Japantown is pretty much an outdoor mall (Japanese Village Plaza) and its surrounding streets. The plaza has a good mix of the stores you’d expect. Sanrio (Hello Kitty), traditional style souvenirs and apparel, authentic cuisines, bakeries and grocery markets. Sneakers are covered with Footland Sports. They stock a good range of current items including colourways and styles that you’d expect from a much larger store. Very few of the items have prices, when asked, they’re all around standard RRP but with a “I give you a special price” post-fix, so there’s a bit of bargaining to had if you’re purchasing a few items. There’s also a sale wall at the back with old season stock.
Sanrio - Japantown LA
Outside the mall the sneaker fun continues with RIF LA, the downtown consignment answer to West Hollywood’s Flightclub. Similar range, though the prices were higher. As with any bricks and mortar store, the benefit would be being able to go in, handle the shoe and try it on rather than taking your chances on ebay and the like.
RIF LA
On the northern side of the plaza is easily one of LA biggest and best anime stores, Anime Jungle (second store on the southern side). Huge selection of Manga, cosplay outfits, Gundam model kits, tees and anime related merch. The store itself isn’t very obvious with “Cure shop” on its front window but its unmistakable once you walk in.
Anime Jungle
A block to the west you have Weller Court, a small mall with a nature strip and Japanese gardens, perfect for taking a rest from all that walking! The last stop is Q Pop, a mid size store with a good selection of vinyl collectibles, clothing and books. It differs from the usual with a more advent guarde approach to the clothing and artworks, a bit more twisted and a little less cute, there’s also a selection of finer arts like paintings and sculptures. They of course still have the cheek squeezing super cute stuff if that’s more to your liking.
Q Pop LA
Q Pop LA
Next up, we ditch the shopping bags and hit up a string of sight seeing and entertainment!
Los Angeles 2011 part #1 – Arrival, Melrose Trading Post
Los Angeles 2011 part #2 – West Hollywood shopping, Mulholland Drive
Los Angeles 2011 part #3 – Downtown shopping – Fashion District
Los Angeles 2011 part #4 – Downtown shopping – Japantown
Los Angeles 2011 part #5 – Steel Panther @ The House of Blues 17/5/11
Los Angeles 2011 part #6 – Hollywood sign, Farmer’s Market
Los Angeles 2011 part #7 – Peterson Automotive Museum
Los Angeles 2011 part #8 – Greater LA area shopping
Los Angeles 2011 part #9 – Hollywood sight seeing with Orbic Air
Los Angeles 2011 part #10 – Driving in Los Angeles/California
Complete Los Angeles 2011 photo gallery here
Downtown LA
Most cities around the world tend to have a CBD which is based loosely round a large mall or group of shops, not so much for LA. Its CBD is strongly focused on the ‘B’ and can throw off first timers expecting more, very much like ourselves. First stop and possibly only stop for most people is the infamous 100 block “fashion” district. I use the term “fashion” very loosely as it seems like its more targeted to certain demographics and it seems one of the biggest markets are middle age to elderly women, not too unlike the mother of Nanny Fine. You know the look, big loose clothing with violent clashes of colour and patterns or an unashamed overuse of glo-mesh and bedazzling.
Coming a close second are the hoochie mama outfits. If you finally got that part as “background dancer #14” in your friends rap video (yes we know, it’s a foot in the door till your boyfriend/manager sorts out that demo for you) then this is the place for you! Store after store of leggings that look like jeans, jeans that look like leggings and mannequin bums that look like two pigs fighting under a blanket. Starting to see a pattern yet?
YA RLY
Unfortunately the guys gear isn’t much better, while some of the prices are good, the range is limited to basic work wear, athletic gear and Ed Hardy styled fashion. On the upside there are plenty of suit stores and tailors, a lot with questionable designs and dated cuts to go with their outlandish sitcom drug dealer style shirts but there are some good places with classic designs and vintage flare.
One thing to note is a lot of the stores are wholesalers (some don’t actually sell to the public) so the prices can get very good if you’re looking at buying in bulk eg. For your team, school, work. One of the Dickies sellers mentioned he supplies a few stores in NZ and AU.
