If there were two things I learned from my experience at Tokyo Disney Sea, it would be: 1. Japanese people have an affinity to line up for just about anything, and  2. Do not ever go on a Monday when the day after is a national holiday.

I’ll backtrack to the morning first.

We started Monday morning off at Shinjuku Station. I had conveniently left my notebook at the hotel, which had all the directions on how to get to Tokyo Disney. That meant we had to spend extra time looking at the map trying to figure out where we were going. If anyone has ever tried to navigate a map of the Tokyo public transportation system, you should know how difficult it is figuring out your route. At the end I took the easy way out and just asked for directions from the ekiin at the information desk. =P

Shortly after we set off for Maihama Station. While Yumi had warned me there would probably be a lot of people going to Disney that day, I was a little hopeful since I didn’t see that many people taking the train to Maihama Station. It wasn’t until we got off and switched to the Disney Resort Line that I realized just how many people were visiting the park that day. By the time we made it to the gates it was 10:30am. The park had been opened for half an hour and there was already a huge lineup outside to buy tickets. It took us almost 30 minutes to make it inside.

The first thing we did when we got in was take photos in front of the Aquasphere on Main St. Then we tried to plot our way around to all the main attractions. While heading off towards the Mediterranean Harbour, I was momentarily distracted by the scent of fresh popcorn. Yumi had told me about the unusual popcorn flavours they sell in the park, so I couldn’t resist trying the black pepper popcorn, which was the one she recommended. It was stellar! However, I did pass on the strawberry flavoured popcorn they sold at Port Discovery. =P

When we finally got to Mediterranean Harbour, we made a quick stop at Magellan’s to make a reservation for dinner. However, the only time they had left was for 8:40pm. I had wanted something earlier, but I figured it was too late to change our mind since the majority of restaurants offering Fast Passes were probably all reserved too.

Afterwards, we got our FP for the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride, then made our way over to Port Discovery. The first ride we went on that day was Aquatopic, which took almost 45 minutes to line up for. I had no idea there were so many people inside the park. All of a sudden it seemed like the line in front of us grew longer and longer.

There wasn’t much else in Port Discovery, so we walked over to the American Waterfront hoping to grab some lunch. I figured getting fast food would be the quickest, since we were still in the lunchtime rush. However, fast food didn’t really translate into fast service, and we ended up waiting half an hour just to place our order! I don’t understand how Japanese people have the endurance for this.

Anyway, the food at Cape Cod Cook Off was actually pretty good. I didn’t take any photos cause I was already famished, but we ordered a clam chowder soup, two burgers (one fish, one chicken), a salad, fries and coke. I think everything hit the mark!

After exiting the restaurant, we spotted a huge Christmas tree outside in front of a Mickey Mouse statue. There were people lining up to take photos with it. Wanting to get into the Christmas spirit, we also stood in line for photos. Low and behold – another 30 minute wait!!! The sad thing is, it wasn’t even for a picture with any of the Disney characters. It was just a Christmas tree!! (>.<)

We walked back to Port Discovery afterwards to get our second FP for Stormrider, then made our way over to Mysterious Island. Along the way I spotted yet another long lineup, which I thought was for some attraction. However, when I got close to the front, I realized the lineup was just for the corn dog stand. T_T

Thank goodness for the FP, because we bypassed the lineup at the 20,000 Leagues ride. We still had to wait around 15 minutes to get on, but it was better than waiting 2 hours! The ride itself was a lot of fun. We were loaded into little submarine capsules and taken on an ‘underwater’ adventure. I was a little freaked out because it was so dark, but overall it was a really cool ride.

We couldn’t get another FP till later in the afternoon, but we walked over to the Lost River Delta to see what other rides we could go on. The wait time on all the rides were at least an hour. The Indy Jones ride was even longer – THREE HOURS! And all the FPs were gone for the day. We ended up waiting in line for the Flounder’s Flying Fish Coaster in Mermaid Lagoon. I was so wiped out from lining up that day that I didn’t really noticed it was my turn on the ride. When I finally clued in the ride was moving, it was already over in 30 seconds. LOL.

Afterwards we browsed through the gift shops in Mermaid Lagoon. One thing I noticed at Tokyo Disney was that every single female visitor carried a Duffy doll with them. And when I say every single female visitor, I really do mean every single female visitor. I’m not sure what sort of marketing ploy it is, but Duffy is really popular in Japan. At 3,800 yen per doll it was a little pricey, so I figured it would be safer for my wallet to get out of the store.

(I guess they didn’t need to line up for photos. Pic stolen from the Disney website.)

We went back to Port Discovery to use our last FP for Stormrider, then tried to figure out what else to do with the rest of our time. It was just pass 6pm and we were both exhausted. We decided to head over to Magellan’s to see if they would let us wait on standby. We were actually really lucky since they sat us in a table upstairs (the main dining room is on the bottom floor). I was already so tired from walking that I didn’t even care where we were, as long as we were able to rest our feet.

At 7pm we were called downstairs for dinner. Dinner was…passable. I was actually a little disappointed cause I expected a little more from the 4,500 yen we paid for the course. The food was mediocre and the presentation looked tacky. It didn’t seem to suit the classy atmosphere of the restaurant.

After dinner we managed to catch the fireworks display at 8pm. Then we walked towards Main St. to browse through some shops at the front. My willpower to resist purchasing a Duffy doll broke down while inside the shops. Not only did I buy the Duffy doll, but I also bought it’s female counterpart, Shellie May AND I bought outfits for them. (I know, I should be ashamed of myself, LOL.)

There wasn’t much else to do with the rest of our time. We took the train out of Maihama Station and eventually made it back to the hotel with all our purchases. I played a little dressup with our dolls at the hotel before calling it a night. Another long day of walking and lineups, but a very fulfilling Day 4 of our travels.