4 Kids, 2 Happy and Tired Parents: Japan Trip Part 4

As an average parent living in America, taking kids to Disneyland was one of the items on to-do-list before the kids grow up. I'd imagined going to the one in Anaheim, but Tokyo was even better. We took the bullet train to Tokyo from Shinosaka station which took us about three hours. We were hoping to see Mt. Fuji as it passes right by, but the darn typhoon didn't permit it. It was pretty much gray and drizzly all the way, but the girls were super excited and could not quite contain themselves.

We arrived at the Disneyland around 2:00 pm and the weather was not looking so good. But, we had girls covered in their trustworthy rain coats, so we marched in to make the most out of it. As we walked in the covered shop arcades, the girls spotted the Cinderella Castle towering in the gray sky ahead. Their little faces gleamed and I could tell millions of thoughts were processing in their heads. Maybe us parents pay all these troubles to look at this very face, I thought. We walked toward the castle like everyone around and along the way looked at their special Halloween decorations. I must say they did a very good job with their decorations. The girls however, were busy looking at the ducks in their lawn area like they've never seen them before.

The typhoon kept the visitor count somewhat low and we were able to ride some attractions. We did the teacup, Dumbo ride, Peter Pan and Pinocchio. The longest wait was Peter Pan and we waited for 40 minutes. Some of the rides had endless lines and their wait time was longer than 80 minutes! I would say it must take many visits to experience all attractions. The girls got scared in Peter Pan and Pinocchio as they had some scary parts, but they both enjoyed fast moving Tea Cup attraction. I was a scaredy cat as a child, but they might have a potential to be cooler than Mom. We ended the night at Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall with a warm meal. We were very tired by then, but we had to wait forever to board the shuttle bus to the hotel. Saya was cranky and wanted to be held. As soon as I picked her up, she fell asleep. I was stuck carrying sleeping sack of sandbag for 40 minutes and I was quite miserable. The hotel was nice and we slept well to recharge.

The weather was glorious the next day. We were going to visit Sanrio Land where Hello Kitty lives the second day, but since we missed out on good weather the day before and we didn't see Micky or Minnie, we decided to try it again. We were glad we did! As soon as we entered, we were greeted by Mickey, Daisey, Chip and Dale, and many others. The girls were so excited, they were jumping with joy. Saya was so happy to see Mickey, she chased him and wanted to enter the employee only area where he retreated. The Spookyville parade was fun and its dangerously catchy song is playing in my head ever since. I will leave the video of it from YouTube below so that it can play in your head forever also. The highlight of Saya's Disney visit was seeing Marie the cat and Minnie dancing on the float. She still talks about it and says "I want to go dancing with Marie and Minnie!"

The girls each picked up a character headband (picking their perfect headband was a VERY HARD task and took forever), Saya, a pink Minnie headband and Aly, Marie the cat headband. We didn't see any princesses though and that we have to accomplish in the next visit. Thank you grandma and Jiji for making my dream and the girls' come true! That was a lot of fun!

"Welcome to Spookyville" parade in Disneyland: