Tokyo Disney on 2 Weeks’ Notice: Hightower Halloween Costume!

[lurkyloo]

At 9am the rope was dropped, and we only had a little way to run to get Journey to the Center of the Earth FASTPASSes and ride it.

Wow—it looks like Patrick finally got a shot of the loading area!

And one of the, um… magma?

From there we went straight to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, where we must've gotten the same loading-area Cast Member as last time, because we were once again ushered to our own car—whoops!

You can kinda see what the inside of the ride vehicles look like here…

On the way out, you pass by the overflow queue, which we thankfully never had to wait in. Patrick was bummed because he couldn't get any good pictures of it though.

Off to Lost River Delta!

The goal was to get FASTPASSes for Indy and maybe ride it, but they weren't doing single rider at that point, so we kept going.

The menu at Miguel's El Dorado Cantina (more on that later)

This popcorn cart was serving chocolate popcorn in a Tink-themed bucket

View from Lost River Delta over the outdoor portion of Mermaid Lagoon

At the edge of Lost River Delta, where the path leads either to Arabian Coast or Mermaid Lagoon, is Tropic Al's, a cart selling something called "cheesecake chimichangas." Now I'm not a cheesecake fan, but I was dead curious to know what one was. It sounded like it'd be a delicious pocket of fried dough stuffed with sweet cheesecake, but I was pretty sure it wasn't going to turn out to be like that. However, because Tropic Al's keeps very limited hours (something like 11am-4pm, otherwise known as "the time we are never ever in Lost River Delta") and I was constantly frustrated in my attempts to obtain one, it became an obsession! You'll have to keep reading to find out if I ever managed learn what a cheesecake chimichanga is (and if you've actually had one, mum's the word!).

Today was an excellent day to explore the almost-entirely indoor Mermaid Lagoon area. The kiddie coaster outside did not foster high hopes for this land to be very interesting, but hey, it was warm and dry.

 

[lurkyloo]

King Triton welcomes you at the entrance.

I made Patrick take another picture of an adorable Japanese toddler, but it backfired on me (the picture, not the kid!)

Holy crap, the place was amazing! The rides are all pretty much re-themed off-the-shelf kiddie rides, but the under-the-sea effects are so cool.

We attempted a gag picture…

…but then found a more convincing setup.

The "Under the Sea" musical in Mermaid Lagoon Theater was a walk-on, so we decided to check it out.

We asked for audio translation devices. They're kinda like an chunky iPhone that displays written translations of the dialog.

You're not allowed to take pictures inside the theater, so we only have this one illicit shot.

After getting burned (and doused!) by the creaky old Little Mermaid show at Disney's Hollywood Studios, we weren't expecting much from "Under the Sea." So we were surprised and delighted to find it a slick overhead Cirque du Soleil-style show with the production values of Nemo: The Musical at Animal Kingdom—with one big exception: the hilariously revisionist plot.

Should I spoil it? I'll spoil it: In this version, all it takes is a few words from her pals for Ariel to change her mind, throw over Prince Eric, and decide she'd much rather stay under the sea—which means zero drama or tension but plenty of cheery musical numbers!

Ariel (singing): "What would I give/if I could live/out of these waters…?"

Sebastian: "But AR-i-el…"

Ariel: "You know what, Sebastian, you're right! I DO belong down here in the ocean with my family and my friends and all these craaaazy beats—hit it! (singing) Under the sea! Under the sea! Everybody limbo!!!"

 

[lurkyloo]

After the show, we poked around near the counter-service restaurant and the gift shop.

The Sleepy Whale Shoppe is a treasure trove of adorable souvenirs for the Little Mermaid fan on your shopping list.

Ariel's Playground is one of the most immersive, imaginative play areas I've ever seen. I mean, we're grown-ups and we spent almost an hour in there!

Yeeee-haw!!!

The very best part is a faithful re-creation of the cave full of her treasures.

 

[lurkyloo]

I smell another Facebook profile pic!

Here's the layout of the play area:

After we left, we moseyed over to the American waterfront to unintentionally keep our lunch reservation at the SS Columbia Dining Room. (I thought our reservation was for the next day.)

