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.
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.
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.
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.
Day two of the Fairytale Challenge began as the day before, catching the 3:30 transport to EPCOT. Our luggage did arrive so I was able to wear my contacts for this run. We arrived and the staging area was already filling up with runners. I managed to get a photo with Merida and then took my trek out to the corrals and Rick made his way to the Magic Kingdom.
I was placed in corral D, which the wait was not that long. Once we were released with some fireworks we were heading towards the Magic Kingdom. Along the way I took a photo with Captains Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa. Continuing towards the Magic Kingdom, I finally arrived at the marquee. You would think that the park would be close but from experience it is another three miles till you get to the park. There was a photo op with four princes, John Smith, Eric, Flynn Ryder and Phoebus. By the time I got my chance Flynn took a break, so I filled in.
We finally made it to the Magic Kingdom, just past the five mile mark. The view when you turn onto Main Street and see Cinderella’s castle never gets old. Found Rick right by the castle where we took a right and entered Tomorrowland. After tailing a picture with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb I entered Fantasyland. As I approached Gaston’s Tavern I saw that he was there with Belle and decided to wait in their line.
After the long wait I took my picture with them and continued my way to the castle. Right before we entered the castle, Snow White was there. Since she is my favorite princess I had to stop and get a photo with her. Once I got my photo I ran through the castle then came upon a bottle neck at the front of the castle so we just walked our way down. Took my castle photo and made my way through Liberty Square where I saw Jessie from Toy Story. From there we spent a very short time in Critter County and that is where we exited the park.
Just after mile six there was a photo op with Villains, which I got a group photo with the Queen of Hearts, the Evil Queen and Cuella DeVil. With the line taking over 15 minutes I started being concerned about the balloon ladies. I proceeded to follow the runners along the streets that passed by the golf course and a couple of the resorts. By mile eight fatigue and exhaustion caught up with me and it started getting hot, I started taking extensive walking breaks at this point.
By mile 10 we were routed on a ramp that looped to the road leading to EPCOT. At the top of the road I saw how far back the runners were so that gave me the assurance that the balloon ladies was not going to pass me up!
We entered EPCOT by mile 12 and I pushed on to finish strong. As we passed Future World and seeing Spaceship Earth the end of the race is almost there. Just one more stop I had to take, a photo op with Pluto for Megs. Once we turned the corner and saw the finish line I dug deep down and sprinted towards the finish by way of giving high fives to Donald Duck and Goofy. I finished in 4hrs 17min 59sec.
We celebrated by having brunch at Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’, resting in the afternoon and having dinner at The Edison. Despite the lack of sleep, aggravations with Southwest I had a great time running this half marathon.
The first race on 2019 started off a bit rocky. I estimated that I got three hours of sleep within 48 hours prior to the race. With a mixture of worrying about Megs at her doggie camp, traveling and Southwest losing all our luggage contributed to my insomnia. Luckily I made it a habit to pack my running gear in my carry on.
We signed up for the 3:30 transportation to EPCOT, which allowed me to check my bag in, take a photo with Cinderella and get to my corral in plenty of time. I was placed in corral B, so that gave me enough cushion if I wanted to stop for photo ops or if my lack of sleep would slow me down.
The course is very similar to the 10K for marathon weekend so I was very familiar with the course. We ran through the road entrance to EPCOT and along the way we saw Pocahontas on an overpass, snapped a quick picture of her and continued on. Just past mile one there was a very long line for Belle and the Beast, I opted to forego that photo op and continued on. Shortly after there was a line and it was Elvis Stitch so I waited.
Around 3.5 miles we entered the outskirts of EPCOT and saw the outside side track for the ride Test Track, so I knew we were close to entering World Showcase through Mexico. I quickly took a picture of the lake and posted on social media that I arrived at EPCOT.
We made our way through the showcase passing through Norway, China, Germany, Italy, The American Adventure, Japan and Morocco. I stopped at Morocco to take a photo with Aladdin, his line was fairly long, but it went pretty fast. We continued our world tour and passed France.
We took a little detour out to the Boardwalk resorts and in about mile 5.5 we entered back into World Showcase and finished our world tour through the United Kingdom and Canada. We passed under the monorail and took my last photo op in front of Spaceship Earth. I proceeded towards the finish which is located to the left of the entrance. I finished in 1hr 41min 6sec. Considering the few hours I was running on I felt pretty good along the race and finishing it.
We celebrated the 10K finish at BOMA with a great African brunch. We were planning on spending the day at EPCOT, but decided to take the day to rest after the lack of sleep for the past two days, which was the best decision.
Completing the 10K was the start to achieve the Fairytale Challenge. Next up is the half marathon to complete the challenge.
In the virtual queue for the Princess Half Marathon weekend, hoping to get in and register for the Fairy Tale Challenge. The challenge used to be the Glass Slipper Challenge, so the name change indicates that it is not exclusively Cinderella themed. 10 minutes in “line” and the page keeps on refreshing to this view:
Patiently waiting for the page to open up. It is reminiscent of my first time signing up for the Disneyland Dumbo Double Dare challenge. I am trying not to worry, but the wait is nerve racking!
20 minutes in and it is still refreshing. I can feel the slots filling up! I miss the days when they had a bar chart on the event page to see how full the races are getting.
Wait…What?! I’m on the log in page! Shy of 30 minutes I am sent to the first step of the registration process.
