Tokyo: DisneySea
This is the fourth recap for LOHOjapan, my 3 week trip to Japan with my boyfriend. After exploring Akihabara, we buy last-minute tickets to Tokyo DisneySea for the next day.
Tokyo DisneySea is a secondary theme park right next to Tokyo Disneyland in the Chiba prefecture. It is the only DisneySea in the world and when I asked local friends what the difference was, they told me that Tokyo Disneyland is more for children and families. Tokyo DisneySea is more for teenagers, adults and couples.
Therefore, we opted to try DisneySea instead of Disneyland, which I heard was tiny.
Buying a ticket to Tokyo DisneySea
We buy tickets last minute because when you’re on vacation, you can do whatever you want. All we know is that we want to go to DisneySea on a weekday and the weather is sunny. According to our weather app, basically every day seems to be sunny.
It’s easy to buy a ticket and there are several different ways to buy tickets:
- Online from their website
- Entrance gate
- Select Disney stores across Japan
- Travel agency
- JR ticket windows
- Major convenience store
We buy our tickets from the Family Mart across the street from our Airbnb because 711 doesn’t offer it.
We ask the worker where to buy Tokyo DisneySea tickets, and they direct us to an ATM-looking machine at the back of the store. It looks like this:
There is a button to change text into English and we tap on Tokyo DisneySea’s logo. We click on “Buy tickets” and basically after that nothing is in English anymore and we don’t see a way to translate the screen. Therefore, we resort to using the Google Translate app – download this it’s amazing. You open camera mode within the app and it will translate what your camera is hovering in front of in real-time.
Ticket prices:
| Adult (18+) $90 CAD | Junior (12-17) $78 | Child (4-11) $54 |
The tickets will print out of the machine and look like this:
You take this and present it at the ticket booth at DisneySea.
Getting to Tokyo DisneySea
We are staying in the Shinjuku area. Taking public trains, it takes us 1 hour and 15 minutes and costs us $8 USD.
The last train we need to transfer to is called the “Disney Resort Line”. The whole train is decorated with Mickey Mouse and takes you to the different theme parks.
We arrive to Tokyo DisneySea at 9 am. They open at 8 am and we try our best to wake up but this is the result. Even though we already have our tickets from Family Mart, we still need to line up to get into the park and this my friends, is the beginning of the most lining-up I have ever done in my liiiife.
Morning at Tokyo DisneySea
There are 3 things you need to do as you enter Tokyo DisneySea:
- Get an English map.
- Buy some ears or hat or coordinate your outfit before you embarrass yourself.
- Plan your day based on showtimes.
- Get a FastPass.
2. Buy some ears or hat or coordinate your outfit before you embarrass yourself.
I say this because I am looking out for y’all and also because I am also surprised at how people dress at Tokyo DisneySea.
It’s always fun to dress up as your favourite Disney character. We see children do it all the time – little girls frolicking around in their princess dresses. In LA Disneyland, you’re actually not allowed to look too much like the Disney characters. If they believe you look too realistic, they will ask you to change. This is because they don’t want you to be mistaken for a worker and/or tarnish their image. Image you cosplay as Cinderella and you are actually blonde and tall and skinny and beautiful or whatever and you’re swearing at your kid or smoking a cigarette or something – looks bad for Disneyland if someone actually thinks you work there.
Anyways, I suppose this rule doesn’t exist in Japan DisneySea because the costumes people wear are amazing. They really go all out and look like the character. Maybe they are allowed because their face does not actually look like the characters (i.e. they’re Asian and most Disney characters are not Asian).
Even the people who are not wearing full-on costumes have very well coordinated outfits. We choose to go on a Tuesday but we see groups of girls wearing school uniforms (not sure if it’s fake) and matching animal ears or fluffy hats. We see couples wearing matching outfits and just groups of friends in general wearing all beige-colours or red and black, etc.
Everyone has ears on or these giant fluffy hats. THEY ARE SO FLUFFY. And hot, holy crap I don’t know how people are wearing these things as we line up for rides in 28 degrees.
3. Plan your day based on showtimes.
When you arrive inside, you will see a wooden board with all the showtimes for the day:
We are just in time for their special Halloween-themed shows. In the end, we watched 2 shows: Festival of Mystique at 2 pm and Fantasmic! at 8 pm.
4. Get a FastPass.
A FastPass is a ticket that will let you skip the line for a ride. To get a FastPass, you go to the specific attraction or ride you want and scan your park ticket at the FastPass machine. You can only get a FastPass after entering Tokyo DisneySea and you can only get one every 3 hours.
