(vi) Disney Sea

As a massive fan of Disney and its themeparks, visiting Disney Sea was definitely a must on our list. Compared to Disney Land, Disney Sea is almost like an extension of the main themepark that centers around a large harbor. Fortunately we happened to visit during the time when the school holidays just ended, so we expected the lines to be a little better.

Getting to the Disney resorts involved taking the subway to Shin-kiba, the last station on the Yurakucho Line. From there we switched to the JR line to take us to Maihama, where we got onto the Disney Resort Line that stops at the two themeparks and resorts.

We arrived at the themepark just when it opened at 8.30am. Already there were huge groups of people filing through the large gates. Knowing that the most popular ride - Toy Story Mania - would be the first choice for the majority of the visitors, we hurried towards it hoping we could hop on before we try the other rides.

Passing by the Tower of Terror, perhaps the second most popular ride there (but not one I dared to go on)...

...we eventually slowed to a stop by the sea of people heading towards the same direction. At least the crowd was gingerly moving forward.

By the time we arrived at the entrance of the Toy Story section, it was quite difficult trying to find the line heading into the ride amidst the crowd. But we just following the flow of the crowd until we reached what we thought was the start of the line...

Instead we found out we were actually lining up for the fast passes. Quite a bonus actually, since we inadvertently secured a time for the fast lane! Fast pass stations are located in front of each ride that are fast-passable, and any visitor can get one until the time slots run out.

As we waited for our afternoon time slot for Toy Story Mania, we explored the rest of the park and tackled the popular rides off our list. We first went up to Lost River Delta, where there were two thrill rides (both Fast Pass-able but the lines were short enough without them) - Indiana Jones and Raging Spirits. Indiana Jones was an indoor ride following very closely to the original one in America, basing it off the current sequel Crystal Skull. Raging Spirits on the other hand was an outdoor roller coaster. In terms of thrill factor, it was fast and the ride went quick, but no it wasn't scary at all compared to the ones I've been on.  

At the center of the park was Mysterious Island, a beautiful lagoon that had a bit of a steam punk feel. This area also had two rides, 20 000 leagues under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth. 20 000 leagues was a slow paced underwater (or underground?) ride where we entered a small submarine and looked out of the circular windows at ship wrecks, reefs and cute little Atlantian creatures. Whereas Journey was another thrill rollarcoaster ride, mostly indoor in a cave-like setting before the 'volcano erupts' and we were hurled up the ramp and immediately down again giving the all too familiar gut dropping feeling.

Next to Mysterious Island was Mermaid Lagoon, a kingdom replica of King Triton's castle from The Little Mermaid. This section of the park consisted mostly of kiddy rides.

Inside the palace was a beautiful underwater themed world, covering a wide area with rides, a large whale as the souvenir store, and the Mermaid Lagoon Theatre where Ariel and her sisters perform their concert.

This was how the concert hall looked like before the show opened. The show consisted of puppets and large circular screens where they display Ariel's sisters as they dance from screen to screen. But the highlight of the show was Ariel, played by an actress in costume suspended in the air as she 'swims' around the hall. The best moment of her performance was where she hit the last note of her "Part of your world" song, and as she advanced forward right in front of my eyes a huge white spotlight dazzled around her like a wide halo.

Aside from the entertaining and mesmerizing performance, there were plenty of rides to try outside such as the Blowfish Balloon Race (below), The Whirlpool (a tea-cup esque ride) and Jumpin Jellyfish (another 360 high ground spinning ride).

And we couldn't escape the grotto without visiting the charm of the souvenir store inside the whale's mouth.





There was also a children rollarcoaster and a Scuttle spinning ride outside in the open, but we gave them a miss and instead headed down towards the harbor where we discovered a show was about to start.

From afar, we saw speeding boats and cute colourful ferries coming out from the bridge next to the Mediterranean volcano.We found out that this was the special Easter performance, consisting of five ferries with Disney characters emerging from within, including Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Duffy. They came out singing and dancing to the audience, alternating between each stage around the harbour with groups of colorfully dressed dancers on the main land.

DisneySea also had their own electric railway running around the park.

Again another photo of the Tower of Terror. As magnificent as the structure was, still didn't step foot inside to try it out (the one time in Orlando was enough). 

Finally the time came where we were able to fast track Toy Story Mania! Basically a carbon copy of the same ride in DisneyWorld, where guests sat in a moving vehicle whilst shooting at the 3D screens in an arcade-esque shooting game.

Aquatopia in Port Discovery was a two sitter ride rotating on a water track. Not much of a thrill but nice to go on to make time pass.

Finally, the world of Aladdin can be found at Arabian Coast. The Magic Lamp Theatre (below) held a 3D theater consisting of a live cast and an animated Genie on screen. And no Disney themepark can go without a carousel, in which case Caravan Carousel can be found here with not one, but two levels that guests can fit into.





No flying Dumbo here, but there was Jasmine's Flying Carpet.

Towards the night we unfortunately missed Fantasmic, an evening show that is usually held on the harbour due to weather conditions. I personally had a wonderful time in DisneySea, it held a charm different from DisneyLand and the rest of the Disney themeparks. I would definitely recommend visitors to visit DisneySea, even if they had to choose between this or DisneyLand, DisneySea is really a one of a kind.

