Destination Japan! Estimated Arrival Time: October 2014!

Hello there my lovely readers. Hopefully life is treating you kindly. If not...I hope you trip whoever is torturing you and get away with it. Like oh so sorry awful coworker/roommate/classmate, didn't see you there. XD O maybe I should wish for more positive things, like everyone finds a $20 bill (or the equivalent of that) in the parking lot. Why that's an outfit and accessory for Duffy! Or a movie for one.

Oh the story of my life. XD Only my area has more plushies...

When life starts to weigh heavy on me I like to take a deep breath and imagine every one fire. Or or....because maybe that is slightly negative....something fin. Like a trip. As it stands Tenchi and husband are planning a magical trip to Japan in the year 2014. Yeah that is quite a ways off but a girl has to have dream yes? Note I started writing this at the beginning of the month, before things got...well special. Like oh look it's May 5th, the anniversary of when we went the first time...so....hopefully most of this still applies.

Oh why didn't I see you........why didn't I see you in 2011?

First off we are planning for either spring or fall. Not that we hate summer. We live in Florida, we aren't afraid of the heat. But if I am going to spend a chunk of change on a trip I rather it not rain half the item. The spring trip would be the exact days when we went to Japan last time May 6th- 31st. The fall dates would be most of October. Hopefully the husband will have a new “job” by then which would rule out September. The brother (who we are going to visit while there as he is stationed there) has stated that October would be better. The husband says he will have to see.

We are coming Japanese Mickey!

One thing we are basing this time frame on is...Tokyo Disney! This time I plan on going to both parks because really I am still kicking myself over not seeing Disney Sea, the best park ever according to everyone. I also hope to spend 4 days at the park this time instead of one. Really what was I thinking last time? I hope this is the plan but since we are spending part of the trip with my brother and sister-in-law. We got to take their situation into account. I hope they start saving money...now! But yes 4 days and hopefully we can stay at the Hilton across the way. I liked our hotel in Tokyo last time, just I want to be in line to grab past passes and an hour travel's time makes that hard to do for a sleepy head like me. First day will be Tokyo Disney Sea. I want the husband and family to run and ride all the scary rides while I go buy Shellie May, Duffy, and tons of stuff. I imagine this might take a while but I want to get it done early so I can take pictures and what not. What way on day Two, at Disneyland Shellie May/Queen of Hearts and Duffy/Mad Hatter can dine at the Queen of Hearts restaurant where I will take millions of photos. Plus the 4 days will help in case it is busier this time as when we went it was faster the tsunami disasters. And we will have more time to explore the hotels and shopping areas, we won't be so rushed. Just need to save more cash for all this extra fun.

Make room in my suitcase!!!

While we are going to try and visit new spots this time in Japan we are obviously going to go to some repeats, like Tokyo Disneyland. Why would spend the money to see things we already experienced? Because they were fun! Why I go to places over and over again where I like yes? So I plan on going to the Ueno Zoo, Puroland Land, and Harajuku again. We were a bit rushed at the zoo last time because it wasn't planned (but yay pandas). One part of Puroland was under construction last time and there wasn't enough time to go shopping AND catch all the shows. When we went to Harajuku I saw NO cosplayers minus the ones in XURWIEU. Plus they were making a huge Kiddyland and I want to see the Snoopy store to take pictures for my friend. Add in the fact that my brother and sister in law won't have seen any of these things and we should have tons of fun yes?

My wallet hurts already.

Akihabara is a must....obviously....obviously. I need more nendoroids that won't fit in my suitcase and my husband is like is this real life? Maybe this time I will be forced to leave some of the boxes in the trash. I don't know if I would go on a Sunday again though I liked the walking in the streets there in Ginza but...it was super crowed in the stores. Will have to ask members of my party what they prefer. But I will go and spend lots of money. The building with the second hand stuff should be done being built by then (or now) so they won't be all spread out this time. That was kind a fun...all that exploring.

I am sure my sister in law will lose her mind at this place too. XD

Actually let me just go ahead and make a list of repeat places I want to go. That way I can always go back and see how many free days we have. Now I have been to some of these places I know what will be a whole day trip and what will be a half day trip.

I will probably spend 2 hours in the store. XD And then whatever time I can in the restaurant/show area.

