A NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO AFTER A YEAR PLUS! Here is a short video I put together during the spring time in Sydney. More videos are coming soon!
(more details in video description)
We woke up really really early just to catch our train to Hakone, but seeing the beautiful sunrise & the peaceful quiet streets always feels good.
GETTING THERE: There are 2 ways you can get to Hakone; first way via Tokaido Shinkansen from Tokyo to Odawara.
I took the Romancecar which departs from Shinjuku Sta. to Hakone-Yumoto Sta. directly. It wasn't easy for us to find the Romancecar railway exit so, you just have to look out & check out the signboards. I think you can get tickets for the Romancecar on the spot, but it's really not advised because it'll most probably be full. Do book it online at least a few weeks before you go to Hakone because the train is usually full if you book last minute. The earlier the train, the better (it takes about an hour to reach Hakone-Yumoto).
*This is where I myself am confused as well. So there is this thing called Hakone Freepass. Basically if you purchase this, you can hop on/off the bus/railway for "free". When we arrived at the Shinjuku Sta. to get to the Romancecar, the ticket-guy didn't allow us to go in unless we purchased the Hakone Freepass. The dude wasn't really helpful & we didn't understand him at all so I myself am not too sure about what to do, but you can always ask the ticket-guys there, some of them are really nice & helpful.
[Refer to this ^ it's much easier to understand]
Okay, so once you've arrived at Hakone-Yumoto, take the Hakone Tozan Train all the way to Gora. There's where you take the Hakone Tozan Cable Car. You can get off at any stop you want, but most people got off at Sounzan. Once you've arrived at Sounzan, there's the Hakone Ropeway that takes you aaaallllll the way up the mountain Owakudani!
The wind was so strong that day, it almost blew us away, literally. I think it went to almost 5°C. It was so cold we had to buy gloves because our hands were numb.
Guess who we saw?! Mr. Fujisan!
Next, we wanted to go on the cruise at Lake Ashi.
HOW TO GET THERE: Take the Hakone Ropeway again all the way to Togendai-Ko. Just follow the crowd and soon you'll find yourself at the entrance getting into the cruise. The cruise is about 30 minutes.
I loved the super long cruise ride because I got to see the lake, it was really beautiful which many mountains & trees. You're allowed to go on the upper deck which has a really amazing view.
You can choose to stop at either Motohakone-ko or Hakonemachi-ko pier. I stopped at Hakonemachi-ko pier. Once you get off the cruise, you can find various shuttle buses that will take you to your next destination. [Here] is the shuttle bus map, there's also a much clearer map at the counters available at the pier.
WHAT DID I DO IN HAKONE? I didn't do much. It was more of sightseeing. Once we got to Owakudani, we just walked around & took pictures. There wasn't much to eat as well, just mini light bites but there are a lot of cute souveniers.
When you searched up about Hakone, I'm pretty sure the Onsen Tamago is everywhere. There's also the onsen ice-cream, but the queue was too long for me to wait. We almost visited the Open-air museum but we couldn't make it in time for our train if we went in. That's pretty much it, as I said, it's more of the beautiful scenery.
It'd be great if you can stay for 2 days because the Hakone Freepass lasts for 2 days and you can really explore the museums & other places.
Check out my previous post: [Hakone]
It'd be great if you can stay for 2 days because the Hakone Freepass lasts for 2 days and you can really explore the museums & other places.
Check out my previous post: [Hakone]
Taken with Honor 4x with an additional wide angle lens.
Editing apps: Snapseed, VSCO.
What's good y'alls? Today's Phonetography is on Disneysea & Disneyland, the dreamy photo worthy land, yes. I'll be sharing about how I got there and some tips, yes tips, you'll need it, trust me.
Getting to Disneysea & Disneyland: [Here] is Disney's official website route. Your goal is to reach Maihama Station. The station nearest to my place was Higashi-Shinjuku Subway, so the worker at the Subway recommended we take the Oedo Line all the way to Tsukishima and change to the Yurakocho Line to Shinkiba Station then take the JR Keiyo Line to Maihama Station, this was one way to avoid the huge crowd at Tokyo Station. But if you don't mind the rush & the huge crowd & you bought the JR Pass, you can take the Keiyo Line from Tokyo Station.
