Tokyo ’14, Day 11 – Returning Home

On Friday morning my mom and I woke up on time and prepared for our last breakfast in Japan. It was a strange feeling: on one side you know you are leaving, but at the same time you’re too busy in your head with all the things left to do.
During our previous two stays, we had to be at the airport rather early, giving us no chance to have breakfast at the hotel. Since our plane would leave later we could take one bus later as well, giving us the opportunity to have breakfast one last time!
We arrived at the restaurant and put our yellow ‘this table is taken’-card down on a table and went to get breakfast. When we got back, a non-Japanese man was sitting at our table! At first I was a bit annoyed, but when we politely told him, he immediately apologized and sat down at the next table, where his family was sitting. The whole situation resulted into a wonderful conversation with them. Our neighbours turned out to be Americans (with the most American accent ever) and they were super nice and a lot of fun to talk to!

I was going to miss our wonderful breakfasts…
My mom and I finished our food, said goodbye to the Americans and went upstairs to pack our final things. I took some last pictures of the room (yes I am weird that way) and checked everything one last time to make sure we hadn’t left anything behind. Then we pulled our suitcases through the door and I said a silent goodbye to the room that had been our home for 10 days.
We checked out at the lobby, received our luggage stickers and walked outside, where we joined the group of people waiting for the bus. There, we put the stickers on our suitcases and when a hotel staff member came to check whether everything was alright, we were some of the only ones that had applied them correctly. XD

My mom with our luggage, waiting for the bus to arrive.
The bus arrived soon and my mom and I chose two seats. The bus started moving and drove to the final stop in front of Shinjuku station, before heading to Narita airport. We passed the big orange clock one final time (I said another silent goodbye) and then our journey to the airport started.

The orange clock has become a symbol for me. I like it a lot.
I read a magazine provided by the bus company and we took some pictures on the road. Driving in Tokyo truly is an adventure: the roads are very high and the bus driver drove quite fast, being experienced of course.

On the road in Tokyo.
I do believe the bus drove a bit of a different route than last two times, since we didn’t cross the Rainbow Bridge (sadly) but did pass Disneyland. Interesting.
After a long drive, we arrived at Narita airport. My mom and I had to get out at the final terminal, where three luggage carriers bowed when the bus arrived (I still think it’s so funny and adorable. XD). We put our suitcases on a cart and went inside.
We had already checked in online, but we still had to get our tickets printed. I had a bit of difficulty with the machine, but luckily a kind staff member was more than happy to help me.
We had quite some time left before we could leave our luggage at the desk, so we walked around for a bit in the hall. There were television screens showing an adorable ‘goodbye video’, where several kinds of people held up a sign that said ‘See you again/soon’ in different languages. There were normal tourists, a geisha, maids in Akihabara, a bride and groom and an old man wearing nothing but a small towel. We took some pictures of our favourites and then went on.

Maids with a German sign, a Geisha with an English sign, tourists in
Kyoto with a French sign and tourists in Osaka with a Dutch sign.
We browsed a small store where they had some adorable key chains (I really need to stop with my key chains obsession…) and my mom bought us two small geisha ones. So cute! ♥
We decided to sit down somewhere for a while and I connected my phone to the airport Wi-Fi network to send my dad a message saying we were at the airport, but at the same time I got a message from my friend May in Germany asking how I was doing. I thought it was so amazing I was talking over my phone in Japan to someone in Germany! Technology keeps on amazing me…
While my mom and I sat down, a tall Western man passed us by and somehow we were both convinced he was Dutch like us. He turned out to be in our plane! Some people just really look Dutch I guess. x)
Finally, it was time to stand in line to leave our luggage at the desk.

My mom guarding our luggage.
I was a bit afraid my suitcase would be reclined because of its weight after all, but everything was alright! When the tiny desk lady stood up to attach a label to my suitcase, she stood on the luggage scale, showing us accidentally her exact weight! I can tell you, it wasn’t much.
My mom and I looked up our flight on the big departures board. It switched between Japanese and English, which helped. :3

Can you find our flight? ^^
We proceeded to customs and entered the actual airport. Since there was still quite some time left until boarding time, we browsed some shops. We had wandered around this same terminal during our last trip of course, so we recognised most of the shops and entered one that sels all kinds of candy and very touristic statues. It was there that I finally found multiple interesting kinds of KitKat flavours! I hadn’t seen them anywhere in Tokyo itself (although I might be blind. It wouldn’t surprise me XD). They even had Mount Fuji-themed boxes.

