Days 9 - Tokyo Disney Sea, Part I

We spent 4 magical days exploring 2 of the best Disney parks in the world. We absolutely loved, loved, loved each moment. We just left and we already can’t wait to come back.

Our first day was spent at DisneySea. This park is unlike any other Disney park in the world. What really makes it stand out is the pure beauty of the park. It is so completely immersive in a way no other Disney park can match. Every detail is perfect. DisneySea, and for that matter Tokyo Disneyland, are so well maintained. They both literally look like they opened yesterday. We saw countless examples of the level of care provided by each and every employee that makes these parks spotlessly clean and perfectly maintained. Tokyo DisneySea and Disneyland are what I imagine Walt Disney must have envisioned when he first created Disneyland. It is like Disney received a do-over on the original park and they were able to build it better. There is more space for shows, dining, and attractions.

In the morning we took the monorail from our hotel to Tokyo DisneySea. The monorail here is amazing. It has four stops and takes ~12-13 minutes to complete the loop. The monorail makes it so easy to get around here. Our hotel is right by the monorail. We took it one stop to DisneySea. We arrived at the park about an hour before it opened. There was already quite a crowd. Rope drop is very popular in Japan. It seems like a majority of guests arrive before or around the park opening. Here Disney hotel guests get the “happy 15” or 15 extra minutes in the park, rather than the 60 in California. Those 15 minutes are very valuable.

It is necessary to have a strategy in mind if you want your day to start out right. Two of the more popular attractions at DisneySea are Toy Story Midway Mania and The Tower of Terror. Toy Story Midway Mania is by far the most popular ride here, so much so that most people head straight for that ride. The line instantly becomes long and fast passes go so fast. One of the bloggers Alison follows likened the dash to Midway Mania to the running of the bulls, albeit with very polite bulls. This is an apt description. From what we understand Midway Mania is exactly the same as in California and Florida so we decided to skip the craziness and avoid this ride altogether.

Our rope drop strategy was to immediately obtain a fast pass to the Tower of Terror and then head to another of the anchor attraction - Journey to the Center of the Earth. As we entered the park we were greeted by Mickey and Minnie and a marching band. We navigated the crowds. Employees lined the walkways waving signs asking people not to run. They would hold the sign right in front of anyone they saw running. All of the cast members wave at guests all day, every day. They all seemed so happy to be working at Tokyo Disney.

We executed our plan well. Before we knew it we had a fast pass and we were making our way toward the volcano that serves as the centerpiece of the park. As we walked we were struck by the stunning beauty and detail of the park. Once we were away from Midway Mania the rest of the park was still fairly vacant. DisneySea is designed as a port theme park. Where Disneyland has separate themed lands DisneySea has ports. It is huge and sprawling and every inch of it is perfectly themed.

Our first ride was Journey to the Center of the Earth. This is a very fun ride, but it took riding it a few times for both of us to really appreciate it. One thing that surprised me about DisneySea was that there are not as many “thrill rides” as I expected based on my experience at Disneyland and California Adventure. The rides are big on theming and story which it seems are very popular with the majority Japanese audience. The ride and land themes throughout DisneySea are impeccable.

Right after we finished our first ride we immediately walked onto 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This was another elaborate ride (much better than the Nemo submarines). After the ride we were hungry so we bought a potato churro. It was interesting but not as good as a regular churro.

We headed toward the Lost River Delta and obtained a fast pass for Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull. Alison and I both liked Indiana Jones better here. The queue is even more interesting than in the states and the ride has a few additional features that make it fun.

It was time to use our first fast pass so we headed back to the Tower of Terror. The story of this ride is completely different. Rather than being based on the Twilight Zone they have created a story that takes place at the Hightower hotel. The story is told in Japanese. As far as I can tell it is about an explorer, Hightower who traveled to Africa and brought home a cursed idol, Shiriki Utundu. The idol then curses him and causes him to disappear while he is riding the elevator in his hotel. The ride itself is fairly similar to the US, although the drops do not feel quite as intense.

We spent the afternoon exploring the park, eating treats, and riding rides. One of the more popular treats at both Tokyo DisneySea and Disneyland are various flavors of popcorn. We tried quite a few - Carmel, honey, and strawberry. Strawberry was our favorite. We just finished riding the electric train when we smelled something wonderful. We followed our noses until we found ourselves in line for popcorn. It tasted as good as it smelled.