But remember these are the UDM (US domestic market) work wear variety, not the “Dickies Street” version sold by stores like City Beach in Australia, which incidentally have very little difference to the work wear ones.
In the way of sneakers, you’re best to just keep walking. The few stores we ventured into were a mixture of fakes, factory seconds and low end “rubbishy” models. There were a couple worthy toy stores with less commercial product, one I found in the most unlikely of places selling wind chimes and jewellery, everything BUT toys. But they did have a shelf in the window of collectible vinyl in a hiphop/graffiti vain which look liked they’ve sat there for years. Pieces which I’ve seen around the traps ranging from $50-200US as limited runs in selected Kidrobot stores and the like. When asked on prices, they were clearly made up on the spot from a guy that should really never play poker! I’m sure I could’ve haggled a better price out of him, but with numbers between $10-15US it was hard to keep a straight face. Needless to say, I cleaned them out 😉
The rest of this precinct is divided up for flowers and textiles. The flower section has a huge selection of cut flowers and potted garden flowers and plants along with associated accessories. Obviously the weather dictates a lot of the seasonal/regional flowers but its still a surprise to see massive 10-15 flowered Phalaenopsis orchids for a throw away $10ea. Similar items would fetch between $50 and $100 mark here. The cut flower arrangements are what can only be described and typically American. Big, bold and brash, like a brand new Escalade with chrome wheels or your mum’s hair style from the 80s, they feature a fanned peacock tail arrangement with a random selection of “pretty” flowers. Roses, sunflowers, tulips and ample Baby’s Breath are all slapped together in a tribal head gear fashion with cohesion and colour blocking coming in with a DNF. If you really want to dazzle your loved one you can even go for the pieces that feature a large plastic gold plated ornament! Needless to say, if you are buying cut flowers, you’ll do better buying a couple bunches and putting them together in the dark 😉
Textiles on the other hand, while still having the patterns/styles of a Rugs-a-million clearance rug, are saved by sheer variety. Even if you have a brief passing interest in sewing its worth a look, if you’re at the other end of the scale and are already thinking how many fat quarters you can get into a suitcase then you may want to consider ditching some of those sneakers :-0
iPhone case anyone?
Its probably best to just park your car as close as possible to the area you’re visiting, then move it to the next area and pay the few bucks again as the blocks are loonngg. If you want to brave it or aren’t driving, walking does have its advantages in stumbling across stores and flea market style centres with electronics, souvenirs and general plastic crap, not too unlike your average Asian shopping “centre” and all at prices less than the usual tourist spots. For example, souvenir tees were around 20-40% less than places like Santa Monica and the Farmer’s Markets.
Big Man Bakes
As you’re venturing north take a detour to South Main street for Big Man Bakes, nothing as suss… or big …or manly as it sounds! Simply some very tasty gourmet cupcakes. Try the Red Velvet – a traditional southern style cake, the caramel apple or the “old school” – yellow cake with chocolate butter cream icing; the list goes on and they get cheaper the more you buy.
Further north is the “Toy District“, which was in all accounts disappointing. A whole district of toys?? Yes please! Unfortunately, from the several blocks we walked through it was nothing more than novelties and knick knacks bar a few remote controlled helicopters and cars. There’s also a scattering of home wares and car accessories stores. There’s a Hello Kitty store, or should I say a store that sells Hello Kitty items. Hard to tell if they were real or not but the branding and packaging looked authentic as did the HK car mats. Hello Kitty as a robot with Astro boy styled rocket feet flying through a rainbow? Just try and stop me!
By now you’ve probably ready to hurt someone if you see another battery powered car that flips over when it hits a wall or a “live” ball with a tail, but don’t despair, Japantown is just around the corner.
