Bryan and I are pretty big Disney fans and have traveled numerous times to Disneyland Los Angeles (where Bryan grew up), Disney World in Florida, and Disneyland Hong Kong. However, in all our years traveling to Japan, we never went to any of the Disney parks. We had heard that Disney Sea Tokyo was special, more oriented towards adults, and unique since there is only one in the world.
So during our 4-day trip to Tokyo last spring, we finally decided we would do it. We would devote one entire day to visiting Disney Sea.
American Waterfront 
Mediterranean Harbor 
Mermaid Lagoon 
Arabian Delta
We loved it!
The park is extremely well designed, with different thematic ports that feel like Venice, Cape Cod, Arabia, and more. The rides are great, and the restaurants are quite good.
Because the park is aimed more toward adults, there are more sit-down restaurants, and several of them serve alcohol.
We had a lovely Italian meal at Ristorante di Canaletto right on the Mediterranean Harbor, where we enjoyed squid ink seafood tagliolini pasta and a pizza. We hadn’t made a reservation, so we had to line up for about 25 minutes in order to secure a table.
The Asian-esque Disney-themed snacks were also fun, such as mochi custard-filled Toy Story aliens and Mickey steamed bun sandwiches!
I even enjoyed exploring the America Waterfront, spending extra time at “Cape Cod”, which was done really nicely. Almost felt like I was back in Boston for a moment . . .
I was so touched by the staff’s amazing service. The wind blew my Mickey headband into the water. I had pretty much assumed that I couldn’t recover it. However, I tried asking, and the next thing you know, one person ran to grab a special stick while another went to get towels. Within a few minutes, they retrieved my hat, dried it, and returned it to me.
There was a special (and very cute!) Easter parade in the water.
Duffy and Shellie May are popular Disney characters that you mostly only see in Japan.
Sichuan Mala Popcorn!
My favorite ride was Journey to the Center of the Earth, a thrilling car ride that sort of reminds me of Radiator Springs Racers in Disneyland (my favorite ride in Disneyland!). I think we rode it at least twice.
We stayed for the whole day and into the evening as well. All in all, we loved it. It’s great for kids but also really great for adults.
Tickets are 7500 yen each and the park opens at 8AM and closes at 10PM most days. It’s worth buying your tickets beforehand to avoid having to stand in two lines at the entrance.
The FastPass system is similar to the traditional older-style ones in Disneyland (not the fancier digital ones in Disney World that you can also pre-book). Grab a ticket, get on a ride, and then use your Fast Pass. Once you use it, go and grab another one. It worked really well for us!
Enjoy!
Tempura Fukamachi
Easter in Japan – Trip Report
Tiny Urban Kitchen Japan Guide
Tiny Urban Kitchen Tokyo Restaurants
Tiny Urban Kitchen Osaka Restaurants
[…] I’ll be publishing a separate post sharing some more details about our visit. [update: click here to see the Disney Sea post] […]