We rode all of the rides. They have Aquatopia (a watery take on Autopia but without a track), Nemo & Friends Sea Rider (similar to Star Tours, but Nemo themed; this was 100% in Japanese and would have been more fun if we knew the story), Raging Spirits (this was a small roller coaster; small as in compact; the size is a limiting factor on the thrill). The rides were fun, but I have to admit this is not the most fun Disney park in the world. It is everything else in conjunction with solid rides that makes this park so incredible.

They are still celebrating Easter at Tokyo Disney. There were Easter decorations and treats all over the place. They also had an Easter show in the Mediterranean Harbor - Tip-top Easter. We never stopped and watched the whole show, but we caught quite a bit of it as we made our way through the park. It was an extravaganza complete with water floats and jet skis.

We ate lunch at the Horizon Bay Restaurant. This is a buffeteria, which is what they call a counter-service restaurant. The food was good, but our timing was even better. It started to rain right as we were entering the restaurant and was done raining for the day by the time we left. It could not have worked out better. In Tokyo Disney, there are lines for everything. It was not a particularly busy day at the park, but there was a pretty significant line for lunch. Snacks, and especially popcorn stands, could have really long lines. We had to be pretty strategic in what we chose to do/eat to try to minimize lines as much as possible.

After lunch, we explored Ariel’s grotto area. We walked past a couple of times and noticed the facade looked like a scene from the movie. Little did we know inside was a giant kids' area with 5 or 6 kid rides, dining, shopping, and the Mermaid Lagoon Theater. We went to King Triton’s Concert in the theater. Most of the show was in Japanese. We have found that things are about 60% in Japanese and 40% in English. Even though the show was in Japanese the songs were recognizable. Plus Ariel was suspended above the theater so she could swim around while she sang. It was a fun show.

Another area we loved was the Arabian Coast. As with the entire park, this area was stunning. We wandered around and rode a few more rides like the Caravan Carousel and Jasmine’s Flying Carpets. We also found one of our favorite rides here - Sinbad’s Storybook Adventure. This Pirate-esque ride tells the story of Sinbad and his trusty sidekick Chandu and their adventures on the high seas. It has a great song and fun visuals.

We found some delicious treats around the park. My personal favorites were these little green alien dumplings. They had custard, strawberry, and chocolate filling respectively. I enjoyed them so much that we ended up getting them on two other days as well. We also found a small delicious sushi roll. Early on in the day, there was a long line at this particular snack stand. Later we walked past and the line had died down so we decided to give it a try. It was quite tasty.

We wandered through Fortress Explorations. There is a fortress near the volcano. Inside the fortress there is a series of rooms that have different interactive exhibits based on discoveries during the age of exploration – some dealt with planets or the laws of physics or exploration. They were all random and entertaining.

We ate dinner at Magellan's. This is one of the best places to eat at DisneySea. One of the challenges of visiting Disney parks in Japan is that we could not make reservations ahead of time because we do not speak Japanese. We were unsure of what we would be able to get at the park once we arrived. We stopped by Magellan's in the morning to see if we could get a reservation. There were a few available. The restaurant itself is nestled within the Fortress Exploration in the Mediterranean Harbor. It is a fine dining-themed restaurant. It is decorated as a fantastical meeting place of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers. It is very ornate and celebrates the age of exploration. We were seated in the “hidden” dining room. It was behind a bookcase with a secret button to open and close the door. It was a nice, quiet, intimate room. The food was excellent and the service was as well. This was one of our favorite Disney dining experiences.

Dinner ended and we walked right out to Mediterranean Harbor for the night show – Fantasmic! One of the great things about DisneySea is that there is plenty of space for the shows. People here are also crazy respectful so they have ~the first 12 rows of people sit so that people further back can still see. Also, everyone has these awesome parade plastic parade mats so they are prepared to sit. People take really good care of their mats so they often take their shoes off so that they don’t get their mats dirty. People also make room and try to help other people watch the shows. It is a much better viewing experience. Fantasmic! Was great. It was very similar to the US version and was half English/half Japanese. It was really nice to be able to enjoy the show from a nice viewing area.

After the show, we had one more fast pass to the Tower of Terror. We finished riding with ~20 minutes before closing. There was one more thing Alison wanted to do – ride the gondolas. We had a nice romantic ride as the park was closing. Right as we finished it started to rain. Our timing was once again perfect. It could not have been a better day first day at the Tokyo parks.