Pre-Trip Report: Beth and Alex’s Journey to the Center of Japan (July/August 2026)

[00:00:11] Welcome to Where I Long To Be, a Magical Trip Report Podcast. My name is Virginia and I am your host. Thank you for tuning in and it's time to get into another week of Trip Report fun. On today's episodes, I am so happy to be welcoming back Beth to the show, this time with her husband, Alex. You may remember Beth from her previous appearance in the show with Leonie, which I will link to in the show notes so you can go back and take a listen to that because it was a lot of fun. This time, Beth is headed to Japan.

[00:00:41] which is so exciting because I have always wanted to visit Japan myself and I'm trying to plan my own trip in the next couple of years. So talking to somebody who was going there just gets me excited about my own future trip. Let's not delay any longer. Please welcome to the podcast, Beth and Alex. Welcome back to the podcast, Beth and for the first time, Alex. Hello. Lovely to be here. So happy to finally meet you, Alex. I've, you know,

[00:01:11] seen you obviously on Instagram as I have followed Beth after her interview with her bestie, Leonie. So that's where listeners you will have heard Beth before. For people who maybe did not listen to that episode, Beth, can you just introduce yourself? Where are you from? And what's your Disney background? And then you can toss it over to Alex. Hello, everyone. I'm Beth. I'm from Derbyshire in England, but currently living in Melbourne, Australia with my husband, Alex.

[00:01:42] Been to Disney World, Florida quite a few times. My most recent one was with Leonie, my sister-in-law, when we had a two-week trip. It was really great. And Alex? Hello. I am the aforementioned husband. I am Alex. I'm from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, slightly higher up in the country than Derby. But I am also here, yes, with my beautiful wife, Beth, in Melbourne, Australia, currently in winter, for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere.

[00:02:11] So it is pretty dreary. I've been to Disney World, Florida, I think a total now of three times and passed the mantle over to Leonie. And Leonie accompanied Beth on the last trip that they did together a couple of years ago now. And now Leonie is living her best Disney cast member life on a Disney cruise. And I see that you're wearing a Disney Cruise Line hat. Have you been on a Disney cruise before?

[00:02:37] I have not. This is a present that was given to us by Leonie while she was aboard. She came back recently and got to see Hannah again, which is my sister, her fiancé. And they bestowed us with some lovely gifts, among which was the hat. So I'm representing. We're so proud of Leonie as well. Yeah, it's been a year, been a full year since she's been aboard.

[00:03:00] And she is just eating it up, smashing it, representing obviously herself and Disney really well and loving every minute of it. We're so proud of her. Oh, yeah, I was so proud of her, especially because, you know, I know that you, Alex, are an actor from what I understand. And I have an acting background before I got into what I do now. And and when I first spoke with Leonie and got to know a little bit about her background, I was just like, oh, my God, that's amazing.

[00:03:29] So when she told me her news, I was just the Disney, the Disney lover slash actor in me was just like, oh, my God, it's all coming together. It's happening and I can live vicariously through her. Yes, very proud of Leonie and very happy to now expand the circle to get to meet you, Alex. And hopefully at some point I'll get to meet Hannah as well. And then I feel like the circle will be complete. Circle of life.

[00:03:56] Yeah, Hannah has recently been to Florida, which is which is amazing because obviously for years it was an experience Beth and I shared and we were telling them about it. And yeah, very recently, Hannah traveled out to Florida, met Leonie and then the two of them embarked on a wonderful two week vacation. So we can now all share into that experience, which is brilliant. Tell me how you wound up over in Melbourne.

[00:04:25] Are you there for the long haul? Is this for a particular period of your life? Because when when Beth and I last spoke, she, of course, was not in Melbourne. So what we're doing is we're on a working holiday visa. So you get three years on the visa and we already did a year like seven years ago. And the rules were that you had it was up to the age of 31 and you had to do 88 days of farm work to be able to stay a second year and then like six months farm work to do third year.

[00:04:56] And so we didn't think we'd ever be back. But then they changed all the laws and they raised the age to 35 and they took out all the farm work. So we had another two years on the visa. We just thought before we settle down and have kids and buy a house, et cetera, let's just go and do the last two years while we can. Oh, my God. Because we're like 34. So we're like really at the age. So, yeah, we're just here, you know, enjoying life, living and working in Australia, which we love this country so much. So, yeah. That's amazing.

[00:05:25] We've been here a year and a half now. Yeah. What an adventure. Sure. I, you know, regret not doing something like that when I was younger, just because you do have that freedom to pick up and move and not have to to worry about anything that you're leaving behind necessarily because it'll be there when you get back. So good for you for taking all of that on. All right. Let's talk about your trip that you have coming up. So you're not going to Florida this time.

