1-day at Tokyo DisneySea Halloween 2022 (in the rain!)

This is like my third post with "in the rain" in the title. I do think the weather can affect an experience a lot, so it might be worth mentioning! For a Disney Japan visit in particular, it typically means less crowds, lots of umbrellas, and cancelled outdoor shows (parades, Fantasia, etc).

1-day itinerary overview (park hours 09:00 - 21:00):

Arrive at DisneySea ticket entrance and enter the park, approx 08:15

Get in line for Journey to the Center of the Earth (prior to operating hours)

Ride JTTCOTE (standby wait approx 20 minutes)

Ride Indiana Jones (standby wait 15 minutes)

Snack from Expedition Eats

Ride Soaring: Fantastic Flight (standby wait 50 minutes)

Ride 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (standby wait 5 minutes)

Snack from Nautilus Galley

Snack from Barnacle Bill's

Watch Big Band Beat (12:20 reserved seats)

Ride Toy Story Mania! (50 minute standby wait)

Snack from Hudson River Harvest

Lunch at S.S. Columbia Dining Room

Ride Tower of Terror (standby wait 40 minutes)

Ride Aquatopia (standby wait 15 minutes)

Snack from Popcorn cart - Caramel

Snack from Open Sesame

Ride Sindbad's Storybook Voyage (standby wait 5 minutes) 

Ride Raging Spirits (standby wait 20 minutes)

Snack from Sultan's Oasis

Ride JTTCOTE (standby wait 25 minutes)

Snack from Zambini Brothers Ristorante

Snack from Popcorn cart - Caramel

Ride Indiana Jones (standby wait 5 minutes)

Ride JTTCOTE (standby wait 20 minutes)

Fireworks as we leave the park, approx 20:30

We arrived at Maihama station just before 08:00 and wasted no time getting to the resort line and using our existing SUICA cards to enter the gates. There was a train already waiting and we were able to both find seats before its departure.

We, along with most of the other guests on the monorail, got off at the DisneySea stop and headed for the entrance. I was surprised to see the bag and metal detector check so far out, but passed through with just a small crowd. We continued to the ticket gates where we were able to scan our tickets and entered the park early just after 08:15. Since this was unexpected for me, we didn't have an immediate plan upon entry, and it had started to rain, so we took a little bit to scan our tickets in the Tokyo Disney Resort App and try to understand how it worked. 

We ended up making our way to Journey to the Center of the Earth (Mysterious Island) in center of the park by 08:30. There was already a seemingly large line forming outside the ride, and it didn't seem like they were letting anyone start yet. 

The line started moving at around 08:45 as everyone started to enter the main queue inside the entrance. We didn't really start advancing until closer to 08:55 and then waited about 20 minutes before getting on the ride ourselves. It seemed a lot longer because we had been in a mostly unmoving line for 45 minutes, but overall wasn't terrible.

My husband's rating: 4/5. He had previously dismissed this ride despite us going on it twice in 2018 but has since revised his opinion and would now rate it a bit higher. "Pretty junk until it speeds up. The storm/water effect was cool."

My rating: 4/5. I would give it a similar rating. It's not perfect, but really good and worth going on at least once if you enjoy dark thrill rides - just don't expect it to be be a roller coaster. 

Still raining, we walked through the Nautilus Galley area, but it wasn't open yet. 

We continued towards the back of the park to the Lost River Delta via Mermaid Lagoon.  

The Indiana Jones Temple of the Crystal Skull ride (Lost River Delta) had just a short 10-15 minute standby wait listed, so that was our next attraction.

It's very similar to any other Indiana Jones ride at any of the other Disney Parks with the bumps and turns, and it's always been a favorite of mine. The theming for this one aligns with Temple of the Crystal Skull specifically, but to be honest, I don't know enough about any of the Indiana Jones movies for that to make a large difference to me and it's all enjoyable.

My husband's rating: 3/5. A bit of a decrease from the previous time. 

My rating: 5/5. I just really like the design of the ride (mechanics and theming). For some reason, on this visit, I really looked around during the ride and realized it would be really scary if I was an impressionable child lol. 

First snack of the day at Expedition Eats (Lost River Delta). They have the same sausage in a baguette "sausage dog" but now also offer the Toy Story alien mochi ice green "little green men". We got one of each. 

Sausage dog  ||  Little green men

My husband's rating: 5/5 "perfect park food." || 4/5 "better than first time, still wish it was ice cream [inside]. [It's] more like yogurt."

