Plaid Princess
Recovering CM, Pilot in Training
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2008
Let me first start with this: I loved Tokyo DisneySea! It is hands down, the most incredible piece of imagineering I have ever seen. It blows all of the other parks out of the water, including my beloved Animal Kingdom and (gasp!) Disneyland. To me, what makes it so extraordinary is the complete departure from all other theme parks; there is nothing to compare it to, and so, nothing to distract me from purely enjoying the moment!
That being said... here's a few tips on what not to do, when visiting Toyko DisneySea (or really, Disneyland as well).
Having been up late the previous evening at my brother's Basketball game (he plays in the Japanese professional league), we got a lazy start to the day, only hopping on the train to TDR after he had left for his morning practice. By the time we made the commute, and arrived at the TDR station, it was about 11:00 am. We wandered our way towards the Monorail, pointing things out to my husband who was visiting the TDR for the first time. We actually missed the numerous announcements pointing out the fact that TDS and TDL were both nearing capacity and ticket sales had been frozen! They were allowing entry, but only if you already had a ticket dated for that day!
After noticing a sign posted outside of the monorail station that indicated such, we were a bit at a loss. We wandered around Ikspiari for a bit, trying to decide what to do. After doing a bit of searching online, I deduced that we could attempt to buy tickets at a nearby convenience store if we wanted to test out our (nonexistent) Japanese skills on the the ticket machines that some utilized.
Deciding to save that option for last, we purchased monorail passes, and ventured over to the Partner Hotels in hopes of purchasing a ticket from the concierge We chose a hotel at random (it was the closest walking distance from the monorail), and headed into the lobby. At that point, we located the ticket counter, walked up like we knew what we were doing, and asked to purchase tickets for that day. The kind hostess asked us how many, verified that we wanted same day tickets, and swiped our credit card. Dated tickets in hand, we tried to head nonchalantly back to the monorail, all the while waiting for someone to stop us and say "that's them! They're not staying here, get their tickets!".
We made our way to DisneySea, with our illicit tickets tightly held. The TDR staff does not mess around with phase closings, they had barricades up just outside the monorail station and were only letting you approach the gate if you had the coveted dated ticket. Each of our tickets were checked, before a smiling CM waved us through to bag check. Once we made it through the gate, we did a little happy dance before heading out to explore TDS.
Of course, by the time we entered the park, all Fast Passes were gone, and most waits were up to 200+ minutes... but we were so happy to have made it through the gate we didn't care. We had an excellent lunch at the New York Deli, a restaurant we selected simply because it's line was moving quickly. After that we decided to amble through the park until we stumbled upon the Aquatopia. Seeing it had a relatively short line (only 70 minutes!) we decided to make it our first ride of the day!
After enjoying the Aquatopia in all it's trackless glory, we continued exploring in search of the Mermaid Lagoon as our friend Ariel was starring in a brand new show called "King Triton's Concert". We were aiming for a specific showtime, and so another helpful CM gave us tips on when to stand in line so that we would end up in that showing. We sought out a snack for the wait (Maple Pastry Puffs with Ice Milk!), and settled in near the entrance.
Shortly after, my brother called to let us know he was finished with his second practice, and would be joining us shortly. My mom volunteered to continue the Mermaid vigil, while DH and I headed to the front gate to hopefully meet up with my brother, and provide him with his own illicit ticket. As the park was getting ready to begin selling tickets again for the evening, they had moved the barricades back to the bag check, and my brother was able to easily meet me at the turnstile and join us in the park.
We quickly searched for some lunch/dinner for my brother, who happily munched down a few pizzas from Zambini Brothers Ristorante before we met back up with my mom in the Mermaid line. The helpful CM had stopped her at the door when she was about to be let into the earlier show, and we all waited for loading to begin for the show we were hoping to see. As we headed in to pick out seats, the same CM flagged us down, and showed us the perfect seats for the best view of our friend Ariel! (For those curious, she swims over the whole crowd, but gets closest to the middle in the back.)
After watching the show, which was excellent despite not understanding a word, we tried to decide on our last activity of the day. As most of our group was too tall to ride Raging Spirits, we opted for Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was worth every minute of the 200 minute posted wait time (which was really more like 130 min).
By that point, we had run out of time on our adventure, and made our way slowly back to the main entrance just in time for park closing.
Some helpful hints for you:
The End!
