(Completed 9/27) How Many Times Can We Switch Hotels? - Tokyo Disney TR May 2025

[summerlvr]

Loving your report so far! And please thank Trevor for recording the parade! Main Street Electrical Parade is my favorite, especially the music. Baroque Hoedown always makes me smile!

 

[Araminta18]

Loving your report so far! And please thank Trevor for recording the parade! Main Street Electrical Parade is my favorite, especially the music. Baroque Hoedown always makes me smile!

Thank you for reading! I definitely will -- I agree the music is fantastic, definitely one of my favorite parts of the parade

 

[Araminta18]

First Ride at DisneySea - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 2)​

Trevor and I decided to split up and each take a different line, just to see.

The thought was that whatever line moved faster, we'd join together.

About 5 min or so before it was time for Happy Entry, a bunch of the characters came out and were waving at us in the line! That was neat - I didn't really get any good picture but it was fun to see. Got everyone all excited.

Then it was time and we were pouring in! Though pouring was the wrong word in my case - Trevor's line moved so much faster than mine that by the time we clocked it it wouldn't have really worked for me to move over, and for whatever reason my line just DID NOT MOVE. I think the folks trying to get in were having all sorts of issues - it took me a full five minutes to get in after Trevor. Which doesn't sound like much but when happy entry is only 15 minutes...goodness! Trevor went on ahead to the Toy Story area and when I finally made it in, I headed that way too. On the way, I saw Duffy and some friends!


They had a bunch of characters out in the piazza area meeting and greeting, which was cool. But we had better places to be!

The plan was to ride rides with fastpasses, starting here and working our way around the park. Also I'm an idiot - we had fastpasses and they didn't open the rides up early, we needn't have rushed! Oh well. We did play around a bit in the Carnival Corral:

They had little fun games in there - free of charge - that were fun to play around with. No one was playing in there for early entry, as you might expect.

Right on time, at 9 am, the line opened up and we hopped on in!

It was essentially the same as in DisneyWorld, with slight theming differences.

I thought the yoyo was cute.

Our goal was to work together to try and increase our scores - we did pretty good this first time:

140s isn't bad!

And since the line was short, we decided to go back around, why not! I noticed the theming a bit more this time:

Andy's bed!

The cars come out of the air vent! Love it.

 

[Araminta18]

From Toy Story to the Tower - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 3)​

One more theming picture -

Presto library book from the Pixar short!! Love it.

On the ride, we both did better this time:

167,100! It was good enough to get one of us best in car:


Spoiler alert, it was Trevor. Dang it!

We got off the ride at 9:20, and we had a standby pass for the capsule toy machine at Tower of Terror, so off we went. Except as we were leaving Toy Story I realized I didn't have my ears on! Thankfully the cast member was able to find them and bring them to me, though once she brought them I had to fill out a whole form on an ipad, but I got my ears back!

Thankfully Tower of Terror was pretty close by, so off we went to try the capsule toy machine!

There was a bit of a line again, but once we got in it turned out it was the same prizes as before in Adventureland - the tote bags.

Prettier machine though!

We weren't going to do it again but Trevor decided he wanted to try and get a Baymax bag for himself:

And he got super lucky - his first try, and it was Baymax! Calling that one a win.

So with the bag secured, we decided it was time to ride Tower of Terror. Warning, the next bunch of pictures is just going to be all of the theming around Tower of Terror - it is FANTASTIC.

The story is that the Tower is the home of Harrison Hightower, and he's an explorer who heads all over the world.

That's how you know you've made it - stained glass window of yourself.

 

[Araminta18]

Tower of Terror Queue - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 4)​

More theming! The fastpass line was super short, but just enough time to look around at all the theming in the lobby.

Harrison Hightower III brough back the idol Shiriki Utundu that was supposedly cursed, and then one day he just disappeared!


So many pictures of himself in his own fancy mansion...geez Harrison!


Reminds me of both Jungle Cruise and Caribbean Beach resort pool

At the merge point, they bring us together into a little anteroom where the cast member gave a little spiel and there was this poster:

Harrison Hightower getting the cursed idol.

