Disneyland 2011 trip pt.2 - Disneyland & World of Color

Hi there again, I wanted to blog earlier but I didn't have these photos prepared, so after I got back from the gym I got to editing. I have so many Disney photos to post (after this trip, I went to Disneysea twice, and Disney world again...haha!) I hope everyone will like Disney cuteness as I do XD Tomorrow I will post a review so I will break it up a bit atleast!

In the previous post I wrote about what we did in the morning during our first day at Disneyland, so today I will finish out the rest of that day plus talk about World of Color; the night time spectacle held at Disney's California Adventure.



After we had gone on the "it's a small world" ride we got into the line for the "Princess Fantasy Faire". Which is just a character meeting point, so you can meet 3 princesses and get their autographs/photos with them. Now I really don't recommend this, even if you got little kids with you. It took like 2 hours of waiting, and when I met the princesses during the "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party" it took like 20 minutes.

Anyhow after getting out energy drained in that line, we jumped on "Mister Toad's Wild Ride". It's a rather old ride and has been removed from Disney World, so we didn't want to miss the chance to see it one last time. Then we headed to the other side of the park, and since Disney Land is small it was an easy walk.


Mister Toad's Wild Ride, inside


Is this a place to meet Aladdin??


This was a pirate band, the guy in the front was really creepin' on me :/

We went on our favorite rides, such as Pirates of the Caribbean (maybe that's not my fave but I've been on it a million times haha) and the Haunted Mansion. The weekend we were there they were screening the new Pirates of the Caribbean 3 movie. Johnny Deep and some other actors were going to walk through the park before the showing. They were putting up a huge screen, and people ended up waiting over 8 hours just to see Johnny Depp walk by haha!


Screen for the Pirates of the Caribbean screening


The Haunted Mansion


I got to meet Pooh, so cute *3*

We went on a few more rides at Disneyland, but decided to leave that park early so we could see "World of Color" at Disney's California Adventure. It was the only night they were showing it while we were there. It was nice to take a break at our hotel on-site a bit before lining up again haha.


Saw Alice and the Mad Hatter on the street


You have to take this shot at Disney parks haha!


And a barber shop quartet! (All those strollers and Larks make the American parks difficult to walk in)

World of Color is a water show, involving huge fountains of water, fireworks and fire. There are also animations displayed on the water all set to music. You can get into the reserved viewing area if you get a ticket early from your hotel, otherwise you have to stand off to the sides and you can't really see the animations at all :/ That's what happened to us, but here's a couple nice shots haha.


Mickey's ferris wheel in California Adventure


The World of Color show


You can see a bit of the fireworks in this pic

Thanks for putting up with my Disney photos again, it really is a good memory for me so I like to share them. And thank you also to the new followers since yesterday, it really means alot to me that people are still supporting Moments like Diamonds #TT#

Inflorescence: obesa nursery

Images from the Obesa nursery located in Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. Despite the dizzying 36+ degree heat I had a very happy day wandering about this amazing cacti garden. Founded by C.J. Bouwer the collection is over 35 years old and houses some 7000 species of plants. Particularly captivating was this Encaphalartos altensteinii apparently, a young female plant about 13 or-so years old grown from seeds, with its enormous bright orange cone or 'inflorescence':

Cute item tour through the Daiso

Good morning everyone! Isn't it strange when I post now, that's how I feel, I never thought the day would come when blogging felt like this. I mean rather than being a habit as it was before, now it's some sort of one-off and it feels strange. My whole life feels strange now, I've gone back to the sort of life I had several years ago and everything I did/loved during the course of this blog has disappeared from my life.

I haven't traveled to Japan for 7 months, it's the longest amount of time between a Japan Trip for the past three years. I'm not taking photos for any new Japan related posts, but I want to keep writing about Japan so it may be soon enough I don't have any more post fodder. Until then I hope you enjoy these posts.


The Daiso carries a large range of 100 yen cosmetics actually (they are already known for their 100 yen eyelashes) but you can also make some cheap manicures too!


Giant spangle ribbons, sometimes you see 109 shop staff wearing these sort of ribbons during special events haha

The Daiso is a store that I have written about several times before. (Cute on the Cheap and Shopping at Jam Pixy and Daiso) This post will include more fun photos tho!

