Wednesday, April 23, 2014

JAPAN TRIP 2014 - DAY 03 - DISNEYSEA PART 01

Pagi tu kami bangun pagi di Hotel Tokyo Dome, Tokyo. Sebuah hotel yg located betul2 sebelah stadium baseball terkenal di Jepun iaitu stadium Tokyo Dome.

Hari ni ikut itinerary kami akan ke Disneyland, Tokyo. To spend sehari di sana. Well, up till around 4:00 pm cause we need to leave Tokyo early for Mount Fuji to avoid Tokyo traffic jams. Plus perjalanan ke Mount Fuji tu makan berjam gak.

Apa2 pun breakfast dulu kan :). Wife yg dah berpengalaman dalam hal2 packaged vacationing ni, strongly menyarankan kami turun for breakfast very early. Kalau sarapan starts at 6:30 am, we must be at the restaurant at 6:30 am [sini pukul 6:00 pagi dah terang dah]. Reasons: 1) My wife kata kalau lambat pasti kena beratur nak masuk restoran tu. Betul tu sebab hotel besar cam ni memang byk tourists groups. 2) Since we are leaving at 8:00 am, elok kalau sarapan early cause then can go back to room, pack a bit, gi toilet, and yg penting got time to check out the areas around the hotel..hihi...

Ni Restoran Rilassa, Tokyo Dome Hotel. Our tour guide dah tunjukkan mana yg boleh makan, mana yg tak dari buffet breakfast yg disediakan. Haaa... tgk tu barisan panjang nak masuk restoran. Mujur wife suggest we go early!

Lepas breakfast, kami naik ke bilik. Bilik tingkat 33 dgn view ini. Tu dia, bandaraya Tokyo disimbah cahaya pagi. Ha tu la.. kan bagus turun sarapan awal. Boleh click2...hihi....

Bila dah selesai gi toilet, freshen up, makan ubat dan last minute packing, kami cepat2 turun bawak bag dan tinggalkan kat lobby at a section allocated for our group. Ha... satu lagi, elok sgt bawak turun bag2 awal sebab kalau tak, alamat lama le nak tunggu lift. Bayangkan busloads of tourists yg nak turun check out from hotel turun at about the same time! Pas tu kami terus keluar hotel to take a few shots of hotel and surrounding areas. 

Compared to buildings, I prefer to take shots of people. Like people going about their daily chores, going to work, walking the dog etc. Tapi shot hotel pun kena ambik gak sebab nak buat blog entry ala travel log kan :)

Everything looks nice and clean. Oh ye, masa tu quite sejuk dan berangin. Tak ingat exactly berapa degrees tapi dalam belas2 gak le. Tang angin yg tak tahan tu. Kat sebelah Tokyo Dome tu ader taman tema kecil. Kat Jepun ni taman tema kecik pun ader roller coaster. 

These are shots taken dari dalam bas on the way to Disneyland Tokyo. Org Jepun gi kerja hampir semua well suited. Baik yg jalan kaki mahupun yg berbasikal. According to my wife mereka yg bertutup bukan sebab jerebu atau sebarang masalah pencemaran. Tapi sebab mereka tu tak sihat so tak nak spread germs onto others. Waaa.... so considerate. 

Bukan le aku nak kata org Jepun kuat merokok, tapi kat situ biasa aku tgk diaorg merokok while driving. Tak kisah le kalau ader kids or family members in the car pun. Tu yg took shots of the hand with cigarette tu :). Tapi tak le 'seteruk' masa aku gi China i.e Shanghai dulu. Situ, oooo..... every which way I turned mesti ader someone huffing and puffing.

Aku suka kalau dpt shots of people of a place I visited from as much walk of life as possible. 

I think this is a nice shot of the city. The soft morning light flooding hard office blocks. 

Coincidence cam ni yg aku sgt look forward tu. Our bus passed by sama masa train ni lalu. So me must always be ready...hihi...  

Sejak pakai lens tamron ni, senang nak shot wide or zooming continuously especially when taking shots of moving trains, for example, without having to change lenses. 

Yet another shot yg I think for me is possible di captured only masa berada dalam bas yg berjalan di highway sahaja :). 

