Final Disney Day - Day 15

Thursday: June 26, 2025

Today we are doing a second day in Tokyo DisneySea, and this time Dylan is joining us. We chose a slower start again today. It is hot, and no rain today to cool us off. But there is a breeze, so that is nice. 

The park feels much busier than our first day here, and especially so when compared to yesterday in Disneyland. So we are zeroing in on what are our “must dos” for the day. I really wanted to do Frozen, since it is the only ride in the park I haven’t done yet. However, the paid fast passes were not available by the time we were in the park. And the wait time has been 140 minutes at the lowest. 

We went to Journey to the Center of the Earth again first. The wait grew by an hour as we walked and at more than 2 hours wait we decided to pay for fast passes for later. We went to Nemo’s Surfrider and it was a very reasonable 20 minute wait. And we were surprised and pleased to learn that they have different segments just like a Star Tours ride. So our ride was at least 1/2 new content from what we had seen on Monday. That was a fun surprise! 

Next we did the Sinbad ride so we could “follow the compass of our heart[s]” while waiting for our fast passes to be good. 

Then it was time for Journey to the Center of the Earth. It is a fun ride, with a little roller coaster bit at the end. I was glad everyone got to do it. 

After that we headed for Desmond’s choice, Toy Story Midway Mania. We visited during the 50 minute wait. This ride is always so much fun. As we were getting onto the ride my dad said that the person with the highest score would get $5 from him as a prize. But then he got the highest score, so I guess he gets to keep his money. 😂

We tried to go to an Italian restaurant for some lunch as it was about 2PM and we were all hungry. However, it was going to be an hour wait. So we changed plans and left the park so that we could have lunch at restaurants at the train station. We split up into three groups to eat what sounded good to us. 

Mom, Dad, and Desmond went back to the McDonalds. Dylan, Bryan and I returned to TGIFridays, and Erik took Bethie to a ramen place. 

It was nice to sit down in the air conditioning and drink big glasses of ice water and soda. I chose a big bacon burger and have zero regrets. I mentioned it had been Bryan’s birthday, and they brought him an ice cream sundae with a sparkler in it and took pictures which they printed out and gave him in a little birthday card. 

The three of us went back to the park feeling fairly refreshed. I promptly bought myself some Minnie ears, now that the cloud cover enabled me to stash my hat in the backpack. Then Dylan, Bryan, and I went and took a ride on the boat that docks at the New England area that goes all around the park. It was scenic and relaxing. We had fun waving at people and watching them wave back. I don’t understand why it is fun to wave happily at other people, but it is, and it’s a thing here in these parks, so we lean into it. 

After that we made our way over to Soarin’. Our whole group back together, we used our fast passes. The line was really cool and themed around original inventors of human flight contraptions and falconry. There were magical paintings that came to life! It was super cool. The ride itself was nearly identical to flying over the world ride in California. The end was unique, however. You end in Tokyo and flying over Tokyo DisneySea. So that was neat. 

Next we all split ways and Dylan and I headed over to the rollercoaster next to Indiana Jones called Raging Spirits. Bryan offered to wait in the 140 minute line with me for Frozen, but I had told Dylan earlier that I would do the rollercoaster with him. So I did, and it was fun. 

They carefully examined his height as we entered, and we wondered if we would get another height check parade, allowing us to skip the hour wait… but no such luck. A number of cast members at various points asked his name, and they told us they would do a height check at the ride. We were a bit nervous as we waited that he might not be allowed to ride the ride. But with the plan in place to remove his shoes if needed to pass the height check, we continue to wait. When we eventually got to the loading area, they confirmed his name, and seated him in the front row, and that was that. This ride is a fun little roller coaster that lets you get a good view of the park from up high, and even has an upside down loop. The area around the coaster looked really cool, with water, fire, and mist around the Aztec-style ruins. 

At this point, Dylan was ready to be done. Bryan had taken Desmond to go do the Nemo ride, and split a churro with him while we did the roller coaster, and he was ready to go, also. The wait time for the new Frozen ride was down to… wait for it… 100 minutes, and Bryan encouraged me that he would go with me if I wanted to do it. So Dylan and Desmond headed back to the hotel, while Bryan and I got in a really long line to take a storybook boat ride. 

The line wrapped all around inside Fantasy Springs, and we got to see many more sculptures than we had seen before. The group directly behind us were giggling teenagers. They were taking many photos with different filters on it, and often bumping into us in the process. The couple in front of us were not Japanese, but I am unsure what language they were speaking. They seemed mostly interested in getting lots of pictures of the woman in Fantasy Springs with various backgrounds. 

When the music came on, I sang along in English  and the group of girls behind us sang in Japanese. It was funny. 

It began to rain and all around us in line umbrellas opened up, while I welcomed the tiny little splashes of wet to cool me off. 

We kept looking at the size of the line, and then our watches, and then the website that said the park would close at 9PM (21:00).  Bryan was concerned that they may not let us ride the ride if we didn’t make it in time. I was sure they would not let us all stand in a line that couldn’t get us on the ride in time. 

When we finally made it up to the entrance of the attraction, where the sign now said 80 minute wait, we asked the cast member first how wet we would get (the sign said we may get wet) she answered “choto” and Bryan asked “skoshi” gesturing a small amount with his index finger near his thumb. “Ah, yes, skoshi” I felt very proud to know both of these words for “little bit” or “small amount.” Then he asked the more important question. “How long? The wait from here?” She guesstimated 40 minutes, holding up four fingers on her right hand and making a zero with the other. 

Yay!  We made it!  We were in the actual covered line for the attraction, halfway through our wait, and now confident we would get to ride before the park closed. Life is good. 

Not too much longer after that we were on our mandatory castle tour as the line wound its way back and forth in the rooms. The ride itself was a good one. The music is good, it told the story of the first movie, and the boats when forward and backward down little drops, and even sideways at times, which made the movement of the ride interesting as well. 

It was a long, crowded walk out of the park, as the evening show had just concluded. My favorite part was as we approached the Mira Costa Hotel and guests in about four windows were waving with their phone flashlights in the window at the crowd. Amused, I promptly got my phone out of my pocket, turned the flashlight on and waved back. 

We stopped in at Guest Services right before leaving. Only one of us was permitted in line, so Bryan stood outside in the rain. I had a photo of Desmond’s missing hat, and prepared a brief statement using Google Translate about where and when the item had been lost. 

Unfortunately, I learned, as she spoke into her phone to translate that items lost on a previous day are stored elsewhere. Since we are leaving tomorrow we won’t be able to get it. I told her this, and she assured me they could ship it to us. I asked how much that would cost. She showed me a list of countries and estimates in yen. I swiped over to my calculator and typed in the amount. The conversion showed that it would be more than $40 to ship the free hat he got on the cruise home, if they had found it. I thanked her and told her we would not have it shipped. 

Google translate has really been helpful this trip. I haven’t used it until this interaction for speaking, but I have used it to read packaging of foods to see if they contain milk, and to read signs. It has been very handy! 

We have had a good time doing Disney. Now tomorrow we will continue on to Kyoto and enjoy a quieter part of Japan. 

Want to keep Traveling with the Schmidts? Read Day 16