Los Angeles 2011 part #1 – Arrival, Melrose Trading Post
Los Angeles 2011 part #2 – West Hollywood shopping, Mulholland Drive
Los Angeles 2011 part #3 – Downtown shopping – Fashion District
Los Angeles 2011 part #4 – Downtown shopping – Japantown
Los Angeles 2011 part #5 – Steel Panther @ The House of Blues 17/5/11
Los Angeles 2011 part #6 – Hollywood sign, Farmer’s Market
Los Angeles 2011 part #7 – Peterson Automotive Museum
Los Angeles 2011 part #8 – Greater LA area shopping
Los Angeles 2011 part #9 – Hollywood sight seeing with Orbic Air
Los Angeles 2011 part #10 – Driving in Los Angeles/California
Complete Los Angeles 2011 photo gallery here
So we’re back in West Hollywood. Kinda like catching up with an old friend really. You know their quirks, you know what you have in common, you by pass the touchy subjects and jump straight into reminiscing.
We covered the bulk of the West Hollywood stores previously here and here, but just to quickly recap, Flightclub LA and Sportie LA are always good stops for consignment/pre owned gear, though some of their prices are starting to get a little greedy. If you worry more about how good you look while skateboarding than how good you can actually skateboard then you might wanna pop your head into the stores of
Supreme, Diamond Supply and Crooks and Castles. Each trying to out do each other in hipster arrogance and poor service. What’s worse is none have the inventory to back the attitude, with limit range and sizes, give the glorified check out chicks a miss, there’s nothing you cant buy online or at another store for cheaper.
Flightclub LA
Sportie LA
Johnny Cupcakes is always worth a stop in for in store exclusives. A recent subtraction from this cluster of shops is Loyal Army, sadly they pretty much upped and closed their store overnight with very little notice. They are however still selling online and from their San Francisco store in Haight.
Japan LA
On the plus side, JapanLA has moved on to Melrose not too far from their old location to a newer and bigger store. Still the same good selection, abundance of Hello Kitty merch, friendly staff, sale items and now also sporting a small gallery room at the back with works from local artists.
Meltdown Comics
Last stop in West Hollywood was Meltdown Comics. Easily one of the biggest comic stores we’ve seen in awhile. Huge selection of comics and just as big selection of collectibles, figures, toys and plushes ranging from movie/comic based items to urban vinyl collectibles and blind boxes. They also have the complete range of So So Happy merchandise, which means if you’ve got a sweet tooth for the sickly cute and colourful you’ll no doubt go into a diabetic coma here.
Pop Killer
While you’re there, pop over the road to Pop Killer. Wall to wall, floor to ceiling of vintage and vintage styled new items. Mostly clothing but also a range of accessories, knick knacks, novelties and house hold items.
Mulholland Drive
As the sun slowing slipped away at a leisurely 8pm we took a drive up to Muholland Drive. Just follow the road up to the lookout (with fixtures and signage, not just dirt!), even though there are spots before this, parking is a little hit and miss as is the view. Don’t forget to take a jacket as well, those mountain breezes are very unforgiving! The view here is mostly of west LA, to see more of downtown follow the road around and head east through the tiny residential streets. You will eventually go over the mountain and start heading down, half way down on a rather Mt. Akina style of road, there’s a dirt spot to pull over to get your cityscape pano on.
LA cityscape (click for big)
Next up, we hit the downtown area where dodgy and awesome go hand in hand like Jesse James and Kat Von D!
Los Angeles 2011 part #1 – Arrival, Melrose Trading Post
Los Angeles 2011 part #2 – West Hollywood shopping, Mulholland Drive
Los Angeles 2011 part #3 – Downtown shopping – Fashion District
Los Angeles 2011 part #4 – Downtown shopping – Japantown
Los Angeles 2011 part #5 – Steel Panther @ The House of Blues 17/5/11
Los Angeles 2011 part #6 – Hollywood sign, Farmer’s Market
Los Angeles 2011 part #7 – Peterson Automotive Museum
Los Angeles 2011 part #8 – Greater LA area shopping
Los Angeles 2011 part #9 – Hollywood sight seeing with Orbic Air
Los Angeles 2011 part #10 – Driving in Los Angeles/California
Complete Los Angeles 2011 photo gallery here
“You can stick your well laid plans up your well laid ass!”. Ah yes, another pearl of wisdom from Mr. Jackson and nothing short of the truth for the opening leg of our latest trip. It’s true, there’s no amount of preparation that will prevent curve balls from external influences.
