We managed to sleep in all the way until 5am! We took our time packing up before running downstairs to grab some breakfast at the coffee shop in the Hilton lobby.

We bought ponchos at the Disney Store in the gift shop because rain was due in a few days and then grabbed more snacks from the convenience store. We checked out of the hotel and took the monorail one last time to Ikspiari. We went to the Disney Store at Ikspiari for a few souvenirs (they have completely different merch from the parks), used the ATM, tried some donuts at Krispy Kreme (matcha green tea cake donut and lemon brulee) and visited Bon Voyage, which was a store that did sell the same merchandise as the parks.

We got a few more souvenirs. Then we walked to the JR Maihama Station, figured out which train to take to Tokyo Station and enjoyed the ride. I’m not quite sure that we understood how gigantic Tokyo Station would be.We bought our Suica cards, booked reserved seats for the 2pm shinkansen to Kyoto, bought a few more supplies from the Traveler’s Factory shop at Tokyo Station and grabbed some bentos before boarding the train.

I couldn’t believe how quickly the train came in and then left again. It was only at the station for a couple of minutes! We were able to ride on the Hikari train with our Japan Rail pass. The Hikari is just as fast as the other bullet trains but just has a couple of more stops so it makes the trip a little longer. We got a quick look at Mt. Fuji from our window!

We arrived at Kyoto station, figured out how to get out of the building and then started the short walk to our hotel, Sakura Terrace The Atelier. It’s a Japanese-style inn, so there was a lot to get used to. Our room was super teeny tiny with bunk bed twin futons and a sink and honestly not much else. There was a little mini ffridge under the sink along with provided roomwear and slippers. There are toilets on each floor and then the public bath is on the first floor. When you get to the women’s bath area, there’s a keypad with a pin number that they only give to female guests. I would suspect this is mostly due to foreign visitors and not for Japanese locals. I haven’t felt uncomfortable once during our time. Everyone is extremely respectful, all areas are so clean, there’s no uncomfortable staring. It just feels so safe. Anyway, back to the public bath. When you walk in there is a rack for your shoes and an open dressing area with lockers (and keys). There’s one counter with mirrors and hair dryers and another area with skins and mirrors. Then there are 5 shower stalls and the bath area. For the bath, you’re supposed to clean off first in the seated shower area before soaking in the bath. We’ve seen videos with people explaining the process but they left a nice info sheet in our room, too.

As a present when first checked in, we were given vouchers for a free buffet dinner in our hotel. So we ran out to the Family Mart and Don Quijote in our neighborhood. There’s a mall between our hotel and Kyoto Station. That’s where the Don Quijote was along with a ton of other shops. That’s where we found our first gachapon machines and managed to get a Hogwarts badge!

The Don Quijote was so crowded and crammed, it really stressed me out (on top of being tired from traveling and nervous about our hotel situation). I had a pretty bad night that night. We got back to the hotel, enjoyed our buffet dinner and crashed before 9pm.