Harry Potter: The Exhibition @ The Powerhouse Museum Sydney

Gather your wands, robes, painted on scars and broomsticks!

 

 

 

 

Harry Potter: The Exhibition has reached Sydney and the props, costumes are on display at the Powerhouse museum. The museum has housed many special exhibits in the past for large blockbuster movies such Stars Wars, The Lord of the Rings. But so many children would love the new HP exhibit.

The exhibition houses many wands, costumes, building furnishings and paintings and many other props that were seen in the 8 movies and presented in such a believable fashion that you almost feel like you have walked into Hogwarts and the magical world of Harry Potter itself.

The magic was certainly alive as I waited in line in anticipation to be admitted into the exhibition. the use of allocated entry time helps control the crowd flow for the museum, so the event can be seen and enjoyed by all, which was a very good idea. Attending the exhibit during school holidays and on a weekend would definitely guarantee a large crowd and the people turned up in flocks – totally unsurprising seeing as the HP series was one of the most popular things to occur in the modern age. Liked by children and adults alike, I saw an equal number of families, couples, kids, old and young attend, which is proof that the book and film series have impacted on so many people.

It was an extremely exciting build up upon entering the exhibit, which I will leave as a secret, because that was the most magical part of it, in my opinion. As you walk through looking at the props and marvelling at the design and work of the birth of a new world, you realise there are some things are certainly tricked by the magic of cinema. For example the beds that they used looked extremely small, perhaps single mattresses or maybe just set decorating. But it didnt look like they could hold boys from the age of 11 all the way to 17.

Seeing the props makes you realise the size of the actors as well. Hermione/ Emma W looked a lot smaller than what I thought, and seeing her casual clothes and also the size from their first uniforms to their Yule Ball gowns made me realise how much they had grown as well.

The experience can be enhanced with an audio tour for a small additional fee. While insightful and interesting I felt that there were still questions that could have been answered or facts that could have been further explained. However, without it I don’t think I would not have held a larger interest in it. I was constantly looking out for the audio numbers in the exhibit to punch into my little hand held speaker remote.

There are also a few interactive things to do , such a pulling squealing Mandrakes out of their pots and scoring a goal in Quidditch. While this helped keep the interest of restless children I felt that it could have perhaps housed more room for interaction. The museum itself is famed for interaction and science and education. But, the excitement and awe was really held for the presentation of the exhbit itself. The flow of the exhibition was easy and moved seamlessly into one section and another from the schools sports, to the Forbidden Forest and also the Dark Forces.

As you move through you come to one very special place at the very end. Notably: The Gift Shop. Styled like Diagon Alley and bursting with eager fans wanting to get their hands on a piece of Harry Potter exhibition memories. Scarves, ties in the school House colours, wands, books, toys and clothes filled the shop. And I overheard a sales person note that all Gryffindor ties had sold out, much to the dismay of all who heard. I managed to snare a piece of something I wanted and had my eye on from the Official Warner Bros Store. – A Film cell book mark, relying on the word from the sales person, she was surprised I had managed to get my hands on one, so I am very glad and very lucky I found this one sticking out of place on a top shelf!

The personal highlight was definitely Hermione’s gown at the Yule Ball, definitely the prettiest and most lovely dress I have ever seen – especially for Hermione! It was a highly enjoyable and highly commended exhibition for all witches and wizards and muggles alike I suppose! Be sure to grab a ticket because if you are a know it all diehard fan such as myself you will not want to miss this!

New Product Review: Lush Toothy Tabs

IT has been a while since I reviewed something so I thought I would do it again, except this time come back in style and review something totally different.

It may be common knowledge that I am a massive Lush nerd. For all you smelly people, Lush is a cosmetic company, but they specialise in bath bombs, bath ballistics, shampoo, gels etc anything to make you smell nice and get clean. The really special and outstanding thing about Lush is their stand on the environment. They create innovative solid shampoo bars, and conditioners, jelly shower gels and solid massage bars as opposed to packaging oils in plastic bottles. (even their little knot wraps are made from recyclable bottles! Pretty cool). Basically anything that has the ability to remove the liquid, they make into solid form, so there is less strain on the environment for packaging the materials as well as recycling them.

So when I first found out they were creating a SOLID TOOTHPASTE – called Toothy Tabs, I was really excited.  Their other solid products – the shampoos, conditioners and massage bars (which I have tried in the past) were all very impressive at doing exactly the same thing as their other bottled counterparts, and possibly exceeding them! The flavour I tried was part of the “Dirty” range – a bit ironic since I was getting my teeth nice and clean.

