Oh Japan. I miss you, and I don’t. That’s for another post, though! This is all about Tokyo Disney Sea and my journey there this time. I’ve been there a handful of times, and written about it before, too! I was just getting the hang of my new camera (I still thought that the touchscreen was the best way to take photos, but I was SO wrong, and of taking photos in RAW. If you’ve known me for a long time, you might remember when I started to post photos of my walks in Arizona and my first arrivals in Japan in my old livejournal. Most of those photos are not online anymore because the server that I used isn’t around, but maybe I’ll dig some up for posterity later. Anyways, I’ve never taken photography super-seriously (it’s a hobby for me and a way to share my life), but some of you know that a few months ago, I took a side job at a resort in Hawaii doing portrait photography. I mostly do editing and printing, but I take photos sometimes as well, and I decided that I really want to up my game. So I picked up a Nikon D5500 with the kit lens. I liked the red body and touchcreen, and it was decently priced, so even though the kit lens is nothing special, I am saving up for a better one and learning how to use Lightroom to get the effects that I want. I used to own a Pentax, but in an incident with Tofu (my youngest kitty), it met the floor HARD and shattered part of the body and my only good lens. So, it was time for a new baby, and while I was interested in Pentax as well, this red one won my heart with its good looks. <3 I really have zero brand loyalty. Good cameras, come my way, whatever brand you are! ANYWAYS, enough about that! Let’s enjoy a trip to Tokyo Disney Sea, the revised and expanded Winter 2017 edition! I really went to Disney Sea because Thuy wanted to go. I could have passed on Disney entirely because I’ve been there any number of times, but she really wanted to go, AND stay in the Disney Hotel (The next post is about our room there– gorgeous!), so off to Disney we went! Outside, Thuy and Donald. Outside of Disney Sea, there’s a giant, rotating, floating Earth. I imagine that it’s been there since it opened, but I always love to marvel at it. It’s really gorgeous. The lanterns are pretty, too. I don’t remember seeing this before, so maybe it’s new for the 25th Anniversary of the park. Or maybe it’s been there all along. I’ll have to read my old post after this! This is the entrance to the park. They take your tickets before the globe, but if you want to see the splendors of Tokyo Disney Sea, you have to enter through the archway. Ack! Well, there’s a giant harbor inside the gate, but leave it to me to skip that and rush off to the Jules Verne area. >.> My favorite ride, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea are both there, as well as a cafeteria that I’ve never eaten at, even before I went vegan. Oh, by the way. Vegan options in the park are few and far between. Japan isn’t really… conscious… of most social issues. That’s putting it very politely. But I still found things to eat (popcorn! churros! rice!). I tried my hardest to get a few photos inside 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but there wasn’t much time to figure out what I was doing. I did alright, I suppose! After that, we grabbed some goodies in the harbor bakery. I mostly took photos and wished that there was some place, any place, that offered coffee with soymilk. It was VERY cold, and I suck with the cold. The alien desserts were adorable, though! Inside Journey. During the ride, photos aren’t allowed even though it’s absolutely gorgeous. Next, we wandered by and through Ariel’s castle! Although the inside is for kids, it’s really amazing to see the outside! It’s almost like seeing the real thing! If they would remodel the inside so that it was for adults (Disney Sea is touted as being more for adults than kids, so I don’t understand why they even have a children’s area. What a missed opportunity, when they could have an amazing, explorable recreation of King Triton’s castle!!). Seriously, it’s so bright, so detailed, that it’s easily the best sight in the park. Again, too bad that the inside is for kids! Even the benches are gorgeous! I want one like this on my patio someday. THOSE DETAILS! AMIRITE?! Still learning how to use my camera…. Thuy with the gorgeous interior. I’ll say it again: MISSED OPPORTUNITY! I probably say this mostly because I don’t have kids of my own, but I feel like adults should be given whimsical places to play, too. It doesn’t have to be “for kids” just because it’s bright and colorful and shiny. Life should have more bright, colorful, shiny points in it! Thuy enjoyed it, though. She’s a kid at heart, like me. Back to the outside world, and over toward the harbor. I used to love the Weather ride that was here, but my friend Jill told me that it had just closed earlier in the year to be remade into something else. Sadness. This was the waiting area for the Indiana Jones ride. It’s fun, but it would be a lot more fun if photos were allowed on the ride! And here is supposedly the Temple of Doom. Those girls weren’t posing for me, but I waited forever for them to get out of the way and they didn’t move, so here you go! Girls who are for some reason wearing their school uniform at Disney Sea! Port Discover is gorgeous, though I’m still sad about that ride! For the 15th anniversary (oops! I wrote 25th earlier!), there was a special event. If you bought these useless plastic wands for a lot of money, you could find kiosks like this in the park and they would light up… woooooooo…… Seriously, more power to you if you do that! I was so cold that taking pictures was the best I could do, haha. I loved this matching couple! I mean, they aren’t stylish, but they sure are cool! That would be the Verne volcano back there. On the other side of it is his area. It didn’t really look like there was anything down there. The only vegan treats are some of the cold sodas. Blech. Cruely and Disney are opposites, aren’t they? Well, Disney is a HUGE corporation, and you know how those places usually behave behind the facades. I enjoyed the magic, but suddenly feel guilty about not knowing the whole truth. The US? I’m hoooooooome! I… guess? I LOVE THE TOWER OF TERROR. Thuy didn’t want to wait in line, and it was a looooooooong line (I wanted to, though!), so I let it go. I’ve been on it before. But oh man, the outside. <3 There are so many pictures of Thuy because I don’t trust others with my camera. >.> This was inside the gift shop, hehe. It doesn’t look very terrifying like this. Wandering back through Verne-land. Getting chips and guacamole (it was slimy and lime green! Do not recommend and trust me, you don’t want to see it) for dinner. The soda with chia seeds (!) was good, though! She seriously called her parents in Hawaii from DisneySea. I… uh. Then I thought that since there were so many adorable people hanging around the park, I’d try to get photos of them. My stealth photography in the cold isn’t very high-level yet. And there was the dancing, blurry Stitch! I saw him the other day in Aulani here in Hawaii, so he must be getting around a lot these days! Can’t blame him for coming home, though. The weather here is so much nicer. There’s a lot more to say, so stay tuned!! (628 geeks have read this)
(628 geeks have read this)