Tokyo DisneySea

October 1st--We woke up this morning to just cloudy skies so it was off to DisneySea. DisneySea is unique to Tokyo and is based on ocean legends and myths. It offers seven ports of call including Mediterranean Harbor, Mysterious Island, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery and American Waterfront. After a quick breakfast, we were out the door of the hotel a little before 9:00. It was great to be so close to the park so it only took us about 5 minutes before we were inside the park seeing the Disney AquaSphere (a water fountain with a large model of the earth) and taking pictures with Goofy and Pluto. The park was totally decorated with Halloween stuff too. Mediterranean Harbor is the entrance "port of call" that is designed to look like Venice with a little bit of Italian fishing village thrown in there. It is so neat for us to be able to see things like this and say "we've actually been there". Anyway, we decided to immediately start heading to Mermaid Lagoon, but on our way we stopped off in Mysterious Island "port of call" to ride 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Mysterious Island is not an island though. It is built into the side of Mount Prometheus which is the giant volcano located in the center of the park. From here, we made our way to Mermaid Lagoon. We first stopped off to meet Ariel since this "port of call" is based on the film The Little Mermaid. We rode every ride there was to ride in this area including the Whirlpool (picture tea cup ride). As we were standing in line with 2 excited kids, Mike looks at me and says "I don't think I can ride this" and bails on me. I was stuck riding the ride and by the time it was over, I know my face was as green as my shirt. It took me a little while to get over it, but I was able to recover while watching 'Under the Sea' in the Mermaid Lagoon Theater. Most of the rides in the Mermaid Lagoon are inside an area that looks like the Palace of King Triton and gives the feeling of being underwater. From here, we went to the Arabian Coast "port of call". Mike and the kids rode the carousel as I was out on anything that turned in a circle at this point. Amazingly, by this point, the sun had come out and it was blue skies! Then we went into the Magic Lamp Theater to watch a 3D movie featuring the Genie from Aladdin. On our way to ride Sinbad's Storybook Voyage, we made a short stop to visit Mickey Mouse all dressed up. The kids were thrilled to meet Mickey and the excitement lasted into the next ride. Sinbad's Storybook Voyage is very similar to "It's A Small World". By the time we finished up on this ride, it was time for lunch. We ventured into the next "port of call", Lost River Delta to find some lunch. Since the rides in this port had requirements taller than the kids, we moved on to the next port, Port Discovery, known as the marina of the future with Stormride. This was the first ride that we had to stand in line for, but we enjoyed strawberry popcorn along the way. The ride itself is a simulator ride that took us into the eye of the storm and was a little intense for the kids. From here, we rode Aquatopia before making our way into the last "port of call", American Waterfront. We saw a long line into a store and at first couldn't figure out what it was, but soon did when I peeked in. We had seen so many people inside the hotel and all around DisneySea carrying stuffed bears around. Up until this point, we didn't understand what it was all about. Well, we stood in line to go check out these bears and soon found out that it is Duffy, The Disney Bear. At this point though, the kids decided they didn't want a bear. So off we go to ride the Transit Steam Liner around the entire park. It was a round trip ride back to the Cap Code section. While pulling back into the port, Abby decided that she did want to go back and get Duffy. Once we were inside the store (after standing in line again), we found out that Duffy is exclusive to Tokyo. The Japanese are crazy about this bear. I would almost argue that he is more popular than Mickey Mouse here. Austin decided that he wanted one as well. They are really cute bears and Abby called hers Stuffy. So, now with 2 bears in tow, we made our way through American Waterfront to stand in line at Tower of Terror. We enjoyed some more strawberry popcorn and black pepper popcorn while waiting in line. Luckily for the kids, the ride doesn't last very long. Abby is very proud in saying that she didn't cry because she kept telling herself to "suck it up". Her face was frozen the whole ride though. Now as for Austin, he just had that curious look on his face during the ride, but once it stopped all his fear came out with a big cry. He left the ride crying and saying "I don't 'yike' that ride". I'm sure not too many 3 years can say that they've rode the Tower of Terror though. After this ride, we had basically made our way around the entire park and could successfully say that we had done everything that the kids could do. So, we grabbed a quick bite for dinner and rode a couple of rides again before the laser/fire/water show. The show was done in the Mediterranean Harbor all in the water. It was a great show. After the show, we sat down for dessert before the fireworks show. When the fireworks were over, we exited the park and headed back to our hotel. At this point, we were so glad that we were 5 minutes away from our hotel. We arrived back just a little after 9:00 with very tired, but happy kids. Our day flowed really nicely. The crowds were very minimal and the weather was perfect so it was a great day at DisneySea.