We get a FastPass for the Toy Story ride at 9 am and the FastPass tickets we got told us to come back at 3 pm… 3 PM! That is like a whole 6 hours later. Absolutely ridiculous.
We line up for the Tower of Terror and it takes us approximately 70-80 minutes…
This is the beginning of the end. I realize that Japanese people love to line up. They line up for everything and you can expect a line up for everything, especially in Tokyo DisneySea. I would love to say that coming on a Tuesday makes a difference but to me, it doesn’t feel like it. We wait on average more than 1 hour for a ride and the wait is unbearable. Not only is it super hot for us, there are just in general no places to sit. You have to stand the whole time.
Get ready for a lot of lining up and doing nothing.
Afternoon at Tokyo DisneySea
After riding the Tower of Terror, we explore and walk through several places on the map – American Waterfront and Port Discovery. We arrive at the Lost River Delta at 11:30 am. This is important because 11:30 am is when we can finally register for another FastPass.
We want to save our FastPass for the thrilling rides, of which there are only 4-5 of in the entire park. Everything else is for children. We walk to the Indiana Jones Ride only to realize that this ride is shut down and not operating. This sucks.
We sit down for some ice cream (god we are so hot) instead. They are around $6 USD each.
Instead, we opt to use our FastPass for another roller coaster near by called Raging Spirits. The FastPass tells us to come back at 7 pm… lol.
We enter Arabian Coast and ride Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage. Think of it as the It’s a Small World ride. We choose this because we get to sit and it’s inside a dark and cool room.
After that we line up for The Magic Lamp Theatre because we see the estimate wait time is only 20 minutes. This is an interactive and 3D magic show but it is all in Japanese.
We actually skip pass Mermaid Lagoon because it is literally all children attractions. Looks very cute from a distance away.
Lunch: Zambini Brothers’ Ristorante
We choose to eat lunch at Zambini, an Italian-themed restaurant because it is located right next to the Mediterranean Harbour, where the Festival of Mystique show will be happening. It is a giant 2-story restaurant and you order cafeteria style.
Penne with seafood basil cream sauce ($8.50 USD)
We order their pasta special – a seafood penne with basil cream sauce. The portion is good enough for 1 person. The penne is actually cooked very well and the sauce is smooth and creamy. There are lots of seafood mixed in.
Spaghetti pizza ($8.80 USD)
Please do not ask us why we chose this. Italian friends, please do not unfriend us.
Anyways, so this is essentially carbs on carbs. It is a bit too starchy for us to have the pasta on top of the pizza. We are not big fans.
Potato churro ($4 USD)
So this is actually really yummy because it’s a churro and I love potatoes. Great snack!
As you can see, we opt not to choose anything character-related. To begin with, there are no character-related foods to choose from at Zambini’s, but our experience has taught us that character cafes only look good. They do not taste good.
Show: Festival of Mystique
The Festival of Mystique show is a Halloween-themed show so if you don’t visit during Fall, I don’t think you can see it.
The show starts off with dancers decked out in “Halloween costumes”. They are a mixture of masquerade ball and peacock-looking outfits. The show’s center is at the Harbour, so when you first enter Tokyo DisneySea, that would be the best spot to watch. We watch from the sides because the center spots already had people waiting since the morning.
These evil looking ladies sing in Japanese and get the spectators to dance with them and sing along. Mickey and other characters arrive in boats that spew out fire. I think the show is about saving Minnie or Mickey Mouse.
The dancers are very professional and wave and smile at everyone. They are very into their dancing and singing and even I learn how to dance with them.
Night at Tokyo DisneySea
After the show, we line up for a few more rides. We try to avoid rides that have 90 minute line-ups. Unfortunately, most of the thrilling rides have longer wait times. Even more unfortunate, the other ride we want to try, called The Journey to the Centre of the Earth, is also not operating. WHY ARE RIDES NOT WORKING and why are we not informed?
We line up for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which is also around a 15 minute wait time. It is actually quite a fun ride – makes you feel like you are in a mini submarine.
Using the FastPass
Finally it is 3 pm and that means it is time to use our first FassPass! The one we got at 9:30 am lol.
We walk back to Toy Story Mania and scan our FastPass tickets to the workers at the entrance. They let us enter… the FastPass line. Yup, there’s still a line. We get to skip all the outside lineup, which takes at least 60 minutes, but it does not let you skip the inside lineup, which can take another 30 minutes.
