A (2019) HalloXmas trip to Asia - Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo! - COMPLETED 5/1!!!

[Lesley Wake]

Part 2 – Flying Ariel and food

After the show I thought I would try and stake out a decent spot for the next show, so I walked over to Lido Isle. But some CMs basically blocked me without saying anything, just stood in front of me. After a bit I realized that area was going to be lottery seating, so I wasn’t allowed in. Ugh! As I looked around the harbor I realized every non-lottery spot was pretty much taken. Like the Halloween parade, people were just taking a spot and not moving all day. So, I just gave up for the time being…

Instead I headed back over to Mermaid Lagoon. I got a fastpass for the 10am showing of King Triton’s Concert (looks like I also grabbed a fastpass for Raging Spirits, the coaster in Lost River Delta).

I honestly had no idea what to expect for this show. I thought maybe it would be like it’s tough to be a bug. Again, no photos in the theatre, but I did take a couple pictures while sitting down before the CMs could tell me to stop!

The pre-show room.

Inside the theatre

(The show photoas are some I found online)

Ok, I was honestly astounded by that theatre. It was a huge room with things all around the side. I sort of guessed there would be projections and maybe animatronics? And that’s the way it started, with screens all around the upper theatre where live-action film of Ariel’s sisters appeared singing. And the larger curtain rolled away with an animatronic huge King Triton. Sebastian and Flounder also appeared as puppets.

But then, Ariel descended from the ceiling. A live-action Ariel on a harness who “swam” all around the theatre! It was pretty cool!

Here’s a hidden camera video someone took!

I was pretty blown away by the whole show! Definitely unexpected and confirmed how the entertainment at TDR was the best!

While I was in the Lagoon area, I stopped into the store to see if there was any new merch (also if any Christmas items which were out of stock elsewhere had showed up)

No luck on Christmas merch, but I did stop at the Gauchopan machine, which had these Christmas keychains. I ended up getting Donald, and I actually use it as a tree ornament!

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

I did make my way back over to the Harbor, but again realized just how bad any view would be of the Christmas show, so I gave up on the second showing.

I did find the park dedication plaque. “Welcome, one and all to a world where adventure and imagination set sail. Tokyo Disneysea is dedicated to the spirit of exploration that lives in each of us. Here, you chart a course for adventure, romance, discovery and fun and journey to exotic and fanciful ports of call. May Tokyo Disneysea inspire the hearts and minds of all of us who share this water planet, Earth. September 4, 2001. Michael Eisner”

It was crazy walking thru the New York Harbor area as guests were just lined all along the walkways waiting for the dancers and characters (in this case Donald and Daisy) who would come out from backstage to walk towards the Harbor.

Anyways, I went to the New York Deli (again, super long line), for a Christmas option, the Camembert cheese and honey mustard chicken sandwich. It was definitely interesting! I actually cut the cheese chunks in half to spread them out in the sandwich more. But lots of different flavors, which worked well together.

I also played the lottery and won for Big Band Beat. (However I picked a late showtime and timing didn’t end up working out to see it.)

Oh, and the app started showing food wait times for quick service restaurants. 60 minutes for one place and 40 minutes basically for a food stand! Ridiculous!

I did wait in one of those for another iconic Tokyo Disney food, the Donald Shrimp roll. Pretty cute packaging!

And if you remember, I had mentioned I got a fastpass for Raging Spirits, a coaster. I didn’t end up going over there to use it (I’ve heard it was nearly identical to the Indiana Jones coaster in Disneyland Paris, which was fun but not a game changer for me). But I discovered the ride actually went down and I ended up with a recovery pass! You don’t see many of those in Tokyo!

And it was surprising how I could use that pass on almost any ride at Disneysea OR Disneyland! Including rides which didn’t even have fastpass. (Only exception was Soaring and Toy Story Mania.) So I just had to decide when and where to use it!

Coming up - Getting in touch with my SEA side​

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Those pictures of the night parade really makes me miss the parades! And a night one!

 

[missangelalexis]

Yikes I'm sorry for the crazy crowds!

The characters look so cute in their costumes!

King Triton’s Concert looks awesome, as if it's straight out of the movie!

 

[cindianne320]

That Christmas show looked awesome- love that the Characters are right in front of you!

How on earth do you read the App in Japanese?! Is there in easy way to translate, or just use the pictures?