Toothy Tabs are a solid toothpaste, sold in a little cardboard box (makes wonders for small travel bags or even hand bags). Each box has 40 small circular tabs, almost like the shape of those fizzer lollies (but don’t eat the toothpaste!). At first after opening the little packet I was a bit apprehensive, thinking that the taste won’t be spearminty enough or that it wouldn’t foam properly (two things that I look for in toothpaste – as well as leaving my teeth feeling smooth and awesome).

Lush Dirty Toothy Tabs

I placed the toothy tab between my front teeth and nibbled and broke it down; that was the weirdest feeling ever. It kind of had the consistency of eating clay (or what I imagine it to be like), when you chew through it, it breaks up and some of it falls out out your mouth or dissolves. And you have to munch to break it up, then wet your toothbrush and proceed to brush as normal.

I have to say the foaming up factor is pretty good, even after spitting out the first round of foam, I scrubbed a second time and it still foamed up. After the brushing my teeth felt extremely clean, which I was a bit surprised about, because the spear mint taste wasn’t as strong as Colgate, but that doesn’t mean my breath still smelt- to me. After using the Toothy tabs my mouth felt fresher and my teeth are feeling squeaky clean.

The product is extremely cool and unique; perfect for those who are travelling light and those who don’t want to carry around toothpaste and squeeze it til it’s paper thin. And at only $3.95 it is pretty good value for yourself and the environment! Go Lush!

Avenged Sevenfold Live @ Syd Ent Cent 30 July

Welcome To The Family! Avenged Sevenfold were back in Sydney again, after they cancelled their Soundwave stint, they are back for a separate “Welcome to the Family” Tour. It was much anticipated by many – not by Perth, however, their show was cancelled just weeks before arriving in Australia. (My Theory – too many fans out getting revenge and poor sales resulting in a “non worthy” stop over to our Western Aus friends. Tut tut A7X.

On the contrary, their show in Sydney was something amazing and intense and held an immense energy for Perth to hear, I’m pretty sure! While I was bitterly disappointed that Sevendust cancelled, they were instead replaced by an Australian band Dream on, Dreamer , and kudos to them for giving it their all.

Last time I saw A7X was at the Roundhouse, probably 2006, and it was probably the most intense gig ever, I remember being drowned and dripping in sweat (mine and others) and getting deafened by a speaker while trying to get as close to Synyster Gates as possible, but it was a fantastic gig none the less and when they performed again at a much bigger venue, I realised they are still fantastic.

They opened with Nightmare (of course) and from the minute they walked on and the Pyrotechnics started happening on stage, the energy did not drop one bit. Moving onto Welcome to the Family they were smooth and the crowd was entertaining – from where I was standing (mingling in front of the sound desk) . The death pit was crazy and there was enough floor space to make a huge one (upon request of M Shadows) during Unholy Confessions riff.

The most poignant moment for me happened during So Far Away, a tribute song to the late great drummer of Avenged Sevenfold, The Rev. I was nearly reduced to tears (yes I am not kidding you, if you were there I am sure the same would have happened to you!) and it was sad and upsetting but the band played with all their heart and so much raw emotion was poured into the song, everyone was certainly feeling the loss.

But it was also a celebration! And the show must go on, so while fans were still angry at them for ditching Soundwave earlier this year, they still put on one hell of a show. Critical Acclaim (from their self titled album) was brilliant and I happened to capture it all on video yay.

From about 2 months before the concert, all I could listen to was Avenged Sevenfold. I thought I would get over the binge, but a few weeks after the concert, A7X still blares from the speakers and headphones. Their music is catchy at times and most definitely dynamic in a way that has complementing lyrics and the harmonising guitars is something that is pleasant to the ear. Even though A7X are a metal influenced band, aurally pleasing may be a strange concept. Yet they all work together well and can create something so moshable (Welcome to the Family, God Hates Us) to something completely different and risky, like A Little Piece of Heaven.

This song has the most screwed up song content ever, but the composition just works with a strange A7X style. I was surprised they played this song, but without a full orchestra, to my disappointment! But definitely interesting to see this one live.

Save Me was their encore song and it was the perfect finish to a night that I never wanted to end. They are captivating and the loss of their drummer has fueled them as opposed to making them retreat away from the music scene. The show was all things positive and it was great being back in the mosh that’s for sure!