Aren’t these boxes colourful and cute?
Unfortunately, the boxes of KitKats were a bit too big to take with me, but the fact I had finally seen and touched them was enough for me. :3
During our previous trip, my mom had found an adorable statue of multiple little geisha dolls that I bought for her and this time she found something cute again. She had decided she wanted to buy another little geisha statue, but somehow she couldn’t find what she wanted in Asakusa. Now my mom saw multiple cute ones here! I decided to buy one for her and eventually she chose a really cute one. ^^ I myself bought a cute cat statue as well.
After we had browsed the store entirely, I went to stand in line to pay, when suddenly I spotted a pile of rainbow-coloured bags of candy. They were the candy my mom and I had loved so much during the flight back home last time! We bought two bags, we just had
no choice! XD
We left the store and walked on, passing cute and creative stores. We arrived at a store that sold books, magazines and so much manga! The right wall was filled with manga, it was unbelievable! Even at the national airport they have piles of manga, I love it!
I picked up the latest Kera, completely forgot to check whether they also had the newest Gohic&Lolita Bible (which I very much regret now) and also looked at the newest PopTeen (a magazine I don’t care that much about, but the cover always looks so cute).

Some last minute magazine shopping at the airport!
I also spotted a manga that intrigued me very much; it was called ‘The Heroic Legend of Arslan’ and the art style looked so much like the style of Fullmetal Alchemist, my favourite manga. Turns out it’s from the same mangaka! XD I should have known.
We left the store, sat down between some art pieces for a moment to reorganize our hand luggage and then discussed about what to do now. We decided to have one final ice cream drink at McDonald’s! ^^ I chose the red one, my mom the yellow one. I was really going to miss those drinks…

These drinks were just so good and refreshing! ♥
Finally, it was time to head to our gate. We could already see our plane through the windows. I really love KLM planes, they are bright blue and just so cool! :3

Unbelievable those huge things can really fly!
We sat down on some chairs and waited until it was time to board. Slowly the place was getting more crowded and we noticed that the stewardess behind the desk kept on calling the names of passengers who hadn’t reported themselves yet. It took a long time before the last two, both looking very flushed, reported themselves. The stewardess looked very relieved.
Finally, it was time to board.

My last steps on Japanese ground.
My mom and I quickly found our seats. For the first time we were sitting on the left side of the plane. Somehow we always sit on the right side, so this was quite a different feeling. I sat down at the window, my mom in the middle and soon we got joined by a quiet but nice Japanese woman.

Just a picture to show you the awesome Attack on Titan
shirt I wore that I got from my friend. I adore it! ♥
My mom and I made ourselves comfortable. Soon the plane started moving and drove to the take-off strip. While I held my mom’s hand and looked out of the window, the plane took off and we officially left Japan (*sniff*).

Goodbye Japan!
The flight back was somehow… less comfortable. It seemed to take longer, I couldn’t sleep as usual, the food seemed a little less tasty and the flight was more bumpy. I still had fun though; I read my Kera, watched The Little Mermaid (it’s been ages since I’ve seen it in its entirety) and Thor: The Dark World (I didn’t like it so much), we ate candy and I watched some episodes of tv shows.

Pictures of the food since I still love airplane food. And candy.
After some hours, my mom and I switched placed and she took some lovely pictures of the view, which was very clear and sunny.

This picture is slightly more blue than it really was, but it’s just so pretty! *o*
Finally, after what seemed ages although I might have slept a bit after all, we were nearly home! I recognized the square acres down below and the sea in the distance. One of the acres had a very cool advertisement by the way: the grass was mown away into letters, saying: ‘HBO: What would you do if your pilot got lost?’ and then the tv show it was about. Very cool. :3
We finally hit the ground, which meant we were officially back in our own country. It felt a bit surreal…
The plane drove to its tube, we checked our things and left. We headed to the baggage claim, managed to save our suitcases from destruction thanks to a very weirdly built luggage belt and walked through the doors into the airport. My dad and brother picked us up, so we could hug them immediately. ^^ It was great seeing them in real life again.

My dad looks sweet and happy so I will ignore my own stupid face and post this picture anyway. ;)
We left the airport and went home, where I could pet our doggies again. The adventure of my mom and me had finally come to an end.


