Japan Trip Day 3: Disneyland

Merry Christmas!! It is a dream come true to experience Christmas at Disneyland but sadly the day was rather screwed up by sister. She could not wake up early enough and I went to Disneyland first as I did not want to miss another opportunity for taking pictures with Judy Hopps or Nick Wilde. Previously in April, all the tickets were already given out in about 15 minutes after park opening. I left hotel at 7am and by the time I reached Disneyland, the queue to enter was already longer than the queue for Disneysea yesterday. 

The entrance area is currently even more messy with more ongoing constructions and renovations. However, the biggest shocker is to see that the castle is wrapped with scaffolding for renovations. This is not the Christmas and New Year (next week) that I am dreaming of T_T Huhuhu.. I was even considering cancelling the Vacation Package for New Year but in less than a week, it would be 30% penalty. Damn...

I did not come for this T_T

I went to take the ticket for Judy Hopps and took photos of the Christmas decoration at castle courtyard. The two main ones (i.e. Mickey and friends) are not placed properly and there are lamp posts that obstruct the photos. Boo... There are two smaller ones (Pooh and Dumbo) but they were not popular with people. I took photo with the official photographer at Mickey and Minnie one and then there was official photographer with the tree at the World Bazaar. It was pretty nice since there were staff trying to clear the crowd from the phototaking area so that the photos by the official photographers had fewer photobombers.

Christmas Tree at World Bazaar in the morning

That irritating lamp post

This is used for official photographers in the morning so I did not have a chance to take a picture at day time

From whichever angle, there is always a lamp post blocking

So cute Pooh is sleeping

By the time my sister arrived, the tickets for Zootopia characters were still available. I asked for her ticket and to get me Nick and she agreed. This was when I was queueing for the Christmas tree. I told her to queue for tree first but she stubbornly and stupidly chose to take photos with the statues at the courtyard first. By the time she reached Christmas tree, the queue was already too long. As our queue was separated, when her turn came, I somehow managed to ask the photographer to give a photo keycard since the one she was holding was mine. Maybe I should go for Japanese class again since my Japanese is just deteriorating.

After this, we choped seat for the Christmas parade and we were on the 3rd row from the parade route. Actually it was my sister who 'choped' since I had to go for Judy Hopps. Luckily I was able to make it in time for Christmas parade after 'sumimasen'ing my way. Despite sitting on the 3rd row, the guy in front of us was so tall that it obstructed my view and I could not get good photos. Christmas parade does not disappoint and it helps with the Christmas vibes. After the parade, I went for photo with Nick Wilde.

I enjoyed the interaction with these Zootopia characters. I think because of the controlled system, there is enough time for meaningful interaction. The cast members who helped with my camera were also nice enough to take some pictures when I was interacting with the characters. I was feeling cold (after the parade) for Nick Wilde but he was my favourite. He tried to warm me up since I told him I was feeling cold and he even messed around with my hair. Sadly none of these was captured by the photo keypass. I was too cold to show the card while queueing and the bastard did not ask. Sigh :( I showed it to the cast member as I handed over the queueing slip but things did not work that way. I needed to show it to the one who asked about purchasing photos. Aih.. lessons learnt.

I decided to skip Jamboree Mickey and exited the park to settle my Vacation Package. My sister arrived on Monday morning and I was hoping that she could help me ask. That did not happen. The staff at the Welcome Center was useless. I wanted to ask if the ticket for 31st includes access to the park in the morning. She did not really understand my question but acted like she understood (with her accent some more!) and only asked me to come back on the 31st -_-"

My sister wanted to check out the supermarket at the basement and on the way I saw a Vacation Package counter. Sigh.. the staff was equally useless and not answering my question. At least he told me I could come after 3pm on the 30th to collect the package instead of waiting until the 31st. I suppose at least by then I would know if the ticket includes access to the park on the morning of the 31st.

