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

We make it to Indiana Jones just in time for our standby pass.

The temple is beautifully lit at night and looks like something you’d see in the middle of a jungle.

Despite using the Premiere Access line, the queue for Indiana Jones was quite long taking about 20 minutes to board the ride. The queue was very elaborate. It had been since 2017 since I was in the Indiana Jones queue in Disneyland but I don’t remember it being this elaborate. It was missing the “traps” that definitely added to the Disneyland version.

It has the exact same ride vehicle as the California version.

The ride was amazing and just as enjoyable if not more enjoyable than the Disneyland version. It’s very similar and at the same time different than Disneyland and 1,000 times better than Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom despite using the EXACT same ride system and track. This ride has some effects that they don’t have at Disneyland which were pretty neat. This is a perfect example of how it’s not just the ride but the theming that makes an attraction.

Lucy absolutely loves it and wants to do it again, but we don’t have time today but we’ll definitely do it again in two days for our second DisneySea day.

There are still two attraction passes we need to use, so we pick Journey to the Center of the Earth for our next one. I had avoided reading about almost all the rides we were going to go on this vacation aside from some very basic reviews so I could I could go into them completely blind, unbiased, and unspoiled. I had no idea what this ride would entail to be completely honest. We walk back to Mount Prometheus where the attraction is. To go through the volcano there are a variety of tunnels that allow you cut through and definitely add to the overall atmosphere of the park.

Journey to the Center of the Earth is exclusive to Tokyo DisneySea and is their headliner ride that exists inside the volcano which is the parks centerpiece.

We get into the queue and I must say it is an incredible queue. It definitely feels like you are going into the center of the earth based on the queue especially when combined with the fact you already walked inside the volcano to get there.

It’s loosely based on the Jules Verne book. There isn’t a preshow in the traditional sense, but there are a variety of props to give you the sense you are exploring into the center of the earth from an underground research lab.

You then take an elevator down “deep” into the earth to board the ride vehicle.

I won’t talk too much about this ride as I don’t want to spoil anything, but having zero expectations or knowledge of what the ride was going into it, we were all totally impressed. It’s basically a dark ride, but definitely different from any other dark ride we’ve done. It was Lucy’s absolute favorite ride to date this vacation and has now named it “Whoop! Jump Scare!” Both Kendall and I absolutely loved it as well, and it was one of the funnest moments of the vacation that left us talking about the ride for days. The theming was incredible and it definitely does a great job of misdirection and doing the unexpected.

For our final attraction pass of the night we decide to do Soarin’. I was skeptical to do Soarin’ as we have done it a ton of times in Epcot and California Adventure, but everyone said that this is the best version and the story is totally different from the other Soarin’s so we feel the need to experience it.

I must say that the story and queue and theming are 100 percent different.

The whole ride has an Italian Renaissance theme, which is vastly superior to the hanger bay theme of the US version of Soarin’. I’m not sure if you could really even call the US versions themed to be honest as the theming is so weak.

The story and preshow were told in Japanese so I am not 100 percent sure what the story was, but based on the queue, I’m pretty sure it was about the history of flight. The ride is the exact same except the ending sequence that has you return to Tokyo instead of Disney World or Disneyland.

We are out of attraction tickets at this point and it’s about 7:00PM so we go decide to go and pick up our vacation package from the Hotel Miracosta which is the hotel connected to DisneySea. We were told at check in at the Grand Chateau we could not get it the day before. The online bloggers and people in the Facebook groups say you can so we went to try and pick it up. The vacation package was in a very nice plastic envelope which would make a nice souvenir.

Picking it up now saves a ton of time in the AM, as the Vacation Package contains your park tickets, and unlimited Premier Access passes, and pretty much EVERYTHING you need to actually go to the parks. It is only available for pick up a the hotel you are staying in for your vacation package which is for us is the Hotel Miracosta. Tonight we are staying at the Disneyland Hotel which is right across from Disneyland. If we did not pick it up tonight then we’d have to take the monorail over to the Hotel MiraCosta in the morning, pick up the vacation package, and then ride the monorail back to Disneyland which is a total waste of time. The Hotel Miracosta is literally connected to Tokyo DisneySea via a hotel entrance so we just exit via that entrance and go to the front desk. Thankfully, the bloggers were right and we pick up our vacation package without issue.

