Disneyland, Japan Trip (Day 14)

9th January 2015, Monday

Giant Mickey Pocket Watch

Main Entrance

Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters

Today, we will be going to Disneyland and so we woke up early to get ready to get our breakfast and then make our way down to the theme park. We took the metro to Tokyo station, where we had to change Maihama station. We stopped at a bakery shop to have our breakfast first before we take the JR train to Maihama station. When we alighted from the station, there were a lot of people in the station and all were walking towards Disneyland. We had cross over a bridge and beside it, was a grand Disney hotel and there was a big Disney shop too. When we reached to the ticket counters, there were long long queues waiting for the gate to open for the public. I went to buy the tickets while my friend queued at the waiting queues. Once the gates were opened, everyone rushed in to all the attractions to queue. I dragged my friend to go for the Buzz Lightyear's Blasters to get the express pass. We got ours at 11.35 am to 12.35 am, so we went off to see other attractions first. We also bought the souvenirs medallion from the machines, and after that we went to queue for the Grand Circuit Raceway. Queue was long but luckily it was moving quite fast, we both drove each car on our own. It was quite fun and we were allowed to drive 1 round each.

Minnie Mouse's House

Burger Set Meal

Canoe

After the car drive, we walked to Toontown and we queued to visit Minnie Mouse's house. There was also long queue to go in but Minnie wasn't at home. So we just went in one round and the oven and the dishwasher were cute, in the oven, there was a cake inside. After that, we walked to Good Time Cafe (opened by Donald Duck's newphews) and bought a Duck Feet-shaped Burger set meal. There were also also big big crows, trying to get free food. There was a lady who just bought her food back and was on the phone too. And a black crow came along and grabbed one of her burgers and tried to snatch off. After the nice burger meal, we walked back to Buzz lightyear's Blaster attraction. Then we went to queue to go in to the attraction, i was kind of worried that my friend will get giddy from the ride...hehehe....But she got more excited than me inside and was really firing away on the lasers. She was really enjoying the ride...hahhaaa....After the fun ride, we walked until to Winnie The Pooh honey ride as it was shorter. While walking to the ride, there were big story book pages for people to read while queuing. After the honey ride, we walked to the Critter Land and we went for a canoe ride. We got to row the canoe for a while too, and it went for one round the lake. After the canoe ride, we walked by the staffs selling turkey leg too. So we got one leg to try. It wasn't so nice as the one in Universal Studio.

Glass Slippers to try out

Once Upon A Time Magical Show

Then we went for a rifle shooting game in Western Land, it was 10 shots for $200 yen. I managed to get 4 shots but it wasn't good enough..hohohoho.....After that, we noticed people already starting to sit on the floor, waiting for the afternoon parade. I went to find a spot to sit down while my friend went off to buy popcorn. The parade started around 1 plus and it was fun looking at the cars and the characters dancing and singing. After the parade, we walked to Cinderella's castle and went up to look at the paintings inside the castle. After the castle walk, we went to try the Snow White & Seven Dwarfs ride. It wasn't so fun on this ride, it was a bit boring..hahaha...After that, i pulled my friend to try on Peter Pan's ride. I still find it fun, even though i had taken it multiple times in Paris Disneyland. After the ride, we went to AdventureLand for the choo choo train. There was a new attraction opened there too - Jungle Cruise. and there was a long queue for the ride. After the choo choo ride, we went to the square in front of the castle to find a spot for the Once Upon A Time magical show. There were already a lot of people seating on the ground. We sat in front of the castle but it was a but far away. And the wind was blowing strong as the sky got darker. When it was about time for the show to start, the staffs got everyone to stand up. Then the show started and it was quite nice but i wasn't able to see the whole thing as there were many people in front. After the show, we went to walk around the World Bazzar while waiting for the night time parade. The night parade started at around 7 pm, so we had to find a spot to sit for the parade. All the cars were lighted with lights and the parade ground was also had the street lights turned off. The parade was fun too.

Captain Hook's Pirate Ship

Toy Story

Monsters' Inc

After the parade, everyone started to walk towards to the entrance. We went to the Disney shop near to the train station and bought a few goodies back....hahhaa....There were so many cute stuffs to get but cannot buy back....ahhhhh! After shopping, we said bye bye to Disneyland and took the JR train back to Tokyo station where we had our dinner in the ramen street. After the dinner, we took the JR train back to our hotel to rest for the day.... Tomorrow will be our last day in Japan....waaaaaaa!

