Day 16 travel day

Woke up feeling much better, perfect timing for travel day! Super slow morning, packing, chilling, not quite enough time to go and do anything, so passed the time in the hotel.

Klook car booked to pick us up at 1pm. There was no confirmation on this, I messaged them yesterday and they seemed slow to reply and then had us being picked up at the wrong hotel and going to the wrong airport. To say I was concerned is an understatement. But at 12.50pm the driver arrived and off we went!

Drank our last melon soda. Grabbed a late lunch at the airport. Tried to find a book as my kindle wouldn’t sync, no luck. Fortunately the Kindle connected to the wifi at the airport, woohoo! Security was easy and home we went.

An epic trip, I know we will take a bit to recover, very intense.

Day 15 Tokyo DisneySea

DisneySea

This morning we decided to have a slow morning. It was needed and we decided that we didn’t enjoy the squish of the pre park opening queue enough to make it worth getting a fastpass for Toy Story Mania. We got in, and there were still fast passes available so we made our way over. I misjudged how high a curb was, stacked into a tree. It was bad, but I got it together quickly while sending Mark off to get the fastpass. We went to first aid to get patched up. First aid was amazing, the staff were lovely and attentive with the help of google translate.

Some shopping and a 5 minute wait for 20,000 leagues under the sea. 5 minutes wait for the carousel. Run into Aladdin who had a really long chat with us, shopping, shell ice cream. Walk on Sindbad, ran into Abu, Aladdin and Jasmine and Genie, barely any wait for pics with each of them! 

Mermaid lagoon, 15 minute wait for Jumpin Jellyfish, 25 for Blowfish Balloon Race. 20 minute wait for Aquatopia, we thought wet, but there was no wet today!!! It was very average without getting soaked. Cape Cod Cook Off, nice to get some air con after our Aquatopia disappointment! No sides of fries, still frustrating.

Ducked out of the park to check the Ikspiari Disney store. So glad we did, the back half of the store was mostly 50% off, things I wanted in the city but felt were over priced suddenly fell into our price range. We bought a whole lot of stuff! And back to the parks to use our Toy Story Mania fastpass. This was our last attraction, for lack of veggie options we decided to go to the hotel for dinner.

Today (Wednesday) was the slowest day in the park, and it still felt as busy as a busy day at anaheim in Summer. Don't think we will be back here until they have an English translation of the app.

Day 14 Tokyo Disneyland

Disneyland

Arrived 40 minutes before park opening. The queue is just a squish of people as opposed to orderly lines. It was hectic. we do not like this at all, I felt terrible for the kids, they were squished with no air, it was humid, and as much as I just wanted to get out of there, we were committed, so we stayed until they let us in.

Park opened and we went straight to the Monsters Inc fastpass, got return for 11.50. Walked to Poohs Hunny Hunt, this was amazing, it’s trackless and so immersive! Second to last scene it broke down! They fit us all off the ride and walked through the las scene to exit. They gave us a fastpass to use there at any time in the day! 

Haunted Mansion Jack Skellington overlay 13 minutes, definitely worth getting to the park with a plan, and use a waiting time app or website to help you work out the best way forward. Small world 20 minutes.

Get fastpass for Astro blasters, 12.50 return, walked into the first showing of one mans dream 2, this one is unreserved, 20 mins before start, got seating in the middle middle of the theatre, impressive! This show is so much fun! Even if you don’t speak Japanese, it’s basically numbers from a bunch of the movies, a best of really. Loved it! Probably could have done without the last track.

Out to Monsters Inc fastpass, some lunch, and Astro blasters fastpass. Buzz Astroblasters Tokyo is by far the worst version of this ride. You can’t see the laser at all. We decided not to get any more fastpasses for it despite there being some available.

Pirates of the Caribbean 10 minute wait so we did this, to my children’s dismay! Good ride, on par with Anaheim, they still sell the women here! Mace ended up loving it!

Walk around, 35 minutes for Peter Pan, it’s such a charming ride, had to do it, and it was different! The kids say better. Walked around toon town and got Marley chip and dale popcorn bucket! Ate the popcorn!

Queen Of Hearts for dinner, some surprising veggie options, it’s very expensive for small meals, but a treat to order vegetarian easily!

Used our Winnie the Pooh fastpass. This is such a sweet ride, really enjoyed it. Noticed that in the crazy room, every ride is different, so ride it more than once if you can.

Last attraction, Tiki Room, Stitch takeover! We love this, and wish it was longer. More shopping!

Pastries from sweetheart cafe, more shopping and headed to the monorail, love being one stop away when it’s the end of a big day! 10 hour day today, park opened at 9 instead of 8.  Definitely far less people today, but their version of quiet is Anaheim’s busy summer day!

Day 13 Tokyo DisneySea

Tokyo DisneySea

We did the worst possible thing and arrived ten minutes before opening, the queue was wild! It only took 15 Minutes to get in though.  The way they queue here is a massive free for all that ends up at the turnstiles or attraction at which point you need to know who is next, this didn't suit any of us, I like a clear cut line.

First stop Toy Story Midway Mania fastpass, at 8.30am we got a 6pm return! Maybe that’s the plus of coming so early? No luck on the lottery. Walked to the Arabian Coast, the theming is superb! I feel like I’m in Agrabah. We went on the carousel twice, charming takes on Aladdin songs.

Rode Sinbads Storybook Voyage, it was beautiful!

Mermaid Lagoon for some shopping, then King Tritons Concert, this show was amazing. If you have any emotional connection to the film, see it!  It feels like you are in the movie. The theatre is gorgeous, and the show is so creatively done. Joy! All of the rides are at 30+ minutes, it seems like it’s like that everywhere at only 11am. Shocker!

Back to Arabian Coast because it’s so pretty and also shopping.

