A Very Cheery Cherry Blossom Trip Report!

Man that IS a pity... soup would be so easy. Just use veggie broth!! Argh! I keep hearing little snippets of them getting ready for the olympics... did you see the WHO put out a suggestion they work harder on antismoking beforehand? I thought they'd already made huge strides... I really would like to see it ousted from the pubs and bars though tbh. But, it is not my country so they need to rock on with that when they are good and ready. One of the other trip reports made several recommendations for sit downs in the resort for vegetarians... he visited with his ex who is a vegetarian too. Might be worth digging up! :) Maybe they will let you buy the cute extras without the food item? I wonder if anyone has tried..!

Yeah, one one hand, I feel like you, it's not my country so if they want to have a limited amount of dinning options for me, oh well. But on the other, they are getting the Olympics and there are many many vegetarians and vegans who will be coming to Tokyo. I think TDR could up its game by just offering pizza with just cheese on it or pizza with just sauce and veggies for vegans. Neither is really that challenging.

There were two people I really should have put in effort to go see but we were SO busy... but one was a friend of a friend willing to show us around which we didn't really need and the other is just a coworker who I also don't really know. That kind of thing doesn't really work well for an introvert! I need to know that person...!


I have a long list and most I've met many times in the past, so I do have a real connection to them. It's just... trying to figure out how to see them and not do insane train trips as well. I have a feeling trying to do Miyajima during the day but eating in Nagoya the same day is just not happening.

It was very crowded...! Hard to see the souvenirs and a steady line up people up the mountain until the first couple of outcroppings. The torii keep going though so snapping a solo pic gets easier and easier as you go. Once people get an OK pic they tend to go back down as they aren't interested in hiking up the mountain at all.

Was it a weekday or week end? I don't know how much climbing my daughter is going to want to do. Decisions! I really want to try to see Horyuji because I've never been and it's the temple Epcot borrowed from for the Japan pavilion.

Thats a shame she isn't interested... I think they are so tasty! Maybe its just not very kid friendly... ^^;;

I think normally kids do like it. She might be stuck though depending on what time we are in Hiroshima and how hungry she is lol


Love your pictures from Nara and Osaka. And yes, I would love to see the menu at Rokumei Coffee. Please! My daughter already declared she wants to go there after seeing your coffee cup.
 
Yeah, one one hand, I feel like you, it's not my country so if they want to have a limited amount of dinning options for me, oh well. But on the other, they are getting the Olympics and there are many many vegetarians and vegans who will be coming to Tokyo. I think TDR could up its game by just offering pizza with just cheese on it or pizza with just sauce and veggies for vegans. Neither is really that challenging.

I have a long list and most I've met many times in the past, so I do have a real connection to them. It's just... trying to figure out how to see them and not do insane train trips as well. I have a feeling trying to do Miyajima during the day but eating in Nagoya the same day is just not happening.

Was it a weekday or week end? I don't know how much climbing my daughter is going to want to do. Decisions! I really want to try to see Horyuji because I've never been and it's the temple Epcot borrowed from for the Japan pavilion.

I think normally kids do like it. She might be stuck though depending on what time we are in Hiroshima and how hungry she is lol

Love your pictures from Nara and Osaka. And yes, I would love to see the menu at Rokumei Coffee. Please! My daughter already declared she wants to go there after seeing your coffee cup.

The olympics go for quite awhile too... I'm curious to see if any menus change from the start to the end of them to better accommodate the common requests. Miyajima was a whole day when we went for sure - I remember being in a rush to get back and not get stuck so maybe we had slept in or something.

We did Kyoto on a Friday in the middle of the sakura season... the girl from Osaka had told my boss that we were nuts to come this time of year since everything would be crawling with tourists. I didn't think it was THAT bad overall but I only have hazy memories from a decade ago to compare it to. I would love to see Horyuji also...! I hope you come back and share pics too!

Haha, sometimes that is the best way to find new favorite foods. Half the time I can't believe how many things I eat when I was a picky kid! College and its lack of choices when room mates cooked broadened my horizons.

Here are the pics I have and a bonus of the waffle. It was a bit too crispy but I'd probably get it again because I am a banana and chocolate/nutella nut, lol! They also had a window for orders... which now that I stop and think about it why would they if you aren't supposed to walk and drink. Hmm....