Hotel Stayed:
Hotel Kazusaya

 

Europe Trip - Paris Disneyland

Day 5: Woke up at 6 plus and had our breakfast.After that,we checked out of the hotel and made our way by Metro to Disneyland parks.We checked in our hotel first and got tickets to the theme parks.After that,we went straight to theme park!!We spent the full whole day in the Disneyland main park first.There was the Disney train which brought the Disney characters out to meet and take photos with the fans.Then there was performance by the Mickey Mouse and friends.There was the chipmunks,toy story,Lilo & Snitch,The Incredibles,Monsters Inc and even Ratatouille.It was showing 4 times a day and luckily it was not raining,so i managed to see the main parade at 4.30pm.Everyone was getting a seat near the road,just to see the parade.Too bad was that there was no fireworks in the night cos the parks' closing time was until 8pm and the sun was not even set!!Bought a nice t-shirt,collar pins and alot of gold coins.Regretted didn't buy the windbreaker there which was like 43 Euro.Sad.....

After a long day in the park,we went out to Disney Village.It was a street where there are alot of shops and restaurants.There is even a hot air balloon at the end of the street.They even kept a crocodile there in the village (fake one....lol)

Hotel stayed: Hotel E'lysee

Day 6:Woke up early so that we can enter the Disneyland park at 8am.We checked out the hotel and left our luggage at the hotel for the day.So we went down to Disneyland parks again,there are not many people there since it was 8am. I took PeterPan's flight ride 3 times as there is no queue yet.Hahahaha....it was not a roller coaster ride though but i like it.We stayed inside until 10am, followed that we went over the next theme parks, Walt Disney Studios.Most of the shows are in this park,but the timings for english was more to the afternoon.Anyway we just went to watch Disney Playhouse Live show first,followed by the motor action show.The motoshow action show was great!!It was a live show where they displayed action by motorcars and motorbikes used in great action movies.The host started out by introducing the action directors and they started with 4 black cars chasing a red car on the street.One of the black cars even broke into 2 parts,lol.After that,Hebe the racing car came out and split into 2 parts and went in separate directions.After the motorcars' action,it was motorbikes' turn to come in action.There are even gunshots and a man was set on fire.There is 1 part where the directors asked an audience to try to control a real car using a remote control.But the car was driving and ramming into anything in the way.In the end,the car turned out to be controlled by a driver at the side of the car.It was funny,the audience was given a certificate for fun too.They had a amazing finale where they put all the action together into a movie and the red car jumped out with a blast of fire on stage.

After the show,we walked around the park and went for our lunch.Had double cheeseburger meals and we stood eating at the table.After that, we went back to our hotel and collected our luggage.Then we went to a supermarket nearby the hotel and bought some biscuits.We made our way down to Gare de Lyon train station.The train station was quite dirty and smelly,think some people just peed at the station there as u need to pay to go to the toilet.Bought a sandwich from a bread stall,the cook was soooo rude.He just throwed the bread to us,and when he was giving us our change,he oso like threw the $ to us.And the bread he sells sucks!!No wonder his stall doesn't have people queuing up.

Finally,we got to board our train to go to Lausanne,where we transferred to another train to Zurich HB train station.Sat on the train for 3 hours plus long to reach Lausanne,walked out of the station for a while. After that,we boarded the train to Zurich which took like another 2 or 3 hours.Finally reached Zurich HB train station around 11 pm plus.Then we tried to find our hotel by walking,it took another 15 mins to 20 mins just to reach the hotel.Then we checked in and slept for the day.

Hotel stayed: X-tra Hotel

Europe Trip - Paris (Cont'd)

Day 3: Woke up at 6 plus and made our way down to CitiRama Agency for our castles trip. We waited for our coach and traveled down to Loire Valley. The tour guide is a young guy.It took like 4 hours just to reach there and it was raining again. And i was wearing already 3 layers of clothing.First we went to Chenonceau castle.

Chenonceau Castle - is also called "Le château de Chenonceau"or Women's Castle because it is famous for its women. King Henri II built it for his favorite Diane de Poitiers but his widow eventually took hold of the estate after the King died in a tournament.