Walk to Aquatopia, it takes forever to get anywhere here, heat makes people slow and it’s a lot of ground to cover. 40 minute wait. Everything is this long at this point, midday. We chose the ‘get wet’ line because the heat is stifling, and boy did we get wet! It was worth the queue for the relief! Off to cape cod to check the Duffy and friends merch. Grabbed some milk chocolate popcorn, it was average and nothing like chocolate flavour. The carts take card now, I was always told you needed cash for the carts. There was a Stella Lou photo set up on the walk and Marley got Stella Lou in a picture, this is huge in all of the Asia parks.  We were told that Japan is a cash society, make sure you always have plenty of cash on you. We only needed cash to buy and top up our Suica/Pasmo cards, and gashapon machines.

A lot of walking around. Lunch veggie curry at Agrabah, it’s hard when we have to go to two places every time we eat, there isn’t much vegetarian stuff in the parks, 3 places have one dish each. Another frustrating thing is not being able to get a side of fries, have to buy a meat meal including fries. Or not being able to get a drink at the same cart as popcorn or ice cream. It makes no sense and just adds to this ongoing queuing. Another ride on Sindbad, walk on.

Kids dinner at Cape Cod Cook Off, couldn’t get that side of fries (the fries are vegan!). 30 minute queue for 20,000 leagues under the sea. We had heard people say that it’s an accomplishment to get on 5 attractions in one day at the Tokyo Disney Parks, I see that, we have managed to, but only because the kids don’t love thrill rides. This adds to my feeling of not being my favourite park. Maybe arguably the best park based on theming, immersion, detail, parades, it really is a level up, but so many queues, not great food options, nowhere near as many amazing snacks as Anaheim, and barely any vegetarian food, it might be ‘the best’, but it’s not my favourite. Back to 20,000 leagues, it was good, probably would have been infinitely better had I known what was going on 😂 I kept thinking our ship was doomed, but unfortunately not the case!

Mermaid Lagoon, I love it here! Awesome spot to get out of the heat or rain. Queued 30 minutes to get on to Blow fish race, we balked at that time this morning, but the ride simply didn’t get a smaller queue! Then using our Toy Story Midway Mania fastpass. Grabbed some pastries to keep us full into the night, we have been eating in the middle of meal times to queue less and be able to get a seat.

Day 12 Hilton Tokyo Bay and Tokyo Disneyland

Check out of Shibuya Excel Hotel was easy.

Iruka shuttle
Pick up scheduled at 8, car was there at 7.49, we were ready! Love an early car. Beautiful and clean vehicle. Smooth drive.

Hilton Tokyo Bay
Arrived at 8.30, checked in, they gave us our key for the afternoon and took our luggage to our room.

Walk 3 minutes to the monorail station. 4 day pass for 1400 yen. Monorail 3 mins to DisneySea,   mins to Disneyland.

Tokyo Disneyland

First word Queues! To use the bathroom, to eat, to drink, to ride, queues everywhere. This is a Sunday, we expected queues, but this was next level, I would hate to see it on a Saturday (this first visit was a Sunday).

Next word Rules! No ears on in attractions, children on right hand side of ride, no lcd photography as well as flash photography, take your bags off (common sense but they start reminding you ten people before you get to the front of the queue) sit down for the parade, most of these make the park experience even more enjoyable.

We arrived late today, 9.30ish, we were expecting serious queues to get in, but there was about 10 people in front of us! Shocking!

Headed to Tomorrowland Hall to try for the show lottery, nothing! On the way we passed Monsters Inc Ride and Go Seek, there were 5pm fast passes available, we grabbed them, thought for sure they would be gone. A bit of shopping, and a spot for the Spooky Boo parade. The floor was a little wet and as we were deciding where to sit, a cast member appeared and put down park maps for us to sit on. Both unexpected and appreciated. The cast members here are super attentive.

Spooky boo parade

A bunch of floats with Mickey and friends in spooky versions of the lands in this park. Ends with a lot of singing and dancing.

Quick bathroom break, I got out the map to see what’s next, within 30 seconds two different cast members had asked if I needed help. Love the cast members here.

Tiki Room walk on. This is in Japanese, they hand out little translators for other languages. Grabbed a fastpass for Haunted Mansion Halloween overlay, 2.30 (at 11.30). Small world 20 minutes. Best Small World ever! Pinocchio’s daring journey 20 minutes, as average as any. Queues for ice cream for 15 minutes, as we ate it, the Dreaming Up parade started. This parade was beautiful, impressive, lots of attention to detail! A man let the kids in front of him to get a better view, people here seem so polite.

Into the Country Bear Jamboree. Lunch at Plasma Rays, vegetarian Japanese curry which was very satisfying yet a small serve for the price. Fastpass for Haunted Mansion, still took 15 minutes. Overlay was cool but I prefer the original. Shopping, more food, and at Pan Galactic Pizza Port we got alien Mochi, it was sooooo delicious. Fastpass for Monster’s Inc Ride and Go Seek, our last attraction of the day, loved it, we have a lot of shopping to do! Bought loads of cute merch, grabbed some pastries to take home.

6 minute monorail ride home, 3 minute walk, stop at the convenience store and the Disney shop and we were finally home. Showers and the pastries! Custard bread and orange pastry were both amazing, melon bread is melony 😂 it’s okay but not my favourite. Marley hated it, Mace loved it!

Day 11 Sanrio Puroland

Sanrio Puroland

We got off the train at Tama Centre station which is beautifully decorated with Sanrio characters. Take the elevated walk to Puroland, straight ahead and then left.

We started from the bottom. Walked into the Fairyland show, it was really hard to get in to because it was all in Japanese, we decided not to spend 40 minutes here and left early. Straight into Kawaii Kabuki, this had that strangeness that the robot restaurant had. It’s in Japanese, but still entertaining, the kids loved it. Then into the Gudetama show!

Another one that we had no clue what was going on, Mace was the only one that enjoyed this. It’s very interactive, if you speak the language. We walked out and the thing where Hello Kitty sings and the whole area lights up was starting, because of the way we exited we got a front row seat! It’s very beautiful.

