A Full Day at Tokyo DisneySea (11-26-2023)
Our last full day in Japan was largely consumed by a longtime goal for many of us--Tokyo DisneySea! Many years ago I had previously visited Tokyo Disneyland, which was a fun enough thing to do but was very similar to the Disneyland in Anaheim, but with everything presented in Japanese. DisneySea is special and unique because its theming is mostly nothing like any of the other Disney theme parks. As the name implies, there is a lot of focus on the ocean at this park, build around a giant man-made bay.
Getting to the park wasn't as smooth as we would have liked, although Kristen and Aaron made it over with little trouble the night before because they had purchased a Disney vacation package for themselves. The rest of us were arriving hopefully by opening the next morning. Originally Josh and I thought we might take the regular commuter trains, but the idea of a shuttle bus had been floated the night before, and we wanted to try to make the trip as a group together with Stacy and Nando. We successfully made it over to the Tokyo SkyTree where the shuttle bus was supposed to depart, but initially struggled to find signage for the shuttle bus. We found Stacy and Nando, but they also did not know where the bus stop was located. Josh and I realized where we needed to be and tried to get to the bus stop as quickly as we could, but we suspected we couldn't move as a group fast enough, and by the time we got to the bus stop, we sadly were literally just one minute too late. So, it was back to our original plan now, to simply take the local commuter trains down to the Disney resorts.
What had exacerbated the situation was this was the one and only day in which Josh and I were in Japan where the weather was fairly miserable. It wasn't freezing, but the temperatures did drop, and it was gray, drizzly, and windy all day. It certainly wasn't ideal for the members of our party who had previously been sick, which had included Nando, and now was starting to affect Stacy.
Eventually after several transfers and riding the Disney Resort Line (where all the train's hand grips were shaped like Mickey Mouse ears), we pulled up to the entrance of Tokyo DisneySea. I suppose it would be expected that there would be crowds because it was a Sunday, but it still really surprised me how many people stuck it out to come out here on such a cold, wet day. Perhaps that had something to do with having to purchase park tickets so far in advance, though, and most people don't want to lose that investment.
Kristen and Aaron waited for us on the other side of the gate, and from there we started exploring the park. Again, it's definitely built differently from any other Disney park I'd ever visited. One of the first things we did was stop to find just a little bit of food, since I hadn't stopped for breakfast before getting to the park. We purchased "All-American Hot Dogs", which were pretty okay, but as an American, I can't say I thought it tasted all-American. But it was worth it because it was only 500 yen (currently $3.35 USD) which might be the cheapest Disney food I've ever had, certainly as an adult. Anaheim Disneyland food may not have been that cheap since the '90s.
All the rumors about the lines for various flavors of popcorn at the Tokyo Disney parks is true. There are popcorn stalls set up in various locations across the park, all with a unique flavor at each station, and all with unimaginably long lines. I was interested in the chocolate covered popcorn, but by far the longest line was for the curry-flavored popcorn, which completely matched the rumored I'd previously heard.
One of the first attractions we ran into that I was especially interested in was the Tower of Terror, which is unique because it is neither themed like the original Twilight Zone theming, nor was it reskinned to look like Guardians of the Galaxy. This one had its own unique story, featuring an old white explorer guy who had been appropriating artifacts from all around the world, until he finally took an African statue with a curse that ended up getting him stuck in an elevator and dropping him to his death, and then we were about to experience the same thing. The tracks on the ride felt similar to other versions, just that the scenes presented to us were unique just to this version of the ride. Honestly, though, I genuinely think this was the least scary version of Tower of Terror I've ever ridden, largely because the elevator seems to give much less of an overhanging view of the outside than other versions before dropping you.
Unfortunately, even before we got on the ride, we learned that Stacy and Nando had just gotten too sick too quickly. It was still early in the day, and it seems they were going to need to turn around and go back to their hotel before getting any sicker, leaving only Josh, Kristen, Aaron, and myself to remain in line for Tower of Terror and everything else afterwards. That was certainly disappointing, but obviously we would never have wanted them to start feeling any worse.