Due to the Daiso being a place where you can find all sort of fun and crazy items for just 100 yen, and it expanding to a worldwide company it has become rather well known. But that doesn't mean there's not always something interesting to show about this 100 yen shop!


The Daiso also carries lots of cute bento, a great way to build a large bento collection!


The rest of their kitchenwares are very cute too, look at this mouse's face hehe


Stationary goods that appeal to young girls, or those young at heart

In Ichinoe, where I have stayed during my last 4 trips, there is a Daiso. It was a bit of a walk from the apartment at around 20 minutes one way, but it was really nice to have it within walking distance. Feeling bored? Need something to clean or organize? Just head over to the Daiso haha. Of course it's a great place to pick up cute or silly things, good for souvenirs!


These 3D stickers are so cute, the fabric is iridescent, and they would be great for scrapbooking too^^


This was in the postcards, amongst typical scenes of Japan! How random to find this old movie picture of Brad XD


Daiso also has tons of yummy snacks, including "impulse buys" around the register in case you forget you need some gummis


The Daiso also has a discount Purikura machine, it's an older model but only 200yen. The 10-13 year olds around town liked to use this!

The sad thing is now that Daiso was to be closed at the end of last summer. Since I haven't returned I'm not sure if it did close or what the fate of that particular Daiso is. I wonder what other things have changed there in these past 7 months, will I go there again? Whenever I write these Japan posts (finally DX) I feel as if I ought to be there in a way.

Well my goal in life is to change my entire life haha. I want to get back into the life I was leading before Christmas - including losing weight, blogging everyday, dressing nicely and traveling. I will try to blog everyday this week so I can start changing my habits. I do actually have a new job now (not that it's good or I like it) but perhaps the structure will help haha.

I'm also going to try and catch up on replying (since I haven't....)

Disneyland 2011 trip pt.1 - Disneyland! img hvy

Hi there! Ok, now these photos are shy of being 1 year old by just 2 months... I can't believe how quickly this year passed, why?! I thought things were just going to be more exciting, but since summer things have been doing just the opposite (what a disappointment). Looking back on these photos it really made me miss all the traveling I used to do!

This was the first time I had visited Disneyland in California, though I had been to Disney World 3 times and Tokyo Disneyland a handful of times already. I guess once you've been to other Disney parks, it doesn't feel like a priority to go across the country to see another. Luckily my mom went to CA on business and I could tag along so we could see Disneyland finally.



A lovely display outside of our hotel


We even had the monorail car to ourselves *o*

This was the first time we stay in an on-site Disney hotel however, which was a really cool and fun experience. I will share some pics of the hotel in the last post of this multi-part post.

One of the best things about staying on-site was the early entrance perk, we were able to go into the park an hour early. The monorail into Disneyland was fun as it snaked through the park offering great views.


A view from the monorail


The Matterhorn was one of the rides we got on before the park opened


Just some neat giant granite globe in Tomorrowland

If you get the chance to enter a Disney park early, make sure to get on the rides which normally have long rides right away. You can probably fit up to 4 rides in that hour, like on Space Mountain we literally just walked on with 0 wait. In fact it was rather annoying having to run through all that long line walkway haha.


Sleeping Beauty's Castle


There are pretty things inside the castle XD


At the Snow White ride

We headed towards Sleeping Beauty's Castle as the main gates opened so it was fun watching all the people running towards us (into the park). But I was SO surprised by how tiny Sleeping Beauty's Castle is, it's not even comparable to Cinderella's Castle in Disneyworld in scale. It's more like a fancy house in size haha. But it has a really cool display inside.


The Mad Tea Party




Inside the Alice in Wonderland ride


The line to get into "it's a small world"

After that we went on some rides in Fantasyland, like Snow White's ride and then one of my favorites - the Mad Tea Party tea cups. I always spin it like psycho and make my mom dizzy, but I am starting to feel my age as last time I did that I got quite dizzy too TT Then we went on the Alice in Wonderland ride, which is a bit phoned it (especially at the end). But I had never been on it before!


Cinderella


Simba and Pumba from the Lion King


Lilo and Stitch

And I will finish this post with some pics from the "it's a small world" ride. I like the one at Disneyland best out of all of them because they added signature Disney characters to all the lands, it's fun spotting them. But not so fun waiting in line outside!!

Next post I will finish up the rest of this first day, as well as World of Color.