Ride My Me Road Drive, said 30 minute wait, more like 15, terrible ride, but the cutest photos at a really reasonable price 900yen.

The Gudetama attraction, photo ops, games and lots of queues.  The twin star attraction, more photo ops. After 3.5 hours we were done, even Mace, Marley could have stayed on. Exhausted. Headed back to Shibuya to do the last of our shopping, lots of Kit Kat’s!

Went to Katsu Midori sushi at seibu 8^th floor, it had a queue of around 20 people when we arrived at 4.30! Crazy! But the food was amazing! So many veggie options, all options were delicious. And so inexpensive compared to home!!!

Back to hotel, exhausted!

Day 10 TeamLab Borderless Digital Art Museum

This morning we were headed to TeamLab Borderless at the Mori Building, it was going to be 46 minutes on a train and I just didn’t want to start the day stuffy on the train, it is hot and hotter underground. So we got a cab, hotel called it, took 15 minutes to come. Very nice car and very clean. Cost 6900Y, a LOT for a 15 minute car ride! But it was nice to not arrive flustered!

TeamLab Borderless Digital Art Museum
I am so happy we missioned out here. This was such a beautiful experience. The art put me right in my happy place, I could have spent hours just being still in those rooms. The athletic garden was amazing for the kids, lots of opportunities to move with the art, to jump, climb, slide, draw, so much to do! We spent around 1.5h there, if child free would have been another hour or two. Highly recommend.

Train to Harajuku

We made a beeline to Eiselwelt gelato to get some cute ice creams, much needed on a warm, sunny day! Messy though! We walked up and down Takeshita st, got our Totti fairy floss/candy floss, a few cute things. Loved this area. Walked through Omotesando, down through Shibuya, and back to Genki sushi for dinner. No wait, delicious sushi and more shopping.

I find the journeying in Japan to be annoying. I love a destination that you can walk everywhere (think Hawaii, Vegas, Disney Anaheim) or journeys are easy (think New York, London), this is neither. It’s a very efficient system but it’s a struggle to find the right entrance for the right spot and then the long indirect journeys made wanting to go places feel like a bit of a downer.

It’s rude to eat on trains here, or to eat at the station, or walking, but there are no park benches (or bins for that matter) so we were always starving, trying to find the right place to eat when we didn’t have to be somewhere, most of the rules here I love, but this was the bane of snack and lunch time.

The people on trains were amazing, we loved how politely people line up for the trains, and once on, people kept offering us seats to stay as a group (if there was a seat to go to). It was very kind, I have never seen this anywhere else in the world.

Day 9 Tokyo

Used Klook car service from airport, driver was 15 minutes late. It was 11.30pm and we were all very tired, would have been so happy with the service if only he was on time! Not what I was expecting in Japan! The car was lovely and good driver though.

Shibuya Excel Hotel Tokyu
This is a quad room and there is a huge amount of space unexpected in Tokyo. 4 king single beds. But the bathroom is old and smells of mildew, and having the bed on the wall the joins the bathroom, I could smell it while sleeping. The following night I swapped beds with my husband as he couldn't smell it. Loved our stay here.
The location is amazing, view from our room of the scramble crossing.

Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku
This is awesome, we hit most of the spots on my list. But I do feel that you need to know where to go to find what you like. We all shopped for hours, so much great stuff to look at. Grabbed lunch at 7/11, so many choices, all good too. This place is just mindblowing. Amazing vibe. We all loved it here.

Robot restaurant
This was a bit of a gamble. The kids wanted to go, I had no idea what to expect and to be honest I still don’t know what happened, but I loved it! We all did, it feels like everything you expect from Tokyo. Definitely recommend, it’s loud though, they give kids head phones to cancel out some of the noise. Such a great time!

Genki Sushi
This was delicious! Lots of variety, and all fresh, quick service, because you only get a 45 minute seating and you have to be done. There is almost always a queue, put your name on the list, it moves quickly. Really good, and we ate a lot, it cost less than half of what we would spend at any other sushi train! And we all enjoyed our meal.

Day 8 travel day

Travel day

Morning spent chilling by the pool.

Epic packing to ensure that each bag is under 20kg. We are flying this leg with Asia’s version of Jetstar, so it has to be perfect! Checked out, stored luggage. Brunch at chart cafe. Shuttle booked for 1.25.

Easiest customs and security at the airport, didn’t have to take anything out of our bags!

Flying with Hong Kong express. I had read terrible reviews about them. We made sure our bags were under 20kg each, and I knew our checked bags were over the size they allow, but it was fine. We preordered meals because of the no food or drinks issue.  The meals were gross! But overall an easy flight.

We arrived in Tokyo after 11pm.

Day 7 Hong Kong Disneyland

Day 7 at Hong Kong Disneyland

After the massive food fail in the park yesterday we decided to eat breakfast at the hotel. We each ordered one thing each, congee, waffles or a pancake and it cost $90AUD. The food here is crazy expensive! I was over the moon to find they had a gf pancake. It took half hour to make and was completely raw, but still good to feel full!

Into the park! Shopped at Main Street, picture with Donald, rode ant man and wasp, iron man experience, small world, Pooh, carousel and dumbo. Then a bin came to life and sang to my son, this was hilarious!

Mystic manor, the best ride of this park! Runaway mine cars, okay, don’t love going backwards though, and I took Marley on with me, she hated it. Walked through the Halloween attraction and got a pic with Jack Skellington and Sally and lots of candy

Jungle cruise, quick bite, ran into Baloo, and Pooh bear, quick bite at the royal banquet hall. A bit more shopping and our last attraction Small world. Walking down Main Street the Halloween parade was on, lovely end to a beautiful day! We were told repeatedly that this is a one day park, but we like to do things more than once, we left around 4.30 (6+ hour day today) and came for a swim. We only waited 15 minutes for one attraction once, the rest were walk on (under 5 minutes it no wait at all). The cast members were lovely, so many stickers and so much Halloween candy!