This was my last Japan 2014 post! Thank you all so much for reading about our adventures! I hope you enjoyed them! All of your comments were so sweet and they always made me really happy! ♥ Thank you for staying with me. Onwards to a new adventure~!

Tokyo ’14, Day 10 – Tokyo Disneyland

This post has not been proofread yet, sorry for the inconvenience.
On Thursday morning we woke up on time, for we were going to Disneyland! We went downstairs to have breakfast and then went to change into our Disney outfits. My mom had decided on her Mickey Mouse shirt, a red shirt, the Mickey vest she had bought at Tokyo Disneyland last year and Minnie Mouse ears, while I wore a very pink outfit with princess-like Minnie ears and my Mickey macaron and donut necklace. ^^
Around 9:30 am we went on our way to Tokyo Station. Once we arrived there, we had to walk through long halls and take long escalators to finally get to the platform where the right train would leave. Last time, when I went to Disneyland with both my parents, the halls leading to this platform were already so crowded, but now it was fairly quiet.
The train arrived and after I had verified this train would indeed take us to Maihama, my mom and I sat down and enjoyed the ride to Disneyland, where we arrived at 10:45 am!

Welcome to Tokyo Disney Resort!
We took the escalator downstairs and walked out of the station. Of course there were already many people (Although not nearly as many as last time), so we just walked along with the crowd. We passed the big shop close to the entrance shaped like a travel case (yes really ^^) and took our traditional pictures under the red, round gate.

‘Dreams & Magic ● Tokyo Disney Resort ● Imagination’ gate.
We walked on and walked underneath the second futuristic, green ‘Tokyo Disneyland’ gate. We could hear the joyful Disney music playing. In the distance, the Disneyland monorail with Mickey-shaped windows drove by and on our right we could see the amazing beige and blue Disney hotel. My mom and I felt happier with every step! Both my mom and I love to look at people’s outfits and find the Disney details they put into them. Sometimes it’s very apparent, like a t-shirt, vest or head band, but sometimes it’s tiny details like camera straps or phone chains. The things you can buy/people use is just so amazing!
We arrived at the entrance and walked past the ticket counters, which felt pretty good, hehe. We went through the gates (my mom with a little help from a kind female staff member, since she got confused by the ticket reader XD) and officially arrived in Disneyland!
Out of experience I know that the square right after the gates is often filled with Disney characters and this time was no exception! We immediately spotted Mickey to our left, but there was a big line in front of him we didn’t feel the need to try and get a picture with him. Instead, we focused on the adorable decorations and flower arrangements in the middle of the square. During our previous two trips, Disney was in Halloween-style, but now that it was May everything was in Easter style! Which basically meant: eggs, bunnies and pastels everywhere!

The Tokyo Disneyland sign, this time decorated in flowers and eggs!
My mom and I decided to take some pictures with Disney characters first. Although Mickey had a special line, the rest of the characters we saw walked around freely. Well, as free as you can be surrounded by people wanting to take a picture. I swear, Japanese children are born models. I have seen so many little kids smiling and posing for their parents’ cameras!
We spotted Donald Duck and after some waiting for the right moment, I managed to jump in and have a picture with him! I love Donald Duck, he is one of my favourites I think! After we left the crowd surrounding him, we almost bumped into Prince John from Robin Hood. He was so amazingly in character! He looked down at my hands, spotted my jewelry and kept petting my hands as if he could sneakily steal my rings at any time! He was amazing, I laughed so hard! XD
Suddenly we spotted Pluto wandering around on the other side of the square and amazingly enough he was quite alone, so taking a picture with him was easy! Since my mom loves dogs even more than I do, she needed to pose with him of course.
Tigger from Winnie the Pooh was walking around as well and he was absolutely wonderful. Every time someone wanted to take a picture with him, he came up with the best scenarios and poses! He also jumped around all the time with the children surrounding him, so cute! Unfortunately he kept running away all the time to create more space, so eventually we gave up on taking a picture with him.

Taking pictures with Disney characters is one of my favourite things to do in Disneyland!
We decided we would come back later to see whether we would encounter different Disney characters and entered the World Bazaar, the roofed shopping street leading into Disneyland itself. In the distance we could hear music playing and it turned out to be a marching band. They played a Disney medley and when I heard ‘I can go the distance’ from Hercules I got
so happy!

