Ben and I realized that we both had activities the other was not very interested in. Rather than drag one along, taking up a whole day abroad, we decided to split off for individual itineraries!
Ben rode the train with me to the Disney Parks to make sure I got there safely. I also made the most important purchase of the day at one of our station transfers – an umbrella. Leading up to our trip the weather was forecasted to be warm and cloudy. As the time approached the forecast changed to heavy rains. Indeed, most of the day was spent racing under beating rain and hard blowing wind. Quite unpleasant.
Yes, I was scared to be alone. I would have preferred the split day happen later in the trip after gaining more experience in a foreign land. But this is how the schedule worked out, and I did it! Well, a Disney Park is probably the easiest place to manage without speaking the native language, but I’ll still take the win!
Tokyo Disneysea is a unique park. It has a completely different landscape and many rides that you cannot ride anywhere else. Everyone says the atmosphere is insane, and you need at least a full day or two experience Disneysea to the fullest.
Phooey, I said. I only care about rides – no shows, parades, or character meetings for me. I don’t even care about the special food items that fans love to post on social media. I’ll eat whatever I can find. I ONLY want to ride the rides that are unique to Disneysea. I figured I could easily do it in a day, and possibly squeeze in Disneyland next door in the evening. All the online folk said it was impossible and ill-advised. Spoilers – that’s exactly what I did! When it’s pounding rain you don’t care about soaking up the ambiance, you’re already soaking! I sped through both parks in a single day and even left before closing.
I queued up an hour before the gates opened. We were up with jetlag anyway, and I wanted a chance in the lottery for access to the new Fantasy Springs section of the park. One can only enter there by gaining a virtual ticket after entering the park – so the sooner you scan in, the better your chance of getting a spot. I succeeded! I got a priority pass for the new Peter Pan Neverland Adventure and a standby pass for Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey (supposedly the best ride in the park).
Brief aside – Disney toilets are legit! Aside from the standard bidet/privacy noise options they had so many kid accessories! USA you gotta step up!
I went to the back of the park to “Indiana Jones: Temple of the Crystal Skull,” planning to blitz through the single rider line. As soon as I arrived they shut it down for maintenance! So I went next door to “Raging Spirits” and did my first every 360 loop on a coaster!
I was already cold and wet. I needed some time to plan the next moves and arrange more virtual passes. So I ducked into the “Mermaid Lagoon” for shelter. The inside was beautiful! The rides in there are mostly little kiddie rides, along with lots of dry seating and a gaggle of youths posing for the gram. I squeezed into a less favorable selfie spot, rather than wait for the prime location that had quite a crowd.
I was excited for a Potato Churro – silly me assumed it was sweet potato and cinnamon sugar. Instead it was savory and smooth with a “demi-glace” filling. Weird. A good precursor to the eerie ride “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”
I had a priority pass for the big E-ticket ride, “Journey to the Center of the Earth” right next door, so I didn’t want to wander far. I got some famous popcorn (just caramel corn, not too crazy like their soy garlic, curry, or roast beef popcorn) and a regular Coke, texting my dismay at Japanese Coke options to my family while I sheltered from heavy winds under the volcano cavern.
“Journey to the Center of the Earth” was AMAZING. I was not prepared to be blown away like that! The theming and story-telling were great, the effects were all working and exciting, and the final animatronic was insane! Then the ride shoots you out of the volcano into the sky before racing to the finish. Totally awesome.
At this point I was mostly waiting for Indiana Jones to open again and for my time slot in the new Fantasy Springs. Another famous unique Disneysea ride “Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage” was closed for renovations. So I booked a pass for “The Magic Lamp Theater.” It was a stage show with some magic tricks by humans blended with 3D animation on the screen above. Not bad, mostly a good way to step out of the rain. It gave my shoes a chance to leak out in puddles at my seat.
Indiana Jones was operating again, so I headed that way with a short stop for a “Tipo Torta.”
This Indiana Jones ride is a little different than the version in California. Also, the ride is famous for actually keeping in good mechanical working order, unlike their USA sibling where the ride is coarser and many effects have been broken for years. I had a great time! Very spooky and thrilling! Seeing animatronic Harrison Ford talk to me in Japanese was a treat too.
Despite the fun rides, I was feeling a little lost at this point. Had I really done most of the park? Everyone said you need 1-2 days…the rain really dragged me down. Literally, it started pounding and pouring even more. I sheltered in a restroom for the worst of it, then darted across the park where rumors said I might find some Coke in a bottle.
