Instead of taking the bus, we rode our bikes. It took us about 20 minutes. Relatively speaking, it really wasn't far at all, especially since I rode the electric bike and my husband took the regular bike.
As soon as we arrived we noticed it was quite different than the last time we visited. First of all, this time all the rides were operating (last time the rides were closed due to rain). Second, there were massive decorations all over that would light up after sundown. Third, there were no umbrellas (which was so wonderful)! Fourth, there weren't any tents with vendors. And finally, there were clowns everywhere!
We started off the day with horse rides. These were definitely not the ponies you normally see at events for kids to ride. They were huge, beautiful horses. Horses are pretty rare in Japan because of the space they require. But they do have horse racing (so I've heard) and there is a city park in Tokyo that has horse riding lessons and just rides for kids. The most common place to see horse is actually on menus. I feel horrible saying that so blatantly, but it is a fact. Horse is considered a consumable meat in Japan. Talk about a cultural difference. At any rate, my son loves to ride horses and always begs to go. So, it was an easy first stop. The rides were a one day special event as part of the carousel celebration.
There is a long history behind the Eldorado carousel, as would be expected for something that is 110 years old. It was built in Germany, spent many years in Coney Island in New York, and has since come to Toshimaen to entertain a whole new generation of families. While the animals don't go up and down, there are three platforms that rotate at different speeds.
I don't know what clowns have to do with celebrating carousels, but there they were. My husband reports they were trying to create an "old American festival." I guess that means clowns... I'm not usually a huge fan of clowns. I've been around one too many that scared me or a child I was with. But today I felt the ice melting a bit. There were 110 clowns in the park, one of each year of the carousel's existence. They were so friendly and, although happy, not over the top. They were doing a performance near where we ate lunch (bento we brought from home), and we actually stopped eating to watch because they were amazing performers. They did tricks like keeping a large traffic cone in the air with sticks and jumping rope while riding unicycles. Maybe it wasn't epic, but we certainly were not expecting the level of entertainment provided.
We rode the rides. Lots of them. There is something about taking your child to do something that would normally be fun and it magically raises it to a whole new level. The joy is elevated just seeing them having a great time. He was so excited to go on his first roller coaster ride - the mini cyclone. He also drove the trains again. And there were so many others. My husband and I took turns riding the rides with our son, enjoying his laughter and sharing a special moment with him. In addition to the rides, there was a fantastic play area for kids of all sizes where a kid could climb for days and take huge slides down to the bottom.
At the end of the day, the lights turned on around the park. It was interesting because it wasn't a big deal. It seemed like the different areas were turned on manually, as the lights on the train ride were one before dark, but the lights in a different area weren't turned on until almost an hour after dark. Nonetheless, they were beautiful and interesting. There were illuminated "structures" of sorts that were everything from mushrooms, to gingerbread houses, to flowers, and even a tribute to In and Out Burger (always have to have something totally weird).
All in all, it was a wonderful day spent together. I almost forgot I was in Japan - except I could never understand the instructions right before the ride started. Good thing they are pretty standard fare!
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