Japan Day 13 P2

After Jungle Cruise, it's time for another round of queueing @ The Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare.

We queued for almost 1hr before we were ushered into the building, which proved to be a great disappointment. Honestly, I really couldn't remember what was the ride about (it has been almost 6 months!) but I do recall that it wasn't scary at all.

We left Adventureland & went straight to Tomorrowland. A light-hearted combination of science and imagination have created this fun and distinctive peek into the future. Rocketing through the galaxy, attending the "Inventor of the Year" award ceremony, touring the stars and helping Buzz Lightyear defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg are just a few of the adventures that await us in Tomorrowland.

Space Mountain, a themed indoor roller coaster where you will be strapped into one of the rockets and blasting off for a thrilling ride into outer space. I was pretty dizzy when I emerged from the ride, but it was one of the thrilling rides that you can find in the whole of Tokyo Disneyland.

In the waiting area to attend the "Inventor of the Year" award from the Imagination Institution. This is an adaption from the Disney movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. When Professor Wayne Szalinski arrives to receive the award, the audience get caught up in a "little" adventure ....Pretty interesting and relaxing given that we just went through the (head-throbbing) roller coaster.

Grabbing pipping hot churros at Lite Bite Satellite. Wiki to the rescue:

"Churros, sometimes referred to as a Spanish doughnut, are fried-dough pastry-based snacks, sometimes made from potato dough, that originated in Spain. There are 2 types of churros in Spain. One is thin (and usually knotted) and the other, especially popular in Madrid, is long and thick. Both are normally eaten during breakfast, dipped in hot chocolate"

"Fantasyland is dedicated to the young at heart and to those who believe that when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true."

Walt Disney

The icon of Tokyo Disneyland, the magical Cinderella castle located in Fantasyland while the icon of Hong Kong Disneyland is Sleeping Beauty Castle. This castle itself plays a role in the Magic Kingdom's fireworks show, where audiences are captivated in the enchanting display of fireworks & music.

In front of Sorcerer Mickey mini fountain

Waiting for the parade to start ~ The park goers came prepared with their own mats & looked all set to have a mini picnic!

Not to be outdone by them, Leecher bought the burger set, lol

It's always a blessing to have hot pipping food in extremely cold weather. Top it up with a cup of hot chocolate ....Yums!

Cute Snowman making their appearance first, dancing & swaying to the sound of music, kicking off the start of a winter-wonderland themed parade. They looked so huggable!

Snowman enjoying their slide down the snow, featuring Donald & Daisy Duck .... how I wished I am in Hokkaido playing snow fighting with Leecher!

Reindeers .... why there's no Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? :(

My fave Winnie The Pooh! *waves madly*

Toy Story: featuring Buzz Lightyear, Woody & Squeeze Toy Aliens. In fact, Toy Story was the first Disney/Pixar film collaboration. I'm a great fan of Pixar film & no prizes for guessing which is my all time fave :)

Pluto & Goofy seemed like they were in a hurry to distribute presents ... where's mine?

Mickey & Minnie Mouse in their winter wear.

How can we forget Cinderella, when she has her castle as the icon of Tokyo Disneyland?

Chip & Dale ... they were busy flirting with the audiences!

Finally, the giant Xmas tree made its debut & closely followed by ......

Santa Clause himself! Hello Santa, I've been a good girl this year. Will you make my wish come true?

Japan Day 13 P1

Before we set off for another day of adventure, a look at the no. of Shinkansen tickets that we have accumulated across 13 days! *beams with pride!*

Day 13 of our JP trip. I hope our readers are not bored with all the Japan postings. You can start counting down to the end of our Japan trip *peeks into the folder and we are only left with 3 or 4 days* I think I need a MEGA holiday after all these posting. Maybe next time, no holidays trips posting ... or when I recover from my blogging phobia :p

Started the day with freshly baked bread!

The journey to our next destination was filled with excitement, as I kept looking out of the window to spot the familiar landmark. My heart nearly jumped out as I spotted it from a distance ....

Ta-dah! My fave place in the whole of Tokyo! Love Love Love *yippee*

Pictures first before whizzing my way through the crowd, attempting to beat them to the ticket counter while Leecher tried his best to catch up.