See you guys next time!

Paper

It has been awhile since I have endeavoured in handicraft, so I decided that I should present what spare time on a cold Saturday night, an Avenged Sevenfold mix, an excess amount of paper and a blunt (might i repeat BLUNT) Olfa knife can do.

I had 3 types of paper with me

1) plain old purple cardboard that was gathering dust in my room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) some Kikki K wrapping paper I bought for origami. Found out the stock was too thick for origami but made the most of it anyway.

Kikki K Paper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) Yuzen paper with special design that I got from a colleague it’s the prettiest paper I have ever bought and sort of inspires you to use it well you can check out  more designs at http://www.toots.com.au/

the paper I chose from toots.com.au

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After looking at paper cut designs from a book a friend had, I thought I should do something new and productive with all the paper. I feel recently as though my creativity is being sucked out of me and hitting a slump is really bad. But This has managed to take my interest.

So I decided to make a card and it was kinda tricky at first, seeing as I had a broken and blunt Stanley knife. (reminds me that I need to get more surgical scalpels. or just buy an art knife from the shops)

Orange thing being the horrid knife

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: This is my WIP cut out…

Well after much laboring and music and readjusting the blade with blu tack and elastic bands This came about:

First attempt!

 

 

 

 

 

Looks ok to me!

Wednesday 19th January: The Day to Rest

 

 

 

 

NOTE: I know these are really really late! But They seemed to be sitting in my Drafts pages for awhile Catch up blog post soon! xT

So, After an adventurous two days straight, we took the time to rest on Wednesday and to explore West Tokyo on foot to search for information about a Trip to Fuji.

We slept in til quite late… It would have been around 11am and watched The Simpsons and also Japanese MTV – as was our daily ritual. We had memorised all the advertisements for Shibuhara Girls- a Gossip Girl-esque type of show on MTV – which looks totally AWESOME!

We decided to venture into West Tokyo to visit the Tourist Centre in the business district… It was so much fun trekking and walking about, sort of wondering around a bit lost! But seeing the business side with their big tall buildings, women in bikes wearing heels zipping along the path

LUSH is something I LOVE and I managed to find a few on our walk about trip! There was one in the station (Lush Mini), and one on the street at Shinjuku. Once again just  follow the smell and you’re there!

Lush Mini!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More LUSH

 

We visited a massive shopping mall, the Isetan in Shinjuku it was huge! And lots of shopping, what is great about Japanese shopping is that everything is different, the style differs from shop to shop. Also the layout of the shops is continuous, it’s not necessarily a store front where you walk in through doors, but more everything is connected and one shop merges into another and they share the same space.

And what trip to Japan would it be without a visit to the Pachinko slots and dream / sticker photos? It was hilarious as we had no idea what we were doing or where we had to stand to take photos. The only previous experience I had was in Morning Glory Chinatown back in Sydney. Thank God this was the same sort of format, where you take photos on one side, then edit them in another booth.

We mistakenly went into the editing side first and tried to put in our 400 yen until two young girls came up to us waving at us to stop as they were waiting for photos to print. No idea what the hell was going on!

In the end we got it working and the product sits in my wallet

Purikura

Iron Maiden Sidewave @ Sydney Entertainment Centre 24 February 2011

Iron Maiden.

These British veterans of heavy metal and rock touched down in Sydney before the festival Soundwave, for a Side wave at the Entertainment Centre.

After purchasing the tickets in August last year, I had to say it would be difficult to make the excitement last until February the next year. But the day finally came and it was crazy. Crazy in a sense that I would never think I would see a band of such widespread talent spanning so many decades. (Yes what I meant to say was  I never thought I would see a bunch of 50 / 60 year olds jump around on stage and perform for about 2 hours).

I decided to take this approach of reviewing the Live Show differently this year, in order to make things a bit more concise and easy to read.

The Venue

The Entertainment Centre was rather quiet when we arrived at about 7:30 when the show officially starts. There was a sea of black along with denim and long hair  that surrounded the entrance of the Ent Cent. The inside was a lot smaller than I remembered, probably because Acer Arena is absolutely massive. (Acer being their previous venue- correct if wrong).

When the gig was in full swing, the seats were all filled (some were closed off) so it was a pretty full house, but the venue itself wasn’t as large, which I find to be a lot more favourable.

