A Disney Parks Around the World Journey: Day 14 – Tokyo Disneysea Part II

We check out and bring the wheelchair this time as Tokyo Disney Sea is a huge park, and we are doing three straight park days so Kendall opts for a wheelchair so we don’t potentially burn her foot out.

Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey is supposedly the best ride in Fantasy Springs and the entire DisneySea based on most blogger’s opinions so we decide we will start with it. We have unlimited Disney Premiere Access for all the rides in Fantasy Springs via the Fantasy Springs Passport so we just use the Premiere Access line. It took about 15 minutes after entering the line to board the ride which is a dark boat ride similar to the other Frozen rides, but that’s where the similarities end.

The ride was absolutely stunning. The show scenes were totally different from Hong Kong and Epcot.

The ride is also much longer than the Frozen rides. It tells the whole story from the beginning and has some very impressive special effects. They play the majority of the songs from the movie although there was no “In Summer”. It would not have fit thematically with the ride so I was ok with the omission. It was definitely one of the best rides we went on this vacation thus far for sure.

Afterwards, we start walking toward Peter Pan’s Neverland Adventure. On the way we pass a popcorn cart and get in line. We get to the front of the line to discover that apparently they only sell one flavor of popcorn which is apparently roast beef.

We decide to give it a shot despite not being super enthused about roast beef as a popcorn flavor.

Unfortunately, none of us were a fan of roast beef popcorn, but we at least gave it a try. We then arrive at Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure. I guess Peter Pan is notably more popular in Japan as I just can’t imagine devoting an E-ticket level attraction in this day and age to Peter Pan in the US with so many other IPs available.

We enter via the Premiere Access line. The queue is well themed to a Lost Boys hideout.

There was a short pre-show in Japanese, and then you exit toward the ride. The ride vehicles were themed to a small pirate ship that could fly.

The ride was quite impressive and very long. It did require 3D glasses as there was a combination of physical and screen elements. Overall the ride was very similar to The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride at Universal Studios Orlando. The ride technology was impressive, and definitely one of the funner non thrill rides we’ve done on this vacation.

We then head to Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival. We use the Premiere Access line and the wait isn’t even 5 minutes.

This a boat ride that initially starts outdoors and then transitions into an indoor show building. You pass by a tower that has a Rapunzel that sings random songs. The ride is pretty short, and to be honest pretty underwhelming except for one thing. It has the most beautiful scene of ANY RIDE IN ANY DISNEY PARK.

The lantern festival scene is just JAW DROPPING and pictures do not do it justice. The combination of the lighting, suspended lanterns, and the song “I See the Light” playing in the background just makes the ride, and it’s worth doing the ride just to experience this scene. It really is unfortunate they did not make the ride longer, or really just let you keep going around and around in the lantern room. It’s that beautiful.

Afterwards, we decide to go on Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey again. Having the unlimited Premiere Access truly helps simplify our day, as during this time of year, there are many people that do not even get to go on this ride AT ALL, due to the fact that in order to ride this ride, you either need to purchase a Premiere Access pass or obtain a Standby Pass. A Standby Pass is just a pass that allows you to stand in the regular queue. These Standby Passes run out incredibly fast, and often will run out minutes after the park opens. People who arrive early to enter the park on time, often do not even have a chance as by the time they cross the turnstile the passes have already run out. So even with arriving BEFORE park opening they did not even have the opportunity to obtain a pass to ride the ride. This is very similar to the issues many had when Rise of the Resistance first opened up. The ability for us to literally go on any of the rides in Fantasy Springs whenever we wanted and use the Premiere Access line is truly a life saver and simplifies the planning considerably.

For our second ride, I let Lucy take some pics with my camera. This makes for a much more relaxing experience and I enjoy ride even more. You definitely notice more of the small details when you’re not taking pictures.

Then we head to the Fantasy Springs gift shop.

I look for a Fantasy Springs hotel magnet but sadly there is none. Doing our research prior to arrival, I had read about how the prices at Tokyo Disney are considerably more reasonable than the prices in the US, and they weren’t kidding. Lucy got a pack of 4 pens for 12.73 USD. One pen at Disney World is 12.99 + tax.

It was then time for lunch and we headed over to The Snuggly Duckling.

In order to enter the restaurant you needed to make a mobile order. We made our order and waited a short bit and then were notified our order was ready. We entered and were very impressed with the theming. The interior definitely looked like what you would have expected the interior of The Snuggly Duckling to look like.

We order two cheeseburgers and fries to split.

To our complete shock when we open our hamburger there was actually ham on it!!! I’ll never totally understand the fact we call what are technically “beef”burgers, hamburgers but I guess in Japan they realized that the rest of the world needs to get their act together and actually put ham on a hamburger.

We did end up separating the ham from the beef burger as while I love meat, a hambeefburger might have been a little too much. The ham was actually very good and tasted similar to typical ham you’d get for breakfast. We finished up our lunch and then went to bathroom which was located in Arendelle. It was one of the best themed bathrooms I have seen in Disney competing with the bathrooms in Galaxy’s Edge for theming. For privacy I have no pics, but even the bathroom doors were even themed to Arendelle.

As we walk around we definitely notice that themed popcorn buckets are definitely a thing. At least 75 percent of families have at least one, if not multiple popcorn buckets. We felt a little awkward without a popcorn bucket, but we will get ours tomorrow with our Vacation Package.