The rest of us continues exploring the park. Josh and I used the mobile app to get fast passes for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, with Kristen and Aaron using premium passes from their vacation package. This version of the ride is significantly different from the version of the ride that existed at other Disney parks decades ago and was much more interesting, with better decoration and animatronics.
The group walked around and explored an area designed to look like Ariel's grotto and other underwater locations from The Little Mermaid. We rode a Whirlpool ride that was very similar to the well-known Disney teacups, but you couldn't spin the disc on the inside to make them spin faster.
We stopped for food, and grabbed various snacks including chocolate churros, beef nam, and hot chocolate with orange. Really good food, and again, shockingly cheap prices for a Disney theme park.
The park also had a fun, tight, concise roller coaster called Raging Spirits. It had great speed and a good loop in the middle, but there was a small splash of water that got on my face, which might have been nice on a summer day, but was blisteringly cold on the day we were there.
Kristen and Aaron offered to share some of their premium tickets with us so that we could more quickly enter Indiana Jones: Temple of the Crystal Skull. The ride is nearly identical to Disneyland's Indiana Jones Adventure (Temple of the Forbidden Eye) in almost every way, but the "Forbidden Eye" has been replaced with a skull. Another thing that I appreciated was that their giant snake was still a huge working animatronic, while the Disneyland I believe had switched to projections.
We knocked out some other simple rides like Jasmine's Flying Carpets and Sindbad's Storybook Village. The magic carpets were just a simple rotating ride, but Sindbad was something more akin to It's a Small World. Honestly, though, Sindbad was far more charming, featuring better animatronics, better music, and a complete story. I actually found it really charming, and Sindbad's friend Chandu the tiger cub was so cute and sweet. I immediately wondered if they had merchandise of him because he was so cute and so unique to this specific park. We found some cute Chandu plushies, but I couldn't justify spending the money to buy him. But Kristen and Aaron kindly offered to gift him to me, and I was immediately brought to tears by their kindness. I love the little plush Chandu, not only because he's cute on his own, but also because he's memorabilia from a unique place, and because I was having a good time in the company of kind and caring friends.
Walking around the park after the sun went down was also very cool to see. I almost preferred the way the park was lit at night as opposed to some of its more dull colors in the daylight. Additionally, the park had been well decorated for the Christmas season, and the trees were decorated quite extravagantly.
The last thing Josh and I did in the park that night (along with Kristen and Aaron) was a nighttime show called Believe! Sea of Dreams. The show takes plac3 in the main bay of the park, with lots of well-lit boats, projections onto buildings and structures around the part, music, costumed characters, and a handful of fireworks. My feet hurt from standing so long, but it was such a well put-together show that I didn't mind fighting through it.
There was still another fireworks show to come after, but Josh and I dec8ded we would go ahead and leave at that point, so we could finish preparing to leave the country the next day, and so that we could beat a chunk of the madhouse rush to leave after the final fireworks.
I grabbed some strawberry Disney snacks on my way out, and we all said our final goodbyes to each other, as Kristen and Aaron would be staying behind, not only to see the end of the park shows but also to stay for another couple of days for their vacation package. We had a wonderful time, and I was touched by their friendship and kindness, and it's something I'll never forget.
Josh and I left the park, and sort of accidentally found our way to the shuttle that we had trued so hard to get to the first time. It was convenient, if a bit cramped. But eventually we got back to the SkyTree, and then to Asakusa. I told Josh I wanted one last large bowl of ramen before our excursions were over.
Back in Asakusa, we found a nearby restaurant that was still open called Ramen Fukushin and ordered huge bowls of tonkotsu chashuumen and two glasses of Chu Hi. It was exactly how I wanted to end our last night, in such a normal but satisfying way. I can go back saying I was happy.
One last blog will follow this one tomorrow. There are still a lot of little things to wrap up, so I'll be sure to do all of that then. Just a little farther to go!