The Support Band – Rise to Remain

The support band was British Rise to Remain, and they were quite good in terms of support bands (ie they didnt drag the set list and brought a fierce energy out of the crowd). They play for approximately half an hour and were loud. They weren’t Dream Theatre, unfortunately, who supported Maiden on their US tour but they were good enough and also here for Sound Wave.

They helped warm the crowd up and mixed their excessive screaming for softer and melodic guitar tones. But boy could the lead singer scream.

The Maiden Song Set List

As usual my brain sort of turns off when it comes to remembering the order/ all the songs played. I do know they opened with Satellite 15 from their Final Frontier album, which set quite a futuristic and tense/excited mood among the crowd. As anyone who has heard the song knows its quite long and repeats the same rhythm instilling a sense of longing and waiting. Eventually the song exploded into El Dorado.

Iron Maiden perform

They went into 2 Minutes to Midnight which is a great classic to play! The songs were quite good, they dedicated “Blood Brothers” to Christchurch earthquake victims, which I found to be quite nice and then went on to play “When the Wild Wind Blows” at this time I thought it was a rather depressing segue into the set list. Played beautifully don’t get me wrong, just so sad more than anything.

They had a few classics thrown in for good measure, I was happy with Iron Maiden – when giant Eddie came on stage, and also their closer Running Free.

They showed off their guitar skills with Dance of Death and Fear of the Dark, they were constantly displaying their fine skills, fingers danced magically over the fretboards of guitars and Bruce brought about a manic energy by running around on stage- set up like a space ship, waving the British flag in The Trooper, and screaming and carrying his lovely voice through the venue.

The song selection was good, all performed well, but I would have liked a surprise “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” even though I knew it was near impossible. Or even Powerslave. But they played their classics, Number of the Beast and also The Evil that Men Do, which I quite enjoyed

The Set

It is really no surprise that they need their own aeroplane to carry the amount of equipment they need. The sets were wonderful, it was all keeping with the theme, which I find really important in any sort of creativity (nerd!).

But they had wonderful back drops which changed to keep up with the song they were singing. The artwork was really great.

The concert was a great experience and it was a unforgettable performance, hopefully when I am their age I will have the endurance and energy they do!

go ahead to : http://www.youtube.com/user/cm6gal for videos!!

See you later !

Tuesday 18th January: The Sea Where Dreams Come True

Disney Adventure Part 2

Disney Sea is a part of Disney that is probably not as well known as the Land component, seeing as it is only In Tokyo. However, I have to say, it gives a very fresh and new outlook to those who are familiar with DisneyLand. Sure there are various differences between the Disneylands in parts of the world, but The Sea component is something that is a lot more unique.

I can dare say that Sea was better than Land. And it is also Lee Unkrich’s (Director of Pixar’s Toy Story 3) favourite Disney theme park (I think, if my memory serves me correctly- he wrote it n a twitter post).

At first sight it seemed a lot bigger than Disney Land, and each part of the Sea.. land, had components and themes, much like Disney Land.

Once again, the sets, props, decorations etc always amazed me, in one part of the lands, American Waterfront, there were street shops fashioned like an old New York Broadway show avenue, with old time music blaring from hidden speakers and fur coat shops. The detail and effort to make the park seem real and alive and even historically correct was brilliant.

Globe outside of Disney Sea

Our adventure started off with the same destination at Maihama JR Station. However, to get to the entrance of Disney Sea you had to take the Resort Line Monorail, and you would arrive.

The Globe above is the entrance port and at once I was reminded of Universal Studios. Through the gates we saw a notification that would dampen my spirits- The Indiana Jones Ride was closed for today.

I was so upset! And I thought, this is very bad, since I missed out on going to the one in Anaheim due to a long wait, then postponed closures for maintenance. I felt that this was definitely a chink in the happiness chain for me.

But I didn’t let that get me down! There was a whole new park to explore with new rides!

So we started of, exploring the map and getting to know where things were. Like Disney Land, Disney Sea is split up into various themed sections: Mediterranean Harbour, American Waterfront, Port Discovery, Lost River Delta, Arabian Coast, Mysterious Island and Mermaid Lagoon.

You are welcomed into the Mediterranean Harbour where water and a mountain loom in front.