 
Tokyo Disneyland/Sea – 4 days 
Puroland- 1 day 
Akihibara- 1 day 
Uneo Zoo/Temples- 1 day 
Ghibli Museum- ½ day 
Asakasa Temple/Sky Tree- 1 day 
Harajuku, Shibuya, Meiji Temple- 1 day 
Pokemon Center/Tokyo Tower- 1 day 

I shall get pictures of things inside of the stores!

I think I am going to try and do things differently camera wise. I notice other bloggers have tons of photos in areas that say no pictures. I tried to follow the rules last time but hello no one else is! Does that make it right? No but I want pictures! It's not like I am going to damage anyone or their property. I want to show people all there is to see within reason. Museums with such rules I understand but shops? Why not? I need to learn to be more sneaky though as the tiny camera I had last time died. Like I think it was mortally wounded when I dropped it at Puroland and died on the plane ride back home.

See I won't starve! XD

I am still a picky eater. That hasn't changed. I don't know the level of foodies my brother and sister in law are but my husband will try anything that isn't a squid ball. He has had camel. So I am willing to go inside the restaurant and take you guys pictures but I am not very adventurous. I will try all the snacks though. There we go! Snack food blogging. That should be okay. A few 100 yen and it it's yucky it's not great loss and I haven't offended anyone. Rejoice!!

The husband has already been informed that Duffy and the new Shellie May will be taking pictures in Japan. He said...tay. XD

Being the dork and picture lover I am I will go picture crazy, like I did last time. I didn't even post half of all the pics we took. I need to start reposting those. Last time I had a nendoroid walking around with me but I always worry I will scratch them up. Duffy is much more squishy. That and I think he is used to be being dropped....So there will be tons of pictures of Duffy going on trips/adventures. But I am also going to to be a giant dork and take pictures of classic anime scenes. Of course for this blog it won't matter as I don't post my face but it will be fun to scrapebook. Here is my list so far for classic anime scenes I can take. Because obviously I can't do a school festival or New Year's Eve shot.

So many picture ideas!

Running in place at train tracks. 
Winning something at arcade (sneak shot) 
Drinking something is a cute cafe 
Buying a souvenir for someone
Dramatic fanning shot. SO HOT 
Eating crepes 
Getting drinks at a vending machine 
Going to Family Mart 
Praying at a temple 

I am sure when the time gets closer there will be more things added to the list. That and I can't plan the whole trip. Things will come to me. There will be three other people with me. Well really two since my husband usually just goes along with what I want to do. As long as he gets his way on one or two things he is happy. But I have never traveled with other people like this before. That means more breaks and allowing people room to breath. Go with the flow, wasn't that my new year's resolution? That goes for the whole trip really. You can't plan every second of your day. I remember I used a guide book last time to plan part of the trip and we went to one building because it was supposed to be cool. It wasn't. It was nothing. So we had to make a different plan for the day. Like oh look at this cool underground shopping area with tons of cute shops. If we had plans and we happen upon something special going on we shall stop and see. Sorta hard to do when you can't speak the language but if there are crowds I want to see. So go with the flow. If something sucks or doesn't take as long to do well time to do some exploring. Those are the best pics anyway, when you get lost and find cool side streets?

Gotta go during a holiday to see even more!

All these fun things I have planned. I really do need to make sure the brother is saving money. I am currently saving each week as saving our 2012/2013 tax returns. Still fun costs money, especially when that fun is named Duffy. I might try to hold off on getting SO many stickers and cell charms as those can add up really fast. I want...well all the Duffy/Shellie May stuff and tons of nendoroids. But maybe I can get some of that cute fake food they put on display at restaurants. That way I can use it all the time. For...um I am not sure. But I can get the souvenir plates at theme parks that I can...display all the time. XD Hopefully the yen will stay at the 1 dollar=100 yen level by next year. Or even better! When we went it was about 76 yen to 1 dollar. So that is almost 25 percent more cash in my head. Please stay the same or better! 

We also got some basic Japanese knowledge this time. I mean I still don't think we will pack umbrellas but yes to the darn phrase book. We know now why we got turned around in Shinjuku station. We know that subways are battle grounds. We know where the cheap noms can be found. We know prices can vary from stall to stall. We know that squid balls are gross. And we know I need to get in shape. STAIRS!!!

NO MORE STRESS!

But I guess the key to any trip and adventure is to have tons of fun, be flexible, and have plans/backup plans. Especially traveling with more people. Stay rested and hydrated and have a great time. Well great time 2.0. This time with twice as many people too! Maybe the brother and sister in law will have some inside help...even if they are living off the main island. 

