Tokyo Part 2- The one in which we lost our children

 

Tokyo Part 2! The first blog post covered our arrival on Saturday through Tuesday, and this post will cover the second half of the trip, Wednesday through our departure on Sunday.

The breakfast at the hotel was very amazing- they had so many options, both Western and Japanese. I stuck to the omelets and fruit, but I thought these toppings and sauces for the rice was interesting.

Wednesday was our Tokyo DisneyLand day. This was the coldest day of our trip, with the high of 43, and low of 28. We prepared and really bundled up, and were all warm enough! Coen and Audrey each wore three pants layers. 

This was my favorite of our Disney days because the lines were so short (many rides had 5-10 minute wait times) and it felt like we got to do so many things! We had better luck with food at this park, and Ava and Coen said it was the BEST day ever because it even snowed a little that night.

A video walking through Cinderella's castle:

There were also shorter lines to get through security to get in the park, than at DisneySea, so we were in by 9:20am, only 20 minutes after park opening time. Our first rides were teacups and the carousel. 

We got to meet lots of characters:

The Beauty & the Beast ride is one of the must-see attractions at Tokyo DisneyLand. This is one where the line will be like two hours long, so we bought fast passes for it. Here we are outside the castle:

Waiting in the short fast pass line, Kai wanted to hug Audrey.

The Beauty & the Beast ride was spectacular! You sit in saucers that dance with the music, gliding around on a trackless system. The saucers take you through the different scenes of the movie, and the animatronics are so amazing - we still can't figure out how Beast changed into the prince in front of our eyes!  

Coen chose this Donald Duck for one of his souvenirs. We saw lots of people with these clipped on characters, walking around the park. Coen was so excited, letting Donald hang from his coat and taking good care of him. 

For lunch the kids had Mickey Mouse shaped chicken nuggets, and I had a hamburger that tasted a bit like meatloaf, but I was hungry and ate it up.

More characters- our kids really love Stitch.

Disney had such fancy baby changers in all their bathrooms, and even had a baby center that Ava and I went to check out. It had a nursing room, a nice diaper changing room with lots of stations, and even a kitchen to prepare bottles and baby food. Ava wanted to try putting Kai in one of the seats in the kitchen. 

Kai REALLY wanted to sit in the convertible parked in front of the Monsters Inc. ride. He was so happy when Brent put him in there!

We decided to watch the parade, Disney Harmony in Color and I'm glad we did! It's 45 minutes long with tons of characters, dancing, and singing. Kai was entertained by it and learned how to say "woooow."

Video from the parade:

Here, the ride was "It's a Small World with Groot." The kids had fun looking for Groot in all the scenes!

The Japanese people are very fashionable, and the girls especially were all dressed up for Disneyland. I took this picture to remember how many of them looked- fancy high shoes, short skirts (I'm pretty sure they all had frozen legs), and character plush hats. 

Pooh's Hunny Hunt ride was also on a trackless system and was so cool! Kai could go on these rides since he could sit upright on his own next to an adult. 

The big hit of the Tokyo Disney parks are the collectible popcorn buckets. The buckets are sold for about 6 months, and then new ones come in and take their place. Each popcorn bucket shop also sold a different flavor of popcorn, ranging from honey popcorn for the Winnie the Pooh bucket that Ava got (see it in her arms?) to roast beef for the Peter Pan bucket I got-  the Big Ben lock on the bottom left of the picture. 

Brent was very excited about his chip n' dale popcorn bucket that he's holding, and we got Kai the very cute Monster's Inc. one. Luckily we anticipated buying souvenirs and packed an empty duffel bag in our suitcase going to Tokyo.

In the evening we watched the electrical parade, another 45 minute parade! It was one of the things I was most looking forward to and it was so fun! It began to snow and the kids were all SO excited since they haven't seen snow in 3 years. 

As we were leaving the park, we took an elevator up Cinderella's castle to check it out. Audrey sitting in the throne:

It was a magical day!

On Thursday we decided I would stay at the hotel with the younger two and rest from all the walking, and Brent could more easily adventure in Tokyo with the older two. This turned out to be a really smart choice! 

A video of us hanging out in the hotel:

I did a small load of laundry of a few essentials. The directions were a bit tricky to figure out, but thanks to google lens I was able to do it.

The younger two and I went on a walk to pick up lunch. I didn't have any yen with me, so I needed to find a restaurant within walking distance that took American credit cards, and had food we'd eat. I wasn't so sure this would be possible, but we had success! I found a very cute little cafe that sold yummy steak salad with a side of baguette. We got our order to go, then walked to the park across from our hotel and I let the kids play for a while. After I was freezing, we walked back to the hotel and ate our lunch.