That being said... here's a few tips on what not to do, when visiting Toyko DisneySea (or really, Disneyland as well).
Having been up late the previous evening at my brother's Basketball game (he plays in the Japanese professional league), we got a lazy start to the day, only hopping on the train to TDR after he had left for his morning practice. By the time we made the commute, and arrived at the TDR station, it was about 11:00 am. We wandered our way towards the Monorail, pointing things out to my husband who was visiting the TDR for the first time. We actually missed the numerous announcements pointing out the fact that TDS and TDL were both nearing capacity and ticket sales had been frozen! They were allowing entry, but only if you already had a ticket dated for that day!
After noticing a sign posted outside of the monorail station that indicated such, we were a bit at a loss. We wandered around Ikspiari for a bit, trying to decide what to do. After doing a bit of searching online, I deduced that we could attempt to buy tickets at a nearby convenience store if we wanted to test out our (nonexistent) Japanese skills on the the ticket machines that some utilized.
Deciding to save that option for last, we purchased monorail passes, and ventured over to the Partner Hotels in hopes of purchasing a ticket from the concierge We chose a hotel at random (it was the closest walking distance from the monorail), and headed into the lobby. At that point, we located the ticket counter, walked up like we knew what we were doing, and asked to purchase tickets for that day. The kind hostess asked us how many, verified that we wanted same day tickets, and swiped our credit card. Dated tickets in hand, we tried to head nonchalantly back to the monorail, all the while waiting for someone to stop us and say "that's them! They're not staying here, get their tickets!".
We made our way to DisneySea, with our illicit tickets tightly held. The TDR staff does not mess around with phase closings, they had barricades up just outside the monorail station and were only letting you approach the gate if you had the coveted dated ticket. Each of our tickets were checked, before a smiling CM waved us through to bag check. Once we made it through the gate, we did a little happy dance before heading out to explore TDS.
Of course, by the time we entered the park, all Fast Passes were gone, and most waits were up to 200+ minutes... but we were so happy to have made it through the gate we didn't care. We had an excellent lunch at the New York Deli, a restaurant we selected simply because it's line was moving quickly. After that we decided to amble through the park until we stumbled upon the Aquatopia. Seeing it had a relatively short line (only 70 minutes!) we decided to make it our first ride of the day!
After enjoying the Aquatopia in all it's trackless glory, we continued exploring in search of the Mermaid Lagoon as our friend Ariel was starring in a brand new show called "King Triton's Concert". We were aiming for a specific showtime, and so another helpful CM gave us tips on when to stand in line so that we would end up in that showing. We sought out a snack for the wait (Maple Pastry Puffs with Ice Milk!), and settled in near the entrance.
Shortly after, my brother called to let us know he was finished with his second practice, and would be joining us shortly. My mom volunteered to continue the Mermaid vigil, while DH and I headed to the front gate to hopefully meet up with my brother, and provide him with his own illicit ticket. As the park was getting ready to begin selling tickets again for the evening, they had moved the barricades back to the bag check, and my brother was able to easily meet me at the turnstile and join us in the park.
We quickly searched for some lunch/dinner for my brother, who happily munched down a few pizzas from Zambini Brothers Ristorante before we met back up with my mom in the Mermaid line. The helpful CM had stopped her at the door when she was about to be let into the earlier show, and we all waited for loading to begin for the show we were hoping to see. As we headed in to pick out seats, the same CM flagged us down, and showed us the perfect seats for the best view of our friend Ariel! (For those curious, she swims over the whole crowd, but gets closest to the middle in the back.)
After watching the show, which was excellent despite not understanding a word, we tried to decide on our last activity of the day. As most of our group was too tall to ride Raging Spirits, we opted for Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was worth every minute of the 200 minute posted wait time (which was really more like 130 min).
By that point, we had run out of time on our adventure, and made our way slowly back to the main entrance just in time for park closing.
Some helpful hints for you:
- 1. Don't ignore the crowd calendar and assume "it'll be fine", the week of Easter.
- 2. After looking at said crowd calendar, and making the foolish decision to proceed, buy your tickets online for the date you want!
- 3. If you have done both of those things, don't sleep in and mosey on into the park after noon... there will be nary a FastPass in sight!
- 4. If you ignore all these simple tips, as we did, be sure to have fun anyway whilst waiting in a 200 minute line at the end of your day!
The End!
