Japan - Day 5: DisneySea

I only made it until 4am today -- two steps forward, one step back? It was a pretty comfy sleep though. I should have taken a photo of us all in our matching Miracosta Mickey pajamas. Good thing we have one more night!

Today we head to DisneySea -- generally known as the more unique/special of the two Tokyo Disneyland parks. I think I read somewhere that DisneySea was originally intended as the second park for California's Disneyland, but kept running into issues with the local permits, so they decided to ship the park from Los Angeles over to Tokyo instead. 

One of the perks of staying in Miracosta is the ability to enter the parks during "Happy Entry" -- but honestly the bigger benefit is being able to use the Happy Entry line itself. All the reports online will tell you if you don't have Happy Entry, you have to get here at ungodly hours (like 6am!). So instead, here we are nearly at the very front of the line at the much more reasonable 8am. Yes, some of us are still a bit half asleep. 

Because we were willing to skip some of the US-duplicate rides (like Soaring) and pay to skip the line on others (like Frozen), we got to be first in line waiting for Tower of Terror to open! Excited family selfie. 

Can you find us in the photo? High marks from everyone. The ride felt shorter than California's version, but just as thrilling!

We followed this up with Indiana Jones. Not sure why L looked more terrified on this one...

Disneysea food was much more impressive to me -- that ice cream churro sundae thing had mango pudding, rice crispies, fresh mango chunks, and jellies. Every bite was a new surprise!

These meat naans were also quite tasty. And only $3 each!

L and R hamming it up at the entrance to the new Fantasy Springs land. 

I don't think I caught photos of the actual frozen ride, but it was very impressive! Really long too, I kept thinking they would skip ahead in the story, but then another room would open. 

After Frozen, L and Baba were fading a bit so we decided to split up. They headed back for a quick nap while R and I stayed in the park longer -- we met back together in time for the Big Band Jamboree. Surprisingly, the show was entirely in English! It was fine dancing and costumes, but I don't understand why the Japanese visitors would like that show -- none of the singing is even live? But it was a refreshing bit of rest for us after not understanding much of any other show.

After the show and a couple little rides, L and Baba went back for more napping/rest time while R and I braved on. 

Side note on the Japanese Disney fans. They took it to another level. You think this is a keychain or plushie vendor? Nope, just a dressed up Disney fan!

The Rapunzel line was definitely the longest wait of the day -- I think it was a good 100 minutes. R really enjoyed the sets and scenery though! I've always loved the lantern scene. Might be one of my favorites from all the Disney movies. 

We skipped most of Mermaid Lagoon because it was mostly kiddie rides, but it was very impressive to look at. 

Around dinner, Baba and L rejoined us. We think K might have started coming down with a little bug unfortunately. But hopefully the nap helped! We paid for another skip-the-line pass for Journey to the Center of the Earth - the drop at the end was a fun surprise. After that, it was time to stake out a spot for the nighttime waterfront show. I'd say Believe was nice...but not as amazing as Fantasmic. That could easily have been due to our lack of Japanese comprehension though. 

Last ride of the night -- Raging Rapids roller coaster! L thought it was scary, R thought it was great. Do we have a thrill seeker of the family?

Ok I lied, as we were walking back, we passed RIGHT by Sinbad, so I made everyone ride it with me again. This is like the Small World of DisneySea. I'd never heard of Sinbad as part of the Disney lore before, but it must be? Like Frozen, the scenes just went ON and ON, Baba was not so impressed. 

And with that, our Tokyo Disney adventure was complete. Here's the shot I missed of us in our matching PJs! Yes, L got another Stitch. Early birthday present. 

I'm very glad we were able to snag the Miracosta rooms -- I think L would have been pretty miserable without the two naps today. And it would have been impossible to do that staying anywhere else. Though...probably not something I would repeat -- stay at the cheaper hotel and save the $ for more skip-the-line passes next time!

Tomorrow, we head to Hakone for relaxation time!