A visit to Tokyo DisneySea

This is what happens when I get lazy – I start telling myself that I will try to post every other day only to talk back, to myself again mind you, and convince myself that there is no urgency, culminating in this blog being in a limbo for at least a week. Well, this limbo is coming to an end right now with a few words about Disney – let’s hope I can post the next one in a few days…

DisneySea feels almost like the perfect complement to Tokyo Disneyland, which is right next door and distinctly lacks water which, DisneySea, as one can guess from its name, provides in copious amounts.  There is an interesting difference in focus on which Disney characters are most prominent as well. Unlike Disneyland Mickey and his lovely girlfriend do not show up much, replaced by characters which do not show up much in Tokyo Disneyland like Aladdin, Jasmine and Ariel (The Little Mermaid). In fact, the title of “host” should go to “Chip and Dale”, the rescue squirrels who keep going around and shouting with their extremely high pitched voices. I mean, Mickey has a high pitched voice but compared to “Chip and Dale”, he is like Dave Barry. This little metal statue of Mickey does grace the entrance to DisneySea however, hiding the untold horrors of “Chip and Dale” lurking inside the park…

 The theme park is divided into different zones which should not come as a surprise to any Disney veteran. What makes this different than Disneyland is that every one of these zones is based on a “water related” theme – there is a Mediterranean Harbor, Arabian Coast, a small US beach town of old right next to a small New York City from the 1930s complete with a real (or at least real looking) cruise ship and other areas like these. The rides themselves are generally geared towards an older crowd compared to Disneyland save for most of the rides in the Little Mermaid’s Cove which target really young kids, complete with a soft floor in case the children fall.

The highlight of any visit to DisneySea in the summer though, has to be the show at the end of the day in the harbor – a love story between the “God of Fire”, a dragon, and “Goddess of Water”. Unlike Disneyland, there are no Disney characters in the show save for Mickey who shows up for about a minute in the beginning just to introduce the story. The way the dragon rises from under the water and lights up the harbor is a sight to behold and my picture does not do it any justice at all. Of course the “Goddess” is equally impressive and they, coupled with the light effects, make for a very powerful and visually engrossing story.

You can get the tickets online here or just visit your local FamilyMart (in Japan) – they carry the tickets too.

Cirque Du Soleil in Tokyo - ZED/ゼッド

Zed Preview from YouTube

That's nice no? :) That should give you some idea about the new Cirque Du Soleil show in Tokyo called Zed. After their 15 years in Japan, the Cirque now has a permanent building right by Tokyo Disneyland/Disneysea and they kicked off the celebrations with a brand new show. The show itself is pretty good, the opening is amazing (so I won't spoil it for you with details) but if you happen to be in the area you should definitely check it out. Be warned though, it is quite a bit of walk from the train station (it uses the same train station as Disneyland). You need to walk through Ikspiari which is a huge mall type of thing. With so much association with Disney, you know that Disney will somehow show up in the show and it does in a nice little cameo type of thing which I won't spoil for you but don't expect Mickey to do walk tightrope or anything like that :P

The building itself is designed pretty well and stands out from the other buildings  around it. The ticket prices are usual for a Cirque show (about 90 bucks/10,000 Yen) and they even serve Champagne... Fancy...

Tokyo Disneyland (ディス二ーランド)

After spending almost a year in Tokyo I finally managed to make my way down to Tokyo Disneyland in my first visit to any Disneyland during my 28 years on this planet and I must say it was a lot of fun (even though it was a bit cloudy)! Before going a bit deeper a quick tidbit of information about Tokyo Disneyland - it may be called "Tokyo Disneyland" but it is actually not in Tokyo. In fact, it is slightly less than an hour away from central Tokyo by train or car (well, the second obviously depends on the traffic situation). It is located in Chiba Prefecture but I suppose "Chiba Disneyland" would not be a catchy name...

  Now the rides are obviously great but I think they are pretty much the same in all Disneylands. The big ones that seem insanely popular are Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain (both roller-coasters and both pretty famous I believe), Haunted Mansion (similar to a haunted house but much MUCH tamer) and "Pooh's Honey Search/Hunt" which actually seemed to have the longest lines... Apparently Winnie the Pooh (or  Pooh-san as he is known around here) is pretty popular especially with the girls/women. Now there was one twist added however - some rides had their "Halloween Versions"  and there were so many visitors who had full costumes on (something that apparently is not normally allowed). Because of that I managed to see two "Captain Jack Sparrow"s within 5 minutes of each other - one talking in English and acting and looking like the character from Pirates of the Caribbean and the other one looking so very Japanese save for the complete make-up and outfit.

I must say however though the highlight for me was the parades... The music, the attention to detail, the dancers (who made me realize it's very interesting to see an "Asian Middle-Eastern Belly-dancer" :P) it was all great.  There were two kinds of parades each of which is repeated twice throughout the day as well as a night "Electrical Parade". People start lining up hours before them but with a little planning you can get a good seat even 5 minutes before the start of the parade ;) Well, here is a couple snapshots of the different parades for you. There is another Disney Resort right next to this one called "Disney Sea" which I hope to visit soon though how soon I am not sure yet...