Walking through the World Bazaar. You can see the castle lying in the distance!
We left the World Bazaar and discussed a bit about what to do. I really wanted to ride the Big Thunder Mountain this time (it was closed during our last trip), so we decided to go there immediately since we had all of our energy left to stand in a possibly long line. So we went on our way and tried to find the attraction without a map.
Since I wanted to get there as soon as possible, I asked a restaurant lady for the right direction and a little later another staff member. He was super kind and gave us an English map, plus some information about family trips I believe. ^^
While we were walking, we soon spotted Stitch, shaped like an Easter egg! Apparently, all throughout the park you could find Disney characters in egg style! Finding them was like a game, so cute! ♥
Suddenly, when we walked around a corner, we got blocked by people sitting on the ground, which of course clearly indicated a parade was about to pass by. For a moment we doubted about walking on to the Big Thunder Mountain, but when I saw pastel-coloured parade cars approaching us, we didn’t want to miss it! Somehow I managed to get myself a rather good spot, so I took a lot of pictures!
The parade started and damn, it was so energetic and awesome! The cars that passed us were all super colourful and filled with flowers, eggs and elements that suited the cars’ themes! And of course every car had its own Disney characters. Goofy, Pluto, Mickey, Minnie, the White Rabbit and Marie were only a few of the characters passing us by!

Some of the amazing parade cars! Don’t you just love their designs?
During my previous trips I had seen Halloween parades that I loved, but all the colours and happiness of this parade immediately stole my heart! ♥
Despite the park being in an Easter-atmosphere, the parade was more of a general spring/holiday-theme. The lyrics of the parade song went ‘Gonna hop, hop, hop all day, in a sunny holiday!’ And of course there was an adorable little dance that the audience could dance along with that had many bunny elements. God it was so cute! Also, I had the feeling Disneyland was trying to promote a healthy lifestyle, since one of the cars was all about working out with weights (made out of vegetables) and another one was about cooking
with vegetables.
In between every car there was a group of dancers and their costumes were just marvellous! They were either bunny- or plant-themed and the dancers had so much energy! My favourite group of dancers were, without a doubt, the Lolita bunny girls! These dancers wore pastel dresses with petticoats and matching bonnets with bunny ears! They were so unbelievably pretty! Plus, they were accompanied by handsome bunny men in tailcoats. What more can you want!? *o*

Since this is my favourite picture of the entire parade, I couldn’t NOT share it with you!
Apparently, the girls standing next to me had a friend dancing in the parade, because when a group of sporty bunnies passed us by they started screaming and waving at one of them, after which the particular looked up and got all smiley and flustered at seeing them. It was just too cute!

Some of the amazing dancers!
Finally, the parade came to an end and my mom and I sprinted to the Big Thunder Mountain. By now there was a line again of course, but it could have been much worse.

The view from the Big Thunder Mountain line.
After some time of waiting (and feeling annoyed once again about the whole Fastpass thing) we could finally ride the rollercoaster! Both my mom and I had a lot of fun and while you’re riding it, it’s much longer than you’d expect!
After we got out, we decided to walk on to the next ride we wanted to do: It’s a Small World. Just like Big Thunder Mountain, it had been closed during our previous trip. So we went on our way.
While we followed the map, we passed Cinderella’s castle. Of course we had to take pictures of it!

Oh! Somebody’s home apparently…
We walked around the castle, passed the Castle Carrousel and the Alice in Wonderland Tea Cups and arrived at It’s a Small World. The ride was a lot of fun! I especially love the part where the children sing the famous song in Japanese!

It’s a Small World is just so much fun! I always feel positively obligated to ride it.
We left the attraction and my mom suggested to go back to the castle and check out the shop inside. We started walking when suddenly, next to one of the shops nearby, I spotted a crowd. That could only mean only one thing: a Disney character! We walked up to the crowd and when I discovered who it was (or rather: who they were) my heart skipped a beat! They were Belle and Gaston from Beauty and the Beast! This was a dream come true! I have seen Belle before, but never Gaston! Both actors were obviously foreign and speaking in English, so most of the Japanese crowd needed the translator to understand what was said, which was a big shame because especially Gaston was downright brilliant! When a little girl handed him her autograph booklet, he flipped through it and remarked there were no pictures in it (classic!). He kept saying how amazing he was and sooo much better than ‘that Beast’, while Belle politely smiled and rolled with her eyes with the charm that fits the character wonderfully. At a certain point Gaston made the audience choose who was better, him or the Beast, and while the crowd naturally chose the obvious I cheered Gaston was the superior! I might have exaggerated a bit, since I ship Belle and Beast completely, but it resulted into some wonderful private attention from both characters! They asked where I was from (Gaston: ‘The Netherlands? Where is that located then?’ Belle: ‘I believe it’s somewhere in the north.’ ^^) and I admitted to Belle, out of Gaston’s earshot, that I secretly preferred her with Beast anyway (Belle: ‘Oh yes, he is so beautiful, from the inside and the outside!’ ^^). I even got to hug Gaston and his wonderful abs, hahaha! XD