Mountain and Mediterranean Harbour

We decided to head left and turn into the American Waterfront and walk around to greet our first ride of the day, Tower of Terror. I was very surprised to see that this part of the park was quite quiet and perhaps it was because it was still early in the morning… But it has its major advantage of short waiting times and we stepped into Tower of Terror and hardly had a 15 minute wait and experienced this scary and thrilling free fall ride. Easily one of the best rides in the park! It took you up top to the “penthouse” of the owner of the tower, who mysteriously disappeared and once the elevator takes you there, the doors open and you see a wonderful sky high view of Disney Sea open before you, then you’re dropped and ride up and down.

 

 

 

 

Tower of Terror... haunted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that intense start to the day, we decided to chill out a bit and headed to Port Discovery, where we walked along the edge of the water past a restaurant cruise ship, that  opened up the view to the lovely Tokyo Bay

Columbia, The Cruise ship thats actually a restaurant.

 

 

 

We ventured onto Port Discovery, the futuristic component of the theme park and took a very cool and realistic ride on Storm Rider, where we ride into the eye of a storm and try to destroy it, it was quite freaky and very realistic with the pre amble about the company that discovered the technology to do so, etc. That was a pretty cool ride.

Lost River Delta, was the world that was next on your list, it housed the closed Indiana Jones ride, but there was another ride we wanted to check out that had a red triangle on the map (signifying a health warning disclaimer, which then translates to the fun and dangerous ones). We checked out “Raging Spirits” which was a rollercoaster type of ride with a 360 degree loop! Although it was small, this was probably the most craziest ride out of all the Disneys. You zoomed and zipped through smoke machines while doing the loop and felt your heart and stomach get left behind.

Lost River Delta with Raging Spirits in the background

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went past the closed off Indiana Jones gate and were once reminded of how upset we were! But that didn’t stop us, in fact now that I think about it, there weren’t any children that were crying at all !! Can’t understand why you would, unless you were leaving of course. Next on our agenda was Mermaid Lagoon and I have to say this was definitely one of the best highlights of the day. The exterior was beautiful, designed to look like King Triton’s castle, this pastel coloured, conch shaped building housed the Underwater paradise full of indoor rides.

Mermaid Lagoon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside we tried out a few kiddy rides, like Blowfish Balloon Race, which spun us around quite fast for a children’s ride! Also we took a ride under some giant jellyfish (Jumpin’ Jellyfish) that bobbed us up ad down for a few minutes giving us a nice view of the inside enclosure.

 

Part of the indoor spectacle of Mermaid Lagoon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lighting was exceptional and so was the decoration, once again, it was loaded with details and just looked so pretty and very under water like!

Mermaid Lagoon, surpassed all expectations and wonder.

One of the prettiest parts of the park, little did I know walking towards Arabian Coast was going to blow me away even more.

Arabian Coast centres on the Genie from Aladdin and has markets to mimic those in the movie and also temples and gardens and waterfalls, much like Jasmine’s palace.

Arabian Coast Caravan Carousel

 

This image shows a palace like enclosure which was actually a two storey merry go round. It was simply beautiful. The funny thing was the place even smelled like spices and curry. Maybe it was the curry popcorn from the vendors that wafted around.

It was a truly wonderful and mind blowing feature of Arabian Coast. Magnificent!

After appreciation of the wonder and beauty of the various pretty themed parks, it was time to find adventure again so we headed off to Mysterious Island, which housed rides like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Centre of the earth. We weren’t sure what we would find at this part but we headed towards the Big volcanic mountain, wondering what was there.

 

 

 

Mount Prometheus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20,000 Leagues under the Sea was a little submarine adventure where you plunge “under the sea” and it looks so awesome and realistic as bubbles arise from the tank and you begin to question whether you really are underwater or not. As the entire thing was in Japanese (like all of the other rides) it was hard to understand what was going on when the submarine was being rocked around and alarms started to sound and scary monsters loomed past the port hole.

But the biggest surprise was waiting for us – Inside the Mountain. Journey to the Centre of the Earth, turned out to be one of the Coolest rides ever. Luckily for us the wait was incredibly short, no longer than 15 minutes or maybe even less. We took an elevator up to the ride and each got into paired into a carriage and the little car would take us on a trip inside the centre of the Earth past fields of colourful rocks (I don’t want to spoilt it for you) But the finale was not expected and it was absolutely wonderful and scary and very scream worthy!

We walked around for hours once again spending the entire day there from lateish morning until it closed at 7pm. And walked back around to Port Discovery and took a spin on the dizzying Aquatopia, where little watercrafts took you for a spin on the water going backwards, forwards, sideways close to waterfalls then stopping. It was a nice way to sit and enjoy the sun shine and also the views.

