TOKYO DisneySeA TDS’s layout is a bit of labyrinth particularly around Mysterious Island with TOKYO DisneySeA its high “rock” walls & caverns. It was a while before I discovered the “Navigation Guide” map in the back of the guidebook that help me negotiate and some of the new attractions at TOKYO Disneyland Mysterious Island. Like many fans of Disney theme parks, the images of Tokyo DisneySea Inside the rock walls of Mysterious Island you can see a Jules Verne in- (TDS) which opened in 2001 had me wishing to see it some day. In Decem- spired Victorian port for the Nautilus. Looking around the port you see ber I got a chance to visit TDS in the middle of a business trip to Japan. I had cranes loading a mini-sub like the ones you go on in the 20,000 Leagues been to Tokyo Disneyland (TDL) about 8 years before so I was much more Under the Sea & another set of cranes being used to load a huge Journey to curious about TDS than TDL as a whole, but I did want to see how Winnie the Center of the Earth (JTTCOTE) drilling machine into a hole in the the Pooh’s Hunny Hut & Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters compared to their mountainside (you can see the drilling end of this machine from inside the US counterparts. caverns. Regularly you see JTTCOTE vehicles do their drop & then pass by on a bridge. Every few Christmas with its decorations & gift giving has become a big in Japan. In minutes a Tramp the “good old days,” early December would normally be good time to time to Steamer passes through visit a Disney park due to light attendance, but like the Disneyland & WDW, the port. Tokyo Disneyland Resort does special shows & attraction overlays that draw huge crowds, particularly on weekends (when I had the most time to visit). Journey to the Center Can you imagine over a half hour line just for popcorn? of the Earth is perhaps DisneySeA After arriving at Mai- hama JR Rail Station, you take the TDL Monorail to TDS, about a $2 ticket each way While you can easily walk to TDL the signature attraction of the train Station, TDS TDS & is located inside would be a bit more Mysterious Isl& in a cav- of a hike by foot. ern under the volcano. The TDL Monorail is JTTOTE has an interesting quite a bit different queue with “artifacts” that from the ones in the leads you to a series of U.S. The cars are large elevators. The eleva- much bigger & they tors set the mood as they take you presumably hun- are open from car to Fortress Explorations with Mysterious Island in the Background car unlike the Disney- dreds of feet underground land & WDW monorails. with some well done visual, motion, & audio effects. You The entrance to TDS is though an archway next to the Hotel Mira Costa (the then get on the 6 passenger hotel also has its own entrance to the park). All the major attractions are on vehicles with a “slot car” the far side of the Mediterranean Harbor & that almost all roads lead to system first seen at Epcot’s Mysterious Island (with the Mount Prometheus Volcano). Test Track. Its begins with a slow & winding ride past some The Mediterranean Harbor surrounds a lake that is used for water shows glowing crystals & small including a day time Water Carnival with Disney Characters & the night animals that are not particu- time fire & fireworks BraviSEAmo! I didn't find BraviSEAmo particularly larly amazing. But then there impressive at TDS. Maybe I am spoiled by having seen Fantasmic & Illumi- are some flashes of fire & you nations. The Mediterranean harbor area consists mostly of shops & themed turn a corner to see a large streets. Located on one of the “side streets” is a canal with Venetian Gondo- animatronic rock/lava monster las. Across the lake is Fortress Explorations which you can climb around roaring at you & your vehicle for some great views. From the harbor you can catch a Tramp Steamer for rapidly accelerates up a hill & the Lost Delta. then down a big drop followed One thing I found a little surprising is that often what appears to be 3- by winding path in & out of dimensional stones, bricks, & other features on the side of the buildings that I the mountain as you decelerate expected to be sculptured concrete were often just flat surfaces painted to to the finish. While a major look three dimensional. The effect works well until you get up close. (Continued on page 6) 5 TOKYO DisneySeA (Continued from page 5) to be called Raising Spirits. I would expect/hope that this one will better attraction that is a bit differ- than the Temple de Peril coaster at Disneyland Paris which looks nice from ent, it was not to me in the the outside, but it was a pretty mediocre coaster. same class as Indiana Jones or Splash Mountain. I found Port Discovery is host to Storm Rider & Aquatopia. Storm Rider is a movie the dark ride beginning kind simulator attraction similar to Star Tours with some added effects of weak & while the fire (explosions, strobes, falling pipes). While I don’t understand a word of blast & AA lava monster Japanese, I got the point that it had the much overused theme of an incompe- were interesting, you don't tent pilot with everything going wrong until we narrowly escape. I’m not have long to "enjoy" them. It generally a big fan of movie simulators & Storm Rider did little to improve was as if Splash Mountain my opinion of this type of attraction. just had the drop & one Aquatopia is a seemingly animatronic figure. random spin on a wheel The other big attraction vehicle in a shallow pool of Loading a 20K League Mini-Sub built into the cavernous water. It lacks interactivity Mysterious Island is 20,000 but does provide some kinet- Leagues Under the Sea. Unlike the old attraction at WDW & Disneyland, ics to the area like the Subs this one done with a “dry for wet” systems where the only water is in the used to provide in DL & double pane windows of the vehicle. The dry for wet sounded like a good WDW. The Aquatopia vehi- idea but it was too dark to see much (I suspect this was do to keep the "dry cles are built on the same for wet" effect). The Nautilus you see in the harbor is just for show. The free roaming computer con- vehicle you get in is a “mini-sub” that runs on a suspended conveyor systems trolled ride platform as the similar to the "Peter Pan" attraction. While I like the "dry for wet" idea & the extremely popular TDL attraction can be enjoyed by the whole family, the visuals in the attraction Pooh’s Hunny Hut (PHH). were not that spectacular & so I can see why it considered by many to be a But were PHH vehicles take second tier attraction. you around to see things, Aquatopia vehicle just seem Port Discovery While in Mysterious Island, I had to stop to to be pointless. get a “world famous” Gyzoa Sausage Bun. I had read about people waiting for hours The Electric Railway for these the first year that TDS opened, but (elevated trains) goes early in the day they were only a 15 minute between Port Discovery & wait. They were good & a bit different with the America Waterfront a doughy bread around a sausage. It turns (New York). I ended up out it was a good thing I got one because I really enjoying this simple couldn’t find a place with less than an hour attraction & it was not a to each lunch later until 4PM particularly long wait so I rode it twice in day when Indiana Jones is in the Lost River Delta at the park was jammed. the far side of TDS from the entrance. The The cars are nicely de- queue area is different than the original tailed & add to the overall atmosphere & and kinetics. The Disney Imagi- Disneyland (DL) version but still quite well neers at one time had planes for an elevated train on Main Street in Paris, but done with several rooms & chambers in- like as has happened before, sometimes concepts reemerge when the Imagi- neers get another chance. Gyzoa Stand The American Waterfront has essentially cluding a huge room pic- two areas, one that is themed to turn of the tured on the left. 20th Century New York & the other is themed to a New England seaport. The The attraction itself is very new York area has a Broadway Music similar to the original & Theater & a Waterfront Park area with a had the exact same ride stage for outdoor shows. Always in port layout. It begins with only is the Steam Liner Columbia that houses 1 door you go through two restaurants. There is a small stage unlike choice of the 3 doors area in front of the Columbia for a charac- at DL. Instead of the fire in the Giant Skull by the bridge, there is a vortex of Indiana Jones Queue smoke on the opposite side of the bridge from the skull. While the vortex is a neat effect, you really loose the atmosphere that the fire creates in the DL version. The other big difference is that in one of the small side chamber to see the “Crystal Skull” which then glows & fires off a blast of air & a smoke ring at you.