Thanks for the overwhelming responses! I'm glad I sold some people on the beauty of TDR.
I think there are a lot of reasons why Sinbad doesn't receive long lines. I agree, I think it's still pretty popular in the sense that people like it. Sinbad does give Pooh a run for its money. It's really magnificent and my second favorite ride in TDS after Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Chapter 5:
In which we wrap up the first day
Next up was Raging Spirits. I read recently that they retracked it and it's supposedly smooth now. I didn't notice much roughness, but it still wasn't a very enjoyable ride, especially considering how cool it could have been. It would have been quite ambitious if they included the whole Indy and the Lost Expedition complex at TDS, but I don't think that was even on the radar. Either way, a temple mine ride has a ton of potential. Raging Spirits wasn't a bad ride, but it wasn't very fun either. You couldn't see much because of the seating arrangement.
Overall, it had more theming and provided a smoother ride than it's French sister.
Well, it looked good! The fire effects were a nice touch.
This sign was better than the ride.
It wasn't bad... just boring.
It was themed pretty well... you just couldn't see most of it because of the oppressive over-the-shoulder restraints.
It was really the only ride in DisneySea that I didn't love. Picture the train going through the loop. It would have been a much cooler pictures if I had more patience.
It just could have been much cooler. It's kind of like Kali River Rapids. Great theming, cool concept, but it doesn't come together.
The coolest part of the ride was the mist filled finale. A huge ring of mist comes out when the car passes through; I just caught the tail end of the park. The theming is quite layered. But you can see that the trains give you little room to enjoy any scenery. The DLP version is really stripped of its theming of comparison.
We picked up some Indy fastpasses and then headed to Mysterious Island for another round of Journey.
Indy's temple looked great against the sky! Very dramatic. Now
that's a temple
Still in Japan. The foliage has grown in beautifully in under 15 years.
This part of Lost River Delta is soooo detailed. TDS loves their boats and docks.
Look at that aging. I didn't notice that shack on the very left of the picture, but it has some quality textures on it!
It's the Uncanny Valley of theme park design.
Cutting through the upper part of Port Discovery to get to Mysterious Island...
Mysterious Panorama!
The evening lighting finally allowed me to get a good picture of the drilling machine! It's quite intricate. We used our Fastpasses to take another whirl on Journey. As always, it didn't disappoint. I think we did it 5 times the first day. We kept getting Fastpasses every hour for an attraction, and we usually defaulted to Journey to the Center of the Earth because of its central location.
On leaving Mysterious Island we noticed the Legend of Mythica was in the middle of its performance.
We climbed to the top of Fortress Exploration for a great view.
O! Shriki Tower!
Not quite sure what was going on, but it looked pretty cool!
There were pyrotechnics. And fire!
I loved the set up the best. It seemed like it had great viewing capacity.
Fortress Exploration spires and Shriki Tower.
Crowds viewing Legend of Mythica. It was nice that the whole "stage" had such a big perimeter. The crowds of people watching it didn't have to go very deep so everyone got a pretty good view.
On leaving our viewing deck we got a little taste of Fortress Exploration.
You rotated the wheels to spin the planets. Yay astronomy!
Weather vane or whether vein?
What a lovely ship.
Der Renaissance
You could explore it, of course. And it was home to several highly detailed indoor scenes.
This is the most I could brighten it.
Tower of Terror really demands your attention.
Tangent, I'm currently listening to the BraviSEAmo soundtrack. Why'd they have to get rid of it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVaNG73-rlQ
Listen to it, it's quite epic. And it will never be used again. :-[
THE Disney Mountain. Anyone else still bitter about how the Disney Mountains book dedicates about 30 pages to Expedition Everest acting like it's the greatest thing since Disneyland while it only devotes 4 pages to Mount Prometheus (which includes 2 attractions and 2 restaurants!)? I am.
I bet S.E.A. pays DisneySEA a pretty penny to keep their ship in pristine condition.
Prometheus morphs depending on where you're viewing it.
One show ends, the set up for the next show begins. Unfortunately, that next show is Fantasmic! (including obligatory explanation point) and not BraviSEAmo (which has a WAY cooler name).
Those clouds can make even me look like a good photographer!
Next stop: Ristorante di Canaletto for another amazing meal.
This might just be my favorite spot in any theme park ever. BraviSEAmo.
There was a 10 minute wait for our table to be ready so we explored this area before eating. This little entrance path to the restaurant was very elegant.
So I got some pretty epic pictures because of the awesome sky.
Sunset at the best theme park in the world.
Venetian gondolas and an exploding volcano. And there's Nautalis. The carousel that begins you through the castle (Fortress Exploration) and into Mysterious Island, as I've heard it described.
Are you still listening to the BraviSEAmo music? Because just writing this trip report seems epic with this music in the background.
I need new adjectives to describe this level of perfection. How about this. New word of the day: DisneySEA (n.) - something that has the characteristic of being perfect, beautiful, and awe-inspiring. EX: The movie Spirited Away was so DisneySea!
I expect any member who has read this to start using this word from now on.
That's so DisneySea! Now, that's a show that will never be shown on Disney Channel because he all know how Disney gives DisneySea the cold shoulder.
We headed to the canals, but as always, the stopped us to close them for a show. We kept just missing them! We think they thought to themselves "OK, we'll stop the line at the white people." Seriously! Whenever we went through the Fastpass line, we were the last ones they let through. Which actually worked in our favor.
We got some gelato. Would you look at that Trompe-l'oeil!
Hai!
The most beautiful Disney hotel too!
The lights flicker on... And the park takes on a new form of beauty.
Look at those weenies! No, not like that!
The Hilton was nice, but I think next time we're staying here.
I'm never going to another theme park again. Just Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea. I definitely can't corrupt this beautiful memory by going back to Disneyland anytime soon!
All the elements collide so beautifully.
We were quickly losing our energy. It was only around 7:00, but we had gotten up around 3:00 in the morning because of the treacherous time change. We decided we'd use our Indy fastpasses for the last ride of the day.
Each land adapts to the night very well. Lost River delta was lit by torches using real fire.
Indy's temple is a little more impressive than its DL counterpart. Although the ride was far superior than the DL original, one part that bugged me was that the John Williams score cut out at some parts. The orchestration on the original is still the best. But in every other respect, the TDS version is better.
After Indy we circled around the park the other way through Mermaid Lagoon and Mysterious Island.
The evening sky finally gave me a chance to take a good picture of King Triton's supurbly detailed Castle.
Oh, and is it just me, or have there been a lot of planes captured in the sky of these pictures? I guess we were close to the Narita flight path.
Mysterious Island pulsates with thermal energy at night.
...And that concludes day 1 of this trip report! Thanks for reading!!!
Coming Soon: The greatest Disney ride ever and other amazingness at TOKYO DISNEYLAND ;D
