jimmymc
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- Nov 26, 2016
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This past weekend, I had the chance to go to DisneySea for the day while staying in Minato City. While I'm not going to do a super-detailed report, I wanted to at least share my first experience going for the day and not staying on-site.
Getting to the park was pretty easy, with just one metro transfer in Tokyo station. It took about an hour total from door to door, including the long walk from the main subway platforms to the Keiko line in Tokyo Station. The monorail wasn't very crowded, and I got in line at 8:30 am for a 9:00 am opening time. The weather was hot, with a high of 87F / 31C and 70% humidity. Security opened around 8:50, and I was in the park around 9:15.
First step was getting premier access to Frozen Journey, with the earliest available time being 4:15 pm. The exact time of my order was 9:19 am, just to give an idea of how fast these sell. Every other premier access ride had availability into the afternoon.
First ride of the day was Journey to the Center of the Earth, since it was closed on my previous trip. I really liked this ride and had no idea it moved that fast. I went back for two more rides later in the day. Posted wait time was 50 minutes, waited about 35.
It was raining when I exited the attraction, so I made my way to Peter Pan's indoor queue with my umbrella. The line was just outside the building when I got there, but only took a few minutes to get inside. This was about a 30 minute wait. Good ride, but about middle of the pack for TDS rides.
The rain had stopped by this point, so I did Tangled with a shorter wait and ate lunch at the Snuggly Duckling. The ride is great but very short, still worth the 20 or so minute wait to me. I had the shrimp burger for lunch, and this was pretty good. There are better restaurants in the park, but this was quick, convenient, and a lot cheaper than some of the other options. I also really liked Rapunzel's Magical Milk Tea. Very sweet, especially for Japan.
Up next was Indiana Jones single rider, Raging Spirits single rider, and Sinbad's Storybook Village. All of these were 5 minute waits or less. By the time I was on Sinbad's I was really feeling the heat and happy for a little rest.
At this point, I didn't feel like walking all the way to the front of the park yet with my upcoming Frozen reservation, so I bit the bullet and waiting in the Frozen standby line to get two rides in. I was curious how accurate the 90 minute posted wait would be, and it was unfortunately spot on. A silver lining, however, is that Anna and Elsa both made appearances inside! I really love this ride, and if I'm ever back in the future and can't get a priority pass, I would definitely wait an hour to get on. 90 minutes is really pushing the limit.
Even after such a long wait, I still had some extra time before the return, so I did single rider on Indiana Jones again. I returned for my priority access and was on the boat in under 10 minutes. Well worth the 2000 yen.
After Frozen, I walked around Fantasy Springs for a bit to just take in the theming, then made my way over for Journey to the Center of the Earth round 2. I also experienced Aquatopia: Get Soaked! for the first time, and they aren't lying. The water jets don't look very strong, but they deliver plenty of it.
While drying off, I had the cold shrimp pasta special at Zambini Brothers Ristorante. It was pretty good, and the pizza and other pasta dishes also looked good. I would probably come back here over Snuggly Duckling, aside from grabbing the tea and cupcake as a snack.
After dinner, I did a little bit of window shopping around the main entrance, got round 3 on Journey, and got two rides on Tower of Terror before the nighttime show began. Believe! Sea of Dreams was cancelled on my last trip, so I was happy to get a decent spot on the Ponte Vecchio and watch. It's a good show, but does go long in my opinion. Maybe grab a snack and a drink before it starts. Once the show ended, I did a little last minute shopping and hopped back on the monorail. It also took a little over an hour to get back to the hotel, plus a stop at Lawson for some dessert.
The heat was brutal, and I knew it would be, but I will probably try to avoid Tokyo in the summer from now on. Having an umbrella for shade helps a lot, but you're still doing a lot of walking. On the bright side, the crowds were relatively low. Frozen got up over a two hour wait early, but settled around 90 minutes for most of the day. Everything else was under 1 hour for the entire day, with a lot of them dropping to 20 minutes after dinner. Mobile orders took less than 10 minutes from placing to having the food in hand, and the park didn't feel too crowded in general.