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The olympics go for quite awhile too... I'm curious to see if any menus change from the start to the end of them to better accommodate the common requests. Miyajima was a whole day when we went for sure - I remember being in a rush to get back and not get stuck so maybe we had slept in or something.

It will be interesting. I want to be fair though, Japan really has changed a lot. I still remember when you had to spend 5000 yen to be able to use a credit card and many places didn't take them. Last trip some of the hotels were willing to charge in US currency!

We did Kyoto on a Friday in the middle of the sakura season... the girl from Osaka had told my boss that we were nuts to come this time of year since everything would be crawling with tourists. I didn't think it was THAT bad overall but I only have hazy memories from a decade ago to compare it to. I would love to see Horyuji also...! I hope you come back and share pics too!

I will try, coming back we are probably going to spend a week in CA before I get to my laptop. One big regret I have is last time I just took cell phone pictures vs pictures with my camera. My cell pictures are nice and fine for certain things, but my actual camera takes much better pictures.

Haha, sometimes that is the best way to find new favorite foods. Half the time I can't believe how many things I eat when I was a picky kid! College and its lack of choices when room mates cooked broadened my horizons.

At least she likes a lot of vegetables lol I think it will depend on when we finish at Miyajima. I've spent a couple hours there but timing is always really different with a small child. It's a tough balance. I don't want to just drag her everywhere and force her to do things she is not interested in, but I also don't want to only do what she wants. I really wanted to try to see the karst near Shin-Yamaguchi but I don't think we can manage the bus transfers. Sometimes I wish I was willing to rent a car or could convince a friend to lol It really helped enormously when I went to Tohoku. There are many places where trains are just not an option and the buses run on a wonky schedule. I nearly begged strangers from an Air Force base to take me to the nearest train station when I missed by bus at Ozoresan.

I'm hoping to catch a 9ish train from Kyoto and see Iwakuni first and then spend an hour or two on Miyajima. We just need to make it back to Kyoto then by 7, assuming we did everything on Friday like our original plans.

My daughter and I collect Japanese fashion dolls and I admit I want to have time to shop. lol

Here are the pics I have and a bonus of the waffle. It was a bit too crispy but I'd probably get it again because I am a banana and chocolate/nutella nut, lol! They also had a window for orders... which now that I stop and think about it why would they if you aren't supposed to walk and drink. Hmm....

That waffle looks delicious! I will share with her to see if she would want to try something like that. And they do have hot chocolate so she wouldn't need to drink my coffee. We're thinking of doing Nara on a Sunday so my two friends from Osaka can join us. (they know one another.)
 
It will be interesting. I want to be fair though, Japan really has changed a lot. I still remember when you had to spend 5000 yen to be able to use a credit card and many places didn't take them. Last trip some of the hotels were willing to charge in US currency!

I will try, coming back we are probably going to spend a week in CA before I get to my laptop. One big regret I have is last time I just took cell phone pictures vs pictures with my camera. My cell pictures are nice and fine for certain things, but my actual camera takes much better pictures.

At least she likes a lot of vegetables lol I think it will depend on when we finish at Miyajima. I've spent a couple hours there but timing is always really different with a small child. It's a tough balance. I don't want to just drag her everywhere and force her to do things she is not interested in, but I also don't want to only do what she wants. I really wanted to try to see the karst near Shin-Yamaguchi but I don't think we can manage the bus transfers. Sometimes I wish I was willing to rent a car or could convince a friend to lol It really helped enormously when I went to Tohoku. There are many places where trains are just not an option and the buses run on a wonky schedule. I nearly begged strangers from an Air Force base to take me to the nearest train station when I missed by bus at Ozoresan.

I'm hoping to catch a 9ish train from Kyoto and see Iwakuni first and then spend an hour or two on Miyajima. We just need to make it back to Kyoto then by 7, assuming we did everything on Friday like our original plans.

My daughter and I collect Japanese fashion dolls and I admit I want to have time to shop. lol

That waffle looks delicious! I will share with her to see if she would want to try something like that. And they do have hot chocolate so she wouldn't need to drink my coffee. We're thinking of doing Nara on a Sunday so my two friends from Osaka can join us. (they know one another.)