[00:05:54] Where where are you going? So this time we're taking a three and a half week trip to Japan where we're going to, of course, go to Disneyland and DisneySea and Universal Studios because I couldn't go and not go to the Disney parks and Universal Studios. Yeah. So we're just traveling around Japan for three and a half weeks. So my mom's going to join us from England. She's going to meet us in Tokyo and she'll be there for the whole time, which will be really nice. Mm hmm.

[00:06:21] OK, so three and a half weeks, you said. How much of that is Disney? How much of that is Universal? So we'll be at Disney for three nights and then we'll be at Universal just for the day. OK. I don't know anything about the Universal Park over there. Is it very similar to the Universal Park in Florida? Are there unique things that are available only there?

[00:06:49] So it's pretty similar to the Florida one. They've got similar lands like the Super Mario land and the Wizarding World lands. There's just a few unique rides in there. OK. Unique rides in like different IP that they're using, intellectual property, different movie themes or similar themes.

[00:07:14] Like Marvel and I don't know, because we have Marvel at the Universal in Florida, even though that's a Disney property. There isn't any Marvel over there, I don't think. The only rides that I find are specific to that park are like Hollywood Dream, which is like a roller coaster. And they also have a George ride, which they don't have in Florida. And they have a ride called the Flying Dinosaur, which is like in Jurassic Park World. Oh, OK. OK.

[00:07:44] Sort of like Velocicoaster? Like a bigger coaster like that? It's set up like, you know, I think it's called Manta Ray in SeaWorld, where you sort of lie down. Oh, OK. You sort of... Yeah, I've never... It's set up like a roller coaster. I've never been to SeaWorld, but we have a similar coaster here in Brooklyn, in Coney Island, that is like a Superman type coaster where you lie down flat like you're flying like that. Yeah, just like that.

[00:08:14] Very cool. And then you're going to be seeing other things within Japan. So what are you excited about outside of the parks that you have not had a chance to do before? One of my like major bucket list items or rather experiences is wanting to go to Kyoto, which is a very sort of traditional city, Western Japan. I'm really interested in the samurai history, the culture of like kendo and stick work, martial arts.

[00:08:42] And I think just the glorious way in which sort of the Japanese merge ancient tradition with kind of like modernization. We know that Tokyo is, and I've been told this by a lot of sources here in Australia, it is just a city that kind of like overrides the censors. It's that you will be thrown into, you know, a network of alleyways and shops and neon lights. But then getting outside of that, you know, cities like Osaka, Kyoto, which are far more traditional.

[00:09:10] There's a sort of slower pace of life, which I dare say probably in the last few years has picked up because of like, you know, international tourism. But yeah, that kind of like sumo, kendo, samurai, geisha, all of that kind of culture really sort of speaks to us. And I'm really, really excited to just embrace it all, really. Okay. Well, that's so exciting. You said your mom is going to be there the whole time? Yeah. Okay. Wonderful.

[00:09:38] Is she somebody who you travel with frequently? I mean, I wouldn't have seen my mom for over a year, but the last time she came, she came to Australia. And she came to Melbourne where we live and we showed her around like the city and like our favorite things. And then we went to Cairns, which is up north. It's where the Great Barrier Reef is. So we actually like went on a boat, snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef and stuff. So yeah. In my older days, I haven't really traveled with my mom that much.

[00:10:06] But obviously, you know, when we were younger, she's been to Florida with me before and stuff. Okay. When I was a kid. So yeah. Okay. I think from your notes, you mentioned that you were all flying from London to go to Japan. Is that correct? So me and Alex will be flying from Melbourne, but my mom's flying from London. Oh, okay. For some reason, the way that it was written, I thought you were going to go meet her in London and then go to Japan. Okay. So you're all meeting over there.

[00:10:35] And what day do you meet up? So we'll fly in. We get in at 7 p.m. And then she gets in the following day at 7 a.m. Okay. On the 9th of July. Okay. What kind of time difference is there from where you will be coming from? It's actually pretty easy. So from Melbourne time, which is like EA time, like East Australian time, it's essentially an hour behind. So it's a 10-hour flight for us.

[00:11:02] We go to the airport on the east coast called Naroto Airport. And yeah, it's only an hour's difference for us, which is pretty cool. It'll be pretty synced up with morning, noon, and night as we are now. Mm-hmm. Okay. Fantastic. So it'll be a little bit harder for her, I would imagine. All right. I'm just making sure that I have all of my dates here lined up.

[00:11:32] So July 9th is a Tuesday. You fly there. Mom meets you the next day on Wednesday. And I think from what you told me before, the Disney stuff starts on the 12th? Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Okay. What are your plans between when you get there and before you head over to Disney property? So on the night we get there, me and Alex are just going to dump our stuff in the Airbnb and we're going to go for a late night ramen because I've always wanted to do that.