Limited merch, hard to find a Hong Kong Disney mug or magnet, settled on a mug I don’t really like and fortunately there were cute Halloween magnets!

Dinner at the charter cafe, chill half day tomorrow, and then to the airport!

Day 6 Hong Kong Disneyland

Day 6 Disneyland

Took the hotel shuttle to the park. This park is in Halloween mode, you can feel it walking up the path, Halloween decor, Halloween music, so exciting. Security were chill, they didn't take our snacks away from us, and gave us stickers. Used the hotel queue to enter which moves twice as fast! Many rides not open until 11, and eateries aren’t open at all! First up a picture with Chip and Dale in their Halloween outfits, this was so cute!

The stickers here are next level!  So many diffreent kinds and freely given, sometimes ask, every cast member, most have them, and sometimes they give them because of what character affiliations you are wearing.

First ride The Many Adventurers of Winnie the Pooh, then Dumbo and it’s a small world. Rode Mystic Manor twice (this is the best ride at Hong Kong Disneyland), everything is a walk on and already time for lunch at the royal banquet hall.

Flight of fantasy parade only running once today, went over 15 minutes early, got prime position, whole park is empty today, this may be the lack of tourism from the Hong Kong protest. Everything has been a walk on.

Walked on to the jungle river cruise, and took seats for Moanas Homecoming show 15 mins early. Fortunate to get shady seats! The show was really creatively done, really enjoyed it.

Walked on to ant man and wasp twice, a little bit trickier than astroblasters, but fun! Walking past hyperspace mountain it was walk on, so I went on solo, have wanted to go on hyperspace mountain forever, it was amazing! So glad I did it!

Picture with Chewbacca who wanted to keep Mace, picture with r2d2 who followed us out of the photo area, run into Timon and got a pic with him, and back to Adventureland to watch Let’s Get Wicked show. Play at the Tikiliki play area (the water play was relief that we all needed), walk on small world, walk on Winnie the Pooh. Trying to find dinner was awful, it’s hard when over half of the places you have researched to eat, that have options for you all, are closed. We walked to a place that was supposed to be open, and arrived to find it closed. Eventually grabbed some very average food at the Main Street bakery. So disappointing. If the park isn’t going to function at full capacity, you shouldn’t have to pay full price to be here.

Took a seat at the stage for Jack Skellingtons show. We saw the projections and we were all getting tired and decided not to stay for the last show. There was no queue at the bus stop, and a bus came immediately. Back to the comfort of our room at the explorers lodge after over 9h at the parks.

Really feeling that with the park only being open 9 hours, it’s hard to get everything done, despite everything being walk on and being told it’s a one day park. Glad we have a second day.

We dropped in to the chart cafe and got a vegetarian soup of the day each, it was so nice to eat something delicious and healthy. But like everything here, incredibly over priced. The food at the parks is the most expensive I have ever seen and the serves are also the smallest. Food has been a major issue for us.

Day 5 Travel to Hong Kong, Disney Explorers Lodge and character dumplings at Crystal Lotus

Day 5

It smells like smoke everywhere.  Either people smoking or a scent to hide the smoke.

Mr Orange car pick is up at 5.10am and off to the airport.  Nice car, good service.

Arrival at Hong Kong, we had booked the Disney shuttle, significantly less expensive than a car $150HKD for all of us. We go to the desk, they say it will be ready in half hour at 12.20. Concerning because we have a 2pm booking at the Crystal Lotus, hopefully check in is smooth, and crossing fingers our room is ready so we can head to the Disneyland hotel. Long walk to the shuttle, shuttle smells like smoke. But we have it to ourselves.

Disney Explorers Lodge
Cast members give that same US cast member experience. Beautiful theming. Angela who checked us in gave us some pixie dust when we went back to pick up our room key and had pins made up for each of us with our favourite character and our name on! We explored the grounds, did the stamp game where you collect a stamp from each part of the ‘world’ in the hotel and take it to the front desk and receive a gift, it was a bunch of stickers.

The beds are firm, a tiny bit more firm than I would like, but still good. The shower is amazing, loved washing my hair under the beautiful water pressure. Rooms are a good size, complimentary water bottles every day. We love it. The children say it is their favourite Disney hotel, this is crazy, Aulani has got to be the one!

We were still quite full from dumplings at dinner time so we grabbed some bits and pieces to go at the charter cafe. It is EXPENSIVE here. Around $10 for a fruit or veg cup, which we needed. I am feeling that Disney dollars situation!

Crystal Lotus at the Disneyland hotel

A quick shuttle over, ten minutes on the dot to walk home to the Disney Explorers Lodge, a decent amount of shade on the walk.

It is best to book this in advance, they give you a character dumpling menu and you pre book the ones you want. On arrival we found that they had fake meat and a couple of veggie dishes to add to the charcter dumpling menu that we had pre ordered. 

The service was amazing, the meal both delicious and cute!

Shanghai Disneyland Overview

Shanghai Disneyland overview

This park is missing too many classic rides.

English isn’t widely spoken but mostly easy to communicate, many things written in English, prices all in English, but ordering can be tricky (Example we ordered two Pepsi’s with our meal and they gave us Pepsi and upgraded the children’s drinks to Pepsi, that’s not something we give our kids).

It is magical, the castle is majestic (my favourite castle so far), but if you were going on one Disney holiday, don’t let this be it! Definitely drop in if you are in the country, but I wouldn’t make a special trip. Doable in one day, two for a super fan, don’t bother with three.

Going in to airport you go through security just to get in the building! And unlike arrival, there isn’t a lot of English signs, yet you can easily find your way though.

The second security is major, a bit more strict than usual and for the first time a security guard put their fingers inside my waist band!

There is a Burger King toward the gates, I don’t even like Burger King, but it was so nice to order some chips and get something that definitely didn’t have meat in it.

