Day 18. 25th May 2016. Wednesday.

We woke up to some amazing views of Mt Fuji, although today, the peak was shrouded by cloud . We then headed down to breakfast, where the entire area has top to bottom glass windows that yielded even more views of the mountain. The breakfast buffet was lovely, with a huge variety of continental dishes as well as local cuisine. Zane was happy they had Thomas cutlery provided. We then headed to reception where we picked up passes to the rides in the park.

Besides Thomasland, which is very small, there are a lot of rides for younger kids in the rest of the park. We had map of the park ahead of time and planned which rides to do. The parks weren't crowded at all. On the way to Thomasland, we stopped to do Mad Mouse (its a small rolllercoaster that Zane went on first and said could we not do this again, ha ha) and then tea cups and water ace. Water ace has these pedal boats that the boys and I got into. Then we royally got stuck somewhere and the guy had to come with a stick to rescue us. Zane was not impressed and said see, we should have gone to Thomasland first instead of trying these rides!

Then, we a thorough repeat of all rides in Thomasland to Zane's hearts content, had lunch at the cafe there and then headed out to explore the rest of the park . Zane's favourite ride was Thomas's party parade where he went three times, I think. I ate the macaroons I had bought from the hotel cafe while he did his rides after which he went on to finish the Thomas Maze. All in all a morning well spent, but then it was time to do some other stuff before the park closed. I wanted to try some of the crazy coasters, but the queues where just too long for those, and I wasn't that desperate.

We all went up the Shining Flower Ferris Wheel, which was lovely especially because of the lovely Fuji views from the top. Then we headed towards the other side of the park where there were a lot of smaller rides the kids could do as well as a small counter that was selling hot pork buns. The boys even found a hidden tiny park with a swing and slide set that they spent a lot of time on, they were literally the only ones there. Zach was tall enough for the swinging boat thing, but he was super scared when we rode it and he was like, not again. We even found some cheeseball things on a stick that Zach loved.

We walked back to the resort, tired, and our package included cocktails and free onsen use. We did the cocktails and I decided to do the onsen while Godwin took to the boys to the MacDonald's in town because they were now a bit fed up of Japanese food. The onsen experience was, um, different. It took me a while to find the courage to strip and enter the water. It was pretty late but still, it was crowded, and all Japanese folk seemed to know what they were doing. Oh well, this was on my bucket list, and Godwin was certain I would chicken out, and so, just to prove him wrong, I did it. Once in the water, it was fine. Then there was the whole, oh God I need to get out and walk to the locker now. Survived, dignity intact, and that was the end of our last night in Kawaguchiko!

Coming up: Back to Tokyo
Steps walked: 11207