DISNEYLAND @ MAIHAMA

Sam, looking a little puzzled XD;;

I refused to start a travel-log entry that starts with “We were late once more because I have problem waking up in the morning >_>” *coughs* ANYWAY, it was a fine fine morning we woke up to! Initially I didn’t plan to go to Disneyland on a weekend after the various comments of horror by several friends who had experience going to Disneyland prior. Disneyland = crowded. Disneyland during weekend = HORROR! But due to the fact Sam’s Japanese friend - Mitsuo knew that we wanted to include Disneyland as one of our crash stop… he asked whether we would like to join up with him and his friend walking around the place. We are of course, more than welcome that 8D

There were some communication the night prior so we were worried whether he did get our confirmation about going to Disneyland afterall ^^; Taking the subway to Maihama, we encountered a family that was having some sort of argument about which train and line to take. In English. Maybe the husband-wife pair spotted Sam and me talking in English among ourselves, she asked us for direction towards Disneyland. They’re tourist from Singapore so it feels like “HEEEYYY NEIGHBOURS!” for the moment though I’m still amused at how reluctant the husband want to ask for directions XD

Eventually after a long train ride, we reached Maihama. It as obvious where we were supposed to head to. Everyone were headed the same way anyway XD The crowds was HUGEEEEEE. I can’t describe how so many people can be packed in one place like that. But the crowd was superbly HUGEEEEEE. I’m terrified. I don’t look forward to queing up the entire day for probably just two rides at this rate.

Due to some miscommunication prior to meeting up, Mitsuo didn’t managed to buy our tickets beforehand so Sam and I joined the long que for the tickets in two lines hoping one will be luckier than the other to save time. In the end, Sam’s line got to the counter earlier and I scooted off to wait for her near the exit lane. I ended up striking a conversation with a pair of elderly couple from China. They were surprised to hear me speaking in Mandarin and thought I was from Guangzhou or at least Hong Kong because I didn’t have their heavy accent when I speak in the language. It was a surprise for them to know that I came from Malaysia and I can speak both Mandarin and Cantonese. As well as English and Bahasa Malaysia. And a dash of Japanese XDD;;;

We finally managed to meet Sam’s friend - Mitsuo! He was with Eri waiting for at least an hour already for us T___T I feel so bad once more. Shaking off the awkwardness of meeting someone for the first time soon enough; we babbled and conversed in a mixture of Japanese and English the whole day XD ( Mainly in English because Eri has an English interview the day after and she’s still there in Disneyland offering to be our tour guide! Argh! I felt so guilty! )

Yeap. This is a small fraction of the people at Disneyland that day O_o

It’s A Small World. The first one we went to

Our #2 stop! And one of my favourite ever Halloween Town Haunted Mansion !! The wait wasn’t as horrendous as we thought. But it’ll be worth it anyway since I’m a huge fangirl for Nightmare Before Christmas. Jacccckkkkk ♥

Right after that we snaked our way towards Snow White’s Grotto to see the afternoon parade 8D

Donald <3 <3

After that, we decided to take a short break from queing up the rides and stopped a bit to sit down for snacks ( I really don’t consider these finger foods lunch but it was really good to sit down and chat and just enjoy each others’ company! We were conversing in both English and Japanese which was kinda hilarious. Both Eri and Mitsuo can speak really good English but sometimes it’s hard to get certain messages across. My Japanese skill = horrible XD;;

Mickey shaped niku-man! Sam’s meal 8D

We spent a good hour or so queing up for Star Tours ( Star Wars related attraction. I was wondering why is it in Disneyland? XD ) And then we rushed straight to the Space Mountain humongous que. We probably waited in line for a good 2-3 hours but it was worth it! I love the roller coaster-esque total darkness ride 8D Poor Mitsuo was so cold he kept shuffling about with hands in pocket to keep warm. I was kinda cold myself because of all days.. I chose to wear leggings O_o Go me. But the fun never stops even while we were lining up so I didn’t really noticed the temperature.

Saw these from the food stall actually. Mickey and Minnie’s houses! Ahhh so cute! Even though I’m not a fan of the pair myself Donald fan FTW!

Didn’t get to visit Mickey and Minnie because the line was long and there’s a Pooh fan among us *coughsSamcoughs* 8DDD So the obvious NEXT stop is ….

Pooh’s Hunny Hunt!