Believe: Sea of Dreams, the nighttime spectacular, was starting in 45 minutes at 8:00PM but since we still have one more day in the park we decide to see it the second night. Unfortunately, we have to return the wheelchair all the way across the park at the Fantasy Springs Hotel which is a 20 minute walk.

We walk across the park and leave via the Grand Chateau entrance and return the wheelchair.

Then we walk to the monorail station right next to the hotel passing the Fantasy Springs Entrance on the way.

Of note, this entrance is ONLY for use of hotel guests of Fantasy Springs hotel. There are a number of hotels within a 2-3 minute walk of this entrance, but they are not allowed to enter or exit via this entrance. This can be very aggravating as it is a 25 minute walk to the front of the park, and then a monorail ride to the station here, so literally about 35-40 minutes in transit minimum, rather than just walking out this gate. This is a huge point of aggravation for many Tokyo DisneySea goers at this point. The picture below illustrates what an inconvenience this. The red line below shows the distance you’d travel if you could go out the Fantasy Springs gate. The yellow line shows the distance you travel if you are not staying at the Fantasy Springs Hotel. The yellow line involves a monorail ride as well.

We arrive at the Bayside Station.

Unlike the monorails in the US parks that are free the monorails here require you to buy a ticket to ride. I attempt to use my credit card but for some reason it won’t take our card. In general using a US credit card in Asia I’ve noticed is hit or miss. Sometimes some cards work, and sometimes they don’t. It really seems random to be honest if our card gets accepted. We end up just using cash. It’s only 300 yen per adult and 150 yen per child so just 750 yen total, which isn’t even $5 USD.

The monorail compared to the US versions are much bigger and nicer and actually themed.

I would gladly pay the small amount to ride the monorail in the US if it meant they were better maintained and had this level of theming. It was really cute, and just puts you in a Disney mood. We take the monorail to the Disneyland Station.

It is located right at the entrance to Disneyland Park. The Disneyland Hotel is directly opposite the station.

It is absolutely gorgeous at night. We enter into the lobby, and just like all the other lobbies this vacation it is cavernous and beautiful.

Tonight we booked a Cinderella Suite. As you can imagine, with a name like Cinderella Suite, it’s themed to Cinderella. It has a separate living room and bedroom. It’s a beautiful room and we wish we had more time to spend here.

Like many other hotels, they offer reusable bags and amenity kits and themed plastic cups to take home.

We hadn’t had dinner yet so we order some room service. While waiting for room service I head down to the laundromat as the next hotel does not have laundry. I hope to God that this one is relationship material unlike my last two laundromats.

I head down to the laundromat and they have a similar QR code system as the previous. The laundromat is very busy and I was lucky to find an empty washer to do our laundry. I start it up and head back to the room. Room service finally comes around 9:30PM and we eat. We just ordered some pizza and pasta so nothing fancy. It did come with a cream of corn soup that I found to be excellent.

Kendall then get’s Lucy ready for bed while I head back to the laundromat. Unfortunately, I can’t find my laundry. I was about 15 minutes late to move over our laundry as I was eating so I suspect someone moved it but as I don’t see it in any dryer or sitting in a pile around the room. There is a sign that says that laundry that is sitting unattended can be retrieved from bell services. I head to bell services and they have my laundry. I’ll definitely be do a better job of moving my laundry the moment it’s done as there definitely isn’t a grace period.

When I get back all the dryers are occupied but within 10 minutes one frees up. Thankfully the dryers here actually DRY and do it relatively efficiently, and within 30 minutes our small load of laundry was dry. I feel like I’m in laundry heaven. I head upstairs with the laundry. It’s been a long day, and tomorrow isn’t any shorter, so I get ready for bed and hit the sack at about 11:30PM.

Day 14, January 1st, 2025 Step Count – 24,849 Steps

Total Step Count – 233,188

Read about the next day here.

Read about the previous day here.