We got the Electric Railway over to Port Discovery, waiting just over five minutes to ride. When we arrived, we cut back through to Mysterious Island. We had a quick look around and then went on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea which we walked straight on. I really enjoyed the ride having not been on a ride like it at Disney before, any similar ride was not operational anytime I had been to the American parks. The design was fantastic! Would not recommend if you are claustraphobic though! Afterwards, was just about time to head for Journey to the Centre of the Earth. I know I talk about the great design for each attraction but this was another example of how great Disney is at designing unique experiences. We got through the queue straight away to the lift which simulates taking you down to the ‘centre of the earth’to take you to the ride. Little known secret, but the lift actually takes you up to the ride platform. We got to sit at the front, the effects were brilliant. The ride was a little short, but still definitely worth a visit. I wish we had had time to have a few goes to take it in more.
After we had wandered through Mysterious Island and checked out all the shops, we headed back to Port Discovery. We got a fastpass for Stormrider straight away and had just less than two hours to wait to ride. We decided while we were waiting to do the walk between the American Waterfront and Port Discovery to take in the scenery.
We got a bit sidetracked looking in one of the shops that sells Duffy, people were going crazy in there! When back in Port Discovery, Paul got a frozen beer (very exciting moment) and while we were sitting, the Incredibles flew past having been out in the area. After a long sit down we went on Aquatopia, which advertised a fifteen minute wait but we waited less than ten. Found the ride a bit pointless, but a good show off for trackless ride technology. We had been discussing the park all day and although is probably the best example of theming found anywhere in the world as there was only two rides in each land, three max, we did think it would get a bit boring on a quiet day if you had been many times before. However that probably rarely happens! As it worked out we were able to get on everything, but in hindsight I would have definitely booked a table service meal as we would have had time in the end. After getting a drink we went on Storm Rider, which was interesting, it did have English subtitles in the pre show which was handy! I got absolutely soaked on the ride which was a weird mix of a simulator ride and special effects quite similar to the Armageddon experience at Disneyland Paris.
After we had well and truly done Port Discovery we walked back to Lost River Delta and got a fastpass for Raging Spirits. As we were getting hungry we ate at Yucatan Base Camp Grill which was quite nice. My feet were starting to sting so sitting down was great. Afterwards Paul went and got a chicken leg for ‘dessert’ and we went to have a walk aound Mermaid Lagoon and find Prince Eric while we were waiting to go on Raging Spirits. I loved Mermaid Lagoon, even just to walk around, especially because the little Mermaid is one of my favourite Disney films. We decided to skip the show as it had a 50 minute wait.
We walked back across the water to Lost River Delta and put our stuff in the lockers to go on Raging Spirits. I do have to say having read a ridiculous amount of reviews and blogs of Tokyo DisneySea, one of the things that infuriated me the most was the constant mention of Raging Spirits being a unique ride to Disney parks. It is NOT! Raging Spirits is an identical ride to the ‘Indiana Jones-temple of peril’ ride at Disneyland Paris. On that point, it is also not a wooden Rollercoaster, but a very boring, painful steel one themed like a wooden mine ride. This is a terrible coaster, not because I don’t like thrill rides because I LOVE them, but just because apart from the loop, there is nothing to it and was built purely because it was a cheap option just to put another ‘thrill’ ride in a park. Great as a child’s first looping ride though! I won’t go on unless I have a fastpass or there is no queue because it’s just not worth the wait. There was a 45 minute queue but the fastpass time was for just 90 minutes later. By this point in the day I do think a lot of people were not taking advantage of the fastpass system at all as the queues were all between 40-60 minutes but the fastpasses were only for around 2 hours later or less. After the ride we walked to the Arabian Coast section of the park, it was about 5.30pm by this time. I absolutely loved the theming and against the sunset it looked beautiful!
Disney trips, tips and travels 