The sister and I decided to head early to Tokyo DisneySea in order to make it for the Happy 15 early park entry (i.e. 15 minutes before the park opens). Tokyo DisneySea opened at 8am that day so we had to be on the Disney Resort Cruiser by 7.15am latest!
As the kids won't be able to wake up in time, the mum and hubby will join us with the kids later. It was such a waste of our Happy 15 passes but it was the best arrangement for us.
The sister and I dashed for the only FASTPASS available 15 minutes before the park opened: Toy Story Mania at the AMERICAN WATERFRONT.
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| Tons of people queuing up for the FASTPASS (you'd need to scan your tickets to get the FASTPASS) |
After securing our first FASTPASS, we thought we could dash for other FASTPASS not realising that you could only get one FASTPASS per ticket per hour.
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| No one on the streets when we got in 15 minutes before the park opened! Was an awesome feeling! =) |
However, since we were early, most of the rides in PORT DISCOVERY and LOST RIVER DELTA (the furthest away from the entrance) had very short queues so we just took the rides without needing the FASTPASS.
Our first ride was the famous Indiana Jones Adventure. Love it very much! Couldn't get the theme song out of head for the rest of the day! *laughs*
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| Indiana Jones Adventure |
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| Managed to secretly take a shot of the vehicle that we'll be riding |
Next, we sat on the StormRider, a 4D ride that exceeded our expectations!
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| Storm Raider |
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| Introduction before the ride |
We decided to ride Toy Story Mania! before we met the family because we wanted to free up our FASTPASS for our next ride together. We were looking forward to the ride because we heard so many good reviews on it.
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| Toy Story Mania! |
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| Left: Skipped the long 65 minute queue and reached the front in 1 minute; Right: Picked up our purple 3D glasses |
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| The vehicle that we rode on |
To be absolutely honest, I thought the ride was a bit overrated. After a while, I couldn't feel my fingers as we were pressing the trigger like crazy. It was fun but probably not worth queuing (worth getting the FASTPASS for this)!
After the ride, we ran quickly to the entrance to meet with the rest of the family. As there was going to be a show in the MEDITERRANEAN HARBOUR, we hung around while the sister went to get more FASTPASS for the whole family.
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| Sister showing off her loot |
And just in time too because the A Perfect Christmas show had begun!
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| Mickey and friends dancing on the main stage |
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| Clockwise from left: Daddy had to carry Baby Boy on his shoulders so that he could see; With the huge volcano in the background; If you look carefully, you'll see Ariel and Jasmine on the boats. |
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| Can you see Ariel and Eric? =) |
I finally understood why the rooms of the Tokyo DisneySea Hotel Miracosta was almost always fully booked! It's the only hotel located within the park itself, which meant that you could even watch the show from the comforts of your room if you were lucky enough to get a room that faced the park!
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| The building is not for show, it is the hotel itself! Very smart design isn't it? |
After the show, we headed for our FASTPASS attraction: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea located at MYSTERIOUS ISLAND.
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| On the way to the ride, we stopped for my girl to take pictures with the castle in the background. It's not Cinderella's castle but it will do. |
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| At the empty FASTPASS pathway down to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
This attraction was pretty dark so you'd have to hold on to younger kids in case they freaked out. My boy was fine as long as I squeezed him tightly. Otherwise, we all had fun! Quite a unique experience you can't get anywhere else except Tokyo DisneySea! =)
Next, we visit Ariel at MERMAID LAGOON!
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| Our favourite land in DisneySea. So pretty and magical! =) |
There's a pathway that leads down to Triton's Kingdom, an indoor facility that would shelter you from both the sun and the rain!
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| Triton's Kingdom |
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| So beautiful right? Felt like we were really under the sea! |
There was a long queue at the Mermaid Lagoon Theatre (and we couldn't get the FASTPASS because we already got FASTPASS for another attraction) so we headed for the Blowfish Balloon Race ride instead. We liked kiddy rides because they have a shorter queue and all the members of the family can ride together.
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| Blowfish Balloon Race |
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| Baby Boy was a bit apprehensive but as usual I forced him *laughs* He was ok once we were in the air and there was really nothing to be afraid of. |
We didn't go on the rest of the rides as we needed to return to Disney Ambassador Hotel to check out. Along the way we met Chip and Dale and Panchito Pistoles (had to Google his name 😂).
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| Chip (or Dale) (left) and Panchito Pistoles (right) |
During check out, we dropped off our luggage at the Guests Service Counter so that they can send them to Tokyo Disneyland Hotel (this was a complimentary service).
We walked to neighbouring Ikspiari in search of a good restaurant for lunch. The hubby was still bitter that we hadn't had a good meal ever since we arrived at Disneyland... I mean, who has time for real food when you're busy eating Disney fairy dust?! *laughs*
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| Theatre Front, a whole floor decorated to look like old school American theatres, is located within Ikspiari |
We finally stumbled onto Wazen Satoinoko and the Hubby had a good feeling about it so in we went.
