Hey SEOUL Sisters! (Day 2)

It's our second day (Nov. 16) in Seoul, and we're getting used to the cold weather. For our Day 2, we're off to Everland Resort. It's an amusement park like Disneyland. We though about going to Lotte World too, but it's gonna cost us a lot of time and money to go to both. Lotte World an indoor one but they said it's more of for kiddos while Everland had more thrilling rides for young adults. However, one of the advantages of Lotte World is, it's nearer the city. It's accessible via subway 'coz it's just at Jamsil Station. But since we chose Everland, which was outside the city, we had to travel for more than 2 hours to get there.

From Hongdae, we took the subway to Gangnam Station which took us around 40mins. Then we went to the middle of the wide street where the bust stop was. There were three stops there. Buses were very organized that they stop on the designated bus stops. We were waiting for bus 5002 (not 500-2) going to Everland. However, we were at the 1st bus stop and that bus' stop was on the 2nd one, and we couldn't stop the bus that we just stared at it as it went away. Good thing a bus arrives every 30mins. Anyway, so we went to right bus stop this time so were finally able to ride a bus. It took us an hour and a half until the last stop, which was the Everland. But that stop was not so near Everland itself so we had to take Everland's special mini bus, which took us to the Everland entrance.

photobooth at the Gangnam station

we didn't know how to grab the photos haha

It was so cold in Everland because it's in a mountain I guess. At the ticket booth, we paid for 4 All-Day passes at 32,000 won each. Originally, each 1-Day ticket is worth 40,000 for adults but since we got a discount coupon for foreigners at their website, we only paid 32,000 won each. We just showed our passports as a proof that we're foreign tourists. Click this link for the ticket prices and discount coupon. They also have Night passes, which is good for 5pm 'til 30 minutes before closing time. The theme park hours vary from day to day. So just check their website. But most of the time, they operate from 10am to 8pm.

Everland!

look at that backdrop haha so fake!

huggable bears!

Seoul sisters with the Everland bears:))

We took a cable car to our first ride, which was the huge rollercoaster that had tracks made of wood. It's called the T Express. There was a long queue but we were patient enough to stay in line. We were not allowed to wear hats/bonnets and scarves so imagine how cold it was up there! The ride was about 3 minutes or less but it was so fun! We actually found ourselves in tears after the ride because of the cold wind that hit our faces. haha! So after that ride, we went to the SK Telecom lounge for foreigners wherein we got free coffee and wifi. Then we had lunch at a fastfood. Ok, so even their burgers were a bit spicy. Good thing I love spicy food!:)

T Express

I love the SK Telecom Lounge!

Then we watched the parade and walked around. Then we entered the Global Village, which was a rip-off of "It's a Small World" of Disneyland. Plus, Disneyland's got better looking dolls haha! Anyway, our next ride was the Hurricane, but only Pam and I chose to ride it. That ride was fun but got us quite dizzy. It actually resembles the Pizza-La ride in Fuji-Q Highland in Japan; but in the Hurricane, people are facing each other, while at the Pizza-La, people are facing outside the circle. From there, Pam and I queued for the Double Rock Spin. While in line, we could see how the ride was spinning the others, which got Pam and I really scared to the point of almost backing out. But then again, we only live once! haha! So we took the risk! Before the ride started, we already said our goodbyes and farewell messages. Yeah, we were paranoids! LOL! But luckily, we survived the ride! haha! We're close to throwing up though! haha! After that, we entered the 3D theater for the Pororo 3D Adventure and besides the fact that we couldn't understand it, we also didn't enjoy it. Disneyland's Philharmagic is a better 3D adventure than that. We left the theme park at around 4:30pm because we had to meet Pam's friends in CoEx Mall in Samseong.

fake snow right there!

yummy float!