Day 4 Shanghai Disney

Day 4

This morning it was pouring, we got to the queue for the shuttle at 7, it didn’t get busy until much later.The hotel had umbrellas to take into the park, but they were long umbrellas and we couldn't imagine taking those on rides. Fortunately I was a bit extra in my packing and packed ponchos for all!  Mace wore his from the jump. In my packing I didn't pack myself a jumper, because I planned on buying a spirit jersey from each park, and there were no spirit jerseys!!!

Walk on Pirates, front row, this was THE BEST experience at Shanghai Disneyland, I would go as far as to say that this is my all time favourite attraction, it was just so immersive, amazing. At the store I saw a Halloween sweater that I had my eye on, and it was cold, so I bought it to wear on the day, ther was a deal on the umbrellas that if you spent x amount you could get a half proice umbrella, so we did that, it rained most of the day.
Walk on Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Peter Pan walk on twice.
Dumbo walk on.
Buzz Astroblasters fastpass but only 5 minute standby.
Some stitch corndogs for snack.
We tried for Star Wars launch bay every day, with no luck, no idea why it was closed, I really wanted to met c3po!
Lunch at Tribal Table, ordering mishap where they upgraded our kids meals to have a Pepsi - we don’t let our kids drink cola!

Walk through picture with Pluto and Goofy, queue for picture with Gelatoni and Stella Lou.
Now we were getting a bit too cold and wet for our liking. Fortunately the park is really a two day max park, so leaving in the early afternoon wasn’t worrying. Needed some down time!

Packing, using the hotel play room, watching Thor Ragnorok, and dinner in the hotel. Ready for our early flight tomorrow!

Day 3 Shanghai Disney

Got to shuttle queues at 7.10, 60 people in queue and we just got on the first shuttle. Seems crazy to get in the parks early when half of the stuff is closed.
Walked on to Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh twice.
Walked on to Peter Pan, twice!
Walked on to crystal grotto.
Did Alice’s Maze, awesome tea party at the end.

Some delicious ice dreams (Shanghai is my favourite Mickey Bar of them, all), and a visit to Marvel Universe.Picture with Spider Man.

Went on Buzz Astroblasters

Lunch at Tribal Table, good veggie option.

Ride Pirates of the Caribbean, tried Jack Sparrow stunt show, wasn’t for us, all in Chinese had no idea what was going on, then ran into Jack Sparrow outside and got a picture.

More ice creams and the Mickey’s magical express parade. There was a crowd, maybe two deep, but the people that were coming in three deep really wanted to get up close and would full body touch you to try and get closer to the rope. And many people in these situations didn't have any awareness that other children exist, one dude tried to rest his photo arm on my kids head. 

Buzz Astroblasters, Peter Pan, dinner at Pinocchio’s restaurant no veggie food. Hating eating here. A bit of shopping and back to the hotel.

https://youtu.be/53BmSMHA9To

Day 2 Shanghai Disney park

Day 2

Shanghai Disney park

We got up early, the first shuttle leaves at 7.35 for an 8am park opening. Shuttle is complimentary with hotel stay. You must stay together for entry as you get an entry card for the extra hour and must enter together. We got there at 6.45 out of confusion on our part, and were the first in line. The queue was massive by the time we left and not everyone got on, might try going for 7 tomorrow?

Pin trading: so many cast members have pins on lanyards, lots of fakes, but also some gems. The kids love trading, a fun way to spend some time.

Stickers: almost every cast member at an attraction has stickers that relate to the attraction or area. My daughter would go up and say hello in Chinese, ask for stickers in English and thank you in Chinese, we got quite a few really cool ones.

Schedule

Shuttle to downtown for our extra morning hour.

Despite being told no food, we read on the park rules that you could take dry snacks, so we did.

Walk on pirates (the best ride at Shanghai, so much more amazing than any other ride I have ever riden)

Buzz lightyear twice walk on

Adventures of Winnie the Pooh twice 

Peter pans flight 

Cherry popcorn and Donald Duck icy pole

Once upon an adventure walk through of the castle

Eat at toy story land no veg option, that was closed, this happened a lot

Walk on woodys round up

Tron with Marley and mark went solo, I loved it, but I was the only one!

Mickey’s magical express parade, pushy people, but we got a good view! The people were 2-3 deep but felt hat they needed to be full body touching you.

Fastpass buzz astro blasters

8.5 hours in the park and we were ready to check out for downtown Disney for shopping and dinner!

Shops at disneytown, dinner at Molokai. Food was okay but service really hard with language barrier. But we ate! And home to get ready for a good night of sleep! The menus I saw a couple weeks ago for the park food had changed, almost no options for us. Each place has one veggie option, but if that option is wheat, or one if the many things Mark is allergic to, we are out of luck!

https://youtu.be/rbTsKi71MV4

Day 1 Travel Day and Toy Story Hotel

Day 1

Travel day

We had heard all sorts of things about taxis from the airport, so we booked Mr Orange. Nothing better than a car service that is there to greet you on exit with a sign that has your name on it. We used them to depart as well. Brilliant service. Worth the money for the piece of mind.

Arrive toy story hotel

Find play area, launch pad, cute lobby. Lotso store and Sunny Side Market and cafe. Ate at cafe for buffet dinner. 20% off for people staying at the hotel. Traditional Chinese food, we were a bit worried when we got in about whether we would find much vegetarian food, and it turned out better than we expected!  Lots of opportunities for all of us to enjoy our food.

Super early night, massive day tomorrow!

Toy story hotel

This hotels theming is 100! So much attention to detail. Service is amazing, if a cast member doesn’t understand you, they seamlessly grab someone who can. The play room wasn’t quite as awesome as expected, and the launchpad too, but I’m sure that on a hot and humid day it would provide relief! There are meet and greet opportunities with no lines, the kids loved meeting Woody and Jessie while we finalised our park tickets.