Kat mana pun, subject apa pun, cahaya pagi adalah yg paling bagus! :)

Best sebab kebetulan ader boats tgh lalu :)

Kalau anda ke Jepun naik Air Asia, anda akan turun di Haneda Airport [see road sign above]. Bukan di Narita Airport. According to our tour guide, usually kalau naik Air Asia ni susah sikit sebab flight akan sampai tgh malam. Then nak bertolak dari Haneda Airport ke hotel di tgh2 malam tu memang meletihkan. Pas tu berapa jam je tido dah nak check out and on with the itinerary for the day. Not advisable according to our guide tu. 

Menara yg tinggi tu actually is an incinerator for sampah sarap. Very modern and widely used in Japan. Also nice kan berbasikal dgn view cam ni. If not cold la :)

Waa... that person... what a lovely morning walk. 

Tu dia, belum sampai Disneyland aku dah dpt byk shots. Ye la kan, bandar Tokyo pun kena ambik shots nya jugak kan. Ni waktu sampai di Disneyland punya parking area. Masih awal so belum penuh. Cara mereka2 ni direct traffic sgtlah efficient dan sgt systematic. Kagum aku. 

Tokyo ni actually ader 2 Disney Park. 1st, the Tokyo Disneyland Park and the 2nd is the Tokyo DisneySea Park. Dua2 park ni sebelah2 je dan dihubung oleh train. Package kami cover Disneyland sahaja. Tapi my wife teringin nak ke DisneySea Park tu. Aku rasa cam rugi la pulak sebab ticket Disneyland dah dibayar [part of total package cost] dan kalau nak ke DisneySea kena bayar tiket sendiri. Aku tahu tak de tempat lain yg ader DisneySea ni. Not even in the USA. Last2 bila bas dah park, aku terus buat decision dan setuju dgn my wife's suggestion untuk ke DisneySea. Wife juga tambah yg kami dah ke Disneyland Tokyo in 2009 dan baru 3 bulan sebelumnya kami dah ke Hong Kong Disneyland. Now how can I argue with that kan...hihi.... My wife can really made her case. 

And of course kami mesti notify our tour guide En.Zadil and En.Wan tentang our plan nak DisneySea. Bila En.Wan dah selesai urus ahli rombongan lain masuk Disneyland, kami pun dibrief on how to get to DisneySea. Actually simple je. Gi train station [very near from Disneyland main entrance], beli tiket, naik train dan turun kat the 2nd station. Train tu pusing satu lingkaran dan lalu 4 stops je. Ni banggunan train station tu. Nama service ni ialah Disney Resort Line. 

Ni mesin to buy the tickets. So we bought 2 tickets pergi balik ke Tokyo DisneySea yg berharga 625 yen [RM20] seorg. 

Ni suasana dalam train. Tingkap berbentuk kepala Mickey. 

Ader 4 station untuk pusingan lengkap - Tokyo Disneyland Station, Bayside Station, Tokyo DisneySea Station dan Resort Gateway Station. Trip kami ambil masa cuma 10 minit. 

Ni main entrance DisneySea. Yep, kami kena la beli sendiri tickets sebab not part of package cost. Maknanya kena beratur. We saw lines. Alhamdulillah we were quite early so line tak panjang. Tapi I notice kat Jepun ni, kalau nampak line panjang, jgn risau, tak lama kena queue. Plus Japanese in when in queue very relaxed, discipline, calm je. I mean aku tak le expact cam ader riots pulak tapi they all ni so well behaved. And while queuing I noticed tak der foreigners selain kami except for a couple of European ladies.  

Ni di kaunter beli tiket, Kami beratur tak sampai 1/2 jam. Sembang2 dah sampai kaunter. Harga ticket seorg is 6,200 yen [RM188.00]. Harga ni lagi mahal dari Disneyland yg berharga 5,600 yen [RM170.00]. Harga2 ni berubah2 ikut musim it seemed. We also asked for guide map in English cause the staff kat kaunter bagi yg in Japanese. Hihi.. mau sesat pulak kami nanti. Terbukti tak ramai foreigners yg datang sebab the counter staff had to go to back room to get the English version guide map :).   

