Chibified

Our third day in Japan was our second day at the Tokyo Disneyland Resort (TDR). I was so excited for today, because I had seen how lovely Tokyo DisneySea was in photos, but pictures cannot prepare you for the beauty that is DisneySea.

Our day began with a breakfast bento we purchased at Tokyo Station on the way to the train platform. We ate it on the way there. I’m sure we were stared at discreetly for doing so, but oh well.

Because AS likes chicken katsu so much, this is what we got.

Chicken katsu is good :9. I was hoping they would warm it up for at least 30 sec but I guess not ^^;;.

Because we had to board another train to get to DisneySea, we didn’t arrive as early as we had planned. But the wait to get in was shorter and the line wasn’t too long, so it wasn’t so bad. The first thing we did was rush to Mysterious Island to get in line for the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride, but coming in late had its disadvantages in the form of an already long line since the only other ride in the port of call, Journey to the Center of the Earth, was closed. So we decided to get out of line and get the infamous gyoza dog we had read so much about so we could eat them while waiting in line.

It looks really good but it definitely needed sauce.

I liked it xD. It did taste like gyoza meat in a bun. Something that can be served at dim sum xD.

Lines for the gyoza dog can be tremendous, but luckily it was both a weekday and early in the morning, so the line wasn’t too long. We decided it would be worth waiting in line again if we really liked it, so we only bought one to share. Another lucky thing, when we went back to the line, it was much shorter than when we original got in it and we were on the ride pretty quickly.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a dark ride. Each vehicle can accommodate 6 people (or 3 couples as TDR is a popular date place) I requested the seats in the front because it had the most legroom as well as the best view. There is a storyline that’s being spoken, but you don’t lose too much if you don’t understand the language. It’s pretty easy to follow along by just watching the scenery in front of you.

I thought the “Atlantien’s” looked a bit freaky xD. The giant squid effect was nice.

Leaving Mysterious Island and en route to our next destination, we saw a cute little surprise.

At Lost River Delta, both of the major rides there, Indiana Jones and Raging Spirits, had the fastpass option, so we decided to get fastpasses rather than standing in line for a long time. We got one for Raging Spirits first, because the return time was earlier than Indiana Jones. While we waited for the fastpass to come into effect, we explored and ate our way around.

Sausage in a crusty bread. We both liked this one a lot.

Just the right amount of flavor in the sausage and the bread was crisp on the outside but fluffy on the inside, good job TDS (^w^)b.

Sea salt ice cream! For all you Kingdom Hearts fans. xD Though it wasn’t blue. ^^; Probably because blue = vanilla. Tasted like plain vanilla to me, though AS said he could taste the salt. It came in a plastic heart shaped keepsake box with Minnie on the lid.

This was a pretty awesome find. Though I was a bit disappointed when it wasn’t blue or in ice cream bar form like it was in Kingdom Hearts ^^;;. Still, to get to taste it was pretty cool. Salty vanilla ice cream, very different xD.

Tiramisu ice cream sandwich. This was yummy, though the tiramisu flavor was basically all in the cookie.

Part of the Indiana Jones attraction.

Smoked chicken. Not as good as the teriyaki chicken we both really loved at Disneyland (of which we have no picture of).

Fruity drink with grape jelly mixed in. Also not as good as the drink we tried at Disneyland that was similar (another one which we don’t have a picture of).

The Lost River Delta is kind of shaped like an oval. We had walked on the side where the big rides were and all the snacks we just ate. Now we were turning to the side where the restaurants and smaller attractions were.

At the roundabout.

Black pepper popcorn. This was AS’s favorite flavor as well as one of my top picks.

I like black pepper lol. Simple yet so flavorful. Not hard to understand why it was one of the top spices traded during the spice trade era.

We had a lot of time to kill between waiting for fastpasses and then the rides, so we went back and forth and explored the next port of call, Port Discovery. Port of call is what they use instead of land in DisneySea (i.e. Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, etc). We went on the two major attractions for this area, StormRider and Aquatopia, twice, with a twirl on Raging Spirits in between.

We also bought sea salt popcorn here, which is basically your usual salted popcorn. If anything, I felt it needed more salt. ^^; It was kind of a letdown after the yummy black pepper popcorn.

StormRider is a simulation ride, similar to Star Tours, but the subject is about weather. We went on it twice since we didn’t know what to expect the first time. The second time we tried to get better seats to enjoy the effects of the ride more.
As in getting more wet from the ride xD. This is something that needs to be timed though as CM’s direct you to the line you are to stand in so you can’t choose your own seat . Maybe next time ^^;;.

Aquatopia uses the same technology that the Pooh ride in Disneyland uses so it may seem random, but the ride is a bit old, so you can see the “tracks” because it’s been run over so many times. I’ve read that there used to be a wet side and a dry side, which is why we went on it twice, but there wasn’t anything different, except the view.

We saw pictures of this ride when it snowed in Japan recently. Gives it a whole new look and at night its lighted up really nice so we have to ride it at least two more times lol.