Things started off with a nervous check in thanks to our travel agent putting completely wrong passport numbers into our flight booking. Not the best thing to have against your name flying into the states with their current “everyone is a terrorist” standing. Luckily, after half
an hour of “Border Control” TV show style questioning, accusing glances and hushed phone calls it was all sorted and we were on our way around the world!
We scored some crazy cheap flights via star alliance, which led to the bulk of the flights being covered by Lufthansa. I’ve only flown once domestically with them which was fine for a short trip but I was a little skeptical with what the service would be like on a long haul – no thanks to a lot of comments and :S faces from friends and random strangers. However I’m happy to report it was great (: Service was good albeit it a bit hurried at times and the accommodations were nothing short of lush, being on a 3 week old A380 definitely helped with this. Exceptionally quiet, engine noise was easily half of a regular A300 or 747. Seats were comfy and the touch screen LCD complete with 3 external live cameras was great for in flight entertainment. Don’t forget your LAN or USB cable to plug your devices into your arm rest 😉 Best of all, it had that fresh off the floor, new plane smell.
Noisey kids, idiots bumping our seats, jet lag and the inescapable 2 hour crawl through LAX customs/immigration later, we were free from the clutches of commercial transit. Grabbed our rental car from Dollar Rentals (review here) and headed straight for West Hollywood.
(tips on driving in California in a coming installment)
The biggest speed bump I always find on holidays is store trading hours. The majority of places I have travelled to in the world (except Australia), retailers open around 10-11am (sometimes 12 or later for boutique stores), some bigger stores/malls might swing the doors open around 9. This might work well if you’ve had a big night but it seriously eats into your day when you’re travelling. So a good thing to try is to tee up sight seeing or community events to do in the morning while you’re waiting for the stores to open.
Random bits and pieces
First stop for us was the Melrose Trading Post at Fairfax High school which is pretty much what you would expect for a popular Californian market. An abundance of quirky brick-a-brack, hand made arts and crafts and vintage items galore from cute plush monsters to taxidermy to thousands of random photographs and negatives from people’s personal collection. How? Why? Who knows, it’s LA baby!
Vintage Coke Esky
Hand made plush toys
Framed butterflies
Vintage photo frames - $5
Buy someone else's personal photos
There’s also a selection of vintage and modern cameras and accessories. Forget over bidding on ebay for a used Vivitar flash, they were available here for throw away prices. Plenty of army surplus items as well, right down to aircraft instrumentation and war memorabilia.
Camera stuff... and hand mirrors
More camera stuff
Ammunition case
Aviation memorabilia
Photo tip: while there are plenty of tourists and arty types snapping photos, take care when shooting some of the stalls, especially the ones of the local designers who seem to be very particular with others “stealing” their ideas. I witnessed a guy get chased down and verbally abused by one owner. While the empty threats of “That’s stealing! I’m calling the police” may not mean much, it is definitely a conflict best avoided. Or at least wait till you’re about to leave anyway :p
Travel tip: Head to their website for half price entry coupons
Depending on how thoroughly you browse, it only takes about 1-2 hours to do the whole event. Take advantage of the food and (especially) toilets while you’re there. Parking is free when you drive into the grounds, (just follow the directions from the traffic controllers) so to save a few bucks, leave your car there and check out the surrounding shops, most of which should be open by now….
Next – Shopping in West Hollywood and a spot of sight seeing at the famed Mulholland Drive.