It was getting really dark as we were still lining up and I felt extremely tired all of the sudden. Curse my stupid Malaysian no seasonal changes body clock! I just get all weirded out when the daylight’s gone around 4p.m. >_>

Okay so we were starving after the Honey Hunt since the entire 2-3 hours we qued up we were breathing in thick aroma of honey probably from the Honey stick vendor across where we were. Dinner time! And with Eri’s experience with Disneyland and good timing.. we headed off to the restaurant and ordered our food while waiting for the Night Parade to pass us in full view 8D ERI = BEST DISNEYLAND GUIDE ♥

My dinner XD This cost about 780 yen I think. But argh! Hot mushroom soup = lifesaver at that time. Didn’t managed to get much night parade’s picture because my camera battery’s dying once more T__T

After the Parade with time to spare, we headed off to Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blaster! Didn’t have to wait long because Eri got us some ‘fast-pass’ ticket earlier in the morning 8D It was fun trying to shoot down aliens XDDD I got a Rank B at the end of the ride >_>; I’m so not good at this XD; The following areas we visited have to be timed correctly because we wanted to see the fireworks and Eri wanted to slot in another two attractions after that ( It was already past 8p.m. )

Fireworks was SO. VERY. GORGEOUS. The entire Cinderella’s castle was lit up by the burst of lights. Japan trip had been wonderful so far. And I get to see pretty fireworks ;__; I missed my trip like whoah typing this out >_>; I took a video of it though 8D

Not the fireworks picture but nightview of the castle is just too beautiful as well

The very moment the fireworks ended Eri dashed us to the attraction right next to the place where we were watching fireworks just moments before. We managed to avoid ANY crowd at all and made a bee-line straight to the entrance 8D Go Eri! It was the Micro Adventure! ( Honey, I’d Shrunk the Audiences? XD )

Everyone got to know that I’m a huge fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and promised me to go to the ride as the last ride of the night ;__; I’m so, SO happy ~~ Everyone’s too nice! ;3;

PIRATESSS!!! ARRRRRRRR!!! And Jack Sparrow’s figures in there looked SO VERY REAL ♥

And that marks the end of the day in Disneyland for us. With about 15 minutes or so before close for good for the day Sam and I went around the stores for any last minute merchandise buying XD; Which I didn’t buy much because I’m cheap and broke and wanna save for concert merchandise XD;

Daruma Mickey! I love love LOVE these! Eri is so sweet! She bought Sam and me a set of daruma phone accessories *tears* I’d got the Daruma-Mickey ( which I’d wanted ) and Sam’d got the Daruma-Minnie ( which she’d wanted XDD )

THe dolls and items on the shops’ display. I didn’t ever want to leave this magical place ;3;

Goodbye Disneyland! I love you! And now for DisneySea…

To tell the truth, I never thought of myself as a Disneyland fan. I mean, I watched Disney’s cartoons religiously as a kid but I didn’t really like much of their newer animated features ( Aladdin and Beauty & the Beast still wins my heart after all these years ) But being there in the midst of all these Disney characters and mascots; I was geeking out everytime I see a character I loved and known as a kid. And I felt like a kid seeing magic the whole time I was there ;3; Eri and Mitsuo were undoubtedly amused that Sam and me knew nearly every single characters that we encountered that day in Disneyland.

I’m really really glad I get to know both Mitsuo and Eri. They’re both very wonderful and fun people ! They make me feel less a silly gaijin and ran along with the clueless us ( or maybe it’s just me? ) We talked a lot the entire day on everything under the sun; from hobbies to what we do etc etc. Mitsuo was shocked and happy to know that I’m a L’Arc~en~Ciel ( and Japanese music ) fan. And I’m throughfully amused when Eri admitted to had visited Disneyland for a good 20 times already ( She’s a Disney otaku as opposed to me being Gundam otaku? XDD For some strange reason the term was used endearingly for the rest of the day lol ) Both Sam and I tried teaching Mitsuo weird Malaysian slang and he was happily using the term “lala” for the rest of the day XD It was really really fun. Not just Disneyland. But the very experience of making new friends and having fun with them carefree-ly.

Eri promised us that she’ll be our Disneyland guide again the next time we have the chance to visit Japan. This time around she’ll take us to DisneySea because she now knows I’m a big fangirl for Aladdin XD ( He’s probably the only Disney-guy I had a crush on since I was a kid XDD ) Thank you Mitsuo! Thank you Eri! For making my first trip to Disneyland such a wonderful and memorable one.

Tags: disneyland, japan, tokyo