Tokyo Day 3

After the business of Disney, our third day in Tokyo was a little more low key. We met up with the Smith's and made our way over to Skytree Tower, the tallest tower in the world and the second tallest structure in the world. Word on this street is that on a clear day, you can see Mt. Fuji from the observation levels. Unfortunately the day we went was cloudy and rainy, plus there was an hour wait to go up. We decided to just get some pictures and check out the shops around it.

Much to our delight, the shopping area had a Cold Stone! And even though it was like 11am, we still got some ice cream. The kids loved it.

Lily & Gunnar enjoying their treat.

Sydney was very possessive of our family shared cup of ice cream.

"Must...get...every...last...drop!"

When it comes to ice cream, she doesn't mess around :)

Our next destination was Asakusa (which the locals pronounced "uh-sack-suh") to check out yet another Buddhist temple.

I thought the fake colored leaves above the shops were a classy touch.

The red lantern on the outer gate was massive!

And there was another sweet pagoda on the grounds.

A view of Skytree Tower from Asakusa.

Shawn's favorite thing to do there was chase all the pigeons.

The highlight of the day for me was swapping kids with the Smith's so we could go to the Tokyo temple. After visiting so many Buddhist temples around mainland Japan, it was kind of funny to explain to Sydney that we were going to the temple, but that our temple was different than all of the other ones we'd visited on our trip. It was within walking distance of our hotel, just on a small plot of land right next to the road.

Since there's no temple in Okinawa, this was my first time in about a year and a half! The visit was certainly long overdue. Although the interior was pretty similar to most other temples I've been to, it was fun to see little Japanesey touches, like the painting of Mt. Fuji on the wall near the lobby. And we got to be the foreigners wearing the headphones for translation, a first for me. It was a great end to the day. I love how after temple service I always feel refreshed and refocused on my purpose in life, a little closer to my Savior and my family.

Disney Sea

Our second day in Tokyo was spent at Disney Sea. After the mayhem of Disneyland on a weekend, we were praying that Disney Sea on a weekday would bring us smaller crowds and shorter lines. Thankfully, we were right!

Riding the railway to Disney Sea.

Syd checking out the awesome fountain just inside the park.

Instead of doing parades through the streets, characters did shows on boats in this giant lake. 

Unlike our lack of character sightings the day before, we ran into quite a few at Disney Sea. I thought it was weird that we saw most of them by the Tower of Terror, which is not exactly a kid's ride. But, if there's anything I learned about Disney parks in Tokyo, it's that adults are just as anxious to get pictures with characters as the kids.

Sydney and Lily with Minnie Mouse.

Minnie also showed Spencer and sleeping Shawn some love (and thankfully didn't wake him up!).

Syd was so excited to meet Daisy Duck.

Spencer and the kids with the girl chipmunk... I have no idea what her name is.

Syd didn't want a picture with Donald, but just wanted to say "Hi."

We also spotted Bianca

and Bernard.

Somehow we still didn't see a single princess, I guess they are just not as big of a deal here compared to Minnie and Mickey. Since we were there just a few weeks before Halloween, there was some pretty cool seasonal decor.

It was just fun to walk around and admire the cool architecture. Disney Sea definitely had a more adult feel to it. One minute we were walking through the streets of Italy, and the next we were passing through a New England harbor.

I loved this old fishing shack with vintage buoys all over it.

One of the more "kiddie" areas was King Triton's kingdom, so we spent quite a bit of time there. The exterior was so colorful and awesome.

Heading under the sea.

Spencer and Shawn on the Jumpin' Jellyfish.

Me and Syd taking a spin on the Balloon Fish.

Since all food choices in Ariel's territory were fish related (sick), we went across the bridge to have lunch in Agrabah.

These building were so awesome! I was totally mesmerized.

Admiring the two-tiered carousel.

Sydney had no interest in riding the carousel, but I totally wanted to. Later that night, Spencer went on a non-kid friendly ride with the Smith's, and since Shawn was asleep in the carrier I couldn't go. Not knowing how long they'd be in line, I figured me and the kids might as well go ride the carousel while we waited. Sydney was even crying, but I still made her go on it. I didn't mind missing out on adult rides, but I was determined to go on this one simply because I thought it was pretty. Sidenote: Thanks to baby swapping, I also got to do the Tower of Terror. It was just as awesome as I remember it.

Spencer keeping the kids happy in line.

I love this picture of the kids with their Disney treasures. I have no idea what they were staring at, but it must have been pretty cool to capture both kids' attention.

