Day 3: Disney Sea Christmas Day

For Christmas Day, we had the choice of either going to Tokyo Disneyland or Disney Sea, which is like an alternative regional Disneyland like California Adventures in LA or the Animal Kingdom in Florida.  I had read in guidebooks that Tokyo Disneyland is almost an exact replica of the original in California, and since both Jen and I had been Disneyland in LA countless times, we thought it would be better to try something new.  Disney Sea is surprisingly original and most of the rides and attractions we saw there were new, creative and something we had never experienced before.  It also helps that it was built less than 10 years ago and a lot of them were in Japanese.

The Park Itself

The park is clean, large and uniquely themed.  It features seven different “lands” including: Mediterranean Sea, Arabian Coast, Mermaid Lagoon, Mysterious Island, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery and American Waterfront.  The architecture is different than what I’m used to at Disneyland and sometimes seemed a little too random.  There was a large ocean liner that resembled the Titanic at the harbor, a large lake in the middle of what I guess is Mediterranean buildings, a Mermaid inspired spires, a large spinning globe held up by a pillar of water (Universal Studios Globe?) and even what seemed to be the ruins of the roman aqueduct.  In general it was nice but the themes were a little bit too random at times and the park lacks cohesion.  This may also be due to the fact that it is owned and operated by a separate entity that bought the rights from Disney.

The Rides

Most of the rides and attractions were new with the exception of Tower of Terror and Indiana Jones.  We did other rides like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Raging Spirits, Aquatopia, Stormrider and the Magic Lamp Theater that were completely new designs and very interesting to try.  Most were in tune with Disney rides, long lines, short rides, swiftly smoothly moving rides with maybe a sudden but small drop or a loud noise combined with some sort of animatronic monster.  The shows and rides also included things like spraying mists of water, motion rides, hydraulics underneath seats, coasters with loops and even some with a little fire.  Jen screams loudly.

 Submarine - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Ride

 Uh... Car Thing - Journey to the Center of the Earth Ride

I want to extend a special shout out to the Hsiaos and say thank you again for inviting me to be an honorary Hsiao for a day.  It was very nice to pay for my ticket to Disney Sea and I appreciate the hospitality. 

The Day

We actually deviated from the rest of the tour group.  But everyone else was from Taiwan and may not be too familiar with Disneyland.  The Hsiao’s and I were the only ones from LA so it made more sense we tried Disney Sea.  So Jen’s Step Father, Mother, older sister Emily, little brother Eric(-kun), Jen and I (Eric-san) went our separate ways when we got to the park.  Right when we got inside, a park employee handed Eric-kun a bell and he took it hesitantly.  He would later come to regret this because he had inadvertently agreed to join a holiday parade.  Eric-kun is just getting to the age where he’s a little too old for marching in Disney parades and he seemed very unwilling and embarrassed to be marching in a parade of costumed Disney workers and children.  After 10 minutes of playing along, he was a good sport and finally finished his duties.  He was glad to be rid of the bell and his unwanted position.  The lines were pretty long but we saved about 5 hours of lining up by using Disney fast passes.

The Teddy Bear Phenomenon

There was one very strange thing about the park.  Throughout the day, we noticed two souvenirs that every other person in the park had: a plain brown teddy bear of average teddy bear size, and goofy looking hats on almost 50% of the couples.  And the bear had no variation to it, everybody had the same one.  Girls and boys alike clutched to one or sometimes two of the same bear and we couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.  Eventually, Eric-kun professed his need to have one of his own and we went to search out the store in the park that carried it.  We found it sometime later in a far off corner of the park.  It was a single store in the far back corner of the park that carried this one bear.  The hats we later found were also only sold at one location in the park and nowhere else.  The entire store only had a single unchanging design of this one teddy bear.  It had almost nothing on it that made it stand out that it was from Disneyland, just a single Mickey Mouse emblem on its butt and two on its feet.  Other than that there was no other stuffed animal and everybody was grabbing it off the shelves like it was the last one… except the store was filled with them.  I couldn’t figure out what was the motivation to buy this bear.  What brainwashing technique the park had done to all these Japanese people to make them want this plain teddy bear so much.  Whatever it was, they’re geniuses and they made $40 on every bear sold.  And soon enough Eric-chan bought his own bear and named it Chris.

Other Park Abnormalities

There was very little food distributors which is something I’m not used to at Disneyland.  Most of the time, Disneyland is littered with overpriced food retailers to rake in every dollar possible at every corner of the park, but not at Disney Sea.  There was a very long line we noticed at one point and wondered what popular ride it led to.  We found it lead to a stand for chicken legs.  We eventually got one of those chicken legs, and it was nothing spectacular.  Jen’s Dad lined up just to try it to see what was so special about it.  We also ate strawberry flavored popcorn and sesame churros (they also had maple flavored churros).  The popcorn smelled better than it tasted and the churro was an interesting variation on the classic churro.  At first it was strange, but it got more delicious after time and I quite enjoyed the second half of my churro. 

Fishin’ for Dinner

After we left the park we (Emily, Jen and I) met up with Emily’s old Berkeley roommate and longtime friend, Mark.  Mark was a good friend of Emily’s and had moved to Tokyo for about two years now.  So he was now a local and offered to show us a nice place for dinner and it gave Emily and Mark a chance to catch up.  We met him at Shinjuku Station and after some deliberation we agreed to go to a restaurant he promised all the visitors he took to loved, even if it was a little far from the station.  We walked through an underground passage from Shinjuku Station to the restaurant and after about ½ a mile, we all started complaining to Mark for dragging us out so far.  We were tired and hungry from Disneyland and were ready to settle for a hot bowl of ramen.  He insisted this was worth it and that ramen was cheap street food unworthy of tonight.  We arrived in the building and guess what building we were in… that’s right, Shinjuku Washington Hotel.  The one I had painfully searched for hours just two nights before, funny coincidence.  In any case we entered what was an unassuming restaurant doorway only to see a giant boat in the middle of the restaurant.  The boat was sitting the middle of a giant tank of fish that surrounded the fixed boat.  We took a seat at one of the tables on the boat and Mark explained to us that the novelty of this restaurant is that you can fish for your own dinner.  The price of the dinner depended on which fish you caught although it’s something that is pretty hard to control.  They had everything from flat fish to shark (although I’m not sure you can actually catch the shark).  We were given two fishing poles, and two trays of small shrimp that we baited and dipped in the water.  You can fish from your seat on the boat or do it standing up next to the tank which is much easier.  Emily caught a fish and I caught a fish and we had one grilled and one sashimi-ed.  We also ordered other side dishes including yakisoba, buttered scallops, fried chicken, cream croquet and some drinks.  When the fish arrived I was shocked that the remains of the freshly sashimi-ed fish was skewered and left on the plate next to the sashimi meat and was still moving.  Surprisingly, I was not grossed out by staring at the twitching head and body of a dead fish I was eating as much as I was completely fascinated by it.  Some would probably consider this cruel and unusual, but you got to admit one thing, it’s unique.  Only in Tokyo.