Ader glode, cam kat Universal Studio. Ini simbol DisneySea located kat DisneySea Plaza. Ia sentiasa berputar dan digenangi air. 

Elok rasanya aku muatkan satu panoramic shot of the entrance area of DisneySea ni. Crowd cam ok ok je. Tak sesak. Not bad actually considering masa tu cuti sekolah di Jepun. 

Apa2 pun mesti study peta. Rancang betul2 cause ader time limit. Sekali imbas memang le tak akan dpt nak cover semua. Besar park ni. Huge! Kalau nak cover secara santai my opinion kena at least beli yg 2 days pass punya ticket. We both agreed to come here again, well prepared next time. Kalau ader rezeki ler :). So elok je kami decide to just enjoy our maiden voyage di DisneySea ni dan cover le as much as we can. Also we do not want to rush. Santai2 je. Nak rush pun umur dah cam ni, cepat capek pak!

Tokyo Disneysea ni ader 7 sections: Mediterranean Harbor, Mysterious Island, Arabian Coast, Mermaid Lagoon, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery dan American Waterfront. 

This is the main entrance to enter the DisneySea area and parks. Banggunan berciri Itali ni actually is a hotel, the Mira Costa Hotel, the only hotel in the DisneySea area. Cantik, right!

I mean just look at the details. Looked ruggedly weather beaten, but visually very pleasing and inviting. The colours are amazing. The rustic look, well, just look so real. If you look closer, you'll be amazed of the details. I practically had to tear myself away from spending too much time taking shots at this spot. Otherwise tak cukup le masa nak explore. 

Le sigh. Macam real kat Italy. 

The brick walls, the windows and balcony. All looked so beautiful and real. 

As we entered, BAM! we were greeted with an awesome view of the Mount Prometheus yg tgh berasap no less :). Depannya ader tasik with ship and docks. Staff DisneySea memang sgt digalakkan untuk tolong ambikkan photos pelawat2 especially at the photo spots. Me and wife. She with her cekak Minnie yg dibeli kat Hong Kong Disneyland.. hihi. I have my Mickey hat yg with ears tu tapi tak sanggup pakai. My wife tak per, she look comel. Me? So not age appropriate for me lah...hahaha....  

Gunung berapi Prometheus. Man made. Imagine that!

We are now in the Mediterranean Harbour section and that's the MiraCosta Hotel. So gorgeous! 

Literally I could spend hours just being there shooting these buildings. Macam mana agaknya kalau aku di tempat di mana banggunan2 sebenar berada? 

Oh ya, I forgot to mention, Alhamdulillah cuaca hari tu sgt baik, cerah dgn langit biru. Tak sejuk, nyaman2 je. So nice :)

Kalau rajin pelawat2 boleh ke spot2 tertentu to meet the characters for photos opps. Dalam guide map ader lokasi2 meet the characters and the time.

Across the lake ader harbor dan beberapa attractions and restaurants. Tapi kami tak sempat nak ke sana. 

Jambatan yg sangat cantik merentasi tasik. 


Disebabkan aku teruja sgt dgn building2 ni, aku muatkan byk shots nya dalam entry blog ni.
Agar aku tidak lupa :)


So gorgeous, yes? :)






Yg bestnya masa tu kat area ni tak byk org. So shooting jadi lagi best. Lengang. Cantik. 

Amazing details!


Awesome colours! Look so authentic.









Replika runtuhan purba Roman pun ader di Mediterranean Harbor. 



Jalan2 tentunya haus kan. So kami nak beli air mineral. Staff di DisneySea tak begitu fasih berbahasa Inggeris actually. Agaknya sebab majoriti pengunjung adalah org Jepun sendiri. Unlike di Disneyland mereka boleh la cakap Inggeris walau pun sikit2. So macam my wife said, I used bahasa ayam-itik masa berkomunikasi dgn staff ni. Pulak tu nak jaga kesihatan kami nak air mineral yg tak sejuk. Hmmm.... cam ner nak bagi tau. Last2 aku pegang botol air tu, tunjukkan pada staff tu sambil aku mengigil to indicate sejuk. Then aku buat sign 'No' and followed by mengigil.. haha.... cam fun la pulak... haha. And she understood!


