Tokyo DisneySea Day One: Everything is Yabai (11/03/2024)

Yabai: one little word in Japanese that holds infinite meaning. Awful, cool, pretty, scary: you name it, it can be conveyed with yabai. This was the word that haunted us on our first day at Tokyo DisneySea. We would hear it everywhere, including very loudly at key moments on a certain ride, and this was all down to our first mistake with DisneySea.

Mistakes Were Made

When picking our timing for this trip, we tried to take into account national holidays, specifically avoiding Golden Week, and we tried to get in just before cherry blossom season. What we failed to consider was that the Japanese school year ends in March, and therefore the parks would be flooded with slightly feral high schoolers and college students, giddy with their sudden freedom. Much is said about Japan’s ageing population, but it sure wasn’t evident at Tokyo DisneySea! As with USJ, I’ve never seen so many young people in my life, and at times, standing in a two-hour queue, surrounded by teens shrieking “yabai”, all with the gnarliest of coughs, and all taking endless selfies that captured my slow descent into madness in the background, I couldn’t help but be bitter that the population wasn’t crisis-ing just a little bit more.

Our first day at DisneySea would therefore be somewhat of a struggle; or at least, as much of a struggle as it can be to have the great privilege of exploring what many consider to be the best theme park in the world.

Other than accidentally picking a freakishly peak month (even Japanese Twitter was complaining about how awful the students have been – even littering!), our other mistake was daring to have human bodies that needed rest to survive. Having burnt the candle at both ends the day before, cramming in Hanayashiki and Yomiuriland, we made the necessary decision to “sleep in” (as in, wake up at around 6:30am), which meant we didn’t reach the park monorail until around 9:05am, when the park would have started letting in guests from around 8:45am for a 9am opening. This meant we got into the park around 9:45am, and whilst this was only about 20 minutes later than when we entered the park on our second day by arriving an hour ahead of opening, this made all the difference. There’s a reason why the resort hotels only offer a seemingly measly 15-minute early entry – just a few minutes can make or break your day at DisneySea.

Confronting the wall of people as you emerge into Mediterranean Harbour.

DisneySea is like a game of chess: you need a strategy and to set up your moves. That’s where those extra minutes are vital, as you can start booking your free-to-all-guests priority passes, and paid-for Premier Access passes as soon as you’re through the gates. I’m not going to go into these systems in depth, but be warned: don’t dilly dally waiting to see “how the wait times go” before booking one; all paid-for access was sold out when we checked again around 11:20am on our second DisneySea day. As such, you’re going to want a good mobile data plan to access the app. I can vouch for an Airalo e-sim as of the time of posting; it used both Softbank and KDDI LTE networks, and only struggled very occasionally at Disney when we were deep in some queues and probably surrounded by thick concrete.

Getting to the Rides – Sort Of

Having entered the park late, booked a Priority Pass for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in a panic, and almost immediately realised that its timing blocked us from doing Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull or any of the other big hitters, as they’d already gained 140+ minute queues, we resigned ourselves to a trudge back from Lost River Delta to Port Discovery to ride one of the few rides with a short-ish wait time: Aquatopia. It’s a cute little trackless water ride, but is probably far more fun in summer when you have the chance of actually getting wet! An hour after entering the park we had accomplished our first ride!

Braving the Snack Queues

By this point, we couldn’t actually do any other rides before our Priority Pass timeslot, so my friend humoured me in my search for the one snack I was interested in trying: the Gyoza Dog. The queue at around 11am was billed at 30 – 45 minutes for this long bao, filled with presumably pork, green onions and assorted seasoning. I say presumably because no foods at Tokyo Disney Resort make their contents clear. This is not a language barrier thing either; I can read the Japanese menu too, and it’s equally vague. No ingredients are stated on the app or the website for the Gyoza Dog, and this was a common theme that occasionally tripped us up, especially since my friend is pescatarian.

The Gyoza Dog itself was actually pretty good: fairly flavourful, warming on a cold day, and delightfully squishy. I can’t believe I have to say this, but compared to those of the other snacks, the queue is pretty nice too: you’ll be queueing in the gorgeous basin of Mysterious Island and the covered area of the line even has space heaters! (Top tip for gyoza dog and theme park fans alike: Yomiuriland also sells these bad boys and probably with a shorter queue!)

In line for a Gyoza Dog at the Nautilus Galley, in Mysterious Island.

After the 'Dog, it was time for our 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea priority pass. I think this may have been another mistake possibly as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea didn’t actually have that long wait times on either of our days (mostly under an hour), compared to some of the other bigger rides under Priority Pass, like Raging Spirits. This ride was pleasant and a good choice for anyone hoping to sit for a few minutes, but strangely both my friend and I felt a little queasy looking through the glass into the underwater world; there was quite a bit of distortion, and I wonder if it would have been a better viewing experience if we were significantly shorter or had the front panel to look through, rather than the side. This is still definitely a ride worth doing as it’s unique to DisneySea, and has the DisneySea levels of attention to detail and craftsmanship that you would expect – I just wouldn’t wait 90 minutes for it.

