My Chic Diary 101: 2013

Despite my adolescence, I am always and always have been a kid at heart. As the song goes “A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep…In dreams you lose your heartaches whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams and someday your rainbow will come smiling thru. No matter how your heart is grieving if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true.” Every time I hear the word dream, I think of theme parks, not jobs, careers, professions, etc. Those are goals, but a dream for me is something that makes you happy even in a short span of time.

Theme parks are our family’s tradition every time go on a vacation. Wherever we go, it is already a standard operating procedure to go to a theme park to make our vacation complete. My intention of posting this is simply reminiscing the moment when I don’t think of anything but plain FUN. With college around, that thought seems to be nostalgic to me since I have been juggling a lot of things right now. This is also to summarize my experiences so that I won’t be able to forget anything when I grow older. Also, this serves as a recommendation to all you kids-at-heart out there to which theme park suits you based on my experience.

Disclaimer: Pictures are not mine. As much as I want to post my own, I can’t because I’m away from home and I do not have the pictures with me.

1. KNOTT'S BERRY FARM

Beach Blvd Buena Park, CA

Hence the name “America’s First Theme park”, it was also my first visit to a theme park. At the age of 5, my family together with aunts and cousin went to this theme park nearing the Easter season. There were easter decorations everywhere! Enough about that.. Knott’s holds my most terrifying ride experience ever, it was on a boat that swings too high to the point that I shouted to the operator to stop the ride once and for all. Hehe :) So if you want to have an absolutely fun first time experience, Knott's Berry Farm is here for you...complete with rides, amusements, and picturesque cites. P.S. Knott's Berry also houses my favorite jams and jellies :)

2. DISNEYLAND CALIFORNIA

Anaheim, CA

I vaguely remember my first Disneyland experience and what has changed since then as to my recent visit now. I do remember the big California sign that was there back then but was removed now.I can recall that I was a tantrumatic 5-year who doesn’t about anything or anyone at all. And that explains why most of my experiences were vague. The big difference is the new California Adventure which I’ll get to in a while. With Main Street USA, New Orleans Square, Frontierland, Critter Country, Adventureland, Mickey’s Toontown, Tomorrowland, and Fantasyland, this theme park makes it to my top 1 because it is not too big nor too small for a day of strolling and it has my favorite rides and entertainment ever!

3. UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD

Universal City Plaza Los Angeles, CA

Up for some Hollywood action? Universal Studios Hollywood offers the state-of-the-art behind the scenes of famous Hollywood movies. The first time we came here, my dad won "Dino" (a huge stuffed toy) from Flintstones after shooting the hoops in basketball. We had to think of ways to fit Dino inside a box to bring him back to the Philippines. When we arrived, Dino got a fractured neck :( Anyway, what I can remember from this place is E.T. where you get to ride the bike and when you exit, it actually says your name and bids you goodbye. Unfortunately, they took it down and replaced it with some of the newer movies. This place is composed of the lower lot and upper lot, not too big..and thus, you can explore the whole place in just less than a day! You'll learn a lot about film when you go here and then you'll realize how directors and crews do out-of-this-world scenes effortlessly.

4. HONG KONG DISNEYLAND RESORT

lantau Island,Park Promenade HK

Smallest disneyland I've been to! Nevertheless, it is still the happiest place on earth! Disneyland never fails to amuse me. It is very convenient since it's located in Asia, not too far from my country. Personally, I dislike loooong hours of plane rides and I like escaping to Asian countries better because of the short travel time. The entrance of this disneyland has a whale(I'm guessing it's from Pinocchio) and Mickey riding a skateboard on top of the water that the whale is "gushing". It seems so cool and unique..one thing that other disneylands don't have. One tip though, when going to theme parks like this, wear your most comfortable footwear 'cause you don't want those feet sore! Another tip, wait for the parades/shows in the late afternoon, they're a great ender in you disneyland visits!