Aquatopia vehicles.

Not sure if this was supposed to be a vehicle or a fish, but it looked neat.

Raging Spirits was the most thrilling roller coaster we went on in DisneySea, but thrill junkies would probably give it a thumbs down. I was very nervous approaching it as I am with any roller coaster, especially one with a 360 degree loop, but the stomach turning moment for me was the first drop at the beginning. There’s a lot of smoke blowing around the ride and funnily enough, the phrase I would use to describe it is blowing smoke. ^^; It’s not as thrilling as it looks. It’s super short, the thrill is minimal and there’s always a very long wait in line, even with a fastpass. It’s definitely not worth waiting in line for by itself. Luckily, the ride does have a single rider option, though I’ve read sometimes it will take a long time to get a single rider because, again, Disneyland is a popular place for a date.

The best thing about Raging Spirits is that there are free temporary lockers available to rent. I believe it was 100 yen and the money is refunded when you reopen the locker. The maximum amount of rental time was 3 hours, so AS kept going back throughout the day to renew our rental.

Indiana Jones is basically the same as the Anaheim version, except that it’s set in South America. I think they have a single rider option as well, but a Japanese site where we got tips and fastpass hints from recommended that you don’t do this, because they take your pictures at the end and you can purchase the photo. That’s probably the one major difference of the ride, aside from the setting. The Japanese are smart, they put a net over their monitors which shows the picture of everyone on the ride so people actually have to buy the photo if they want a good picture. ^^;

AS really enjoyed this version because they don’t have a fire so there’s no musty smell when you go over the bridge like in Anaheim. I spent my time staring at all the things that were different. xD We decided to grab another fastpass there because there was no other FP ride we wanted to go on.

Seriously, the smell at the Anaheim Indy is very smelly ^^;;. Like the rotten egg sort of smell ^^;;. So not smelling the “smell” was a real nice surprise xD. They have a few things that are different on the ride so it was like going on a whole new ride.

Next we headed to the Arabian Coast. The first thing we saw there was Stitch. My best friend is a huge fan, so of course I have to stop and take a picture of him. Luckily there are photo op locations like this, because the characters are really popular and always get mobbed for pictures. I don’t like standing in line for pictures, so when people have to line up, I can get some snaps in before the next group stands with Stitch.

He’s not facing me, but it’s a fairly good shot.

We didn’t go in very far before we encountered more unique snacks. ^_^

Black sesame churro.

Some type of fruit jelly with coconut ice cream on top. You get to keep the lamp. AS liked the ice cream a lot. I thought it was surprisingly good, as I don’t like the taste of coconut too much.

Besides being a watermelon fiend, I am also a coconut fiend >:).

We went on Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage which is kind of a mix of Pirate’s of the Caribbean and It’s a Small World. I loved this ride for the adorable Chandu, whom I fell in love with the cutie after one go through. ^_^

Afterward, we found a carnival like game where you could win stuffed Stitches and Angels for 500 yen a try. The games are pretty much about luck. ^^; I won once and on my first try. We played about 5 rounds each and AS won once toward the end, too. The nice thing is that even if you lose, you still win a pin, which is why we played in the first place. A friend of ours is a pin trader, so we were on the lookout for pins for him. In fact, neither of us were trying to win, though after I had won on my first try, I think it was all about pride.

Hehe, we actually did try to “win” again I guess, though losing had its benefits too lol.

This is the game I won at. You just have to roll the ball and it has to land in one of the balconies, kinda like skeeball.

AS won at this one. The ball just needs to be rolled onto one of golden plates at the end and stay there.

The plushies that you win are pretty big and we had ended up with two. Unfortunately, we had decided that we would do all our shopping on the last day so we could go around empty handed, so this kind of threw a wrench in our plans. One thing we noticed about the Japanese is that they don’t mind holding lots of shopping bags. I didn’t even have my camera on hand at that moment because I had decided to try go completely hands free and we left most of our things at the free lockers by Raging Spirits.

I saw people holding 3 stuffed animals with their hand as well as their bags and other things as well lol. Crazy ^^;;.

Another thing we noticed is that some people carried around really large bags. We had inquired about them previously and was told that it wasn’t free. I actually felt offended by how brusquely she told us this, because I would’ve bought one if she had given me a chance. I guess I had gotten used to the superior customer service and felt it was lacking at that moment. Well, anyhow, we were finally able to buy one. :3 I think there are only two sizes, the medium and the large. Normally I would choose the large one, but the medium size one had a special image, just for the event happening at DisneySea, the Spring Carnival.

The reason why we needed a bag was not just because of Stitch and Angel. I mentioned how I had fallen for Chandu earlier and the gift shop right next to the games was a store filled to the brim with Chandu merchandise. I told AS I wanted a plushie right away. At first I was intent on buying a smaller one, to save money, but we both agreed that the larger ones looked better. He was pricey but worth it. ^_^ As I was paying for it, I inquired about the bags again, since it was obvious we needed one with 3 large stuffed animals and she happily showed us the two options.