Rooms are clean, well themed, comfortable, only downside is there are only 6 Disney movies on the TV, and none were family favourites (was shocked to find that you couldn’t watch a Toy Story movie in the Toy Story hotel). We did need an iron, I tried google translate but they didn’t understand, my husband googled a picture of an iron and one was brought up to our room. Download google translate, for translating words, especially for checking the written word, was awesome for ingredients! 

Don’t buy your park tickets before you arrive, they give you extra hour in the parks in the morning, and a free fast pass for the day if you buy tickets on site as a guest at the hotel (have an idea of what you want to ride and what time, pick afternoons as they are usually all gone before then). They do charge children by height and age, so my 10yo daughters park tickets were adult prices!

We ate dinner at the Sunny Side cafe, we were all incredibly tired, and it didn’t occur to us that it would be Chinese buffet, which is obvious in retrospect! The kids seemed like they wouldn’t be eating much at all, and same for us being vegetarians. Surprisingly there was more than expected for us, and by the second time going back, the kids were trying different foods. If you stay in the hotel it’s 20% off. Their Bok Choy was amazing, as was the tofu and coriander salad. My meat eating daughter loved the braised pork belly, and the freshly made dumplings were good too. I was happy to eat a plate of veggies after 20 hours of travel and plane food.

Pixie Dust Adventurers travel day and Toy Story hotel Shanghai

Disney Asia Extravaganza!

We were originally going to do two weeks in Japan, but I realised that I could just add in Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland which would mean that we wouldnt have to waste a holiday going to just those two. I say waste, which sounds harsh, but our daughter has anaphylaxis so going to either city wasn't a priority, we just wanted to go to the Disney Parks.

It was definitely interesting to see the cultural differences in the parks, I have noted some here, other bits will be in the daily blog following.

Shanghai

English 

Some cast members speak English, the ones that didn’t did a very smooth transition to finding someone that did. Used allergy card every time so we knew that they truly understood the reason for no nuts, and it was taken seriously.

Reaction to us

Lots of staring, people trying to touch your hair etc. Maybe 1-2 other couples of westerners in the parks, no western children seen until the Saturday we were checking out. The staring was either because we were westerners or because we are tattooed and I have green hair, who knows?

What people wear in the parks

A few people twinning and Disney bounding. Not many, most people just in casual clothes. Not even a great deal of people in ears.

Halloween

Dipping their toes into Halloween. It is just the start of Halloween season, and there were a few bits of decor and a few items of merch, but nothing excessive.

Plastic

Pay plastic bags, paper straws, I was really impressed by this.

App

English app with fast passes, no meal bookings or ordering.

Smoking

People smoke everywhere! Even if it says you can't.

Park Culture

It was a tiny bit pushy, but because the parks were quite empty we didn't have the issues that we have heard about in this park.

Food

It was very hard to find vegetarian food here, but when we did it was delicious.

Hong Kong

English

Just about every body spoke English, we only needed to use the card once. The staff would present the ingredients or grab the chef once asked. Very reassuring!

Westerners

Lots of western families. Which helped with us not being stared at so much.

Halloween

Full Halloween mode, music and decor everywhere, was amazing!  At no point could you forget that it was Halloween season.

Plastic

Pay plastic bags, paper straws, again, very impressive.

What they were wearing in the parks

A few people twinning and Disney bounding. Not a lot.

App 

Fast passes, no meals.

Food

So many places were closed and the menu had changed so it was hard to get vegetarian food, it was nice when we did.

Japan

English

In Tokyo just about everybody spoke some English. We used the card once in Tokyo, thankfully as the food did have nuts!At the Disney parks we used the card every time! They would get a manager and bring out an iPad, you click your allergens and they tell you whether what you want has them.  It takes time, and one of her allergens wasn't on the ipad, but it was good for what it was.

Reaction to us

There was a lot of staring, I feel like it is because of the tattoo factor. Lots of western people in Shibuya, none at puroland, not many at Disneyland resort. The rugby world cup was on, so there were definitely rugby fans of all types around.

Halloween

Disneyland full Halloween decor, DisneySea just dipping toes in.  It was much less than we expected though.

Plastic

All about the plastic, it’s scary!  Bags for everything, straws, plastic mania, in Tokyo and the Disney parks.

What they wear in the parks

People in full quality cosplay, twinning, squad cosplay, bounding, twinning, quading! People watching here is the best!

Park people

Their quietest day is as busy as Anaheim’s busiest.

App

No app for English speakers yet. This sucked.  I wouldn't consider going back to the Tokyo Disney Parks until there is an English app. It gives Non Japanese speakers a rough time trying to get fastpasses, and hard to check menus without physically visiting the eateries.

Food

It was very difficult to find vegetarian food here, the stuff we did find were tiny serves, so we were always hungry!

Day 11 Disneyland

Day 4

Toy story mania

Radiator Springs

Incredicoaster 

Little mermaid

Sulley meet and greet

Bengal bbq snack mobile order drama waited 20 minutes

Big Thunder

Haunted mansion

Bengal bbq mobile order late lunch still chaos 

Shops

Back to parkvue inn pack and lyft xl to airport

Car service airport express 

Quality vehicles and drivers, smooth ride, friendly drivers. Yes it’s a little more than a cab, but so much more enjoyable than a big cab which are rickety and all over the freeway. Highly recommend! 

Day 10 Disneyland

Day 3 of Disney

Magic morning, dragged ourselves to the park by 7.30.

Snow whites scary adventure

Breakfast at the river Belle terrace

DCA photo with Captain Marvel, monsters inc, radiator springs, incredicoaster, little mermaid, Disney channel fan fest parade descendants 3, photo with Gamora, two sessions with a max pass photographer, so great! 

Toy story midway mania

Downtown Disney

Tangaroa Terrace for a drink piranha and zombie, both cups available!!! International guests NEED passport for ID, third time they have have stated this in as many years, despite is having valid drivers license and being over 40!

