I originally did not plan to visit any of the Disneys, partly because we would waste time queuing for the rides. However, my sister thought not going to Tokyo Disney was like not coming to Japan. Thus, I set aside today for our Disney trip. There are two Disneys in Tokyo: Disneyland and DisneySea. We opted for the Japan-exclusive Tokyo DisneySea, the world’s only sea-themed Disney theme park.

Getting to Tokyo DisneySea

Both Disneyland and DisneySea are located next to each other. To get to Tokyo Disney, we took the Yamanote Line to Tokyo Station, transferred to the Keiyo Line, and alighted at Maihama Station. We exited Maihama Station and took a 2-minute walk to the Disney Resort Line. The Toko Disney Line has only four stops. Of interest were Stop #1 for Tokyo Disneyland and Stop #3 for Tokyo DisneySea.

Into the “Sea” of Happiness

We arrived at DisneySea around 11 am, which wasn’t crowded at the entrance. We opted to arrive at this time to avoid the insane crowds at the entrance before opening, like what we saw on social media. Coming at this time meant we would forgo some of the rides people came here early to snatch the priority pass (paid and complimentary) for. As there were some issues with my Disney app (which was essential for us to book rides), we spent the next 20 minutes at the Guest Relations to sort out and get the paid Disney Premier Access pass for the Journey to the Centre of the Earth ride at the same time.

Mediterranean Harbour and Amercian HarbourFront – Getting our Bearings Around Tokyo DisneySea

Passing under the European-styled buildings after the arrival plaza, the first area visitors will visit is the Meddiratiran Harbour with its signature large lake. We used this lake to get our bearings and figured out which rides were in which area. The Mediterranean Harbour is modelled after Venice. It does not seem to have much going on as it is dominated by restaurants, a bridge that links the front entrance to the rest of the park, and the only attraction – a Gondola ride. Despite not being overly crowded, the gondola ride still requires a quime of 30 minutes.

We passed the Mediterranean Harbour and came to the American Harbourfront. This area is dominated by a high-rise train ride and a replica of a ship – the S.S Columbia that resembles Titanic (my nephew insisted that the ship was Queen Mary, which he was right!). I had read about the long queues in the restaurant in the park and wanted to settle for lunch as soon as we arrived. Seeing there was no information about the queue time in the restaurants at S.S Columbia, we went inside and were surprised to find a short queue. As we were queuing, we were able to watch the Disney Parade from the windows inside the ship near the queue. After spending about 10 mins in the queue for the restaurant, we found out the queue time would take 1 hour after checking with the staff at the door. We thought it was a waste of time and gave up waiting. We walked around the ship a little before leaving the ship. The other attraction at American Harbourfront is the Tower of Terror, which has a queue time of 85 minutes. We checked the app and noticed a 5-minute queue at the Disney Sea Transit Steam Liner near S.S. Columbia. When we arrived at the attraction, we were disappointed to know that the attraction would be closed for a performance. We left the American Harbourfront and headed further into the park for our scheduled ride.

Port Discovery Area – A Place for Us to Kill Time

We came to a fortress attraction next to the American Harbourfront, which was technically the northern part of Mediterranean Harbour. We walked around this medieval fortress, which had four levels for people to walk around and explore. We mainly stayed on the upper outdoor floors of the castle, where we got a view of the roller coaster ride in Mysterious Island and the big lake we saw when we came in from the entrance. There seemed to be some treasure-hunting game ongoing, but not knowing where to queue for it, we left the fortress after taking some pictures.

We stumbled into the Port Discovery area, a little north of the Fortress, as we were walking to our ride. Other than the station for the train ride around the park and some carts selling snacks and popcorn, there was nothing much going on. We merely used this place as a thoroughfare to have some time to kill before our scheduled ride. As we walked past Miguel’s El Dorado Cantina, we saw the queue for this restaurant was short, so we settled for lunch. Miguel’s El Dorado Cantina mainly sells Mexican-inspired food in a fast-food style. We were unsure how big the portion was and ordered all four meals on the menu. The food was mediocre, sufficient for us to fill our stomachs. We found a seat in the corner of the restaurant next to the staff entrance and were surprised that Chip and Dale came past us and even tapped on our shoulders when they were going for their show. What a surprise we had.