That's our tan hotel in the background. Audrey could see it out our window and was so excited to go play. 

A video of how Audrey entertained herself in the hotel room:

At the hotel each night they gave us little evening bags that included slippers, toothbrush, toothpaste, and wash cloths. Audrey wore the slippers around the hotel. 

While I was doing laundry down the hall I discovered that there was a baby room. So that afternoon I went back with the younger two. It was a nice huge room with couches, places to warm bottles, change diapers, smaller nursing rooms, and even a place to weigh your baby. Just in case anyone is wondering, Kai weighed 9,940 grams, or just about 22 lbs. 

Meanwhile, here's what Brent and the older two did. Ava is going to take over and talk about what her group did that day...

this was the Lego store where dad got his Goonies Lego set and then we made mini figures and filled a box to the tipity top of cool Legos to build with.

Video from the lego store:

Then we went to the Tokyo tower which is 333 meters (1,093 feet) and 33 meters taller than the Eifel tower, but we only went to the shops at the second floor and Coen got erasers.

Then me and dad went to the temple to do baptisms.

Dad saw this cool robot park that had a lot of slides, and one has lots of rolling pins.

then we went to a train station that had this bathroom that looks and feels like you're in an elevator.

finally we when to this movie theater that had a huge movie screen.

Friday was our last day at Disney- one more day at DisneySea. First Kai had to do his job, which he takes seriously...Unroll the toilet paper roll before getting caught.

It was a big job for me to get us all packed up for the day at Disney. I got everyone's hats, gloves, jackets, change of clothes for Kai, snacks, water bottles, diaper bag etc! Luckily we had a stroller to be our home base.

The line to get into DisneySea is so long! Even though we arrived 40 minutes early, we were still behind a ton of people and didn't get into the park until about 30 minutes after opening. 

See the huge volcano in the background? There are a few fun rides in there, including Journey to the Center of the Earth (roller coaster) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (a submarine ride).

A video walking through Cinderella's castle:

We went to Agrabah and watched a live genie show. All of the Japanese people were laughing at the jokes, but we realized this was not the show to attend if you can't understand Japanese. 

Afterwards we went into the courtyard of Agrabah and sat down to have a snack. Ava and Coen wandered into the nearby giftshop through the south door. Ava came back to us and ate her snack, but said Coen wanted to stay in the gift shop. After we finished our snack, we went into the gift shop and there was no Coen. We were confused and started to look around. Was he in the bathroom? No. Was he back in the courtyard? No. We looked and looked. We hadn't seen him come out of the gift shop and figured he must have exited out of the north door. But why would he leave us? After about 20 or 30 minutes we decided we better notify a Disney employee. Through the use of Google translate on our phone, we put in a report about our lost boy. The Disney employee told us to continue looking, and then check in with an employee in about 30 minutes to see if he had been found. 

We stayed in the Agrabah area because I thought Coen might come back for us, but he didn't return. In the meantime, Brent didn't want his pass for the roller coaster, Raging Spirits, to expire, so he did that a couple times. Brent does not get stressed out. He told me, you might as well eat lunch while we're trying to find Coen. I said, "I can't eat right now!" I wasn't worried about Coen's safety, but I thought he must be so worried being all alone. 

After talking to a few more Disney employees and a security officer, we finally left Agrabah to go to the "Lost Children Center" at the front of the park. We had lost Coen around 12:20, and by now it was a little after 2. I decided I should text my mom to ask her to pray, because her prayers seem to go straight to heaven and get answered quickly on my behalf. 

While Brent let the kids meet more characters and princesses nearby, I put in another report with the Lost Children Center, using translators on our phones to communicate. It get especially crazy when the building didn't have great service and my messages wouldn't translate to Japanese! It became a bit like charades. I had to take a screenshot of my phone showing "No connection." 

The workers tried calling my cell phone to see if they'd be able to give us a call when Coen was found, but our American lines couldn't accept calls from Japan, even though we could dial out. We were told to continue checking in with Disney worders every 30 minutes. 

I knew that Coen had to be brave enough to walk up to a worker and ask for help, and then they'd connect in to the Lost Child Center. I was praying that he'd be brave enough to do that, and also not be traumatized from this whole experience! 

It was almost 3 pm and we were getting ready to leave the Lost Child Center when a worker excitedly ran into the room and told us that Coen had been found! At the other side of the park, at the Indiana Jones ride. A worker would bring him to us. I pictured Coen in tears. After anxiously waiting, they finally arrived, with Coen totally nonchalant. He just sauntered in like nothing had happened. Haha!