After that,we went to Cheverny Castle.It is currently owned by a big businessman (descendants of the royals) and he let out the place for people to visit.There are photos of the owner and family inside the castle too. Château de Cheverny - currently is a private property and its collection are from the 17th century. King Henri Hurault built the first château in 1634. Upon finding out his wife is having an affair with a page,he killed the page and let his wife to have 2 death options: Sallow poison or Get Plunged by his sword. So his wife chose the less bloody way (which is poison).Then the king torn down the château and built the present one for his 2nd wife.And there are like more than 20 plus hunting dogs being reared there.The owner and family sometimes go back to the castle for holidays and go hunting with the hunting dogs.

After this, we made our way to another château,which is the biggest of all and it is famous for its double staircases built inside the castle. Château de Chambord - built by King Francois I in collaboration with Leonardo da Vinci.It is a grandiose creation,famous for its inventor's design. It had 440 rooms and a unique roof terrace.

After this,we went back to Paris city where we had Japanese food for dinner.Then we walked to the attractions again so that we can see the buildings being lighted up with lights. And i bought a thicker jacket from a shop which i wore for my rest of my trip. Lol,after that,we went back to our hotel to rest.

Europe Trip - Paris

Went for a Europe trip from 8th May 2010 to 23rd May 2010. I went to Paris -> Zurich -> Munich -> Frankfurt -> Amsterdam -> London and back to Paris again.

Day 1: Fly to Paris in the night on an A380-300 plane with Singapore Airlines. Took 11 hours flight.

Day 2: Reached Paris Airport (Charles de Gaulle Airport)in early morning. Took the metro train straight to the Notre-Dame de Paris church, had a tour inside. It was very beautiful and the windows are decorated with colorful glasses.Because we still had our luggage along,so we took turns to go in the church to view.When it was my turn outside,i saw a guy selling Eiffel Tower key chains quarreling with the secuity guard of the church.There are alot of those guys selling the Eiffel Tower key chains,10 for 1 Euro wo...lol.
And then we made our way to the Louvre Museum but we didnt went in. We just took photos there and had our 1st sandwich there.It was nice to eat,just that mustard was put inside!!

After that, we decided to check in to the hotel to put out luggage first.So we made our way to Bry sur Marne station,and found our way to the apartment hotel. There is an oven and a gas stove in the room. So we had bought breads,hotdogs,hams and drumsticks to put in the oven for breakfast.
One thing good in Paris is the breads.Always have a great fragrance and it is not hard (like stone).Lol.
Another thing noticed in Europe was there are graffiti everywhere, on the walls.The metro in Paris are also quite old and most of the windows are vandalized.
Anyway, we made our way down to back to main city again and went to Eiffel Tower. Bought a 3.50 Euro ice-cream and sat there to enjoy. After that we walked to the Arc de Triomphe and walked down along the streets for shopping. As most of the shops are not opened,there is not much to shop around.We bought hams,hotdogs and chicken wings to cook for dinner when we passed a small mini-shop(which is so hard to find a shop open on this day) and went back to the hotel.

Places visited:1. Notre-Dame de Paris
2. Louvre Museum (Pass-By)
3. Sainte Chapelle (Pass-By)
4. Eiffel Tower
5. Arc de Triomphe
6. Statue of Joan of Arc (saw on Day 3)
7. The Panthéon (Went on Day 4)

Hotel Stayed:City Residence Marne La Valleé

Japan Trip [2009]

Japan trip in Sept 2009 with package tour,went toTokyo,Nagoya,Kyoto and Osaka. Got the chance to visit disneyland and universal studios. Didnt get to taste the BBQ Sotong selling up in Mount Fuji. 600 yen for 1 whole big sotong!! Have to try it the next time. The rice in japan smells nice and it taste good. Made you want to have another round.





Day 1 & 2
Arrived in Japan Tokyo, went straight to Disneyland to begin our day. Halloween atmosphere is in the air. Everyone is preparing for the arrival of Halloween in Sept to Oct. The parade are 3 times a day and the queue was super long for almost every rides there. Watched the parade 3 times, it was cool.Spent the whole day there, but sad to say didnt managed to see the fireworks cos it started to rain again. (Why everytime it rains when i visit Disneyland?hohoho). After we gathered and went for a nice chinese dinner down the streets near Disneyland. Then we went back to Sunshine City where we had stayed there overnight. (Didn't managed to go DisneyLand Sea, maybe next time i will go there) (Hotel stayed: Prince Hotel)