[00:12:02] And then we'll meet my mom at the airport. And then we're just going to spend our time in like Shinjuku and Shibuya, which is the area we're going to be staying in. Mm-hmm. What kind of research have you done for this trip? I dare say Beth has taken the mantle on this one massively. She is responsible for booking most of the things. We've had discussions and she's asked my opinion on, you know, Airbnbs. We've discussed logistics.

[00:12:28] I mean, in general, the research has gone from like the logistical, making sure that we've got airports, Shinkansen, which is the train system and all of that creates. And then other than that, it's been a lot of sort of cultured research. We're both on Duolingo. Beth's streak is massively bigger than mine. Hers is like 200 days. Mine's 40. I've done a bit of research on how to sort of fraternize with the locals and say, you know, hello, konnichiwa, et cetera.

[00:12:55] With Disney, we've kind of kept it quite neutral. Like we've booked the timings of when we're going, et cetera. But we've wanted to immerse ourselves in the experience when we get there. We obviously know Florida. So we kind of know the sense of how the parks are laid out, the names of the places, the general kind of atmosphere. But we've wanted to leave ourselves with something to discover. And with Tokyo, especially, I think we've looked at the major milestones, the major places

[00:13:24] we want to put ourselves and then give ourselves a few hours around those events. So again, we can just get lost in the culture kind of thing. When you were thinking about your Disney portion of the trip, how did you decide where to stay? You know, I am planning to try to go to Tokyo Disney in a couple of years for my son Alex's high school graduation, but I haven't started my research yet.

[00:13:52] So like what were the choices as far as the Disney property goes or places outside of that? And how did you land on where you will be staying? So at first I actually booked us an Airbnb just near Disneyland, but sort of like just outside. And because I just thought, I thought the hotel would be really expensive without even looking at it. I just thought it's Disney, it's going to be out of the budget. So I just bought this Airbnb.

[00:14:20] And then one day I think I was a bit bored and I thought, well, I'll have a look how much it would be. And it actually came up cheaper than the Airbnb. So I was like, it just makes sense for me to cancel the Airbnb and book the hotel for three nights. Yeah, that's what I've heard is, and also about Disneyland Paris, which I'm going to visit for the first time this fall, is that when you're there, like it's actually pretty affordable for the tickets and the hotel choices.

[00:14:48] You know, of course you can make it as expensive as you want it to be with all the add-ons and et cetera, et cetera. But the most expensive part is just getting there. So which resort are you going to be at? So we're staying at the Disney Celebration Hotel, which is like a value resort. Okay. It was like 570 Australian dollars, which is like 399 US dollars for three nights, which I thought was really good. In total, not per night? In total.

[00:15:18] That's amazing. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Yeah. So I just thought like to have the Disney experience, to be able to get the three shuttle buses and have like a happy entry, which is 15 minutes extra, like early entry. It just made sense to book that hotel. Mm-hmm. Are you going to do any sort of Lightning Lane Express pass, anything like that that they have? Yeah. So they have a few different options.

[00:15:45] They have like the priority pass, it's called the 40th anniversary priority pass. That's like a free pass where you can book rides, but it's like this lot of, you know, like the jungle cruises and that kind of thing. And then they have a premier access pass, which is more like a, like a genie plus fast pass kind of system where you have to pay for each ride. And that'll be like the high ticket rides. Okay. Yeah. So we're planning to do those.

[00:16:13] So from what I've seen, these parks are very, very crowded and busy. So whatever we can do to sort of get on rides a bit easier, we're going to do that. Mm-hmm. What is, what is the weather going to be like at this time of year in Tokyo? It's going to be extremely hot, very humid. So the like precipity or the humidity in, especially sort of like Tokyo area in the South as well.

[00:16:40] Probably like 80% typical degrees per day. I'm talking Celsius about 35. I think, I think that equivocates to something like a hundred plus in Fahrenheit. Mm-hmm. So we're very much prepared for the fact, not only is it going to be busy, especially like central Tokyo and the, I think it's called Uryasu City, which is like the region of where Disney is. It's also going to be hot, long days.

[00:17:18] Mm-hmm. It gets the coldest, most comparable, I would say, to the UK. Chile, a lot of wind. We get like the Arctic wind. So we are going for a full sort of 180 into, you know. Right. In 10 summer. So yeah, every day is going to be relentless. Okay. Also, we've come to, you know, prepare for. Right, right. I mean, for me, especially when I go to Florida in the middle of a New York City winter, I am just so grateful to feel that heat hit me when I get off the airplane.

[00:17:48] Yeah. So hopefully that will be a welcome thing for you as well, considering you're in the middle of winter. Can't wait. I'm a big summer person, like preferably like, I don't mind like a cozy night, you know, wrapped up hot chocolates, et cetera. But yeah, I think when it comes to, you know, your vitamin D, you want to get out there, enjoy the atmosphere. Yeah, sun, sun all day long, really, for myself.