I am so, so, SO happy I got to meet these two characters together! ♥
We left the crowd and walked on, when we spotted another, smaller crowd just around the corner. We walked up to them and soon spotted Mary Poppins and Bert in matching outfits! Since the crowd was so small, they could really take time for everyone. One really small and cute Japanese girl especially got their attention when it turned out to be her birthday! They were so incredibly sweet to her! When it was finally my turn they were so nice to me and Mary happily suggested the ‘windowsill pose’ for our pictures, which meant leaning on an imaginary window frame made out of her umbrella and Bert’s walking stick!

Both Bert and Mary were so sweet and impeccably dressed! ♥
In the distance we could also see Cinderella and her prince Charming standing, but there was a long line with people waiting to meet them. My mom did take a beautiful picture from a distance of a girl meeting them. Such a shame that girl will never know we have such an amazing picture of her…
We walked up to Cinderella’s castle and entered the shop inside. My mom was hoping for a shop with crystal balls and other sparkly things, but the shop wasn’t very special. The only cool thing was the (Western) man behind a glass barrier making pretty things out of glass with a dangerous fire-spitting piece of machinery.
My mom and I left the shop again, passed some beautiful Cinderella-themed mosaic wall art and left the castle. It was almost 1:30 pm by now and we had gotten a little hungry, so we decided to get some Mickey-shaped waffles like last year.
We entered the square in front of the castle and took some pictures of the Easter decorations in the middle. There were also some real ducks walking around, which we called, naturally, Donald and Daisy.
When we almost reached the restaurant, I suddenly spotted an amazing Mickey-shaped macaron pillow in a shop window! On the table next to it we saw some pastry forks with Mickey-shaped macarons on them as well, which gave me hope we would find some awesome things in the stores!
We reached the restaurant, when suddenly, out of the blue, king Louie from Jungle Book and three of his sidekick monkeys appeared! We went to see where they went when suddenly, one of them ran up to me and started jumping around me like crazy! =D Suddenly, he spotted my bag with the buttons sewn onto it and bent over to inspect them properly. Then he looked back up at me, then back at my bag and then back at me. Apparently, he was upset there wasn’t a button of him and he fell down in my arms crying! It was so hilarious and adorable! XD He soon after forgave me, which gave my mom the opportunity to snap a picture of us together, after which the monkey started to hug her. Apparently the money had grown really fond of us, because he grabbed my mom’s and my hand and started skipping with us through the street! Finally people seemed to notice Disney characters had appeared, because they walked up to us, but the monkey didn’t stop until we had reached king Louie. Thanks to the monkey, we even got a picture with him and king Louie as well, taken by a kind Disney staff member! What an amazing experience! *_*

With king Louie and the amazingly adorable monkey! ♥
After those hilarious few minutes, we walked back to the restaurant and went inside. I had noticed it already during my previous trips, but I want to say it again: one of the things that fascinates me about Tokyo Disneyland is the food. The majority of the restaurants has food I personally wouldn’t expect in a theme park. Of course they sell the ‘standard’ fries and hamburgers, but many restaurants had their own specialties like curry or other Japanese dishes! And when they do serve ‘traditional theme park food’, like in this case waffles or pizza in other restaurants, it’s always with an unexpected twist. This restaurant served waffles with strawberry sauce or, more unique, maple syrup, which is something I’ve never found anywhere I’ve been before. I really love this aspect about Tokyo Disneyland!
My mom and I both chose strawberry sauce and ice cream and took our orders outside to enjoy them in the sun.

