During my stay in Tokyo, I enjoyed my fair share of exploration. Continuing to explore Ueno, meeting friends in Shibuya, even hopping a train down to Kamakura to do some sightseeing. Of all the places I planned to visit, there was one place I knew I wanted to go to the most. That place was Tokyo DisneySea.

I don’t mention it very often, but I’m quite the Disney fan. My family grew up very appreciative of everything Disney, and being in L.A.., we would frequent Los Angeles Disneyland in our free time (though rising ticket prices make that a bit more difficult at the moment). The main point is, I enjoy Disney very much, and that includes Disney theme parks. One of my mini goals in life is to visit every Disney theme park in the world. I had already visited Tokyo Disneyland in the winter, but I knew I would not be satisfied leaving Japan before experiencing DisneySea as well.

Arriving at Maihama Station, hearing the familiar jingle of ‘Zip a Dee Doo Dah’ over the station speakers, I knew I had arrived at Tokyo Disney Resort. I exited the station followed the foot traffic towards the Disney Resort Gateway. I didn’t realize it on my last visit, but Tokyo Disneyland Resort has a rail line that travels between the theme parks and hotels. Since DisneySea is a bit further that Tokyo Disneyland, I decided this was a good option for me. Plus, I would get to see if these trains had that special ‘Disney polish’. The price of a ticket wasn’t bad at all; about $2 to ride the line once around. When the train arrived, my suspicions of the Disney charm were confirmed, as the window were appropriately shaped in the familiar three circles resembling a certain mouse. The inside of the train continued the theme, with the normal grab handles replaced with cute Mickey shaped ones, accompanied by yellow straps and red ‘shorts’.

Watching the scenery of outside images pass by me, I imagined what I would be in store for. I had very little knowledge of the park prior to coming, just a few suggestions from friends of where I should go. How would this compare with the other Disney parks? Is it really as good as others say it is? How is the theming? I though about these until the train arrived at the DisneySea Station. Time to have some of my questions answered.

I once again followed the crowd to find my destination. I approached the ticket booth, paid for my day pass, and was given a ticket and map. One of the nice things about Tokyo Disney Resort is the price for a ticket is much cheaper than other Disney Parks. While L.A.. Disneyland is $117 for a 1-Day 1-Park day pass (at the time of writing this entry), Tokyo Disney Resort passes cost ¥7,400 (approx. $70). I walked towards the entrance, scanned my QR Ticket code, and walked through the turnstile. I had arrived.

Upon entering the park, a large globe atop a water fountain could be seen a courtyard. My fascination began as I admired not only the fountain, but the breadth of the area itself. It was quite spacious, and I spent a few minutes admiring the surrounds for a bit before proceeding.

As I walked on ahead, I noticed that the park had been decorated in celebration of Easter. This was interesting since, being in Japan, I was under the impression that Easter was not as widely celebrated as it is in other parts of the world, such as America. Why would a Japanese theme park put such a focus on Easter? Why not make it a Spring celebration? Although, a good friend pointed out to me that ‘Spring’ probably isn’t as exciting or special as ‘Easter’, and upon further reflection, it does give them a few more theming options to explore and be creative with (such as eggs displaying various Disney characters scattered throughout the park).

Walking through the tunnel, I could clearly see a large volcano in the distance, which I would later find out is known as ‘Mount Prometheus’. It would play a larger role later in the day, but for now it served as an interesting landmark. I could have taken this opportunity to pull out my map and plan where to go, but I decided I wanted to explore a bit first. I soon found myself in an area that was very much inspired by Venice, Italy. I have not been to Italy yet, but in my opinion Disney was very faithful to the source material. From the architecture, to the shops, to the gondolas ferrying guests across the water, the spirit of Italy definitely seemed present.

On my way to the next area of the park, I stumbled upon possibly my favorite store in the whole park: McDuck’s Department Store!