Mysterious Island – Time for our First Ride

After the meal, we made our way for our Journey to the Centre of the Earth ride scheduled at 2.30 pm in the Mysterious Island area. Mysterious Island is the largest structure around the park, consisting of a man-made volcano and a large water-filled pit in the centre. We managed to find the entrance to the Journey to the Centre of the Earth ride. The Disney Premier Access pass allowed us to skip a majority of the queue and go pretty far in front of the queue. Journey to the Centre of the Earth ride was an indoor roller coaster ride, which was mainly very mild through the centre of the earth, where we were faced with fire and thunder effects. Towards the last part of the 3-minute ride, the roller coaster shot us up a ramp and out of the volcano, ending the ride with a short, sudden drop into the volcano. Despite his first-ever roller coaster ride, my nephew enjoyed the ride.

Mermaid Lagoon – Searching for the next Ride with the Shortest Queue

After the Journey to the Centre of the Earth ride, we saw on the app that the ride with the shortest queue time was the Whirlpool ride, which had a mere 10-minute queue time. The Whirlpool ride was in Mermaid Lagoon, next to the Mysterious Island area. Rides in the Mermaid Lagoon area are mostly inside King Triton’s Castle (except for the kid’s roller coaster). The centrepiece of Disneyland around the world is its castle; while Tokyo Disneyland has Cinderella Castle, the castle featured in DisneySea is King Triton’s Castle. I thought the castle wasn’t as grand as the other castles in Disneylands worldwide. Once inside the castle, we saw the four rides in the castle. Rides at the Mermaid Lagoon mainly cater to kids. We changed our minds when we saw the Whirlpool ride being a spinning tea cup ride. Seeing that Jumping Jellyfish was the next shortest queue ride (15 mins on the app), we queued for the Jumping Jellyfish ride instead. I would say this ride is equally boring as it merely hoists and controls release riders from a cable suspended from the ceiling. The height at which we were hoisted up was not too high. Even my nephew thought it was a boring ride. After the ride, my friend and I headed to the Lost River Delta for another roller coaster ride while my sister’s family remained in the Mermaid Lagoon as my nephew wanted to get onto the Whirlpool ride.

Lost River Delta – The only Loopy Loop Roller Coaster

The Lost River Delta was just across a bridge from Mermaid Lagoon. This area is modelled after the jungles of Central America, and I thought the rides here were the most exciting at Tokyo DisneySea. This area has two roller coaster rides, one indoor and one outdoor. We went onto the outdoor roller coaster – Raging Spirits, which had a shorter queue time than the indoor roller coaster ride. We spent 40 mins in the queueing for the ride. Raging Spirit is built with an Inca theme, featuring high drops, and is the only coaster with a 360° loop. Despite having a high drop at the beginning of the ride and a 360° loopy loop, I thought the ride was not that exciting. The roller coaster did not feel fast enough, and the drop wasn’t that scary tall. I think the short 1½-minute ride also contributes to the lack of an exhilarating feel on the roller coaster.

Back to Mysterious Island – Our Last Ride of the Day

We returned to Mysterious Island for the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride that we booked under the complementary priority pass. As our booking was at 4.15 pm and we were there early, we spent the next 20 minutes walking around to wait for our QR code to show up on the app. The QR code appeared about 10 minutes before our time slot. The 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride is a submarine-themed ride, where we descend a spiral ramp to the bottom of the water-filled pit in the centre of the area. The ride started with us being whipped into an elevator down to the lower pit, and subsequently, water filled the submarine’s glass, giving us the illusion that the pod we were in was submerged in the water. Along the ride, we spotted some animatronics of deep sea creatures and some aliens. We felt the ride was surreal, like riding in a real submarine.

After the ride, we decided to call it a day at DisneySea and did not bother to stay for the fireworks show. I felt DisneySea was rather crowded; on average, the queue for more exciting rides takes more than one hour. We managed to take only four rides out of the 14 rides. We did not feel the Disney vibe when we were there, partly because we did not bother to watch the parades or the meet-and-greets with Disney Characters.

Dinner at Yurakucho

Leaving DisneySea, we headed for Yurakucho, mainly for the Bic Camera shop, as my phone camera lens protector was scratched. Yurakucho is an area dominated by a handful of shopping malls. As it was already late, we limited our stay at Yurakucho near the JR station. The Bic Camera sits next to the JR station and has lots to offer. Besides electronics, the 5-storey Bic Camera at Yurakucho also sells goods found in medical shops and toys. After getting what I wanted, we settled for dinner at Mos Burger, as my nephew wanted to eat nuggets. After dinner, my friend and I explored the area a little while my sister and her family returned to the hotel. The shops around here were already closed as it was already past 8 pm. The only shops we saw that were still operating were the restaurants dotted around this area. Seeing that there was nothing much to see around here, my friend and I headed back to the hotel after walking around for about 10 minutes.