Sunset over Tokyo Bay in Disney Sea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we were approaching the end of the day, we headed towards the Mediterranean waterfront and took a gondola ride across a fake Venice, our guides spoke Italian though and that was a pretty interesting site hearing Japanese then hints of Italian thrown in there. The ride was relaxing and very special, almost like being in Venice itself.

By this time when our ride ended, we headed towards the American Waterfront for the final show of the night at an imitation Broadway theatre. The singing and lights of the show was fantastic. A very special end to our Disney Adventure.

And I was very sad to see it all end!

For now.

Euro Disney here I come for the Indiana Jones ride!

Monday 17th January: The Land Where Dreams Come True

The Happiest Place on earth.

They certainly got that right.

Disney Land Castle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As soon as I walked through the gate into Disneyland Resort (after taking the JR to Maihama Station) I seriously felt like crying. The music The weather The location. Everything just seemed like a dream, yet so real (How’s that for Inception-influence?!)

I have to say this part of the trip I was looking forward to the most.

Upon our alighting the JR at Maihama Station, we could see that the blue skies were once again in our favour. The weather was beautiful, sun was shining and we were ready to be blown away by Disney, as they do so well.

We purchased our tickets, which allowed us to have entrance into both Disney Land and Disney Sea. Two days of Disney, amazing.

As we walked through the gates, Disney characters, Goofy and a characters from Pinocchio were there greeting the visitors for the day.

Pinocchio

As we walked in, we knew it was time for us to get into order and plan the day and circle the rides we wanted to wait for. With all theme parks the wait takes up most of the day, but oh, are the waits worth it.

It brings tension and hype and being in Japan, and just being at Disneyland you forget about long lines and you’re just happy to be there.

The first ride we encountered was Space Mountain, usually housing the longest line in the park, we were surprised to see it wasn’t too full and glad that we chose week days and I don’t think schools were on holidays either.

Space Mountain, part of Tomorrow Land- the futuristic park of the land, was pure awesome, you’re riding along in the dark with flashing lights, just like what it would be going through space, I imagine. Dips, turns, and opening my mouth so wide to scream that my mouth would be dry because of the rushing air- wow.

After that dizzying spin to start off our day, Monsters Inc’s Ride and Go Seek interactive Ride was next, the line was quite long for this but they did a great job on the interior, which is why Disney is the best, they never fail on the detail, the waiting room for the Monsters Inc ride was fashioned like the Entrance of Mike and Sully’s work place.

With the same ceiling and even a reception desk.

Ceiling of the Monster Inc ride waiting room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was so cute, the ride involved waving a little torch at monsters in a ride through -with a photo at the end as well- Very sweet and suitable for younger kids, but big kids can really appreciate the amount of effort going into making larger than life size characters from the film come to life with advanced robotics. Cool.

Next on our Tomorrow Land trip was Captain EO. A 3D film, starring Michael Jackson. A classic with Disney and George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, this tow tapping 3D musical magicness was very cool, at previous visits to the other Disneylands (Anaheim and World in Florida) I don’t think I actually saw this, and I suppose it makes it much more special now after all these years and especially after MJ’s death.

After Tomorrow Land we explored the other side of the Park at Adventure Land, where the coolest ride, Pirates of the Caribbean is housed. Set in a dark environment with a restaurant set over the water of the ride, it gives a special ambience.

Blue Bayou Restaurant set near the POTC ride

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I absolutely love the ride, once again the characters look so real and the robotics spot on (especially with the little animals) Its hard to believe a film was made from a ride like this.

Continuing in Adventure Land we took part in a jungle cruise outside on a boat this time with our Japanese speaking tour guide, showing us some fake crocodiles and Rhinos , pretending they were real of course. I had no idea what he was saying as the tour was completely in Japanese. But otherwise it was a pretty cool ride, with less than a 5 minute wait.

One of the many highlights of the day was the It’s A Small World ride, after seeing all the episodes of the Simpsons (where Lisa and Bart drink the water) and in Family Guy (where Stewie is chained to the ground to sing as one of the children of the world) I finally took part in this ride! One of the most popular rides in the park, you sit in a magical boat ride, going past various rooms with animated children from all around the world singing Joy to the World in different languages. The lights were quite amazing and the vast expanse of detail never ceases to impress and boggle my brain.

