After Tokyo Disneyland yesterday, with it's short hours, massive crowds, long wait times, and general lack of characters, I expected Tokyo Disneysea to be much of the same today.

I am glad to report that I was very, very mistaken. Today was, without a doubt, the best theme park day I've ever had.

The day started out with disappointingly perfect weather, which immediately bought back the dread of massive crowds and stupid wait times. I was secretly hoping for a few drops of rain, or a little snow, or something other than zero clouds, warm sunshine and comfortable temperatures. Still, we had no option but to just go, and make the best of it.

Down to the Palm Terrace Hotel's breakfast again, and it was similarly fantastic. Slight variations on the food offered at yesterday's buffet, but very fresh, and a very hearty start to a day of walking miles around Disneyland/sea. We piled onto the standing-room-only courtesy bus for the 15 minute journey to the Disneysea drop off zone, all the while having Disney tunes and propaganda displayed to us on TVs in the bus, and blasted over the in-bus sound system.

Notably this propaganda seemed to suggest how much fun it was to partake in the extra-cost activities, like having numerous portrait photo sessions done at all of the Disney photo booths, or how magical it is to buy baskets full of merchandise from the gift shops. I'm not sure whether this was was a deliberate ploy in the promotional video, or whether I'm just cynical, but it seemed pretty blatant to me.

Filing off the bus, an hour before opening, we were confident of getting a position close to the front of the queues for entry. Wrong. There were already thousands of people queuing, in typical patient Japanese fashion, waiting to be granted entry. We were ushered to a queue which put us beneath the shelter of the ticket sellers pavilion, which meant we were in the shade out of reach of the warming sunlight, and in what effectively amounted to a wind tunnel. It was cold. Very, very cold.

The hour that we waited for admission seemed like 4, and when the gates opened, like yesterday there were tens of thousands of crazy Japanese Disney fans all running as fast as their little legs could carry them into the park, while the Disney staff, kept repeating "Please slow down, do not run", all the while with obviously forced smiles on their faces, and also obviously very aware that they were being utterly ignored.

Charlotte has always regretted not going on the Tower of Terror when she was 4. She almost agreed to go on it with me when we were here 5 years ago, but she reneged at the last minute and it has bothered her ever since. So when we got in the park, Veronica stayed with Isabelle, and I hurried with the girls towards that ride...along with everyone else entering the park. The road leading to the ride it probably 20 meters wide, and 500 meters long, and we were not able to get within 300 meters of the ride, due to the crowds that had massed there. I'm not sure how many thousand people you could cram into a space 20 meters wide by 300 meters long, but fill that space with people packed tightly together, and you have the crowd that was waiting for the Tower of Terror ride. We simply stopped at the Venice bridge at the top of the hill leading to the Tower of Terror, turned around and abandoned the mission to get near that ride any time soon.

All in all, not a great start to the day, and by now I was convinced that today would turn out roughly like yesterday with stupid wait times, and very little actual entertainment. I'm happy to report that this is roughly the point that the day turned around.

Disneyland closed its doors at 7pm yesterday, and all rides had closed down by 6pm, so naturally I was expecting the same thing of Disney Sea. An announcement came over the loudspeaker "Welcome to DisneySea.....something....something... ..For your enjoyment, Disney Sea is open until 10pm". Great! A park with hours that aren't dictated by a preschooler's bedtime. I'm still not sure why Disneyland closed at 7pm.

I'd forgotten, since last time I visited Disney Sea, just how fantastic the park looks. While Disneyland is clean, and neat, and pretty, Disney Sea is just on a whole different level. The attention to detail which has gone into the designing and craftsmanship of every aspect of the park, from the walkways, to the props, to the landscaping, is nothing short of exquisite, and I don't say this lightly because I'm not usually one easily impressed with aesthetics. But credit where credit is due, They've tried to create different environments, from sea ports, to rocky caves, to an Arabian themed city, and they've nailed the brief in every respect. It's a difficult thing to explain, but if you search for some videos taken inside the park you'll see what I mean.

Since 90% of patrons were fighting and/or queuing to get onto the Tower of Terror, for the first hour or so, most of the remainder of the park was pretty much empty. We headed for Mount Prometheus, the large volcano in the center of the park, and we found that the wait time for the Journey to the Centre of the Earth ride was only 20 minutes. Charlotte and Angela jumped in the line for that, while Veronica and I headed to the 20000 Leagues Under the Sea ride with Isabelle, which had zero waiting time. We simply walked straight onto the ride. The 20000 Leagues ride takes you in a submarine supposedly underwater predictably encountering marine life, and then a giant electrical octopus, before confusingly coming across aliens which alternate between hiding from you, and waving to you.

I'm assuming something got lost in translation. It was very well done however.

We emerged, with Isabelle adamant that she was never going on that again because it was scary, so Veronica took her onwards to Mermaid waters, an overtly girly section of the park, while I waited for Charlotte and Angela to return from the center of the earth. They emerged, ecstatic that they'd actually managed to get a good ride in this particular park, and the day had only just begun. Already Disney Sea was looking better than yesterday.

With the 2 big girls we went onto Triton's Kingdom to catch up with Veronica and Isabelle. This area is basically a large underground space filled with kids rides and attractions, targeted at very young children, and the lighting and design of the massive space gives a very well executed impression of being in an underwater world. Hugely popular with young kids, and due to the ample activities and seating, also with the parents of said young kids.

