Tokyo Disney Day 2

So there have been some questions as to why on Earth we would go to Tokyo Dis right after WDW. Here's how it went down: We planned to take my parents to WDW so we had that trip planned FOREVER. Then, due to a 3 day school holiday my buddies decided to fly from Korea to Japan to visit Tokyo Disney Resort. Since our travel back to Korea routed through Tokyo and coincided with their arrival we just booked a 3 day layover on our journey home. I HAD to do it. Seriously. These guys needed a Disney park expert to take them around so I selflessly made the sacrifice and took one for the team. Not a dry eye in the room right now I bet...
Moving on:
   On day 2 we headed over to Tokyo Disney Sea - one of the best Disney parks on Earth in my opinion,  and got in line for raging spirits - a cool little roller coaster with a 360 degree loop. This was Ted's first time being tall enough for this ride so of course he had to be first in line!

We did it!

We knew it was going to be a busy day so we tried to get the headliners out of the way early. The next ride was Journey to the Center of the Earth, a ride only found at TDR!

Then it was off to Mermaid Lagoon to play in Ariel's Grotto!

2 Buddies under the sea:

What a bunch of goof-balls!

On to the Arabian coast:

Once again I was unable to capture all 8 of them in a single picture. I think we lost a few behind the camel...

I absolutely love the theming and all the attention to detail in this park:

More shots of the Arabian coast:

Then we headed back to the Mayan River Delta to ride Indiana Jones. I actually had to buy the ride photo on this one. I mean 12 of us and 12 seats on the ride - how could I pass this up?

For lunch we ate at Magellans, it was a cool little restaurant in the castle right next to the Volcano in the middle of the park. Lunch was excellent.

We headed back to our hotel for a rest, came back and watched Fantasmic. Then we took a night ride on Aquatopia.

Sasha and Emily:

Allison and Euan:

After that we looped around the park looking for food. Got a pic of Sasha and Raja:

We finally found a counter-service location that was open and we all piled in, starving, for a VERY late dinner. Then we headed home on the monorail.

The next day was Saturday and I had never experienced a weekend at TDR. It was sure to be crazy! The kids and I got there before park opening so we could ride a few headliners before the crowds got too insane. It was VERY wet!

We rode Raging Spirits and Indiana Jones with no wait! Then we rode a few smaller rides which were also walk-ons.

After that the crowds started to build so we went to do Castle Explorations. This is just getting a map, heading into the castle and exploring all of these interactive rooms. This one was our fav. It had the sun and all the planets and you turned cranks to make the planets revolve around the sun.

We were walking back to the entrance and we saw this wait-time:

180 MINUTES!!! Are you serious? Good thing we got to the park early to do what we wanted. I can't even imagine waiting that long for a ride! We headed back to the hotel to meet our friends and then we all headed to the airport together. With that crew even the ride home was fun!

Tokyo Disney Day 1

I was a bit worried about making the last bus to Tokyo Disney Resort (did NOT want to take the subway in Tokyo at rush hour!) But we made it just in time!

We stayed our first night at the Ambassador hotel. It was so cool and we were happy to have our long plane flight behind us!

 Like all hotels in Japan, the toiletries were awesome...

 And there were even PJ's for us to wear!

And the Disney details were fabulous:

 The hotel is art-deco style and the lobby, halls and even the door to our room were really cool!

 They had a globe in front of the elevators that showed a golden Mickey icon each place on Earth where there is a Disney park. These guys are of course pointing to 2 of our favs:

 The lobby. Check out the constellation ceiling with characters from Peter Pan!

 We had to change money so we headed out to the shopping district. ATM's in Japan are few and far between. We had to hike quite a ways to find one. But we did find a Disney store.

 The next morning we woke up and saw that our room had a view of the castle and BTMRR!

We jumped on the shuttle bus to Tokyo Disneyland. Check out the cool bus details!