while watching the parade

Double Rock Spin

while waiting for the Everland bus

We got off at Gangnam bus stop. But since we thought it's near, we tried walking from there to Samseong. It was raining and we're getting wet 'coz we didn't bring umbrellas. Then we realized it's far so we took the subway from Seollung to Samseong (just one station away). The station was connected to CoEx so we just waited for Pam's friends at CoEx. Then they treated us to dinner at Mad Garlic, which was just a 5-minute walk from CoEx Mall. We ordered different pastas and pizzas, some of them were really spicy, but yummy!:) After dinner, we dropped by the IDC Seoul office to borrow umbrella from Pam's friends. And since we were so tired and sleepy, we just headed back home.

dinner:)

really nice new Korean friends :)

at IDC Seoul, South Korea office

Total expenses for the day:

1. Transportation (bus & subway) - 20,000 won

2. Entrance Fee (32,000 won each) - 128,000 won 

3. Lunch (fastfood) - 17,000 won

4. Dinner - FREE!

TOTAL: 165,000 won = Php 6,320 (or approx. Php 1,580/pax)

That was a fun and freezing Day 2! Follow our Seoul adventure in my next posts.

Conquered my Fear of Heights at Fuji-Q Highland

I have this fear of heights so I don't usually ride high attractions, most especially rollercoasters. But when some friends and I visited FujiQ Highland in Yamanashi last June 10, I had no choice but to ride all of the rollercoasters there! Actually I was able to ride 3 out of 4 rollercoasters only because the scariest rollercoaster, the Eejanaika (4-dimension rollercoaster) was closed.

It's my first time in Fuji-Q Highland, although I've already seen the place one time when we visited Mt. Fuji. Anyway, I was so proud of myself that day because I was able to conquer some of the world's tremendous rollercoasters.

 didn't know I had to squat to get a better shot lol

I wasn't the one who paid for my entrance fee so I didn't know how much my ticket was. We headed to our first ride which took us more than 30mins in line. This ride was Fujiyama, the King of Coasters. According to my research, it's the 4th largest rollercoaster in the world. It seemed like it has the longest duration of 3:36. While up there, we can see the entire amusement park. Unfortunately, Mt. Fuji wasn't visible since it was covered with clouds. The only downside was, my neck and back hurt after the ride.

while at the queue for Fujiyama

 so high!

done!

Then we lined up for Dodonpa, which took us an hour and 30 minutes in line. The ride was so quick and it was unexpectedly scary. It's the world's fastest rollercoaster. It resembles a jet that's being launched so it accelerated so quickly. After the fast launch were a couple of twists and 360-degree turns. It was so cool!

Wasn't able to take a pic so I just grabbed a photo from Google Image Search (pic at the right)

We got tired from lining up so we decided to have a quick lunch first. Right after lunch we headed to the Panic Clock wherein we were hanging on its pendulum which turned 360 degrees too! I really felt that all I had for lunch will come out of me haha! Next was the Tondemina, a ride sponsored by Pizza-La. It looked like a pizza pie wherein 50 people were sitting around its outer crust (circumference, being tossed left and right up in the air. It's actually fun and not that scary.

 We're supposed to go to the Super Scary Labyrinth of Fear, which is probably the scariest ghost house in Japan. In fact, it was featured in the news to have real ghosts who got mixed up with the staff ghosts in costume. Even some of the staff inside who were acting like ghosts actually saw the real ghosts. That horror house looked like an old hospital. Guests will just walk freely inside this 4-storey building while being chased by zombies. They said that those fake zombies grab hands and even pull them. Fortunately, I got saved! When we got there, the attraction was already closed because the people in line were already enough until the closing time. That was around 2:40pm and the attraction closes at around 5pm.


So we just decided to ride the Red Tower. It works like an elevator. while seated, it pulled us to the top of the tower giving us a nice view of Yamanashi. And after a couple of seconds, it dropped us more than halfway then up again and down. It was a short ride so there's no queue.