My rating: 5/5 The sausage in baguette is one of my favorite DisneySea snacks when the bread is fresh and toasty. I almost always end up getting this at the beginning of the day as a small breakfast. (I didn't eat the alien mochi because I generally enjoy mochi, so no rating from me.)

Not really taking the most efficient route through the park, we headed back towards Mediterranean Harbor, passing the Arabian Coast.

Soaring: Fantastic Flight (Mediterranean Harbor) is one of the newer DisneySea attractions, and we didn't get the chance to try it last time due to the huge lines. We had a bit more luck this day with a 50 minute standby wait which didn't seem too bad. 

A decent chunk of the queue is outdoors (or at least that's how it was set up this day) which is a bit unfortunate when it's rainy and humid, but it moved reasonably well.

The most impressive part of the ride to us was the technology used in the introduction to the ride with the "live" painting and other effects. The dialogue is all in Japanese, but we were able to get the gist of it (similar to how Tower of Terror is introduced). Definitely best seen in person and super cool. 

Apparently this ride is quite similar to the Soarin over California ride in California Adventure. I haven't been on that ride in a long time, so my closest comparison is actually the Mt Fuji Airways ride at Fujikyu Highlands. You're essentially lifted in your seat to get a "flying" effect and the scene is displayed on a large screen in front of you to appear as if you are moving. It was an interesting ride with a super cool intro, but not really worth the 3 hour standby wait I've seen in the past!

My husband's rating: 3/5 "ride not anything special, intro was super cool. Queue was not so special. Would ride again to watch the intro."

My rating: 3/5. I think it would be a 2/5 for me for the ride alone, but I did like the effects in the introduction so that gave it one extra point.

We followed that an old familiar ride - 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (Mysterious Island) that had a 5 minute standby wait. Essentially we just had to walk through the entire queue and was able to immediately get into a pod. We even got the entire thing to ourselves (usually seats 6 people max). 

My husband's rating: 3/5, "cool to ride once."

My rating: 3/5. It's not that exciting, but the wait is often very short, and it was nice that we got a pod to ourselves this time. I like that the experience is slightly different based on where you sit in the pod. 

Time for another snack! Nautilus Galley (Mysterious Island) was open by this time, so we got one of the Halloween-limited special cocktail drinks (orange and chocolate liquor) and one "gyoza dog" which is basically like a bullet train shaped steamed pork bun.

Gyoza dog  || Special Cocktail

My husband's rating: 3/5 "better than last time but still not great". || 3/5 "pretty novel but OK that its limited."

My rating: 4/5. Meat and bread is a winning combination for me, especially fresh/warm bread on a cold day. I think they used to have sauce packets for this but maybe because of covid they decided not to give them out? (No cocktail for me.)

We had some time to kill, so we went into a few of the stores in the American Waterfront area. Lots and lots of Lina Bell merchandise!

Another snack opportunity at Barnacle Bill's (American Waterfront) - another Halloween limited special drink and a sausage on a "bone". 

Sausage  ||  Special cocktail

My husband's rating: 3/5 "good but overpriced" || 1/5 "not good, not a fan of spiced beer."

My rating: 2/5. Sausage is sausage but I don't prefer too much spiced stuff myself either.

We had reserved seats for the 12:20 Big Band Beat show with entry starting at 11:50 via the TDR app. We were sitting in the lower A section and luckily no one ended up in the seats in front of us so we had a great, unobstructed view of the stage. 

During our previous 2 visits, we were unable to get reserved seats through the "lottery" system, so this was my husband's first time seeing the show! The app and lower crowds made getting our seats a lot easier for this visit. This is something I think is definitely worth seeing at least once at DisneySea for anyone!

My husband's rating: 3/5 "appreciate the live show."

My rating: 5/5. It's in English. Not too long and not too short. Great opportunity to sit comfortably while at the park but still get a DisneySea-exclusive experience. If you get an assigned seat, you don't have to worry about waiting in line, too. 

We spilled out of the Broadway Theater and followed the crowd to Toy Story Mania! (American Waterfront) where the standby wait was listed at just 50 minutes! (It was later reduced to 40 minutes about 15 minutes after we got in line lol, probably inflated temporarily due to Big Band Beat letting out and its proximity to this ride.) 

I've never opted to wait in the standby line for this ride because it's always been ridiculous. Like Soaring, a lot of it (this day at least) was outside and it's pretty boring + in the rain which makes it somewhat unpleasant until you finally make it inside and can see all the colorful toy theming. 