Can't wait to visit again!
Getting to the park was pretty easy, with just one metro transfer in Tokyo station. It took about an hour total from door to door, including the long walk from the main subway platforms to the Keiko line in Tokyo Station. The monorail wasn't very crowded, and I got in line at 8:30 am for a 9:00 am opening time. The weather was hot, with a high of 87F / 31C and 70% humidity. Security opened around 8:50, and I was in the park around 9:15.
First step was getting premier access to Frozen Journey, with the earliest available time being 4:15 pm. The exact time of my order was 9:19 am, just to give an idea of how fast these sell. Every other premier access ride had availability into the afternoon.
First ride of the day was Journey to the Center of the Earth, since it was closed on my previous trip. I really liked this ride and had no idea it moved that fast. I went back for two more rides later in the day. Posted wait time was 50 minutes, waited about 35.
It was raining when I exited the attraction, so I made my way to Peter Pan's indoor queue with my umbrella. The line was just outside the building when I got there, but only took a few minutes to get inside. This was about a 30 minute wait. Good ride, but about middle of the pack for TDS rides.
The rain had stopped by this point, so I did Tangled with a shorter wait and ate lunch at the Snuggly Duckling. The ride is great but very short, still worth the 20 or so minute wait to me. I had the shrimp burger for lunch, and this was pretty good. There are better restaurants in the park, but this was quick, convenient, and a lot cheaper than some of the other options. I also really liked Rapunzel's Magical Milk Tea. Very sweet, especially for Japan.
Up next was Indiana Jones single rider, Raging Spirits single rider, and Sinbad's Storybook Village. All of these were 5 minute waits or less. By the time I was on Sinbad's I was really feeling the heat and happy for a little rest.
At this point, I didn't feel like walking all the way to the front of the park yet with my upcoming Frozen reservation, so I bit the bullet and waiting in the Frozen standby line to get two rides in. I was curious how accurate the 90 minute posted wait would be, and it was unfortunately spot on. A silver lining, however, is that Anna and Elsa both made appearances inside! I really love this ride, and if I'm ever back in the future and can't get a priority pass, I would definitely wait an hour to get on. 90 minutes is really pushing the limit.
Even after such a long wait, I still had some extra time before the return, so I did single rider on Indiana Jones again. I returned for my priority access and was on the boat in under 10 minutes. Well worth the 2000 yen.
After Frozen, I walked around Fantasy Springs for a bit to just take in the theming, then made my way over for Journey to the Center of the Earth round 2. I also experienced Aquatopia: Get Soaked! for the first time, and they aren't lying. The water jets don't look very strong, but they deliver plenty of it.
While drying off, I had the cold shrimp pasta special at Zambini Brothers Ristorante. It was pretty good, and the pizza and other pasta dishes also looked good. I would probably come back here over Snuggly Duckling, aside from grabbing the tea and cupcake as a snack.
After dinner, I did a little bit of window shopping around the main entrance, got round 3 on Journey, and got two rides on Tower of Terror before the nighttime show began. Believe! Sea of Dreams was cancelled on my last trip, so I was happy to get a decent spot on the Ponte Vecchio and watch. It's a good show, but does go long in my opinion. Maybe grab a snack and a drink before it starts. Once the show ended, I did a little last minute shopping and hopped back on the monorail. It also took a little over an hour to get back to the hotel, plus a stop at Lawson for some dessert.
The heat was brutal, and I knew it would be, but I will probably try to avoid Tokyo in the summer from now on. Having an umbrella for shade helps a lot, but you're still doing a lot of walking. On the bright side, the crowds were relatively low. Frozen got up over a two hour wait early, but settled around 90 minutes for most of the day. Everything else was under 1 hour for the entire day, with a lot of them dropping to 20 minutes after dinner. Mobile orders took less than 10 minutes from placing to having the food in hand, and the park didn't feel too crowded in general.
Can't wait to visit again!