 Can someone please tell me how they pull off Palm Trees in this climate??

 Last time I was hear I missed this detail. All the monorail stations have gorgeous paintings showing scenes from different attractions in the park. They are AMAZING!

 We jumped in one of the lines to hold a spot for our group. Of course I had to do all the holding. These guys just ran all around.

 The Japanese sit down whenever they have to wait for anything. Even parades! They all bring little mats to sit on.

 Finally our friends arrived. We raced into the park and rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

 Splash was next. Me and the kids:

 Mom's and Charlie!

Tried in vain the entire trip to get a photo of all 8 kids actually looking at the camera. Here's 7 out of 8 and Teddy's back:

The whole gang!

The shuttle buses are amazing and were all decked out for Christmas.

Even the brake lights have the Mickey shape!

After a rest back at the hotel we headed back into the park. We ate Dinner at Grandma Sara's Kitchen which is like an animal burrow under the ground. We entered the restaurant through the exit and got right in line for food and only then did we realize that there was a massive line one floor up where they were only letting people down into the ordering line one group at a time. Massive Queue-jump. We felt OK about since we didn't do it on purpose and didn't figure it out until after we ordered. But it did become something of a manta for Tokyo Dis: When in doubt, enter through the exit!

We had time for a ride on Space Mountain before finding a great spot to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade:

It was a great first day! 4 Moms and 8 kids and no one even got lost!

Oregon!

 Our trip continued with a visit to Oregon - one of our favorite states! We had to leave sunny Orlando and put on our waaaaarrrrm clothes.

We stayed in a rustic cabin high on a hillside overlooking the Mountains. It was FREEEZING! We fired up the wood stove and got cozy.

 Not quite as posh as Kidani and Beach club but still tons of fun!

 Jeff keeping the fire stoked

 We woke up to a beautiful Central Oregon Morning and the kids were happy to play upstairs in the warm sleeping loft.

 What a view!!

The sun was just rising through the trees.

 Our tiny cool cabin:

 We had a blast hanging out looking at the views and drinking coffee and just relaxing. On our way out to go meet Nimanim and Aunnie we met some neighbors:

 The cabin:

 View to the South of a big ranch.

 We had a blast in Bend visiting our fav brew pubs and restaurants and shops. One of the things we loved to do when we lived here was drop in play time at the Gymnastics studios. The kids LOVED this and it was a great way for them to burn off some energy on a freezing cold morning.

 Flipping out!

 Look at me Mom!

 Right before Jeff had to go back to Korea we visited the Bend Distillery. They distill a nice range of craft spirits.

 Tim and Cris are like our Oregon Grandparents. When Sasha was tiny she was trying to say "Uncle Tim and Auntie Cris" but she couldn't manage it. What came out was "Nimanim and Aunnie". And they've been called that by us pretty much ever since. It works out as S &T have specific names for all 6 of their grandparents so we're never confused about who we're talking about!
Tim and Cris about to head into the main part of the Distillery:

They have awesome pets. This is Willie. He is a lucious beast. I call him "Big Fat Kitty" He seriously weighs like 50 lbs...

 And then there's Tucker. With our delicate selves all used to Orlando we thought Bend in November was like an Ice Planet. (We've gotten so soft). Tim and Cris thought we were hilarious. But Tucker agreed with us:

 And the kids had to bundle up just to watch TV!

 On one of our last days we hit one of those creat-your-own yogert places. LOOOOVE this. You get whatever flavors you want, add a bunch of yummy toppings and then pay by weight. So good! Check out Sasha eating yogert in her coat.

Then we enjoyed a final breakfast in America: (Sasha's still in her coat - it was COLD!)

Teddy got one last shot at experiencing American Excess!

 Then we hopped on over to Portland and got on a big plane headed for Japan. These 2 goofballs got invited up into the cockpit AGAIN!

 Lucky-Ducks!

Next stop: Tokyo Disneyland!