WORLD OF NADA

Going to Disney amusement park is the day I've been waiting the most. I've experienced Hong Kong Disneyland twice and wonder how the Japanese one would be like. What's different in Japan is besides they have Tokyo Disneyland, they also have Tokyo Disney Sea. Many people recommend to visit Tokyo Disney Sea first since the sea theme is only available in Japan among other Disney parks in the world.


On fine Friday morning, I got up early to catch up time arriving at the park before it opened. Based on the schedule I checked before on the web, the operating hour is from 10 am to 6.30 pm that day. From where I stayed to Disney resort, it could take up to an hour train ride. Arriving at the platform in Shinjuku-Sanchome station, the train was full just like I saw in videos. The train filled with working people. I had to change train in Tokyo station and I had such a long walk to get another train, my legs were already sore.

At around 9.30 am, I already arrived at Disney Sea gate. Many people were already queuing to get in. I already bought the ticket through HIS Travel in Jakarta so I could join the queue. But I think it's not necessary to buy the ticket prior to your visit because I found there was no people queuing on the ticket booth.

After got my bags checked and took the map, I came in excitedly. I was so ready to play! My family and I chose the interesting attractions based on the descriptions and planned our routes immediately.

The park is divided into 7 areas: Mediterranean Harbor, Mysterious Island, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery, and American Waterfront.



Stepped my foot on Mediterranean Harbor, I couldn't help myself to gasp in an awe. The view is beautiful indeed! I had no idea before that I would see something like this. I felt like in Europe rather than in Japan. My father really adores European architecture so he also enjoyed the view so much.

I was hoping the weather was good. Turns out it was raining, but luckily it was only little drizzle and didn't last for so long which wasn't really bothering. At one time, the wind was blowing very hard and cold that we needed to hide inside a bridge.


The first attraction we experienced is '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' in Mysterious Island because we saw the queue wasn't long and waiting time was only 15 minutes. We sat inside a small submarine and got to see undersea view. We were a bit disappointed with the attraction, we just expected more of this. Then, we visited 'Journey to the Center of the Earth'. Since the queue and the waiting time was long, we took Fast Pass ticket which we could use an hour later.

We then moved to the Mermaid Lagoon to watch The Little Mermaid musical. The 20-minute show was very entertaining! I've been listening to all Disney songs in English. When suddenly I heard the characters and the songs in Japanese, I found it funny at first. I smiled happily throughout the show, I felt so blessed and I just couldn't believe I was finally here.

We estimated the time well, so after watching the show, we could directly enter 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' which is a roller-coaster ride.

Mermaid Lagoon, one of my favourite spots

The delicious Sea Salt Ice Cream. Super yum and a must-try!

Arabian Coast

We moved to Lost River Delta area. There, we would like to try 'Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull' and 'Raging Spirits' which both are roller-coaster ride. Too bad the Indiana Jones ride was currently not operating.

A really nice Spicy Smoked Chicken Leg we found in Lost River Delta area

We walked through the American Waterfront. I love the area so much! You'll feel like you are taken back to America in the past with Broadway vibe. I enjoyed walking around here. To complete the mood, we watched the Broadway show on the theatre.

American Waterfront

After watching the show, we visited 'Tower of Terror'. I came excitedly since I thought it was a ghost house. Suddenly, my excitement turned into doubts. By watching the intro and everything, it didn't lead me any close to a ghost house, it is much scarier than I thought: a dropping elevator. Oh God, I hate any ride with steep drop that makes my stomach shaky for so long. I almost gave up and wanted to get out instead. But after seeing those children who were brave to take this ride, I prepared myself.

I sat between my brother and father. At first, I thought we were going to be dropped once but very long. Turns out, it was MUCH SCARIER. We were suddenly dropped, stopped, down, and then far up, swung up and down until I had no idea how this ride would take us. I just prayed it would end quickly. It was far beyond my expectation and my heart beat so fast. I was scared to death that I closed my eyes and was screaming like crazy while holding my father and brother's hands. I heard they were laughing at me. Ugh.