Brent took a video:

I asked if he was scared, and he said no. He asked, "how long was I lost?" We told him, almost 3 hours! He was surprised and thought it was way less. He had exited the other door of the gift shop, didn't see us, so started walking toward the next rides where he thought we might be going. He wandered around to all sorts of rides and told us he even tried asking a few workers for help, but they didn't understand him. He had to try several workers before one tried to understand what he was saying. After this, we learned to teach our kids what to do when they get lost! Also, thank goodness for prayers. Now we could get on with our Disney day.

A video meeting Ariel:

Video of Coen eating cute alien dumplings (they're a sweet dessert).

Brent convinced these two to go on Tower of Terror with him. 

Ava did a side by side comparison from 8 years prior... look how similar Ava and Coen's poses are between the years.

We were disappointed that the park was closing early because of a private event. Even though the park was closing at 7pm, they started closing the lines to the popular rides at 5pm, so that everyone could be out of the park by 7. With our lost boy fiasco, it felt like a very short day with not as many rides. Luckily it was our second day at the park. 

Saturday we decided to take our hotel's free shuttle to get us into downtown Tokyo. Ava woke up not feeling very well with a cold, but she was a trooper and did a full day of sight seeing with us. I was SO grateful that this was the extent of our sickness in Tokyo. I was seriously stressing the whole time that someone would get really sick there. 

A video driving to Tokyo:

After losing Coen at Disney the day before, we decided we better have a plan in case the kids got separated from us in Tokyo, because that is way scarier than being in a contained park. I told the kids if they got lost, to find someone to help them call our hotel and tell the hotel worker their location. We would also call our hotel and hopefully get the message of where our lost kid was. But hopefully, we wouldn't have to use this plan! 

A quick video on the subway to show how quiet it is. It is not considered respectful to talk or have sound coming from your phone. 

I found three sites to see, all pretty close to each other. The first was a gorgeous shinto shrine, called Hie-jinja. This was my favorite one of the trip. 

We think we happened upon a wedding. The people were dressed in their traditional clothes, and we watched the procession:

Audrey was not happy about having to walk so much, and the boring shrine, etc. 

There were many mothers bringing their new babies to be blessed, I assume. It was all so beautiful. 

The reason why I chose this shrine of the many around Tokyo was because of the red torii gates.  I looked up torii gates and found that they serve as a symbolic boundary between the mundane and the sacred ground of the shinto shrine. There are so many torii gates in a row here, which is beautiful. 

Audrey was still in a bad mood, and this video clip captures what it was like to travel with kids! 

Another torii gate at the bottom of the shrine.

Walking toward the next site, we stopped at a 7 Eleven for a smoothies snack. The 7 Eleven stores in Tokyo are way different and nicer than in the US. 

Next stop was a Buddhist temple, Toyokawa-inari Tokyo-betsuin. There were lots of fox statues everywhere 

Zoom in on Kai's smile. Haha.

Here's a video from the temple (that's Kai you can hear crying- he was done now. You can see everyone putting up with me wanting to see these temples).

One more video from the temple:

This temple was built in 1441! And then rebuilt after an earthquake and later WW2.

Our next stop was the State Guest House Asaka Palace. The palace was originally built as the imperial palace in 1909 but now functions as the official accommodation for visiting state dignitaries. We did a tour inside the palace and had to hold our kids' hands, take no pictures, and not even touch the walls. Luckily we had the front pack for Kai- that thing saved us this trip!  

Everything was covered in gold and so fancy. Audrey liked being inside a real life palace. Brent may or may not have snuck a picture in the one hall and moment that didn't have security watching. 

A video from the back of the palace:

There were many pictures inside showing where Trump had sat at a luncheon when he came in October, a desk where he signed a document etc.

Trying to get a selfie outside the palace, Kai took off Ava's hat which made everyone laugh.

Videos of happy Kai toddling in front of the palace:

These toy capsule machines are everywhere in Tokyo! They're called gashapon machines and dispense a mystery toy once you put in coins.  

Luckily Audrey perked up after a grumpy morning. 

Look at these streets! Lots of walking and things to see everywhere.

We went to a late lunch at Shake Shack and nearby, Brent wanted to go see the godzilla statue. Once we got there he realized he wanted to see a different larger statue, but I convinced him we didn't have enough time to do that too. This godzilla statue had to do. See everyone's godzilla face?

Our next stop was the busiest intersection in the world, Shibuya crossing. Between 1,000 and 3,000 people cross during a 2 minutes green light cycle. It is wild to experience it. It is similar to Times Square.