Los Angeles 2011 part #1 – Arrival, Melrose Trading Post
Los Angeles 2011 part #2 – West Hollywood shopping, Mulholland Drive
Los Angeles 2011 part #3 – Downtown shopping – Fashion District
Los Angeles 2011 part #4 – Downtown shopping – Japantown
Los Angeles 2011 part #5 – Steel Panther @ The House of Blues 17/5/11
Los Angeles 2011 part #6 – Hollywood sign, Farmer’s Market
Los Angeles 2011 part #7 – Peterson Automotive Museum
Los Angeles 2011 part #8 – Greater LA area shopping
Los Angeles 2011 part #9 – Hollywood sight seeing with Orbic Air
Los Angeles 2011 part #10 – Driving in Los Angeles/California
Complete Los Angeles 2011 photo gallery here
Getting to the Bronx Zoo couldn’t be any easier or cheaper. Catch the BxM11 Express bus from Madison Avenue (don’t forget your fistful of quarters!), about 30min later youll be at the stop. Make sure your driver knows you want to stop at the zoo as the stop is not at the zoo itself, you have to walk under a small bridge to get to the entrance. So try and stay awake!
Photo tip: keep your eyes open as you cross the bridge into the Bronx you will see the dilapidated “Welcome to the Bronx” sign, authentic in an unintentionally cliched way.
A measly 15 clams will get you into the Zoo. Remembering, animals are seasonal creatures so different times of the year will mean different things for different animals. In general, the colder months will see less activity, on the plus side, there is less activity from visitors as well, so its very easy to get around and also finding that perfect photoing spot. Walking through the first section its clearly noticeable that they have quite a bit of land to play with and it doesn’t feel like its in the middle of one of NYC’s toughest burroughs.
First stop was one of the biggest aviaries we’ve seen in quite some time. Many smaller enclosures along with a few large “free fly” areas, very easy to lose track of time if you spend too long trying to find each type of bird in each enclosure.
Back on track, everyone’s must see are the tigers. That day, as announced by the rangers, they were a little lethargic and not really in a playful mood so they weren’t treated like circus animals to “perform” for their food.
Heading over to the seals, fans of “Friends” will see Marcel and his mates. The seals themselves seem to love the attention and were only too happy to pose and perform with an uncanny awareness of where the cameras were and which was their good side!
Waterbirds like Puffins and Penguins surrounded the seal areas.
Head to the eatery for some lunch, outside has fastfood staples at less than average fast food quality with meals sitting under heat lamps, good if you like soggy burgers and fries. Inside you can get healthier options with prepackaged salads, sandwiches and rolls and hot beverages. Service was hit and miss at best but on par with just about any place with staff that weren’t working for tips.
Keep an eye out for friendly neighbours like squirrels and peacocks, only too happy to say hello in a scarily over domesticated way (caught a Tienanmen square stand off with a peacock and park ATV transporter). This is a good time to grab a few souvenirs as well and if you missed out on Disneyland or Santa Monica pier, the large indoor carousel is your next best thing.
Last major stop on our way out was the reptile display with all matters of frogs, lizards, snakes, ‘gators and turtles which always make for some good photos.
The park is open from 10am-4.30pm and on the right day you should be able to leisurely see the whole thing in 4-5 hours depending on how many kids you have and the time of year. If you did bus it there, just make sure you leave enough time to get back to the bus stop (outside the main entrance near the bridge, there’s only a little sign, no bench or anything) as they tend to be rather sporadic and infrequent.
The bus ventures back into Manhattan via Central Park so you may want to include an afternoon stroll in there as well.
Next up, we start to wind down our whirlwind holiday with some good ol fashioned mouth opened, eye squinting sight seeing, NYC style.
New York City 2010 part #1 – The flight in…
New York City part #2 – Shopping: Midtown
New York City part #4 – Sight seeing – Manhattan
New York City part #5 – Sight Seeing – Brooklyn Markets and Gardens
New York City part #6 – Shopping: Soho
New York City photo gallery here
Complete Bronx Zoo photo gallery here
Disneyland 2010 part #2
Toontown panorama - click for big
On to something a lot more innocent and pretty much a must when hitting Disneyland… the Teacup ride, as part of Fantasyland! So simple yet so fun, even the most motion sickness prone will have no problem on this ride as you can control how fast the cup spins, via a “steering wheel”. Wait time was around 20-30min.
