Run Chaddieboy Run!
Saturday – November 17
We chartered a driver to pick us up and bring us to the airport. We got there in plenty of time to check in and find something to eat. I got Soba Noodles with vegetable tempura, Rick go Goyza. Both were very good for airport food. We got some souvenirs at a shop and found a vending machine to use up the rest
of the funds in our Suica cards.
Our plane on Japan Airlines was on time and we made it safely home.
Friday – November 17
We had breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant. It was a buffet, which had a lot of choices. It was a good value, and we were able to try different types of cuisines for brunch.
We took the train to Shinjuku to find the Godzilla’s head. We took some pictures and walked around for a bit. We found another 3D billboard that featured a cat, one of the ones I wanted to see.
We then took the train to Shibuya to find the Hachiko statue.
Hachiko is the famed dog that would wait for his owner at the train station. When his owner passed away, he would continue to visit the train station until his death. The statue was constructed to celebrate Hachiko’s loyalty to his owner. There was a line to take a picture with the statue, we were able to get a selfie with the statue because we had dinner reservations at a restaurant, I saw on Tik Tok.
We walked to Kamachan Onsen. When I looked up the restaurant it said that you needed reservations.
Luckily there was two reservations left, so I quickly made that reservation the day before. It was a little difficult because the online form was in Japanese, but I was able to secure the reservation.
The restaurant features a teddy bear hotpot. This shabu shabu hotpot give you a teddy bear-shapes collagen jelly, which turns into a broth when heated. I chose a chicken broth with chicken; Rick chose
miso broth with beef.
It came with an assortment of vegetables, and you can choose from various dipping sauces. It was a fun experience and definitely recommend it.
We took the train to Shinjuko Ni-chome to check out the gay neighborhood. It was still early so none of the bars were open, so we decided to go back to the hotel and have the dessert that we got at Mark City Food Show Sweets Zone in Shibuya crossing.
Thursday – November 16
Woke up and thought we would grab something to eat at Ikspiari, but it was too early and nothing was open, so we opted to eat at McDonalds. Different type of menu and selections.
We went to Tokyo Imperial Palace to check it out. Found out that they were giving free tours, but it was limited. We stayed in line and secured a spot. When it was time to go in, we took the English tour around the grounds. It was a nice walk around the grounds, but nothing special. I was hoping that we would be able to tour the inside of the buildings but that was not the case.
We had to at least go and see a temple. Looked on Google maps and there was a temple just north of where we were that was 30 minutes by train. We visited Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa. It is a beautiful temple, and is one of the oldest temple in Tokyo. In front of the temple is a shopping area with multiple booths. Close to the entrance of the temple there were places where you can get your fortune and ritual
areas.
We walked around the area, looking at the shops, tried a local snack and took pictures. We couldn’t find a place to eat so we decided to go back to Ikspiari to find a place for dinner. We found a place that served Okonomiyaki, a cabbage fritter that I wanted to try. We thought we were in line for the restaurant, but ended up in line for a Ramen place. It was still good, so we didn’t mind.
Wednesday – November 15
DisneySea Day!
We arrived early and the line was not as crazy as Disneyland, where in DL it was a big sea of people.
People lined up to wait to get in. This time I took a picture of our tickets when we had good wifi and was able to pull those up without being worried like we did the previous day.
When you enter DisneySea you are greeted by a large globe rotating on water. When you go through the archway you enter the park and see the volcano in the distance. We went to a café to get breakfast and planned our day. I got a premier pass for Toy Story Mania, so we headed over to the area. We had some time, so we walked around and went into a store and got a Duffy character plush.
Throughout the day the rides we went on were:
Toy Story Mania – Same as Anaheim and WDW, but it seemed a little faster.
Tower of Terror – Has a different story line, but ride is similar to WDW.
Journey to the Center of the Earth – a thrill ride that reminded me of Test Track, but the story of going to the center of the earth and unleashing creatures made the ride fun.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – Japan’s version of the submarine ride, a little cramp but was enjoyable.
Aquatopia – Autotopia on water!
Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull – similar to the Indiana Jones rides in the U.S., but a different take with the storyline of the Crystal Skull.
Raging Spirits – A roller coaster with a loop, they had a single rider line, so was able to ride that quickly.
Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage – A boat ride that was cute.
Blowfish Balloon Race – flying gondolas that was themed for Mermaid Lagoon.
Nemo & Friends SeaRider – technology like Star Tours. The storyline is that you are shrunken into a small searider and Nemo and friends take you around the ocean.
A featured area that was well done was Mermaid Lagoon. You go down and you enter the area that makes you feel like you are underwater.
We didn’t eat as much snacks and we thought we would. We did have a couple of snacks in Mermaid Lagoon, and also tried the soy popcorn. We couldn’t find a popcorn bucket that we would want, so just got a small popcorn to try the flavor.
The parks close early in Japan, at first we thought that it was too early, but with the full day at the park we were happy to go back to the hotel and rest.