Day 7 : EVER-FUN EVERLAND

Ever since I watched the 'Running Man' team visit South Korea's largest themepark for one of their missions, I literally vowed to go there the next time I touched down on that country. So today was the biggest highlight for me. We left early in the morning to take the public 5002 bus at Gangnam to Everland. The bus comes quite frequently (around 15 min), and the station is a couple of meters from exit 10 Gangnam station. There was also a worker at the station who asked us if we were going to Everland and told us where to wait. The fare was 2000W for one way. The duration of the trip was around 40 minutes, which was quicker than we expected since there was little traffic during that time. The themepark is situated away from the city area in a desolated mountain like region, so it was quite colder up there. We arrived at the shuttle bus area first, which was completely empty. From memory we arrived a half an hour early from opening because we feared the long lines, and it was during holiday season. There were just a handful of people with us on the shuttle.

 

The shuttle took us to the entrance of Everland. Already there were people lining up in front of the ticket offices, eagerly waiting to get in.

Below is the price chart, but since we were foreigners we could use a voucher and present our passports to them to get a 20% discount [link to price and discount voucher]

After purchasing the tickets, we lined up behind the entry gates, waiting for the grilled gates to open. When the workers in their blue Harry Potter-like coats came out to make sure that we were all lined up, we knew it was almost time! We took the maps that they handed out to us and planned our way to the first ride - the T Express.

The T-Express is probably the most popular ride in Everland. We literally fast-walked / ran over there, and made it before a long line started to form. This wooden rollarcoaster is the fourth steepest in the world, tipping at 77 degrees and going at 104 km/hr. It didn't sound so scary until I was on the ride and looked over to the 2nd steep track across from me and realised I might've regretted my decision lol...

This comic I made illustrates how it went on

Right next door to T-express was the Snow Buster, a snow sled ride that has 3 types of slopes depending on how high you want to slide down. After riding the T-express, ANY sort of thrill ride were kid stuff in comparison. We chose the highest slope, where we can go as a single rider or with a partner. The only downside to this ride was the number of stairs that we had to climb in order to reach the top, then we were given a yellow tier to drag up the slope and clip onto a hook that automatically dragged us up inside the tier the rest of the way to the top. That was quite fun, but because most of us didn't understand Korean, the worker at the very top was saying something to us so we thought we had to stand..but it was the complete opposite to what he was apparently saying so some of us almost risked slipping down the icy slope prematurely XD Anyway, the ride down the slope was soo worth the trip up =)

Snacks! You can't miss the snack booths splattered all around the themepark. I had my first (yes first) corndog for breakfast..mmm nutritious... 

The Rotating House was smaller than I thought it was. The interior looked amazing, like a Victorian-esque haunted house, but inside was a small rectangular room where we all sat on opposite sides of each other and the walls moved to give the illusion that the whole room was rotating. The 'scary voice' speakers were speaking in Korean so once again language failed us, although we received an awkward yet surprising 'thrill' on our seats at the end of the ride.

At Magic Land, the rides are alot more kiddy and chilled. Such as the Magic Swing which swings up and down and rotates 360:

Dragon Coaster which goes up and down as it spins around

 

And we couldn't resist being a little kid again without going on the merry-go-round!

Columbus Adventure

Championship Rodio: If you like rides where they spin and thrust you sideways at high speeds, this is for you

 Hurricane

I think I just blindly followed my friends into this show, then realized the crowd were mostly parents with their babies and kids that were at most 5 years of age. AND the show was again all in Korean. So basically not only were we too old for this, we couldn't understand what the show was about...except that they went to space, met some aliens, and became best of friends. How original ey? But Pororo is very popular with kids, I know at least that much.

We also went to see the Rio 2 4D show, although again it was a bit unfortunate that we couldn't understand a word ;_; We spent the least time at the zoo area (Zootopia), but it's a great place for animal lovers.

There were plenty of restaurants to choose from, plus different cuisines, although some were closed (perhaps due to low peak times). Below is a little food area called Holland Village if you like Western food.

We chose a restaurant literally called "Korean Restaurant", where we ordered a mackerel and kimchi soup set. It also comes with all you can eat kimchi, a small slab of ham, and some soup.

 Now for some random snaps along the way. We discovered the LINE store featuring characters from the LINE app. You can get t-shirts, accessories, toys, stationary, cushions...anything to do with LINE.

Random decor

At the Magic Garden, everything seemed white and bare during the day. The Magic Tree was still grand and beautifully decorated, but to see all its glory you have to see it at night. The park transforms into a magical and gorgeous light display.

Magic tree during the day...

...and during the night!

The Magic Garden all lit up

Other areas of the park at night

So pretty no? Sadly we missed the parade, but we were all tired after spending a whole day in Everland, so it was time to leave the same way we came and have dinner in Gangnam. We searched online and found a chicken + beer restaurant called Kyochon Chicken. How we got there was a bit of luck, since we just walked down the busiest alleyway where all the restaurants were close to the station  and eventually came across it.
This place puts KFC to shame! It has the best fried chicken I've ever had so far, and they come in large plates for 15-18000W.  We chose the soy/honey and chilli flavours. The skin was crispy and full of flavour, and the meat so tender...oh god I will probably never have such delicious fried chicken again unless they open a store in Melbourne. They also gave us each a disposable plastic glove to avoid getting our hands oily, and a small bin to dispose the bones. The pickled radish that came as a sidedish goes down really well with the chicken.

Finally, you can't have just chicken without some beer