Tokyo Disney Sea

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My 2nd day off in 32 days! So much for 2 days in every 14, more like 1 a month. For this month’s day off I decided to go to Tokyo Disney Sea! This is a big milestone. A huge milestone, because I will have visited every Disney park in the world! How great is that? Well not that great for you, but yay me.

Tokyo Disney Sea blows all other Disney parks out of the water in terms of themeing and details. They have as the centre piece of their park a massive volcano that erupted every now and then. Words cannot do it justice - so take a close look at all the photos.

I was at the park before opening and at Tower of Terror not long after that. It already had a 30min wait and fp for 1:30pm! By the time I had picked up my fp and returned to the line it was at 50mins! It actually took over an hour. This isn’t the normal ToT based on something from the twilight zone. No, this one was based on an explorer that had brought back things from all his expeditions’ and put them in a hotel. On his last trip he picked up an idol which was bad luck and sent the lift that he was in into the twilight zone. It was rather creepy. The preshow would have been a whole lot scarier if I had understood what was being said. The ride photo also proves that - everyone was cowering while I am sitting there like a total prat with a big smile on my face.

I decided after the ride that I would see if they had any tours going, because then I would get onto the rides without waiting and the guide could translate what was going on. So I made my way over to guest services at the front of the park to see what they could do. Yes they had tours available, but there was no one who spoke English there today!? Excuse me? Nope nobody spoke English. Okay, I then asked if they had headphones or something to translate the rides like they do in America. No they have nothing. Grrrr - I left cross. I found it ridiculous that there was nobody that spoke English and that they had nothing to translate what was going on. Japanese is only spoken in Japan so all visitors will use English to talk to them. I said I left cross, I actually left mad.

The day went steadily downhill from that point onwards. I couldn’t find any of the rides! It may be a beautiful park, but it is ridiculously planned. There are too many paths to take, so it easy to get lost. I ended up in King Triton’s Kingdom which is completely underground! It is Disney Sea’s version on Fantasyland with rides for younger children. It even had a soft play area for babies, now that is smart. I had a go on a Jellyfish ride, where you seat was suspended in the air and then slowly bounced up and down. It was sweet ride, but not that exciting. They have an odd system here for shows; you need to get tickets to see them. I didn’t really understand the system so I didn’t go to any of the shows, except for a Little Mermaid show which was just going in as I was going past. This was a bit of a letdown. The costumes and set were out of this world. The plot, which you would think they couldn’t get wrong, was crap. Everything was going well until Ursula turned up and offered to turn her into a person. Sebastian told her not to do it, like in the film, and Ariel listens to him and doesn’t turn into one so doesn’t meet Prince Eric! Instead she says Sebastian you are right, life is better down here and then tells the audience that it was nice to see us and she hopes we come back again soon! WHAT?! That is the stupidest show I have ever seen. Plus it was mimed, badly.

I had had enough by this time. There was no magic here. They may have the best themeing, but they no diddle squat about creating the magic, I would take the Disney’s in America any day over this. I did think about heading over to Disneyland, but I would have to shell out ¥5300 to get in - they don’t do park hopping here, you need to stay at least 4 days then you can park hope on the 3rd and 4th day. Stupid system if you ask me.

So time to leave, first to get some cash from the ATM to get a taxi. Not a problem, oh yes it is. The ATMs in the park don’t except international cards AGH!!!!!!!! So back to guest services - there was nothing they could do. They told me to get a bus to one of the hotels go into the mall next to it and find the ATM in there that IS an international. Which is just what I did, but not what I wanted to do. By now all I wanted was to be back in my hotel room and snug in my bed watching TV. Well I got back okay from there, got into my room, only to find that my bed was no longer there! It was a sofa bed and they had put it away. Darn it all. I pulled it out, but had no clue to where they had put my covers. In the end I put away again, grabbed a cosy dressing gown and snuggled down with that to watch Hannibal.

All in all a bit of a disappointing day, but on the plus I have each park ticked off. Tomorrow it is back to work and off to a new destination in Japan.

To be continued...

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Photos

The broken lift
dun dun daaaaaaaa (see if can figure out the tune)

Items that he stored away
Just before you get to the ride in the 2nd queuing area.

ToT from the outside
pity I didn't get the gardens - thez were great.

On the inside!
Amazing right?

Me with a princess crown
not my real princess crown though.

2 Princesses together
guess who is the real one ;)