Celebrating Christmas At Disney

Disney has been known as the happiest place on earth. I know. I have been to many Disney parks and I don't get tired spending my precious vacations on them.

Going to Disney is one of my passions. I just lose myself when I am there. I forget for a moment that I am an adult. Yes, and adult on a mission - to enjoy my and my family's stay at Disney.

If you have a vacation to spare and would like to spend Christmas differently, choose celebrating the wondrous occasion at any Disneyland parks.

Disneyland has plenty of activities in store for you in any of their parks and resorts. You can be assured of a real fun time when you spend your holidays there. Each resort will have its own parade, events, and programme to follow for their guests to enjoy. You can visit Disney's website to check out what is in store for December's activities and plan your vacation accordingly.

Enjoy!

The Electrical Parade (Dream Lights) in Tokyo Disneyland

My family loves Disneyland a lot. We've been to 3 Disneyland parks already: Hongkong Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and last December 2013, in Tokyo Disneyland. In all those occasions, we've seen the parades but the one in Tokyo Disneyland was more special and spectacular for us because it was Christmas season.  The parade was sparkly, colorful, electrifying and bright!

The parade in Tokyo Disneyland we have seen was called Electrical Parade: Dream Lights. It started around 7:30 p.m. (if my memory serves me right!). It's a nighttime event given the theme of the parade - full of colorful light display which were very nice to be see during night time, against the dark background of the whole Disney park. We found a very comfortably place to watch the parade half an hour before the it started. There were park attendants all over to inform the people to remain in their place and to instill order during the whole show. The park lights around the whole of Disney where switched off except for the restaurants and shops and the castle. Then suddenly, the music began playing and we saw the float coming out from one side of the park. One by one, the beautiful floats came out, decked with lights and some dancers and famous Disney characters were also on the floats. The shapes of objects were highlighted because of the colorful lights. There were dancers on the street with colorful and brightly lit costumes.

If you will count the lights all over the parade and the floats and even on the dancers, it must be a million!

These are some photos I captured from the parade. It was really beautiful. It's like a rain of lights, and sparkles. We all had a wonderful time in Tokyo Disneyland. We hope to be back this Christmas!

More floats...

and more!!!

and the last one...

Disneyland Resort in Shanghai

Well, what do you know? I was just casually browsing through DisneyPark.com's site and was going through the different Disney parks we have visited in the past and the ones we have yet to visit. I'm so surprised to see Shanghai in the other park's location in the list.

I have heard of  the  rumors sometime back but  really  never  paid  much attention until  I saw the  branch of Disneyland Resort Shanghai was  added in  the website. If you  want to read more about it,  just follow this URL to be directed to the Disneyland Resort Shanghai page in English: http://en.shanghaidisneyresort.com.cn/en/about/

The image is from disneypark.com.

I was just telling my daughter that there's another site added in the Disneyland parks we have to visit. I thought we were down to California and Orlando, Florida to complete the "bucket list" of visiting all the Disney resorts around the world.

This can only mean one thing - time to save some major moolah!

Our Visit To Tokyo Disneyland 2014 Part 1

Disneyland is the happiest place on earth! And this is the third time I have to say that. We have been to the other Disney franchise in Paris, Hong Kong and this one, in Tokyo.  And they exude the same kind of happiness no matter which Disneyland park you visit.

Our one-day pass to Disney, again, is not enough. When will I ever learn? Each time I plan for a trip, I would say 2-days then we end up buying only 1-day pass. Next time, I will make sure it is 2 days. Besides, we have yet to visit the ones in Anaheim and Orlando.

Park ticket rates varies per season. At the time of our visit, it was still not peak season and it was a weekday. I bought the 1-day pass for: 1 adult is JPY 6,200 and 1 junior (from ages 12-17 ) is JPY 5,300 and 1 child (from 4-11)is JPY 4,100 (excluding taxes).

The Tokyo Disney Resort comprises of 2 theme parks - Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea Resort.

I will only feature Tokyo Disneyland here as we didn't have time to visit the other. We also only bought 1-day pass for Tokyo Disneyland. Below are some snaps from our adventure in Tokyo Disney. Let me just break it down for you per areas of the park.

Photo from http://www.tokyodisneyresort.jp/en/

What are the attractions in Tokyo Disneyland?

World Bazaar

• Penny Arcade
• Omnibus
• The Disney Gallery

Adventureland

• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Jungle Cruise
• Western River Railroad
• Swiss Family Tree House
• The Enchanted Tiki Room

Westernland

• Country Bear Theater
• Westernland Shootin' Gallery
• Big Thunder Mountain
• Mark Twain River Boat
• Tom Sawyer Island Rafts

Critter Country

• Beaver Brothers Explorers Canoe
• Splash Mountain

- To be continued in Our Visit To Tokyo Disneyland 2014 Part 2 -

Disney Village in Paris

Disneyland Village Paris is a cool place to visit before you embark your day-long journey in any of the Disneyland Resorts in Paris.

The Disney Village is teeming with dining options so if you are booked any of the Disney Report Hotels, you can always come here and dine.

There is a huge Disney souvenir shop here as well for your last minute shopping before you head out to Paris. Aside from the souvenir shop, there is a big cinema and arcade for kids to enjoy and have a great time.

 

 Going here is not very difficult as there are free Disney shuttle buses that ply the whole of the Disney Paris Resort hotels chain and affiliated properties every 12 minutes.

We went here last August of 2006. It has been several years since we visited and we can't wait to see the place again.

We Love Disneyland Paris!