Once you've arrived at Maihama Station, you'll see signs to lead you to the Disney Resort Line. For Disneysea, you have to purchase a train ticket that takes you to Disneysea. You do not have to do this for Disneyland, you just have to walk all the way to the entrance.
DISNEYSEA
Lo and behold, the cutest mochis you'll ever find. If you go to Disneysea, you have to try these alien mochis!! They're kept refrigerated, so when you buy it, it's nice, soft, cold and firm. There are 3 different flavours inside, but I'll let you figure out which one is which ;) They sell these both at the entrance of Toyville and at the bakery as well.
Ended our tiring night with dinner at a restaurant right outside Maihama station.
Personally my favourite & my family's favourite rides/attractions: I absolutely loved Journey to the Center of the Earth!! Unfortunately we couldn't wait for the 2 hour Toy's Story Mania! queue, and fastpasses were out fast. Hahaha, get it? So, I'm not really a fan of shows and slow, chill rides but others that went with me who didn't mind said that they really enjoyed Sindbad's Storybook Voyage and Mermaid Lagoon Theater.
DISNEYLAND
The bomb ride, Splash Mountain!
The absolutely crazy long line about 20 minutes just for popcorn..
The fireworks show was canceled due to bad weather and I prepared my heart for the fireworks but it didn't happen. (But a couple got engaged right next to me so, I guess that was different haha.)
Our favourite attractions: Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain!! It was so good! But the line for this was crazy long, we waited for about 110 minutes. Space Mountain and Star Tours as well. I've rode Space Mountain before years ago in HK Disneyland, and this one is bigger and cooler with more turns and drops (YAS TO DROPS). Star Tours, if you're a huge Star Wars fan, you have to. You're gonna love it, it's like living your Star Wars dream.
Imma tell y'all this now, y'alls gotta know tons of stuff before entering the dreamy yet scary disney world. I was very fortunate to have my cousin do some planning on the attractions & rides before we went.
#1. PLAN BEFORE GOING - I'm not kidding. Plan Plan Plan. Search up their rides and attractions, which one interests you the most and which one is highly recommended by people (there are tons of reviews and stuff online), usually the rides/attractions with Fastpass are the really popular ones and YES YOU WILL NEED THOSE FASTPASSES. On dates with special shows or events, there's going to be a major crowd let me warn you.
Fastpass recommendations:
Disneysea - Journey to the Center of the Earth, Toy Story Mania!*, Raging Spirits, Tower of Terror*.
Disneyland - Splash Mountain*, Space Mountain, Star Tours, Big Thunder Mountain*.
*Fastpasses run out really quick & the normal waiting line is really really long.
#3. BE THERE EARLY - Yes you must, especially for Disneyland since it's in some way cuter & many people prefer going to Disneyland. Before the gates even open, a huge crowd is gathered there. Seriously, wake up and go there early. If you go late, you won't get many fastpasses and you'd probably waste time queuing up than actually having fun. This also applies to parades & shows, if a parade/show starts at 7.30pm, gurl if you go there at 7:10pm, there's no way you can get a good view, trust me. People start getting ready at 6:30pm.
#4. BUY YOUR TICKETS BEFOREHAND - Do this so once you reach there you can just go straight to security check and enter without having to wait in line or to even waste time purchasing tickets because the line to get into Disney is crazy.
#5. OOTDs ARE IMPORTANT BUT - Don't lie, and am not gonna lie, yes, females and couples love to match up and go to Disney for a photoshoot session and what not but wear appropriate attire if you want to go on cool rides. This goes from the hats & beanies you wear to your glasses, to the bags you carry. On rides that are pretty "hardcore" (Journey to the Center of the Earth, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, etc), you will have to remove all hats, even the cute headbands you purchase along the way, they even warn you about your glasses falling off, and your bags have to be secured tightly, not something with a huge opening or something that can fly off. If you're having a bad hair day and you wanna wear your beanie or cap all day long and can't take it off, I'm sorry, but you gotta. If you go for Splash Mountain, yes you're bound to get wet or even a little. And yes, do carry light stuff when you go to Disney, don't bring your whole set of lenses or your laptop around, it's really tiring to carry that the whole day walking about or standing in line.
I really suggest going to both if you have the chance to! But if you really can't make it for both & wanna just choose one, my suggestion, Disneysea if you're not a huge fan of all the characters & parades and just wanna enjoy fun rides.
Thank you for reading this long post! [previous post]
