Japan Day 21: Tokyo and Home
January 21.
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Three options on the table: Yokohama and tall buildings, DisneyLand Tokyo, or $300 Evisu Jeans. I left it to a public vote on Facebook, and conveniently when I'm going to bed my friends are all waking up, and with overwhelming support, DisneyLand Tokyo won. Honestly, having slept on it overnight, I was convinced I was going to Disney, because my spouse hates Disney, so if I come back to Japan with her, we can do the other two, but definitely not Disney.
It's free for me to hop on the JR Train to make it to DisneyLand Tokyo, whereas the hotel's shuttle bus would take an extra 20 minutes and cost $20. Done and easy. I arrived at Disney early because it doesn't matter what time of year it is, there's always a line waiting to get inside. When I arrived for day of tickets, I was maybe only the 20th person in line, but there was easily 1,000 people already waiting to enter the gates. Everyone had blankets, snacks, and vinyl mats to sit down on so not to have their bums get dirty, so they all had this well planned out.
DisneyLand Tokyo is $75, which is significantly less than the $109 for Disney World's Magic Kindom, and this park is themed identically to DW. When the park gates finally opened, I found out why. Although DLT is themed identically to DWMK, it feels so much smaller. By numbers, Magic Kingdom is 105 acres, and Disney Tokyo is 115 acres, but it doesn't feel like that, because my feel is that every section of the park is stacked one on top of another, and it feels fairly cramped. Regardless, Space Mountain first.
Space Mountain is my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom, because it's fast, but most importantly, it's dark. If I can't see how high up I am, then my fear of heights doesn't bother me. It's actually the same at my next stop: Splash Mountain, because an environment has been built around me, I can't see how high up I've ridden. My favorite thing about Splash Mountain is the photo section, serious faces only. I rode on a bunch of different attractions, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Pinocchio, Small World, and Peter Pan. Bought a bunch of swag, and headed out.
I could have stayed around the park much longer, but I decided that I really really wanted one last bowl of ramen in Japan, and all I could think about was the bowl from Kikanbo on my first day, so I went back to them for that one last bowl of ramen. It was worth it, and I honestly can't pick between Yume Wo Katare Okinawa's spicy dip ramen, or this bowl of Kikanbo spicy ramen. They're just so good and are so flavorful.
Sadly after the big ramen bowl for dinner, it was time for my flight home. Plane leaves Narita Airport at 6:30pm, and arrival in Boston is scheduled for 5:30pm the same day. I'm going back in time! The one thing I needed to remember to do and I set like 4 reminders and alarms for was my Pocket Wifi needs to be returned before going through the gates. If it's returned on time, no big deal, but if I accidentally take it home, I have to ship it back to Japan and pay for each day it's late, and packages take about 2 weeks to get to Japan, so it's easily a $100+ mistake if I forget. Thanks to reminders, alarms, and my panicking, I dropped it off and was ready to head home.
Security stopped me again for the million keychains in my bag, and once again they had a little laugh about it. The flight felt like it took forever, because I can't sleep on a plane and since waking up in the morning it had been 24 hours since I woke up. Arrival in Boston was earlier than expected, as we landed at 4:30pm, and the spouse left work early specifically to pick me up from the airport, and I was ready to go to bed forever.
What a long three week journey. Let's do it again next year.
Three options on the table: Yokohama and tall buildings, DisneyLand Tokyo, or $300 Evisu Jeans. I left it to a public vote on Facebook, and conveniently when I'm going to bed my friends are all waking up, and with overwhelming support, DisneyLand Tokyo won. Honestly, having slept on it overnight, I was convinced I was going to Disney, because my spouse hates Disney, so if I come back to Japan with her, we can do the other two, but definitely not Disney.
It's free for me to hop on the JR Train to make it to DisneyLand Tokyo, whereas the hotel's shuttle bus would take an extra 20 minutes and cost $20. Done and easy. I arrived at Disney early because it doesn't matter what time of year it is, there's always a line waiting to get inside. When I arrived for day of tickets, I was maybe only the 20th person in line, but there was easily 1,000 people already waiting to enter the gates. Everyone had blankets, snacks, and vinyl mats to sit down on so not to have their bums get dirty, so they all had this well planned out.
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| Ticket to Disneyland Tokyo. |
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| The line to get in, Disneyland Tokyo. |
DisneyLand Tokyo is $75, which is significantly less than the $109 for Disney World's Magic Kindom, and this park is themed identically to DW. When the park gates finally opened, I found out why. Although DLT is themed identically to DWMK, it feels so much smaller. By numbers, Magic Kingdom is 105 acres, and Disney Tokyo is 115 acres, but it doesn't feel like that, because my feel is that every section of the park is stacked one on top of another, and it feels fairly cramped. Regardless, Space Mountain first.
 |
| Space Mountain, Disneyland Tokyo. |
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| Inside Space Mountain, Disneyland Tokyo. |
Space Mountain is my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom, because it's fast, but most importantly, it's dark. If I can't see how high up I am, then my fear of heights doesn't bother me. It's actually the same at my next stop: Splash Mountain, because an environment has been built around me, I can't see how high up I've ridden. My favorite thing about Splash Mountain is the photo section, serious faces only. I rode on a bunch of different attractions, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Pinocchio, Small World, and Peter Pan. Bought a bunch of swag, and headed out.
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| Haunted Mansion (closed for renovation), Disneyland Tokyo. |
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| Splash Mountain, Disneyland Tokyo. |
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| Splash Mountain serious photo, Disneyland Tokyo. |
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| Best locker number? Disneyland Tokyo. |
I could have stayed around the park much longer, but I decided that I really really wanted one last bowl of ramen in Japan, and all I could think about was the bowl from Kikanbo on my first day, so I went back to them for that one last bowl of ramen. It was worth it, and I honestly can't pick between Yume Wo Katare Okinawa's spicy dip ramen, or this bowl of Kikanbo spicy ramen. They're just so good and are so flavorful.
 |
| Kikanbo Ramen, Tokyo. |
Sadly after the big ramen bowl for dinner, it was time for my flight home. Plane leaves Narita Airport at 6:30pm, and arrival in Boston is scheduled for 5:30pm the same day. I'm going back in time! The one thing I needed to remember to do and I set like 4 reminders and alarms for was my Pocket Wifi needs to be returned before going through the gates. If it's returned on time, no big deal, but if I accidentally take it home, I have to ship it back to Japan and pay for each day it's late, and packages take about 2 weeks to get to Japan, so it's easily a $100+ mistake if I forget. Thanks to reminders, alarms, and my panicking, I dropped it off and was ready to head home.
Security stopped me again for the million keychains in my bag, and once again they had a little laugh about it. The flight felt like it took forever, because I can't sleep on a plane and since waking up in the morning it had been 24 hours since I woke up. Arrival in Boston was earlier than expected, as we landed at 4:30pm, and the spouse left work early specifically to pick me up from the airport, and I was ready to go to bed forever.
What a long three week journey. Let's do it again next year.
January 21 by numbers:
- Photos: 98
- Miles walked: 10.6
- Steps: 19048
- Total Calories Burned: 4583
- Bowls of Ramen: 1
-Joe
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