 

[KEK1]

Crazy crowds. Love the Christmas stuff in world bazaar! Very surprised they wouldn't sell you a ticket at 9:01, feel like that wouldn't have happened at wdw..
Yummy food.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Yikes I'm sorry for the crazy crowds!

The characters look so cute in their costumes!

King Triton’s Concert looks awesome, as if it's straight out of the movie!

Yeah, the Christmas outfits were pretty cute! I liked that they all coordinated but matched each individual person!

The King Triton's Concert was such a surprise, and yes - what the movie would have been like if Ariel had showed up to the concert on time, lol!

That Christmas show looked awesome- love that the Characters are right in front of you!

How on earth do you read the App in Japanese?! Is there in easy way to translate, or just use the pictures?

For the app, partially photos. And partially I would screenshot it and then go into the Google Translate app. It was a pain, but worked well enough for me! Thankfully they now have an English app so you don't have to worry as much about it.

Crazy crowds. Love the Christmas stuff in world bazaar! Very surprised they wouldn't sell you a ticket at 9:01, feel like that wouldn't have happened at wdw..
Yummy food.

Yeah, the ticket thing was sooo annoying! And I was kicking myself for not buying a ticket earlier, but who would have known I would have issues!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Part 3 – Leonardo Challenge

I had previously mentioned that there is something called the Leonardo Challenge. It’s basically a scavenger hunt (free) that lets you explore all of the fortress and interact with some extra elements!

There are lots of different routes. I’m not even sure how many types of maps, but they have different locations marked on them (this one doesn’t even have them all), as well as a different starting point. And even when you start you can randomly get sent to other paths. So it’s nice because you don’t end up following anyone in particular. You can see the white circle, which you line up with certain stations and it activates video instructions. (Everything written and verbal is in Japanese.)

I didn’t take a whole lot of photos on the “hunt” but I started down in the ship (the red circle). Where I had to spin a dial and it guided me to my next station.

I don’t even remember everywhere else I went, but I made my way up to the top level (I discovered an elevator out of the way so I didn’t have to climb all the steps).

One of the things I found along the route with a reflected ship.

And my final spot was this volcano room. I basically had to press the buttons on the side to close off a hatch that would stop the volcano from erupting. I actually failed my first time because I didn’t understand it, but then I tried to take a bit of a video!

After finishing you imprint a seal on the map. (Though I wish I hadn’t done it right away because the video sensor can tell when you’ve sealed it and then won’t let you do any of the other location effects.)

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

While I was at the top of the fortress I did hang around to see the volcano erupt. You can also see all the scaffolding that was being removed and lava rock from previous eruptions.

I also found a camera obscura room. (Even though I was done with the scavenger hunt I still explored the various spots.) this was cool because you could actually see over across the harbor. It would be neat to watch a show from here!

And a ship room. I don’t remember if I had to pay to control one of the ships, but I had some fun with it! Especially with the storm that would pop up occasionally

Some more areas. The Society of Explorers and Adventurers historical mural.

A pendulum that I think also acted as a clock?

I think this was a perspective painting where you could look thru a specific vantage point.

Overall, I love this area! And I feel like I barely scratched the surface! All of the different scavenger hunt paths also makes it very re-explorable!

Coming up - more Christmas wanderings! ​

 

[alpal22]

Love all of the SEA stuff. Great to see that Mount Prometheus is back to its glory!

(Everything written and verbal is in Japanese.)

How hard was it to understand?

 

[KathyM2]

Looks like the crowds were pretty brutal (again...) but you managed to do some cool things! I love the look of the food..the shrimp roll and that mickey hand bao...adorable..I wish that WDW had more really themed food! Also, the scavenger hunt looked super cool...a lot more interactive than some others and really a fun worthwhile thing to do...unlike some that are really just something to try to give people something to do when they are frustrated with wait times for everything else lol

 

[HieronymousBoob]

You must be exhausted! Did you have a holiday for your holiday?

 

[missjackiemcg]

What an awesome scavenger hunt!! It would be amazing if Sorcerors of the Magic Kingdom was replaced with something like THIS! Though of course I know that will not happen, LOL. A girl can dream!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Love all of the SEA stuff. Great to see that Mount Prometheus is back to its glory!



How hard was it to understand?

It was great to see the volcano explode! And the scaffolding wasn't as bad as I was worried it would be.

The little videos showed what to do so I could sort of get the gist. But I probably didn't get a full appreciate of it all!

