When you wake up 3hrs after your alarm clock, and that was only because of a wanting bladder, you'd have thought there'd be an 'in/out/pants on and go' attitude. But my oh so lovely mermaid/pastel blue roots have faded so badly
that the surround of my face looks like the verge of a roundabout mid construction-muddy and in desperate need of some TLC, halo of said grim roots surrounding my face, making me look dead- there is a point to this hang in there. The resulting makeup-athon led to Small announcing "mummy don't worry about your face, it's your soul that counts", immediately after responding to request of an opinion on said face with "the kindest thing for me to say mummy is that it's interesting". Whilst it's cheese as fuck, clearly I've instilled that in her as she recounted my said pep-talk verbatim. She might be a dickhead sometimes but she's mine and I'm proud of the wibbly-wobbly-what-the-fuckery-way she's turning outout, cute potato. Not all is lost, and what a lovely way to wake up, albeit 3hrs late.
I digress, we get to Disney around 11.30am, forget to bring the tickets, so did a lovely little 180, thankfully not losing more of our time.
Kids have no concept of time do they, she keeps thanking me for the fact that we got here 'early'. I'm nodding with gratitude at her innocence, knowing she'll one day call me out on our shambolic timekeeping (in the land where lateness is a huge taboo).
It was magical if I'm honest, and it's made me love Japan even more. Whereas in France, it was hectic and crazy and loud and messy, here it's calm, everyone is dressed up, I went to approach Belle to take a photo of her and her beautiful dress, only to realise she was just a regular guest, shopping bags in hand. It was beautiful and friendly and everyone was so excited, the locals really get into Disney here. There were all the wonderful contumes, and as soon as I was able to, I was asking for photos of them (shashin o totte mo īdesu ka? ) and feeling pretty chuffed when they understood enough that they acquiesced! There was a full blownblown anime cosplay that were clearly getting snapped all day and I never found the window when there weren't any adoring fans falling at their feet to get a pic.
Small practically combust upon seeing 4chan, before the whole troupe as the Mei from Turning Red came bounding towards us about 15 mins later so she could get a full photo, very cute. I also think this is going to be Small's next favourite thing, as she sadly looked like I'd just deep fried the cats on suggestion she might get the slightest bit excited about seeing the traditional Disney characters, let alonealone the disgust on asking whether she wanted to go and meet Belle and that I was happy to pay for anything like that. I might show her Bambi to recalibrate things.
Disney is Disney though isn't it.... The clientele are what made it for us, the atmosphere was achieveofby the people who brought the magic with them. The customer service is unlike, I've ever seen anywhere- every single cast member smiling, waving, wishing us a good day and a good ride, it appeared as genuine glee to be there, and it was mirrored in the visitors. We didn't wait any longer than 30 minutes for the big rides (other than two big ones being closed for maintenance) and I was gobsmacked that we actually got all round it! I'm glad we did Disneyland rather than DisneySea, just for the familiarity of the setup. But the lack of monster queues were definitely a refreshing taste, whether that may be because Japan has only just opened up or not I'm unsure. We were the glaringly obvious minority there.
We did the weirdest of rides and interspersed them with a cracking set menu and went popcorn bucket hunting. I'd have loved to have looked for the matcha or black pepper flavoured ones, as to date I've not seen a single one of those 300+ flavours of kitkats that Japan allegedly boasts, so feeling a little left out on the 'snack-cidents' front, filling it with standard cute Disney popcorn rather than the weird and wonderful. Still, she couldn't give a shit what flavour it is, she can queue up for a ride and get all in there, sneaky eating handfuls of the stuff under her mask. Me too, guilty as proven.
Dropping pieces of popcorn and hunting the floor to find it to take it home was a priority, but amidst a whole 19 mins waiting for Splash Mountain, there it was about 5 meters away. Can you imagine, Japan is so clean and tidy that I was able to see my one cookie flavoured kernel standing brightly against the immaculate painted red floor, waiting for rescue and being walked around like a sinkhole, if only for the fact that crushing it would render me in droves of frustration and probably get me deported.
The eating rule is a little less enforced here though still very much a thing, and I'm feeling slightly guilty for making Small stand between an office wall and chicken restaurant this morning facing the wall to hide her woofing down her new favorite here for breakfast (ham, egg and cheese on white bread no crusts).
We finished off with the Electric Parade, which was magical, then we headed to find a good spot for the fireworks display, that being one of Small's favourite parts last time so much so that we've a framed picture that I took. Nope.... Maybe it's covid or maybe they didn't get the memo, didn't bother snapping any of the handful of fireworks adjacent to the castle (which were quite piddly in fairness), aside the backdrop of some basic lighting shone on the castle- 'any minute now the real thing is going to start'. It didn't, that was it. The only disappointing part. Small wasn't fussed though, we had 3 trains to get and she was hangry, so whizzed up for yet another ham and cheese sandwich, despite my fruitless attempts to convince her to try even some noodles, anything! She got to ride on a double decker train though, so reassures me she's happy!
I've cracked open the Asahi and am swilling the leftover popcorn out like I actually have an adult in me. I started tactically packing the suitcases but gave up half a pint in. Mountain Day tomorrow, ufffffffft. I wish the tour company had put me up for sake or mochi tasting instead!
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