As you can see you need to have a Disney account to log in. I’ve had mine for years and entered the necessary information to get in. Tada…now I am in and seeing the options of the races. I am here to get into the Fairy Tale Challenge. Scroll down and I click on the option…nothing happens. Okay what is going on? Ah you have to scroll down further!
Since it logged me in through my Disney account it pre entered my information, pretty nifty. Next it showed the extra items you can pre-order. I got the pins, and proceeded to the payment area. They have an option for Disney gift cards and Redemption points, which is a nice option, but I read that you cannot split the cost between cards. I only wished that they would give the Chase Disney Card discount for this. Entered my information and clicked…
Whew…I got in.
Not bad for the registration, I read that there were a lot of people that had issues. Thankfully I didn’t! Now let the planning begin!
Winnie the Pooh fans would love this movie. Especially if you are an adult and grew up with Pooh. This movie is not your typical Winnie the Pooh movie. It is based on the viewpoint of Christopher Robin as an adult and how Winnie the Pooh relates to him as an adult.
The movie starts as Christopher Robin is a young boy and he says goodbye to his friends in the 100 acre wood before he is sent off to boarding school. In the prelude of the movie we quickly see the events that happen until Christopher Robin becomes an adult. It is pretty dark, it involves a death and war, but it then brightens up where he meets his wife and has a child, but then it becomes dim and that is where the story starts.
The premise of the joining of Pooh and Christopher is that Pooh has lost his friends and he goes and through the tree that transports him to London to find Christopher. Throughout the movie you see Christopher is helping Pooh with his predicament, but he also finds out that he also needs Pooh and his 100 acre friends to help him as well.
The movie works well, because the characters of the 100 acre wood stays true to their mannerism. There is a lot of reference to the past Winnie the Pooh movies that makes the movie endearing. The quotes that Pooh gives are quite simple, but yet they are very deep, which makes his character so appealing and lovable. For a bear with very little brain, Pooh is very wise in the simplest sense.
I can see that there may be a lot of people that may not like this movie, because it is very different than the past movies that featured Winnie the Pooh. If you go with an open mind, and watch the movie for what it is, you will be pleasantly happy with the story and the visuals.
This is a great addition to Disney’s live action repertoire, and I hope that you are like me and will enjoy this story of Christopher Robin and the Silly old Bear.
Marvel has done it again, they produced a fun, entertaining, action packed movie with a storyline.
The prologue brings us back to events just after the first Ant-Man movie with Dr. Pym and Hope, which cuts out and the Marvel Logo appears.
After the title scene we are now a couple years after the events of Captain America Civil War. We see Scott under house arrest because of the events in Civil War. This also explains why Ant-Man was not present during Infinity War, and what happened to Dr. Pym and Hope during this time.
To summarize what is happening without exposing too much of the plot line, Scott (Ant-Man) is faced with balancing between being a super hero and being a father at the same time as being under watch by the FBI. There is a lot of comedy that works and some fun action scenes.
As revealed in the end credit scene in Ant-Man, Dr. Pym shows Hope the Wasp suit, so you know that she was going to be a major role in this film. Besides her name is in the title, so definitely The Wasp (Hope) has a lot of screen time in this installment. There is a mission which they need Ant-Man to participate in, which brings Ant-Man and the Wasp together to complete this mission.
It was good to see that they brought back Scott’s friends, Luis, Kurt and Dave. The four ex-cons trying to make it without slipping back into crime, they all started a business and also helped the super heroes. They also brought back Scott’s ex-wife and husband as well as their daughter Cassie, who defends her father and encourages him along the way.
There are new characters from Dr. Pym’s past that are all mixed into this story, as the saying goes the past will haunt you, and Dr. Pym your past is here to haunt you. This time around you get a little more history on Dr. Pym and start to understand him better.
Overall, this was a great addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and would recommend this to anyone that like superhero/action movies. Remember to stay for the mid-credit scene, it ties their storyline to what is happening currently in the Avengers story…Thanos’ infamous snap! There is also an end-credit scene, so stay for the whole thing!
The Supers are back! The Incredibles II (I2) picks up where we last saw them, getting ready to fight the Underminer. It’s been 14 years since we last saw Bob, Helen, Violet, Dash and Jack Jack, along with Lucius and Edna Mode. At the end of the Incredibles you probably thought that the ban on Supers was lifted, in I2 we find that they are still illegal. Their house got was destroyed when Syndrome’s plane crashed into it, and now they are in trouble with their involvement in fighting the Underminer.
I2 main plot is trying to get the Supers back into light and lifting the ban on Supers so that all Supers would be legal. In the previews you see that it is Elastigirl who is the face of the Supers and her new job is to help the cause. This leaves Bob (Mr. Indcredible) to be a say-at-home dad. Violet is having problems with boys and entering adolescence, Dash needing help with his math homework, Jack Jack is showing a lot of his super powers, all at the same time Bob is reassuring Helen that everything is going well at home.
I2 has the same feel as the first movie, and it continues the storyline. I enjoyed the sequel, it’s been a long time coming. There were rumors way back that they would be coming out with I2, and finally it is here. If you liked the first movie and the magic of Pixar, you would enjoy this film. It ran over two hours, but it didn’t seem like it and I still wanted more.
Chad's Blog for Running, Disney & Movies 