What, no takers?

Newsie's Novelties gift shop

I knew Patrick was going to like the SS Columbia Dining Room the moment I spotted the huge Art Deco mural in the entry.

We sat by the windows just inside the door, but there's a whole other main part to the dining room.

 

[lurkyloo]

When you sit down, they hand you so many papers to review you practically need a Trapper Keeper—there seemed to be about 4 different menus, plus all kinds of info about the ship and the restaurant.

One of the biggest impressions I took away from Japan is that it's a magical place where real jazz plays in every restaurant and you can eat seafood three meals a day. This day was no exception. For lunch, we decided to split the clam chowder and a scallop dish.

First, a woman came by with a huge tray of bread and let us pick the ones we wanted.

The next time she came by, we picked the ones we hadn't tried the first time. The next time she came by, we picked the ones we liked the best of the other two times. And the next time she came by, we realized we could have just ordered a cup of tea and had free bread for lunch!

Clam Chowder – ¥600

Sauteed Scallops in Sea Urchin Sauce with Seasonal Vegetables – ¥2100

Have I mentioned the no-tipping thing yet? Another thing we loved about Japan, in addition to the jazz and seafood everywhere, is the absence of tipping. Get this: In Japan, service people do a good job because it's their JOB—imagine that! We read that you can actually offend people by trying to tip them. Now in the States, we always tip 20% at restaurants and bring bills for bell hops and maids and such, but it was so nice not to always be paying 20% more than the check every time we ate out or scrambling for bills just because we'd parked the car someplace.

After lunch we explored American Waterfront…

 

[lurkyloo]

Another criminally cute Japanese kid gets hauled off to the slammer!

Wait a minute—this is where we started! Were we walking in circles?

D'oh!

Next we hopped on the DisneySea Transit Steamer Line for a soggy boat ride around the park. Another fabulous thing about Tokyo DisneySea is the surfeit of cast members everywhere! They've got four of them just to wave goodbye!

I can't remember if there was narration on the ride, but let's pretend there was:

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome aboard the Tokyo DisneySea Transit Steamer. On our right you'll see Cape Cod. As we cruise by, be sure to keep your mouth and nose covered so you don't catch… Duffy Fever!"

"We're now approaching Port Discovery. If this wind-tossed boat ride isn't soggy or nauseating enough for you, you're going to want to come back here later to try Aquatopia!"

"On our left is the Temple of the Crystal Skull. Looks like another adventurer has flown in to try his hand at retrieving that skull, but he'll soon find out the temple is a dangerous place to be-headed…."

"Coming around the bend here, we're approaching the beautiful… the marvelous… the back side of Agrabah!"

"We're now approaching Mermaid Lagoon, home to Ariel, the Little Mermaid who wanted desperately to be human but then changed her mind and lived happily ever after."

 

[lurkyloo]

[Yeah, it was pretty cold.]

"Up ahead you'll see the Nautilus, Captain Nemo's home away from home. You'd think that all his mining and marauding would pay well, but I hear he can't keep his head above water…"

"On our right is Fortress Explorations, home to Magellan's Restaurant, named for the famous explorer… Ferdinand Restaurant."

"And with that, ladies and gentlemen, we have returned to the American Waterfront. On your way out of the boat, watch your head, and if you hit your head, watch your language—and if you don't watch your language, I won't know because I don't speak English…."

Off to Fortress Explorations! The fortress houses all manner of Renaissance-era inventions in each of its different towers, and below there's a dock area and a tall ship with lots of fun nooks and crannies to discover. I remember drooling over a model of this area that was on display in the Walt Disney Story exhibit at Hollywood Studios a few years ago. We had a blast finally getting to explore the real thing!


The Model…

Inside the ship

These cannons are a ton of fun—they make realistic sounds of cannon fire when you pull the fuse, so you can while away the day pretending to shell the crap out of picturesque Mediterranean Harbor.

 

[lurkyloo]

A moving, manually operated map of the solar system. I'm not sure what you're officially s'posed to do in here, but we each commandeered a planet and had a race!

