Today was an early day but it was filled with excitement! Because today was the day to visit the happiest place on Earth!!!
The day started on a wrong note as I took the wrong direction along the railway and wasted around 40 minutes. Still, spirits were high and by 8.30am, I'd arrived at Maihama station. This was the station to transfer into the Disney railway. The train was crowded and most alighted at Disneyland. From the train, you could see at least a few thousands queueing outside the entrance of Disneyland!!! Good that that was not where I was heading. DisneySea was less crowded, not even any crowd spotted at the entrance. The park had no queue at the entrance!!
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| Disneyland!! |
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| DisneySea entrance |
However, no time to be wasted. This park is filled with more adult rides, i.e.: more thrill rides than kiddish ones. First stop was a mad rush for the Tower of Terror. I had missed the fast pass booth and stood for 1.5 hours in the queue. The rid started rather innocently, as everyone was strapped tightly into their seats. It rose vertically up and stopped a few times along the way to tell a story which I did not understand since it was in Japanese. The seats kept rising until a mirror was opened in front of everyone and we were to pose for the camera. Before we could do so, the seats started plunging downwards and it was from here all the screams went on non stop! Up and down in total darkness at time, sometimes you don't even know whether you were going up or down! And then all of the sudden, the door in front opened to the view of DisneySea from high above. It was a glorious bird's eye view that probably lasted for only 2 seconds before it plunged down harshly for more screams! And then it stopped abruptly and everyone got out of the ride feeling stunned and laughing out of scariness.
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| Tower of Terror!!! |
Next was obtaining a free fast pass for the Storm Rider at Port Discovery before heading for a very short queue of Aquatopia. Aquatopia was an automated ride with water splashing around, and with the vehicles spinning round and round, not my favorite ride as I became rather dizzy very soon into the ride. After the ride, it was a super early lunch at the nearby cafeteria, with beef steak as the main course.
After lunch, it was almost a nice walk into the queue due to the fast pass. Probably the only place on earth where fast passes are free! There are limited such passes each hour so if you could not get them, you have to join the main queue instead. The storm rider was a multi sensory ride that took you up into the skies and into a cyclone where mishaps happened. The seats rocked and everyone was splattered with 'storm' water. It was thrilling, but not as scary as Tower of Terror.
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| Storm Rider |
After the ride, I caught up with Mr Incredible and had a 'muscle bonding' session with him before heading to the Lost River Delta to experience some Indiana Jones atmosphere. The ride was closed for maintenance though, so it was purely a stroll along to enjoy the sights. Of course, along the way there were monkey characters which proved to be great photographic moments.
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| Disney IceCream |
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| The locals love to dress up for theme parks |
The stroll lead into the magical Arabian Coast where a leisurely boat ride ala Small Small World was taken to the tunes of Sinbad's Storybook Voyages instead. Next was mad rush into Mermaid's Lagoon to collect the fast pass for the Mermaid's Lagoon Theatre before rushing back to Arabian Coast to catch The Magic Lamp Theatre. The show was supposedly enjoyable, but as it was in Japanese, I almost fell asleep several time!
It was a return to Mermaid's Lagoon. The entire 'lagoon' was indoors to mimic the underwater world. There were lots of rides for kids, but almost everyone was there for the show. The concept was interesting as audiences were seated in a circular theatre with projections surrounding every corners. Ariel was dangling via cables and 'swimming' in mid air above everyone's head. Just too bad I could not enjoy as the show was in Japanese. Yet another yawning moment for me.
After the mermaids, it was a journey into the centre of the earth at Mysterious Island. The first ride was 20,000 leagues under the sea, which was a boring ride that induced motion sickness for me! But the next ride (Journey to the Center of the Earth), now that was great fun! It started with seemingly innocent ride with bright sights showing what the center of the earth supposedly look in a fantastical way. However, what started as a slow ride suddenly transformed into a hyperdrive upwards and before you could react, the ride pierced into the sky and tunneled downwards with amazing speed! This was definitely the best ride of the park!!
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| Churros on hand after super long queue! |
After the ride, it was a tea break with rich hot chocolate before taking a stroll around the park. I started out frantically trying to cover as many rides as possible, and it was amazing I took 8 rides and still had 1/3 day left to spare! The stroll was a much needed rest and allowed me to explore the beauty of the park. As it was almost spring, there were lots of flowers blooming around, with plum blossoms and tulips etc. It was definitely an enchanting park.
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| Another Disneysnack!! |
Feeling so tired, I did not stay for the fireworks. Well, it has left me with some regrets, which was good cos that would be another excuse to return!!
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| Pigging around in DisneySea |
A train ride back to Tokyo city, stopping at Harujuku. This was my first night walk along the famous precinct, and it was less crowded but still electrifying with lots of kooky shops selling everything you could think of! Stopped by a Tonkatsu shop (Tonkatsu Shotao Harujuku) along the way and had the most perfect dish of fried pork!!!
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| a very tired me with a very delicious spread |
