Anna in 日本: Disney Sea

Yesterday I went to Disney Sea and it was ahhhmazzzinggggg. I'm a huge Disney person -- my family used to go every year -- and I was super excited to check out a new Disney park. That said, I probably should have prepared ahead of time a little better -- when confronted with the new and unfamiliar park map I felt pretty overwhelmed, but once I got my bearings I became the official tour guide. It was two of my friends' first Disney experience (ever!), so it was really fun to see their reactions at all of the wonders of Disney -- from the overall atmosphere of the park to the amazing detail in each ride or attraction. My friend and I got "Minnie ears" to wear around for the day -- they were really popular and almost every girl (and a bunch of the guys) were wearing some type of cute headpiece. Typical Japan!

I'm kind of a theme park junkie, so this post will probably come off as a review of Disney Sea. The day had several highlights. First, I introduced my friends to the joy of the "Single Riders" line -- in the US, everyone knows the system pretty well so the Single Riders line is often pretty long, but in Japan it was pretty infrequently used so in several rides we pretty much walked to the front of the line. (Then, they take one individual as a seat becomes available - for example if the ride had a row of four seats and there was a party of three, they would take a single rider to fill the row. Efficiency!)

Next, the rides were pretty fun but there weren't any awesome thrill rides (which I guess is true at Disney in Orlando as well -- most of the thrills are at Universal). My favorite ride was probably the Indiana Jones ride, where you're in a big car on a track and it takes you on a bumpy journey ending with you speeding to avoid the tumbling boulder. It was pretty entertaining, but all of the speaking was in Japanese so I didn't get the intricacies of the ride story line-- I didn't know that Indiana had been studying Japanese in his spare time! The ride was pretty similar to the mummy ride at Universal -- some of the scenes were oddly similar, like when you spin around in a room as bugs pour in from the walls. Not sure if a designer crossed over from one company to the other or what...

Also at Disney Sea is a "Tower of Terror" ride -- I was pretty excited to go on this because Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios in Orlando is one of my family's favorite rides. But, overall I was disappointed -- the story line for this one was a lot lamer and the drop wasn't as far, although I do think they take you up and down an extra time to make up for it. But, they did have a cool special effect where they show your car's reflection in a mirror, then take your shape and turn you into a ghost. It was pretty neat. This site talks more about the ride and has an awesome picture of the tower lit up at night -- so spooky!

The finale to our day was Disney Sea's Fantasmic show -- which was, for lack of a better word, absolutely fantasmic. I went to a Fantasmic show in Orlando a long time ago, but it's been a while. But, word on the street is that Fantastmic @ Disney Sea is one of Disney's best shows -- and it didn't disappoint. The harbor of the park was transformed into an epic battle field between Mickey and some well-known villains as Disney characters sailed around the edges in boats dancing and singing to the crowd. The centerpiece of the show was a giant LCD cone screen that Mickey or another character stood on top of while scenes from the movies played on the screen below. The show was incredible -- all of my most wonderful childhood movie moments were rolled into one 20-minute show as scenes from Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Cinderella, etc were played out on the big screen. Disney really knows how to rub it in.

I haven't walked leisurely around a Disney park in ages -- now when my family goes to Orlando we usually do (all five) Disney parks in one day, so we pick and choose our favorite rides before moving on tot he next park. But, yesterday at Disney Sea we had a lot of time to just stroll around and admire the scenery. The details that Disney puts in their rides, attractions, shops etc are amazing -- it really does feel like you're transported to another world. We had perfect weather yesterday and it wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. It was a perfect day! Now, I'm having a lazy day today before beginning my last week in Tokyo tomorrow. Can't believe it! See all you NC people soon!