Even though we had the convenience of a large bag to carry them around in, we decided to put them in the lockers too. ^^; We had to use our FP at Indy anyhow, so we headed back in that direction to drop it off. After Indy, we went back to exploring the rest of the Arabian Coast.

The Spring Carnival event focused on greenery. There was floral pieces all over “Jasmine’s Garden” in the courtyard, where the Magic Lamp Theater and Caravan Carousel was located. We didn’t go on the latter, as it was just a carousel, albeit a 2 story one, but we did go to the Magic Lamp Theater. The MLT houses a combined live action and 3D movie that features Disney’s Genie (from Aladdin). It was all in Japanese, but they do have little monitors that has English subtitles for you to follow along with the story. All you have to do is a find a castmember before the show starts and that’s it. The monitors will automatically start when the show starts. You do miss out on some of the little things because it doesn’t translate everything, but you get the storyline. Depending on how much you enjoy it, it may be worth going a second time. I found that it was a little distracting having to look up and down constantly to keep up with the story. Once you know what’s going on, it’s easier to take it all in.

They need to invent glasses that you can wear and have the text scroll down on the glass while you’re watching lol. Though I wonder if that would be more distracting ^^;;.

Our next stop was Mermaid Lagoon, which is one of the most beautifully themed port of calls. It was enclosed to give you the feel of being in under the sea. It was mostly kiddie rides, though you could call them couple rides, since we saw many couples enjoying them.

One of my absolutely favorite things about Mermaid Lagoon is that they recreated Ariel’s treasure room, including that life size sculpture of Prince Eric! I was fascinated by it. xD

Horrible ^^;;.

Another interesting attraction inside Mermaid Lagoon is a live action musical called Under the Sea.

This was actually pretty good. I liked watching the acrobatics, the live performers, gigantic props, and even some animatronics thrown in. I would watch this show again.

The gift shop in the mouth of a whale. xD

There are no pictures for it, but we actually had more snacks here. During the period in which we visited, they were offering a set that included a free lunch bag. And I wanted it. xD The pictures were really poor since the lighting was so dim, so we have nothing to show you. IIRC, I think it was a shrimp katsu sandwich with a clam shaped bun. There was also fries in the set and we also ordered an additional dessert of some kind of blue jelly because it came with a small keepsake glass. :3 We also got sea salt ice cream again because it came in a different keepsake container, this one a clam shell with Ariel on it.

Sea salt ice is something different and needs to be eaten, at least once. Though eating it again was so-so and not as enjoyable ^^;;.

We went to dinner at a curry place in the Arabian Coast. It was actually a curry buffet with 7 different types of curry. Unfortunately, none of the curry really suit my taste buds, but I made do. ^^; There was also lots of other foods and some yummy dessert.

The skewered tandoori chicken above was really delicious :9. The other stuff was good as well but not as much as that chicken xD.

I was really stuffed after dinner, so I rested at Mermaid Lagoon while he went to get our things since we would be moving away from the area, closer to the front of the park, and we didn’t want to walk all the way to the back of the park. I had read the fireworks aren’t worth seeing, but I roused myself out of my rest eventually and we met up outside by chance.

The fireworks were ok, nothing very special. Maybe it was because it was windy that day? Not sure but the fireworks at Anaheim are much better.

Another cute surprise outside Mermaid Lagoon.

When AS was getting our bags, he snapped a shot of the Raging Spirits at night. It does look like it would be more interesting at night. Maybe next time.

After we got our things, we went back to Port Discovery to “finish off” that port of call. If you recall, we were just there to kill time and hadn’t dedicated time to seeing the area. We actually had already seen mostly everything earlier that day. xD We did want to go on Aquatopia one more time because it was really lovely with all the lights at night, but it was getting late and we wanted to go on the last “ride” in the port, which is a monorail/train ride between Port Discover and the American Waterfront.

Japan has some kind of weird law that they have to charge if a train track is longer than a certain length. It’s one of the reasons why they don’t have a free monorail to DisneySea. :/ It’s also why the Disneyland Railroad doesn’t go around the park at Tokyo Disneyland and why this train ride is only to one port of call.

I believe that was our night in the park. We headed back to the train station, which had this beautiful mural.

The last thing we did before we went back to the train station to catch our train was to return to the Disney Store in Ikispiari. I had started compiling my wish list since the very first night and one of the things I had my heart set on was a super cute Marie plushie. And AS said he would buy it for me as a gift. <3 So I dragged him back there that night. He had wanted to wait, but I pointed out that we had this huge bag, so we might as well get her now, since we could just put her in the bag. :3

I wound up doing all my Disney Store shopping that night since we were already there. Luckily, or unluckily, in the day or two we had been away, a sale had started. So I picked up a lot more things than I had originally planned. xD

Related posts:

1. Japan 2009 – Day 2
2. Japan 2009 – Day 4
3. Japan 2009 – Day 5
4. Japan 2009 – Day 1
5. Japan 2009 – Day 6