Day 4.11th May 2016. Wednesday.

The boys woke up a wee bit earlier than the previous day . We had breakfast in the room, packed up and left as soon as we could. I wanted to get to the Sheraton at Disney, check in and head to the park immediately. Unfortunately, by the time we actually left, it was already mid morning. On the plus side, though, it wasn't raining. We walked out of the Citadines for the last time (or so I thought) and headed first to the 7-11 on the corner to pick up some snacks for the boys. It was a long train journey to the other side of Tokyo to get to Disney. This is where I realised the boys weren't wearing their jackets and I had left them in the wardrobe back in the room. So, I had to run back to the hotel, walk up to reception, sheepishly tell them I've just checked out so I don't have the key but could they please provide me a temporary one so I could pick up the jackets that were in the wardrobe. Ugh. The people at reception were surprised to see me back so soon but were very nice about it, gave me a spare key card, I dashed back to the room, picked up the jackets and ran back to the 7-11.

Then, back to the business of transiting to Disney. We walked to the same metro station, the Shinjuku-gyoemmae, onto the Marunouchi Line headed to Tokyo Station. Now the massive suitcases had already been forwarded to the hotel but we still had our overnight bags to carry and there was a lot of grumbling at Tokyo Station because it is HUGE. We had to ask around to figure out where the heck the Keiyo Line was located . And I have to tell you, it was at the other bloody end of the station. We finally got to the platform which promised the trains would go to Disney, but there were two empty trains sitting there and we weren't sure which one to get on. We go onto one, settle in but I wasn't quite certain we were on the right train, so I walked to the front where a ticket inspector was standing and showed him our tickets and the our destination on a rail map. He quickly told her to get off and board the other train. Zach and Zane in a panic grabbed all their stuff, and jumped onto the other train, it was funny. This train took about 20 minutes to get to Maihama Station, and you could tell Disney was close what with all the Mickey posters and stuff all over the station! From here, we had to get out and walk to the monorail station (Suica cards works otherwise you have to buy tickets or a day pass), where a cute train with Mickey ear windows took us to Bayside Station. When we got off here, we could actually see the Sheraton like literally across the road but there was a Mickey bus (complimentary) to take us to the hotel, a journey that lasted a couple of minutes! But finally, we were here! I'd thought we would get to the hotel a lot earlier than we did, and intended just keep our stuff at reception and head to the park but it was already almost 2pm and our rooms were ready. The concierge also helped us with buying the tickets to the parks for the next few days. We were able to freshen up, keep our stuff, ask for our suitcases that had already arrived before us to be sent upstairs, and then head to the park.

The boys were super excited we were finally here and off we went! Back on the Mickey bus, then the monorail to the park. Just as we got to entrance to the park, we were assaulted by a horde of Japanese school kids. Disney must be a popular after school activity! So there was a bit of a queue to get in, which moved smoothly. So, first things first. We met Pluto and go a photo-op with him. Boys didn't look too thrilled (they're not really into characters) so we walked on inside through the covered area of World Bazaar where we met another character, Piglet! While Godwin got fast passes for Monster Inc, we took some pictures around the castle and then headed straight to the ride the boys wanted to do the most. Star Tours! Here, amazingly, its in 3D, and Zane got measured and branded as okay to ride!

Godwin went and got us fast passes for the Monster Inc ride also. After this we did the old favourites, It's a Small World and Alice's Tea party, Castle Carousel, Mickey's PhilharMagic in FantasyLand before heading back to TomorrowLand. We then did the Monster Inc ride, Buzz Lightyears Astro Blasters and Grand Circuit Raceway which Zane loved before making our way to Toontown. I deliberately skipped Stitch Encounter because I had read it was Japanese only and not very enjoyable for English speaking audiences.

Toon town was aimed at younger kids and there wasn't one in Paris last year, so the boys enjoyed exploring the nooks and crannies of this place thoroughly. They did everything here like Roger Rabbits Car Toon spin (fun!), Minnie's House, Chip N Dale's Tree House (5 minutes exploring this), Gadget's Go Coaster (Zane loved this), Donald's Boat (5 minutes exploring this one), Mickey's Paint and Play House (this was totally lame and I was amused to see grown people in a queue to do this!) and the Toon Park (again, 5 minutes exploring this). By the time we were done with these, we headed back towards Fantasy Land and saw that the queue to Pooh's Hunny Hunt wasn't that big and quickly jumped at the chance to do this without fastpasses. The reason it was relatively empty is because everyone was out to find a spot to watch the Electrical Parade. At this point, Zane was tired and crabby so he didn't enjoy the ride much so I sent Zach off with Godwin to find a spot to watch the parade and I parked myself with half asleep Zane at one of the tables outside The Queen of Heart's Banquet Hall.

The parade (whatever little I saw of it) was amazing, and Zane was still sleeping so we ordered some food, and then walked around the beautifully castle before heading to the exit. As we were going out, the Pirates of the Caribbean looked empty so we quickly walked on. Zane wasn't very impressed by all the skeletons. Otherwise, it was a pretty awesome ride.

Then back to the Sheraton. The boys spent some time in the lobby playing video games before heading back to the room. We accomplished quite a bit in the half day we had at the park and it wasn't as crowded as I anticipated it to be. So all in all, a damn good day.


Steps walked:14,437

Items ticked off the wish list: Disney!

Coming up: More Disneyland!