My husband's rating: 5/5, "line was relatively short, queue is ride, ride is great."

My rating: 5/5. I think this is a great ride. There's some spins and turns to keep it interesting and the shooting mechanic works great with the 3D screen. While this ride is present at other parks, that doesn't diminish its appeal here, especially with its awesome interior queue decor. I don't consider this a "must ride" attraction due to the wait time, but I do always enjoy it.

We stopped at the Hudson River Harvest (American Waterfront) snack shop for a Halloween limited churro. A lot of the tables were wet from the rain but luckily someone was leaving as we arrived, so we got a dry spot.

My husband's rating: 5/5 "best churro all day"

Then we headed into the S.S. Columbia to check out the ship a little bit and stay dry.

We had used the Tokyo Disney Resort app to make a reservation at the S.S. Columbia dining room while we were in the Toy Story Mania! line. We were greeted and then asked for our name to look for our booking ticket, then efficiently shown to a table. 

We initially sat across from each other but the plastic partition made it difficult to talk or try each others' food, so we ended up on the same side, side-by-side lol. The menu was set course only, but you could choose between 2 appetizers and 2 mains (plus 2 different sizes for each main). 

Appetizers: 合鴨とオレンジのリエット　レッドカラントのジュレ、マロンソース　黒ゴマのチュイル添え  //  ソーセージとチキンのベジタブルスープ

We each got 2 bread rolls each to accompany the appetizer. They were warm and seemingly fresh!

Main dish: スズキのクラスト焼きとオマール海老のオーブン焼き　シュリンプのパートブリック包み添え  //   ローストビーフ、ゴボウ風味のマディラソース

Dessert: (We got one each but they were exactly the same) フルーツとチョコクリームのヴェリーヌ、ミックスベリーケーキ

Overall for the meal as a whole,

My husband's rating: 4/5 "was a great experience, not a must but it's pretty cool. especially enjoyed the main dish."

My rating: 3/5. It was a good experience, but this meal was never going to be a 5/5 for me just because of the types of food I like. I feel a bit bad rating it at all for that reason. It was good for what it was but I just prefer different options. No regrets at all, just not my favorite type of food.

Tower of Terror had a 40 minute standby wait, so we figured that would be perfect for us to digest our lunch a little. While I love the effort they put into the theming for this ride, I hate how the queue moves so slowly because of the limited number of "elevators". 

My husband's rating: 3/5 " you get what you expect."

My rating: 3/5. Ride itself gets a 2/5 for me but the theming overall + the intro add 1 whole point on its own. I don't know why, but I just feel like the actual ride is lacking and disappointing. I am somewhat partial to rides with drops which ToT definitely has, but always walk off this one feeling like "that's it"? 

Having gone on all of the priority rides for us at least once, we took our time walking across the bridge in American Waterfront, through the back and towards Port Discovery.

where I made my husband go on Aquatopia because the wait wasn't very long (15 minutes) and the rain had subsided for the time being. 

My husband's rating: 2/5 "it gets an extra point because my wife likes it."

My rating: 3/5. It's fun but not excellent. I would put it in a similar category to 20,000 Leagues under the Sea in that it's always worth riding with a short line. 

Also seemed like a good time to finally stop for Caramel popcorn! This is the flavor I'll usually get at the park, but they had a lot of other interesting flavors like shoyu butter, matcha and white chocolate, black pepper and garlic shrimp. 

We made our way through the Lost River Delta and continued towards the Arabian Coast which we had bypassed earlier. First, a chai & spiced sugar churro from the Open Sesame cart.

My husband's rating: 4/5 "is tasty but has room for improvement."

And then getting in the "5 minute" standby wait for Sindbad's Storybook Voyage (Arabian Coast) which was not a wait at all and just a quick walk through the queue. They even spaced us out in the boat and we shared it with only 2 other people who were in the last row (we were in the front).

My husband's rating: 2/5 "kinda mid, it's not anything special and not super exciting."

My rating: 4/5. I always enjoy this ride to slow down during the day and just relax a little bit. The song is catchy and the animatronics are great + there's often little to no wait.

Because he did not remember the disappointing ride from last time, we figured we might as well go on Raging Spirits again with a 20 minute standby wait. It had started to rain again, so that's less than ideal for an entirely outdoor ride and half outdoor queue, but we were a bit used to it by then.

My husband's rating: 1/5 "not a roller coaster."