[00:18:14] How many park days do you get with the package that you have purchased? So the hotel is separate to the tickets, but we're just doing one full day in each of the two parks. Okay. Which one are you going to do first? So we're going to do Disneyland first. Okay. Is that happening on the 13th? Yeah, that's right. Okay.

[00:18:41] And so then you're doing Tokyo Disney Sea on the 14th. Yeah. And on the 12th night when we check in, we're going to go to a place called Xperia. Xperia. It's the Disney Sea equivalent. Okay. Yeah, I've interviewed a couple of people who have been to Disney in Tokyo.

[00:19:08] So I have, I have heard of that and it sounds really, really cool. Um, I think that, oh gosh, I'll have to, for listeners who are listening to this, who might be planning their own Tokyo Disneyland trip, which will, of course, this will come out much, much farther after you actually have returned, um, from your trip. I'm going to link other, my other episodes from Tokyo, um, visitors as well in the show notes, just so you can easily find it.

[00:19:36] Um, because it is, uh, really cool to listen to trip reports when you're looking forward to going on your own trip. Uh, when you are doing that evening in that area, do you have dinner plans? Yes, we're actually going to go to the Outback Steakhouse. Interesting. Okay. I don't think I realized they would have one of those over there. Yeah. It's a real, it's a real lovely blend actually between sort of like the Westernized culture.

[00:20:06] I think, I think obviously Japan, they've got such an eye for detail. So they've kind of blended. They know like the highlights of what makes the American parks, the parks. And then there are restaurants like, um, Ipudo and on, on, I think it's called, uh, on Juney gone bay where you've got like the more traditional sort of Japanese platters, plates, seafood, et cetera. But yeah, yeah. It is, it is strength to sort of look at the food list and go, okay, so that's like heavily Western. Oh, they've got this.

[00:20:35] Oh, cool. They've got a themed version of this restaurant. And then yeah, if you, if you want your sushi, if you want your sashimi and your rice, then obviously that's all there as well. I think it's funny also that you're going to Outback Steakhouse considering you're coming from Australia to go on this trip. Yeah. Trying to blend, blend everything into one sort of big pot. All right. On your first park day in Disneyland, what is your plan of attack?

[00:21:04] Are you going to be, um, just trying to maximize each area of the park to like do less walking? Um, or are you just going to be following wait times and going to whatever has the least wait time? Um, so we're going to use that extra 15 minute happy entry and see if that can try and get us some good premier passes. So we really want to get on the Beauty and the Beast ride because that looks amazing.

[00:21:32] Um, but to be honest, I think we're just gonna, I need to do a bit more research on like a game plan to the park, but I think we're just going to try and go on the rides that are really specific to that park. Yes. And anything else, you know, it's just going to be a bonus. But if we've already experienced it in Florida or Disneyland Paris, we'll just sort of leave that and then focus on the things that you only get in that park. Okay. Are you going to stay all the way until park close? Oh yeah. We're, we're ride or die on that.

[00:22:02] I think we always have been and always will be. It's the, you know, park open to park close. We were, we were debating as to whether, because, um, I think obviously our interest in, in Disney as a whole is a little bit more elevated than Hayley's, whether she sort of takes leave at a certain point of the day or if she wants to go back to the hotel. And that's another bonus of having the hotel, obviously so close. Um, and it being part of the resort. Um, but yeah, we're very much, we'll get up, we'll go straight in and then, you know, we'll, we'll find our rest stops in the day.

[00:22:30] Like one big restaurant break in the middle. Um, we, we like our snacks. We love our snacks. I, I can't stop eating. Uh, so, and with the, with how inexpensive it is in Japan and also the amount of snacks available and all the new little things, I think we'll be happy in that, that regard. Um, like Beth was saying, we'll hit the staples as well. Like big thunder railroad mountains, splash mountain, all of the, all of the rides that we've, we've, you know, come to know and love. I think for me, there's the Roger rabbit ride as well.

[00:23:00] The experience, which I know it isn't prevalent in any of the park I've seen. I don't believe that's anyone else. Yeah. There's a Roger rabbit ride out in Disneyland in California. Ah, right. It's not extremely popular, but I will say I, I grew up watching who framed Roger rabbit and I love that movie. I think it is so cool.