My delicious Mickey waffle and Meiji milk!
We enjoyed our waffles and soon felt reenergized! My mom suggested to walk back to the square in front of the ticket gates to see whether there would be any new Disney characters, so we cleaned up our stuff and went on our way.
When we arrived at the square, we discovered that there were even more characters walking around now and all different from that morning! The first one we spotted was Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh! I insisted my mom took a picture with him. He was walking around freely and is just such a cutie!
Just a little further, Thumper from Bambi was posing. I love him so much and succeed to get a picture with him as well!
Then, a little further away, I spotted Alice! I needed to get a picture with her! It was a bit more crowded around her, but my mom and I waited patiently. After I took a picture for a girl with her camera, it was finally my turn! Alice was adorable (and probably happy she could talk to someone who could actually understand English). She took my Mickey macaron necklace in her hands and asked if it had made me shrink or grow before. So cute! ♥

With Thumper, Eeyore and Alice! ♥
I thanked Alice and we walked on. Behind me I heard Alice compliment a girl wearing a 6%Dokidoki-like vest covered in rainbow-coloured candy while Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio passed us by with a visitor on his arm. I swear it was like a dream!
In the distance my mom and I suddenly spotted Belle again, but this time wearing her yellow ball gown, so we walked up to her. She looked really pretty in her dress, but just as we arrived she apologized but she had to leave! It was ok though, just having seen her made
me happy. ^^
Apparently it was time for multiple characters to leave, since Snow White and her prince followed Belle in the direction of an alley which was a no go-zone for visitors and so did (awake) Sleeping Beauty. My mom did manage to take a beautiful picture of a tiny Japanese girl running after Snow White, who took her hand and walked with her until she really had to let go. So cute! >o<

I really love these two pictures my mom took!
My mom and I decided to enter the park again, so we entered the World Bazaar again. We walked up to the square in front of Cinderella’s castle, took some selfies and noticed that the touring car that drives in circles on the square just arrived. We decided to ride it, even though it would take long. It would be fun nonetheless. ^^
The bus drove around and we enjoyed the view. My mom and I pointed out nicely dressed people and cute decorations. When we were almost back at our starting point and my mom was taking pictures, a group of teenage girls in school uniforms started waving at us. When my mom jokingly pointed the camera at them, they started to jump and scream with such enthusiasm! They were so funny and cute!

Aren’t these girls just adorable!?
Just before the bus arrived at the end point, we saw two girls walking with two buckets of food that looked really good. My mom and I were hoping we would find it for dinner!
We left the bus and walked into the spacey Tomorrowland. I personally prefer the fairy tale atmosphere of Fantasyland, but Tomorrowland is so different it’s very enjoyable. ^^
We took some pictures with statues of the little green alien men from the movie Toy Story when in the distance we suddenly spotted another little crowd, so of course we wanted to see what was going on. It turned out to be more Disney characters! In this case two green toy soldiers from Toy Story as well! They were really cool. Suddenly, on our right we spotted a Strom Trooper! I am very neutral in the whole ‘Disney and Star Wars discussion’, but a picture with a Storm Trooper was too good to pass on, so for once we stood in a (fairly short) line. :3 I swear these are my last ‘with a Disney character’-pictures. XD

Unexpected yet cool Disney characters. :3
We started walking again an checked out a stall we passed with adorable headwear. For Easter, they had made two sets of Mickey ears with bunny ears! That’s right, two sets of ears on one head band! I decided to buy one later, it was just too cute.
We left Tomorrowland and walked into Toontown. It had gotten a lot more crowded by now, so our plans to visit Minnie’s house weren’t such a good idea anymore. Instead, we sat down at a fountain to rest a little and enjoy our surroundings. We saw some egg decorations in the shapes of Pluto, Goofy and Minnie and Mickey as well. Toontown is a really cute place. It had a bit of a childish feeling in a very thought through, grown up way.
My mom and I decided it was shopping time, so we started walking again and headed to the Winnie the Pooh shop. The merchandise was really cute. My mom fell in love with a honey jar for candy that she wanted to buy later. From that moment on I had to switch cameras by the way, since all my cards were full and I was too afraid to erase anything!
We left the shop again and decided to head back to the World Bazaar at the entrance of the park. On the way I bought a delicious tiramisu ice waffle and we when we passed the Queen of Hearts restaurant, I wanted to take my traditional picture with one of the tea pot-shaped vending machines.