Tuesday – November 14
Disneyland Day!
Woke up early to hop on the Disney Resort Line to get in the queue to Tokyo Disneyland. It wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be. While we waited, I tried to get on the app to get our tickets. There was bad reception, and I couldn’t get into the app, I wasn’t the only one that was having issues, there were a lot of people with their phones up in the air to get reception. Luckily, I had access to my email folders, so I was able to get our ticket QR codes there.
Once we got in, we got breakfast at the Great American Waffle Co., where we got Mickey waffles with a strawberry cream and syrup. It was a popular place, which had a long line by the time we go there.
I purchased a Premier pass for the Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast. This is my favorite ride of the park. You ride a teacup, it is trackless ride, so you move all around the ride to see different scenes from the movie. The best parts were Be our Guest and the Transformation, but overall, the whole ride was quite impressive.
Throughout the day we rode:
Haunted Mansion – It had the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay like they do in the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim.
Its’ a Small World – very colorful backdrop, ride similar to Disneyland Resort in Anaheim with characters from the movies worked in throughout the ride. One thing we noticed was that the rides seem to go faster than both DL and WDW.
Pirates of the Caribbean – Red is still there!
Castle Carrousel – no Jingles, or I missed him!
Snow White’s Adventures – Still has the original ride story, where the last scene was the hag trying to lodge the boulder down to the dwarfs.
Pooh’s Hunny Hunt – The queue was really cute, it made you think that you are travelling into the book. The ride is also trackless. It was well done.
Space Mountain – Pretty much like the WDW version.
The Happy Ride with Baymax – Totally did not disappoint. It is like Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree at DL and Alien Swirling Saucers at WDW. But what makes this one special is that everyone gets into it, the ride attendees and guests waiting in the sidelines.
We had lunch at the Queen of Heart Banquet Hall. It was a cafeteria type restaurant. You enter the space, and you are transported to the queen’s garden where all the flowers are tall and was Alice in Wonderland themed.
Went to Big Pop, which is located right next to the Baymax ride to get my popcorn bucket and get the caramel popcorn. Decided on the Monsters Inc. bucket, almost forgot to get the Mickey tongs but Rick reminded me.
We took our photo in front of the castle, Tokyo Disneyland is celebrating it’s 40th year, so it was decorated for the celebration. When we went through the castle there was a shop on the side, where we got our statue for the trip, it is by the same artist that did Dumbo that we got at Shanghai Disney, it is Jimny Cricket with his conscious badge.
Got a fuzzy Mickey bucket hat, that came in handy because it was a little chilly at the park.
We found seating for the Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights right across Toon Town. Everyone on the sidewalk sat down, so we had a great view of the parade.
When the parade ended we went to the front of the castle to find a place for to view the fireworks “Sky Full of Colors.” We were disappointed with the fireworks, the castle just had lights, no projection lighting. The fireworks was to the left side of the castle, which I figured out that Disneyland and DisneySea shared the same fireworks.
After the fireworks we went to the shops, and didn’t stay too long because it was crowded and we were tired.
The park closed at 9:00, even though it closes early than the U.S. parks I felt we accomplished a lot during the day. There were a few rides that we didn’t go on, but it was the same as the ones in Disneyland Anaheim. The only ride that I wanted to go on was Monsters Inc. Hide and Seek, but it wasn’t running that day. People say that is the same as the Monsters Inc ride in Disneyland Anaheim, but with an added feature, which you have a flashlight and when you point it at a trigger something pops up.
We took the Disney Resort Line back to Bayside Station and walked back to our hotel. We got some drinks at the vending machine by the elevators on our floor and retired for the night.
Monday – November 13
Took the Disney Resort Line to the Resort Gateway Station to the JR Maihama Station. Ikspiari doesn’t open until 9:00, so we went to Starbucks to get a snack and coffee before we ventured into the Japan railway system.
We decided to go to Shibuya area to see the famous crossing. Luckily with Apple Maps it gave us directions on what trains to take. There were transfers that were a bit confusing, and trains that had local and express to certain stations. A lady helped us where we needed to transfer and what trains and stops to take to get to Shibuya. People are very courteous in Japan, when going on an escalator, people line up and stay to the left side if standing. The train stations are very clean, and the train cars are comfortable. At each stop the train has a song that plays when the doors are closing. The signs and voice notifications had English translations, which was very helpful.
We arrived at Shibuya and went directly to the crossing. It is amazing how many people was there.
We walked to the Disney Store which was pretty close. In Japan people walk on the left side, which we had to continually remind ourselves so that we don’t walk towards traffic. The Disney Store had four levels. On the top level there was a corner that was a replica of Andy’s room from Toy Story. We bought a Duffy bear for our anniversary, and found items that we would want to get at the Disney Store by our hotel.
For lunch we went to a restaurant and had some skewers, Japanese fried rice, egg omelet and homemade ginger ale.
