The Bounds Do Tokyo Disney - Day 3, Part 1

[Melanie]

The Bounds Do Tokyo Disney

Cast of Characters -

Melanie (37) - that's me
James (37) - that's hubby
Josh (8) - oldest, loves Donald and thrill rides
Ryan (7) - youngest, loves Stitch and Goofy, and not too sure about those thrill rides yet


Be warned: This report is very long (I’m sorry!) and I’m going to be using words like beautiful, gorgeous and breathtaking a lot. It's hard to not go into a lot of detail about this park.

Day Three, Part One:

Our third day was DisneySea day. Yes, the mecca for many Disney fans! And I’ll always be thankful for having the opportunity to visit this incredible theme park. Wow, it’s really amazing to see what can be done when you give the Imagineers free rein and big budgets to work their magic.

DisneySea didn’t open until 10am this Tuesday morning, so being morning people, we had a lot of time this morning to explore. The logical choice was the Disney MiraCosta hotel, which much like the Grand Californian at California Adventure, is built within DisneySea park.

We took the monorail over to the DisneySea station, and used the convenient walkway from the station over to the hotel. There were already folks lining up to enter DisneySea at 8am – two hours before park opening! We enter the lobby and wow, we were blown away. The Italian/European theme is gorgeous! Each themed port in DisneySea is represented around the atrium, which is the centerpiece of the lobby. The domed ceiling is a highlight. Stunning!

We checked out the hotel gift shop and got a kick out of Minnie Lisa. We were hungry for a good breakfast, and chose the BellaVista Lounge, located just off the lobby area. Again, didn’t do any research, but we didn’t think we could go wrong here. We were escorted to the furthest table away from the entrance, which ended up being window front with a stunning view of Mediterranean Harbor in the park. Wow, wow, wow! Our first glimpse of the park was all we thought it would be, and more. And what an extra special treat it was to see it empty.

Tearing ourselves away from the beautiful scenery, we filled our plates at the delicious buffet, where they had their own take on Mickey pancakes. We gobbled up the fresh fruit, as it’s so expensive here in Okinawa, and we don’t get as much as we should. Service was outstanding, and this meal was a highlight of our trip. We highly recommend the BellaVista Lounge.

Tummies full, we explored the hotel a bit more, checking out the grand entrance driveway leading to the beautiful fountain out front. Disney really went all out for this one, and my understanding is that this hotel alone cost as much to build as the entire Disneyland California Adventure expansion. Amazing!

As it was close to 9:30am, time to get in yet another long line to enter the park. It was actually warming up a bit, so we took off some layers while we were waiting in line. That little bit of warmth from the sun was a good feeling! While waiting in line, I went and got an English version of the park map, which they were happy to give at the ticket counters. At Disneyland, we picked it up at Guest Services.

I’ll explain here a bit about this park. There are seven themed ports of call. The already mentioned Mediterranean Harbor, the American Waterfront, Port Discovery, Lost River Delta, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast and Mysterious Island. DisneySea is in the midst of celebrating it’s 5th anniversary, so there are banners and lots of merchandise around the park reflecting this.

You enter into the DisneySea Plaza and then under a walkway (part of the MiraCosta Hotel) into Mediterranean Harbor. The characters are out around the Plaza area, so James takes off to get us Journey to the Center of the Earth FPs, while we get some autographs and pictures. Funny Chipmunk story here – we go to see Dale and Ryan has him sign his book and he signs “Chip”. We all look at each other with “huh?” looks. We then go to Chip and he signs “Chip” as well. Seriously, I think they sign so few autographs and it was so early in the morning, he forgot which Chipmunk he was that day.

Next we moved on into Mediterranean Harbor and to meet back up with James. You can’t help to stop and take it all in once you enter this area. I’ve heard over and over and over again what a beautiful park this is, but it is really breathtakingly stunning in person. Pictures just don’t do it justice. The detail, use of colors and theming is out of this world! We would find this to be true in all the themed ports in the park.

We find James and he’s got a new purchase on his head. After looking all day yesterday for a hat, and finding nothing but the trucker-style ones, he finally found a very nice DisneySea one from McDuck’s Department Store, which sits right off Mediterranean Harbor at the entrance to American Waterfront. He was gushing like a excited child about how cool Mysterious Island was, so we head straight over there. The idea is that Captain Nemo has created this area as a base for his underwater and earthly explorations. Indeed, it’s way cool! In the water was the Nautilus from the 20K Leagues rides at WDW and Disneyland, and hoisted above was the Neptune, the vehicle for DisneySea’s version of the ride.

We first do 20K Leagues Under the Sea by entering the circular outdoor queue down into the ride area. Fantastic indoor queue area, with lots to look at. We entered our ride vehicles, which seated 6 - two to a window, not knowing what to expect. I think the boys were a little taken back since it was dark and the fear of the unknown. Narration was in Japanese, so we were a little lost in what the mission was supposed to be, but we got the gist of it. I really felt like we were underwater - the effects are that good. The submersion was fun! A huge squid is the highlight of the journey, and there were little alien guys towards the end of the ride that were very cute. Overall, just incredibly superior to the original versions of 20K, but what can you expect after all the years of advancements?

It was already time for our Journey FPs at that point, even though the standby line was already an hour. FPs would be the way to go! The cave queue was cool, and soon we were in a Tower of Terror like elevator on our way down to the loading area. The boys were both being very brave and even James and I were a little apprehensive. I hate not knowing what’s going to happen. Josh and I rode together in the middle, and Ryan and James rode behind us in the cool vehicles (which seat 8) that actually have shovels on the front, you know, to get you down to the core of the earth. The journey begins as kind of a leisurely trip where you encounter crystal caverns, and some weird lands and creatures, but then you take a wrong turn and find yourself face to face with a huge monster. At that point, the vehicle takes off very, very quickly and shoots you out of the volcano, with a fun drop along the way. Before you know it, the ride is over, and my only complaint is how short it is.

Well, it scared Ryan to death, and he was really crying. I have to say that the quick takeoff surprised us all, but what a cool ride! We got him cheered up fairly quickly with promises of ice cream and headed off to the Lost River Delta area. Woohoo – the land of Indiana Jones. Our boys have just recently began watching the Indy movies, and they were disappointed Temple of the Crystal Skull was closed during our visit, but all the reason to go back. We sure felt like we were in Indy territory though. Incredible theming! The other highlight of this port is Raging Spirits, a roller coaster with a loop which speeds through an excavation site. Standby times were long of course, so we grabbed FPs and moved over to the next land, Arabian Coast.