My rating: 2/5. It's very short and pretty slow at the beginning for what's meant to be a more "intense" roller coaster with an advertised 360° loop, but it is a roller coaster. That being said, if you particularly enjoy roller coasters, I do not think this is really worth riding if it has anything more than a 25 min wait, and if you don't enjoy roller coasters, you're not going to like it either lol. 

Back into the Arabian Coast, it was time for another snack at Sultan's Oasis. We previously enjoyed a Chandu-themed cream-filled steamed bun here before but it now features a naan filled with meat sauce that looked really interesting.

My husband's rating: 4/5 "pretty good."

My rating: 3/5. It was good, and I would consider getting it again, but it wasn't overly special. It's similar to a lot of the DisneySea snacks where it's easy to eat on the go and has nice and warm bread. 

Making our way back towards the front of the park, we ventured through Mermaid Lagoon at night. I usually visit this area during the day, and it has a nice glow at night.

Just when I thought we might be done for the day, we took the opportunity to check out JTTCOTE one more time. Standby wait was now just 25 minutes, so we got in line.

I'm glad my husband started enjoying this ride a little more this trip because I enjoy it a lot myself! I feel like the night atmosphere matches this ride a bit more since it's a dark ride. In the two brief moments of exposed track, it's nice to see all the lights in the park.

We ended up walking around a bit more towards Mediterranean Harbor as it continued to drizzle on and off. The sun had solidly set by this time, so we got a great view of Mt Prometheus. 

Another snacking opportunity at Zambini Brothers Ristorante (Mediterranean Harbor) where I would typically get a meat sauce pasta, but since we were still quite full, we opted for the seasonal chocolate drink with coffee jelly.

My husband's rating: 3/5 "it was pretty good."

My rating: 3/5, it's a lot of ice in there and the chocolate drink is basically just chocolate milk. It's nice and somewhat novel. If you like coffee jelly, this might be great for you though.

Okay, okay, one more caramel popcorn for me lol.

We end up walking through Mediterranean Harbor and back toward Port Discovery again... 

as we made it all the way back to the Indiana Jones ride in the Lost River Delta for a super short 5 minute standby wait. We were in a jeep with just 2 other people and got the entire first row to ourselves.

Aaaaand, last ride of the night? My husband chose Journey again! Still had about a 20 minute standby wait, so not quite as abandoned as Indiana Jones, but still reasonably short.

The fireworks were going off just a few minutes after we exited JTTCOTE, but as we walked out, our view was obstructed by the buildings, so we just kept going to the globe near the entrance gates. Later I saw that someone had taken a nice video from this area of the fireworks, so if we're in a similar situation in the future, we'll go over there!

Quick walk back to the monorail stop, and then we had a 2 hour ride home back to Kanagawa.

Differences since my last visit to Tokyo Disney in 2019:

- Tokyo Disney Resort App with map, standby wait times and priority entry options tied to your entry ticket
- No fastpasses at all for any ride - all standby only. On this day in particular, standby wait didn't seem to grow past 70 minutes. There did seem to be some rides (Toy Story Mania and Soarin) that you may have needed an entry ticket on high crowd days.
- Show "reservations" (like Big Band Beat) can be selected through the app
- Restaurant reservations can be made through the app and corresponding TDR website 

- Photo snaps in attractions temporarily suspended (Indiana Jones, Tower of Terror)

The most significant difference to our visit was definitely using the official app for wait times (it was accurate) and not having any fast passes. All the fast pass machines were still up, so I think when the larger crowds return, they may become available again?  

Not as many Halloween decorations as we thought there might be, but there was a ton of Halloween merchandise and themed food items at least. We probably won't go back again specifically for this holiday, especially because we don't have a particular interest in going in costume (only allowable during this time), but it was interesting to see what other people dressed up as. It is nice to have a super low crowd day, but the rain definitely creates a less-than-picturesque day. It wasn't good for blogging AT ALL, but we did enjoy all the 5 minute standby wait times and had a pretty nice experience otherwise! 

This was my 5th visit to DisneySea, but I learn something new every time, so I find it still worthwhile to blog to keep the memory. If you're interested in a more in depth initial review, please check out one of my older posts!

Other Tokyo Disney Resort related posts:

Planning for Tokyo DisneySea

1-day at Tokyo DisneySea November 2015 <-- My initial thoughts on most of the popular rides/food

1-day at Tokyo DisneySea May 2016

1-day at Tokyo DisneySea November 2018

1-day at Tokyo DisneySea AND Disneyland December 2019