(vi) Disney Sea

As a massive fan of Disney and its themeparks, visiting Disney Sea was definitely a must on our list. Compared to Disney Land, Disney Sea is almost like an extension of the main themepark that centers around a large harbor. Fortunately we happened to visit during the time when the school holidays just ended, so we expected the lines to be a little better.

Getting to the Disney resorts involved taking the subway to Shin-kiba, the last station on the Yurakucho Line. From there we switched to the JR line to take us to Maihama, where we got onto the Disney Resort Line that stops at the two themeparks and resorts.

We arrived at the themepark just when it opened at 8.30am. Already there were huge groups of people filing through the large gates. Knowing that the most popular ride - Toy Story Mania - would be the first choice for the majority of the visitors, we hurried towards it hoping we could hop on before we try the other rides.

Passing by the Tower of Terror, perhaps the second most popular ride there (but not one I dared to go on)...

...we eventually slowed to a stop by the sea of people heading towards the same direction. At least the crowd was gingerly moving forward.

By the time we arrived at the entrance of the Toy Story section, it was quite difficult trying to find the line heading into the ride amidst the crowd. But we just following the flow of the crowd until we reached what we thought was the start of the line...

Instead we found out we were actually lining up for the fast passes. Quite a bonus actually, since we inadvertently secured a time for the fast lane! Fast pass stations are located in front of each ride that are fast-passable, and any visitor can get one until the time slots run out.

As we waited for our afternoon time slot for Toy Story Mania, we explored the rest of the park and tackled the popular rides off our list. We first went up to Lost River Delta, where there were two thrill rides (both Fast Pass-able but the lines were short enough without them) - Indiana Jones and Raging Spirits. Indiana Jones was an indoor ride following very closely to the original one in America, basing it off the current sequel Crystal Skull. Raging Spirits on the other hand was an outdoor roller coaster. In terms of thrill factor, it was fast and the ride went quick, but no it wasn't scary at all compared to the ones I've been on.  

At the center of the park was Mysterious Island, a beautiful lagoon that had a bit of a steam punk feel. This area also had two rides, 20 000 leagues under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth. 20 000 leagues was a slow paced underwater (or underground?) ride where we entered a small submarine and looked out of the circular windows at ship wrecks, reefs and cute little Atlantian creatures. Whereas Journey was another thrill rollarcoaster ride, mostly indoor in a cave-like setting before the 'volcano erupts' and we were hurled up the ramp and immediately down again giving the all too familiar gut dropping feeling.

Next to Mysterious Island was Mermaid Lagoon, a kingdom replica of King Triton's castle from The Little Mermaid. This section of the park consisted mostly of kiddy rides.

Inside the palace was a beautiful underwater themed world, covering a wide area with rides, a large whale as the souvenir store, and the Mermaid Lagoon Theatre where Ariel and her sisters perform their concert.

This was how the concert hall looked like before the show opened. The show consisted of puppets and large circular screens where they display Ariel's sisters as they dance from screen to screen. But the highlight of the show was Ariel, played by an actress in costume suspended in the air as she 'swims' around the hall. The best moment of her performance was where she hit the last note of her "Part of your world" song, and as she advanced forward right in front of my eyes a huge white spotlight dazzled around her like a wide halo.

Aside from the entertaining and mesmerizing performance, there were plenty of rides to try outside such as the Blowfish Balloon Race (below), The Whirlpool (a tea-cup esque ride) and Jumpin Jellyfish (another 360 high ground spinning ride).

And we couldn't escape the grotto without visiting the charm of the souvenir store inside the whale's mouth.





There was also a children rollarcoaster and a Scuttle spinning ride outside in the open, but we gave them a miss and instead headed down towards the harbor where we discovered a show was about to start.

From afar, we saw speeding boats and cute colourful ferries coming out from the bridge next to the Mediterranean volcano.We found out that this was the special Easter performance, consisting of five ferries with Disney characters emerging from within, including Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Duffy. They came out singing and dancing to the audience, alternating between each stage around the harbour with groups of colorfully dressed dancers on the main land.

DisneySea also had their own electric railway running around the park.

Again another photo of the Tower of Terror. As magnificent as the structure was, still didn't step foot inside to try it out (the one time in Orlando was enough). 

Finally the time came where we were able to fast track Toy Story Mania! Basically a carbon copy of the same ride in DisneyWorld, where guests sat in a moving vehicle whilst shooting at the 3D screens in an arcade-esque shooting game.

Aquatopia in Port Discovery was a two sitter ride rotating on a water track. Not much of a thrill but nice to go on to make time pass.

Finally, the world of Aladdin can be found at Arabian Coast. The Magic Lamp Theatre (below) held a 3D theater consisting of a live cast and an animated Genie on screen. And no Disney themepark can go without a carousel, in which case Caravan Carousel can be found here with not one, but two levels that guests can fit into.





No flying Dumbo here, but there was Jasmine's Flying Carpet.

Towards the night we unfortunately missed Fantasmic, an evening show that is usually held on the harbour due to weather conditions. I personally had a wonderful time in DisneySea, it held a charm different from DisneyLand and the rest of the Disney themeparks. I would definitely recommend visitors to visit DisneySea, even if they had to choose between this or DisneyLand, DisneySea is really a one of a kind.