Among the rides, which were almost empty, Goofy came down, and posed with the girls, waving his arms around and carrying on like only a man in a suit unable to speak can. Still, the kids, and flocks of Japanese schoolgirls absolutely loved it.

While Veronica finished up under the sea, Charlotte and I went on a fast walk/jog down to the Tower of Terror ride to book some Fastpass tickets, to ensure that we didn't miss out on getting a ride on it. I'm glad we did, because the line was 90 minutes long, and within the first hour the Fastpass backlog had already extended out to 6pm, so another 30 minutes or less and the Fastpass allocation would have been exhausted. So with fastpass tickets booked for a window of between 5:30pm and 6:30pm we headed back to Mt Prometheus.

Generally getting anywhere near a Disney character when they're walking around is not easy. There are groups of people following them around, cameras in hand, all trying to get themselves or their children to be the next to pose with the character.
This is where we noticed 2 things.
1: Not being Japanese is like a Fastpass system for getting character photos; and
2: Isabelle has by now learned how to push her way to the front, and get noticed by the character.

This theory was tested when we came across, Prince Eric, Ariel the mermaid's boyfriend/love interest. There was a massive group flocking around him when we noticed him, and we heard "I'm sorry...no more photo's. I have to goooo.....Oh! Hello my little princess! What's your name?". Isabelle had snuck through everyone to the front of the queue, and got his attention, so naturally he made time for one more photo shoot. We thought this was just childish innocence, but we watched her do it many more times throughout the day. It was absolutely deliberate, and it was working so we weren't about to stop her doing it. It ended up getting her and her sisters photos with just about every character in the park.

Then came the highlight of Isabelle's day. Meeting Ariel the mermaid. This required a short 15 minute wait, but nothing like the 70 minute wait to see Mickey Mouse which they were quoting at Disneyland yesterday.

The on through the Arabian village, and onto a few more rides with virtually no wait times. Despite how it appeared at the gate, in contrast to Disneyland yesterday Disney Sea didn't feel crowded at all. It feels like it is a bigger park, and it felt like we did a lot more walking today, but I'm not sure if it is a bigger park, simply better designed to handle and disburse the crowds, or whether it simply wasn't as crowded as Disneyland yesterday, but whatever it was, today's crowd levels were very acceptable.

On the way to even more rides, we came across more characters, where Isabelle did her trick of slipping through the crowds to the front, and then getting noticed by the character. One of them was the Genie from Aladdin, who took a liking to Isabelle, but a mock-dislike to me, and shaped up to me in a mock challenge. Honestly confused and unsure whether I should fight the big blue Disney character, I didn't retaliate, which led to him giving me a somewhat confusing apologetic hug. Confusing, but a lot of fun, and a hell of a lot more action than we got from the absentee characters over at Disneyland.

2 of the favourite rides came next, which were Aquatopia and Stormrider. Aquatopia is basically a very simple and mundane ride on a mock hovercraft, which twirls you around and thrusts you towards geysers and waterfalls without actually getting you wet. In the warmer months you have the option of "wet" or "dry", and if you choose "wet" you do get some drenching, but in winter naturally "dry" is your only option. This ride wasn't exhilarating, or fast, or even overly interesting, but for some reason, with 3 people on the same hovercraft speaking Japanese to other people in hovercrafts almost running into yours, while they were being as stupid as you were, it was a lot of fun.

By now it was time for the main event, the Tower of Terror. Having nicknamed it "The Tower of Kittens" and telling Angela it wasn't scary, and under no circumstances do they drop you at any point, she agreed to go on it. I probably shouldn't have done that. Not my proudest parenting moment, but it was definitely an experience for her.
To be honest it scared the hell out of her. We had front row seats, and after they strapped us in, and the elevator rapidly began to descent, all that could be heard was "AAARRRGGGHHH!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!!". Charlotte loved the ride. I enjoyed the ride. Angela hated the ride. I don't think she was happy with me afterwards, but 30 minutes or so later, when she stopped crying, she kind-of saw the funny side of it. At least she's got an interesting topic for her first classroom news item when she goes back to school. "The day my dad tricked me in Japan".

After half a dozen more rides on Aquatopia, a boat cruise halfway around the park, and Charlotte riding the 360 degree loop rollercoaster that she agreed to try, Isabelle was exhausted. At 8pm, after a 13 hour day her legs wouldn't carry her anymore, so Veronica agreed to take her back to the hotel while I stayed on with the 2 big girls for more rides and the fireworks display.

With a prime position on the bridge we watched the fireworks display, I took photographs while Charlotte videoed it, had a few more rides on Aquatopia, and it was time to head home. Charlotte wanted to try Journey to the Center of the Earth one more time, but a 50 minute wait time at 9pm changed her mind. We decided to call it a night before the 10pm closing rush delayed our exit.

All in all, today was everything a visit to a Disney park should be, and lived up to every expectation that Disneyland yesterday failed to achieve. If you only have 1 day to choose between Tokyo Disneyland or Disney Sea, there is no contest. Unless you really want to see the light parade, go straight to Disney Sea and don't give it a second thought.