I chose the pink tea pot to match my outfit. :3
We walked on (yes, we walked a lot XD) and arrived at a shop in front of Cinderella’s castle. My mom suggested to go inside, but since I hadn’t finished my ice cream yet I stayed outside until I was done. So I just did some people watching (a Lolita wearing a black Melody Toys salopette walked by), when I spotted a crowd just across the road. I didn’t really feel the need to pose with another Disney character again, but I still wanted to know who it was. It turned out to be Snow White! And despite the fact I don’t have a picture with her myself, I did take a beautiful picture of her posing with a little girl, if I might say so. :3

I am so proud of this picture! ;_; Isn’t it super cute!?
I finished my ice cream and joined my mom inside. There, we looked around for a bit and found some cute things.
We realised we had gotten quite tired by now, so when we entered the square behind the castle and we saw all these people sitting down waiting for the second Easter parade, we decided to find ourselves a spot as well just to rest and to enjoy the parade again. After some looking around, we found some sitting spots. It really is incredible how organised the Japanese are. Almost everyone sits down so other people can see well too. In Paris, the staff members almost have to fight people to the ground sometimes. :/
The parade music started playing and for a while we just enjoyed the parade once again. It was just as cute and energetic as the one from that morning. So I will enjoy you with some more parade pictures. XD

Watching the parade for a second time was just as fun!
The parade came to an end and my mom and I got up and walked to the World Bazaar, to finally get some shopping done! Since everything was Easter- and pastel-themed, we had very high hopes for cute merchandise!
We entered the shop where we had seen the macaron pillow in the window and immediately found a whole wall filled with them! They came in mint, pink, yellow and brown and they had little glitters in the fabric, so pretty! I asked my mom whether she thought it would fit in my suitcase and she said we would definitely manage it. I didn’t want to drag a big, soft pillow with me for the rest of the day though, so I left them there (for the time being, huhu).

The moment I saw this pillow, I knew I wanted to buy it!
I also asked a friendly staff member whether they had any macaron-shaped jewelry like last year, and after some calling to other shops they had to disappoint me: they only had ear rings this year! I was quite sad about it, hoping for more cute jewelry, but well…
From this point on my mom and I just visited every shop we wanted in the World Bazaar, so giving you a report of it is very hard. I will just write down some snippets of memories and show you pictures. ^^

This shop window looked so pretty! ♥
To be honest, while we were walking around my mom and I confessed to each other that we were a bit disappointed by the merchandise. During our previous trip around Halloween-time, there were so many Halloween-themed cool things. We felt like the merchandise we found this time was just… more general? We couldn’t really explain it, but we both know what we meant. BUT eventually, we ended up liking things more and more and buying a lot anyway. XD So no right to complain after all.

Some of the cute pink items I encountered. :3
In one of the clothing stores, my mom found just what she wanted: a new, awesome Disney vest. She loved the one she had bought last year so much, she wanted to buy a second one this year. She had seen some people walking around in turquoise vests and now that she found them, she knew she had to buy one! ^^

My mom, happy with her purchase. You can see the vest she bought behind her.
My mom and I had seen multiple people walking around with really cute egg-shaped Mickey, Minnie or Donald key chains that seemed to have some space inside for candy. We loved them both a lot and looked for them in every store, but somehow just couldn’t find them. Every time we thought we did, it turned out to be something that really resembled what we saw, but didn’t exactly match the profile.
Eventually I found my ear rings and another key chain with a macaron Mickey on it, so my macaron needs were a bit satisfied thankfully. :) I was getting very hungry though, so we just started walking around and entered the first restaurant we encountered in Tomorrowland. And coincidentally, the restaurant was serving the dishes we had seen those girls walking around with. Lucky us! And now we could take a good look at what it was: apparently it was a special and interesting menu of rice, meat with sauce, egg (with a Mickey shaped yolk in it!), a drink and for some reason fries as well! We ordered and picked a table. Finally we could eat! ;_; I had gotten so hungry…

Food~! But how did they get the yolk to be Mickey shaped..?
We sat down for quite a while to rest and then decided to head for the Winnie the Pooh store, to get my mom’s honey candy jar. Once outside, I spotted a stall that sold head bands, which gave me the opportunity to finally get my hands on a Mickey ears + bunny ears head band! After I paid, the shop lady asked whether I wanted to wear it immediately.
Yes please. :3

Am I a cute mouse bunny? ^^
It was a bit of a challenge to keep the head band on, since it was a little heavy and there was quite some wind, but I pulled through! For cuteness!
We walked past the PhilharMagic attraction I loved so much during our previous trips, so I suggested to enter it. My mom was ok and the line wasn’t long, so I could once again enjoy the amazing 4D experience! ^^

With our badass 3D glasses!
We left the attraction again and it was clearly getting darker now. We wanted to see the electrical parade and the fireworks after, so we went back to the castle square to find ourselves a seat.