Back to the Rides

Next, we flippered along to Mermaid Lagoon. I had very low expectations for this area of the park, as somehow in some videos and photos it looked really cheap, gaudy, and not at all in keeping with the rest of DisneySea. However, viewing it in person, I was very pleasantly surprised. On the outside, all of the swirling structures of (I presume?) King’s Triton’s castle have this intricate tiling that creates an almost pearlescent effect, and on the inside, the lighting manages to replicate being underwater surprisingly well. I had assumed it would look like a basic FEC due to the ride content of the area, but being DisneySea, of course it looks like the fanciest FEC to ever exist. Inside was absolutely heaving, so we fairly quickly found ourselves outside again, queuing for an obligatory coaster cred: Flounder’s Flying Fish Coaster. We waited about 35 minutes for this uninspiring Togo kiddie coaster. Here, the theming really falls short for once, especially when you compare it to its equivalent in Tokyo Disneyland, Gadget’s Go Coaster, which is a charmingly themed and kinetic kiddie coaster.

Detailing on the main building of Mermaid Lagoon.

The Saviour of Vegetarians

By this point it was nearly 1pm, so we went for lunch at essentially the one place that does a vegetarian meal: Casbah Food Court, located in the Arabian Coast port of call. We spent ages scouring the app and blogs for vegetarian savoury food options in advance, and other than the off-menu low allergen curry and stew, available at many of the quick service restaurants on request, this was basically it. Thankfully, it’s a tasty Japanese-style curry, if a little oily, with a few bits of vegetable in the sauce, and served with white rice and a naan. There are non-veggie curry options here too, so it’s a good crowd-pleaser, as long as the crowd enjoys curry. We ended up eating here for dinner on our second day at DisneySea too, as not only was it one of our only options, but also, it was a really nice location, feeling slightly tucked away and never with crazy long lines. Another bonus is that it’s available for mobile order: my friend speed-ordered our food just as we were boarding Flounder’s Flying Fish Coaster in a satisfying bit of DisneySea strategising.    

Twinning with curries at Casbah Food Court.

Acquiring ‘The Boy’

Laden with curry, we plodded over towards American Waterfront, as we had a Teddy Roosevelt Lounge reservation for 2:10pm. We stopped off in the Duffy and Friends merch store, Aunt Peg’s Village Store, where I acquired a Gelatoni hand puppet. Before this trip, I had not even a shred of interest in Duffy and Friends; I find the art style so dull it’s somehow clinical, and it’s all a little bit too twee for me. I like my mascots a bit more chaotic. However, this particular Gelatoni hand puppet was different. He had a twinkle in his eye, like he perhaps enjoyed a spot of arson in his spare time, and his fur was a little scroggly, like he’d had to climb over one too many wire fences to flee from his crimes. He looked rambunctious, perfectly imperfect, and such a steal at only 3000 yen (around £15.70). He would provide warmth and support during our long queues on our remaining Disney days, and would also star in almost all of my Disney photos, resulting in wonderfully crisp images of my pistachio-furred boy, and blurry suggestions of the beautiful locations we were in. Is that Mount Prometheus spewing out a fireball? I don’t know, but Gelatoni seems happy! 

Gelatoni with the Port Discovery cocktail at the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge. 

The Teddy Roosevelt Lounge

Gelatoni also enjoyed our relaxing time at the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge, situated on the massive boat in American Waterfront. My friend had reserved our slot a month in advance online as she really wanted to see this bar, but if we’d been willing to wait, it would probably have been possible for us just to walk up too. Leather sofas, dark wood panelling, and low lighting: this place is a certain kind of classy. I worried that it would be too classy to get Gelatoni out for a photo shoot, but then I looked around and saw a man in a huge head-encompassing Winnie the Pooh hat, face-down on his table, and my worries vanished. Gelatoni enjoyed posing with my friend’s signature Port Discovery cocktail and I nursed a black tea, having already overindulged with a gyoza dog and curry in fairly quick succession. In a bizarre slip of Disney standards, the milk provided to me for my tea was definitely curdled – it smelt awful and had lumps when I poured it into my last cup. Not what I was expecting from such a bougie establishment!

I personally wouldn’t recommend coming to this lounge unless you’re a DisneySea regular; it was nice to sit for a bit in a calm setting, but it’s quite expensive, the Teddy Roosevelt decor is unappealing (I have never wanted to be surrounded by portraits of Teddy Roosevelt looking stern in different hats), you don’t really get a sense that you’re on a MASSIVE BOAT once you’re on said massive boat, and the themed cocktails have nothing that screams DisneySea about them.  

Seriously though: why does he look so displeased?

