FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Tokyo DisneySea

The beautifully themed and detailed Tokyo DisneySea. This is the Venice area. Surprise!

We awoke to grey skies and rain. Although not unexpected as the forecast was for "rain which stop periodically", we were still hoping for a downgrade along the lines of "cloudy with occasionally rain". But it was not to be, so on went the rain jackets and pants (which we almost didn't bring!). The park to tackle today was Tokyo DisneySea.

We woke up to this

For anyone contemplating the theme park view at the Hilton Tokyo Bay. This is your view...you can just see the castle WAY in the distance

Breakfast buffet. Lovely big room

Umm...buffet started at 0630. We were there at 0631 how could the line have blown out already?!?

The Japanese breakfast offerings were very extensive

Kids options were decent too

Free strawberry yoghurt drink as Diamond members. Not sure I would recommend it...

For those following along for park tips, let's the get the logistics out of the way first. Hilton Tokyo Bay is a convenient 5 min walk to Bayside Monorail Station. From there, the monorails were frequent and the ride to Tokyo DisneySea station was short. It took us less than 15 minutes from leaving the hotel to staking out spot in the queue. If you have a suica or icoca card you can use those to buy tickets, otherwise you will need cash to buy tickets. The official park opening time today was 0900 am, however by 0722, there was already a line for entry. The gates for security opened at around 0815 and as noted by various online blogs, the park actually opened by 0830. Yes, half an hour earlier than advertised! So be sure to allow yourself enough time. The guests were 80-90% adults and they were all fit and walked fast, even the grandmas! Usually at American Disney parks, we make a lot of ground post gate entry simply by walking fast and having better stamina, but not so here. If you want to get on those popular rides without a line, getting a good spot in the queue is key. As an example, by the time we got in, the line for Soarin' was already crazy. The other super popular ride is Toy Story Mania. If you've done them at the US parks, and don't do them here, you'll save yourself a lot of time and the ride strategy becomes much more manageable. Having the 40th anniversary priority access also helped. In short, it is akin to the fastpass system of old. It is activated on the app as soon as you enter, and is fairly intuitive to use.

Raingear on, coffee in hand, how bad can a little bit of rain be?

This was how far back you are if you arrive at 0722

One of our most useful purchases on Amazon, drybag backpack!

0830 we're in! No way we're overtaking them any time soon without having to run!

After passing the horrendous line for Soarin', we made it to Journey to the Centre of the Earth which was a walk on.

Our day was rather low key. We had no real agenda other than to eat at Magellan's and Teddy Roosevelt Lounge. We roamed the shops early to avoid the late shopping crush, and stuck to rides unique to Tokyo Disney. Unfortunately, we had to ditch our plans of just photographing the beautifully themed park as it was so wet. Half the time, my fingerprint didn't even register on my phone. We had to succumb to buying a towel to dry our phone, clean the camera and dry our fingers! The rain also cancelled many of the shows. Photos below are just of random thoughts and moments in our day...

Oh and for those interested in popcorn flavours, today we saw salt, caramel, curry, black pepper, and matcha white chocolate. As for food prices, Sydney folks rejoice. It is much like eating at home. Tax and tip all included in the advertised price too. Merchandise was reasonably priced too. Thank you yen for being weak against the Aussie dollar.

Mickey Bun. Magellan's fine dining at an affordable price! 110,000 yen for a set menu. This was the Halloween Special. There were other sets for 80,000 yen and 60,000 yen

Fish with truffle

Roast beef

Apple dessert

Thank goodness for castmembers being able to take nice photos of us! At the entrance to Magellan's

I mean...who doesn't need a Gelatoni cup sleeve?!? It is a 40th anniversary special edition souvenir.

Doing things in the rain did get a bit tiring after a while

Nice way to finish the day at the Teddy Roosevelt lounge. We score a lovely booth

Appetiser Plate

There was only one main on the menu and this was it! Can't remember what it was called sorry...but it had fried chicken and that was all I needed to know