We went back to the hotel to eat lunch and after that we returned to Disneyland. With the ongoing renovation on the entrance, I was not expecting any roaming characters. So it was a surprise when I saw there was a queue for Rapunzel and Flynn!! It changed to Mary Poppins, Cinderella, and then Mary Poppins ago during my turn. I actually felt quite sad for Mary Poppins since some people did not want her. One person in front of me left the queue (yes after waiting for more than half an hour) and there were kids crying and screaming wanting Cinderella. Although I was also disappointed, I tried to engage her with Christmas and then she commented on my Christmas clothes lol. What made my day was the pose as she asked for my arm so that she can put her arm around. I am shy to pretty girls hor.

After I was done, the Christmas parade was already reaching the central courtyard and the number of people was wow... I went to Toon Town area in the hope of catching the parade and to take better photos. The good surprise of doing this was to see that the new areas opening early next year (Baymax, Beauty and the Beast) is mostly done and the scaffolding is down. Beauty and the Beast castle is visible now and Beauty and the Beast songs are already played over the area.. How exciting for next year but I have no more visa so it maybe another 3 years before I can visit Japan again. I did not have a good spot at Toon Town for the parade but my photos were better than this morning.

Happy to see Anna and Elsa.  Could not get the float at all because of heads of the early birds but at least managed to get the pictures of the characters clearly

I went to Mickey's House after the parade and the queue was already 70 minutes my goodness and I got Sorcerer Mickey again. I am in the hunt of Steamboat Willie Mickey since that is the only one I do not have yet. There are some Christmas decorations at Toon Town but with the usual low lighting of the area, the additional Christmas stuff is barely noticeable.

Additional Santa's hats

Christmas tree and lights at Goofy's house

Christmas socks and Merry Christmas at Donald's ship

I returned to Christmas Tree but there was no official photograph anymore :( I was hoping to have a good photo with a darkened sky and the lights. My sister got on my nerve again with her stupid priority. I told her to take photos with the evening Christmas decorations now before people started to leave the park as the crowd would even be crazier. To make it worse, in the end she got good pictures while I got shit ones. Same camera, same places, same conditions, and yet all my photos turned out shit. I was so fucking angry that I just left her.

The entrance is rather lacklustre compared to the World Bazaar

The whole World Bazaar area turns magical with the evening light shows

The Christmas tree at night

I bought a hot cocoa and hot dog to eat while watching the Electrical Parade. I was quite bored with Electrical Parade so it was a good thing that I did not watch it in the cold. They incorporated a few Christmas tunes to the Electrical Parade song but the overall music felt soft and weak. It was quite a fail to me as it did not feel like Christmas nor Electrical Parade. Aiyo somehow she caught me after the parade so I had to walk around with her until the rest of the day.

Woody and Jessie

On the journey to find a toilet, I ended up seeing Toy Story statues at Westernland which I never realised before. Then we saw the fireworks which was the same as Disneysea one yesterday. We ended the day with Philharmagic just to enjoy the seat and the warmth. Shopping-wise, sadly I no longer saw the Christmas Tomica cars that I saw at Bon Voyage on Monday. Oh well.. With tomorrow all the Christmas stuff have to de-shelved, I also do not see any discounts to the Christmas goodies except for the Mickey and Minnie plushies which are still expensive even after 50% discount. Are they really going to throw away all the Christmas stuff?

I think Disneysea has more extensive Christmas decorations to help with the atmosphere while Disneyland is better with the Christmas parade and the whole Christmas feels at the World Bazaar. Which one is better? It is not a fair comparison now since Cinderella Castle and Disneyland entrance are having renovations. However from the past two days, I think the parade and the World Bazaar are more effective in awakening the Christmas spirit.

It would have been a fantastic Christmas day but not even this castle under renovation made me angrier than my sister

To avoid yesterday's puffiness, I only wore 3 layers for the top today (extra warm heat tech + long sleeve fleece + fleece jacket) and I leveled up my bottom with extra warm heat tech but same pants as yesterday. Although I did not put on my ultra light down, I honestly think these layers today were not warm enough, especially when having to wait for parades i.e. easily 1 hour or more under the sky. I will definitely need more layers for the new year's eve.