I was very relieved when it finally ended. I couldn't believe of what just happened. It is one experience I'll never forget but I never will take that traumatic ride ever again.

Tower of Terror

Just near 'Tower of Terror', there is 'Toy Story Mania' attraction where we could play games. I thought of something like Buzz Lightyear shooting game I've ever played before. It was getting cold and the queue was very long. We waited around an hour. We could have used Fast Pass. But since we had nowhere to go again after this, we got nothing to lose.

When we finally board on the tram with pull-string cannons on it, we were given tutorial of the game. We will pull and release the string to shoot while directing to the 3D screen with variety of scores on it. On some first screens, the scores are same so I just shot randomly. Then suddenly higher scores came up so I aimed to those high scores. After experiencing traumatic ride before this, I found this attraction very entertaining and fun, even for adults. It was worth the wait. At the end of the game, my father, brother, and I were surprised that I got the highest score among us three with large gap. I just beat my brother who plays game more often than me, haha.

With Toy Story's Green Army

Coming out from there, I looked back and was amazed with what I saw. It was getting dark and the lights from Toy Story Mania made such a pretty view.

Best view!

Our last attraction is 'Fantasmic'. There is no parade on the day, but they have this show on the Mediterranean Harbor at night. The show was started at 5.30 pm but many people already gathered around the venue. We were freezing but since this is the last and the peak to complete our day here, we tried to beat the cold. As the show began, we were entertained by it that we almost forgot about the cold. The show plays with light and water that presents Mickey and various Disney stories. There are also ships with entertainers on board just like on the parades. I couldn't imagine how those entertainers survived in the cold since some of them wore thin clothes.
And that's how we ended our day in Tokyo Disney Sea. I've read in some blogs that say attractions waiting time could take up to 1,5 until 2 hours it didn't happen to me on this visit. I managed to experience all attractions I wanted to try without having to wait that long. Overall, we enjoyed spending our time here. Besides experiencing the attractions, along the way we were also mesmerized by the landscape.




TIPS:

• Check the website for peak days and opening hours. Better avoid weekends. The operating time is different between Tokyo Disney Sea and Disneyland every day. Also, some attractions and shows might not open on certain days.

• Choose what attractions you want to visit the most to take the Fast Pass since you can only take Fast Pass once at a time. If you already take one pass for an attraction, you can take another pass for another attraction after time mentioned at your pass (averagely an hour). Make sure you don't lose your park ticket since it is needed to take the pass.

• Bring your own meal and plenty of water since the food sold are mostly expensive. The snacks are still worth to try, though. I recommend to bring onigiris from the convenience store since they are quite fulfilling, but you can still have enough room for the snacks.

Japan has been on the top of my travel destinations bucket list. I don't know why, but everything about Japan is very appealing to me. I've been very excited every time I see any posts about it. I even put Tokyo nightlife as my desktop wallpaper. To finally be able to go here, it's like a dream come true.

My family actually planned to go in August last year, but due to me and my brother's activity, we decided to go this year. In October 2016, we went to a travel fair at the nearest mall and we were so lucky to get cheap tickets from ANA. It was a great deal getting a multiple city ticket, coming to Tokyo and going back from Osaka. I was very excited to become my own family travel organiser: making itineraries, booking accommodations, etc.

So, in the mid of January 2017, we made our flight to Tokyo. My heart beat so fast since I entered the plane. When the stewardess greet us, I already felt like in Japan. Reviewing a bit about the airline, it is above my expectation. ANA Economy seats are very spacious, I could move my legs freely. The food is great, too. Overall, I was very satisfied with the service and had a really pleasant flight.