Looks like the crowds were pretty brutal (again...) but you managed to do some cool things! I love the look of the food..the shrimp roll and that mickey hand bao...adorable..I wish that WDW had more really themed food! Also, the scavenger hunt looked super cool...a lot more interactive than some others and really a fun worthwhile thing to do...unlike some that are really just something to try to give people something to do when they are frustrated with wait times for everything else lol

Yeah, crowds sucked so bad!

Definitely the scavenger hunt was something fun and uniquely Tokyo DisneySea! I wish they had even more of that on things like Tom Sawyer Island or maybe the Tree of Life trails?

You must be exhausted! Did you have a holiday for your holiday?

Haha, I always feel like I need a vacation after a Disney vacation!

What an awesome scavenger hunt!! It would be amazing if Sorcerors of the Magic Kingdom was replaced with something like THIS! Though of course I know that will not happen, LOL. A girl can dream!

Oh I know! I'm so sad I never really did Sorcerors. It just was crazy that they got rid of it!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Part 4 – It’s Christmas Time and more decorations

While I had skipped the second showing of It’s Christmas Time, I did want to see the last one. Of course, I still had all the annoyances of prime locations reserved for lottery winners and other guests grabbing spots for the full day.

I went over to the side stage and thought I found a place (which wasn’t exactly great) but was rousted out by a CM as I guess I couldn’t wait there. And at that point I was so frustrated, so I basically went and found a bench out of the way and sort of pouted for a bit…

Eventually I decided to get over it. I did have a spot where I could see the stage from a distance, so it wasn’t the best, but I guess at least I could see it…

A shot with serious zoom used!

Some shots of Goofy and the chipmunks.

Pluto came over for a bit

And the ducks also arrived via boat before meeting up with Scrooge.

And the mice did too

Eventually I gave up taking photos and videos… just not good enough views, so I just tried to enjoy the show itself.

So, again, I do like the shows a lot, but the viewing situation just sucks with the crazy fans.​

 

[Lesley Wake]

After the show I made my way over to Cape Cod and got one of the Christmas offerings at Cape Cod Cook-off, the Strawberry Milk Mousse Cake with souvenir plate. Also I got the Gelatoni candy container, which is pretty cute!

I started taking photos and it was funny because I saw the mistletoe and ended up explaining the kissing tradition to some Japanese guests (20yr old girls), and they thought it was hilarious!

More photos from the lighthouse vantage spot.

Decorations in the area. I did like how classic it was!

The main Christmas tree was decorated with lots of duffy ornaments!

I stopped in the gift shop in Port Discovery. Some fun Nemo merch! If I had room in my suitcase I would have gotten the otter cuddling Dory for my mom!

And I got another snack, the Fried Pizza (chicken and mozzarella), which was pretty yummy! Like a fried hot pocket.

Coming up - A much better view of Fantasmic​

 

[missjackiemcg]

I'm a little disappointed you didn't buy the Hank hat to rock at the US parks!

Bummer about the viewing for the Christmas show, but glad you got the chance to at least see it again from afar. It looks just as cute as can be!

 

[Lesley Wake]

I'm a little disappointed you didn't buy the Hank hat to rock at the US parks!

Bummer about the viewing for the Christmas show, but glad you got the chance to at least see it again from afar. It looks just as cute as can be!

That would have been funny! Another trip maybe!

The show was super cute! I wish they had better viewing options.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Part 5 – Fantasmic

I was wandering at this point and ended up back in Mediterranean Harbor, where I randomly spotted someone I had interacted with on twitter, Spencer from TDRPlans (he also writes for WDW new today). He had already grabbed a Fantasmic spot (right against a railing) and we ended up saying hi and chatting for a bit. I also realized how tired I was, so ended up sticking around!

At the 1-hr mark, we could leave to get food. I ended up going over to the Zambini Bros Ristorante (most places around the park had over a 1-hr wait time for food). I got the Creamy Spaghetti with meat sauce, and because I could see the portion wasn’t the biggest, also got the Long Pizza, which sort of was like a pizza folded into a roll? I thought both were pretty great!

Now it was showtime! Our spot made the chance for pretty great photos! (Though I think one of the fireworks launch spots was right by us and Spencer forgot to tell me, so I was a bit startled!)

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

During the jungle scene we did realize one of the barges (of course the one that would have Simba and be right by us) wasn’t out, which was unfortunate.

The stitch scene was always pretty fun! Lots of colorful chaotic fountains and Angel rushing by in a speedboat was a fun effect (albeit hard to photograph)

Genie portion.

​