Slowly night is falling in Tokyo Disneyland…
After a long search, we finally found a spot on the ground and sat down. Many people passed us looking for a spot as well and staff members pushed trolleys with luminous items like necklaces. Suddenly, I remembered I had seen a beautiful Tinkerbell luminous necklace in some shops that I wanted to buy! Unfortunately, the trolleys were all out of Tinkerbell necklaces, so I had to run all the way back to the World Bazaar to get one. But luckily they had many there, so I ended up getting one easily. ^^

My beautiful necklace! Tinkerbell’s wings are illuminated
in a way that it seems they are flapping.
The parade started and despite the fact it was no different from the last two times, we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. The thousands of little lights are just so wonderful! The only downside were the two children sitting next to us who got very enthusiastic when they saw a Disney character they knew and felt the need to scream at them every time. XD

Some of the sparkly cars passing by.
Suddenly, about halfway into the parade, something weird happened. The cars stopped coming, even though I knew the parade wasn’t over yet, and the cars that had already passed us waited for a while and then drove away. People all around us wondered what was happening and far in the distance I could see a car with all the lights turned off slowly driving backwards. We waited for quite a while and eventually, my mom suggested to get up and leave, for it was getting cold and windier as well. Of course, just as we had managed to walk away, the parade continued. XD But we had no idea what had happened. When we got back home, we checked our pictures from last time and I am convinced a car with Cinderella on it was missing from this time’s parade! Maybe she fell ill? Maybe the car broke down? Maybe she lost her glass slipper and it broke the car’s mechanism? Who knows..?
We watched the end of the parade from a distance. Since the wind was quite strong by now, I asked multiple staff members whether the fireworks were still on for the night, but they told me it had been cancelled! I was really quite sad about it, I had been looking forward to it so much! Oh well…
We proceeded to the World Bazaar to make our final shopping.

Shopping, shopping, shopping!
Suddenly I saw a woman with the egg container key chain we had been looking for all day strapped to her bag and I almost jumped on her. I awkwardly asked in Japanese where she got them and as soon as she understood what I was asking, she became extremely helpful! She took out a map and asked a staff member to identify the place where she had got them, which turned out to be… at a restaurant! I thanked her wholeheartedly and my mom and I immediately went to find the restaurant, where the little egg containers were waiting for us! ;_;

Aren’t they super cute? They turned out to have jelly beans inside them!
My mom and I both chose the Minnie one (me after some doubting) and happily attached them our bags. :3 We went through the shops one more time and got the last things we want, like a cookie box for my mom, the pillow for me and an awesome button and a t-shirt.
After our shopping was finally done, we walked back to the castle square one more time, to say goodbye to Disney so to say. Then, it was finally time to go.
We walked back to the station and took the train back to Tokyo station, where we transferred. My mom and I were really tired at this point, but somehow it caused my language senses to understand things better, since the conductor announced in Japanese that this train wouldn’t drive its whole round and I somehow understood! I was quite surprised. So we transferred again to a train that did drive to Shinjuku station. When we passed Harajuku, I felt very sad… I looked at the Takeshita dori gate one more time and then it disappeared again from my sight. Hopefully I will return there again someday…
We arrived at Shinjuku and walked to our hotel, passing our beloved orange clock.

10:55 pm, the latest we returned during our whole trip.
Back at the hotel, we faced our final challenge: fill up our suitcases with our Disney purchases. My pillow suddenly seemed a lot bigger than in the shop, but somehow we got it in. Then we had to face the stress of having too much weight in one suitcase, so we shifted some items between suitcases. We took our suitcases downstairs to weigh them on the lobby scale (yes, really!) a second time and everything was okay again. Pfew! I am ever so happy my mom had suggested to pack our suitcases the night before, because it saved us a lot of work and earned us some much needed sleep.
We set our alarm clocks and went to sleep for the last time in our hotel beds. It had been an amazing day and I did not want to leave at all…

Purchases of the day