At around 7 am on Thursday morning, we landed in Haneda airport. I really needed to go to the toilet and I got to experience the popular Japanese toilets which have many buttons on the seats. After passing the immigration and taking our luggages, we went outside. We still couldn't go anywhere because we had to take our Universal Studios tickets at an travel agency office which open at 8.30 am. While waiting and killing the time, we prepared ourselves wearing winter outfit. I came to the Tourist Information Center to grab maps and ask everything I needed. I also bought Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto there. Then me and my brother bought Suica card from the machine. We were figuring out by ourselves how to buy it and turns out it is very easy! No need to worry about.

After the office opened and we took the tickets, we directly went to the city by train. We followed the route as directed by a staff from the Tourist Information Center while keep checking the map. As we were approaching the city center, the train was getting more crowded since it was early morning and people were going to work. Nearly all of the passengers were wearing black. Since we were also wearing black, we felt like we successfully blend with the locals, haha.

We got off at Shinjuku-sanchome station. Many people said Japanese people are very friendly and helpful. We found out that is true. While were looking at wall map to find nearest exit to our accommodation, a young lady approached us and asked to help. This is the third helping experience we got from a local. Before this, when we had to change train line, we stopped and were looking around to find direction. Looking us confused, a woman asked if she could help. After getting directions from her, we said thank you and were going to leave, but she still wanted to help because she saw us bringing luggages and she only knew the way if we pass the stairs. She was trying to find us an elevator. We said no problem and she made sure we were really okay.

We made our way to the accommodation. I actually booked an apartment through airbnb in Hanzomon area. However, 5 days prior to our departure, the host cancelled my booking due to a problem on the listing! I was panicked. I quickly searched for another apartment and luckily found a decent one in Shinjuku-sanchome area. We all were very satisfied with it. You can see how the apartment looks like and read my review here:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13855453

After putting our luggages, we were ready to start our adventure! First stop is Asakusa where we could visit Kaminarimon Gate, Nakamise Shopping Street, and Sensoji Temple. Before we explored the area, since we were starving, we ate first at Onigiri Asakusa Yadoroku which is located further behind the temple. It is quite popular when I browsed for places to eat, but I think the taste is not that special. It was okay and the rice was soft, though. We didn't eat much because earlier we saw many tempting food back on Nakamise.

Grab a drink from the vending machine

Onigiri Asakusa Yadoroku

Asakusa has that old-town vibe. Wish I could explore more.

Kaminarimon Gate

Nakamise Shopping Street

We were walking around Nakamise and very tempted by the food sold. They all looked so good and attracted us to buy them. Due to our stomach capacity, we only tried these.

Red Bean Taiyaki

Mixed (Green Tea and Original Soft Ice Cream) and Sweet Potato from Funawa Patisserie Marche, just look at the long queue

From Asakusa, we moved to Ueno. Our main purpose here is to buy Hard Rock T-shirts at the station. I actually didn't know where else to visit here so we just walked around. But sometimes randomness gives you unexpected things. We passed some interesting places. We came into a toy store, bookstore, and even checked out a game arcade.

Loving Ueno Station's vibe

I passed a street which turned out to be Ameyoko Shopping Street. This is on my list but I didn't realize it was here. I saw mostly food sold here, especially seafood.

Ichigo!! (=strawberry)

Found a decent ramen and soba restaurant for dinner

Our first day in Japan went well. Since we still have many more days to go and we didn't have enough sleep the night before on the plane, we decided to go back to the apartment and rest. Because the next day, we're going to Tokyo Disneysea!

Ikan cakalang fufu

Paniki (kelelawar)

Beralih dari pasar, kita mampir sebentar ke Pusat Kuliner Tomohon untuk beli cemilan. Jam buka resminya mulai dari jam 3 sore dan jalanan ditutup sampai jam 10 malem. Duh, pasti surga banget deh. Untung hari itu pulang. Nggak kebayang gue bisa kalap kalo dateng pas malem.

Kapel Bunda Maria

Amphiteather

Gua Maria

Bandara Sam Ratulangi Manado