We did not have plans to go to Tokyo DisneySea on our recent trip to Japan, but the kids wanted to go, so I happily obliged, warning them we may not get onto many of the popular rides because we weren't about to wake up early and wait in line 3 hours before opening, as all the ride passes may be scooped up by the time we get in.
Which is what happened the last time. We went to DisneySea 8 years ago and the lines were insane back then too, and we didn't get to ride many rides since most of the FastPasses were gone before we arrived (this was when they still had paper FastPasses).
On this visit, we got to DisneySea at around 9am, and the lines were still incredibly insane.
We unfortunately got stuck in a slow moving security line, as we saw many lines move faster than the one we were standing in, so our wait time was nearly an hour.
Once inside, I got Disney Premier Access (DPA) passes for Rapunzel's Lantern Festival via the Tokyo Disney Resort app, since I thought they would have a good chance of running out quickly, and the standby line was already over 120 minutes long. DPAs are available for a fee, so it does add up, but to me it's worth it not having to stand in a 2+ hour line
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| The line for Rapunzel |
I honestly did not think the ride was much to fuss over, but the scene with all the lanterns was pretty.
Throughout the day we were able to get DPAs for Journey to the Center of the Earth, Toy Story Mania!, Soaring: Fantastic Flight, and Peter Pan's Never Land Adventure. DPAs for Anna and Elsa's Frozen Journey were all gone by midday, but read on to see how we managed to snag Frozen DPAs before we left DisneySea.
With the 40th Anniversary Priority Pass Experiences (free), we were able to ride Nemo & Friends SeaRider and Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull.
We also rode a few rides that had very minimal standby lines, such as Aquatopia, DisneySea Electric Railway, Big City Vehicles, Jasmine's Flying Carpet, Sinbad's Storybook Voyage, and Scuttles Scooters.
I didn't feel like we ate anything really noteworthy. If I had to choose a favorite thing, it would be the Garlic-Scallop & Butter Popcorn - one of the items being offered throughout the park for the Food & Wine Festival.
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| Tiramisu Ice Cream Sandwich |
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| Minnie Peach & Raspberry Ice Bar |
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| Creme Brulee Churro |
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Demi-Glace Churro Potato
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| Sweet-Soy Sugar Churro |
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| Chai-Spiced Sugar Churro |
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Garlic-Scallop & Butter Popcorn
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We ate at a few sit-down restaurants:
Horizon Bay:
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Chaliapin Meat Patty with Demi-Glace Sauce |
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Cheese Mont Blanc
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| Grilled Beef Steak with Shoyu-Grated Daikon Sauce |
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| Baked Spicy Chicken |
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| Canapes (Smoked Chicken Mousse, Cheese |
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Vichyssoise and Tomato Consomme Jelly
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| Special visitor while eating! |
New York Deli:
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| Duffy Cookie Sandwich |
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| Grilled Reuben |
Dockside Diner:
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| Cheeseburger with Sausage |
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| Fried Rice Chicken Bowl |
While eating dinner at Dockside Diner, right before leaving the park, I refreshed the app and saw DPAs for Anna's and Elsa's Frozen Journey became available! So I immediately snatched them.
There was a night time show - Believe Sea of Dreams, that was a combination light / fireworks / projection show. We caught only some of it since we were just getting off Anna and Elsa's Frozen Journey when the show started, but what we were able to see was really cool!
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| Believe Sea of Dreams |
It was rainy pretty much all day, as well as quite humid, but I was happy that we got to ride a bunch of rides we didn't get to the last time we visited, even if it cost us a lot to ride them.
So - if you plan to go - be patient, be prepared for lines, and keep refreshing the app!
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