Bersambung.....

Di bawah saya senaraikan links untuk kesemua entry JAPAN TRIP 2014 saya:

No photograph may be reproduced, downloaded, copied, stored, manipulated, or used whole or in part of a derivative work, without written permission from Syed Amran. All rights reserved.

6 comments:

  1. very nice collections of photos. and nice way of presenting jugak nih.

    *

    saya fikir kalau ke sana saya cakap je bahasa melayu dengan bahasa tangan. cakap inggeris pun diorang tak paham kan? hehehe~

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    Replies
    1. Thanks GB. Bila ke tmpt cam ni I tak boleh tidak, mesti akan shoot sepuas hati...hihi. Tu yg byk nor foto2nya. And so it became such a challenge on how to present so many photos. The selection process je took me days to complete. Nak edit sikit2 lagi. Then nak frame them like these lagi. Susun dan nak put captions too. Memang le such a chore tapi enjoyable. I buat santai2 je. Tapi bila dah siap... wooo... feel nice :)

      Yes, you can do that but your sign language must be very good lah..hihi.

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  2. Salam.. nk tnya u all p on a weekday ya? Coz crowd mcm x rmai... bln brp u all p ni ya? Coz if weekdays pon rmai, rsa mcm mls nk masok dlm iten. Tq

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    Replies
    1. Salam...
      Betul, masa kami pegi tu hari weekday. Masa queue nak beli ticket entrance tu memang tak ramai sgt org sebab kami sampai awal. Ni kami pegi end of March. Towards noon org dah makin ramai sebab kebetulan masa tu cuti sekolah di Jepun which kami tak tahu actually. Jadi elok kalau elak pergi masa tu. Fyi, average waiting time nak naik rides etc masa tu around 100 minutes.

      Tips:
      1- Pergi on weekdays.
      2- Elak pergi masa cuti sekolah di Jepun.
      3- Pastikan sampai awal kalau tiket belum dibeli. Kalau dah siap2 beli tiket awal pun elok sgt tiba awal.
      4- Elok juga if got time to buy 2-Day or 3-Day passport sebab park ni sgt besar. Sehari tak cukup nak cover semua area.
      5- Sampai2 je terus ke tempat rides yg utama utk elak long queue.
      6- Bawak makanan sebab kat park tu tak de restoran halal.
      7- Boleh solat di Customer Service Center - you can request.
      8- Sgt penting to plan which rides/attraction to go to and arrange the order according to map utk elak buang masa deciding and walking from one place to the next as the park is very big.
      9- Pastikan sampai awal di tempat tengok water parade untuk dptkan spot yg paling best to watch the parade.
      10 - Make sure take a lot of photos and videos :)

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    2. Very informative tips syed.. tq so much.. However, i dnt think i can afford 2-3 days at disney..limited time la..hehe. ..100 minutes waiting line kire pnjng tu... now still contemplating whether to go or not. . Takot org terlalu rmai n u end up doing nothing n feel uncomfortable but if i dnt go, it's the only disneysea in the world...haha..tngk dok pikir2 lg ni.. Thanxs

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    3. You're most welcome :).

      I understand we sometimes do not have the luxury of spending days at one place while vacationing. Kami pun cam tu gak cuma that 1 day je kami ada.

      Yes, 100 minute jenuh beratur tu! Sebab tu kami just went for the lesser popular rides where the queue tak panjang. Tapi those rides pun best juga sebab kalau not good tak mereka buat kat Disenysea tu kan...hihi...

      Betul sebab may be tak disangka ramai orang pulak. Tak pe, kalau you jadi pergi cuba buat macam yg saya cadangkan i.e really make the necessary plan supaya boleh elak beratur lama dan membazir masa trying to figure out stuff while there.

      One of the 'selling point' yg my wife guna untuk saya setuju ke Disneysea ialah dia kata exactly as you mentioned i.e it is the only one Disneysea in the World! Saya terus terjerat...hahahaha....

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