I wasnt as happy with the pictures my phone took either - sadly it was all I had in the Disney parks too but a lot of the pics I have already put up were taken on it so they aren't horrid, just not as good as with the DSLR. My husband used it very little on this trip... he took it on the day trips but left it behind otherwise. Seemed a waste... :confused3

Bus transfers dont sound very fun at all... are the schedules kept as tight as the trains? Or is it more like the states where they come when they can as close to when they should..? At least that is how they are in my city.

Shopping is a must... I wanted to bring back so many things but I only brought back what I knew I had a place for in my cupboards and shelves... a few went to work too. :blush:

I hope all your plans fall nicely into place..!
 


April 9th, 2017!

Tomorrow we would head back to Tokyo and the Disneyland Resort there but we had one last day to make the most of our time here. It started with.. drumroll..

LAUNDRY! YAY!!!!

OK not yay... we had been lucky in Tokyo since there was a washer so we made sure to do laundry before we left also, but were running low on socks and undies again and weren't 100% on the laundry situation at Disneyland so we decided to take some time and do it here. We didn't bring detergent thinking we could buy it there so I used the machine on the wall and... got dryer sheets. What?? I went back and fought with google translate until finally I figured out that the detergent is added automatically - no need to buy it separate. ooooh. The dryer sheets smelled VERY strongly so we left them on top of the machine... hopefully they found a home. It was nice having an actual dryer to use as the apartment did not. There was a dryer button on the machine, but we never could figure out how to make it work. Everything we tried didn't seem to make a difference and there was nothing in the booklet left for us about it either so we had been hang drying prior.

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While it washed we went and had breakfast at a cafe a block down but failed to notice the ashtrays inside... the other patrons were lighting up here and there so we ate quickly and high tailed it out of there and back to move our laundry over. We decided on the way back the food stalls looked so good we really should have had it instead... oh well. I told Kyle we could go to Disneyland later if he wanted to have breakfast from them tomorrow as I certainly didn't want to cut Osaka short and regret it.

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When we arrived in Osaka and noticed Yoshino wasn't looking like it was going to pan out we mostly dropped it from the itinerary but despite going to Kyoto one day and Nara the other we had already banged out the two main things for Osaka already. The report had been updated so that "peak" was going to be in another day or two. I had secretly hoped they would be moving along and we could justify going today and we decided that was close enough. We don't know if we'll be close enough on a future trip to try later - and thats even if we come right at cherry blossom season again. Even if we DID who knows if the weather would cooperate more than this trip? So we decided to just go for it and see what we could see!

It seemed we were not far off the mark... for a Monday there was still a nice size crowd on the train with us and in Yoshino. Seems like everyone was impatient and just going for it! As we got closer people were getting more and more excited about the sakura we could still see out the window all the way up to the station. From here I have so, so, so many pictures of lovely trees. No, they were not fully bloomed and yes, the hills still looked pretty bare from afar. There were more than enough out and it was a lovely day... I was so glad we went!

Since we had done laundry we didn't get to Yoshino until about 1pm and immediately got in line for the ropeway up.

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You can also hike up a street if you wish - we wanted to get a look from up above the trees though so we bought a one way and planned to walk back down. While we were at Osaka station I had noticed a special train called 'Blue Symphony' that looked neat. As long as we were waiting in line for the ropeway I checked into what it was and found it was sold out. Uhoh. That prompted me to check the other lines and I noticed there was limited seats left for them too. Shoot..! I started fretting about being "stuck" in Yoshino and asked Kyle if he minded if I went ahead and bought our return ahead of time. We weren't sure what time we'd want to leave, but the earliest we could have seats together was after 5pm at this point. I noticed they had another special train called the 'Sakura Liner' that left a little later and we settled on taking the 'cute' train back after dinner.

The town of Yoshino is pretty..! When we got off the ropeway we were handed a map which was nice. The main street is lined with shops and restaurants selling sakura themed and flavored everything.

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We took our time wandering further and further up the mountain, stopping at shrines, looking at their wares and taking lots and lots of pictures of the cherry blossoms that were out. Many shops had windows where you could see them making sweets, and another shop was doing a pretty extensive sake sampling for thirsty shoppers.

