Proof That Tokyo Disney is the Cutest Place Ever

If you didn't believe the evidence of my first two Tokyo Disney posts, here is some more proof.  I recently went to Mitsuwa, the closest Japanese supermarket to our house, with my brother and brother-in-law.  There is a Japanese bookstore right next door, so we looked around.  I mostly looked at the cute stationery and then some magazines because obviously I can't read the books.  Well my brother David found this AMAZING Japanese Disney fan magazine... called Disney Fan.  Genius.  It was shrink-wrapped, so I couldn't tell what was inside, but it came with a calendar... so obviously I bought it.

I'm sure some of you at home have the ability to read that.  More power to you!  I mean, you'd buy this too, amiright?  So inside is a lot more writing I can't understand (I got the gist of some of it from my brothers), but here are some pictures and what I can remember of the translations.

This one I didn't ask for a translation of... but I thought it was cute.  Some kind of chariot Mickey on parade at Tokyo Disney Sea.  I remember that large body of water by the entrance of the park where they have character parade floats.  They have all the main characters in Roman chariot racing outfits.  I wonder why they picked that theme...

Ok so I scanned some pages too (in addition to taking pictures).  Here is a Japanese celebrity explaining the new limited-time-only line of snacks available RIGHT NOW in Tokyo Disney!!  The featured item is a Mike Wazowski sponge cake made of green tea and whipped cream.  Oh my GOODNESS is that ever cute??

I would totally spend my hard-earned money on that!!  Maybe I'll try to recreate it myself!!

Above are some more snacks... My fave on this page is the souvenir cup full of TINY WAFFLES WHAT!!??  with tiny dipping sauce... Oh my god.  How do they do it.  Just when you thought Mickey waffles couldn't get any more awesome.  There's also a whole bunch of different warm drinks there.. one with a heart-shaped marshmallow with Mickey & Minnie kissing on it.  Then there's, well, a brownie.  Sorry guys, not really shocked over that one.

Moving on.. There's pages and pages of adorable things.  Of course I'd just sit down with you and show you the entire magazine if you were here, but you're not, so here's just some more snippets.  This page has a Duffy-shaped box of chocolates with Duffy- (and his girlfriend-) shaped chocolates inside (just their heads.  But still.  You don't see that in American Disneys).  Teapots are ALWAYS cute... Oh and don't mind that CHOCOLATE MIKE WAZOWSKI on the bottom left.  STOP, Tokyo Disney, just stop with all the cuteness.  I can't take it...

 

And just another spread of snacks available..  There's some fancy desserts with Peter Pan and Dumbo attached on what looks like edible paper..

Then there's these adorable cream puffs with pink mouse ear hats on them!!!  And a Donald..bread..thing but it's really awesome too!

And I totally want this teapot.  I don't care how impractical it looks.

Here's the back cover, advertising some deathly cute new line of toys available only in Japan I'm sure...

Ugh Disney, I cannot afford another trip to your Tokyo kingdoms for some time!  Stop teasing me!  I know I'm only asking for it... Anyway.  We'll see what the future brings ;)  In the meantime I am TOTALLY inspired to finally make those Disney cupcakes I'd been wanting to make since my last Disney trip!  Wish me luck!

Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival!

Yaaaaaay!  There were TWO special events going on when my dad & I went to Disney!  Besides MNSSHP, there was the more mature, posh, international (which makes it really fancy) Food & Wine festival.  I heard about it when I was there in February (let me reiterate, it is very RARE that I make it to Disney besides once every four years.  I don't think we meant for that pattern to happen, but as a family, we went every four years.  It had been four years since my last visit when Mike & I went, but this trip with my dad came out of the blue for both of us and I felt very special and surprised that I got to go again!).  Anyway, we got the chance to attend both of these special events, and here's everything I know about the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot!!