The Yabai-ness of the Journey to the Center of the Earth

We stayed for most of our allotted time (approximately 90 minutes) until 3:30pm because frankly, we were knackered, then psyched ourselves up for joining the ridiculous Journey to the Center of the Earth queue. We tried in vain to find the end of the line, but it snaked so much through Mysterious Island that we had to ask a cast member to direct us. It just kept going further and further back, seemingly with no end, but once we found the end, it was fun to watch other guests also experience that same dawning horror. There were lots of Japanese exclamations of “you can’t be serious,” “oh no,” and “I’m going to die.” Journey to the Center of the Earth’s queue is unfortunately not a pleasant one, even once you get past the sprawling temporary portion of it; I am very sensitive to sound and the constant hum of the brown noise soundtrack in the ‘proper’ queue is very atmospheric, but also very oppressive when you’re subjected to it for over two hours. In the end we queued for just under two and a half hours, which wouldn’t have felt so bad if we’d actually got a good run of the ride.

Sadly, we were lumped with a group of what my friend and I termed “Yabai gyaru” or, in English, “girls who feel the need to scream ‘yabai’ throughout the duration of a ride.” You can spot these girls a mile off as they all wear matching school uniforms, often with matching tube socks, and definitely with matching Duffy and Friends ears; LinaBell seems to be their Friend of choice. Journey to the Center of the Earth is by no means a quiet ride in itself, but somehow these girls managed to cut through with their piercing screeches and dispelled any notions that Japanese teens are in any way quieter or less annoying than their European counterparts. The ride is beautiful and the early scenes really deserve your undivided attention, but oh boy was our attention divided against our will. We came off fuming more than Mount Prometheus, as we’d sunk so much time and energy into this ride, and now physically and mentally exhausted, we went off in search of dinner.

You won't be seeing this nice bit of Mysterious Island in the Journey to the Center of the Earth queue - just never-ending rock work.

Dinner: Just in the Nick of Time

We got some food at quick-service Yucatan Base Camp Grill because it always seemed to have low wait times, and had the Little Green Men mochi we both wanted to try. We were able to order and collect our food immediately, but that was actually probably because we hadn’t noticed that we’d rocked up just 25 minutes before they closed at 7:30pm. In fact, no food places seem to be open until park close, so don’t wait too long to get dinner. I got a balanced meal of Mickey-shaped chicken nuggets (they were okay) and Little Green Men mochi, which I hated. They look adorable, so they’re great for photos, but all three of the flavours (chocolate, custard, and strawberry) are horribly artificial – the strawberry one tastes exactly like the liquid penicillin I had to endure as a child with laryngitis. My friend liked them and the Internet loves them, so maybe it’s just me.

Each green blob, more vile than the last.

Our Last Ride: Also Just in the Nick of Time

We decided to make Indiana Jones our last ride of the night, and here again, we were very lucky with our timing. We entered the queue at 7:30pm, and about 5 minutes later the queue closed to new guests, despite the park closing at 9pm. This is because the queues close (except to those with pre-booked fast passes) once it will take until park closing time to clear the queue. So if the queue is billed at 90 minutes, it will close around 7:30pm. A strategy to maximise your rides would be to book a fast pass for a ride that typically has a very long line, like Tower of Terror, for a late evening slot, to bypass the early queue closures, or at least to make sure you’re looking at joining a headliner’s queue around 7:20pm.

Indiana Jones was actually my most anticipated ride in the park, and it didn’t disappoint! I’ve not experienced other versions of this ride, as DisneySea was my first Disney park, excluding my visit to Disneyland Paris as a four year old, and my whistle-stop tour of Galaxy’s Edge during IAAPA Expo as a show ambassador, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I know people sing the praises of Rise of the Resistance as the world’s best dark ride, but to me, this is the winner hands down. For one thing, all of the effects actually work, but also, I personally feel that the crumbling, earthy setting lends itself far better to immersion than the sterile environment of RotR. I would happily have lapped this ride if we didn’t only get off the ride at 9:05pm, past park closing time. On our way off the ride, we briefly considered buying a digital copy of our ride photo, before any plans were dashed by a nice cast member who explained to us that only residents of Japan could buy digital ride photos. Oh.

Gelatoni appreciated the intricate detailing in the Indiana Jones queue.

Leaving DisneySea

We considered having a browse in the main gift shop before leaving the park for the night, but thought better of it as we took just several steps into the store and realised that we were only going to experience a level of jostling previously unknown to us.

It took around 30 minutes to be buffeted by the crowds from the monorail to our platform at Maihama station, and by this point, we were really feeling worse for wear. I personally left DisneySea feeling a bit deflated; sure, it was a beautiful park, but with so many people flooding each pathway, a bobbing sea of Tigger hats and StellaLou ears, it was hard to appreciate its beauty. Even the simple act of grabbing a snack to eat was a pain point – I just wanted to eat a Gyoza Dog for fuel and to keep me warm; I didn’t want to engage with the artificial scarcity Disney seems to love to perpetuate in its snack provisions.

Luckily, we seemed to have visited on an unusually chaotic day, and our second DisneySea day at the end of our trip would be far more of a success. We would have a game plan, a few tricks up our sleeves – and also open wallets for buying Premier Access…