Tea cup ride
Also in Fantasyland you’ll find the Matterhorn Bobsleds, the grand King Arthur’s Carousel and of course the renowned Disney castle. With the success of the current remake the Alice in Wonderland movie, the ride based on the original animated version had about a 40min wait but worth it for a bit of nostalgia. Just ignore the kids asking where Johnny Depp was *facepalm*
Alice in Wonderland ride
Hang around the castle entrance for song and dance routines from Disney classics like Mary Poppins and later in the evening for the closing fireworks.
Mary Poppins show
Try as you might but you’ll be hard pressed to escape Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Pixie Hollow features without a set of fairy wings or a fluffy glitter wand!
Heading towards 12 o’clock on the Disney map clock is a place that would have WHS and building code inspectors in fits but I’d be damned if I don’t want a curved house, rainbow coloured with oversized tiling and supports! Mickey’s Toontown, is the home to all the Disney toon characters, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and friends and their wonky architecture buildings where you don’t know whether they’re real or drawn on!
Toontown
In the streets you’ll also see objects and fixtures perfect for a holiday snap, there’s even signs to guide you where to take the photos. Completing the warped world of toons are random objects like mailboxes and telephones that talk! I don’t know who was on the other end of the line but I was pretty certain if I slammed the phone down hard enough it would explode at the other end.
Toontown
Toontown is also the opposite stop to the main entrance for the Disney Railroad.
Continuing on is Frontierland. For some, the highlight would be the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad rollercoaster, for others it would be the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ – an all you can eat meatfest, but alas that too had a wait time of 45min, so it would be best to get in early if you want something to fill you up before you hit the bobsleds.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
The rest of Frontierland, namely the riverboat and pirate features were closed for maintenance. So, again, if there’s a particular ride you want to go on, make sure you check the schedule for maintenance days before booking.
Adjacent lands are Critter Country with “can we go, can we go, can we go to..” Splash Mountain, Adventureland with Indian Jones and more Tiki and tribal paraphernalia than a New Zealand drum and bass gig and New Orleans Square celebrating the deep south in the 1800’s minus the slavery with another staple attraction, the Haunted Mansion.
Photo tip:If you’re up for taking photos inside, you’ll need fast glass, super high ISO and slow shutter. Try to meter on the holographic ghosts as anywhere else is pitch dark so the holograms will be completely blown out. Be ready at the end of the ride for a shot of yourself in the mirror with a new friend 😉
Ghosts in the Haunted Mansion
By late afternoon, you’ll more than likely will be seeking refuge from the crowd and from being on your feet all day, then what better way than to spend 20min or so on the Disney Railroad. The train circles the whole of the park and makes 4 stops. To liven up the journey between the “behind the scenes” areas, there are 2 recreations, one of the Grand Canyon complete with wildlife and the other of a prehistoric era with a variety of dinosaurs, both very impressive and look very realistic. They come up and go by rather quickly (depending on the enthusiasm of your driver) so have your camera at the ready.
Grand Canyon scene
Prehistoric scene
At the end of the day you can choose to fight the rush at the souvenir store at the main entrance, hang around for the closing parade and fireworks or you could pick up your gifts through out the day and choose to get back to West Hollywood for more shopping, then you’ll want to beat the rush and step out a little early.
If you’re on a “tour”, you should still have a couple departure times to choose from, which you will be told when you are dropped off, or will have it as part of your itinerary. Also remember that the bus will make multiple stops so check with the driver if you want to be dropped some where other than your original pick up point to save on redundant traveling. If it’s a little out of their way don’t forget to be a good American and tip them for their troubles 😉
So that concludes a big day at a big theme park and the end to the Los Angeles stop. Next up, its time to start spreading the news, we’re going to wake up in a city that never sleeps to find we’re king of the hill.. A number one…. NEW YORK CITY.
Disney castle
Complete Disneyland gallery here
Disneyland 2010 part #1
What is there really to say about it? Its Disneyland. You cant really hate on the “happiest place in the world” can you? Sure the lines are miles long and prams/strollers out number people but you’ve gotta be dead inside if you don’t want to don some mouse ears and skip everywhere you go!