Then into the pre-show room, which I realize now we never filmed. It was a library/office:

Fancy desk!

With another window of Harrison Hightower. Seriously dude, not ALL the art has to include you.

and the idol!

The pre-show is all in Japanese, but essentially what I got from it was that Harrison didn't believe in the curse, brought the idol back, and then the idol crashed his elevator. BUT the cool part is that at the end of the show the idol disappears! I'm sure it's gotta be mirrors but it looked AMAZING. So neat.

After the pre-show, you get dumped again into another line - in the "basement" or storage room of the tower, with all the artifacts that Harrison had acquired (stolen... ).


Similar to the boiler room at Disneyland, with the upstairs queue.

 

[Araminta18]

Terror!! - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 5)​

After you wound your way through the storage area, you came into a little antechamber before boarding the elevator, with more storage.

The room we were in had fancy art.

Then finally, the ride! Even with fastpass, it was still about 25 minutes between the waiting and the preshows, from the time we entered the line to the time we got on the elevator.

Definitely a bit more tame, with the shoulder belts. Fun effects though! We liked it, even Trevor with his fear of heights.

The gift shop was themed to the pool area -

But the gift shop only had a couple pins and a small idol plushie thing that was related to the ride - the rest was pretty standard Tokyo Disney resort merch that we'd seen yesterday in Disneyland. I was beginning to notice that most rides had no themed merchandise, which seems like a lost opportunity to me!

We thought about going around again, but with the kind of long wait we decided to press on. I actually had entered the lottery for Big Band Beat for the 11 am show, and while we ended up winning (crazy lucky!) we decided to skip it for today and keep going around the park. Too excited to see the park to sit in a show right now!

The one thing that threw me off is that there wasn't like a set path we could take that would take us all around the park - we'd have to do some backtracking or whathaveyou. But we were looking around a bit more at the waterfront area we were in:

Food and Wine festival was going on, but none of the dishes really appealed, especially with the long waits. The short lines from yesterday at Disneyland (like just a couple people for popcorn) had not carried over!

The area was cool though - the whole steamship!

We then decided to head for Journey of the Center of the Earth as our next ride - I couldn't wait! That took us back a little bit to the Tower:

Such a cool silhouette.

And past the Electric Railway. We thought about trying to ride the railway but the line was like 20 minutes so...no. Especially cause then we'd have to backtrack to the ride.

As we kept going, we arrived the the area with the Italian ship:


I love the theming with the lava flow all dried and down the mountain. So neat!

We explored a little bit (not a ton), just stopping to get one of our included drinks at the quick service in the area - the line was super long for ordering but when we asked the CM at the pickup place if we could redeem our beverage tickets there (cause we weren't sure) she just directed us to the pickup window so we didn't have to wait. Brilliant! Trevor got ginger ale, and I got orange.

Then, it was finally time!

 

[Araminta18]

Journeying to the Center of the Earth - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 6)​

I'd been pretty good about avoiding spoilers for Journey but got slightly spoiled a little bit before we left, but only a little bit. I knew there was a monster animatronic thing at the end, but was looking forward to riding it. The queue - which seemed to parallel the standby line where there was theming - was cool. You're inside the mountain but they have their lab/office stuff out:


The fastpass line was super short so we didn't really get to look around! It was literally 1 minute from entering the queue to the merge point. This merge point lines you up at one of 4 actual elevators to take you down to the loading area:

The elevator is long and thing but super tall, and they have great sound effects and fans going so it really feels like you're descending down into the earth.

Once you get off the elevator, you're split into two lines (the first two elevators go to one, the other two to the other) that feed the ride vehicles. This is where it can take a little bit - it took us about 10 minutes. But it's pretty cool - you see the cars go whizzing past you and you really feel like you're down inside the earth.

I thought the vehicles were super cool. and then we got lucky and put in the front row!

Guys, it was so fun! It's a dark ride, with fun animatronics, as you go through the center of the earth and then you disturb this large animatronic monster thing that roars and you TAKE OFF super fast as you head back to the loading area. Describing it does not do it justice - we really enjoyed it, so much so that we went back around for round 2! We got lucky again - front row for the second ride! Though we switched sides as there's things to see on both sides of the car and so we each got to see both sides. So fun. Really the only downside is the ton of stairs you have to go down as you exit.