Here's a video- it's hard to see just how many people there are with many cross walks going at once:

One more time- it looked like a wall of people approaching us:

We went to a mall there at the crossing called Shibuya 109, and just kept going up and up the escalators until we got to the top floor. 

 At the top of the mall we found a huge store full of the gashapon machines. Everyone got coins to do one machine. Audrey chose from this Tinkerbell machine.

Here's a couple videos to show the kids opening up their capsules. They were so excited to see which toy they got!

Even Brent and I chose a machine and I could see how these could be so popular! Ava discovered that if you push the return coins button, some machines did have a coin to return. It's possible someone accidentally put too many coins in, or forgot to hit return coins if they changed their mind. Ava and Coen then discovered another fun activity of going around all the machines and collecting more coins. Everyone got to do another round with the money that they found.

We had wanted to see Shibuya Crossing in the day time and at night, so it was perfect that it was now dark when we left the mall. 

We went to the Disney Store and then started on our long trek back to our hotel. We were running to catch the subway for one of the legs of the trip, and it was extremely crowded. Ava and Brent were in the front, while I was holding Coen and Audrey's hands coming down the stairs to the subway platform. 

Brent told Ava, don't get on the subway unless there's room for all of us. 

Well, in the hurry and commotion, she jumped on the subway right before the doors closed. The rest of us were still on the platform, and we had a few seconds after the doors closed to make eye contact. I looked around if there was any sort of emergency button to open the doors?! But no. So I looked at Ava and motioned that I would stay there. I motioned to get off the next stop and come back to me. She nodded, and the train took off with our girl into Tokyo with millions of people. 

Brent looked at me and said, "How is she going to figure out how to get back here?! Why didn't you tell her to just get off at the next stop and wait?" I said, "I don't know, I panicked!" 

The trains in that area come about every two minutes, so Brent decided he would get on the next train with the other kids to try to find Ava at the next station. And I would stay put in case she did somehow figure out how to get back to me. The thing about the subways is that there are a lot of lines going every which way- some upstairs, some downstairs, so it's not as easy as the one in SLC where you just get off the platform and go the opposite direction. 

After Brent arrived at the next stop he called me and told me that he couldn't see Ava anywhere. I told him a train had arrived from the opposite direction but she hadn't gotten off. I was really starting to panic but hoped maybe our plan of calling the hotel might work? Brent told me another train was heading my way. I was in near tears talking to Brent, trying to figure out what to do. Then I heard a voice behind me, "Mom." I turned around and there was Ava! With an angel girl who had seen the whole thing happen and told Ava she'd help her. She spoke English and had asked Ava, "Was that your family?" Ava said yeah..... She stayed with Ava, walked her to the right line and brought her back to me. All I could say to her was thank you, thank you, thank you! 

We all got on the train together and Brent jumped on at the next stop with us, and also got to say thank you to our good Samaritan. I snuck a picture so we could remember her! 

We finally all got back to our hotel safe and sound that night. The next morning it was time to pack up. Audrey got a picture with her tent:

Brent decided he wanted to try to go back to Disney and buy another popcorn bucket. That didn't work out, but he did have fun with Kai at the Disney store right there at the entrance. I took the other kids to an aquarium that was nearby. It was free for kids!  

The reason why I really wanted to take the kids to the aquarium is because they had penguins! Coen was happy to see them. Audrey was not so happy this morning. Give me a pat on the back for navigating getting to and from the aquarium with some moody kids.

After the aquarium we walked to the subway station and just needed to go one station down to meet Brent. He had all of our yen, and I didn't know where an ATM was, so I was really hoping I could find a machine that would accept my American credit card to buy our tickets. It was not so easy to figure out, and I couldn't find the station I needed on the machine, but luckily there was a worker that was able to help me. We met up with Brent and got the kids lunch, and then back to our hotel in time to make it for our airport limousine (very nice fancy bus). Yay! 

At the airport, I had to take a picture of the toilets to remember! This was one of the less fancy bathrooms, but every toilet we saw in Tokyo the entire trip had a bidet and dryer, and most played some sort of white noise like a babbling brook with birds. 

We got some yummy shish kabobs for dinner at the airport, and enjoyed watching them make this side, which we didn't try, but it looked cool! 

Our flight home left at about 9pm, so Kai slept basically the whole flight. It was so much easier than the other direction! The flight was also over 3 hours shorter going this direction, so only 6.5 hours. Coen stayed up most of the flight watching movies on his seat back TV. We arrived in Honolulu at 9am of that same day, so we had two Sundays. Our friend Thomas was so kind to pick us up from the airport. We came home and crashed- slept a lot, unpacked, and looked at all of our souvenirs. What a spectacular trip to remember! 

Our precious popcorn buckets :)