We walked back to the crossing to find the 3D billboard. We found it on a side street, and it was a Panda. We came across a Mark City Food Show Sweets Zone on our way to the train station. It is a department store the has all desserts. I picked a melon gateau and Rick got a chocolate cake. There were no places to sit to eat our cakes, so we took the train to Shinjuko Goyen National Garden that was about 20 minutes away.
We were able to use our Suica card to get into the garden. After we had our dessert, we walked around the gardens and took some pictures.
We didn’t know that the gardens closed at 4:00, initially we were going to hang around at the gardens and then explore the gay area Shinjuko Ni-Chome, which was close to the gardens. We found out that the businesses don’t open until 6:00, so we decided to go back to the hotel.
Sunday – November 12
Arrived in Haneda Airport. Picked up sim card, lost my home sim card, met up with our driver I booked on Klook. Traveled to Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay, approximately 40 minutes.
Checked in, booked a “ocean view” room. Apparently, the floor is called ocean view, and we had a view of the land side that had a view of the back of the parks. We called guest services and was able to move to a different room that had an actual ocean view. It had a nice view of Tokyo bay, and if it is clear you could see Mt. Fuji in the distance.
We took the Disney Resort Line to Ikspiari, which is a mall within the Disney property. The train only services the Disney Resort and has four stations: Resort Gateway Station, Tokyo DisneySea Station, Bayside Station, and Tokyo Disneyland Station.
We walked around, couldn’t decide where to eat. Decided to eat at a buffet restaurant that we thought was just desserts, but also had savory items. After dinner we went to the Disney Store and then went back to the hotel.
Taylor gave me the tip that you can use your Apple wallet to acquire a Suica card, which is used for transit and stores/vending machines. Apparently, Visa doesn’t work well in Japan, unless it is a specific bank. Luckily, I had other options to use and was able to secure funds for our travel throughout Tokyo.
Saturday – November 11
On our way to Tokyo, Japan via Japan Airlines from O’Hare International Airport.
And the adventure begins.
Megs participated in her first 5K. As an alumni of PAWS we wanted to support what they are doing and part for the proceeds from the registration of the race goes towards them.
The start and finish was at Montrose Beach, so we left early so we could find parking and see what they had to offer at the booths. We thought we saw the family that adopted one of her siblings in the parking lot, but we couldn’t find them at the park.
There were a lot of booths with free stuff for Megs, which she came home with a lot of treats and frisbees. Before the 5K started they had an Alumni photo and there were a lot of dogs. We met one of the people that spearheaded the rescue in Oklahoma and thanked her for saving Megs. Megs came from there and we found out that they were housed in boxes in a high school parking lot and if they weren’t picked up they would have been euthanized. We are an advocate for pet adoptions, for reasons like this, if you want a pet please go to a shelter and adopt, because your funds would help stories like these.
We lined up with all the other dog walkers and off we went going north from Montrose beach up to Foster and looped around. Megs did very well, we were concerned that she would get too excited and would tug a lot on her leash. She enjoyed the walk and especially the water breaks. She met human admirers and lots of furry friends along the course.
We didn’t time our walk, but it was the longest walk that Megs has been on a leash. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the morning with our little girl and all the other supporters of PAWS. She seemed to enjoy it and it will be one of our annual things to do with her.
If you are on Instagram she would love for you to follow her @megs_the_heeler
Sixth year running this course and even though it is the same course it still one of the ones that I will continue to participate. It’s always on Memorial Day weekend and has a great charity that it donates to. You get to run along the south lakeside path and start and finish inside Soldier Field.
This is the first time our puppy Megs was able to come to one of my races and cheer me on. We got there fairly early, but was stuck in the line to get into the parking structure. It was ok because we had plenty of time to walk around and get myself to my corral. This year they placed me in corral M, probably due to my time last year. I didn’t train at all since the Shamrock Shuffle, so I wasn’t expecting in breaking any records on this run.
In recent years they have been staging the starting corrals inside the stadium. The higher letter corrals are first organized in the stands and are let out to the ground floor once the early corrals are let out. It didn’t take them long to send us out. They lead us out of the stadium and out to the street, where I saw Megs and Rick waiting. I waved and continued with the group of people.
We ran south and went through the McCormick Place corridor and routed us to Lake Shore Drive where we remained on there for a couple of miles. We were then routed to the lake shore path and came upon the turnaround just before mile 5. The temperature started to get warmer and it shade started to become scarce. After mile 7 I started taking longer walking breaks and enjoyed the lake views and the Chicago skyline.
As I approached the stadium, I texted Rick to tell him where I was so that he and Megs can be aware that I was coming soon. They greeted me just before I took the last turn into the stadium. She was so excited that she tried to follow me to the finish, but Rick held her back.
I finished in 2hrs 35min 16sec. I met Rick and Megs outside the stadium and she seemed to of had a fun time. It turned out to be a nice day, and it was a great way to start our Memorial day weekend.
Chad's Blog for Running, Disney & Movies 