Friday 29 June 2012

Sydney Insider Goes To Japan (Part 5)

I've been on the land of the rising sun for 5 days.  My hosts have decided I can go on my own now.  Well, the truth is, they've decided days before I arrived that I can manage to go to Tokyo Disneyland by myself on this day as everybody has to go either to work or school.

So, I start my journey with a train ride from Oppama to Yokohama station.  That was a breeze as there was a ticket vending machine.  Nothing a Sydneysider can't handle.  (We also have that in Sydney, you know)  Now, at Yokohama, that's a different story.  I've gone to three ticket windows to purchase ticket for my next ride and nobody talks in English.  Last window, the guy scribbled on a piece of paper, the bus station where I was supposed to get my ticket.  Ok, so there's another ticket vending machine.  Then I got on the shuttle that goes to Tokyo Disney Resort.  The whole trip, I realized was as long as my trip from Narita airport. It was long, but I was excited to see Cinderella's castle and her prince (haha!) to even think about it.  Besides, I got to take a nap along the way (see, I told you it was a long trip).

Tokyo  Disney Resort has the DisneySea and the Disneyland.  First stop of the bus was at DisneySea but how was I to know.  My Japanese national seatmate even asked me if that was her stop.  Even the driver does not speak any English, at all .  At least he was able to say DisneySea and I just assumed there is another stop.  Good thinking... there was.  Yehey! Welcome to Disneyland.



I was so excited.  It's just me and my Canon.  But before anything else,  my sister told me to ask where I should get my ride back to Yokohama before going on my sightseeing tour.  First attempt... second attempt.. no luck, everybody was talking in Nihonggo!  Panic? No, not for me.  I'll take care of that later.

I took my Canon out of the bag and click! Uh oh, shutter just closed by itself.  I must admit, my camera goes on a tantrum once in a while.  It says "change batteries" even if you put on new fully charged batteries.  It's done that a number of times, but I still love it.  I just hope it wasn't one of those days.  But, it was.  Time to hit the shop for a camera.  So I got myself a new camera.  One made in Japan.  A disposable one!  No choice.  Poor me (I don't have much money but boy, if I did ..I'd buy a Nikon D3200..lalalala).

So I got myself a brochure with the map...it was loaded with characters! I can only recognize the Disney characters... go figure (see photo) ... the others, could be Hiragana or Kanji... I really wouldn't know the difference. So map has to stay in my backpack (like Dora's map).




I love the spirit inside Disneyland. As they say, it is the happiest place on earth! And I could've been the happiest person on earth if only Canon didn't conk out. Well, I'll have to do with my Japanese camera, my new bestfriend for the day.  First shot.



Beyond this main entrance, is the World Bazaar.  I've decided to put on the shopping afterwards as I've wanted to see Cinderella's Castle first. Just walk straight through the shops and there's the majestic castle.  Here are some photos I took from different angles at different times of the day.

Photo (A) Front view (B)Right side view (C) Back view (D)side view from the landscape (E) right side landscape

The Disney Princesses were just outside the castle for the greet and meet. In the photo below are Cinderella and Prince Charming, Belle, Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip, and is that the Evil Queen (?) sitting on the throne (in her Nike shoes) mwahahaha...


Now, for some more excitement, I walked down to Adventureland.  There were long queues in all attractions but the Swiss Family Tree House and The Enchanted Tiki Room : Stitch presents Aloha E Komo Mai. 

Onwards, I went to Westernland. I managed to get front seat at the Country Bear Theater.  It was entertaining alright, but the ambience just made me sleepy.  Outside there's a mob but inside the theatre there's comfy seats and airconditioning...it was just so relaxing. So, if you plan on coming over and then you feel the urge to rest from all the walking, this is the place to be.

Then it was time to hit the saloon.  Well, I was still in Westernland and so decided to feast on their special chicken package with a bun, corn, mashed potato and a soda.  How I wish it was Kenny Roger's.  My meal was nothing like Ka Roger's or Mang Andok's.

Well, since I've started to spend on my meal, I thought I'd start on buying stuff to bring back home to Sydney. I noticed a lot of the revellers either had a Disney character hat or a hoodie to protect their heads from the sun. So, I got one of each. The chipmunk hat is my favorite.





And if you want to know how much things cost inside the theme park, here are the receipts from my purchases...again, go figure hahaha.

Photo (A) was for the chicken meal, (B) for the towel hoodie and (C) for the Chipmunk hat.

There's so much more to see and there's so little time when you're having fun.   So, before I get you bored with too much talk and too little photos, let me bring you my last set of photos...Here is  the very colourful Easter Parade.



Now, it's time to look for that ride back home.  Till then, goodbye  Disneyland.
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Just a note, some photos were still taken with my Canon camera (like the last three photos from the parade and this last one). It's just that everytime I take a shot, it just shuts down by itself.












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