Day 3
Woke up early and had our breakfast in the hotel. We headed down to Asakusa Kannon Temple and had our free time to view the temple and do some shopping along the street inside the temple. Then we headed to Ramen Museum, where we had real japan ramen. Long queue inside the stall inside the museum and we had pork ramen. It was a big bowl and the soup was abit too salty and oily.LoL
After this, we headed down to Gotemba Premium Outlet Mall to do some shopping. Here gathered all the branded goods outlets. But it seems like no much diff compared to Singapore (i dont find the stuffs cheap..) After the shopping, we went up to Mount Fuji, where i got a beautiful view of the mountain and sunset. It was also super cooling up there. And there, i saw big BBQ sotong.LoL. After a nice view up on the mountain, we went down to our hotel which is located at Lake Saiko. I got a big room, which is for 3 pax for the night. (Hotel stayed: Hotel near Lake Saiko)

Day 4
Woke up early and went down to Lake Saiko for a nice morning walk. The Lake was big and the water is super clear.You can get the nice view on the opposite mountain. After everyone is ready, we headed down to Iyashi No Sato Nenba (Thatched Roof Village). It is a small village, like those old japan houses where samurai lived. From there, you can also get a very nice of Mount Fuji (Too bad, it is not snowing, so there is no snow on top). You can also dress up as samurai warrior (for guys) and try on the kimono (for ladies). Bought a nice ice-cream at the village, it was nice and cooling.
After this, we headed down to Owakudani Boiling Valley.Then we headed down for a nice lunch.
After a nice lunch, we headed to take a boat ride on a pirate ship (only went from 1 station to the next station). After that, we headed down to Nagoya, where we had some spare to walk along the street of Nagoya (Oasis 21) before we ended the day. (Hotel stayed: International Hotel Nagoya)

Day 5
Woke up and had international breakfast provided by the hotel. Then we headed down to Kyoto, where we went to Heian Shrine first. It was raining again, which is so disappointing. Walked along the 'pasar malam' opened outside of the shrine. After that, we went to Nishijin district where we had a super nice lunch. (like the lunch here, we had pork/chicken cutlet bento)
After the lunch, we walked down to watch Nishijin Kimono Show. It was like a fashion show with the models wearing different types of Kimono. After the show, we headed down to Kiyomizu Temple. It was a big temple and the one of the oldest temple in Kyoto. There are also alot of shops along the way up to the temple. (You even might get a chance to see Geisha there if you are lucky enough). After the visit, we headed down to Kintetsu Kyoto Station where we bought our ticket to take the bullet train and headed down to Osaka. Once we reached Osaka, we went to Shin Sai Bashi0Suji Market. It was like our bugis street, where there are alot of shops and restaurants. It was a shopping paradise there, the stuffs was cheap. There are discounts everywhere. But we only had 1 hour to shop, didnt manged to walk all the shops. (Bad thing with package tours). We went back to hotel, where we stayed for a night.
(Hotel stayed: Hyatt Hotel)

Day 6
We started off the day by going to Osaka Castle first. Bought tickets to go up the top of the castle. After that, we headed to Universal Studio, to spend the rest of the day there. The theme there is also Halloween. Tried the turkey leg for 780 yen, it was big. LoL. Also loves the parade there, which is only once a day. After that, we went down to have BBQ for dinner. Then we headed back to the hotel for rest.
(Hotel stayed: ANA Gate Tower Hotel Osaka)


Day 7
had my breakfast at a 62 level high hotel. You can see the expressway to the new airport. Anyway, it was time to say goodbye to Japan. Waited in the airport for the flight back to Singapore. (So sad....)

Places Visited:
Tokeyo DisneyLand
Sunshine City
Asakusa Kannon Temple
Ramen Museum
Oasis 21
Mount Fuji (5th Station)
Owakudani Boiling Valley
Iyashi No Sato Nenba – Thatched Roof Village
Gotemba Premium Outlet Mall
Lake Saiko
Nishijin district (Nishijin Kimono Show)
Bullet Train ride to Osaka
Kiyomizu Temple
Heian Shrine
Shin Sai Bashi0Suji Market
Osaka Castle
Unverisal Studio (Osaka)

Taipei Trip [2009]

1st time in Taipei for 5 days, free and easy. It was fun, the food there is nice too. Went in February and spent my birthday in Taipei






