The Killer DisneySea Vacation

In the beginning of October, Aaron took me on a trip to Disney Sea in Tokyo.  Disney Sea is a park next to Tokyo Disneyland.  It's the only park that is unique only to Japan.  You can't find a Disney Sea in any other part of the world.  It's a park that instead of having different lands like "Fantasyland" or "Tomorrowland", it has different ports.  Some ports are modeled after real places, like Cape Cod, and some places are modeled after Disney movies, like Journey to the Center of the Earth or the Little Mermaid.  I had been there once before about 3 years ago.  It was a lot of fun, similar to Epcot in Orlando.  So I was really looking forward to this trip.

The Little Mermaid Castle

The day started out rough.  We were supposed to be at the bus parking lot at 5:45 am to make the long drive.  But after a long night, I didn't fall asleep until after 3am and woke up AT 5:45.  So Aaron and I ran as fast as we could, then Aaron forgot we were supposed to meet at the parking lot and not the school, so we ran some more.  Finally we made it to the bus, and we were cold, tired, annoyed.  Aaron didn't have time for a shower, we didn't have time to brush our teeth.  Plus, the bus was really noisy and the seats were made for children, so it was incredibly uncomfortable. I didn't get to sleep at all on the 4 hr bus ride to Tokyo.

Once we arrived at the Disneyland parking lot, we were still in really bad moods.  I was really irritated from lack of sleep.  We spent the first 15-20 minutes getting ready in the bathroom.  Brushing our teeth, changing into decent shoes/clothes, finding a locker to stuff our stuff in.  When we finally entered the park, it was around 11:00ish.  We had time to bypass the noon parade and we hopped onto the only ride I hadn't been on the last time -- Journey to the Center of the Earth.  Aaron said it was a roller coaster, so I was really uneasy about going on it.  We hadn't had any decent food to eat yet, I had no sleep, so I really wasn't feeling well enough for a roller coaster.  Plus, I hate roller coasters.  We waited about an hour to get on the thing.  Well, it was a roller coaster at all.  More like Splash Mountain in a volcano, except the big drop at the end wasn't that big and there were no mini drops before.  So kinda a disappointment.  At the same time I was happy it didn't last longer.  The drop at the end made me wanna cry like a baby.  Things were just not going how I wanted them to.

Journey to the Center of the Earth volcano.  Directly underneath is a submarine ride.

Afterwards, we were starving.  While in line for the ride, there were some girls in front of us eating something really nasty smelling.  We decided to get out of that volcano section and head for something more American-friendly.  We walked over to the Cape Cod and New York sections of the park.  There we ate at an American Cook-Off.  Aaron was in the mood for a good cheeseburger and fries.  Unfortunately, it wasn't good.  McDonald's had better burgers than that.  We paid like $8 for it, when it wasn't worth the dollar menu.

After our less than satisfying lunch, we decided to walk around and look at stuff.  We went through the New York section, noticed a new Toy Story section (which has nothing to do with water or ports at all), through the Mediterranean section (my favorite) and through Agrabah.  We rode a few rides (ones with short lines) like the StormRider (a StarTours-like ride with sprinklers that get you wet) and stood in line for over 2 hours waiting for the new Toy Story ride.  It was definitely the best ride in the park.  And it lasted longer than I expected.  But was it worth 2.5 hrs?  Maybe 1.

 

After that really long wait, we rushed to get on the gondola -- the one thing I really wanted to do the most!  We thought it would be a rather unpopular ride since it's slow.  But it was surprisingly crowded.  We were on the very last gondola before the ride closed down for the night.  The wait was actually quite nice, as the Venice replica was lit up with golden lights.  It looked really cool.

 

After a nice, relaxing ride, we rushed back over to Agrabah.  The dining room of that place was so much nicer than the American Cook-Off.  And the food was sooo much better too.  We had Indian curry and naan.  Rather pricey, but definitely better than bad McDonald's rip-off.

 

Finally, we headed back to the Mediterranean port to watch the night show.  It was very Japanese.  Overly dramatic, funny Japanese voice-overs, lots of cheesiness.  It lasted long enough, and then it was a mad rush to the souvenir shops.  Everyone was rushing to get omiyage.  It took us much longer than we anticipated.  We had to find the right amount for a good price.  I also wanted to find a postcard and stamp to add to my collection.  That was the most frustrating thing of all to find.  Also, asking for directions didn't help either.

At last, we headed back to the bus, then the hotel, and straight to bed.  The following morning, Aaron and I had to run some errands at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.  Finding the place was an adventure.  We got lost several times, and did a lot of walking.  Aaron did some circles in order to complete some paperwork. Finally, we left for Tokyo Station, ate some cheap sushi, and took a shinkansen home.  The shinkansen was a rip-off.  It definitely would've been way cheaper to take a bus.  But we were both so exhausted, we wanted to get home as soon as possible.