As part of my my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law's visit, they wanted to check out DisneySea! This would be their first Disney Japan experience, and we planned for 2 days at the park with an overnight stay at the Mira Costa hotel in between. Although I've been to DisneySea 5 times in the past (Autumn 2015, Spring 2016, Autumn 2018, Winter 2019, Autumn 2022), there were still some new things I experienced and learned during this visit, so I'm happy to share it!
Mira Costa (staying in the park!)
While I've heard a ton about this hotel and seen it from the outside a number of times, I really never thought about staying there until my MIL suggested it! It is pretty pricey, but the convenience of the hotel literally being inside the park is an unbeatable advantage.
We drove to the park and the Mira Costa has its own parking area separate from DisneySea. It's 3000yen for the first night and then 1000yen for the additional day after midnight. (Since we arrived at about 09:30am on Day 1 and left around 14:00 on Day 2, we paid 4000yen for parking.)
We arrived before the check-in time, but we wanted to drop off our luggage and see what would be possible at that time. The lobby is wonderfully decorated (including the bathrooms!) and can be accessed by the average park ticket holder even if you don't have a hotel reservation. We each received a Disney Monorail 2-day pass with our booking.
The bathroom included 3 areas - a separated toilet to the left, a sink and vanity area in the middle with some Disney-themed toiletries and then a step-in shower and bathtub room to the right.
We didn't have a view into the park, but there was a nice outdoor patio that we didn't end up using at all lol.
Included with your hotel stay is an early entry ticket allowing you to access the park 15 minutes before average park ticket holders on especially busy days. It cannot be used on check-in day, but rather the following day. Since we were planning to visit the park for both days, this worked out just fine for us. A staff member helped ensure we were in the correct waiting area for early entry. On this particular day, it didn't seem like we actually got the 15 minutes, but were allowed priority entry into the park.
One thing I didn't realize until we were actually at DisneySea is that you can't actually enter the park from the hotel until it's past a certain hour (in the early afternoon, I think?). If you want to enter the park when it opens, exit the hotel away from the park, and then walk down one story into the south end of the regular line ticket scanning area. Since we had a wheelchair, the elevator is actually on the opposite side (north ticketing side), closer to the monorail station and it was quite a bit farther than I was expecting to have to walk.
For our situation, it was definitely worthwhile to be able to stay in the park with the 4 of us altogether while we visited for 2 consecutive days. The room size is definitely fine for 4 adults, and for the type of room we got, the price was actually somewhat comparable to getting 2 rooms for 2 adults each at some of the other Disney-partnered hotels but had way more perks.
I'm thankful to my MIL for sponsoring this experience for us, and would definitely consider staying at the Mira Costa again - but maybe next time splurge for a Harbor View room?? If you love Disney, a touch of elegance and can afford it, a 1-night stay at the Mira Costa is definitely worth a try!
Rides
Compared to all of my past visits to DisneySea, we didn't put any effort into going on any of the thrill rides (and actually JTTCOTE was closed during our visit), but we did still try a bunch of the tamer ones that are special to the park.
Nemo & Friends: Searider
Since the line was fairly short and we were in the area already, this was our first ride of our visit. I'd only been on this ride once before, but remember being pleasantly surprised with it. It has an immersive screen and theater effects that make you feel like you're exploring the ocean with Nemo and Dory and friends!
To me, this will always be a classic DisneySea ride that's a must for someone's first visit. It was easy to access using the wheelchair which we took right through the short wait in line.
I've never been on this boat before but it's a nice round trip throughout DisneySea that offers a small introduction to each section of the park. I think it's actually better if you're not in the front row (your front view is blocked off quite a bit) but this was another easily accessible ride for wheelchairs - we rolled right on and off without issue.
Soaring: Fantastic Flight
The wait was over 2 hours long by the time we were considering on going on this ride. We opted to purchase the express tickets for a little later in the day instead which allowed us to skip all of that. We waited maybe 15 minutes max. There's stairs as part of the queue for this ride, so we didn't take the wheelchair in at all. This was my MIL and GMIL's absolute favorite ride and one of the highlights of their Disney visit, so I know they considered the money spent on the express pass well spent.
Fortress Explorations
We stopped just briefly in here. Although there's an elevator to get you to the various floors, it's definitely best to get around on foot if you're able bodied to see into all the little towers and different small exhibits.
Toy Story Mania!
We made this a priority as the first ride for Day 2 and we headed straight there after getting priority entry in the morning. The wait was fairly short (regular standby wait considering) and we were able to use the wheelchair all the way up to the loading area. One of the stages wasn't working during our ride, but other than that, it was fun as usual!
The last unique and "tame" but not kiddy ride at DisneySea that I thought would be worthwhile to checkout was this ride. We were able to take the wheelchair through the queue with no issue but then had to wait on the side for almost 10 minutes once reaching the front for a special cart(?). I made the mistake of pretending to fully understand the staff member when she was explaining things in Japanese, so I'm not exactly sure what happened since the cart we were in didn't look or seem special to me at all.
Shows
Since we weren't waiting in the long lines for the big ticket rides, we were able to use some of that time waiting for the shows! I haven't seen a lot of these since I first went to DisneySea in 2015, so I was really looking forward to them.