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When we stopped at a shrine to rest our feet one of the monks (I think - he was dressed in the garb and shaved his head but wearing Nikes so maybe he was just a volunteer? Do shoes matter?) stopped us as Kei did and chatted for even longer. He asked all kinds of questions about my husbands work too when he realized we weren't students (that was a sweet mistake, I'm pretty far removed from college now!). Eventually we pried ourselves away from the conversation and moved on.

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We did not get the grand views of huge copses of trees in full bloom that you see in the guidebooks but we were very impressed by the number of trees that were already blooming since we hadn't been expecting much.

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Originally I had grand plans of staying at Chikurin-in Gumpoen for two nights but those were swiftly dashed with numerous booking problems. When the dates came out they were already sold out from what I could tell, and availability seemed to change based on whether or not I was looking from the Japanese site. Hmm. It was also going to be almost $1000 a night so I'm a little glad we weren't able to make it work. Staying in Osaka was easier than it sounded on paper - getting there was no trouble at all. We did pay the fee to wander the garden though and I am glad we did. It was very pretty!

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We spent a long time at a little lookout built on a hill listening to bird song with no one else around... I found myself regretting not staying here a tiny bit since time was flying by even in a place without much to do besides looking at landscapes and shopping. It was time to go find some food though as many places had signs saying they closed at 5.

Nothing was striking our fancy as we headed down - Kyle said he wanted tonkatsu and since I had chosen the day before I was really hoping we could find some. Just about the time we were all the way down at the top ropeway station we found a place that had it on the menu. We bought tickets at the counter out front and then were able to go in and choose a table. A lot of the places here had big windows overlooking the hills and this place was no exception! It was completely empty so we took off our shoes and walked over the tatami to a window, sitting at a very low table in short chairs. I ended up having my first and only oyakodon of the trip here and it was fabulous. We even got to split another "special" Asahi to round out the sakura filled day.

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From here we continued our leisurely stroll back to the train station since we had only bought one way tickets on the ropeway. There were yet more trees in bloom, and I'm glad we walked it. Lights started turning on as we went and the sun went down.

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We verified with a train attendant that all I needed was the ticket confirmation on my phone for our seats and he went ahead and used our suica card to pay the base fare so we were all set. We hung around for another 15 minutes or so before our cute pink train came to whisk us away back to Osaka. When we got back it was only around 8 or so.... from my pictures it looks like we went into a BIC and ran around and I am sure we got another Pablo... I miss them so. ;__; We packed a little and went to bed without any further ado! Tomorrow was Disney Day!
 
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April 10th, 2017

Today we were making our way back to Tokyo and the Disneyland Resort! You can imagine how very apathetic I was. :D

We woke up and went back to the food stalls to get our breakfast - they didn't open really until about 9am so my husband asked again if I was sure it was OK and I said it was. The only real plan I had for TDLR was wandering around it and making our ADR at Magellan's which wasn't until 6:30pm. I should have made it earlier but I didn't know when we'd catch the train a month ago when I booked it so I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time. We went down around 8:30 and a couple places were starting their grills and getting their sushi set up. We nabbed some unagi on a stick, takoyaki and a croquet for a very delicious and light (?) breakfast.

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From here we went back to the hotel and finished packing up, checked out, and hiked our luggage back to the train station. The next several trains were mostly full... in order to sit together on the Fuji side we would have had to wait an hour and a half, but we asked about the green car and were put on one in about 40 minutes. With time to kill we went ahead and bought another ekiben to have on the train and another beer since we'd be arriving to Tokyo station just before 2pm on the 11:40 am train. I guess I was done dawdling!

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I loved the variety of these so much...!

On the way back I took some pictures out of the window and we were able to see Fuji this time! First pic is just a random scene if anyone is curious what it looks like over there along the tracks.

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Fuji!

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We transferred at Tokyo station to Ikspiari and before we knew it we had arrived. My pictures are going to get more numerous from here on out (this IS a Disney board after all!) so I'll be splitting up the next few days into several posts since I am too lazy to go make an album elsewhere.

