Tokyo Disneysea....where Mickey says Konichiwa!

"Welcome one and all to a world where imagination and adventure set sail. Tokyo DisneySea is dedicated to the spirit of exploration that lives in each of us. Here we chart a course for adventure, romance, discovery and fun, and journey to exotic and fanciful ports of call. May Tokyo DisneySea inspire the hearts and minds of all of us who share the water planet, Earth." As quoted.

Tokyo Disneysea deserves a post by itself. It is after all an oceanic theme park that is only exclusive to Japan. While I would have liked to do both Disneyland and Disneysea, due to time constraints, the sea seemed like a better call. Everything seems to revolve around this central landmark, in this case Mount Prometheus, an artificial volcano. Starting from the main entrance and going clockwise around Mount Prometheus, there are seven themes or supposedly termed "ports of call" to highlight the major areas. These are Meditterranean Harbor (a reproduction of Venice), American Waterfront (a reproduction of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States), Port Discovery (a science-themed area), Lost River Delta (a reproduction of a tropical rain forest and Indiana Jones!), Arabian Coast (based on Disney's Aladdin), Mermaid Lagoon (based on Disney's The Little Mermaid) and Mysterious Island (based on the books of Jules Verne).

Getting to Disneysea took a bit of time. Remembered it was kinda all the way to the end of the subway line and after that, we had to pay an additional 250 yen to take the Disney Resort line.

My expression as reflected in the train...

Anw, we had a nice welcoming committee at the plaza where a huge globe stood!

And a band too!

The first port of call that resembles Venice

One of the ride highlights is the Tower of Terror. While the rides here are definitely not as insane and dangerous compared to like erm...6 Flags, but they are certainly a bit more so than Disneyland. This is a 13 storey vertical drop-off

Behold!

Our photo...I think I looked kinda expressionless. Although it was indeed heart stopping, I thought the effect would be crazier if they had exposed us outdoors with legs dangling in the air!

Performance at the American Waterfront...Can you spot Mickey and Minnie? Ans: On the life-boat




Aquatopia set within Port Discovery, this strange ride where our craft seemed to move on tracks randomly in the water amidst the whirlpools...

...so we ended up shooting each other on film instead

And shoot we did, with other characters from Disney around the park

Port Discovery also had the Storm Rider ride that puts us in some simulated plane and flying through a storm. They even sprinkled us with water. Ok to say sprinkle is an understatement. But it was then that I realised how the Japanese love giving mission debriefs and explaining the sci-fi like those Power Ranger or Ultraman shows. Man....I swear we waited a good 15 min listening to the Captain's debrief in Japanese.

Next up was within Mount Prometheus with another ride called "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Ooooh scary.... :P

Mermaid Lagoon houses Triton's Kingdom which is this underground lair or sea cavern that is totally for fans of the Little Mermaid. Could sense the excitement in the girls as I think this is like their childhood princess. Anw thought this was one of the nicer set-ups in the park and the theater show put on was incredibly good. The props used and the stage set-up was unique. Ariel, the Little Mermaid, somehow turned out to be an ang moh girl on swings speaking in Jap., much to the disappointment of the girls. Well I certainly did not mind though..keke :p

Just ignore any of my fishy antics within the fish kingdom

The adjoining area was the Lost River Delta which was some exploring theme, more on Indiana Jones though. There housed one of the more interesting rides, the Raging Storm, that has a 360 degrees loop. Ok, it's a really minor one, but hey it's still thrilling! Psyche yourself up! This is DisneySea!

Again, do pardon my silliness





Next up, into the Arabian town for Aladdin!!

We were greeted by a Jap rock band though

Ah...that's Jasmine up there...so there's an ang moh Ariel, so where is thy Jasmine?

But first, these guys were the definite centre of attraction when they showed up!

The poor kid looked so lost! Genie is a hot favourite!


Well....but not as hot as this guy. I think all the girls went crazy over him...like totally crazy!


As the characters took their leave, they were incredibly funny by ducking around bushes and trailing after the bad guy, so much so that everybody chased after them shooting away their cameras like paparazzi!

So now that they are gone, where is Jasmine? Oh mans...major bummer. The girls had their share of eye-candy in Aladdin, but where's the babe? Guess I should go back take photo with the hedge shaped like her. :(

Misc stuff around the shops. The theme is Spring Carnival 2009! Loved the way the carts were decorated.

And the highlight of the day was definitely the parade put on in the evening. Mickey and Minnie arrived in a boat. Was amazed by the energy of the Japanese crowd as they danced, sang, swayed and jumped with the music. Check out the video. Jump jump jump jump! Lucky the guy in front of me did not jump too much or I would have filmed nothing! :p Snapped an uber finale shot with Mount Prometheus erupting right at the final segment!

The night was supposed to end off with fireworks by another performance. However we were treated to a weird segment of fire boats and odd fountains before they cancelled the show due to strong winds. Bummer! Indeed it was definitely very much chillier in Tokyo DisneySea. Was thinking perhaps we were situated close to the open sea.

Anw, apart from the slight disappointment of the fireworks, (oh and the missing Jasmine :p) Disneysea turned out to be memorable and fun! More updates coming up