Ever since we got engaged at DisneyWorld in Florida inside Cinderella's Castle, Disney holds a special place in our hearts. Naturally, we couldn't resist visiting Tokyo Disney, even though we're only in Tokyo for 2 days, and Disney would take up one of those precious day.
Tip: check out the Disney crowd calendar before your visit to find the least busy day and avoid long line-ups! It is generally a good tip to avoid the weekends, but we end up visiting on a Saturday, and it wasn't *too* bad.
We started our day early and arrived right when the park opens, but by the time we got to the entrance, there is already a long lineup forming.
On hindsight, we should've pre-purchased the ticket from a Disney store, because it turns out we had to wait for almost 45 minutes at the ticket booth if we don't hold advance tickets, while everyone with tickets already move through the line fast. (FYI - tickets purchased in train stations are NOT the "actual" tickets - you'll still have to line up and exchange it for the real thing. So buy your tickets from actual Disney stores!).
Tip: purchase your Disney tickets in advance at a Disney Store.
By the time we got through the entrance, half of the fast passes were already gone. :(
We went against the crowd and rode 20,000 leagues under the sea, which was recommended by reviews I've read, the reason being it's a ride you can't find in other Disneys. Well, it was a disappointment. Boring ride with Japanese narration, so we had no idea what was going on. :(
So far, not a good start!
The park is primarily catered for locals, with very minimal foreign visitors, which probably would explain why they don't have anything in English.
I find it cute that teenage girls would wear their school uniform even though it's a Sat and they obviously don't have school!
Funny hats are a huge hit in Disney Sea, especially these funny looking horse hats. :)
Oh look - it's a horse riding a horse!
If you've had churros in North America before, I highly suggest you try the Japanese version - rather than the usual cinnamon and sugar, they flavour their churros with …. strawberry milk! It's not what I was expecting, but yummy none-the-less. It's lighter and sweeter, and somehow felt very Japanese (I can't explain it).
For lunch, we tried out the curry dishes at Casbah Food Court - not very authentic, and it was definitely "Japanese curry". From a marketing perspective, it makes sense, since they are catering to the Japanese taste buds.
I love the mickey head on the stir sticks.
By far the most popular ride is Toy Story - fast passes were gone within 30 minutes of park opening, and by evening, it was still a 150 mins wait on standby. We didn't end up waiting since we figured it's the same as the one in DisneyWorld and we've been on that ride multiple times.
Definitely visit the Toy Story area after sunset, the entire area is lit and is very magical.
After our non-authentic lunch, we decided to try out the Japanese restaurant (Restaurant Sakura) for dinner. If the park caters to Japanese locals, it stands to reason that they must be extremely good Japanese food to please the locals. We arrived at 5:30pm, before the crowd gathered.
It was a great choice - the food, although slightly on the pricey side (but hey, it's Disney, what'd you expect), was flavourful and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We had the chirashi and some fish (sorry I forgot!).
Here's another tip: try to get into the dinner restaurant before 5:30pm, since by the time we were done dinner (around 7pm), there is a huge line-up outside.
At the many merchandise stores located throughout the park, we went hunting for the perfect memorabilia for our wedding. When we came across this Mickey and Minnie, we just couldn't resist. It'll look fantastic at our signing table, don't you think? :)
There you have it, our DisneySea trip!
Other Japan trip reports
Osaka
Tokyo
- Tokyo DisneySea
- Meiji shrine
