Next stop Disneyland 🤩 After visiting teamLab Planets, we made our way along the subway to Mahaima Station aka theTokyo Disneyland stop. The trip was smooth and we arrived just shy after 2:30pm. When arriving at Tokyo Disneyland, you are greeted with two different parks, Tokyo DisneySea and Tokyo Disneyland. Think of Disneyland vs California Adventure. For this trip, we decided to focus on Disneyland, but we have heard that DisneySea is spectacular in its own unique ways.
We made our way to the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. This was the hotel situated directly across from the entrance to Disneyland.
Immediately, we were in awe of the sheer size of the hotel. It looked like something out of a fairy tale and had an enormous lobby.
As we walked towards our hotel, we encountered some fellow Stitch lovers. An interesting thing we noticed, nobody wears shorts in Japan. This is because shorts are associated with elementary school uniforms and not considered fashionable once you are past that age. In fact, at Disney most of the women wear elaborate dresses and matching outfits. Disney is a big deal for them.
After exploring the grounds, our room was made available.
Fun Fact: In Japan, you are required to provide passports for each hotel you stay in, so that the hotel can make a copy for anti terrorism reasons.
Everything about this hotel was incredible. The lobby, the hallways, the elevator and finally we had arrived at our room. We had the Beauty and Beast themed room overlooking the park. No detail was spared in this room. Even the wardrobe was from the movie. We loved the fact that we could open our window and hear the Disney music of the park fill our room.
Next up was Ikspiari, the Gateway to Tokyo Disney, which was comprised of shopping and dining around Disney. Reminded me of Downtown Disney for the California folks. As you can tell, Andrei loved the Stitch stuff.
For dinner, Andrei had made reservations for us at Sherwood Gardens, a buffet located within the Tokyo Disneyland hotel. This buffet had a large assortment of western and traditional cuisine. Funny story, Andrei spilled his water while I was getting more food. Immediately, a worker ran over, wiped the table clean, brought fresh silverware, and even a new placemat for Stitch. All before I got back. Yes Stitch had his own plate 🙄😒 and the workers loved it and brought him a placemat.
We had an early morning ahead of us, so we decided on an early night and checked out the grounds at sunset. It was fun seeing all the lights turn on across the park and seeing people leave once the last ride finished. Can you spot Jessa?!
All in all, it was a successful day! We had enjoyed the immersive art exhibit, survived carrying our luggage through the subway (well Andrei carried it while I provided cheers of support), and checked into one of the most exquisite hotels we had yet to stay in. We were getting extremely excited for Disney tomorrow!!!
