Tokyo Day 5 (Tokyo DisneySea)

In case you couldn't tell, this is going to be about food at Disney in Tokyo. The are actually 2 parks span over 248 acres. I would say to enjoy the park leisurely, you do need 2 days. You can be ambitious and try to do it all in one day, but if you think about it, it is actually about over 160 acres in California and you need about 2 days to go thru, so that is definitely recommended.

I will tell you that in DisneySea or Tokyo Disneyland, there are more locals than foreigners visiting these parks. I would say you get more non-Japanese Asians than any Westerners. That said, when they make announcements they would have Japanese, of course, Mandarin and English, but not everyone in the park is equipped to respond to you in English, so remember to bring your big smile and patience. I went on a Monday, and the park was packed. Don't you people have to go to work or school? I will say that in the afternoon more kids come to the park if they're nearby and take advantage of their afternoon pricing.

One thing I've read alot is these long queues at refreshment stands that sometimes out line the rides. I thought that was funny until I personally witnessed it myself. Above you see this picture of a cart, click on it and blow it up... it said Curry Popcorn. I kid you not! Each park has a map, and at a small corner and tell you where they are located and what flavor. I've seen butter, which is how we have it in the States. Sugar which is how Asian people has it. But Milk Tea? Cappuccino? I've seen Soy Sauce & Pepper, which I suppose it taste like salt & pepper. I got the Honey flavor. What you really want is the collectable bucket that they put these popcorn in.

The bucket + popcorn run you about $15, but to refill runs you $3. So, you can get a bucket and run around the park and get more. How it works, and it's kinda cute, is that each flavor usually match the theme of the area. So, Curry flavor is located in the Aladdin part of the park. Honey is right by Winne the Pooh. You get the idea. Before you know it, kids are running around all
carrying a bucket.

Since I went to see a Cirque show right outside of the park, I really wanted to have a nice dinner inside. Before the sky got gloomy and rainy, we got to take the boat tour, and we saw the giant SS Columbia. It's kinda funny because one of the other food that sounded good to me was the Clam Bake in the Cape Cod portion of the park. Urm... hold the phone... how did Cape Cod sneak in there??? So weird. When outsider thinks of USA, they think LA, SF, NY, not Cape Cod or Martha's Vineyard... so strange.

Anyway, when it's raining and we were hungry we decided to run into the SS Columbia for a nice meal. Supposed we can hang at Teddy Roosevelt's Lounge, but
we went all the way to the Dining Room, and everything is decorated like a formal early 1900s ship. It's very decadent, ornate with all the details from the wall to ceiling, to drapes, to chairs, to plates, and silverware. Oh my gosh, real, heavy silverware.... I haven't seen these in real restaurant in quite sometimes. Even now when I go to nice steakhouses, I may or may not get to hold real silverware. Holy cow!

They had prix-fixe which was about $45 which includes an appetizer, salad, main course, and coffee and dessert. My thing is, I don't care to have the salad... you didn't go all the way to Japan to have salad (even though it's probably fresher than what we get back home), but it's the whole principle where you don't go overseas to have McDonald's, same thing.

Instead, we ordered the plates separately. My mom and I split the salmon and canape. Forgetting that the portion in Japan is small unlike back in the States. The entree was lobster with veggie, as you can see, it's nice and good portion. You can smell or taste it, but it was very flavorful.

For dessert, we split a poached pear w/ homemade vanilla ice cream drenched in red wine reduction sauce. You know, I haven't had a formal dessert like that for quite some time. Not that I don't go enough places to eat that, is that people are so into new and re-invite things that the most classic and basic stuff gets overlooked. That was delightful.

I will say the entire thing + coffee, did not cost us more than $56 US. So, we're very proud of our 'expensive' meal here.