We got off a little after 11 am, and we were a bit hungry! Conveniently we were near one of the restaurants that had a "must eat" item on our list: the sausage gyoza bun from Nautilus Gallery. The line was kind of long, but thankfully, mobile order had immediate spots available! We walked in and right as we were heading to pick up our food, someone left a table right on the water so you bet we snagged that!

Our view!

We were planning to have real lunch slightly later so we only got one bun to share. Which we kind of regretted when we got it and it smelled so good:


I don't know how to describe it - it was savory and fresh and yummy. If you're in DisneySea, grab this! I think it was one of my favorite things I'd eaten so far on the trip - this and the Berry Cheer drink from Disneyland. We also discovered that water bottles were included in our beverage ticket, at least at this place, so we each got an included water bottle!

So yea, it was a lovely little break - sitting and eating and enjoying the view. The boats that you can ride on went through periodically, which added some fun kinetic energy:


Once done eating, we decided to use our fastpass to ride 20000 Leagues Under the Sea! This one we had NO idea what it was like - no spoilers or nothing. The ride entrance was that spiral that you can see in the picture above, so it was a slight walk to get over there - it took us past the "drill" drilling into the mountain for Journey:

This whole area is so well-themed, it feels so far removed from the rest of the park. A+

 

[Araminta18]

Under the Sea in Two Different Franchises - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 7)​

The fastpass line for 20000 Leagues was a walk on, though it was a bit of a walk down that spiral. The ride vehicles are like little submarines, with a window in front and one on each side, with a small, two-person bench in front of each window. We got sat on the right hand side window.

We had NO IDEA what this ride was, and all the narration was in Japanese, so....yea. We kicked off and we realized we had little flashlights we could use to look around outside our window, so we were looking around then we got attacked by a giant squid, and then there were alien-looking Atlanteans (?) I think. It was more fun than I expected - and sitting on the right hand side was good if you can't get the front, cause the way the ride track goes, we saw everything the front saw, just a little bit later. Fun! We wanted to try and ride it again and get front row, but not right now.


One more shot of the drill cause it's cool.

Next up, we were going to use our fastpasses at the Nemo & Friends SeaRider!

There was no line to get to the merge point, but we waited about 5 minutes outside. Which I didn't mind - we were looking around at this fun area.

The sea is coming through the gates!!

Once inside the building we waited another five min or so - they do this little pre-show about how you're gonna get shrunk down to the size of a fish. There's a fun effect where they "shrink" an example ship in front of you:

This is it big - the version I took of the "shrunk" one didn't turn out.

It feels very similar to Star Tours, actually, with the rows to board and the seat belt and the effects. The only difference is it's 4d - you get sprayed with water at one point. It was cute and fun, but nothing special. I wouldn't wait for it but it was fun with a fastpass. And they did have a fun little otter poster there at the exit:


Aquatopia had a long line and no fastpass so we skipped it in favor of continuing to do fastpass rides. Next one kind of in our path was Indiana Jones, so we started heading that way. We were passing popcorn stands on the way but all the lines were long so we just didn't stop.

As we started heading that way, the temple for Indiana Jones started coming into view!


We got a little bit distracted looking at the theming there by the bridge - there was a byplane with a fun name:

C-3PO!

As we got off the bridge and were pretty close to Indiana, we ran into some characters!


No idea if they have names, but they're the monkeys from The Jungle Book, I think (that go about with King Louie). There was no line/no crowd really, so that was a fun little bonus!

 

[Araminta18]

Putting My Driving Skills to the Test - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 8)​

Then we were basically at Indiana Jones! This is apparently very similar to Indiana Jones at Disneyland but themed slightly differently. I remembered very little about Indiana Jones at Disneyland, so I was excited!

There was a pretty long standby wait, but, fastpass! The fastpass line basically runs parallel to the standard line, and it's definitely a loooooong walk.

Pretty cool though! You wind up and through this big room.

Love this little bit of theming on the emergency exit.

