Warning: A photo-heavy post ahead (avoid using Data!!!)
If you've read my previous post on how to get to Disneysea then you definitely know that you should get to the entrance ahead of opening hours too!
In order to take the rides efficiently, (most rides out of hours spent at park) you have to plan!
Having NEVER been to Disneyland/sea before or Japan for that matter, I had no idea the scale of the park or the amount of people. If you're confident enough, I would encourage you to split up for Fastpassing and meeting up later at a fixed location. Remember to set a back-up plan to meet if you miss a time and place! (Most Airbnb hosts provide a pocket wifi, make sure it's charged because you'll surely need it).
First things first...
Fastpassing
A crowd control method that Disneysea employs is the concept of fastpassing! Remember the e-ticket I introduced earlier? If you have a normal ticket, it should also have a QR code that allows you to scan at Fastpass machines. Fastpasses designate a timeslot for each resort guest holding the ticket to queue ahead of others who are entering the normal queue now. (sounds complicated when I try to explain, I'm doing a bad job sorry)
In colloquial terms, you 'chope' your place in the queue. The time that you scanned your ticket is the time that you 'started queueing' in the system.
In colloquial terms, you 'chope' your place in the queue. The time that you scanned your ticket is the time that you 'started queueing' in the system.
If the timing on my Fastpass ticket writes 12.30pm - 1.20pm, I will enter the fastpass queue at 12.30pm and will move to through the fastpass queue and enter the ride before someone else who also reaches at 12.30pm! Fastpass tickets require all members of your party to scan their ticket's QR code and you cannot have more than 1 fastpass for every hour. Typically each fastpass is issued 2-3 hours ahead depending on the popularity of the ride.
Example: We fastpassed Tower of Terror in the morning at about 9.30am when we entered and got a 12.40pm - 1.40pm time slot. That's about 3-4 hours later, obviously a very popular ride.
Ride Strategy (Food included!)
- Fastpass Tower of Terror
Do this first! We still weren't fast enough to get one that would make it our third-immediate ride. We split up for this and sent two people armed with all of our e-tickets to the Tower of Terror area. We got in at about 9.30am and got a 12.40pm ride. It is literally a SEA of people (pun unintended) waiting to go everywhere at the start so don't be too alarmed if you feel overwhelmed. I felt very very small because the park was so big but don't let that dishearten you!
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| Here's what it looks like! Impossible to miss when you get into the park. |
- Ride Journey to the Centre of the Earth
While Group A heads for the Fastpass, Group B should go and queue for this ride! It is a fun indoor roller coaster, not scary at all, just fun!
If the queue duration exceeds 1 hour, it is not worth it.
- Ride 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
In the morning these two rides I've just mentioned should be pretty empty and chill, well-themed and just enough to get you excited for the day! In this ride, you go into an orb that takes you around an area, totally dry (no matter what it seems like). No thrills, alright.
If the queue duration exceeds 30 minutes, it is not worth it.
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| Sponsored by Coca-cola! |
- Big Band Beat Lottery
Located at the Bigletteria along American Waterfront. Insert your tickets and preferred time slot! Make sure to plan for it before or after your Fastpass slots, the show takes about 20 minutes. We took the 1.45pm slot and got all 7 tickets! For the best seats, do this earlier in the day. I can't guarantee you tickets but I have a teensy feeling that they prioritise tourists. Shouldn't be that tough to 'win' unless you're really unlucky.
- Crossroads: One more Fastpass/Break-time/Sightseeing
After all that walking, we took some time to rest, have a seat and eat some food, recharge for a bit and also sightseeing. In the afternoon there are shows that happen along the central river, so if you're interested take a look. However most of the best seats would have been taken by the locals who queue up in advance, it happens next to the Bigletteria, and it is very loud, so you can't miss it.
