The day did not start with the right note. I asked my sister to set an alarm at 6am, as a back-up just in case mine did not ring, and her alarm rang at 5am -_-" It woke me up instead so when I woke up again at 6am+, I was damn pek chek. She did not even wake up and I ended up finishing my breakfast while waiting for her. Initially I was planning to eat those bread while queueing to enter Disneysea.
We reached Disneysea before opening time and the queue was already wow. Luckily we still managed to get FastPass for Soaring and it was already for 9pm+. We went to Abu bazaar and got all 3 losers' pins. Lucky this time there were only 3 instead of the usual 5 pins. I suggested to wait until 9am for the characters too appear and sadly it was only Jafar. Usually getting attention from characters at Tokyo Disney parks is a nightmare but I think Jafar knew we are foreigners so he chose us.
We went back to the front to watch the Christmas parade and then to America Waterfront for Christmas decorations. Unlike Disneyland which has its giant Christmas tree at the World Bazaar at the entrance, the centerpiece of Christmas decoration in Disneysea is near the SS Columbia ship. Too bad there was no official photographers with the giant Christmas tree there.
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| Giant Christmas tree |
I suggested to have an early lunch to beat the crowd and then we went to take photo with Donald at the Lost River Delta. Donald recently replaced Goofy here so we did not have a photo with this Donald yet. I decided not to show my photo keycard in the hope of getting a new one so I can pass it to my sister. Darn.. the person could tell that I was a foreigner so she did not even offer me although I replied all her stuff in Japanese. So I ended up without photo keycard pictures with Donald T_T What a bitch. After that, we went to Duffy who is now at Saludos Amigos in place of Donald and this time I showed my photo keycard even without being asked.
At the shop near Saludos Amigos, a Goofy ear beanie caught my attention. It is green and has a 'G' sown on it: what a perfect combination of my favourite colour and my initial. After taking photo with Duffy, I decided to buy the beanie. I am not a fan of any headgear in general because it will flatten my hair and worse, my round face just does not look good with any headgear. Oh well, it is green and has a G so buy first and think later.
On the way back to the front, we walked through Arabian Coast and saw Jasmine alone. I did not bother to try my luck but at least now I know that there is a possibility of Jasmine appearing alone. I do not have a photo with her alone so in the future, I still can have hope. I brought my sister to watch King Triton's concert (which I watched previously) before watching the Christmas parade again.
As the sky started to darken, we returned to the Christmas tree for another photo. There was an official photographer now but I hesitated since it was quite dark and there were so many people photobombing at the background. I decided not to queue since I still have the chance for the tree at Disneyland tomorrow instead. That is my biggest regret of the day. We started to feel cold and my sister wanted to try the special edition Christmas food at the stalls around American Waterfront. I decided to get the stall which was also selling Cocoa Whisky drink.
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| Definitely looks more impressive in the evening |
While queueing for the Cocoa Whisky drink, we flipped through the Today brochure and found that Ariel was wearing Christmas attire :( By the time we walked back to Ariel's Greeting Grotto, they already closed the queue. Haiz.. I know some characters may have different attire for winter (e.g. scarf, hat) but never expect Ariel will have a different attire for Christmas. After all, I took photo with her 2 years ago in her winter attire which is different from her Christmas attire. Huhuhu...
We proceeded for dinner and we had difficulties finding a good spot to warm ourselves at Zambini Brothers' Ristorante. The highlight for dinner was my first time trying churros. After finishing my first one, I bought another one so that we could sit there longer until Fantasmic began. I think it is expensive (400 yen) but I can understand why people are willing to queue for this. Haha.. I personally think it is better than popcorn.
Unlike the Electrical Parade at Disneyland which I have grown bored of, Fantasmic never gets boring. I noticed that there have been changes since the last time I watched it such as Stitch and Cinderella now also appear at the top of the sorcerer's hat (previously it was only Mickey who appeared there) and some of the floats were also rather different. Fantasmic is scheduled to end its run in March 2020 and I suddenly realised that I never watched it from behind i.e. from under Mt Prometheus. I will definitely do next week since that is my last chance.
Soaring marked the end of our day and honestly I do not understand the hype around it, other than it being the newest attraction. No doubt the animation at the waiting area is mindblowing. It really reminds me of living photos/paintings from Harry Potter. We were wow-ed by how it was done since when the animation ended, the painting simply looked like a normal painting and we were wondering how the animation was done.
The magic of the attraction itself is rather spoilt as the room is pretty bright when we are setting up. I can tell that basically they will just lift up the seats to give the 'flying' sensation and then watching the screen for the actual flying. Despite knowing this, the quality of the screen is fantastic as it is so realistic. That is how much the technology has advanced! Even knowing that I was just sitting on an elevated chair in a room, the sensation of height and flying really pumped my heart. By the way, the seats are arranged in 3 rows and the front rows are hoisted up the highest (perhaps equivalent to 3-4 storey height?). I was on the third row a.k.a the lowest elevation and yet I was feeling the adrenaline rush. Haha.. People who think that pilots are overpaid should try this. Height is scary and imagine seeing this view as everyday job. Nevertheless, I don't think it is worth to queue ~3 hours just for this 3 minutes experience. Perhaps if the flying is more eventful, this will be much better but hey, the theme of Soaring is just about flying and exploration, and not adventures like Indiana Jones.
I do not keep track of the temperature today but I was comfortable with my tops (normal heat tech + normal long sleeved t-shirt + fleece long-sleeved + fleece jacket) since I did not need my ultra light down. However, this combination made me look 'puffy' for pictures so I will not wear this combination anymore. It is more challenging for the bottom as I have limited layers and I still felt kinda cold with normal heat tech and usual long pants. I also decided to wear Pitta mask since morning and that is the best investment to protect my skin and face. Initially I found the fogging of my spectacles to be very irritating but after some getting used to it, the benefit of protecting my face from the cold wind is definitely worth the minor fogging. I will definitely wear this mask for the rest of my trip.
It is Christmas tomorrow but I do not think Disneysea successfully awakens my Christmas spirit. The parade was a bit meh because of the choice and the rendition of the songs although thumbs up for the performance as the singers were singing live. I hope I will get more Christmas feel at Disneyland tomorrow. Nevertheless, I think Christmas is still the best time to visit. The decorations and all the lights are simply magical. Aaaah... It is also nice that the 'back part' of Disneysea i.e. Saludos Amigos also gets a pretty Christmas decorations. I normally do not post a lot of photos but these Christmas decorations really deserve to be shown off. Hehe..
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| Minnie and Mickey statues at daytime... |
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| ...which looks more amazing at night |
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| Kinda forgettable so did not revisit this tree in the evening |
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| The best decorated shop... |
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| ..which gets even better at night and would even be better if the floor decorations also light up |
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| Christmas decorations at Saludos Amigos area |
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| Christmas decorations at Saludos Amigos area |
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| Christmas decorations at Saludos Amigos area |
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| Entrance area |
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| My new camera cannot capture the details of the lights and they just appear as a blotch of light :( and stupid me, I did not take picture of the whole entrance with the 2 trees on the ground |
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| Compare with my sister's iPhone: all details are captured at the expense of realism since the whole picture looks so bright unlike the actual environment |
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| I hope the World Bazaar area at Disneyland will be better than this |
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| Oops I did not face the Mt Prometheus like in the day time as a comparison |
Okay I shall stop with the photos or they will never end! And definitely I would like to visit Disneyland and Disneysea again every year for Christmas decorations.
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