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The monorail station had super cute posters and setups - I made sure to send this cutie to my Mom right away! I bought at the day pass for myself and a one ride ticket for my husband since I knew the hotel would be giving us free passes.... I bought a ticket every day I was there so I would be able to get the resort pin. If I had known the trouble I was in for I wouldn't have bothered... the day passes were 6XXyen per day so I spent close to $18 I didn't have to for the privilege of going through it to boot.

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The monorail wasn't crowded at all this time of day. Obligatory picture of the mickey handles.

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Resort loop "map"

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We had to go through all the stations to get to our stop and when we did we thought we were following the sign to the hotel properly but went all the way down on the escalator instead of halfway which you can do via the stairs or elevator. We ended up walking ALL the way around outside the station, past the other resort buses and back up through the entrance if you drove. There were no other signs when we got off the escalator so we just kept hiking... please don't do this. It was dumb. ^^;

Finally we made it to the entrance and saw the walkway from the monorail as we went in. The greeters took the luggage for us outside. There was a little bit of a line at checkin but nothing too bad.
 
I am loving your trip report so far - thank you for taking the time to do this! I know how much work it is. We leave a week from Saturday for our first trip to Japan and TDR. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your trip!
 


From here we went in search of lunch at the 'best tonkatsu place' called Zuicho that my coworker told me about. He travels to Japan every year or so to help out at our office in Tokyo as he is our head network guy and said this is one of the spots they took him to that he really enjoyed. Spoiler alert: it was fabulous - even better than the curry we had the night prior. They only serve one thing - tonkatsu - and you choose small medium or large and it comes with everything here except more pickles because I had eaten most of them, lol.
Just playing catch up and have a quick question!

We can both be fussy eaters, so can you tell me about the tonkatsu? Is it plain breaded chicken, egg and plain rice? Or is there anything else going on there?

Thanks in advance! :thumbsup2

PS. Already loving your level of detail, think this will be really useful for our visit next year!
 
April 10th, 2017

After maybe 15 minutes tops it was our turn to check in.

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I filled out a form with our names and other info about us and our trip and she took our passports to photocopy. I could tell that her English was MUCH better than my Japanese but she was sticking to a script.... the only trouble came at the very end when she asked if I had any more questions. Since we hadn't gotten keys nor been told anything about what to do next I asked if our room was ready and communication completely broke down. She had no idea what I said so I racked my brains to see if I could come up with how to ask in Japanese... nope. I know the word for room and now but couldn't in the moment think of how to ask what I wanted to so I tried repeating myself more explicitly, asking if the room was ready or should we wait and come back later? Still no good. I tried to wave her off but it was all over - she HAD to answer and ran off to get a manager. I started feeling awful for causing trouble...

The manager came out and, assuming his English would be much better since she grabbed him I asked if the room was ready. COMPLETE. CONVERSATION. BREAKDOWN. He had no idea what I was asking so this time I said no no, its fine, I'm sorry, everything is great, never mind and we moved on. She then asked me to take a seat and someone would be right there to take us up to our room. :eek: :faint: While I waited I snapped a picture of the pretty ceiling!

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We only waited a few minutes before a petite woman came over and asked if we were [AquaDame]. We then had a mini tug of war over my tiny backpack (she would NOT take no for an answer in carrying this last little parcel for me). She took us up to our room making sure to tell us several times we were in 4321 (I don't think they could have made it easier to remember, lol!) and chit chatted about whether this was our first time at the resort. In the room she showed us where things were as far as amenities went and stressed that the bottled water was free as was the coffee and tea packets but not the other beverages in the mini fridge. When she left I took pictures of some of the detailing and a full video of the room which I need to get up somewhere.

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One of the "double" beds (not as wide as a double here in the states but plenty long for my 6'1 husband) with the trundle bed next to it. I was surprised they also left the couch pulled out... they should have seen there were only two people on the reservation but maybe they aren't quite sure who goes where until we check in? We flipped the couch bed up so we could sit on it and I meant to ask if they could take out the third bed there but I never did in the end... it was a large enough room that it wasn't much of a bother really.

More details:

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Tapestry by the beds

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Detailing on the moulding on the ceiling to match the bed skirt

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Map over the couch.

And finally the piece de resistance:

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yes, the window is open fully, lol! There are also tiny dots all over the window that you cant see until you are up close (or trying to take pictures) so you have to make sure your lens is between them to get clear pictures. They did some up in some of my video...