Disney Christmas Greeting at Mediterranean Harbor
We were able to get a place in the elevated wheelchair area about an hour before the show started. The wheelchair user gets the spot up front and then any accompanying guests either have to crouch or kneel right behind the wheelchair or take about 7-10 steps back and can stand once the show starts. Because I haven't seen this day-time show in a while, I don't know if its COVID or something else that decreased the dancing off the boat, but I was pretty disappointed by that! The characters and Santa stay on the boat exclusively and it basically just circles around the harbor while playing Christmas music over the speakers.
After a disappointing day show on the harbor, I was hoping that the night time "Fantasmic"-equivalent show would be like I remembered and more. And thank goodness it was. We lined up a bit over 2 hours before the show was supposed to start and I think got the last "free seating" wheelchair spot since we were unable to get the entry pass through the app. We did basically just spend a lot of time sitting in the dark and waiting, but once the show started, it really was excellent and worth waiting for.
While my husband and my MIL went to go ride the Indiana Jones ride after Believe! Sea of Dreams, GMIL and I went to seek out a better spot for the fireworks. My timing was a little bit late, so we had a bit of an odd angle right next to Mysterious Island, but we did get to see the full show and that closed out our night.
Big Band Beat: A Special Treat
Food & drink
A typical highlight for the park is to try all the different snacks and seasonal offerings, and we definitely wanted to share some of our favorites. But we also got to try two new restaurants as well!
Ukiwaman (shrimp) from Seaside Snack [Port Discovery]
Fried pizza turnover (mozzarella & chicken) from Breezeway Bites [Port Discovery]
This was a favorite!
Churro (cinnamon) from High Tide Treat [American Waterfront]
Churro (chocolate) from Hudson River Harvest [American Waterfront]
Churro (potato & demi-glaze) from Refreshment Station [Mysterious Island]
Churro (chai & spiced sugar) from Open Sesame [Arabian Coast]
Yucatan sausage dog from Expedition Eats [Lost River Delta]
Mulled wine cocktail (apple and peach) from Barnacle Bills [American Waterfront]
Sausage on a bone from Barnacle Bills [American Waterfront]
Popcorn (Caramel), Popcorn (Garlic shrimp) & Popcorn (Black pepper)
Gyoza dog from Nautilus Galley [Mysterious Island]
Maple flavored hot apple drink from Hudson River Harvest [American Waterfront]
Hot cocktail (brandy & cocoa) from Hudson River Harvest [American Waterfront]
Oceano dinner buffet in Mira Costa Hotel [Mediterranean Harbor]
We had a 16:30 dinner reservation, so we were in the restaurant as the sun set, but we weren't really near the window so it didn't affect us much. The selection was broader than I was expecting and actually not too bad, but I'm a bit of a limited eater myself. No one else was particularly thrilled with this buffet, and we probably wouldn't take the time to go again on a future visit but it was definitely good to try it once.
Horizon Bay ala carte lunch [Port Discovery]
We had a lunch reservation for this on the second day that we were hoping to change to a "better" restaurant day of, but unfortunately there weren't any openings. I'd never eaten here before and the offerings weren't overly appetizing to any of us, but I did really enjoy the desserts! The dishes are all ala carte and served on a cafeteria line, so you're able to choose what you want as you go.
Our visit overall
I think we all accomplished what we wanted to accomplish, and I would consider it a fairly successful first visit to DisneySea for my MIL and GMIL despite not everything going according to plan.
The weather was blue skies and gorgeous both days we were there, but the crowds were a little stronger than I was expecting for the days of the week we were visiting. The last time I visited with similar timing in 2015, there were way less crowds but it had also been rainy and dreary.
We all agreed that having pleasant weather and slightly more crowds was a decent trade off and since we had 2 days at the park, we were never too rushed for time.
We definitely had a lot to learn about navigating the park with a wheelchair and still certainly don't know or understand everything. We hadn't been able to get a disability park ticket since (to my understanding) we don't have the proper paperwork for GMIL to get it, but all staff members we encountered were helpful if we needed it.
I'm glad that my husband and I were still able to try some new things despite just having visited shortly before and during the Christmas seasons 2x previous, especially the stay at the Mira Costa. Just needing to walk to Mediterranean Harbor to end the night was so much less daunting than having to completely exit the park and catch the monorail and or train anywhere.
We're also still a bit on a learning curve with the new (to us) Tokyo Disney Resort App and reservation system. I felt like I was all over the fast passes and everything, so having to get special entry to just get into the McDuck's store really threw me off during this visit, haha.
Ultimately, we were still able to do what we came to do and buy most of what we wanted to buy, so we're happy!
I'm grateful to have had this opportunity to share and spend time with family at DisneySea in Japan. We went straight from Day 2 at DisneySea to another short staycation for the weekend in Hakone which was just as memorable and fun - post coming soon!
Previous DisneySea posts
Autumn 2015 (first visit with my Disney-loving college friend)
Spring 2016 (with my parents - their first visit)
Autumn 2018 (with my husband (then-boyfriend) - his first visit)
Winter 2019 (with my husband - his second visit and we also went to Disneyland!)
Autumn 2022 (with my husband - for Halloween!)
No comments:
Post a Comment