Chill for a bit

5 dinner At pizza planet again, the DF GF pizza is too good. I picked up a s’mores parfait to eat at the parade

5.30 sit down for parade, our ‘spot’ we use every time was empty, got seats, everywhere else was getting full at 5pm!

Mickey’s Soundsational Parade was 

Indiana Jones

Matterhorn Bobsleds 

Mickey’s mix magic fireworks, the worst of the three most recent firework shows I have seen. It was enjoyable at parts, but didn’t inspire emotion.

Day 9 Disneyland

Day 2 Disney 

We arrived at 7.55 for 8am opening and strolled through security and ticket check, not many people about. 

Walk on big thunder

Walk on pirates - pirates was a lot more wet than I remember, bag, face and butt all wet

Walk on haunted mansion

And we used big thunder fastpass 

9.50 reservation at carnation cafe, timed to go with our 11.30 walking with Walt reservation. Great allergy menu, we had the allergy waffles, with fruit instead of meat on the side! So good!!! 

11 for 11.30 walking with Walt tour, this was $230 for both of us, but we try to do something special on each visit.

The meal included was also helpful with allergies, which is always great.

Meet up with Ash and G, train around Disneyland, big thunder mountain, haunted mansion, buzz Astro blasters, I had a hard root beer at clarabelles, it was delicious but an undertaking! Dinner at bengal bbq, and later we shared a bowl of vegan gumbo at royal street veranda.

Loads of steps!

Day 8 Disneyland

Disneyland 

Day 1

Haunted mansion 

Splash mountain 

Ate s’mores square

FP Matterhorn bobsleds

Lunch pizza planet 

FP Big Thunder mountain BRILLIANT but app Down from 12.30, missing future fast passes, cane back up around 6pm, we got the cost we paid back in gift cards after queuing for 30 minutes 

Enchanted tiki room

It’s a Small World

Chill at room, supplies etc

6.05 dinner at wine country trattoria for the world of colour meal, seated around 6.20. Excellent allergy menu. However the execution of this sucked. My husband who has a lactose allergy ordered the vegan Items received cheese on his first course. And the last course they gave me the sorbet despite repeatedly requesting the panacotta. I don’t know if it was the server or the kitchen, but it wasn’t impressive.

We had a free choice fastpass which we used at toy story mania, it was a lot of fun!

And finally World of Color, this was why we did the meal package at Wine Country Trattoria. You get into preferred viewing, if there are stairs available (there were heaps available at around an hour before start), grab them! We got a treat from Bongos sweet stuff to eat while we waited. The show was beautiful, I cried 3 times. Worth the average meal.

Day 7 Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Venice Beach

Runyon Canyon

I love hiking here, it’s so different to home! 

Superfood cafe Santa Monica 

A great little cafe with meat and vegetarian and vegan options. Can definitely say that the veg and vegan options were delicious! And the hot chocolate was tasty and huge!

Santa Monica and Venice Beach

I am always stifled in LA, I don’t know why, but we get to the beach and I can breathe. Some of the air is weed and urine, but I just prefer it out here. Lots of interesting characters. 

House Of Ink Venice Beach

Mark got tattooed by Ozzy, it was awesome! A beautiful piece. The artists were all so friendly and talented, definitely hit this studio if you are in the area.

Veggie grill 

We got this delivered as we were exhausted after our day. It was okay. I expected more to be honest.

Day 6 travel Las Vegas to Los Angeles

I had a whole big plan for LA this afternoon, but Vegas was a lot, and Mark was exhausted, so we just walked about locally.

Magic castle hotel

We stay here for so many reasons! It’s cute, the staff are awesome, they washed and dried my clothes and returned them to us in 6 hours! So many free snacks and drinks, breakfast included. Honestly, it’s a dream! We stayed in room 101 again. My only complaint is in the evening there were a couple of really loud families hanging out right outside of our room. We were trying to wind down from a busy day, and it was really frustrating. Would have loved if the staff had have asked them to keep it down.

Hollywood BLVD

So scummy! But mark was determined to see the Cypress Hill Star, so we did! 

Trejos Cantina

3 VEGAN tacos, and another one on the specials menu! Yes, it’s expensive, and touristy, but those tacos, man, it’s so nice to be able to eat without worry! They were so good. The guac was possibly the best guac I have ever tasted.

Day 5 Las Vegas

Last day here, more pool, packing, walking the strip.

Mall

Fashion show mall is your normal chain shops, everything you need. We always go twice!

PF Chang’s again

The ma po tofu, and Buddha’s feast veg, so good! Delicious cocktails too!

Day 4 Las Vegas

Pool

This time we tried coming at 8.15, I had been up since 5.30 so it wasn’t a stretch to go to the pool a bit earlier. The pool opens at 9, so at 8.15 there were only 10 people ahead of us, by 8.40 that had doubled to 20! Breakfast again at the beach club, so good! I love the customer service here, when you ask for the bacon and sausage to be left off, they offer you extra hash brown 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Las Vegas sign

We grabbed a lyft our queued for around half hour, and got some cute photos. We have never queued before, but decided this was the time to do it! We walked back to the hotel through hotels and casinos.

Wynn Buffet

Easter Sunday dinner buffet, we LOVE the Wynn buffet. It’s amazing for meat eaters, but also amazing for vegans and vegetarians. We feasted! So much food and delicious desserts. Pricey though! 

Day 3 Las Vegas

Breakfast at the pool 

We love the egg selection at the beach club pool. It’s cheap, filling, and the staff are sooooo lovely!

Graceland chapel wedding

This was so much fun. We were in Vegas celebrating our Lucky 13 wedding anniversary, and wanted to renew our vows. Elvis was AWESOME, the photographer was awesome, everything was on time. We were so happy with our experience.

