#i'm still sold on my business idea of renting out mickey mouse ears

[pasteltofus]

A Super Magical Day at Tokyo Disney Sea

I hyped myself up a lot for Tokyo Disney Sea, and it LIVED TO THE HYPE. A highlight of my Japan trip! The last time I’ve been to Disneyland was on a band field trip in the 8th grade. (Also great memories. I remember singing to Mulan on the bus and riding California Adventure 3 times.) 

People in Japan take Disneyland/Disney Sea seriously. I’m not kidding when I say people make a mad dash to get fast passes in the first 20 min of park opening. It was a little terrifying but also adrenaline-inducing!! Here’s our perfect schedule: 

9:20 arrive at the park

10:00 park opens, make a mad dash for Tower of Terror FP

Ride 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (5-10 min wait)

Line up for Journey to the Center of the Earth (~90 min wait)

Check lottery for Big Band Beat show (didn’t win :()

Ride Tower of Terror with FP (~10min)

Get Raging Spirits FP (~15min)

Lunch at Mama Biscotti’s 

Walk around the park

Ride Sinbad’s Voyage (5-10 min wait)

Ariel’s Lagoon King Triton’s Concert Show (~5min wait)

Dinner at Vulcania

Ride Raging Spirits with FP (~10 min)

Watch fireworks show

Ride Venetian Gondolas 

We did pretty much everything we wanted to do, except ride the Indiana Jones ride which was closed that day (SAD). 

Rides 🎢

My favorite ride was Raging Spirits. It’s just a roller coaster but it was plain old fun. I also got to see the super bright full moon at the top right before we whooshed down~ Tower of Terror has a great queue theming. My friend and I had fun reading the labels of cabinets that said stuff like “Voodoo Techniques” and “Mummifying Methods.” Tower of Terror was more on the scary side because I don’t like continuous drops, but it wasn’t too bad. Journey to the Center of the Earth impressed me with the animatronics, and the end was pretty thrilling. Sinbad’s Voyage is basically It’s a Small World, but the music and atmosphere were really nice, and it was a good way to rest our tired feet. Riding the gondolas at night under the full moon was SUPER romantic, but rip the guy who tried to put his arm around his girlfriend but was told by the staff to keep his arms inside the boat. 😂

Shows 🧜‍♀️🐟

We only watched one show, which was King Triton’s Concert in the Mermaid Lagoon. It was a combination of live actors and projections. All I have to say about Ariel’s actress is: ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS. The girl is literally held up by two wires in the air and has to “swim” around the theater, smiling and posing and wriggling her tail like she’s underwater. Oh and did I mention she did like ten flips. The show is aimed at 6 year old kids but that meant it was the perfect level of Japanese for watashi who wakarimashita’ed zenbu the nihongo. 👌

We happened across an unexpected small show in the middle of the park when we saw a trash collector. He seemed like a normal janitorial staff...until you realized everything he did was accompanied by comical sound effects. He acted out what seemed like a Pixar short in real life...it was amazing. The timing was spot on! When he took off his glasses and winked at the end, the “ting~” sound made everyone laugh. 

Food 🍿🥔

The food lines for snack vendors are LONG. Apparently, everyone is crazy about the popcorn (they have a bunch of different flavors) but I didn’t try any. I did try the potato churro though, which was savory instead of sweet. 

I was very excited the try to little green alien mochi and was so glad they didn’t run out!! There are three flavors, strawberry, chocolate, and lemon. The strawberry is the best one hands down. 🍓

I also got the mapo tofu at Vulcanian, a Chinese restaurant in the volcano. It was pretty good, but beware you have to buy the rice separately. 

Other Misc Highlights

Getting off the Disney monorail and unwittingly following a crowd...OF EMPLOYEES into the employee only entrance

Mistaking the park opening time as 8:30 instead of 10:00 (google y u lie) but ended up getting a pretty good spot in line

Experiencing the mad dash all around us while Disney cast members smiled and told us politely not to run

Two Japanese guys in front of us in the fast pass ticketing for raging spirits hearing us speak English so they also decide to speak in English, all the while looking back at us to check our reactions after each really staged English line. 

Buying Mickey Mouse earrings hue hue

Super efficient customer service when we lost our fast pass at raging spirits. The girl at the line called for backup which arrived smiling in under 5 seconds. They checked our tickets in the system and took care of the whole thing in under 2 minutes. 

All the cast members smiling and genuinely caring about your experience. 

All in all, a 10/10 theme park experience!! Tickets for one day are 7400 yen, so it’s pricey, but worth it!!