Its A Small World, part of Fantasy Land

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toon Town was very cute and set up too look like it came straight out of an early Disney animation, the set pieces are so realistic and so much effort and detail are put in to make it look like it really fits in. It is truly magical

Toon Town

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By this point, the sun was going down and the icy wind chill was picking up (and believe it or not, we went on Space Mountain twice). And we passed Critter Country and Splash Mountain (an extreme roller coaster ending with the slide down water) it was way too cold and being wet and cold were too combinations that didn’t seem practical, unfortunately we passed on it

But we were getting ready to view one of the highlights of the evening, the Electrical Parade Dreamlights Millions of lights are attached to various huge sized characters and lots of dancing and music is in store, accompanying the magical lights against the dark sky.

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the Dream Lights Parade.

It ran across the main walkway around Disney, signifying the closing of the park for the day and concluded the end of our day of adventure at Disneyland.

Sigh of content

Sunday 16th January: Shibuhara Adventure

I know I am like a week and more late, but there is just no time to write ablog when you’re walking all day and come home late and repeating the same process again! Not that I am complaining!

Harajuku: housing one of the strangest sub cultures of the world- cosplaying individuals with a quirky dress sense that only the Japanese can create and uphold. We took the JR from Shinjuku to Harajuku , where we explored the street mall stalls of Takeshita, we found many a strange costume and  clothing store there, also mini boutiques filled with incredibly girly things like hair accessories, jewellery, fake eyelashes, make up etc all that is needed to make one look glamorous.

Takeshita

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The atmosphere was insane and being a Sunday, it was incredibly busy, filled with tourists, locals, and those just wishing to dress up or look for dress ups.

I found it rather disappointing that there weren’t more cos players hanging around that area, while I definitely saw some ‘out of the ordinary’ characters, I would have thought it might have been a very common thing, in that you didn’t have to actually try to find them.

With a bit of shopping (window mostly) we powered on and walked along the main street that connects Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku: Meiji Dori where we reach the famous Shibuya crossing

Couple of tourists at Shibuya Xing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lights and people were extremely overwhelming. Just walking from one side to another was a battle as you fought through throngs of people and their shopping bags, weaving in and out in front and behind before you found refuge on the other side. hopefully coming out alive!

There was a wonderful store in Shibuya, Tower Records, 9 floors of music madness, with special editions with DVDs and bonus tracks with the Japanese versions. It was simply awesome and a dream come true for me. (However, due to limited time I couldn’t find their vinyl section… )

The night was brilliant, shops, lights, and the winter air really comes together well in this part of the city.

But for us, it was time to rest up as the next day: Disneyland. This is what I have been waiting for. Oh yeah.

Saturday 15th January – Arrival In Shinjuku

I know that I am actually doing this a whole week late, but as they say better late than never and it is a good idea to reflect and remember what adventures were had on the first day of my arrival in Tokyo!

The plane journey was pretty hard, taking an overnight flight and all, but we arrived on early Saturday morning at Shinjuku JR station, after taking the 90 minute N’Ex Train from Narita airport. We took a taxi and had a bit of trouble stuffing the two suitcases in the trunk and then reveled in the sights as the city – still dormant during the early weekend morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: First shot of Shinjuku in the lovely winter sun on the weekend.

Citadines at Shinjuku was waiting for us. This was a really great place to stay, clean, comfortable, in fact the bed was pretty much like my own bed at home, it was fantastic. It was a short walk from the main shops and close to Lawson’s Convenience Store (and 7-11) which was handy for cooking out first dinner of the night. Which was basically the only day we stayed at home to fend for ourselves.

On this first day we just explored the shops including the fantastic and impressive (also hinting at home)- KINOKUNIYA book store.

Kinokuniya Shinjuku

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kinokuniya was something like 9 floors of books it was seriously awesome (even though all the books were in Japanese!) Even the book store in Sydney’s Galeries Victoria is impressive but this was just cool.

They had lift ladies working there operating the lift and pressing the buttons for you which was a strange experience because we didn’t understand what she was saying. a

That night we made our own typical Japanese home cooked meal – ramen (instant ramen) and gyoza

Dinner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did a fair bit of walking and discovering the city that first day so we had  a nice relaxing night in with a nutritious dinner. The first day was good for discovering the city so we could research the JR and explore/plan the next day: Harajuku and Shibuya.