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| Wazen Satoinoko, located on Level 3 of Ikspiari |
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| Since we hadn't had a proper meal in days, everyone ordered a set, including the girl. She shared it with Baby Boy and you can see by the way that they were slurping that it was good. So good! =) |
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| What the hubby and I ordered (I think I ate like 5 years worth of rice in Japan! The rice here is so good!) |
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| My sister's set. Yummy! |
Honestly, I would much rather be running/queuing for one of the rides at Tokyo DisneySea than waste time sitting down for a proper meal. However, it was important to keep the family happy so I relented. Besides, the food was really good! 😄
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| It was Christmas eve! Almost forgot! =) |
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| Baby Boy can finally fit into the Queen's Guard outfit we got him from London! I suppose he can still pass as the prince if you don't look closely *laughs* |
I herded the family back to DisneySea so that we can get on with the programme! After all, there're so much more of Tokyo DisneySea that we have not explored!
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| Back at Tokyo DisneySea! Kids and I look very elated! =) |
We headed straight to ARABIAN COAST, modeled after Agrabah in Aladdin.
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| Arabian architecture |
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| One of the nicest family photo of us at an "Arabian shop" |
Our first ride was the Caravan Carousel, a two-storey carousel! That's a first for us! It had the shortest wait times I've ever seen because many people can get on at the same time (I mean, I had ever queued for 45 minutes for the carousel in USS)!
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| Caravan Carousel |
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| Of course we chose the upstairs carousel even though it had a longer queue. Girl was quick to find a genie to ride on! |
Next we rode on Jasmine's Flying Carpet, which was exactly like Disneyland's Dumbo.
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| Jasmine's Flying Carpet |
The sister got a FASTPASS for Journey to the Centre of the Earth, the roller coaster ride located in the heart of the volcano, for herself (she was the only one who wanted to ride it) while also getting FASTPASS for Magic Lamp Theatre for us.
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| Holding area for Magic Lamp Theatre, where a snake told us a tale of long, long ago.. |
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| Baby Boy and daddy wearing their 3D glasses |
The show was quite entertaining, though we missed the Mermaid Lagoon Theatre because of this (we didn't have time to watch both).
My girl really wanted to meet Ariel at Ariel's Greeting Grotto but the wait time was consistently 60 minutes no matter how many times we checked it! Ordinarily my mum and hubby would say no; however for my girl's sake, my mum decided to wait at Triton's Kingdom with Baby Boy (who was asleep, thankfully!) so that the rest of us could queue! 😆
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| Left: So excited that we were queuing to meet Ariel!; Right: It said 60 minutes but I think we waited for 75 minutes! |
The wait time was so long that the sun actually went down and we had not met Ariel yet! The sister also managed to join us after her ride, which in her opinion was not thrilling at all (rides at Universal or Everland are better for the adrenaline junkies).
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| We literally waited from day to night.. |
The girl was surprisingly patient and never complained about the long wait. She kept singing and entertaining herself while waiting. It was really amazing how patient she was when waiting for something she really wanted!
After what seemed like forever, we finally reached the end of the queue and the girl got to meet Ariel! She was so star-struck that she had no words when Ariel asked her if she had seen her performance that morning.
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| Left: The photo we queued over an hour for (the hubby and sister thought it wasn't worth it but seeing the look on my girl's face, I thought it was well worth it!); Right: Girl got a big hug from Ariel (look at her face, she couldn't believe it!). |
Personally, I enjoyed the encounter and was happy that Ariel took the time to ask my girl for her name, chatted with and hugged her! The hubby thought she should just take the photo quickly so that the queue would move faster. He was also disappointed that she wasn't wearing seashells, which I thought was ridiculous seeing as it was Christmas and freezing cold. What's wrong with what she was wearing?!
In any case, all that mattered was that my girl was happy! She looked like she was still in a dream! 🤭 My only gripe was that the lighting was so bad that we couldn't get a nice photo! 😞
By the time we returned to Triton's Kingdom, it looked very different than it did in the day. A lot more magical!
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| Triton's Kingdom at night! Sooo nice! |
It was time for us to check in at Tokyo Disneyland Hotel and grab dinner so we made our way to the entrance (yet again). Along the way, we stumbled upon the Fantasmic! performance at the MEDITERRANEAN HARBOR.
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| A wonderful light and special effects show on the water! |
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| Pretty special effects light the night sky (we had to carry the girl so that she could see what was happening) |
The show was really fantastic! Definitely worth catching! 😊
Continue to >> Tokyo Day 6 (Part 2): Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, Beauty & the Beast Room
<< Back to Tokyo Day 5 (Part 2): Disney Ambassador Hotel
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