Day 1
Reached Taiwan in the evening.
We ate BBQ steamboat for dinner along the street in Xi Men Ding, after which we went to Longshan temple and walked the market along snake alley. Went to Wan Nian building for to begin our shopping spree

Day 2
Spent a day in Taiwan Zoo, after we headed to Taipei 101 Building.
Went to a big bookstore, where we had a nice,hot coffee at Starbucks before continuing our journey. After that, we went to tour around the big bookstore for 1 or 2 hours
Then we headed towards Taipei 101 to get a nice of Taipei from above
After that, we went to Wu Fen Pu wholesale market for dinner (which we had the 1st taste of Taiwan's chicken cutlet. It was very big and nice. ~ wanted to have it again)
Shopping around the wholesale market till late, headed back to Xi Men Ding which we had supper before heading back to the hotel

Day 3
Started the day with a nice breakfast in McDonald's. Then, we headed to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. It was so cold, the wind is blowing strong on this day. HM is the only one who had the thinnest jacket and she was sneezing the whole day.We also saw a super long earthworm crawling on the ground.LoL
After that, we headed to Dan Shui Wharf, where the wind is blowing more stronger (it was freezing there). Then we headed back the MRT station, where we had a All-You-can-Eat buffet steamboat for less than $20 SGD per pax. I had a lot of lala there, PY was targeting to clear all the vegetables, ZH was targeting on the beefs and HM was targeting on the porks.LoL
Later, we headed down to Miramar Enterainment Park where i bought a new basketball. We toured around for 1 hour or so,then we headed down to Shi Lin Market. We had fried oyster, red bead soup and mango ice-cream. We headed to Taipei Main Station where i got to visit a gundam model kits shop. We walked around and headed back to our hotel to rest.

Day 4
Had a early breakfast at McDonald's again and we headed down to Xiao Ren Guo Theme Park. Inside consists the miniature on building around the world and there is also a small theme park for children. There is also an exhibit on Doramon. We had managed to grab a toy (like UFO catcher) here. Later, we had a long journey back to city (on bus, everyone was sleeping). We headed back to Taipei Main Station and shopped around. We also had our dinner in a Japanese restaurant. Then we headed back to Xi Men Ding early and walked through the streets of Xi Men Ding. We also had the onion pancake and chicken cutlet on the last night in Taipei.

Day 5
Prepared our stuffs for checking out of the hotel.Ate our breakfast in the hotel
After that, we headed down to the airport, where we waited for our flight back to Singapore.

Places Visited:
Xi Men Ding
Long Shan Temple + Snake Alley
Taipei Zoo
Taipei 101
Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall
Shi Lin Night Market
Dan Shui
Miramar Enterainment Park
Xiao Ren Guo (Miniature Museum)
Wu Fen Pu Wholesale Market
Wu Nian Building

Hong Kong Trip [2008]

My 2nd Trip to Hong Kong in 2008. Finally got to visit the disneyland, it was so fun there.Took photos with old camera when i went to Hong Kong on my 1st trip. Even went to Macau for 1 day, but didnt went to any of the casinos there. wasted!! LoL
Anyway this is the last trip with my bf before we broke off.




Day 1
Went down to the Peak, we enjoyed the view and breeze up on the peak. We also visited the Madame Tussaude there before we came down. Had our dinner in a restaurant, where there seems not many people eating there. Luckily, the food is still ok and cheap.

Day 2
Can't remember where we went during the day. During the night, we headed down to the Victoria Harbour where we caught the laser showing of the buildings.

Day 3
Ate our breakfast in McDonald's and we headed down to Disneyland by train. Unfortunately, it was raining. But we still proceeded with our plan. My first trip to Disneyland, we met alot of the disney characters, everyone is queuing to take photos with their favorite characters. We spent the whole day, ending the day with a beautiful view of the fireworks.

Day 4
We ended up in Disneyland again, this time to catch the High School Musical Parade (which we managed to catch it before it started to rain again).LoL

Day 5
Last day in hong kong and it started the day with rain.Anyway we checked out from the hotel early and we headed down to Giant Buddha Train Station for some shopping. There is a shopping mall where the wholesale shops are gathered. After which, we headed to the airport for our flight back to Singapore.


Places visited:
The Peak
Madame Tussaude
Victoria Harbour
Disneyland
Giant Buddha Train Station