The fastpass merges into the regular thing pretty near the load area - you just have to go down the stairs.

8 minutes later, we were on the ride!

We got front row, and I got to be the driver!!!

The ride was fantastic - all the effects seemed to be working and it was just awesome. Really enjoyed it. Honestly I'm not going to be sad when Indy replaces Dinosaur at Disneyworld.

We got off at about 12:35, and it was finally time for Fantasy Springs! I'd placed a mobile order for lunch at the Royal Banquet of Arendelle at 12:50, so it was time to head over. That did mean we had to skip one of the fastpass rides that was in between us at Indy and Fantasy Springs (Raging Spirits) but we'd come back. Anyways, Fantasy Springs!

Walking in to the land was just crazy.

Anna and Elsa over there with some "snow"!

And as we got closer, over to the left there's Peter!

And Rapunzel! I love how her hair is the path for the water. There's Pascal there off to the left.

This is it zoomed out a bit. The characters in the rock work is just fantastically done - really love it.

 

[Araminta18]

How Many Pictures Can We Take of Frozen Theming? - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 9)​

Ok, enough pictures of the entrance! Onward into the land - it was time for lunch at Arendelle! The ride was closed for refurbishment, so this was the closest we could get - though thankfully we'd timed it well and the ride would re-open in a just a few days.

Anyways! As we walked in we saw the Peter Pan mountain off to the left - I love the clouds they have around the mountain. It really looks like the movie come to life!


We passed by Captain Hook's ship:

And skull rock!

The theming here was just incredible - look what the Lost Boys did:

and even footprints in there from when getting their arrows!

(Ok, I have to apologize for these next few pictures - I've tried rotating them and no matter what, they won't show right side up! Super frustrating - sorry!)

Then we were walking into Arendelle!

It really does look like the castle come to life.

I loved this little "Welcome to Arendelle" plaque:

And off in the distance, Elsa's ice palace:

It looks so good!!

Then, up to the restaurant:

It's mobile order only - you have to have a mobile order placed in order to go inside, 'cause there's a cast member out front checking. I kind of like that - it meant that inside it was busy but not super crowded. And the theming - wow.


These super cute little hanging tapestries of Anna and Elsa. Love it.

So many gorgeous pictures/paintings in the restaurant -- I'll apologize in advance for ALL the pictures.

 

[Araminta18]

Lunch in Arendelle - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 10)​

Inside, the food pickup area was suuuuuuuuper empty, which was nice. While the food was being prepared (according to the app), we scouted out a table and got one in the throne room!

Faaaaaaaancy.

Then our food was ready! I got the beef pie set, while Trevor got the seafood pie set.

You can tell this one is Trevor's cause there's the little fish there on the top!


This is what it looks like without that little plastic on top. So the pie is there in the top right: Lobster and Redfish pot pie, then Olaf's Marshmallow-Chocolate Mousse, then the Smoked Salmon Salad, and the Potato gratin. It also came with bread:

Look at the little bell!

Ok, my lunch: basically the same except a beef pot pie.

Ok, thoughts. To set some context, each set was 3500 yen - by far the most expensive meal we'd had so far, about $24 each. So with that in mind, neither of us loved the pot pies - they were fine, but I don't love pot pie anyways. It was so hot it burned my tongue and just not my favorite flavor. Trevor liked his a bit better but meh. I gave Trevor my salmon from the salad so that was decent. But that potato gratin was my favorite - it had a thin cheesy sauce that sounds gross but was delicious! Trevor didn't want his so I got two. The bread had a bao texture but drier, so that was more odd than good. The dessert was good though - the mousse was good and then Olaf was a mochi but a citrus mochi that somehow worked? So overall we wouldn't do it again but it wasn't too bad.

Everything was themed though, even the trays and the drinks!


Like I can't - just adorable.

After we finished eating, the plan was to look around a bit and take pictures, and then it was time for our Peter Pan fastpass. Despite us having the unlimited vacation package, it didn't include the Fantasy Springs rides in the unlimited fastpass, so I'd paid a bit extra to book one fastpass for Peter Pan and one for Rapunzel. Cause no way were we not going to ride those.