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This was the crowd for the Easter show about an hour and a half beforehand when we got to the room. We decided to stick around and watch it from there since we could and so my husband could charge his phone and have some internet time (he didn't have a sim card and so he hadn't had a connection in Osaka except when we were in the hotel room). While he relaxed I wandered a little through the hotel and went to buy our park tickets since you don't do that at check in - it is at a different counter.

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Looking straight across from the end of our hallway on the 4th floor.

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Up at the ceiling again
 
And down towards the lobby

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The gift shop was pretty small here - they had cup o' noodles and some toiletries and also a case of hot beverages on one side in the back and cold on the other side. There was ONE kind of coffee.. just in case you also like caffeine in the morning this might not be the best spot to stop. ^^;

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I walked by the lounge but wasn't brave enough to pop in and see what the view was like from there.

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Around the corner by the lobby there is a standing area with huge windows. Even an hour before the show, people were stating to gather there.

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I ended up asking someone where the place to buy tickets was and I was almost on top of it - its tucked off to the side of the lobby at a small desk. I bought park hoppers for the whole time so we would have flexibility but shouldn't have bothered. Since we moved over to the DLH we really did just pick a park and stay there - Disney Sea tonight and tomorrow, and the next day and half at DLH when we were over there. Hindsight, what can you do?

Tickets in hand, I went back upstairs for the show. Here is the crowd at the start of it:

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They used several large boats that each held a different set of characters and were different bright colors and they took turns dropping them off at three points around the harbor so each area seemed to get a good view. I LOVED being up above where I could see the movement of the boats and jet skis well.

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I did end up having to kind of hunch over since the bar across was right where my eyes fell... it was a very long show and the music stuck in my head for quite awhile after. It was so nice not having to deal with other people's heads! When the show was done we headed into the park via the entrance in the hotel.

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Again, I had no plan for what to do today since I hadn't been sure when we would arrive. After the show was over we had about an hour and a half to kill so we wandered and went on a few things that had little or no wait.

We wandered left from the entrance over the bridge and into the American Waterfront noting the HUGE line to get into Scrooge McDucks to buy Stella Lou who had debuted on the 3rd. It seemed like almost everyone (guys included) were holding a full size bunny or had Duffy stuff on. We decided to wait the 5 minutes to ride the Electric Railway and get a little view of the park from up higher. They had a few old timey cars all dolled up for Easter as photo ops which were very popular with all the Stella Lous and Duffys in the park.

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We heard a bit of a ruckus and noticed she was in a car with Mickey and Duffy too. Welcome to the "family" Stella Lou!

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The train debarks right next to Aquatopia which had no wait, so we hopped on it also. I tried to take some pics but they ended up pretty blurry - it jolts around at random after all!

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Kyle "almost got it" clearly!

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I thought it was a really cute fun ride but then I also kind of like Maters Junkyard Jamboree in Disneyland in the states.... I guess I am easy to please! :laughing:

There was also no wait for 20,000 Leagues so we rode that too. It was really neat but we were a little too tall for the ride... we kind of slouched over to try and get to the right height for the window but it was awkward. Having the light you can flash around is a great touch!

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We were getting closer to our reservation by now so I think we stopped riding things and just kind of wandered back towards the hotel, staying in the same general area of the park as the sun started to set.

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We took a bunch of pics of ourselves around the Harbor and then headed back to Magellan's when it was about 15 min before our reservation time and were asked to have a seat. About 5 min prior to 6:30 we were led into the restaurant and seated at a table by the globe in the main area (I have read to ask for the cellar but since this was our first time I didn't bother to request it).
 
Just playing catch up and have a quick question!

We can both be fussy eaters, so can you tell me about the tonkatsu? Is it plain breaded chicken, egg and plain rice? Or is there anything else going on there?

Thanks in advance! :thumbsup2

PS. Already loving your level of detail, think this will be really useful for our visit next year!

It is usually a pork cutlet that is breaded, fried and served over egg over rice with tonkatsu sauce. Its kind of a mellow barbecue sauce I think but of course made with soy, mirin, ketchup and other things too. I think chicken would be chiken-katsu..? At least that is what it is called here in the states at Japanese restaurants. I eat both with impunity so I don't check too closely! I do think pork works better personally... it isn't so quick to dry out if they cook it a little long. :)

Edit: I saw the other response below mine and they are right - the tonkatsu itself is just the breaded pork usually served with sauce. What I had at the place you were referencing was a katsudon which is where the egg/rice came in.
 
