Tokyo Trip Day 5 (DisneySea)

I read lots of blogs and reviews recommending Tokyo DisneySea as the best Disney theme park in the world, therefore I had been really looking forward to this day. I would say that it was the highlight of my Tokyo trip even though I had enjoyed many other places in Tokyo as well, the reviews were not overrated at all and DisneySea was simply AWESOME! First of all, we are really not fans of theme parks and our previous visit to Legoland (Yucks!) and USS left us feeling dehydrated, tired and we couldnt wait to get home. But DisneySea was so different, we left the park feeling that we did not have enough of it and we were actually sad that it was closing. On top of that, we were still suffering from the aftermaths of Joypolis when we first reached the place, but DisneySea made us fall in love with its ride.


As usual, we did not wake up early enough. I read blog posts of how those Disney gurus conquered the place, they actually got there half an hour before the theme park even opened. But for us, we tried waking up early and failed miserably. Luckily, DisneySea closes at 10pm so that still leaves us plenty of time to explore around, even though we reached at almost 4pm.

We took the longer way to Tokyo station, taking the usual JR Yamanote line as we did not get to the right platform for the Chuo Rapid line. Tokyo station was huge and we did a lot of walking before we got to the Keiyo platform for taking the train to Maihama.




We started to get excited once we got nearer to the Resort Gateway Station, Disney festive mood was in the air! The Disney resort rail was in a cute white colour and there were cute handholds in the shape of Mickey. We bought a 2 day pass with special Tinklebell design but we only realised we bought the wrong pass when we used it on the second day. The adult pass should cost 800Y instead of 400Y, oops! The ultra friendly station staff stopped us apologetically when she heard the chirping sound as we passed through the gantry, indicating that a kid's card was used. It was only then we realised that the machine selling the cards had an English option but we overlooked it the previous day.



The only complaints that people had about DisneySea was the sea of people everywhere, the locals simply adore the place and they are the greatest fans of the Disney theme parks in Tokyo. As you could see from the board, we went on the right day as the longest queue at that time was only one hour. I had done some research and checked the crowd predicting website, the crowd on Tuesday-Thurdays are usually not as bad as weekends. The weather on that day was cooling, perfect theme park day! We were really lucky and happy to be there, its a good opportunity to go on all the rides since the queue were not really long, but P was still traumatised from the queasy feeling he got from the rides in Odaiba, so he did not want to do anything except for looking around.





 I had done some research, and saw the area for Journey to the Centre of the Earth/ 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea. But alas! P was adamant that we were not going to take any roller-coasters and I guess I cant make my only companion feel sick for the rest of the trip. We stopped to take some photographs at the 'photography points', I must once again compliment the good service of the Japanese as the janitors cleaning the park were very willing to stop and help us take group photos.

We passed this stand selling flashing lights and I was so tempted to buy those as its really cute!! I really had to restrain myself from getting those cutesy stuff as I know it'll be pretty useless once we were out of Disney. 

We stopped to observe this whale for a short while and its eyes actually opened and closed. 

 Even though we decided not to try the rides, we still enjoyed walking around and taking photographs. We saw this 'uncle' dressed like a normal janitor in the park, but he's actually a comedian. He did little performances as he walked around the park and a small group of on-lookers will actually gather around him to watch. There were even some of them like us who followed him for awhile as all his little 'tricks' were different, and there were accompanying sound effects. I have no idea how he activated those, but he was really really talented and we had fun just watching him.

Another highlight of Tokyo DisneySea/Land was the snacks. The popcorns were hugely popular and the best thing about all these little snacks was the fact that its really affordable. We went to other theme parks and some SG attractions that are like tourist traps, charging exorbitant prices for snacks. I found the prices of the ice-creams/popcorns quite reasonable (around 310Y), therefore I made it my personal quest to try as many snacks as I could.
The popcorns came in very interesting flavours, I bought the melon flavoured ones, it tasted quite good and I tried to find the milk tea flavour as well, but we did not see the popcorn stand selling those. We saw other stands selling caramel/salt/strawberry/curry popcorns, we decided we'll skip those.

