburgers and fries before the show started.

Fantasmic was the perfect way to end the evening. Huge boats came out into the harbor and it was just a giant light show with water being sprayed up for a screen to project on just like World of Color, but boats swimming around in the harbor at the same time to add another dimension to the show. I don't know why, but every time these shows make me cry. Just a Disney freak, I suppose.

Before we left the park after the show, I picked up a small souvenir/Christmas ornament for our tree and we said farewell to Walt and Mickey and then we barely made it back to the hotel before we collapsed for 14 straight hours.

It was a very long two days but I can't wait to go back again! In the very, very, very distant future!

More vacation fun!

Sunday
We woke at a reasonable hour and quickly packed our bags and took the subway to the Tokyo Marriott. Unfortunately, it was way too early to check in, so we dropped off our bags, ate breakfast in their restaurant and headed out to explore the new part of town we were in.

It was so hot and so humid, we didn't last long walking around. And little did we know, Japanese people must not like coffee! It was nearly impossible to find a cafe where we could pick up an iced latte or frappe.

Eventually we checked-in our new and very much improved room. It had two double sized beds instead of one king size, but I was so far from complaining. The room was the size of a real Western hotel room and it had a bathtub!!! We haven't been able to take a bath since we left home in December. We spent the remainder of the afternoon unpacking, napping, and showering, and relaxing in the comfort of our awesome new room, as well as planning what we wanted to do for the remainder of our time in Tokyo.

We headed out for a quick dinner of ramen noodles and tucked in early for busy days ahead!

Enjoying our ramen noodle dinner

Monday
I'll admit, the majority of our vacation days we slept in and got a pretty late start. Monday was no exception. We slept in our comfy, cozy beds and woke around 10am showered and headed down to breakfast at the hotel. By the time we ate, showered and were ready to go for the day, it was already halfway over.

"Pancakes" 

We decided to head to one of Jacob's recommendations, the Akihabara neighborhood, famous for all things tech! We spent the afternoon wondering around Akihabara, moseying our way into arcades, tech shops, video game stores, and of course, anime stores!

We opted for a late lunch and then headed over to Yodobashi-- a giant Best Buy type of store. The store was nine massive floors of everything tech you could possibly imagine; TVs, home theaters, appliances, speakers, headphones, vacuum cleaners, phones, etc.

Since we weren't looking to buy anything, we didn't take longer than 5 minutes to walk through each floor and check out all the gadgets... until we found the massage chairs! Without a doubt the most incredible chairs I've ever had a privilege to sit in. I actually fell asleep getting a 30 minute whole body massage-- from the soles of my feet all the way up to my skull.

By the time we finished looking through the entire store, we were slightly disappointed. We were both expecting out-of-this-world type of technology, way more advanced than anything we would find in the States. Unfortunately, their most impressive technology was in the toilet aisle. Seriously, no country in the world knows how to do a toilet like Japan. Gone are the days of the boring one-handle flush feature! Now we have a bidet with several adjustable spray/direction/heat settings, heated toilet seats, different music settings, and I'm sure a million other things we can't even understand. In fact, we were listening to the radio and Japan is now developing a "computer toilet" that can test your urine or stool for pregnancy, sugars, protein and any other abnormality.

Anyway, after Yodobashi we got some spaghetti for dinner -- I was seriously craving Pomodoro pasta at this point in my pregnancy -- and headed back to our nice and spacious hotel room.

Tuesday
The Skytree was on the agenda for Tuesday! The Tokyo Skytree is a huge tourist attraction that can be easily compared to the Space Needle. The attraction has two observatory decks, a restaurant, and several restaurants and shops.

We spent a lot more time there than we had hoped. Unbeknownst to us, there is a HUGE wait to get up to the Observatory desk. Perhaps we should have spent a little more time planning our activities before we arrived...

Around 1pm we got our "wait time" ticket. The ticket said we had to wait until 4pm to get in line to buy tickets to get to the deck and then to get in another line to get up... we weren't going to get to the top until dinnertime!

We walked around the huge 8-story building wasting time until it was our turn to "get in line" for tickets. Two hours into our wait the fire alarm went off in the building and people started loading the escalators to head outside on the ground floor. We were on the 7th or 8th floor at the time and had a long way to go to the bottom. As we were descending we noticed half of the the people were talking, laughing and not concerned at all that we were being told to evacuate! By the time we reached the bottom and were two steps away from exiting the building, the alarm was turned off and someone announced everything was fine and that it was safe to re-enter the building. GREAT! Back up 8 floors, we go!

Since it was nearing our time to get in line to buy tickets, we headed back to the Skytree area and were directed to get in line. As we were in line waiting, we saw a tiny sign on a brochure stand that there was a "Foreigner Only" line located on the opposite side of the building. WHAT?!? I was furious.

We promptly got of line and I harassed an employee until we found the "Foreigner Only" ticket kiosk that had all of EIGHT PEOPLE in line. Foreigners were charged a little extra money, but it was totally worth it! After we bought the tickets we were at the observatory deck within the next 15 minutes.

The views of Tokyo were incredible! We even thought we saw Tokyo Disney! Eek! We then got in line and paid even more money to go the second, even higher, observation deck. We figure we might as well, we probably weren't ever coming back...

Line for 500m elevator in less than a minute!

View from 630m up

Tokyo Disney!

and of course we found a Hello Kitty Japan store

After we finished looking around, we found a delicious Italian restaurant where I could eat more pasta, and we finished the evening with Cold Stone!

We went straight back to the hotel after Skytree and passed out early so we could get some good rest in for Tokyo Disney the next day! YAY!