You can also squeeze in another Fastpass here, if you're waiting for a ride's time slot. We were waiting for our Tower of Terror fastpass time slot and we decided to split up again and meet outside the ride. A group would head to check if we could get another Fastpass slot since they wanted to check out the different popcorn flavours!
Intermission: Popcorn
Each of the different themed lands have different flavours of popcorn that explains why almost 90% of all the Japanese carry one popcorn bucket of their own and why each tourist could be tempted to get one of their own.
Aside from how cute each popcorn bucket is, each popcorn bucket costs about 1600JPY - 2100JPY with more elaborate designs costing more. Each refill with the popcorn bucket costs 520JPY compared to each new paper box which costs 310JPY. One big reason why someone who frequently enters the park would purchase the popcorn bucket is because these are pretty well-made, their lids snap close and can be brought into the park whenever you visit!
Different buckets can be found at different lands, carts and souvenir shops.
Different flavours of the popcorn include: Milk Tea (Cape Cod), Curry (Arabian Coast), Soy sauce and butter, Salted (Mermaid Lagoon/Triton's Kingdom), Caramel, White Chocolate, Strawberry (Port Discovery) and many more!
Just introducing this to you, but really, I didn't have the popcorn because my friends and I aren't crazy about ripoff popcorn. Besides, we had our food for the day in our backpacks already!
- Ride Tower of Terror
Time to put that mad dash into good use! For the record, we got ours for 12.40pm - 1.40pm, getting lost and all. So we headed in at 12.40pm (they only let people in at the timing stated!) on the dot, clocks are everywhere. Even though you can't really tell from my earlier picture, there are three towers and Fastpass has its own queue. So it is very quick! I reckon we went in at 12.40pm and came out at about 1.05pm latest.
We still had time to fool around in the gift shop and time to waste before our Big Bang Beat show. I really enjoyed this ride and I would consider it to be one of the best!
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| Rapunzel, my favourite! <3 |
- Watch Big Band Beat
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| Broadway Theatre, head in here for Big Band Beat |
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| Stage for Big Band Beat, told you I got pretty good seats! |
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| Royal and rich decoration in the hall |
It was a great performance, this is in English! So don't worry about it, I enjoyed it thoroughly, my eyes were shining throughout the performance. My friends were so exhausted some of them fell asleep though. *shrugs*
- Eat Alien Mochi!
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| Hands down must try! 360JPY |
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| I had it twice. :D |
The little cart is located right outside Toyville! It is also very near to Broadway Theatre where Big Band Beat is held. Facing Broadway Theatre, head right and then slight left at the turn, the cart should be in view.
Sticky green mochi skin with Chocolate, Vanilla or Strawberry Cream filling within, it's a real crowd pleaser so queues will form! But don't worry, they won't run out, always well stocked.
- Lunch Time -
My friends were running out of steam at this point so we settled down for lunch. We sat at the park benches and took some time after lunch to have a look at the different areas. We had Fastpasses at this point for Indiana Jones and Raging Spirits which were back to back at about 3.50pm - 5.30pm.
Note: We got the two sets of Fastpasses at about 12.30pm for Indiana Jones and 1.30pm for Raging Spirits, the Fastpass system does reject you if your timings are too close! So you will know if your timings clash or not. There are signs on what time the Fastpass timeslot you should get right above the machines!
- Explore Cape Cod, Arabian Coast and Mermaid Lagoon
They are pretty nearby and we realised that there aren't many rides that we were interested in since we already secured what we wanted to ride.
We went to the three areas to look out for food and for gifts for friends back home.
They are pretty nearby and we realised that there aren't many rides that we were interested in since we already secured what we wanted to ride.
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| Cape Cod |
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| Cape Cod |
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| Eukiwa Bun (I don't remember how much it cost, sorry), between Cape Cod and Port Discovery from the Seaside Shack |
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| Arabian Coast |
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| Arabian Coast |
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| Mermaid Lagoon, Triton's Kingdom |
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| Mermaid Lagoon |
- Eat at Arabian Coast!