Of course with my sweeth tooth and perpetual craving for desserts, I would try out their ice cream too. The packaging and the Mickey on the biscuit looked so good that I was unwillingly to sink my teeth into it. Its quite a big piece of ice cream and not just a miserable small portion for the 310Y. Thumbs up!

This sticky rice snack with hotdog is super yummy, its a must try! :D

It's a pity P didnt even dare to go for the easy rides such as Toy Story Mania even though I tried to coax him into it. 

Since we were not going for rides, we try to catch as many shows as we could. This was one of those at broadway theatre, the Big Band Beat. There were some dancing and singing but nothing too spectacular. Nevertheless, still a good experience. 

The lively atmosphere really got to us after we came out from Big Band Beat. I saw so many girls in those cute Disney capes and I couldn't resist it, I got a Minnie one for myself at one of the carts. I really have to stop myself from getting those cutesy hairbands though.  

Shortly after that, the fireworks parade at the outdoor area started. It was really a amazing orchestra of lights, songs, music, fireworks. Really "Happiness on High"! 

We also got kind of happy and high after "Happiness on high". P was finally convinced to go for some ride at the last operating hour of DisneySea, especially when he saw someone of his Grandma's age going on the Sindbad's Storybook Voyage. It is a easy boat ride telling the story of Sindbad, but I was really amazed by the details put into the different segment of the ride, the mechanism behind this is really not simple. Even though everything was told in Japanese, I really marveled at how everything was put together. 

After Sindbad, P was already in the mood for rides, but we only have time to go on one ride as its half an hour before the closing time of DisneySea. I was only hoping to go on some simple ride such as Toy Story but to my pleasant surprise, P chose the House of Terror. Its this tall and prominent structure in the middle of the whole theme park. In the daytime, we can see part of the ride from afar, it will open near the highest point and there will always be rows of people strapped in and screaming on their seats. We were telling ourselves that we most certainly cant go on this ride after dark as it'll be super duper scary. Nevertheless, with our hearts thumping with excitement, we went into the tower. Usually this ride requires a fast pass or long hours of queue, but we were really the last 2 to squeeze past the entrance and started queuing for the ride. At this time, there were still many people ahead of us, it took about half an hour before we got to the ride.

There were various rooms which they ushered everyone into before entering the cabins for the ride, this is to build up the atmosphere. Even though everything was in Japanese and we could only guess what was going on, I would say there was really this spooky creepy feeling, like we are invading into a tower full of spirits filled with hatred. Finally, after we got strapped to our seats in the cabin, my hands went cold as I gripped the sides of my seat tightly. There were approximately three or four rows of people and I was just glad we were not right in front. The ride is really one of its kind, I can safely say we will not experience this in any other part of the world. In a nutshell, its like a giant drop ride that went up and down at great speed, but the most clever part of this setup was the front of the cabin opening up when we reach the highest part of the tower, showing us the beautiful view of the whole Disneysea theme park.. and intense feeling of suspense in our hearts before dropping down. I would not say it terrified me to the extreme like other roller coaster rides, but many of our companions were really screaming and shouting throughout. P really enjoyed this ride too, and we really regretted this is our first and last real ride in Disneysea. We went out of the tower laughing, before slowly making our way to the entrance of the park to exit. 

 It's shopping time as all the rides and sights had closed. We bought some Disney souvenirs for our friends and family at home. We saw cute Duffy, popular at Tokyo Disney, and we simply have to get one home. We saw so many people dressed in their favourite Disney character tee and bought Mickey/Minnie to wear them to Disneyland the next day.

We were really sad to go at the end of the day, but the feeling of elation and happiness still lingered in our hearts. It was a really good feeling. The best thing about DisneySea was the fact that they do not chase anyone out of the place even long past its closing time, everyone was still polite and friendly. We just slowly made our way out when we are really ready and done for the day.

As I was leaving, I promised myself that I will be back someday to enjoy everything all over again and experience the rides I didnt get to take. :)