Oh and I don't know how much blogging I will be able to do there. I don't want to play my internet games this time but posting pics on Facebook should be doable. I guess it depends on how early we turn in. Like if we get up at 8 and come back at 8 I can watch some crazy Japanese tv and blog yes? Guess we will see. I will try anyways. I think last time I did...4 posts in Japan. X___X Out of like 25?

When the husband and I returned from our trip last time I started making a list of places I wanted to see on our return trip. XD Go me. So here is the list of places I have jotted down one a pad of paper from the Peabody. X___X I think we used the bathroom there once when we went to Megacon and the husband and the brother.....borrowed things from the hotel. Criminal activity on my blog folks!!! But yes here is some places we didn't see last time that I would like to see this time. Also this list will probably grow and change as others insert their opinions and ideas too.

I will find you this time!

Odaiba- SHOPPING! Wants to see Fort Venus and Hello Kitty Kawaii Paradise 
Sweet Paradise- Can we say belly full of of treats? Several locations in Tokyo. 
Akasaka Hie Shrine 
Tokyo Dome City 
LaLaport Toyosu 
Mister Donut- How did we not get a panda treat from this place?! 
Ikebukuro- Sunshine City Gate and Sanrio Gift Gate. I need more Hello Kitty clearly. 
Tokdorki Keikoku (Setagay-ku) 
Harajuku- We apparently missed the entire road that is Takeshita Dori last time. 
Kameido Tenjin Shrine 
Tokyo Sky Tree 
Nezu Shrine 
Toshogu Shrine 
Build a Bear- HEY! I checked their website and it looks like they have things our doesn't carry anymore. Plus it is in an area we are already going to...don't judge! 
Universal Studios Osaka 

My friend will be like bring me back a snoopy!

Let me see...what else to type...This seems like a lot given that this trip is still WAY OFF! Just that May is ending um right now and that is when we returned from our amazing trip in 2011. Memories...in the way corner of my mind. XD But tons of pics to look at. But yes folks. A Japan Trip for 2014. Probably too soon to be counting down the months though yes? XD Silly me.

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Japan Trip 2011 Revisted! Tokyo Disneyland Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall

Hello there my lovely readers! The Google zipper today is frightening me for some reason. Almost like it is a spider of something. And you know how I love spiders. XD

Top of the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall. So much detail for just the roof of a building.

After blogging a million episode posts I thought I would break up the summaries and walk down memory lane...well continue to walk down Tokyo Disneyland lane. So many pictures folks! I must share them all. Hope you are hungry XD

I think in my first Tokyo Disneyland post I stated this was a new restaurant. Clearly I was full of crap. XD This restaurant has been around for quite a while. I guess it is just super popular. Maybe I thought that because there was a line getting into the restaurant? Either way I was wrong. But the place looked brand new!

The entire front of the restaurant is so well themed. Almost the like the Alice in Wonderland world got dropped into Disney, White Rabbit and all. Again no one was outside taking pictures so I got the shoots I wanted. XD I would hate to see what the place would look like on a 10 capacity day, like during Golden Week. Horrors I am sure.

Despite how silly the hats look the cast members were happy and helpful. The wait in line was probably because cast members were staggering customers in, so that once you got your tray there would be a seat for you. This restaurant had so many cast members in it. The only other restaurant I have seen so many extra was at the Harry Potter restaurant. People might complain about high ticket prices but it is to pay people like this to make sure your dinning experience is close to perfect. XD I guess you can tell I impressed.

The wait was about 20 minutes I believe? But I think I am counting actual time in line and paying. So really nothing to complain about. And really I wanted time to take pictures. It is easier to justify taking pictures when you are in line instead of "wasting" time when you could be on another ride.

Not my hand. XD But these statues lined the "hallway" towards the counters. People were actually taking pictures here. XD I have seen some pretty fun ones on the internet so I will have to try them out next time.

This is Japan, home of the plastic food. Did you know that plastic food isn't cheap? Crazy. Maybe next time I will buy a tiny ice cream plastic food just to say I have one. But this is standing in the fork in the road. Two lines to help make the nom getting process faster. Both lines had a chance to see what was offered so people could make their decisions in line faster. Because you can't go into this restaurant and NOT get a dessert. I ended up getting the chocolate cake and my husband got the strawberry heart thing. I almost wanted to get the UnBirthday cake but the husband didn't want that and I don't think I could have eaten that alone. Next time one of us will get the dessert in the souvenir cup because...I like souvenirs.