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I had REALLY been looking forward to this - everyone says how its so good! I wasn't going to book it for the longest time since we had limited time in the park but when I saw their Easter menu, I thought it sounded especially good so I booked it when our window opened 30 days out (if you stay at one of their hotels only). My husband looked over the menu and sadly decided he wanted the wagyu too, so we both got the same thing. No standard menu sneaking for me, d'oh!

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Our set menu:

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She asked what drinks we would like and showed us the included options - I chose iced tea but my husband wanted a beer and communication broke down here again. We honestly had only had the issue with finding the maglev museum up until now - it felt like everyone's english was good enough everywhere else that we didn't struggle until we checked in here. Now this was the third breakdown we'd had... She didn't understand that he just wanted a beer and not another drink and wouldn't budge even though we kept saying just beer, just the beer, no other drink thank you. Finally he said he'd like coffee with dessert, she was satisfied, and we could proceed. :confused3

Except the beer didn't come. I got my tea and then the first bread service came by - I took one of each.

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Then our first course arrived and still no beer.

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Second course... no beer. We started wondering what was going on. By this time we had been there for quite awhile... even if the bar was backed up the beer should have arrived by now.

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We had been offered bread so many times by now also... I ate more than I probably should but the warm fluffy mickey rolls were pretty good even if the butter was rock hard and difficult to spread. The other bread is much more dense and I wasn't very fond of it... I think my husband had three mickeys by the end of the meal. We flagged down our waitress and asked for the beer and it appeared quickly after that. I'm not sure if it would have come with the main course or not...? Another family that was seated after us had gotten the husband's beer before the first course so maybe he knew to specify he wanted it right away. the previous courses were OK... nothing too crazy to write home about. The tart was cute but not very warm and I admit the shrimp's eyeballs kind of creeped me out a little. ^^; More than that the plain bits of salad didn't really go - they seemed like an afterthought. The fish was really tasty but there was a LOT of breading on it. All the little sauces and sakura foam were tasty and I enjoyed it though! The beef though... well, I had really been looking forward to melt in your mouth wagyu but it came out like this:

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The fat hadn't really broken up so it did taste like a huge chunk of fat more than melt in your mouth beef. :( I've had wagyu & kobe other places (not going to argue about their authenticity - these were high end steak places but Im not in charge of their orders so I don't know where it "really" came from) and it was never this fatty looking and tasting. The salt, wine sauce and mustard did help cut it but then I was eating salty fatty meat... I started really wishing one of us had one of the standard menus since nothing was wowing us. The wasabi mashed popatoes there in the back were really good but there wasn't much of them and those veggies were steamed perfectly but again, not many of them. They had even slightly charred the baby corn so it was really tasty - I'm not usually a big fan.

Finally we were up to dessert and the waitress offered me coffee to go with my husbands so I said sure. The coffee was SO SO SO strong here and bitter... no cream or sugar could bring it to where I like it and I drink generic coffee at the Pig n' Pancake on the weekend just fine with barely any cream and no sugar. I'm not sure why - it was the only bad cup of coffee I had the entire time in Japan. :(

Dessert though? Heavenly. If I could have had two, I would have. If I could have it now, I would devour it.

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I don't think a dessert makes a meal though and this was not cheap by any stretch - 8020 yen per person. We were given Mickey stickers with Magellan's spelled incorrectly with the date on it handwritten in sharpie on the back at the end of the meal. I can't remember why but I remember we talked about how part timing worked in Japan and how long we thought the wait staff had been working there over dinner. We got the sense they were all new or maybe they were just really nervous to have to deal with us? I don't feel like we did anything weird, or asked for anything out of the ordinary or anything but our interaction with them felt "off" for the first time in a restaurant. I found myself unwilling to ask for even basic things like if they had decaf coffee because I didn't want to confuse them and even when we said we didn't want more bread they would stand there like they did when my husband didn't want a soft drink. It made us feel like a bother and out of place and I was a little relieved when the meal was over and we went back into the park. Again, I really wish we had gotten at least one regular course menu since so so so many people love the place.
 