Firstly, some advice on planning your day. Once you’ve decided that you’re going, or your girlfriend/kids have nagged you so much you just want to shut them up :p you need to decide where you want to go and for how long. For the uninitiated Disneyland consists of 2 theme parks, Disneyland and California Adventure. Disneyland is the classic Disney character affair while Cal Adventure is all the thrill rides and is targeted to the bigger kids. With only a day to spare and a gaping hole in my childhood we went with the classic.
California Adventure park
The best way to get some kind of discount is to prepurchase your tickets and get it combined with a “tour”, which is basically pick up and drop off from your hotel or one of many pick up points. There are so many of these companies and they make a lot of stops so you wont have any problems getting to and from your hotel. We went with VIP Tours who picked up from our door at Double Trees Santa Monica, all inclusive tickets (travel and entry) were around $100USD. There’s even bigger savings if you get multi-day multi-venue passes, shop around, you’re bound to find something. Also keep an eye out at certain times of the year, even Disney has coupon specials.
An additional feature is the Disney Fastpass. Basically you pay a premium so you can jump the queue. Possibly worthwhile if you only have one day and want to ride as many rides as you can but otherwise we couldn’t justify the cost since it only works at certain times for each ride, times are posted at ride entrances and of course you’ll be competing with the thousands of others who thought the same thing.
For ideas on the best days to visit, there really isn’t too much difference as its always packed. Obviously, avoiding school holidays, weekends and the warmer months will give you some relief but expect between 15-30min average wait time and up to 45-60min on some of the popular rides. Also take note of their park hours schedule, rides can be closed for maintenance and some don’t open in the colder months. The schedule also shows special seasonal events like Halloween etc.
While the lines and the sheer number of people is quite daunting, they are very efficient at handling everything the masses can throw at them and all with a big smile. From the fleet carpark shuttle “trains” and the wall of entry booths to the cleverly designed cattle runs for queuing, its clear that its all been fined tuned after many years of capacity crowds. While a lot of the time it can seem futile, most of the masses move reasonably quickly and orderly, as far as “festival” crowds go anyway.
Disneyland shuttle
So you’ve made it through the gates, the first thing you’ll notice is the bright vibrant colours of everything and the quirky shapes of buildings and fixtures and a melodic unmistakable soundtrack playing almost subliminally over the PA system. Take a moment to soak it all in, it may be the last bit of peace you get all day :p plus you’ve got planning to do.
Some people are happy to just wander around the park and check things out but due to the size of the venue and the spaghetti layout you’ll more than likely miss more than you see. A high recommendation is to, at the very least, grab the daily performance times and a map and make a few pokes at it with a stick (with accompanied four finger direction pointing of course).
Its also a time to make note of when and where the performances are and whether you’ll get to them in time for a good vantage point. Also consider grabbing a bite to eat at the café/sandwich bar at the entrance before kicking off, this will help you last pass the normal lunch times and hopefully miss some of the lunch rush.
Mickey with marching band
We chose to make a rough anti clockwise zig zag, taking notice of queue times, posted at the entrance and end of queue points at all rides, as we went. In this direction our main priority was the Buzz Lightyear ride, but not before we ran into Mickey’s marching band in Main street. The wait time listed at Buzz Lightyear was 25min but we were through in just over 15min. As you enter the ride, like many of the rides, they have incorporated part of it with the waiting queue, to keep you occupied with a sense of “almost there!”, definitely a welcome for those with impatient kids. It also adds to the flow and “storyline” of the ride. In this case it was characters from the movies and a full size Buzz animatron giving a mission briefing, “blah blah blah, kill zorg, blah blah To infinity and beyond!”. No probs Buzz, shoot the hell out of everything, gotcha!
Buzz Lightyear ride
Now, normally I’m all up for taking out aliens with a eyeball blinding barcode reader gun but with such elaborate and lifelike scenery and characters, I lasered with my left and shot (with my camera) with the right.
Photo tip: If you’re thinking of doing the same prepare to use extremely high ISO, I’m talking up to 256000 if your camera can do it, to help your shutter speed manage the movement from the ride and the targets. Also be ready to lose pitifully on the scoreboard!
Buzz Lightyear ride
A cool feature on leaving the ride is being able to email an in-game photo of yourself from the ride’s photo booth in the gift shop.