Prior to leaving Fantasy Springs we decide to do Peter Pan again. It was a slightly shorter wait this time using the Premiere Access line. It was just as enjoyable the second time and really gives you a great sense of flying. It’s a pity we don’t have a ride similar to this in any US parks.

Afterwards, Lucy wants to go play on the pirate ship.

It’s not exactly a playground in the traditional sense, but it is pretty neat with lots of things to explore and play with.

For our last ride prior to venturing outside Fantasy Springs we decide to go on Tangled one last time. While it is very short the ending scene is just jaw dropping and makes it well worth doing the ride again. This ride reminds me so much of Navi River in Animal Kingdom in that’s very beautiful, just too short.

The Imagineers have done such a great job with Fantasy Springs. They really but details into everything, even the ground outside the ride.

It’s getting to be early afternoon and we then head out of Fantasy Springs. While we don’t have unlimited Premiere Access on the rides outside of Fantasy Springs we do have 3 attraction passes per person that came with our Grand Chateau room. These passes allow us to enter the Premier Access line once per pass at any time, so we do have access to the Premier Access line for 3 rides.

Raging Spirits is the only roller coaster in DisneySea, has a Premier Access line, and it just happens to be right outside of Fantasy Springs so we figure we might as well try it out.

Everyone in our party loves roller coasters so we figured this would be pretty fun. It definitely looked it.

The theming was great as well.

The expectations were even further amped as they actually had me leave my camera in a locker. There is only one other ride in all the Disney Parks that require a locker and that’s Tron in Magic Kingdom and it’s a a great coaster. Unfortunately, unlike Tron this coaster is incredibly tame and boring. It lacks speed and any excitement. It actually has a loop, but there is so little speed I was impressed we made it all the way around the loop. Despite the incredible theming and a loop, this was actually one of the worst attractions we went on this vacation. It had gotten mediocre reviews but I figured how bad could a coaster with a loop be?? Apparently pretty bad.

Our showtime for our preselected show, Big Band Beat, was then coming up and from where we were it was at least a 20 minute walk as it was located in the American Waterfront on the other side of the park so we start trekking. On the way we kept looking for regular popcorn but could not find any. They have tons of flavors like soy sauce and curry, but no regular in sight.

While we had a hard time finding popcorn, we had no difficulty finding Max. He didn’t photobomb us this time unlike when we were in Hollywood Studios.

We eventually find a stand with milk chocolate popcorn and that at least sounded kinda appealing so we bought some. It actually tasted ok. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad either. It was at least tolerable unlike roast beef. Another, interesting observation is that they don’t sell drinks at the popcorn stands. If you want a drink you’ll need to find another stand. Popcorn stands only sell ONE flavor of popcorn and that’s it. We continue walking toward the America Waterfront. On the way we pass by an area that feels like Cape Cod.

We notice a ton of birds in the water. They are so evenly spaced I thought they were fake.

Newsflash! They in fact are not fake. They definitely fly and move. We continue to search for a stand with a drink as we are dying of thirst. As we walk, we pass by a replica ocean liner, Columbia.

This ship is definitely different from the Columbia in Disneyland which is a replica sailing ship and used in Fantasmic.

We finally find a drink at a stand close to the theater. Another observation, snack vendors AND restaurants sell very minimal selections. Almost every snack stand only sells ONE item. If it sells popcorn, it only sells popcorn. If it sells a churro it only sells a churro. It is very rare to actually have a choice and not every stand sells a drink. If you find a stand that sells a drink you typically have only one option, tea. If you are lucky they may sell tea AND Coke or tea and another option like juice. The restaurants only sell between 1-3 entrees. They also may have 1-2 dessert items and typically 4-5 drink options so you at least get just a little more selection at a restaurant. For example, the hot dog stand where we bought a Coke only sold hot dogs and 2 drinks, tea and Coca-Cola.

It’s now time for Big Band Beat and we arrive about 15 minutes early. This is in the area of the park called the American Waterfront, and they do a great job simulating America in the 1940s.

This was the only reservable show option in DisneySea. It was in a beautiful indoor theater and in all honestly the theater was nice enough to where you coulda convinced me I was seeing a broadway show on broadway rather than a theme park production show. Our reserved seats were in a great location on the first row of the second section.

This show pre-covid had a live band and was supposedly amazing. Most bloggers say it’s just a shell of its former self since the loss of the live band. We still found it high energy and fun. There were lots of dance routines to 1920s era big band songs, and we really enjoyed it. I can see where a live band would bring even more energy though and make it even more entertaining.

After it ends we start walking toward Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull. This ride has no relation to the movie. Since we didn’t have unlimited Premiere Access today we did use the free 40th Anniversary pass system which is basically a free fast pass for certain less high profile rides. You can book one the moment you enter the park, and I booked this earlier in the day when we first entered Fantasy Springs. I managed to snag a time for Indiana Jones for right after our show so we were in a minor rush to make it in time. The annoying thing is that this ride was by Raging Spirits which meant it was on the exact opposite side of the park 20 minutes away where we just came from. We take a different way back and we see Mount Prometheus, the volcano, for the first time.

It is absolutely huge, and without a doubt the biggest of any mountain in any Disney Park anywhere.

It houses not one, but TWO rides, Journey into the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. We also see Mediterranean Harbor for the first time as well.

Lucy has been looking for a churro all day and on the way we finally find a churro stand and buy one.

I didn’t notice this but Lucy noted that the churros here are in the shape of Mickey. We really need to bring these to the US.

To be continued here.

Read about the earlier part of the day here.