First of all, you don't have to pay extra to attend.  It started Sept. 28 and goes to Nov. 12 so you can still go!!  They say you can "taste your way around the world," and it's true.  But you also have to "pay your way around the world."  Nothing is free, of course, but the prices aren't crazy!  The highest we paid was $8 and change for the Fairy Tale Cuvee (fancy, exclusive-to-Disney champagne), and the cheapest was around $1.75 for the Dark Chocolate Mousse with Chili and Salted Caramel (both products I mentioned were things I heard about from a video I watched before the trip).  Here's the video on some beverages (including the Cuvee!), and one on the food!

Duffy is so cute.  I met him in his pumpkin outfit (you can see our picture in my MNSSHP post) but here he is for sale in his Chef Duffy outfit!  How adorable!  I have a little magnet plush that I keep on my bag, and I'm thinking of making him tiny outfits out of felt :)

Well, we started our tour around the world at the Terra booth, then went clockwise from Mexico to Canada.  I believe "Terra" is Disney's vegan booth.  I had the Chili Colorado with House-made Chips and Cashew Cheese featuring Gardein Beefless Tips:

It was alright, just too spicy and beef-flavored for me!  I know it's not real beef, but man they did a good job making it taste like the real thing!!

In Italy we each had a Cannoli al Cioccolato (Chocolate Covered Cannoli).  Yum!

In Japan, we saw the candy-maker Miyuki (that's also my sister-in-law's name :)) who isn't part of the festival--she's here year-round!  And her candy creations are awesome.  They donate the candy to children's hospitals!

At the Japan booth I got the Sake Strawberry Mist, which is a blended beverage, kind of like a frozen margarita, but with sake.  It was soooooo good.  Probably my favorite purchase of the food & wine trip!

Next, we passed one of the official festival shops, where they have all the festival merchandise.  I read about this plate on the festival facebook page and had my dad pose with it.  It's see-through and has a checklist of all the countries, and a spot on the corner for your wine glass!  (We didn't see anyone using these but it's a cute idea.)

Also, there is an exclusive festival Vinylmation figure--the waiter from Lady & the Tramp, with spaghetti and meatballs on one ear, and a starry night sky on the other.

We took a break from all that food & wine and went back to Future World for Soarin' (we had a fastpass), Journey Into Imagination (an old family-favorite :)), Captain EO (which we saw YEARS ago), Turtle Talk with Crush (which was so much fun to watch), and The Seas with Nemo and Friends.  Walking back to the food, we saw a beautiful rainbow!

 

A few moments later, it became a double rainbow!!  But very faint, and only for about a minute.

In Australia, I had Shrimp on the Barbie with Pepper Berry Citrus Glaze!

Saw a raspberry plant:

And then had my Iron Horse Fairy Tale Cuvee!

 

Dad got the Taste of Scandinavia - Cured Salmon, Herring and Shrimp Salad (minus the salmon here--I kept forgetting to take pictures before we started eating).  We got the cuvee at the same stand.

I feel like a princess with this drink!

Dad had the JH Selbach Riesling Classic from Germany (notice the small wine glass you get):

Then, of course, I was taken with the glasses at the little glass stand.  Here's a mug with a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean, and "Von Goofy Burgermeister."

 And, of course, some Mickey das boots :)

Then we went to America!  I had Linda Bean's Perfect Maine Clam Chowder:

 

Mmm.  I love chowdah.

Then there was New Zealand, where my dad got Kim Crawford Un-Oaked Chardonnay.  They also told him here that he looks like Steven Spielberg.

What do you think?  (On a side note, I prefer my chardonnay oakey).

 Can you guess where I got this Creme Brulee au Chocolat au Lait?

That's right, Australia!!

Nope, just kidding.  France!

I really should have tried the Escargots Persillade en Brioche (Garlic and Parsley Snails in Brioche--just reading straight from the pamphlet here, translation and all).  They were served as three little "boules" of bread like a hidden Mickey.  But I didn't think that'd go with creme brulee!

I was pretty full at that point, but I wanted to try the Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki at Greece!  So I did.