Last min check to see if there are any promotions ... bargain hunting instinct, lol

The magical tickets that cost a bomb, but everything make it worthwhile :)

Leaving our footprints behind in Tokyo Disneyland! Yes, its the xmas season, once again.

"To all of you who come to this happy place, welcome. Here you will discover enchanted lands of Fantasy and Adventure, Yesterday and Tomorrow. May Tokyo Disneyland be an eternal source of joy, laughter, inspiration, and imagination to the peoples of the world. And may this magical kingdom be an enduring symbol of the spirit of cooperation and friendship between the great nations of Japan and the United States of America."

— E.Cardon Walker, April 15, 1983

Yes, we did enjoyed ourselves tremendously throughout the 2 days in the resort. I wished time came to a stand-still as we embraced the magical moment ~ Let's take a walk down my happiest memory in Tokyo with Day 13 & 14 :)

Pinocchio & Jiminy Cricket.

Musicians playing Christmas carols along the streets.

Captain Jack Sparrows! Well, I can settle for a "replica" in this case. He looks kinda cute as well, lol. By the way, taking pictures with the characters was not as orderly when compared to HK Disneyland. When the characters make their "patrol" round the premise in HK, there will always be personnels standing next to them, all ready to help out with picture-taking. People will queue up in an orderly manner & waited for their turns. I would expect the same treatment in Tokyo Disneyland, as Japanese are very orderly & courteous. Imagine my horror when they rushed to take pictures & the personnel stood there, no indication of lending a helping hand for crowd control. In addition, we need to rely on fellow tourists to help capture the moment. Perhaps, a slight oversight on their part.

We strategically chose a weekday/non-Japan public holiday to visit Disneyland to avoid the crowd, but it was futile, judging from the amount of prams you can see in the "baby pram carkpark"! The prams are parked in an orderly manner even though there were no markings on the ground ... amazed! If only, they were so organized in picture taking :p

Started the day with Jungle Cruise in Adventureland. The attraction simulates a riverboat cruise down several major rivers of Asia, Africa and South America. Park guests board replica tramp steamers and are taken on a voyage past different jungle animals. The tour is led by a live Disney case member who delivers humorous preset narration. I think English or Japanese tour is available, but I could be wrong :)

Getting ready to board the boat ~

Leecher was excited about starting the boat ride, alongside with the other passengers.

The elephant bathing pool where numerous elephants relaxed in the water. An elephant almost squirts water onto Leecher, but from our HK Disneyland experience, he managed to escape unscathed.

The boat then passes a camp that has been raided by gorillas, and that transitions the cruise into the Nile River. The boat passes along the African Veldt, where numerous African mammals watched a pride of lions eat their kill.

Honestly, I cant distinguish if the ducks are real or man-made.

Hippos getting ready to charge at the boat until the skipper scares them off.

A peek at the next "must try" ride & stay tuned for more Disneyland adventures in P2!

Japan Day 12 P4

To cheer Blamer up since we completely missed Mt Fuji, I recommended we head for some "must try" Japanese cakes!

See all cheered up already!

We chose strawberry cream among the many flavours available.

One bite of the cake and we ascended to the heavens. Fresh strawberries aside, the cream wasn't like anything I had tasted before. Light and fluffy with a tiny hint of sweetness, Blamer and I virtually licked the box clean... ... and the plastic wrappings.

On our way back, we passed by the Tokyo Tower. On top of being an observatory, the tower also transmit a total of 24 broadcast waves. Interesting lighting display that shines orange in winter and white in summer. We wanted to dine at a Tofu restaurant located near Tokyo Tower, but by the time we arrived around 8pm, they had already closed for the day.

(Blamer here: Leecher threw tantrum at me cuz he didn't get to eat his tofu meal, idiot!)

Dejected, we tried this instead.

Blamer ordered pork katsu with a raw egg.

While I had the chicken katsu don. I learned from wikipedia that it is now a modern ritual for Japanese students to eat katsudon the night before taking a major test or school entrance exam. This is because "katsu" is a homophone of the verb 勝つ, meaning "to win" or "to be victorious".