Abuelo and Gram Explore Japan: Tokyo Disneyland!

I’m trying to catch up on some of last years adventures we haven’t posted yet….Going back to our time in October with Abuelo and Gram…

We last minute decided to go to Disneyland for Jonathan’s 3rd birthday! The only time we could make it happen was on a weekend and it was also during Disneyland’s special Halloween event, so compared to our previous visits to the park it was shockingly crowded. Despite the crowd, it was still a magical time and we had so much fun! And yes, I can’t wait to go back again 😉

We started our trip driving up on a Saturday afternoon to check into our hotel. We stayed at Hilton Tokyo Bay for this trip and it was SO nice. We really lucked out that there was still availability with our last minute booking. We checked in and took the hotel shuttle to Ikspiari (the giant mall next to the Disney parks). We ate at an Okinawan restaurant which was so nostalgic since that’s where we lived when I was a kid when my dad was stationed there. The food was so delicious too and the soba was the type that I remembered from my childhood! After dinner we walked around a little and looked at some stores. Of course, once we saw it, we couldn’t leave Ikspiari without some Krispy Kreme donuts to enjoy back at the hotel.

The next day we did breakfast at the hotel and headed to Disneyland for the day. We arrived a little after opening time at 9am and definitely did not expect the crowd to get through security into the park. It took a while to get to security (an hour!), but after that it was pretty quick through the gate. Once we were in the park we did all the rides that had shortish lines which worked out well because they were the ones that are great for the kids. We were also able to snag time slots for their show “Mickey’s Magical Music World”, it was beautiful and such a professional quality show! (I was expecting to get a nap in, but it was actually really good. Some girls sitting next to us had their hands to their faces in awe the entire time)

We also saw their special Halloween Spooky Boo! Parade. Again it was shocking to see how many people were sitting on the sidewalks and street waiting for the parade! A good time to people watch though. People love to dress up for Halloween at Disney and we saw lots of cool cosplay costumes. Some were so good we almost thought they were Disney cast members. We picked a spot to watch the parade and I managed to get some honey popcorn for us to snack on. Crazy long lines for the snacks too…

Everywhere was extremely crowded around lunchtime, so we had little snacks to hold us over until we had an early dinner at the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall. I really enjoyed our dinner there! They had something for everyone and lots of fun desserts! Also, shout out to the staff for helping us manage all our food trays, drinks, children, and stroller!

After dinner we enjoyed some more rides including a steam train ride that Jonathan was all about. Later we split up and Taylor waited in the 75 minute line with Jeffrey for Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster while my parents and I did some smaller rides with Jonathan. Gram even got to do the Merry-go-round with Jonathan. So cute!

We decided we wanted to beat the crowd out to leave for home, so we took some castle pics and saw the beginning of their light parade and left a little before the park closing time.

Despite the crowds we had a really great time and it was so special that we could enjoy Disney with Abuelo and Gram. Core memories were made <3

BRB, Out to Japan – Jackie