Profile pic!

At 2:15 we took a break and went back to the hotel to watch Legend of Mythica. Best seats in the house! Unfortunately, the pictures are not quite as spectacular looking in the rain.

 

[lurkyloo]

 

[lurkyloo]

OK, I'm gonna stop there for today and come back with the rest of the day tomorrow!

Up next: More Tokyo DisneySea!

 

[burly]

Fantastic, wonderous, beautiful.

Seriously a caterpillar could've crawled in my mouth and become a butterfly if i was actually there, i haven't been able to close my mouth looking at the pictures. If i had actually been there i would have looked an idiot, gasping and oogling etc.


falulous as usual....

 

[Ballootoo]

AWESOME report! Thanks so much for all your work on these posts!

I'm curious: what did it sound like in the indoor Ariel area? Was there themed music playing, or were there undersea sounds, like bubbles/gurgles/etc.? It looked like so much fun, and so immersive (pun intended!).

 

[onelilspark]

I can't get over the theming for Under the Sea. Absolutely breath taking! I'd spend hours in there!!!

 

[praisehisname]

You'll have to keep reading to find out if I ever managed learn what a cheesecake chimichanga is (and if you've actually had one, mum's the word!).

Can't wait to hear!

The indoor Ariel area looks pretty amazing!

In this version, all it takes is a few words from her pals for Ariel to change her mind, throw over Prince Eric, and decide she'd much rather stay under the sea—which means zero drama or tension but plenty of cheery musical numbers!

They've done a fantastic job making it really feel like you're on a cruise ship!

Get this: In Japan, service people do a good job because it's their JOB—imagine that! We read that you can actually offend people by trying to tip them.

What a great system! I hope that means they get compensated pretty well by their employers.

I can't remember if there was narration on the ride, but let's pretend there was:

Your narrations was great! You should become a Jungle Cruise skipper!

Seriously a caterpillar could've crawled in my mouth and become a butterfly if i was actually there, i haven't been able to close my mouth looking at the pictures. If i had actually been there i would have looked an idiot, gasping and oogling etc.

You and me both! I feel like I keep saying it, but I'm just in awe of how beautiful it is!

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Yet again another hilarious and awesome update!

I thought it was interesting to find out on your boat tour that C-3P0 got turned into an airplane. At least now no one has to hear him babble on with that annoying voice.

Could you hear the water show from your room?

I just can't get over how detailed everything is! Ariel's play area is absolutely amazing.

And jazz everywhere?! I'm on the next plane to Tokyo!

 

[mikelan6]

Wow ... I was at TDS in April and missed seeing Ariel's Grotto and exploring half of the fortress. I want to go back!!!

I also didn't know that the Little Mermaid show had the translation devices. I used them in the Alladin show and in the Tiki Room. It would have been nice to have it there as well!

 

[Disneygrl36]

Fabulous job again Carrie.

I have been waiting for the pics of Mermaid Lagoon as this is something I have always been interested to see. It looks AMAZING & I love the pics of you guys playing around in the play areas.

The SS Columbia is incredible looking too......that dining room looks just like you are on a cruise ship.

Mystica...........just WOW. Doesn't that blue dragon float guy remind you of the dragon from The Never Ending Story? I LOVE that unicorn float. AND the characters costumes are adorable.

TDS is just down right........well I can't even think of a good enough adjective for it.

 

[adisneygal]

I love Tokyo's version of The Little Mermaid. I really want a Disney Princess that realizes you don't need a man for a "Happily Ever After", instead of the "Oh my prince has come, life is great, so I will now sing" princesses we have.

 

[Curiouser&curiouser!]

All of Tokyo DisneySea is just absolutely astonishing when it comes to details! I don't even know what to say! Beautiful!

The replica of the Ariel's cave is brilliant! That would be a huge hit with some of the Little Mermaid fans I know!

I think it is adorable that the characters in Legend of Mythica have their own custom made ponchos!

 

[DizneyDogs]

the reason they had to change the Little Mermaid story is the Japanese belief of not disobeying their father's wishes