[00:23:25] Um, yeah, it's so I, I would write, I don't know if it's the same ride as the one in California, but I would give it a go if I were there. Yeah. I think, I think they seemed it heavily around the California ride. It has the same, well, it has the car, the iconic cars sort of sticking out the front of the building. And, and I think it's very much the journey to try to escape a toon land with all the weasels trying to catch you on the henchmen. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:23:52] So I think they've, I think they've gone, they've gone forth with it and with replicating the California experience. Yeah. Same, same for me. I grew up on that film. Absolutely love that film. I mean, Bob Hoskins is just incredible. Love him. Um, yeah. Yeah. To think he acted, he was, he was one of the staples who acted off absolutely nothing in that film as well. Like all the cartoons were added later, but the, how, how it syncs up and, oh yeah. So I think, yeah, for the nostalgia, uh, that ride will be a bit of a standout. Right.

[00:24:20] And Christopher Lloyd, of course, of course, um, scary cartoon eyes in that film. Really scary cartoon eyes. Very scary cartoon eyes. Um, but yeah, I need to go back and rewatch that again. I mean, I, we had like the, the VHS tape when I was growing up, we just wore it out and I just, I don't know if kids today know what it is. So, um, that's really cool. All right.

[00:24:46] Are there any shows in particular that you are looking forward to in the Disneyland park? Stage shows, firework shows, parades, that sort of thing. Um, I haven't really looked into the shows, the stage shows, because you have to sort of, it's like a lottery system for those. You have to, um, try and get a ticket to go to the show because I think it's that busy. And I don't think that's something we're going to really spend time doing, but I'm looking forward to the fireworks and also the parades.

[00:25:16] And it's really cool in Japan because like all the guests just kind of sit on the floor and watch the parade. And they just wave. They don't shout anything out. It's really like, really calm and quiet from what I've seen. That'll be really interesting to see. And there's like a Baymax parade where he like, um, has, um, mist on the summer when it's really hot. And it kind of like calls you down. So that'd be a really good one to do too. Mm-hmm. What do they do during their firework show?

[00:25:45] Are they into like the drones? Like I know that they had at Disneyland Paris. I'm not too sure about the drones, but I know they do like a big firework display at the castle. And I imagine that they do just like we do in Florida with all the projections and that sort of thing. Yeah. Now, Tokyo DisneySea is very unique.

[00:26:09] So the following day, I, it sounds like you're going to be there at the moment they will let you into the gates. Yeah. So what are your top priorities in this park? So for this park, the same as the Disneyland where we just want to sort of do the unique rides in that park. But the Peter Pan Neverland Adventure is the one that's looking like the most cool ride. And also they have like a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride, which is really cool. Interesting.

[00:26:40] Okay. Tell me about the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Is it a coaster? Is it a boat ride? I think it's like a boat ride where you're in a submarine and it kind of goes like under the water. Hmm. Okay. They have a submarine ride at Disneyland. And I was so claustrophobic in it. So I will be very interested to see what this actually turns out to be and what you think of it.

[00:27:08] Because I don't think I will ever do that submarine ride again. It was like 20 minutes long and you couldn't get out of it. And it was not for me. But I suppose you can really sort of understand your audience from like Disney's aspect. If you mentioned the word submarine, which people love to be a high pressure kind of like vehicle and people to go either, oh, that sounds brilliant. Or, yeah, I think I'll stay firmly on land with this one.

[00:27:35] So, yeah, everybody kept saying to me, oh, it's Disney. You'll be fine. And which is generally true. Generally, I mean, compared to like a Universal. Universal has the more high intensity rides. And with the exception of, let's say, Mission Space in Epcot, which, you know, I will get on occasionally. But only if I'm pressured to do so. I really don't like it. Otherwise, like nothing's too bad. Everything's right up my alley. I also do like intense coasters and that sort of thing.

[00:28:04] And so when I was last in Disneyland, which was about a year, a year and a half ago, maybe, I said, I'm just I'm going to give it a go. Everybody keeps saying, you know, I should just try it. And I tried it and I was just like this. No, I hate this. I absolutely hate this. Like I had to meditate. And it's like Finding Nemo themed. So it's like you see out the windows into the actual water. But then they have projections of fish that are kind of swimming by too.

[00:28:33] So it's like a combination of what you're really seeing versus the animation. And I was just sitting there going, I'm just going to sit here and think about nice things. And it'll be over soon. And then I can get out of the submarine. And the stairs to get down into it were just like this very narrow spiral staircase. It was. Yeah. I learned that day exactly how claustrophobic I am.

[00:28:59] I think as well, doing the parks is I never had that experience as a child ever doing the Florida parks. Not Paris, actually. I was an 18 year old, I think, when I first did those. But yeah, I think the adult brain, when you become so much aware of your surroundings, you're not like always flying off adrenaline. My, what was it, my Achilles heel is probably, and Beth knows this, the many debates I've had about this, Space Mountain in Florida.

[00:29:28] I use the analogy, I get rattled around like a penny in a jar. I just, I can't get comfortable in that ride. I feel like I want a skeleton bobsleigh. Every turn it takes, my ribs are just smacking the side of the container. And I know it's, I know it's pitch black. I don't mind the dark, but not being able to then kind of wipe myself and see or have any idea. Yeah. I think for me, Space Mountain was one of those where I, I've been on it multiple times for the sake of us doing it as an experience.