And the best part of the day was conquering the world's steepest rollercoaster, the Takabisha! It was certified by the Guinness Book of World Record. It took us around an hour on queue and when it was our turn, I felt like backing out! Imagine, it's a 121-degree free fall! I never thought I would even survive it! I got my eyes closed most of the time during the 2-minute ride!

 speechless!

And that's how I conquered my fear of heights! The next time I go back to Japan, I will be trying the #1 in the list of the World's Largest Rollercoasters, that one in Nagashima Spa Land!:)

Here's the link to Fuji-Q Highland's website: http://www.fujiq.jp/en/

Awesome Hong Kong-Macau Weekend (Part 3)

So we went to the place which they say is the "happiest place on earth". What's Hong Kong if we wouldn't visit Disneyland? So, it was where we spent our second day. It was quite a wet day but we're still thankful that the rain didn't pour big time!

But before anything else, let's do the "outfit check"! Before leaving the condo, we assumed that it's gonna be cold in Disneyland. And again, we checked out our "not-prepared-at-all" luggage. Luckily, I was able to bring stockings to at least cover my legs while wearing shorts. Thanks again for the boots, but still, my cardigan was a FAIL! haha! Thank God my friends lent me a thicker scarf.

On our way to the train station, we passed by the Mango Outlet Store. Of course, we had to stop and buy some real thermal wear which we will use the following day. And yeah, we forgot that we'll be bringing those shopping bags all the way to Disneyland haha!:))

We took the Mickey Train from Sunny Bay Interchange to Disneyland Resort. We bought tickets, entered the gates, and took a lot of photos as we walked. Well the place was nice, but I found it a bit small, or maybe I was just expecting more. Actually, I regret that I didn't insist to go to Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea Resorts when I was in Japan. I could feel that it's a lot bigger. Hopefully I can visit there next year.

We're actually excited to watch the shows, most especially the parade; so we noted all the show schedules and made sure that we won't waste any time. We had a couple of rides first: Buzz Light Year Astro Blasters, Autopia, and Space Mountain, , then we watched the parade of Disney characters. It's so fun! I loved the colorful floats, the Disney characters, and the entire experience!:)

 Buzz Light Year Astro Blasters

 Autopia

Space Mountain

 Disney Princesses

 Lilo and Stitch

Toy Story

The parade proceeded to a theater where all of the characters performed. It was called "The Golden Mickey Awards". There's a screen which featured English subtitles, which we're really thankful for. haha! Anyway, it was a nice show. It was good to see a lot of Filipino performers there, some of them used to be my schoolmates. Cool!:)

 The beast changed into a handsome prince!

 tinker bell!

 After the show, we had some snacks. Then we tried to watch the High School Musical but we didn't like it so we just proceeded to the other rides.

 Mickey's Philharmagic 3D!

 tried taking a picture w/o the 3D glasses haha

 Tarzan'sTreehouse

Jungle River Cruise

And the first ride we took wherein we're all complete as a group was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh! haha! We were wondering why it got a long line. So we were seated in a huge honey jar and which toured us inside a series of rooms showcasing the adventures of Pooh! Wahaha we've been laughing about it after the ride!:)) Then we went to the huge lighted castle, "It's A Small World'. It was a boat ride inside a castle that's full of dolls representing different countries of the world. It was a tour of the 7 continents. The song "It's A Small World" was playing on the background and as we passed through different countries, the language kept changing according to the country we're in. It was so cool! We heard the Filipino version with the lyrics, "Kaliit lang ng mundo..." haha! And it featured dolls wearing the baro't saya in front of the bahay kubo. It was so nice!:)

 haha funny ride!

Philippines

Then we went to the Stitch Show, where I was spotted by Stitch and got really embarrassed for being a part of the show! haha! And finally, we got to witness the fireworks display at the Disney castle! It's stunning!:)

It's been a tiring yet fun day in Hong Kong Disneyland. After the fireworks show, we took a couple of shots on our way out. Awesome day it was!:)

Bye HK Disneyland...'til next time!:)


(To be continued)