Tokyo Disney Sea

January, 11, 2024.

My friend and I visited Tokyo Disney Sea. The photos were shot on Canon PowerShot G12, edited with VSCO filters.

Photography disney tokyo Travel street photography city people happiness joy disneysea

Staffs dancing at the entrance. People always say that Disney is the happiest place in the world, but I think to say that they have the happiest employees in the world would be more accurate.

It was my first Disney trip, so I was very excited. We chose Disney Sea instead of Disneyland because my friend had visited Disneyland before, and we wanted to try something different. I have been a huge fan of Disney Princesses since I can remember. I used to love Cinderella the most, because blue is my favorite color, but now I like Rapunzel more. For that reason, my favorite color was once purple. Actually, we did not see a single princess in Disney Sea (possibly Molly? but we did not explore much of that area). Still, I had a lot of fun. This place is pure magical.

Adorable couples taking photos. They dressed in such a cute way that it was hard for me to not notice them. I am not sure if they are taking wedding photos (I am not even sure if they are couples), but taking wedding photos in Disney would be a 'dreams come true' for me.

It was super cold that day, probably the coldest during my stay in Japan. My friend and I made a major mistake by not wearing gloves and wearing only two layers of clothes (how dare we). On our way there, we were talking about how we might appear like two idiot tropic foreigners who did not check the weather before going out, but after we arrived, our worries went away. High school girls (JK, as they call them, or ギャル, as my friend referred them to), dressed in short skirts, did not seem to be afraid of the freezing weather. 21-year-old like us have no chance to beat the young high schoolers when it comes to cold tolerance.

The ギャルs and their legs that don't need thermal socks. I was actually tempted to buy one of those fuzzy slouch socks, but I figured there would be no other occasions for me to wear them besides in Disney. I love how they all chose the same ear hats.

We arrived at around 11 a.m., a very unusual time for a first-time-Disney visitor. People usually get there before it is opened, but we decided to take it slow. The coldness deprived us of calories and energies, so we went straight to the restaurant first. The food there was surprisingly good. I somehow expected food in this kind of theme park would only be pricy and tasteless (the former, yes).

The Brothers. They were having a lot of fun while waiting for the meal.

Inside the restaurant. I took this photo while my body was 'defrosting'. Nothing feels better than some good food (and heater) in the winter day.

We did not do any research on the place, so we just went with the flow. Disney is notorious for its wait times—almost every facility requires a 30 minutes minimum wait time, so be prepared to spend half of the day standing and waiting. But you know what is crazy? Even though we were cold and tired, desperately needing to sit down, we still think this trip was worth the price and time. To be honest, the facilities were okay, nothing particular. It's the staffs, the people around you, and the vibes. This place is a embodiment of fairy tales. Everything you see is decorated with magic, and the smiles on people's faces reminds you of the most genuine relationship between human beings.

Happy Staffs. Just look at their smiles! For a moment I did wonder if they would become cynical once they were off the work, but I saw the muscles around their eyes stretched so they must be genuinely smiling:) Also, whoever designed their uniforms, you deserve a praise.

Monkeys? I actually don't know what character are they. They were excited to see the mini version of themselves on the visitor's bag.

Don't be afraid. Papa and mama will be there for you.

One of my favorite things to do is to observe strangers. This trip to Japan also makes me realize that I like taking photos of people more than scenery. I guess it's because the transience of moving objects that makes a good outcome even more precious.

Hibernating Ducklings. There were SO MANY of them on the lake. I felt sorry for them cause they had no place to hide from the coldness.

Mama, will you marry me?

There were a lot of families that day (or, everyday). I saw some cute parents that were even more thrilled than their kids. Small kids are definitely not good at waiting in line for 40 minutes without anything fun to distract them, so there were some occasional screams and cries (but I still think they were cute). We were lining up for the 'Turtle Talk' in the photo above. I did not even know what that was about and we lined up for about 40 minutes. For an adult who doesn't speak Japanese, I think it was super boring, but seeing the kids interacting with Crush (the turtle) just melts my heart.