We can both be fussy eaters, so can you tell me about the tonkatsu? Is it plain breaded chicken, egg and plain rice? Or is there anything else going on there?

If there's egg over it, it would be a katsudon and the sauce is already poured over it. You may prefer tonkatsu (pork), which would have the sauce separate for dipping (in case you don't like the sauce). The chicken version I think would be called torikatsu? But the places specializing in tonkatsu would be all about the pork. Some (most?) of those places would probably have kurobuta, which is to pork what kobe is to beef. :)
 
Thanks for the katsu advice!

Couple of questions about Magellans...

When you booked at 30 days out, how did you do this? Online? At a certain time?

I thought I'd read it was a buffet place, was there a buffet as well as the Easter set menu?

And finally the wagyu, do they ask how you like it cooked (like a steak) or does it just come as is? Looks a bit rare for my taste...

Thanks again for the help!!
 
Thank you for all the menu pictures as well as all the hotel pictures!

Let's see.. loved your Fuji-san picture. Your so lucky it was visible considering the cloud cover and how late you must have passed it. I am not expecting to see it while we are in Japan, though honestly it looks more scenic snow capped like when you saw it.

Mira Costa looks gorgeous and the room seems huge and beautiful. I love all the little details.

Thank you for the line info! Aquatopia and 20,000 Leagues are two of the rides we wanted to hit up and hearing about the lack of line is very encouraging.

I'm sorry the majority of your meal at Magellan's was disappointing and I am shocked the coffee was bad. That was always one of the things that surprised me about the Japan, the quality of the coffee. I think the only place I've been where it was overall better was Hawaii.

I admit, I have a battery hogging app on my phone that I can type what I want to say in Japanese and it will then machine translate it into Japanese. It's not perfect, but it did help me out once or twice. (My daughter left a beloved shrine charm at a shop in Arashiyama and we were trying to see if they'd found it.) I also have no shame and have been known to use body language to try to communicate with people. >>;

Hopefully those were the only times you felt awkward.
 
Wow. It's a shame to read about a poor experience at Magellan's. That's very disappointing.

I've never had any major issues communicating at Tokyo Disney. And with internet access, it's even easier.

I found that quickly googling an image of what you want does help if all else fails.
 
Looking for an honest opinion. I wanted to try to get reservations to Magellan's but will have to wait until we are in the park to get reservations. Let me start by saying that we have been to Victoria and Albert's and Club 33 At Disneyland - so I think we have already done two of the top Disney restaurants (one for food and one for atmosphere). We will be spending 3 days in Kyoto - should we just splurge there on a nice dinner and forget Magellan's? The main reason we would be going would be for atmosphere - if we were not very happy with our meal at Magellan's would the atmosphere make up for it? Would love your opinion! Thanks in advance.
 
Personally, I find the atmosphere at Magellan's to be wonderful. I've never eaten at Victoria and Albert's and I doubt that I'll ever have the opportunity to dine at a Club 33 (so very jealous).

The nicest US park restaurant that I've dined at was probably Carthay Circle at California Adventure. But, we were forced to have a balcony / terrace table so I can't really compare the "atmosphere" given that we simply had the glaring sun and noise from the regular music performers below!

Magellan's is an "inside" restaurant (i.e. no windows / views) and people's idea of "atmosphere" does vary. If you enjoy "people watching", then a balcony / terrace table at Ristorante Di Canaletto may be a better choice. A window table on the SS Columbia may be another option, although I'm not too sure of the view from there as it may be obstructed or a little too far away to really people watch.

I find the theming of Magellan's to be phenomenal. Incredibly detailed without being ... tacky. Although the "secret" cellar dining room looks nice, I much prefer to eat in the main room with the giant globe.

I've also enjoyed the food on both occasions that we've dined there. A "bonus" for us is that it is a quiet sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle (and crowds) of the park. They don't fill up every table (at least not either time we've been there) so it's quiet without seeming too pretentious.

I would probably look at some photos and decide whether the theming appears to indicate an atmosphere which you would find enjoyable or not. Lunch is cheaper than dinner and since it's an "inside" restaurant, it doesn't really matter what time you dine there.
 

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