It was fitting that I found my caffeine fix at the “American Waterfront.” Not only a coke, but a fountain coke zero and a sheltered table! I camped here until my time slot at Fantasy Springs.
Fantasy Springs was very beautiful, with shimmery ponds and gorgeous plants. The Peter Pan ride was cute. The theming in the queue was great. Most people said this was their most fun ride of the new area, so I was excited. It turned out the bobbing vehicle, the 3D glasses+screens, and the flying simulation made me to motion sick to fully enjoy it. Ah well.
I walked to the Frozen section around 3pm and eyeballed the 130 minute queue. I had a choice. Do I wait over 2 hours for this ride, then call it a day? Or do I delete my standby pass and switch to Disneyland? Obviously I chose the latter.
Tokyo Disney Resort doesn’t offer a park hopper ticket – you have a to buy a full day ticket for each park. Lucky for me, the yen is super weak so the cost of two tickets was still less than the cost for a single day pass to California’s resort.
Welcome to Tokyo Disneyland!!
The rain was letting up a little and staff were guiding the street rivers down the drain!
Straight to Haunted Mansion!!! I haven’t been on this ride since our trip to Anaheim in 2015. It was the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay during our WDW visit in 2016 and closed for renovations in 2020 at Disneyland (and currently closed for renovations AGAIN). This version was very close to the original. I love it still.
I wanted to ride Splash Mountain but the queue ballooned from 30 to 60 minutes while I was in Haunted Mansion. I also wasn’t keen to get wet again, as the rain continued to abate to a drizzle. So I just looked for the shortest lines for classic rides.
Pirates of the Caribbean was fun like usual. I liked hearing the ride safety information given in pirate accented Japanese, Chinese, and English. Behind me a girl whimpered “kowai kowai!” to her Dad the whole first half of the ride. Interesting that they updated the ride to include Jack Sparrow, but not to replace the wench auction as in the US.
Next Star Tours. Everyone took selfies with their glasses so I did too. Fun seeing the Force Awakens cast dubbed in Japanese. The flight video was the new version that ends in Batuu – the Star Wars land in Anaheim and WDW, but missing from Tokyo.
Outside I saw a crowd overflowing from the theater to watch the stage show. I heard they were super popular in Japan and it’s true! People were lined up on this far balcony to catch a glimpse. I skipped the Baymax ride, but walked through his large gift shop and fancy vending machines. They are CRAZY for Baymax in Japan. He seemed to be the most popular character.
A quick stop for a caramel apple churro – the closest to the original cinnamon sugar churro I could find. Then a quick pop into Pinocchio’s Daring Journey because it was nearby and had a short wait.
It’s a Small World was charming as usual. The guests had fun pointing out all the Disney IP characters that had been added to the ride in the last decade. I think the Japan dolls were expanded from the US version.
I saw them all over Tokyo but especially in the parks.
How do they walk all day in this rain in those??
Now it was time for the big moment! As soon as I got in the park I had booked a priority pass for The Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast. This is widely touted as one of the top rides of all Disney parks worldwide in terms of theming, story, animatronics, tech, and general enjoyment. Boy oh boy did it deliver! This ride was incredible. I know I’m a theme park nerd, so it might not win over hard hearts. But everything I had read was true. It’s a plussed up dark ride that tells the movie story. The tea-cups swirl you around in an exciting but smooth (and not nauseating) dance. The animatronics are impressive. The story-telling and pacing is perfect, from the moment to enter the queue to the end. I got teary eyed, perhaps because I realized how close to my heart this movie is. I went to see it in the movie theater over and over, I performed it as a young ballet student, I saw it at the Denver Buell, and I choreographed it for a high school. I remember seeing the previews of this ride back in 2018 and thinking it looked amazing, but I’ll never see it unless they duplicate it here. And now here I was on the other side of the world getting to ride it! Well, that’s enough gushing. Here’s some photos.
That felt like the right note to end on. I looked at the 45 minute Splash Mountain wait and, as much as I wanted to see the original version (replaced at both US parks now) with Japanese-bayou accents, I couldn’t muster the energy.
I did some quick shopping on the way out – a Baymax keychain, a rose hairclip for Beauty and the Beast, and a Haunted Mansion purple wallpaper patterned towel for dance classes.
Ben patiently repeated the train directions over and over so I could get back to Ginza. We reunited and collapsed into bed. Gotta sleep well – tomorrow’s another big day!!
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