They say, Disneyland is the happiest place on earth. My family will agree with me in saying that because we have been to Disneyland twice -  one in Hong Kong and the other one was in Paris last August 2006.

We had more fun in Paris than in Hong Kong because the latter recently opened last 2005 when we went. Disneyland Paris is bigger and has more attractions than in Hong Kong.

Disneyland Paris consists of 2 parks:  Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park. Let me break them down for you in terms of attractions and some famous rides found in each Park's sections.

Disneyland Park
Main Street 

Lovey dovies in front of Disney Paris

• Disneyland Railroad
• Horse-drawn streetcars
• Discovery Arcade

Fantasyland

• Alice's Labyrinth

Nope, we didn't get lost!

• Casey Jr. - le Petit Train du Cirque
• Dumbo
• It's A Small World
• Le Carrousel de Lancelot
• Mad Hatter's Tea Cup
• Peter Pan's Flight



The royalties!

• Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Our Princess enjoying her time at the park

• Fantasy Festival Stage

Frontierland

• Big Thunder Mountain
• Critter Coral
• Legends of the Wild West



Our favorite ride, ever! This is the crypt before entering the Phantom Manor.

• Phantom Manor
• Pocahontas Indian Village



River boat ride around Thunder Mesa

• Thunder Mesa River boat Landing

• Rustler Shooting Gallery
• The Chaparral Theater

Adventureland

• Adventure Isle
• Captain Hook's Pirate Ship
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril



Hubby, going alone for the Temple of Peril ride.



• Enchanted Passage to Aladdin
• Pirates Beach
• Pirates of the Caribbean



Pirates of the Caribbean ride


Discoveryland

• Alpha and Beta Arcade
• Buzz Lightyear Lazer Blast
• Captain EO
• Autopia
• Nautilus Mysteries
• Space Mountain: Mission 2



Nope, didn't ride this one because I got duped the first time when we rode it in Hong Kong thinking it was some  space train ride inside. Boy, I was in for a thrilling surprise!



• Star Tours
• Videopolis
• Orbitron



Near Orbitron



Walt Disney Studios Park

• Disney Studio 1
• Animagique
• Art of Disney Animation
• Cars Race Rally
• Flying Carpets over Agrabah
• Crush's Coaster
• RC Racer
• Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin
• Tower of Terror
• Toy Story Playland
• Armageddon Special Effects
• Action Stunt Show
• Toy Soldiers Parachute Jump
• Rock n' Roller Coaster
• Studio Tram tour
• Playhouse Disney Live on Stage
• Stitch Live


The whole resort is big and has many attractions for both kiddies and adults to enjoy. We didn't have  time to explore the Walt Disney Studios Park as we had to head to Paris' city proper for the remaining part of our vacation.

There are plenty of shops and restaurants to choose from in the park. Aside from that, there's a meet and greet session with the Disney characters you love. We managed to scour several pictures with them as we were in the park the whole day until 11:00 p.m. after the fireworks show. The fireworks show was late because it didn't get dark until around 10:00 p.m.! It was still like dusk around 9:00 p.m. since it was not yet totally autumn that time so the sun set quite late.

Buzz, my man!

Still can't figure out if it's Chip or Dale ?!?

Sneaking! hahaha...

The fireworks was spectacular! I could watch it over and over without feeling tired. It was staged in Sleeping Beauty's castle with lights and music to go with it. We chose a perfect spot near the Main Street's grassy areas where we could sit and just enjoy the breath-taking show. I have never seen such beautifully coordinated lights, music and fireworks show in my life and the one we saw there was probably the most beautiful fireworks I have ever seen. I have placed a short clip of the firework's finale here. It's a teaser to encourage you to save up for that once in a lifetime dream vacation to Paris!

Lovely castle at night, getting ready for the big fireworks show.

Marvelous fireworks show. I think it ran for 3-5 minutes until the whole song was over.

 

Celebrants' tiles in front of the park

 I forgot how much I paid for in the park since it was almost 7 years ago. The price listed in their site now shows GBP 52.00 for adults and GBP 47.00 for kids from 3 to 11. The rates are for 1-day pass only for 1 Park. The rates include VAT as well. I'm not sure if they increased over the years. If ever, it may not be that much so roughly, I must have paid around those rates in 2006.

I highly recommend this place to families out there and even to couples.  I have seen tiles with names of married couples who celebrated their wedding or anniversary in the park set on the front area near the ticket booth. So I am sure that Disneyland is great for all ages. If you wish to visit both parks then 1 days for each park must be allocated because there are so many rides inside and shows to watch that you need 1 whole day for each park.

As soon as we arrived Charles De Gaulle Airport, we went to Terminal 2 to catch the VEA Shuttle. It was not hard to miss because it was red and had Disneyland logo all over the bus. It had several stops on the main Disney hotels in the park but it also passed through official Disney resort "other" hotels in the list. Our hotel was Kyriad just few meters away from the Disney Park. The bus shuttle's rate was around Euro 11 for each of us. This may have increased by now.

Going to the Paris' city proper was also convenient. We just had to take the free hotel shuttle to the main gare or train station. The train station just in front of the Disney Village is the last stop so if you're coming from the city, you'll never miss the place.

So, what are you waiting for? Plan your magical experience now and visit Disneyland Paris! They have an extended 20th Anniversary until September 2013 and lots of fun and surprises await revelers!

(All photos and video are personal property of www.riatravelbug.com and copyright to me, the owner. Please do not copy or use without written permission. Thanks.)