Fast close-up of the plate. It was click and go because now we are actually in line! Quick pictures to keep the line moving. Someone laughed at me though. XD Disney is about taking pictures people!

A very blurry picture of the line. XD This restaurant is called a Buffeteria. That word makes me laugh. You enter the line and pick different already plated options and you pay at the end. Each plate is priced individually so you can eat a tiny dessert or a huge meal. I can vouch for the dessert being worth the wait in line if that is all you want.

Trying to get all the details for you all, my lovely readers....and of course me for memories. Imagine how many pictures I could have taken had there been no one in line. XD A bit of wait occurs when someone is waiting for a certain plate and it is still being made. These plates are not sitting there for minutes being cold. Nope nope, they are being made right on the stop. If my memory serves me right they had no more than 5 plates out at once, just in case something isn't popular. Oh and the reason for the wait is some guests would wait behind the person waiting for their food, not just walk around them. I followed suit as everyone else was doing the same. XD

At some of the restaurants there were special menu items available for the Easter Wonderland. Being that I am not an adventurous eating I stuck with things that i recognize. XD There is a huge oven that is cooking the rotisserie chicken for all to see. It fills the room with such a delicious smell how could I resist?

Since we were eating on a "budget" while in Japan I consider this one of our most expensive meals. However if we were eating like normal people it would probably rank a little above average price wise. The only thing I would do different for next time is not get a soda as I believe it was 300 yen and you got no refills in this tiny cup. I do love Qoo though. :( Maybe if it came in a souvenir cup....

You should wait for a cast member to seat you and not run around the restaurant to take pictures. Do that AFTER your meal.

It felt a little weird going around taking pictures above people's head as they were eating. I know that feeling as we got to sit next to a popular dinosaur at T-Rex Cafe. Hopefully people understand. Everything is just so gorgeous in there you have to take pictures.

Maybe if we had more time in the park or went to it all the time we would have really sat back and took everything in. I did see a few lolitas sitting down and having a fancy meal. It really is a good setting for lolita pictures. XD People with annual passes must do that a lot (or at least that is what I would do). Come on in, ride a few rides, and have a long lunch. These are my dreams if I won the lottery folks. We would live part of the year in Tokyo and have little lunch/dinner dates here. XD That is how much I liked this Tokyo Disneyland restaurant.

After walking up super early to make it to the park at opening time and spending a great deal of time watching parades and riding Fantasyland rides this restaurant was a much needed sit down and chill break. Wonderful food, good atmosphere, and plenty of picture taking opportunities. I tried to eat everything on my plate but I left feeling stuffed and there were a few bites left over. So if you ever find yourself in Tokyo Disneyland I highly recommend this restaurant, if only for the desserts and maybe to split a meal. XD Time to get back out in the park and take more pictures now!

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Japan Trip 2011 Revisted! Tokyo Disneyland Toontown

XO No anime episodes up and subbed for me to blog? Sites keep saying they have episodes up but clearly they are lying. XD Getting my hopes up and such.

So in the meantime I will blog more about Tokyo Disneyland! One day I will get back to the ins and out of Tokyo and Kyoto but I have tons of Disney pictures! I must share them with the world. Plus there must be some over the top Disney fans like me who want to see every part of the park right?

:( Orlando no longer has a Toontown...so sad.

After watching the Easter Wonderland parade it was time to explore the park! XD I can't remember the last time I watched a parade so early but I guess I didn't want to miss out. But now it is time for picture taking!

Right now our Toontown area is under a big slab of cement. :(

This very helpful child is pointing the way to fun!

Our Toontown in Orlando was torn down early 2011. But I believe this Toontown is closer to the California Toontown anyway. Either way I was like AWWWW ours is gone sadface. So I think we went overboard taking pictures.

Waves to Donald Duck. Never been a HUGE fan of him. Maybe because he sounds like a teacher from Peanuts. Can't understand a word out of his mouth!

But I guess Daisy sees something in him. XD I liked the random pieces of garden art if you would. Little nice touches and there. I could probably spend the entire day just taking pictures at ANY Disney and still not capture everything.

View of Donald's Boat from inside the Chipmunk Tree.