[00:29:57] Every time going off, like nursing and injuries in my ribs or going, I'm not doing that again. I won't do that again. That's my final time. Yeah. Yeah. For me, that one's just everywhere. I will tell you that the Space Mountain in Disneyland in California is so much smoother. It's much better. Like Paris. Yeah. Paris is. And you ride two by two as opposed to the bobsled kind of configuration. Oh. Yeah. Oh, good. Yeah.

[00:30:25] The one in Florida, yes, it shakes you around and it just feels like you might get decapitated at any moment. Yeah. Yeah. That, that, that, that ominous reminder. It's just like stay low, stay compact. Yes. Do not raise your arms at all. Will not do it. No. All right. What are you looking forward to in the Disney resort as a whole in terms of snacks?

[00:30:52] Because you said how much you like food and I'm sure that you've seen some things in whatever little research you've done that maybe have caught your eye as unique snacks. So it's like all the different flavors of popcorn they have there. Like they have like a curry flavor, soy sauce, like those are different ones. Mm-hmm. Also like the churro flavors. And the one that I'm sort of looking forward to the most is the creme brulee churro. That was really good. Okay.

[00:31:22] Yeah. And Jeanette, I did a trip report with her when she went to, to Japan and she, she did a popcorn journey. So she tried a bunch of them. So if you want to listen to that episode to get like a sense of what she thought about each of them. Yeah. She was, she was on a popcorn journey. Now the, the churro, you said that is churro flavored popcorn? It's a creme brulee. Mm-hmm. Favored churro. Oh, okay. So it is a churro, but it's creme brulee.

[00:31:51] Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. That looks so good. Okay. The one I'm really excited for, I think I've seen this years ago and I've just held onto this mental image is of the, you know, the aliens from Toy Story. Uh-huh. Oh, they've got like a, I had a mochi on like a rice ball, which is essentially just a picture of the three eyes.

[00:32:17] And then that, that kind of like translucent kind of covering that a lot of the Japanese food has that, that, that, that, that, that the rice kind of covering. They just look so gooey. When you've got a picture that you can see the texture, you go, oh, I know I'm just going to love eating these. Mm-hmm. That, that has been a staple of standout. And then I've seen that from the 1st of July, they're introducing to their kind of like menu, a teriyaki roll as well. Chicken teriyaki roll. Which just looks delicious. Okay.

[00:32:48] All right. Anything else about your Disney plans that you want to share before we talk briefly about Universal? I think for, for me, for Disney Sea, I, I, and again, I've, I've kind of kept my research with this for any minimal, because I really just want to be overall. And I've seen the pictures of the mountains, the backdrop of obviously all of the water rides. But I, I didn't want to do too much because I just, I just want to go, oh, I want to know what themes, I want to guess the themes of what the rides are going to be.

[00:33:17] Get there and either be like surprised or kind of affirmed. And I'm really hoping, because I don't know whether it is true or not, if there is a Journey to Atlantis style ride, because that's one of my favorite films. So I'm, I'm, I'm just tentatively waiting to see if that pops up at any point. Okay. I don't think I've ever seen, no, I did see that movie. I take it back.

[00:33:42] I was going to say, I had never seen that movie until sometime in the spring, I went and they were showing it outdoors right next to the Hudson River on a, like a big screen. And you could spring like a picnic situation and lay out and watch it. And I finally watched it. Wow. I enjoyed it. It's incredible. I think it's got so many amazing concepts and designs to it. I think it doesn't translate probably as much as some of the more modern Disney films do. It's one of those very of its time.

[00:34:13] I think that, I think they're actually talking about doing a sequel. Okay. Yeah. I've seen, I've seen it in the works that there might be a concept of a number two thrown around, which will be incredible. But yeah, there's so much kind of to digest with it. But yeah, very neat, a very, very, very more niche kind of film, I think. Yeah. All right. Let's get to Universal. Where are you going to be going to Universal within the span of your trip? Because you said it was much later, I think.

[00:34:41] So we'll be going to Universal on the 19th of July when we're in Osaka. Okay. So 19th of July and just for the one day. Just for one day, yeah. Are you going to do your whole rope drop to close thing? Yeah, definitely. Okay. So this time we won't be staying on property. So we're going to get an Uber in. It's like a 20 minute Uber ride.

[00:35:11] But to get there by train, I think you have to get off and get on different trains. I just thought it'd be easier just to get an Uber. What are you looking forward to in Universal? Super Mario lands. Super Mario lands. Yeah, we've never been because we've never been to Epic Universe. So we've never experienced the Super Mario land. And we're huge Nintendo, like Mario lovers. So yeah, that'd be really cool. Were you Mario Kart players? Yeah. Oh yeah.