5. OCEAN PARK HONG KONG

Wong Chuk Hang Rd, HK

When my mom said we were going to Ocean Park, I expected it to be just a small area with lots of huge aquariums and boring old sea creatures. I was proven wrong! It turns out that Ocean Park has lots of rides, amusements, shows, and my favorite...good food! It was also my first time riding a cable car here. Ocean Park also has two lots but I don't remember them to be that big. But overall, it was a fun experience seeing creatures I never knew existed =)

6. WALT DISNEY WORLD ORLANDO

Lake Buena Vista, FL

Exploring the whole Disney World will probably take more or less 4 days. It consists of four major parks: Magic Kingdom Park, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom..and two minor one: Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, and Blizzard Beach Water Park. It is a huuuuge place indeed! For starters, I highly recommend going to Magic Kingdom first. It is one of the biggest ones I've been to. Since it is located in Orlando, it gets very hot but for me, it's actually better because I don't want walking theme parks around chilly weather. In Epcot, you'll get to see and explore other places in the world without actually going to those places. Personally, I enjoyed it because I got to collect free collectibles from every station/country we visit. Unfortunately, those were the only two major parks we went to but we explored Orlando for the rest of our stay.

7. SENTOSA SINGAPORE

Sentosa Island, SG

Sentosa is such a big and great place to get lost! With Singapore's beauty and cleanliness, you will never regret going there. In fact, Sentosa hold the title "Asia's Favorite Playground". You have to ride a bus to go from one place to another, I know it's tiring -.- But it was a good trip because I got to learn Singapore's history and culture. They also have great shows, attractions and rides. Dare to be amazed with the spectacular "Songs of the Sea" where they

present you a great show using water, lights, and projectors.

8. UNIVERSAL STUDIOS SINGAPORE

Sentosa East Mall, SG

Singapore's Universal Studios is not much any different except that in Hollywood, it's more realistic and true. I went here years ago back when it was just newly opened. Still the same, really.. and the best thing that I remember was the Hershey's store..yum! :p

9. SEA WORLD SAN DIEGO
Sea World Dr San Diego, CA

Sea World has lots of rides, attractions, and my favorite, the shows. We literally went to all the shows because we found it very fascinating and entertaining..and also to kill time. The shows were One Ocean, Blue Horizons, Sea Lions Live, Pets Rule, and Shamu Rocks. But you have to be careful, you'll get wet when you stay near the performance area, the animals do it..purposely! If you're up for the challenge, they have interactive activities in which you get to interact with the sea creatures yourself. Unfortunately, during our visit, there were several rides that were closed including the one in the bottom picture. Awww, sad. On a different note, I rode my first legitimate roller coaster here! I just felt like I needed to..after visiting all these theme parks, I never got to ride one.

10. DISNEYLAND CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE

Anaheim, CA

This was the new addition to the theme park, it wasn't around the last time we came here. (wow, that was a long time ago). Basically, it's called the Disneyland California Adventure where it had this huge ferris wheel, California Screamin'(the scariest roller coaster) and more rides and shows. Also here, they placed eight Disney Pixar movies as attractions. The one I was expecting to go to the most was Cars Land but sadly, it was temporarily closed. (seriously? :( ) Since it was not that big, we only had half a day to explore around it and then we transferred to the main Disneyland to spend the rest of the day.

11. UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD

Universal City Plaza Los Angeles, CA

As what I've said, there have been a lo of changes since the last time we've been here. For appetizer, we rode "The Tram" first where they show you around the Universal Studios in which they film movies and tv shows. This attraction is exclusive to this Universal Studios since this is the original one and this is where they actually film the movies. I remember seeing the exterior of The Voice Studio, the crashed plane in Fast & Furious, the set of Desperate Housewives and many more. This is where they show the secrets in every nook and cranny of the movies/shows. It was also cool because in the tram, we had a 3D KingKong ride, a real life experience of that movie where the setting was in a train station and there was flood everywhere(what was the name of that movie again?), we saw some stunts and how some intense mind-blowing scenes were done. A new addition to this theme park was the Tranformers 3D ride and I got to ride the Mummy for the first time (after being such a coward in Singapore).

I still got some theme parks left to go to in my bucket list!

SIX FLAGS