Front of Goofy's house. He makes one scary scarecrow. Apparently not scary enough but still. At our old Toontown the meet and greet for Disney had a barn theme with fun shaped vegetables. This is the closest we saw to that at Tokyo Disneyland.

Front of Goofy's house. Since we left this house has become an attraction. I am not sure what it was before but now it is the future home of Goofy's Paint n Play House. I am not sure what it is all about, something about kids applying paint to different scenes. It is coming soon though.

Time to visit Chip and Dale's Treehouse. The structure is not big enough to house a meet and greet. More like a playground type area that is way better themed and not full of potential dangers.

There were several "things" you could do to help Chip and Dale gather nuts. A lever here, a rope here. We have something similar to this in the queue area of the Winnie the Pooh ride. If you have small kids it is a nice escape to get away from the crowds. If you are an adult take your few pictures and move along. XD

There are several snack shacks throughout Toontown. As long they don't sell popcorn it appears there will be no wait. XD Of course I am convinced this was a totally off day so maybe I am a liar. Also what is up with that tree X__X

Front of Mickey's House! WOOHOO! Our Mickey must be homeless. :( A ward of the state. I believe it was around 11 at the time and the wait was 45 minutes? We will have to come back later to see Mickey. He is a must see as there will be handlers for him and I am guaranteed a picture.

And we are back! One of the last things we did before we left the park was see Mickey. The line was extremely short. So short we had NO TIME to take pictures inside of his house. Like just keep going as the people from the last parade were starting to arrive. :( Sorry I don't have any to show you. It wasn't as Hidden Micky laden as the Disney World one though.

By the time we stopped we were in the...garage area? I believe so. Mickey had several costumes laying around and random chickens all over the place. By this time my husband's camera was starting to die and mine wasn't appreciating the darkness. So again sorry for the lack o pictures. But maybe next time we will wait 45 minutes for a picture just to take fun pictures...and I am not being sarcastic. XD

Minnie's House didn't have a meet and greet so there was no wait to go inside. WAI now I miss our Minnie's House. X__X I only went in there one time, like I didn't know it existed. So I miss something that I only saw once.

Maybe there is a Minnie meet and greet at different types of the day? Or maybe just going in the house needs a queue. Either way there was no line. If there was I would have more time to stop and take more pictures. XD The well was cute though.

Inside Minnie's house. It is completely different from the one that was at Disney World. That and it wasn't crowded at all. But I seem to be in most of the pictures so I will just post the other ones. XD Clearly Minne is living in the 1950's. XD

A snack for me? Why yes I am getting hungry. We will need to get a pit stop soon but for now more pictures.

I would have borrowed some food from Minnie but all she had was cheese. I hear cheese can get really expensive in Japan though. XO Maybe they aren't fond of Cheese Wiz.

NO! I will save my hungers for a sit down restaurant. I believe though all three of these "stands" had different types of food. My husband checked the menu but now I can't remember. They must have been different as people are looking at the menus deciding which line to get in.

A lot of the building fronts in this area were just for show, picture taking areas. XD A way to draw crowds away from shows and rides without having the extra manpower behind it. Who doesn't want 2193727 pictures of themselves at Disney?

Now onto an area completely new to me! Disney World does not have a Roger Rabbit area. I actually thought it was kinda weird to even include that in Disney. I guess maybe it would go more with MGM, with the muppets and other "Not Disney cartoons" movies. But it is still time of pictures as I remember a movie that made me cry for shoes.

I thought this area was pretty well themed. Fun cartoony buildings, random golf balls, and some stores with silly toys and what not.

I like how the buildings are so squished and smushed looking. Like someone sat on them, pulled them like taffy, and pretended like nothing happened. I am not sure if this area is really popular with the Japanese though. It was very dead and easy to snap pictures with minimum people in the shot.

A park with no people. XD Good thing or they could have been injured!

There is one ride in the Roger Rabbit portion of Toontown. Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. GET IT! My husband said the ride was rather jerky but I liked it. But I am kinda of a wimp when it comes to ride. I would compare it to the Cat in the Hat ride at Universal Studios.

After our one ride it was time for more pictures. These boxes made different noises when you lifted up the lids. One kid kept freaking out...then would open the box again. Crazy kid!

A store that you could actually go into! XD We spent a little time in there trying on hats and what not. I wish the stores were more themed and had special, only at this location merchandise. They did have some golf balls that I didn't see anywhere else though.

It is about time to head out of Toontown and into Fantasyland. XD So many more pictures to go!

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