[00:35:41] Mario 64 as well. Nintendo 64. Yeah. Yeah. I had the original Nintendo. That tells you anything about how old I am. And the original Super Mario Brothers. I was a big Donkey Kong player. I don't know. I'm really excited when we get, we're going to Epic Universe in a couple of weeks. And that'll be my first time there. So I'm looking forward to this land as well.

[00:36:08] What are you going to be doing in their Super Mario lands? Like, are you going to try to do every single ride? Or is there one that's going to take, like, you know, more of your priority to try to get that done and anything else is just sort of icing on the cake? So I think, like, we're going to try and prioritize as much time there as we can. So with the tickets we've bought, also we bought all our tickets on a website called Cluk.

[00:36:36] So the Disney tickets and the Universal. And with the Universal ones, you buy a standard ticket, but you have to have an entry time to visit the Super Mario land. Okay. So we've booked that for 12 o'clock in the afternoon. So that's when we can enter the land, Super Mario land. Are you limited to how long you can stay in the land? No, you're not limited to how long you can stay there, but you just need to go in the time that you've booked it for. Okay. All right.

[00:37:05] Entering at noon, are you going to try to have lunch while you're in the land? At the Toadstool Cafe? Yeah. Imagine at the Toadstool Cafe. Yes. Yes. So it's called Canopio's Cafe in the Japanese one. Okay. But yeah, we really want to just immerse ourselves in the Super Mario land as much as possible with the, like, the lunch and all the rides and maybe get some merch and stuff. So that'd be cool. Mm-hmm. All right.

[00:37:32] Outside of Super Mario land, what are the other things that are going to be calling to you? Well, I think we'll all be taking a trip to the platform running through quarters and go back to Diagon Alley and experiencing the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I'm really interested to see actually how, if any, there are sort of a blend of differences. I know, obviously, with the IP and with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, it is very much quintessential, kind of, you know, London, British. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

[00:37:59] It'll be interesting to see, especially, like, I suppose, in the food district, if there are any little blends of Japanese culture at all thrown into Harry... I mean, I think within the lore of the Harry Potter world, I'm a big Harry Potter fan, there is a school, a Japanese school reference. I wonder if there's going to be any sort of Easter eggs or any kind of, like, hidden little secrets about that. That would be interesting. Mm-hmm. But yeah, it'll be...

[00:38:28] What house are each of you? I'm a Hufflepuff. I'm a Ravenclaw. So great! When I first did my... There we go, snap! Yay! Which I'm excited that they started acknowledging that it is an eagle on the crest and not a raven, being Ravenclaw, Blackclaw. I was always particular about that. Yeah. Big fan of Supercarlin Brothers, actually, the YouTube channel, and their kind of theories about the world.

[00:38:58] So, yeah. Hmm. Okay. I'll have to look them up and put a link in the show notes. Yeah, I'm a big Wizarding World fan myself. So, being where you all are from in the world, have you been to the Warner Brothers studio tour in the UK? No. We actually haven't been. There is one in Japan, a Warner Brothers studio tour. So we're maybe going to go to that. You need to go to the one in the UK. I'm going to say it. Yeah. Because... It's mad, isn't it?

[00:39:28] It's mad we've never been. It's where they really filmed it. Yeah. And it is amazing. It is so good. You get to walk through the Dursleys' house. You get to see so many props and costumes and how they did things. It was just magical. And I mean that both literally and to be funny with the word. But it is... It was... I mean, we spent...

[00:39:56] We probably spent a good six hours there. And I could have spent more. Like, you can definitely make a whole day of it. And they have sort of on the tour, the cafe where you can sit and have something to eat and have some butterbeer and all that kind of stuff and just stop and have lunch. It's like right sort of at the halfway point. So it's really set up very well to have a whole day there. So highly recommend it. It's really, really worth it. But... All right.

[00:40:26] What else within Universal are you going for? Do they have any stage shows or fireworks or anything like that that have caught your eye? I haven't actually seen anything. Like, they obviously will have done. But I haven't really looked into that part of it too much. Because we're not really... When we go to the theme parks, we don't do many of the shows or anything. Mm-hmm. All right. Well, anything else that you want to tell me that you were looking forward to within this portion of your trip?

[00:40:55] I think, again, just the unexplored, as it probably sounds like, obviously outside of the main areas. I know some people really, really like to pinpoint every single ride before they go, every kind of experience. I think for us, as I say, knowing what we know about Universal Studios in Florida and liking the idea of being swept up in the kind of majesty of it. Yeah, we've left a lot where we can go.

