My sister came to Japan to visit us early this month. We wanted to plan an outing for her and our kids to spend some quality family time together. However, the weather was a bit of a letdown. It was a rainy day in the winter season, VERY COLD. Brrrrr! So, we had to search for weather-proof tourist spots!

We found Decks Tokyo Beach in Odaiba, a shopping mall with multiple indoor theme parks. Of which, we took an entire day just to visit three of them – LEGOLAND, Madame Tussauds, and Tokyo Trick Art Museum!

See Decks’ Official Website for more information.
A floor guide in English is also available.

The LEGOLAND Discovery Center

Over 3 million LEGO bricks are under one roof in LEGOLAND (Tokyo). Fireball, my 4-year-old, enjoyed the Racers, where he built and timed his racing cars on a speed test track. He also enjoyed the Fire Academy and the Ninjago training camp. Twinkle Bell, my 2-year-old, had a great time at the Construction Site and the DUPLO Village, which are great soft play areas for toddlers.

Initially, I thought my kids would be the only ones who would enjoy LEGOLAND. Well, I was wrong. I had a blast at the Kingdom Quest Laser Ride. I thoroughly enjoyed the entertaining comedy (even with my terrible Japanese) that comes with a 4D-Cinema experience. My husband secretly had some fun spinning round and round on the Merlin’s Apprentice ride while accompanying our 4-year-old. My sister enjoyed Miniland so much that she was there half the time. She took pictures of every iconic landmark in Japan in both day and night sceneries, simulated by the brilliant use of lighting.

The LEGOLAND may be a little pricey for a small theme park, but it sure kept us entertained for hours, and of course, it made my little LEGO fans very very happy.

Special Notes:
You can get discounts on the tickets if you buy them online. We bought combo tickets, which allowed us to visit both Madame Tussauds and LEGOLAND for a package price.

Adults must be accompanied by a child to visit the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre. Except for Adult Night, which is on the 5th of every month and entry starts from 5 pm to 7 pm.

See the official website for more information.

Madame Tussauds Tokyo

This is our first visit to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. Marilyn Monroe and Lady Gaga were the first to greet us at the entrance. Bruce Willis was our elevator man. He escorted us up to the main hall. There, the rest of the wax celebrities were waiting…

I became Leonardo da Vinci’s new Mona Lisa 😀

Who is Madame Tussaud?

I had no idea who she was until I visited the museum and got my curiosity stirred. In a nutshell, Marie Tussaud learned the art of wax modeling from Dr. Philippe Curtius, whom Marie’s mother was working for as a housekeeper in Paris. Marie showed extraordinary talent and began creating famous portraits of celebrities.

During the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution, Tussaud was imprisoned. In exchange for her life, she was commanded to make death masks of many prominent figures who were victims of the guillotine. She had to recover decapitated heads from piles of dead bodies. Such a gruesome task!

After Dr. Curtius’ death, she inherited his wax collection and immigrated to London. In 1835, she established her wax museum in Baker Street, which became one of Britain’s most popular tourist attractions for centuries! The present exhibition is currently located on Marylebone Road.

The Tokyo Trick Art Museum

It is our first visit to the Trick Art Museum. Before we started, the friendly staff gave us a little talk to help us understand the concept of optical illusion and gave us a few examples of how to interact with certain areas of the two-dimensional exhibits. If we strike the right pose, we can become the subject of the artwork.

Sadly, our family did not have the knack for it. We were unsuccessful most of the time, despite the helpful guides on the wall. We also experienced a lot of bottlenecks, with many people blocking or walking into other people’s shots. It becomes increasingly stressful and difficult to take pictures, so we end up skipping most of the trick arts.

Nonetheless, I like the hyper-realistic artwork. I think they are all very well done, especially the ones painted in Japanese style. The drawings in the Haunted Mansion are my favorites! Instead of the usual dark and eerie portrayal, the ghosts and monsters there are depicted in a rather cute, comical style.

Let’s Call it a Day!

In the end, the kids were super tired and cranky, so we did not visit Tokyo Joypolis (an indoor amusement park); Takoyaki museum and its ball fritters selling food court; or Daiba Itchome Shotengai (台場一丁目商店街) a reminiscent of the Showa period’s (the 1950s) shopping street. Nonetheless, we had a wonderful family outing!