Cost $199 for ceremony (we got the viva Las Vegas package, and added some extras)

$60 for officiant

$20 suggested for photographer, we chose $30

$40 limo driver, we chose $50

Downtown tattoo

We have been here before and loved the studio, and the artists. This time we booked for matching 13 tattoos with Buddy. He was friendly, concise, quick, super happy with his work! Highly recommend.

Frankie’s tiki bar 

We have been meaning to go here since we started visiting Vegas, was good to finally make it. The cocktails were delicious! $11 for a cocktail (plus tip), or $27.99 for cocktail in souvenir cup, they were really cool too. We went while it was sunny and hot outside and it took a good 5 minutes to get used to how dark it is in there!

PF Chang’s

We missioned up the strip to get here, we missed lunch so things were getting a bit intense, but we know PF Chang’s look after vegetarians, and they really did! The tofu was amazing!!! Our whole meal was so good, drinks delicious too. I know it’s a chain, but when you want a vegetable feast, they never disappoint!

Day 2 Las Vegas

Pool

Got there at 8.30 for 9am opening, queue was 40 deep plus the diamond members etc on the other side, got in at 9.20 and fortunately got some sun beds. I say fortunately because they have replaced most sunneds with paid day beds. To be honest, that sucks. But we do love it there. 

Drag brunch at Senor Frogs

We had GA tickets for the 2.30 show. We arrived at 2, and the VIP line was off the hook! Get there an hour early! When we got in, we clearly had some of the furthest seats from the stage, but the girls only spend a very small amount of time on the stage, the rest is going through the crowd getting tips. We don’t tip in Australia, so this was a real cultural difference, I’m not sure I liked it, it is so nice to be in close proximity to the girls, but I fear for their safety with so many drunk people in the audience trying to touch them. They seem safer on the stage, and everyone can see their whole performance. We both tipped every song and spent just over $30 for both on tips.

Kahanna Montrese (from the most current season) was amazing, it really shows the caliber of Queens on the show, you didn’t even get to see that spark! Coco was flawless! Shannel’s looks were beautiful, her solo performance didn’t grab me. She is a brilliant host though. India Farah was good, and Desiree St James was brilliant (dancing!!!).

The bottomless mimosas were great, the food was fine. Enough vegetarian options to keep us happy! Definitely recommend.

The strip

Smoke, weed and drinks everywhere. So basically the same as last year. Kids everywhere too, not entirely sure why parents want to subject their kids to Vegas. Semi naked show girls all over the strip taking photos for tips, massive billboards of naked women everywhere, I don’t know, we will stick with taking our kids to Disneyland.

Las Vegas premium outlets north

Outdoor shopping mall. $13 lyft from Flamingo. There is always something to buy here. I got extremely lucky with the Nike and the Disney store.

Shake Shack

We had been shopping for hours and coming to the end of it we were trying to decide where to go, logistics of dropping stuff home and then going out for dinner. It was 8.30, hanger wasn’t far away! And then we saw Shake Shack, I have been missing NYC so much lately! Was very happy to stop in there and eat! They also have a really good GF bun now. Fast food heaven.

Day 1 Las Vegas

Sim

We bought our sims on eBay before we left, that’s standard for us, need to use rideshare apps and maps on our trips, also makes it easy to find each other so we can separate while shopping.

Qantas 

We don’t usually fly with Qantas, but our experience with them over Christmas was excellent. This trip we felt that the seats felt a bit small, and the allergy food offerings aren’t as good as other airlines. 

Flamingo 

Quick check in. We went for the newly renovated rooms, they are beautiful and clean, but there is something about the older Go rooms that I do like! They feel bigger, and more ‘Las Vegas’ if that’s even a thing! 

Pool, the pool is one of the main reasons we keep coming back here. But half hour before opening the queue was 40 people deep. And once in, they have replaced most of the free sun beds for paid day beds. Not a good look!

Lyft

With new sim, so easy to update my number and get going. Because I have a 5 star rating from previous trips, we have 10% off our first ten rides on this trip. Uber at home doesn’t do this! Drivers as always are lovely, felt safe getting around town.

El Segundo Sol (near fashion show mall on strip)

I was keen to get back here, mostly for their sangria. Unfortunately it was more red than sangria, and the white sangria was way too tangy. Fortunately the tacos (veggie and mahi mahi) were good! Paired with the bottomless chips and salsa we were stuffed! The drinks were a let down though.

Singapore review

Singapore trip report

Flew Qantas, were amazing with the allergies

Singapore seems very traditional, people stared at us (mostly tourists), I know that people with blue hair and tattoos may not be regular here, but it made me feel unwelcome.

Our allergies weren’t catered for, I know that we can be hard to feed, but after a trip to Thailand a month ago where I experienced beautiful food (on every menu), this was the opposite. Everywhere had policies asking you not to bring your own food, yet they didn’t have food we could eat. One pre arrival conversation with Adventure Cove said we could request an allergy meal (after showing a letter from the dr stating we had allergies) with 5 business days notice, it’s a waterpark, I’m watching the weather to go on a sunny day, there is no 5 business days (7 total) for that.

Cabs are super affordable, surprising considering the price of cars! Meals in restaurants and alcohol less so. If you eat meat, food courts would be amazing, but it feels difficult to get a vegetarian meal in a meat eating place. 

It is clean, not that it’s shiny and clean, but there is no litter, no garbage, no graffiti, you can’t smell urine, or garbage. It’s really pleasant in that way.

I was so pleased to be going to an Asian country where everyone speaks English to some degree, but it really does vary, and maybe we noticed this more because of our food allergies. But even in cabs, there was often trouble understanding where we were saying we wanted to go, despite saying it and showing it on a map. But overall, it was really nice to be understood, and the locals do seem lovely.

This was a trip not on my 5 year travel plan, it was based on wanting to get away from home over Christmas, and sale flights made it cheaper to go here than stay domestic. It was a great break, but I probably wouldn’t come back. In hot humid weather I prefer beach resorts, trying to see all of the great offerings of the city was really sweaty.