Tokyo DisneySea

DisneySea is only available in Tokyo. That is the sole reason for it to be a must-visit place in our Tokyo trip. To go to Tokyo DisneySea by train is convenient. First, we went to Maihama Station on Keiyo Line. Then, we used Disney Resort Line to go straight to the main entrance of DisneySea.

The Disney theme park opens from 9 am to 10 pm. Adult ticket price for one day pass is 7400 yen (around RM270). Starlight passport ticket is available with discounted price, but not worth it as we can only enter the park after the sunset. If the queuing time is long, fastpass can be utilized to reduce the queuing time, so plan ahead to maximize the fun. Well, we only used fastpass once in the park for Raging Spirits roller coaster ride. The queue time was 45 minutes.

Our experience- buy ticket online at Tokyo DisneySea official website. It is important because we don't want to waste time queuing for buying entrance ticket. Restaurants food price are fair (compared to food in Tokyo), and the restaurant at Arabian Coast has the best offer. Drinking water fountains are almost everywhere, offering hydrating cold water for free. Some websites stated Disney-popcorn is a must eat snack there. We tried. We disagree with them. 

Let's talk about the rides. Many rides worth a try, but top on our list- SeaRiders at Port Discovery, Indiana Jones Adventure at Lost Delta, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at Mysterious Island. The rest like the water craft at Port Discovery and Raging Spirit at Port Lost Delta are good as well. We personally like Simbad's Storybook Voyage at Arabian Coast very much. The ride was relaxing with delighting music, and Simbad's pet- a cute little tiger was the highlight in all the scenes.  The Journey to the Center of the Earth was closed during our visit.

For theater and shows, Big Band Beat is a must see stage performance. The Broadway style stage  features fast-paced performance by energy-packed dancers from difference countries. There are special guests on stage as well, including Mickey. Big Band Beat is located at the theater in Waterfront.

Triton's Concert at Mermaid Lagoon and the Magic Lamp Show at Arabian Coast feature the combination of superb 3-D effects and performers. These two shows are good to fill our waiting time. However, if you have been bombarded by stunning 4-D and trilling rides before you walk into these theaters, well, either one can put you to sleep.

Similar to Disneyland in Hong Kong,  the Disney Resort line coach is well-designed. Disney Resort line is built encircling Disneyland, DisneySea, and a few resorts nearby.

Right after the ticket counter is a square with a globe at the middle of it. Disney Resort line station is on the right side of this photo.

 We need to walk "through" these Venice style buildings to enter DisneySea.

The area at the entrance is called Mediterranean Harbor. It is beautiful but believe us, don't spend even one minute standing there. We will have a lot of opportunities to take photo in this area later. The big volcano behind the Arabian palace is called Mysterious Island. That is the place that we shall go first.

Mysterious Island is encircled by a volcanic crater. We can see a giant mine digging machine, submarine bay, and two of the top recommended rides there- Journey to the Center of the Earth, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was unlucky for us. The ride to the center of the earth was closed during our visit. So we could only go 20 k leagues undersea before we left the area to Port Discovery. The ride was not amazing, but the experience was good. We could actually feel that we went undersea in the submarine.

Port Discovery is a vibrant area with fast moving water craft at Aquatopia and superb quality 4-D SeaRider with Nemo and friends. We can see huge crowd queuing for SeaRider on far right.

SeaRiders was simply amazing (Upper left). We queued for around 30 minutes to experience an adventure with Nemo and friends in a submarine (Upper right). The great 4-D experience- strong wind, splashing water, and the cabin movement make it the best ride on our list. After the ride, we went to Aquatopia and queued for less than 10 minutes (lower right) to board onto a water craft. Aquatopia is located next to SeaRider.

Indiana Jones Adventure is highly recommended (upper left). It is located at Lost Delta, right under a huge pyramid (upper right). Well, we would recommend to get a fastpass for this ride, as the queue was massive (lower right). The decoration inside the temple was good, but it couldn't compensate the tiredness of queuing. Well, 40 minutes was a bit long for a 5 minutes ride. 

Hanging above the mysterious temple, Raging Spirits is the fastest roller coaster in the park. The queuing time was 45 minutes. So, we took a fastpass for this ride. We returned to the ride after we visited Arabian Coast.

Arabian Coast is a beautiful place. All structures at the coast are meticulously designed to give us a feeling that we are in Arabian world (and not in DisneySea anymore, Ouch!). Simbad's Storybook Voyage is inside a large building (upper left). The beautiful lane lead to a big restaurant with nice curry rice (lower right). We went to Magic Lamp Theater after the lunch. The amazing 3-D effect was spoiled by slow and boring storyline.  

Mermaid Lagoon is built indoor. The building resembles an underwater palace (upper left). We can see King Triton's statue at the entrance (upper right). After the entrance, the whole indoor play ground is just in front of us. King Triton theater is inside this building. There was no queue in this area during our visit.

Disney electric railway provides two ways transit between Port Discovery and American Waterfront (upper row), while DisneySea transit steamer provides two ways transit between Lost River Delta and American Waterfront. We took both transits just for fun, as the queue was short (less than 5 minutes for the railway and less than 10 minutes for the steamer).

There are several good spots for photo taking. Top of our list- the bridge and the gondola at Mediterranean Harbor (upper left), followed by the red metal bridge at American Waterfront (upper right), the street at Broadway beside Mediterranean Harbor (lower right), and on the bridge at Lost Delta which overlooking the whole Arabian Coast.

Big Band Beat Theater is located beside the railway transit, in between Mediterranean Harbor and American Waterfront. We successfully won the tickets from the lottery six times in a row and walked into the theater happily in the evening. Lucky, lucky. If you want to try your luck, just ask any staff in the park for assistance to go to the lottery at Mediterranean Harbor. Without a ticket from the lottery, we have to queue to enter the theater (as we can see in the photo).

2018 marks the 35th years of Disneyland in Tokyo. Cute Mickey statues were placed at certain places in the park for the celebration.

 Photo with Mickey.

DisneySea offers a lot of fun, and it is definitely a worth visit place in Tokyo. We visited the park at the middle of May. The weather was good with strong wind swept away the heat of the sun. We were really lucky as we visited the park right after a super peak week, so the longest queuing time we had was around 40 minutes at Adventure of Indiana Jones. It was easy to get a seat in the restaurant as well. The staff could communicate with simple English, and all the signage were clear. However, most of the stories of the rides and theaters are narrated in Japanese. It will be great if English translation is provided.

DisneySea guarantees a full day of activities. So comfortable clothes, footwear, and bring an umbrella are really important. Bringing some snacks can be good idea to refill our energy in the middle of the queue.

We left the park at around 7:30 pm, and took around one hour to reach our homestay at Ikebukuro. Next, Asakusa and Skytree for our day 2 in Tokyo.

[Tokyo DisneySea] [Asakusa and Sky Tree] [Tokyo Tower and Imperial Palace]

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