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| Menu for Sultan's Oasis, Snack Shop of Agrabah |
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| L to R: Maple Cream Balls, Melon Shaved Ice |
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| Maple Cream Balls, 360 JPY |
I recommend all the food I put in the post!
Eukiwa Buns, Maple Cream Balls and also the Alien Mochi. Eukiwa Bun is a shrimp-filled bun, that kinda tastes like the big pau of Singapore.
Maple Cream Balls taste like Cream Puffs, but so much better - light maple flavoured cream encased in a cool but not soggy puff and chocolate sauce drizzled generously all around.
The Melon Shaved Ice was average, a cooling and sweet respite from the crazy summer heat. Not very cost effective, just ice and syrup, didn't last very long in the heat.
- Fastpass Stormrider
We initially thought we'd have enough time to queue for this, but it was kinda late after we had our mini break and ate our way back to Port Discovery. We eventually Fastpassed this because we were too tired to stand to queue and also we were lazy. Our Fastpass was for 6.00pm, making this our last ride of the day.
We initially thought we'd have enough time to queue for this, but it was kinda late after we had our mini break and ate our way back to Port Discovery. We eventually Fastpassed this because we were too tired to stand to queue and also we were lazy. Our Fastpass was for 6.00pm, making this our last ride of the day.
- Ride Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull
Our time for our Fastpass at 3.50pm came right up, in no time and we made our way back to the ride. Think of an indoor roller coaster like Revenge of the Mummy in USS! Exciting and fun, but not scary at all.
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| Even the decoration is so similar |
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| On a particular downhill, photoshot! |
- Ride Raging Spirits
Wooden roller coaster! Not frightening at all. Bags are not allowed (because there is one teeny tiny loop), Eddie felt sick and we left our bags with him.
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| The ride is right behind! And the entrance is to the right of this structure. |
By the end of Raging Spirits, even I was starting to get a little tired. We took a long stroll back to...
- Ride Stormrider
Somehow the Fastpass queue was crazy but we persevered, I enjoyed this ride greatly and I found it really underrated. It is like Shrek 4D only better, even though it was in Japanese, I understood most of it, the novelty factor made up a great deal for the wait time and number of people.
- Dinner Time -
We had dinner soon after the ride. There are many different options to choose from, ranging from food courts to table-service restaurants in Disneysea.
As expected of food in theme parks, it was much too expensive (out of our budget!) and below par in terms of taste, so we didn't waste much time and effort in choosing a place. We chose the one nearest to us which served Chinese food and went to Vulcania! Don't expect too much, to cut costs, we shared our meals with one another.
As expected of food in theme parks, it was much too expensive (out of our budget!) and below par in terms of taste, so we didn't waste much time and effort in choosing a place. We chose the one nearest to us which served Chinese food and went to Vulcania! Don't expect too much, to cut costs, we shared our meals with one another.
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| Food at Vulcania |
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| Food at Vulcania |
- Watch the Night Show
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| Nightscape of Tokyo Disneysea |
After dinner, there isn't much to do but to wait for the night event show to start! We watched Fantasmic from a vantage point along American Waterfront. We climbed up to the top but I can't tell you where exactly we were because it was dark and we walked pretty blindly. It was well-worth the 20 minutes or more we spent waiting for it to start and the next 20 minutes we spent watching it. That said, if you're really smashed, you might not
We left soon after! But not before doing some shopping out at the front shops which are the most well-stocked. It does get crowded but it's everyone's last chance to bring some of that magic home. I got my Rapunzel tumbler here! The rides are still operational at this point, so it's a good time to repeat/ride something you haven't. We were thoroughly drained and used our last bit of energy to head back to Shibuya.
And that concludes my day at Disneysea! If you're wondering, yes we had a second dinner at Uobei Sushi! Reviewed here! Comment if you have any questions and I'll answer them!
xx wj
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