Theme Parks have never been top of my list of places to visit. The thought of hordes of people, queuing endlessly for rides, plastic food etc always sends a shiver through me ... however, when in Tokyo...
Time to put my cynical brain away today, and reward the kids for being (mostly) patient and well behaved when traipsing through many temples, museums and galleries, and have a day at Tokyo Disney Sea - the only one in the world.
The place is enormous, but extremely well built, and no expense spared in the details. Each area had several attractions, eateries and stores and could be a standalone park in itself. It seemed the thing to do if you're with a group of teenage friends is to all get dressed up in the same outfits (head adornments compulsory) and parade around together. I met several people who used these groups for photo opportunities rather than the official cast characters.
My cousin Julie had given us the heads up about getting our "fast passes" early, so we made our way to Mysterious Island and got fast passes for "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" (2 hrs wait) then setting off to explore. First ride was down the spiral staircase to the Jules Verne inspired "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" - an underwater submarine adventure with lots of clanking, alarm bells, a shipwreck, a kraken, lightening and aliens. The kids liked this enough to do a repeat visit later in the day. Next up was the underground Mermaid Lagoon with various kiddie rides, rope bridges, mazes, neon lights and caves.
The Lost City had a Mayan Pyramid, a 'thrills and spills' Indiana Jones roller coaster (Paul and Matilda did this) where the jeep goes at high speed being chased by large boulders, screams through caves, big spiders on the walls, and some other hairy friends. There was also a jungle river cruise passing Indiana's crashed plane.
The American Waterfront had a complete Cape Cod, New Orleans zydeco music and bars, Broadway strip with several shows, an electric railroad car, and New York Deli.
The Arabian Coast had a flying carpet ride, Sinbad riverboats (longest I've ever been on) and 2-story carousel, along with a market bazaar and several restaurants.
The Mediterranean Coast had a Florentine bridge, Venetian canals and gondolas, a Leonardo mystery castle (I was a bit miffed this was only available in Japanese).
Being the small world it is, we ran into the American couple we'd done the cooking class in Kyoto with (in the middle of a heavy downpour), and being huge Disney buffs, gave us several tips on where to head to next. The photos pretty much say it all, but 5.30pm came around before we knew it, and with the inclement weather meaning no fireworks, we headed back to the hotel to rest our weary feet.