Anyways, back to the restaurant!

They had these hanging tapestries all over and I just loved them.

And of course the throne:


I love that wooden scrollwork at the top there.

 

[Araminta18]

We Could Rule Arendelle - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 11)​

We waited just a little bit and then of course we had to take pictures on the throne.


Happy Queen Tiffany

I'm not mad, just disappointed Queen Tiffany.



Evil King Trevor!

Ok, it's just pictures of pictures from here on out. The portraits and tapestries were just so cool!


I love the ice palace there on the far left, and the swing picture there in the center!


Joan!



Kristoff and Sven!

 

[Araminta18]

More Art of Arendelle - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 12)​

Some of these are just zoomed in from the big wall of portraits above so you can see details. Cause it's awesome. Also, they have pictures on the wall like I have pictures on our walls - just pictures everywhere. It's a problem, and yet I keep going to Festival of the Arts and buying more art.

I like how some of these are like fancy paintings (or fancy on first glance):

The swing!

And then some are just portraits of the characters we love:

Oaken!


This was one of my favorites though, with the ice and the town.


The king's coronation!


And by now if you read my trip reports you should know I'm a sucker for maps - look, you can even see the Southern Isles!




The troll!


Joan!

 

[Araminta18]

More Arendelle Theming (Not Sorry) - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 13)​

I love this cute little family portrait.


Little Olaf! Also, notice the book titles.

Then to try and give you a sense of the dining rooms:



Also this is weird, but even the flooring was great -

Love that flower design.



I like this one too.

And a couple pics of the food pickup area:

See what I meant about it being not crowded at all?

This was in the food pickup area - don't the desserts look awesome? Just for show sadly.

 

[Araminta18]

Last Post of Arendelle Restaurant Theming - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 14)​

Like honestly, we spent 10 minutes just wandering around taking pictures, which doesn't sound like a lot but actually is if you're just looking and taking pictures. It was so neat in there and just so well done.

Aren't those cute?


Adorable!!


The last dining room - the end there kind of looks like a ship? Or part of a ship?






So yea! Overall, food was just ok but the theming was *chef's kiss* Absolutely worth it just to see the inside. And if you don't want the food I think you could probably mobile order a drink and then you'd get to see inside for only the price of a drink!

Now, time for Peter Pan!

 

[Araminta18]

Peter Pan Theming - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 15)​

I'd kind of tried to avoid spoilers for the Fantasy Springs rides, and this was the one I'd been most successful at avoiding any spoilers, so I was excited to ride it! And my excitement really raised as we walked in the queue and saw the theming - very much the Lost Boys having been set free with chalk to draw on the cannabilized ship pieces.

Like this is cool but I love the little drawing on it!

The little fire and the pot hanging over it!


The mermaids!



This part here is where the fastpass line merged with the regular line - I feel like the Peter Pan standby queue isn't anything super different than the fastpass line but now that I think about it, I'm not entirely sure? *shrugs*

Basically you stand in this area, facing the doors:

Until they open and let you into the preshow!

The pre-show is screens - but when you walk in, the Lost Boys are sleeping:

I filmed it, but I have no idea what's happening beyond they're going on some kind of adventure.

The bad part is after the pre-show - you just funnel into this MASS of people, very similar to the Guardians funnel, only it doesn't narrow that much, and you're just slowly shuffling forward:

Not my favorite queue mechanic, but again, can't argue with the awesome theming.

Beware of croc!

Mermaids!

 

[Araminta18]

From Peter to Rapunzel - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 16)​

Couple more queue theming pics:

Smee's mom? or Grandma? definitely a Smee relative.

The ride was really fun! Definitely screen-heavy, but there were some physical props. And it was long. I could see people being prone to motion sickness not loving it, but I thought it was a lot of fun, even if I didn't *quite* understand the plot (especially the bit at the beginning and the end). It was cute.

Then as we exited:

I love this so much! I wish they would have made sold this as a print or something - it's kind of like a map but also not? Just adorable.

Next up, our Rapunzel fastpass! But as we headed that way, look what I noticed:

Mermaid playing/teasing the croc on the sidewalk border!