The Buzz Lightyear ride is of course part of Tomorrow Land so you also have all the classic rides like Space Mountain but of course with the classics come the long wait times, most hovering round the 60min mark.
Tomorrowland
If you have kids, there’s a Pad Wan Jedi class, complete with light saber and Mace Windu look alike instructor. No Natalie Portman but the Dads will have no complaints about her stand-ins, if you know what I mean 😉
Jedi training
Tomorrowland
Next up, Fantasyland, Toontown and more!
Complete Disneyland gallery here
Monorail, downtown Tokyo
If you’re staying closer to inner Tokyo or just want a good view of the Tokyo skyline then head on down to Odaiba. Take the JR Yamanote line to Okachi Machi then switch to the Yurikamome line. This will take you through the city, over the Rainbow bridge (lit bridge that changes colour every few seconds) then into Odaiba.
Odaiba is on one of the many man made “islands” in Tokyo Bay it used to be all commercial buildings but is now home to a selection of tourist attractions. The biggest and most obvious one being Daikanransha, the “Tokyo eye” once the biggest ferris wheel in the world its still packs the wow factor with 360 degree views of the city, on a clear day you might even catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji.
The ride lasts about 15min and you can choose between a completely clear capsule or a regular ferris wheel style closed in bottom. There tends to be a 10-20min wait on the all-clear ones, while it is a little easier to see out from a sitting position, its no better for taking photos as the frame work gets in the way, not to mention the windows themselves can be pretty dirty.
It is open till 10pm nightly. If you want to head straight to it, stay on the upper level of the train platform and head south to the freeway overpass.
View of Tokyo from Daikanransha, Odaiba, Tokyo
Other notable attractions in Odaiba are: the “interesting” looking Fuji TV studio, Decks Tokyo Beach shopping mall, Venus Fort (Venice themed mall), the Statue of Liberty replica. Entertainment wise check out Tokyo Leisure Land (24hour gaming, karaoke and bowling) and Zepp Tokyo, Tokyo’s largest concert hall playing host to Jamie Cullum and Erykah Badu next week alone. During the day, there are numerous park areas and “beaches” on the edge of the island great for a bbq in the warmer months, though swim at your own peril.
Leaving Tokyo
So here we are in our hotel room looking down at our 2 week bounty thinking how the heck are we going to get all of this back home. Suticases. More suitcases.
After a quick chat to the concierge we headed back over to the Ameyoko markets. One thing that’s for certain is the quality of merchandise is a lot higher than what you would find in say, Hong Kong. However, this is reflected in the price, but like anything, look long enough and you’ll find what you’re after at the price you’re willing to pay. Another suitcase and carry on later, we were sorted.
Not having a budget gives you one less thing to worry about however you must always be weary of the luggage trade off. So Couple tips on packing:
– Bulky items like shoes are lighter but take up more space (try breaking down the shoe boxes and using them in the suitcase lining. You get to keep the box and have a bit of extra protection from those enthusiastic luggage
– Try to distribute heavier items like jeans across your luggage.
– Put delicate items such as glassware, ornaments, model kits and collectibles into your carryon but leave things like snow globes out. Because of the water in them, they are still classed as a prohibited item so make sure you have plenty of bubble wrap and double bagging handy. The store should normally pack them well, if not, pop into a post office for supplies.
– Lastly, if you run out of room, remember jackets don’t have to be classed as luggage. Its easy enough to carry 2 (one on each back pack strap) and spare some precious luggage space.
There you have it, city #1 covered (in a roundabout way) but we’re not done! Stay tuned for the next instalment when we hop, skip and jump over the pond to the city of angels, LA!
Domo Origato! Sayonara! ^__^
Ueno Blossom Festival
Tokyo part #1 – Ueno for a day
Tokyo part #2 – Getting round Tokyo, Ueno Sakura at night
Tokyo part #3 – Harajuku
Tokyo part #4 – Shibuya
Tokyo part #5 – Kichijoji and Shinjuku
Tokyo part #6 – Akihabara
Photo Gallery Here
