Trip Report: Tokyo Disneyland Resort & Tour of Parts of Japan 2024

[ZapperZ]

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This is the entrance to Fantasy Springs Hotel directly from Fantasy Springs/Tokyo DisneySea.

I definitely would like to go back and see what I missed this first time. I am certainly I missed quite a bit since we were in such a tizzy to do so much in that one day.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

The thing that we weren't able to do during our trip to both parks were to view the parade/fireworks, or to get a good viewing place for the nighttime show at DisneySea. For DisneySea, we were just too busy trying to get onto the various attractions and waited till the last minute to find a viewing spot around the Mediterranean lagoon. At Tokyo Disneyland, we either didn't stay long enough, or the weather was against us.

Still, I probably would have tried to do them but the best viewing spots were often gone. You see, the guests were starting to book their favorite spots way, WAY early in the day. I thought finding a good spot for the fireworks at California's Disneyland 2 hours before the show was a bit excessive. At both parks in Tokyo, that's nothing!

The pictures that I'm showing you here were taken at around 9:45 am (yes, as in 45 minutes after they opened the parks for general admission). Guests were already marking their spots for parade viewing (and probably the fireworks later that evening). Similar thing was happening at DisneySea but not as early as this.

No one in our group wanted to do that, i.e. marked our spots and had one person left behind while the rest did the rides.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Sometime when you travel, some of the most memorable events are the joy you get from unexpected events.

When Tokyo DisneySea guests leave at the end of the evening, they have to walk underneath the Disney MiraCosta resort to get to the park exit. This is where Disney guests create their own magic. The guests staying at the MiraCosta resort wave from their rooms using their phone lights at the theme park guests. The theme park guests, in return, wave back with their own phone lights.

It was such a simple thing, but it was magical nevertheless.



Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Raging Spirits is an interesting attraction at Tokyo DisneySea. It is themed to the hilt and over the top, so it is quite impressive. The attraction itself surprisingly occupies a relatively small area, so the ride is rather compact with tight turns. It isn't very fast, but those tight turns make it appears to be fast. In fact, without that single vertical loop, I'd say that this ride is similar to Goofy's Barnstormer (if anyone still remembers that). But since there is that loop, the ride has a shoulder restraint.

We didn't record an on-ride video, so you will have to settle with a video of the ride from a viewer's perspective.



Zz.

 

[MinnieM123]

Raging Spirits is an interesting attraction at Tokyo DisneySea. It is themed to the hilt and over the top, so it is quite impressive. The attraction itself surprisingly occupies a relatively small area, so the ride is rather compact with tight turns. It isn't very fast, but those tight turns make it appears to be fast. In fact, without that single vertical loop, I'd say that this ride is similar to Goofy's Barnstormer (if anyone still remembers that). But since there is that loop, the ride has a shoulder restraint.

We didn't record an on-ride video, so you will have to settle with a video of the ride from a viewer's perspective.



Zz.

Looks like fun! (I can see your reference to Goofy's Barnstormer, starring the Great Goofini.) The only thing I wouldn't like is the inversion loop, but that aside, it's a good attraction.

 

[Kevin_W]

Raging Spirits is an interesting attraction at Tokyo DisneySea. It is themed to the hilt and over the top, so it is quite impressive. The attraction itself surprisingly occupies a relatively small area, so the ride is rather compact with tight turns. It isn't very fast, but those tight turns make it appears to be fast. In fact, without that single vertical loop, I'd say that this ride is similar to Goofy's Barnstormer (if anyone still remembers that). But since there is that loop, the ride has a shoulder restraint.

We didn't record an on-ride video, so you will have to settle with a video of the ride from a viewer's perspective.



Zz.

This was closed while we were there. But it's the same ride (with different theming) as the Indiana Jones coaster in DLP, no?

 

[ZapperZ]

This was closed while we were there. But it's the same ride (with different theming) as the Indiana Jones coaster in DLP, no?

When were you there when it was closed?

I haven't been on the Indiana Jones roller coaster, so I can't compare. This would have been a kiddie ride in my opinion if it weren't for the vertical loop. The ride is so compact that they can only accommodate two vehicles during each ride.

Zz.

 

[Kevin_W]

When were you there when it was closed?

I haven't been on the Indiana Jones roller coaster, so I can't compare. This would have been a kiddie ride in my opinion if it weren't for the vertical loop. The ride is so compact that they can only accommodate two vehicles during each ride.