I loved the portion sizes all through the festival!  It was like tapas!

Then we came to "Desserts and Champagne."  I know, we should have started there first ;)  Look at the cool kiosk with the fake windows and "people" inside:

With hardly any room left, we ordered two "Dark Chocolate Mousse with Chili and Salted Caramel"s.  Sounds amazing, right??

Looks amazing, too (if small)!  Well, it was TOO SPICY for both of us.  I really wanted to like it, but my tongue and mouth just couldn't take it.  Goodbye, yummy-looking chocolate.  Straight into the garbage.  Good thing it was the cheapest-priced dish we bought!

A giant glass of champagne was one of the decorations:

We stayed for Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, then hung out for a while after for Extra Magic Hours. 

We rode Spaceship Earth and went to some shops (Mouse Gears, and the one by the back exit to the resorts), and continued on to Mexico.

Got some churritos (wanted plain old churros but this is what was on the menu).  Still tasty!!  With caramel dipping sauce:

There are some things that come out at night, like the special lighting on Spaceship Earth, the twinkling sidewalks, and this projection of the Food & Wine Festival sign:

So long, Epcot!  See ya real soon!

Tokyo Disneyland Part II

Well here is part 2 of my Tokyo Disney blogs!! Last time I covered my trip to Tokyo Disney Sea.  This time I'll be focusing on the Land!  My friend Donald and I spotted each other from far away:

Of course a huge gust of wind came right when our picture was being taken with him:

Here I am with Prince John, sucking my thumb.  (It's a reference to the movie.  Robin Hood, the one with the foxes.  Prince John sucks his thumb and goes, "Mummy!" a few times.  This isn't my normal photo pose.)

We saw the castle as we walked in!

Hooray!

 

We were there for "Easter Wonderland" (like Tokyo Disney Sea's "Spring Carnival") and there were eggs all over the park of characters!  I have at least one picture of an egg later on but here's the big egg centerpiece of the park (I forgot I'd given myself bunny ears):

 

 Here's a cute window display near the entrance:

There was a Monsters, Inc. ride (Ride and Go Seek) that I was super excited about, but the wait was FOUR HOURS and all the Fast Passes were done for the day, so I missed that.  

                            

 I found one of the eggs here:

                                      

At least they have themed souvenir shops for most of the rides!  I found a Monsters, Inc. hardhat.  It matched my dress!

Disney is so great about all the little details, like these on the walls of the shop (you can click them to make them bigger):

They also had Roz's glasses for sale, which I really wanted (with the pearl chain and everything), but ended up not buying.  Now, years later, I have real cat-eye glasses with my prescription :)

Then there were the classic rides, like It's a Small World:

I don't usually take pictures during the "cruise" because it takes away from the first-hand experience.  But this was in Tokyo so I tried to take some memories home :)  This came out a little blurry but it's the best of them:

We didn't ride Dumbo, but here's a cute photo-op next to it:

And Timothy S. Mouse on the top of the ride:

 

Here's Peter Pan's Flight:

And Pinnochio:

They also had Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain.  You could meet Cowboy Goofy, Woody, and Jesse!  The crowds were so big I hardly got to see anyone but I came pretty close!

Here's another egg in front of Splash Mountain :)

And another adorable Disney detail, a scene where I guess Chip and Dale have been:

Here's a really cute snack we had:

An awesome Up scene:

There was this really cute version of the Tiki Room featuring Stitch (in Japan they call him Stitchy, which is so cute) called Aloha E Komo Mai.  Stitch's paw prints were on the ceiling, and there's actually a whole synopsis of the ride on wikipedia (I looked it up so I could remember exactly what it was, and it's really cute).

Anyway, it was an awesome time and I just adored both days.  What a great place to spend with my brothers.  It really was the cutest.  I'd love to go back there!  Notice the eggs with Mickeys on them on this lit-up sign as we exited.  Sigh... that was so great.  Goodbye, Tokyo Disney!