As I mentioned before, I am a huge Disney fan, and my favorite character without question is Scrooge McDuck. Why? If I had to pick one major point, I’d say it’s because of his determination. No matter the situation, he will find a way to achieve what he wants, and doesn’t expect others to simply give him opportunities. He makes the opportunities and he works hard for them. In his own words, he worked his way to the top by “being smarter than the smarties, and tougher than the toughies”. When the going gets tough, he pulls up his sleeves and becomes tougher. Anyways, as much as I think he is a great character, I don’t see him in popular Disney settings as much as other franchise characters, so it was nice to see this shop in the park.

Moving on, I proceeded to walk into the ‘American Waterfront’ area, which is centered around early American east cost shipyards and fishing docks. It’s always interesting to me to see how other countries interpret American culture, and I think DisneySea did a fine job here. It felt ‘American’ without being over the top and phony. I took some time to admire the surroundings, including the industrial period steam ships, the iron work bridges, and old glory being proudly displayed on the flag post.

Now that I had done a bit of exploring, I decided it was probably time to start thinking about actually going on some attractions. Nothing in the area caught my interest, so I decided to continue onward. I briefly passed by ‘Port Discovery’, which seemed to have a sort of futuristic sea port theme to it. I noticed an attraction known as ‘Aquatopia’, which had guests ridding in hovercrafts across the water in a contained area. It looked interesting, but I decided to hold off on it for the time being.

I proceeded towards the volcano I mentioned before, only to find an enormous crowd of people lining up for an attraction. After some investigating, I found that the attraction in question was ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’. Having it been suggested by a friend, and with so many people queued up, I decided this ride was a must. That being said, I wasn’t about to wait over two hours to get on it; it was time for a Fastpass.

For those of you unfamiliar, a Fastpass is a ticket guests can acquire for certain attractions that allow them to come back at a later time and wait in separate, much shorter line. I proceeded to the Fastpass area and discovered it was also quite crowded. It took me about 10 minutes to obtain my pass, but I didn’t mind too much, since it gave me a chance to look around the area a bit more. My surroundings were that of an underground mining area, with hanging lights above, rocky ceilings and walls, and Fastpass distribution machines designed to look like… well, I’m not sure what exactly (possibly boilers?), but they fit the theming quite nicely. I eventually got my ticket, which told me to return between 19:55 ~ 20:55. It was maybe around 10:00am at the time, so needless to say, I had time to spare.

I emerged from the cavern in the volcano and entered into the rest of what was known as the ‘Mysterious Island’ area of the park. Though smaller than the other areas (if we don’t include Mount Prometheus as part of the island), it certainly had a charm of its own. The theming was industrial, yet alien. I would later discover that much of this has to do with the inspiration drawn upon for this area were novels written by Jules Verne, a French author often cited as being the father of Science Fiction. Walking around, I noticed a sign for a nearby attraction: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I decided that this would be my first attraction for the day. As I stood in the hour long queue, I could appreciate the detail in the surroundings a bit more. In the water outside the attraction sat the ‘Nautilus’ (which is apparently the ship from 20,000 Leagues), and the inside waiting line is full of office rooms displaying sea charts, designs for advanced exploration machinery, and other deep sea related items.

Soon it was time to enter the vessel (not the Natilus, but a smaller vessel know as the ‘Neptune’). It was a lot smaller than I thought, but I still had enough room inside to where it didn’t feel cramped. There are lots of lights and dials inside (which probably indicate nothing), as well as a small control stick which guests can use to control search lights during the ride. I won’t say too much about the story, but during the attraction guest hear narration from the captain and the crew (all in Japanese), and witness different scenes outside of the vessel through a small window. I found it to be quite enjoyable, having been a fan of the Submarine Voyage ride when it was still at the Los Angeles location (it has since been replaced by a Finding Nemo Submarine ride). The story is a bit different from the former L.A.. ride, and I feel that this version is much more exciting and visually pleasing.

Having enjoyed my first attraction at DisneySea, I set out to the next area of the park to see what else there was to discover!