Zz.

We were there in June 2023. In DLP Indiana Jones coaster gets a lot of hate online, but I enjoy it. I agree without the loop it would be closer to Barnstormer in intensity though longer.

 

[ZapperZ]

I'm about to wrap up the Disney portion of this Japan trip report. To start, here are a few random pictures from Tokyo Disneyland. I wish we had a couple more days there, but I will definitely be back.

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[ZapperZ]

... cont.

Next up, Tokyo DisneySea, where we spent most of our time.

Zz.

 

[MinnieM123]

I'm about to wrap up the Disney portion of this Japan trip report. To start, here are a few random pictures from Tokyo Disneyland. I wish we had a couple more days there, but I will definitely be back.

I really like the look of their monorail. Plus, I couldn't help but notice how CLEAN everything appeared in that overall photo.

 

[ZapperZ]

As promised, here are a few random pictures of Tokyo DisneySea.

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[ZapperZ]

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[ZapperZ]

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I tell ya, 3 days at TDS were just not enough. I could spend a week there and still will miss things. Because of there, we have rumblings among us here about maybe going back to Japan in a couple of years. My fingers are crossed for 2026.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Since we stayed at the Hilton at Tokyo Bay a couple of times during this trip, we had the opportunity to ride the Tokyo Disney Resort monorail to get around the area, mainly to go to Ikspiari mall. But frankly, even if we didn't have to ride it to get around, we would have paid to ride it at least once because the darn thing is so cute and so on-theme!

Here is our short video on one of the rides where we managed to snag a seat close to the front of the monorail.



Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

I've posted still photos of the lobby of Disney's Ambassador Hotel. Here is a video of it.



Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

We will now move to the non-Disney part of the trip.

After we checked into our tour hotel, that evening we had tickets for Tokyo Tower. We timed it so that we will be there during sunset.

This video is a summary of that.


Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

The first official day of our tour was simply tour participants arriving and checking in to the hotel. Since we were already there, it because an open day for us, so we went on our own. We decided to go to Ginza. We visited flagship stores of Uniqlo and Mitsukoshi.

At the top floor of Mitsukoshi, we did our first dining splurge of the trip, which was something on my bucket list. We had a full sukiyaki dining service at Morita-Ya restaurant.

Here we are seated at the table in anticipation.

The first course came, and I gobbled it up before I realize that I should have taken a photo of it. It was delicious, but I don't remember what it was. This picture was the second course, and each item was equally amazing.

They then brought out the rice, miso soup, and Japanese pickles.

I audibly gasped when they brought out the main attraction of the meal, the meats! The gloriously-marbled slices were Wagyu.

That white chunk that looked like cheese was beef fat. They used this to grease the hot pan after it was hot. You should have heard the sizzle.

The amazing hostess when dropped the first slices onto the pan to get them to sear before pouring in the sukiyaki sauce all over them. The whole thing was cooked table-side.

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[ZapperZ]

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When the slices of beef were just barely cooked, she dropped each piece into separate bowls for each one of us. Each bowl has a freshly-cracked and beaten raw egg. This is traditionally how one eats sukiyaki where beef and other items are dipped into raw egg. If you didn't know. Japan has no salmonella (hard to believe, I know), so eating raw egg is common and is very safe (I had several dishes during this trip that had raw egg in them).

To say that the meat was delicious and melted in my mouth is an understatement. We weren't doing much talking other than the occasional "hmm" and "ooh" while we chowed down. There were a total of 3 different rounds of meat before the vegetables, tofu, and noodles joined the party in the pan.

To end the meal, we had deserts. Again, not quite sure what this was. It had fruits in some sauce, but it was outrageously good!

It was a "WOW!" experience. I would gladly go back and do this again. This was Kyoto style sukiyaki and I loved it! Total cost: $50 per person. We did the middle-tier option from the menu, and after the meal, all of us agreed that we could have gone for the upper tier, which was around $75 per person. It was that good. The food was plentiful, and of such high quality in terms of taste, presentation, and overall ambience. To put things into perspective, I've paid $50 per person for a dinning experience at a few restaurants in various Disney theme parks and had left feeling rather dissatisfied.

Highly recommended!

Zz.

 

[Bullseye1967]

There were a total of 3 different rounds of meat before the vegetables, tofu, and noodles joined the party in the pan.

What were the meats?