Shawn got a light up Micky Mouse, and Sydney chose a Daisy Duck purse.

After the Fantasia light show that night, a decent amount of people cleared out, making lines for kid rides drop to about 10 minutes. Spencer held a sleepy Shawn in the Ergo, while Sydney and I went to town.

We had a great time on the spinning Scuttle ride.

Love her pigtails! And her sweet smile.

Sydney had a group of admirers behind us in line. They were at the front of the line when we got on, so they waved to her every single time we went around. Spencer tried to snap a shot of them after we got off and they were walking to get on.

Syd and her fan club.

For a good hour we went from ride to ride, each with only a 5-10 minute wait. By that time it was around 9:30 pm, which was when Spencer had a fast pass for the Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull ride. When he got in line, I was carrying Shawn and pushing Syd in the stroller. We were on a mission to find a treat, but most of the food places had already closed down. I told Syndey I didn't think we'd be able to get a treat since everything was closed, and I was a little surprised when she didn't complain. Turns out that in a matter of like three minutes she had conked out in the stroller.

It was another great, full day. 

Disneyland!

Our Agenda for our first full day in Tokyo was to go to Disneyland. Shortly after we bought our plane tickets for this trip, Sydney was watching a Disney movie during quiet time. Spencer was home that day and was watching it with her. When it showed Cinderella's castle before the show started, Spencer said something along the lines of, "Sydney, do you want to go to Disneyland and see Cinderella's castle?" Of course she was excited about that prospect, and for the last several months, every time she watched a Disney movie and Cinderella's castle came on screen, she'd say, "Mom, can we please go to Disneyland?" So it was a big deal that the day to actually go to Disneyland was finally here!

Because the only day we could go to the Tokyo temple was Tuesday, we were forced to do Disney on a Sunday. It was SUPER crowded, but the weather was nice and it was just a fun atmosphere.

We spent most of our day in Fantasyland, touring Cinderella's castle and doing all the classic kiddie rides.

At the end of the castle tour, you could stand in line to sit in Cinderella's throne and try on her glass slipper. We stood in like for like 10 minutes to get a photo op of Syd in the chair, but she was whining that she didn't want to. So I did instead. She had no interest in trying on the slipper either.

Fulfilling a life long dream... ha ha.

It was kind of a bummer to teach Sydney that a good bulk of our time at Disney would be spent standing in lines. But it was fun to see her get so excited when it was finally our turn!

The kids patiently waiting in line for the tea cups.

She loved it!

For kiddie rides, we still had to wait in some pretty long lines. Plus, we tried to stick to things that were Shawn-friendly. With all the comments of "ka-wah-ee" (Japanese for "cute") that flew Sydney's way, she certainly enjoyed all the attention. And she always made friends with the little girls standing in line around us, that social butterfly. For Shawn, we did our best to let him walk around, and occasionally entertained him with our sunglasses.

No joke, he actually kind of does like wearing them.

Not sure why I took this from behind, but Syd looks cute. She thought it was super cool that she got to push those buttons!

Yes, we even woke Shawn up from his nap so we could go on the Snow White ride.

That afternoon we had lunch at the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall. The only other time I'd ever been to Disney was when I was in high school, so I'd forgotten that all the restaurants are so awesomely decorated. Their attention to detail is incredible!

 Walking around in Tomorrowland.

Shawn got some much needed crawling time in Toontown when Spencer and Sydney waited in line for a roller coaster.

He crawled in and out of this about 1,500 times.

Ahoy mates!

While we had a really great time, I was severely disappointed at the lack of characters in the park. For months we'd been telling Sydney that she'd get to meet Cinderella, Snow White, etc. In fact, for some reason we didn't brush her teeth that morning, and Spencer told her the princesses wouldn't want to talk to her if she had stinky breath. Once we got in the park, she was very concerned and asked me if she could please have some gum so the princesses would talk to her. But we didn't see a single one! The only characters I saw during the day (in a non-parade setting) were Goofy, Donald Duck, and the Big Bad Wolf. Thankfully, the light parade at the end of the day was the perfect venue for Syd to cash in on the princess sighting promises.

She was on Spencer's shoulders during the show, and it was so cute to watch her wave to all the characters and yell, "Hi Mickey Mouse! Hi Minnie Mouse! Hi Cinderella!"

Luckily, the crowds died down after the parade, so Spencer and Syd were able to quickly sneak in a few more rides before heading back to the hotel.

After round two on Sydney's favorite roller coaster ride in Toontown.