Anyways, Rapunzel! As we got close, we could see Rapunzel's tower, and hear her, which was super cool.

See there are the boats - the tower is part of the ride, but also visible from the path and the first part of the queue. Love it!


The line wasn't super long, and it did basically run in parallel to the standby line, so you didn't miss anything here by doing fastpass.

They did also have some fun theming:


Shorty...At Large!

 

[Araminta18]

Rapunzel's Lantern Festival - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 17)​

The queue then winds you up and over the ride track/water canal - yay stairs. It is again cool theming - there's a boat up in the rafters with some lit lanterns:


Then you head down and board the ride. I was hoping we'd get the front row or two but we got the very last row. Oh well!


I didn't film the ride at all this first time - I just wanted to enjoy it! I'd been a bit spoiled but not a lot, and I was excited. Trevor took a bunch of pics though, which is what all these next pictures are:

Animatronic Flynn! I don't know how they do outdoor animatronics without them getting worn down, etc but they do! Or maybe they do get worn down and they're just willing to put in the maintenance. *shrugs*


Maximus! This is all while you're floating by Rapunzel in her tower.

Then inside to Rapunzel being freed from the tower:


This scene with her hair lighting up was super cool - the light did go through her hair like it was actually lighting up, if I'm remembering right.

And then, the lantern scene! This was pretty amazing - just took your breath away.


No words.

And then you have some of the ruffians! Notice shorty up there flying

 

[Araminta18]

Gift Shop Withdrawal! - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 18)​

And as you float around, you see Vladimir with his ceramic unicorns!


And then the ride is basically over - you float through a little room with some of Rapunzel's art of the walls, which is admittedly pretty cool:



Pascal is red, cause he's blending in with the apples!

So yea, that's it. It is very short, but it is charming and tons of animatronics. I wouldn't wait, but I absolutely would pay for the fastpass.

On the exit, there's a map!

I love maps. So much. I don't know why.

Trevor took a picture for me. He asks all the time if I want pictures with me in it and I usually say no but this time I went for it. No idea why.

As we walked out (this one has kind of really long exit pathway, which is irritating). BUT look!

Maximus's footprints!

Now by this point I couldn't go ANY LONGER without visiting the Fantasy Springs gift shop! I had merch I wanted - I foolishly had watched a video from about when Fantasy Springs opened showing all the merch and so wanted several things...assuming they were still in stock. So off we went:

This is right at the entrance - super cute!

Some of the merch - I thought this mug was super cute.

Even the gift shop had great theming:

A shelf that's reminiscent of Belle!

 

[Araminta18]

Fantasy Springs is a Fantasy - Monday May 26, 2025 (part 19)​

More theming of the shop:

I see Cinderella's castle, Snow White's cottage, and then Snow White's castle maybe? With bushes in the style of Sleeping Beauty.

Big mural - this is more Fantasy Springs, with Elsa's Ice Palace, Peter Pan's Mountain, and Rapunzel's Tower.

Cinderella shelf!

I can't remember if we bought stuff right now, or if we left it. I think we probably did end up buying things, cause I subscribe to the "if you see it and want it, buy it" model, cause of all the times I've been burned where the thing is no longer there when I go back. Can't remember for sure though, and my bag of receipts is all the way on the other side of the room so I'm not going to get up.

I did find more hats to make Trevor try on though - it's quickly becoming one of my most favorite things


They had hats for all the lost boys, but these were the only two in stock. I did eventually (like on a different day, I think) talk Trevor into buying the little bear hat. So cute!

We left the gift shop and were out by a bunch more of the rock work, so we had to look around.

Ariel! And guess who was out there meeting:

Ariel! There was a line for her so we just waved as we walked by to look at more of the rockwork.


Can you see Snow White? She's the hardest one to find, I think. And then on the mirror, they had fog coming out periodically to make him look super spooky.

Cinderella's glass slipper is up there near the top of the stairs.

And Sleeping Beauty! I swear Tokyo Disney has basically no Sleeping Beauty representation so I was super excited to see her in the rockwork:

And with her prince no less!