Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySEA
Instead of trying to piece together another Thanksgiving holiday in Japan, Theresa and I abandoned the kitchen and took a night bus to Tokyo. For that taste of home we decided to spend the weekend at Tokyo Disney. Unfortunately for us, our bus arrived in Tokyo around 10am on Friday. We would do Disneyland first since Friday would be our shortest day, but we didn’t expect that it would sell out! We arrived at Disneyland just after 11am and were welcomed with apologies from the overhead announcements informing us that Disneyland had stopped all ticket sales until 5pm that night.
There wasn’t anything we could do but hang out in their version of Downtown Disney which they call Ikspiari. We ate a decent burger and fries meal at Planet Hollywood and enjoyed some coffees at a cute bakery. We went into every shop trying to kill as much time as possible but later decided to wait near the gates until they reopened the ticket booths.
Fast forward…. 5pm, and we’re in the park! We didn’t have much time since the park closed at 10pm so we wanted to try things that we hadn’t already done at the Disney parks in Anaheim, Orlando, and Hong Kong. Basically, this meant trying to find the perfect time to get on Pooh’s Honey Hunt ride. In the mean time, we enjoyed the Christmas version of It’s A Small World.
We hadn’t planned on going on Star Tours, but since the line was short we gave it a shot. I’m glad we did. The queue is much better than California’s. Also, Star Tours is housed in a huge building meant to look like the Star Tours Station. The ride was the same, but in Japanese of course. My favorite translation is when our pilot gasps before entering the ice comet, “Uh Oh! I have a very bad feeling about this!” It becomes, “AAhhhhaaaaahhhhwaaaahhhhhhh” in Japanese. Here’s some video from Star Tours. Theresa didn’t let me film the actual trip to Endor. 
Tomorrowland was very nostalgic. They haven’t remodeled to the new style and have kept the old rockets, Autopia, and Space Mountain. The new Autopia in California sucks as it’s just a big advertisement for gas and car companies.
Pirates of the Caribbean was pretty cool. They’ve also done the cinematic upgrade with Jack Sparrow animatronics , but it appeared as though they never did the politically correct upgrade with the women chasing the men. They even have the Blue Bayou restaurant.
We love the storybook rides at Disneyland so thankfully we had time to try out their version of Pinocchio. Sadly, it wasn’t much of a story. The ride starts out pretty dark with the circus and all the poor donkeys. After you rescue Pinocchio, he becomes a real boy. That’s it. If one doesn’t know the story, then I can’t imagine what they think is happening on that ride. Bummer. Let’s see your sad face
Our last ride of the day! While in line for Pooh’s Honey Hunt we got to catch the fireworks through the trees. It wasn’t very impressive. What’s the verdict on the ride? Pooh’s Honey Hunt blows away the California Version.
So, at 10:30, it was time to call it a night!
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DisneySEA.
Going to Disneyland over and over again is a blast. It’s a way to relive happy memories you had as a child. I’m sure a lot of adults go to Disneyland just to re-experience what they felt like as kids. But you can’t really achieve that same feeling again. What makes Disneyland so great for children is that it’s something different, or other worldly. When you have an annual pass, Disneyland just becomes another playground. This is why I loved DisneySEA. Since it was my first time, I felt like a kid again. Everything was new and unique. With every new turn my jaw dropped at the new sights.
This place was packed! After waiting in line to buy a monorail pass, we got into the park just after 9am. We headed straight for the Tower of Terror to pick up our FastPasses. Good thing we did as the line for the FastPass was 15 minutes long and they were about an hour away from closing it up.
With our Fastpasses secure we had no choice but to wait in line at another ride until we were able to get Fastpasses again. We went to Journey to the Center of the Earth. I didn’t recall any reviews on this ride, so I didn’t have any expectations. The queue was pretty cool, very similar to Indiana Jones. After an hour wait it was our turn to venture to the center of the earth. The ride started out pretty slow, moving through mushroom forests and caves of brilliantly colored stalactites & stalagmites. Things then headed for the worst. Somehow we were stuck in a lighting realm and soon a fire pit. Then out of nowhere comes this beastly monster and things start to speed up. I hadn’t expected it (even though all through the queue the announcements claimed it was a high speed adventure) but we started hauling ass and we zoomed up an incline and only then did I realize that what goes up must come down. What a drop! It was a mixture of Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, and Indiana Jones. What an awesome ride. We later returned and made it the last ride of the night.
We scored some Indiana Jones FastPasses and made our way for lunch at Magellan’s.
One of the best places to sit is under the globe but I had heard about a secret wine cellar room hidden behind a sliding bookshelf. So, I made the reservations, and we managed to get the room. I also have to throw in that I’ve never had a creme brulée that was so insanely delicious.
After enjoying the most romantic lunch we’ve ever had, we ventured out to conquer the rest of DisneySEA.
We took a break at the Mira Costa Hotel and soon realized why we couldn’t afford the 600 dollar a night reservations.
We noticed that a show on the waterfront was about to begin so we made our way to a bridge, reminiscent of Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy. Here are some clips from the Legends of Mythica. Much Much better than Fantasmic.
After the show, it was about time to start cashing in on the Fastpasses. First up Indiana Jones!
The ride is pretty similar to the California ride except maybe not as scary. It’s a bit newer so some of the features worked better, especially the arrows that are shot behind your neck. I tried to take video but it was too dark, but the safety video came out ok!
Now it was time for the much hyped Tower of Terror.
The hotel is massive. It completely dwarfs Disney’s California Adventure’s. The backstory here is much more interesting than the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. An explorer, Mr. Hightower finds some tiki statue and it ends up cursing him and the hotel. The presentation was all in Japanese so forgive me for not knowing the details any better. The ride itself was just as fun as DCA but the view was much better at DisneySEA. Once to the top, you had a great view of both parks, and especially Mt. Prometheus.
Another great thing about the SEA is their wonderful food selection. As you walk around the park you’ll find many popcorn stations just like any other park. But you’ll notice each stand has a different smell, and upon looking a bit closer you’ll see each popcord stand has a different flavor. We saw cappuccino, black pepper, strawberry, chocolate, and coconut. After riding the coaster Raging Spirits, Theresa and I had the coconut popcorn and we washed it down with almond hot cocoa.
The restaurants are also fantastic. You can eat a fine meal at Magellan’s or you can pig out on good Mexican food at El Dorado Cantina. All the prices are reasonable as well. It’s worth getting a multi-day passport just so you can try out all the restaurants.
There’s almost too much to talk about, so I’ll just post up some more photos so you can get a better feel for the best Disney theme park on the planet 
December 2nd, 2007 at 11:08 pm
I thoroughly enjoyed this trip report and all of the great pictures.You don’t really hear many people talk about Tokyo DisneySea so it was great to hear a little more about the park and actually see pictures from it.I didn’t even know the Tower of Terror was in DisneySea!
Anyway…thanks for the post and all of the great pictures.
Bryan