Japan: Day 10a - DisneySea: Getting there and getting in

We went to DisneySea on Thursday. It was the first Disney thing any of us had been to, and we all really enjoyed it.

From Em's place we walked to her nearby station, Azabu-Dejan, taking the Oedo line, changing at Tsukishima to the Yurakucho Line. This took us to Shin-kiba, at the end of that line. From there, we switched to a non-subway train to get to Maihama, where we could then change to the Disney Resort line. Pretty straightforward really.

The line we'd been taking most of the time (from Hiro-o) is one of the oldest lines. Not only are there no escalators, let alone elevators, they are only a little way underground. The Oedo line is one of the newest ones, and is unmanned. It has full-height barriers similar to those we saw in Singapore, and is a built way deep. The Yurakucho line is someway between - it has half-height barriers, which are well-manned.

Tsukishima station, Yurakucho line

On the Mickey Mouse monorail. Note the eared handles and windows.

Em was really worried that the queues would be horrendous - she'd been there and had to queue an hour just to get tickets, which indicates how bad the queues for the key attractions inside would be. The car parks visible from the monorail suggested it might not be quite as bad as she feared, but she was still really concerned.

One of the DisneySea carparks. Clearly jam-packed.

Once we arrived, we could go to either the north or the south ticket gates. I don't think it would have made much difference. The queues there were pretty awful too.

Queuing area for the ticket gates. Also jam-packed.

Why, I think we had to wait two whole minutes to be served.

Em wouldn't let me stop to take pictures on the way, as we had to go queue for the main rides Right Now! The queues would be awful! You can take pictures later!! I still got a couple (good thing too, the weather packed in later for a while).

Passing from the DisneySea Plaza, through to the park, proper.

JD (at left), Lily (in purple), Em (black trench), Ky (blue hoodie), Jos (green hoodie, partly out of shot)

I think this was supposed to be a bit like the Ponte Vecchio

In fact, the queues for all but the one newest ride were never above 25 minutes all day, and were down to under five minutes towards the end of the day. We did four of the five big rides within the first hour or so, and the only reason it wasn't all of them was that the Indiana Jones one was closed during the morning (so we picked up Fast Pass tickets for that, valid for entry between 4pm and 5pm).

Map of DisneySea (pinched from here)

The entry area is at the bottom of this map, and after the entry forecourt, there's the "Mediterranean Harbour". Going clockwise from the there, the next area is "American Waterfront"; next and slightly in is "Port Discovery"; at the top is the "Lost River Delta" (Indiana Jones and the like); from 1pm to 3pm is "Arabian Coast". In the centre, with the volcano is "Mysterious Island", with "Mermaid Lagoon" facing the "Arabian Coast". Not only is the built environment themed, so to are the foods available at the eateries in the various sections, and the staff uniforms.

The key rides, according to Em, were:

• Journey to the Centre of the Earth (very steampunk), Mysterious Island
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (also very steampunk), Mysterious Island
• Tower of Terror, American Waterfront
• Raging Spirits (rollercoaster), Lost River Delta
• Indiana Jones Adventure, Lost River Delta

The most recently opened ride, Toy Story Mania, was where all the locals were heading, and the time for that was way out - 80 minutes with no Fast Pass available when we considered it at 7pm-ish.

80 minute wait. No thanks.

I tried taking photos of some of the rides, but either you needed to hold on, or the lighting was too low/moving too fast to take pics.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Look, your guess is as good as mine.

Possibly 20,000 Leagues, but who knows.