Toy Story Mania is an interactive 3D ride where you shoot things on giant screens and compete with the person sitting next to you. It is actually a lot of fun even though it’s not a thrilling ride.
Snack: New York Deli
We buy some iced teas and a cheesecake ($4 USD) from New York Deli just so we can sit down and rest. They specialize in sandwiches but we don’t want to eat dinner in Tokyo DisneySea so we opt for just a quick bite.
Show: Fantasmic!
Fantasmic! is Tokyo DisneySea’s night-time water show that only has 1 showtime so if you miss it, you’re not seeing it again unless you come back another day. The show is centered on the topic of imagination and how magical and terrifying it can be.
Our second FastPass is at 7 pm but we decide not to go to the ride because first of all, it’s on the other side of the park. Second of all, we will not make it in time for the Fantasmic! show at 8 pm. Therefore, we decide to just sit down and get a good spot since we are already exhausted.
We choose to sit in a balcony area on the side and enjoy the cooler night time air. The ambiance is really romantic around the Harbour area – kind of gives off Venice vibes.
We sit there and relax and wait for 2 hours lol. There is a giant fake volcano that shoots out fire every now and then, reminding me of how my feet feel.
As it gets closer to 8 pm, more and more people are looking to get a spot for the show. The Tokyo DisneySea staff are very persistent on squishing everyone to make room. For example, it may be Canadian standard to leave a small gap between you and a stranger when sitting in a row, but if a DisneySea staff member sees this gap, they will immediately tell you to sit closer together. We are packed like sardines.
The show starts and it is super fun. Mickey Mouse appears in a wizard costume on top of a cone-like stage in the middle of the water. Water shoots up and there are clips of our favourite Disney characters projected on this cone-stage. Fireworks fly into the sky.
There is also a giant mirror that comes up and they use water to project the face of the mirror from Snow White.
AND A DRAGON APPEARS. THAT IS REALLY COOL TOO.
Disney Light the Night (fireworks)
Tokyo DisneySea has a 5 minute firework show at the end of every night starting right after Fantasmic! ends. However, once Fantasmic! ends, a lot of people are trying to leave the park as it is almost 10 pm (closing time). Massive sea of people are moving towards the gates and we are one of them.
We catch the firework show at the exit of Tokyo DisneySea. You can actually see it from there much better than inside the park. This is because the firework show is spread out in an area where both Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea can see from afar.
We exit the park and finally head back to Shinjuku.
Dinner: Sushi Zanmai
By the time we get back to Shinjuku, it is almost 10:30 pm and we are starving. We head to the nearest Sushi Zanmai location, a popular sushi restaurant among Youtubers.
We order 2 platters because we are basic – the assorted premium nigiri sushi set ($30 USD) and the fatty tuna sushi set ($30 USD).
The assorted premium nigiri sushi set has 13 pieces of sushi. Each one is different and fresh. The portion size on that eel is amazing.
The fatty tuna sushi set only comes with 10 sushi and a small 3-piece roll. All of them feature different grades of tuna – fatty tuna, tuna scallion, green onion and tuna, leek and tuna, etc.
The fatty tuna is amazing. The tuna in Japan is just great but fatty tuna holy shit melts in your mouth. It is so glorious and heavenly.
Both sets come with giant miso soups.
If I have to choose, I think the tuna set has more value. If you don’t like tuna or want to try different types of fish, then the assorted set might be a better choice for you.
Final thoughts on day four
I love Disney and I really did enjoy my full day at Tokyo DisneySea. I think it is a wonderful choice for a couple but I would never go with my child because that is a lot of work.
The thing I disliked the most about Tokyo DisneySea was all the lineups. Waiting 80-90 minutes for 1 ride just makes it not worth it, in my opinion. Also, 2 of the roller coaster rides were not even operating so why am I here. I assume they are going through renovations to prepare for a busy 2020 Olympic year.
I originally thought DisneySea would be underwater themed with an aquarium but it really is just another Disneyland park. There aren’t really specific water-related themes happening.
I believe Tokyo DisneySea’s main attraction lies in the shows and not the rides. Both the Mystique! and the Fantasmic! shows exceeded my expectations. They are definitely worth getting a good seat for. The shows and even a lot of the attractions that have a show, are very interactive and they use 3D technology to improve the experience. All in all, it is definitely worth it to go at least once in your life.
Stay tuned for my next post and follow along with the other recaps!
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Sincerely, Loewe
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