Tokyo Disney Sea

On Saturday of our long weekend in Tokyo we took the monorail over to Disney Sea for the day. Surely, because it was a weekend, most people would choose to go to Disney Land, we foolishly thought. Remember that picture of Phil at Hong Kong Disney when you saw maybe two people in the whole picture? Behold the people waiting in line behind us (who were pretty far down the line to begin with) just waiting to get in...

Yeah...and the 10 or so lines on the other side of the entrance gate were just as crowded. I believe we heard that at some point during the day, they also closed Disney Land to any more people coming in because of their crowds. Good times.

I'm going to attempt to describe this park since it's so different to any of the parks back in the States. When you first walk in past the entrance gates, you come to this globe that has water streaming all around it that welcomes you...

Tokyo Disney Sea is layed out like a wheel. There's a big island in the middle of a waterway with bridges (like wheel spokes) that connect you to the different areas around the waterway. After walking under a bridge from the globe area, the whole park kind of opens up. One finds themselves in Mediterranean Harbor. Very pretty. Mostly shops, Italian restaurants, even Venice. We ate my birthday lunch at the Italian restaurant to the right of the picture where the row of pink and red flowers were. No gondola ride, though. Couldn't convince Phil of the fun that would be.

Here's a picture of the whole Mediterranean Harbor from a view across the waterway.

Moving right around the "wheel" you come to American Waterfront. Lots of shops and restaurants. We ate lunch at New York Deli (but the Reuben that Phil ate left a bit much to be desired after the sign in the window claimed "mile-high sandwiches". More like a centimeter-high sandwich.) Many of the streets were done to look like 1930's New York. Here's where Tower of Terror is. (why in the America Waterfront, I'm not really sure.) Huge lines for that ride. Sometimes more than 2 hours. Definitely a fast pass attraction. And you'd be surprised how much you understand (or at least pretend like you understand by nodding your head in a thoughtful manner) directions by hand signals when all of your instructions are in Japanese. Holding up two fingers to let the attendant know how many is in your party must be universal in all languages, however. There's also a huge ship in this section that has two restaurants in it. The Teddy Roosevelt and I can't remember the name of the other one. Take a look (with Tower of Terror in the background).

Walking across the bridge and around the bend you come across Cape Cod. Never having been there, not sure it looks authentic (Gregg, Ashley?) but it was very quaint. Old-fashioned general store, white clapboard town hall, tall sailing ships, etc.

After walking through Cape Cod, one now finds themselves in Port Discovery. Two major rides- Aquatopia and StormRider. The first one was a little vehicle in the water that spins you around and takes you on a curvy path through a grotto. It was ok. Nothing you'd wait in line for. Now StormRider had this huge line that snaked around the whole area. It was described as "a ride to the eye of the perfect storm". Sounded good, so after grabbing a fast pass we got in line. Uh...it was pretty much like the Star Wars ride at MGM. Nothing to wait in line for. But a line snaking around this area that did attract our attention was the line for...

popcorn! Yes, popcorn. There were stands all over the place with different flavors (such as cappuccino, strawberry, chocolate, coconut, and caramel) and at each one, the lines were unbelievable. Who knew? Tomorrow, the tour continues.