[00:41:22] As long as we, on a day, get the tickets for the rides that we want to do, we get a good measure of how busy the park is and plan out our food stops. Let's just be surprised. Let's just see what else Tokyo and Osaka can offer on the IPs and just get swept up in it all. I dare say merch will probably follow up in that as well.

[00:41:47] After all of this park time is done with, where are you going within Japan before you head back home? So when we finish with Osaka, we're flying to Okinawa, which is like a sort of tropical, beachy place. We're staying there for like five nights. Then we'll be going to Kyoto and then we'll be going to a place called Fuji Kawaguchi Co, which is where Mount Fuji is. Wow.

[00:42:16] And we're staying with a little, it looks like a watermelon. It's like a little hut and then like in the background is like Mount Fuji. But it's quite hard to see Mount Fuji because it's so visible a little. What looks like watermelon? And where we're staying, it's like a little house, a watermelon house. Oh, okay. That's fun. Yeah. It's really cute. And we can like rent bikes and we can like bike around the lake and stuff. So that would be really nice.

[00:42:46] And then from there, we're going to get the bullet train back to Tokyo and we'll spend like just a few more days in Tokyo before we fly home. Okay. All right. And mom will fly back to London for hers. And do all of you go right back into the quote unquote real world? Like, do you have any sort of day or two to kind of get used to being back home and before you head back to work and whatnot?

[00:43:18] Probably not. I'm not too sure. I think it's funny really because obviously for us, Australia is still very much a novelty. I dare say we've kind of ingrained ourselves a lot more than what it was at the start. As then, you know, there's that kind of, I say, honeymoon period of when you're in any place and you're like, oh, this is all new. I'm only here a temporary amount of time. We've been here long enough now where we've, you know, we've got our jobs, where we've very much got like friends and the kind of like we sit into sort of the culture of it.

[00:43:48] It's still, it's still like kind of novelty of going, oh, we're going back home, but we're still kind of on a different like elevated platform as if we were going back to the UK. For me, I think I'll be jumping straight back into work on the Monday. So we get back on Sunday, the 2nd of August. I work, so with me, I work as an actor at an experience, an immersive experience, which is called Alcatraz, which is based upon the prison in California.

[00:44:18] Never been to California, would love to go to California and actually, you know, see the sites. But so, yeah, it's, it's Alco plays on the, on the name. It's obviously like an adult show, beverages, alcohol, et cetera. And it's all this idea of like you bring contraband into the prison and essentially you get your jail cells as audience members. You get your little orange jumpsuits on and then scenes kind of play out for you between the warden, which is like the big boss.

[00:44:47] And then there's guards who are like comic relief, you know, three stooges, Abbott and Costello kind of humor. And yeah, that's, that's where one of the jobs I work. And then the other two jobs are both gym based. So I work as a personal trainer. So I think, and obviously with that, always on the feet, always going, if not, if not teaching people exercises, demonstrating or training. So for me, it'll be like, all right, Japan's over. Let's, let's go straight back into it.

[00:45:15] I'm not sure for you, Beth, if you've got any downtime from your job. No, I'll probably be back the day after as well. My manager's already asked when I want to be back. Yeah. Yeah. I work in retail, but like an assistant manager at a store, which actually sells suitcases. So I do hear about people's holidays and trips all the time, which is really nice. Okay. All right. Do you get a nice discount? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:45:44] I used to buy a new suitcase for Japan. I'm going to get like a medium, not a large, because I think it's going to be easier with all the trains and stuff. Yeah. And if you're there that long, it's yeah. I'll just say we've been told to go nice and compact, medium suitcases. When you get on the Shinkansen, obviously space is all economical. You don't want to be lugging around things where you've got no space to put them or you're in other people's way. Obviously, like with the system of Japan, all about respect, backpacks off.

[00:46:14] No talking too loud on trains and stuff. So I think we just want to, we want to be as streamlined as possible with that. And Haley, best mom, being a teacher and the head of department, she's very much used to, you know, quick, efficient trips, getting around places. She, I think she's been in New York about five or six different times on occasion for students. So she's very much plan, itinerary, pack light, right, this place, this place, this place. So yeah, she's a, she's wonderfully organized. Good. Okay.

[00:46:44] All right. Well, then I am looking very much forward to hearing how all of this goes and where the wind takes you. And I hope you have the most magical time ever. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And the same with your trip in July. Thank you to Beth and Alex for sharing all of their trip plans. The post trip is so much fun. So make sure that is next up in your queue, which it will be if you are subscribed to the show.

[00:47:11] If you liked what you heard, please share it with a friend, subscribe on the podcast app you're listening on now, and make sure you leave a rating or review wherever possible. Do you want to be a future trip report guest yourself? Head to my website, which is whereilongtobepodcast.com. I am currently looking for guests traveling in January, 2027 and beyond. That is all for now. So keep daydreaming about where you long to be.