Thrills & Spills
Tokyo Disneyland – and in particular Tokyo DisneySea – repeatedly claims pole position on the hit lists of theme park addicts. There's no wondering why.
Alliance Airlines Magazine - Dec 2019/Jan 2020
Words by: Michelle Hespe
Disney Park novices often assume that the globally revered theme parks are for kids. Step into the wonderful world of Disney anywhere in the world, however, and you’ll be surprised to find them crammed with adults – many exuberantly dressed to the nines in Disney gear. In fact the queues in Disney merchandise stores will have you wondering if they make more money on clothing and accessories than they do for park tickets.
At Tokyo’s applauded incarnation of the global empire, you’ll see that just as the Japanese are perfectionists with everything else they produce – food, drinks, clothing, art – they take their thrill-rides, entertainment and attractions very seriously. We're talking next level seriously, and this makes for a wonderland for adults that is beyond comparison.
The craftmanship, technology, care (and let’s face it, money) that goes into Disney products is mind-boggling, and so if you’re going to jump in, do it well. Work out the level of adrenaline you’re seeking, decide if you want to take food and drinks into the equation (there are certain areas where adults can have a ’proper’ drink), study a map, sort out your FastPass (you can skip big queues) and pack it all in.
If you are really serious about making the most of it all, stay at one of the Disney Resorts in or near Disneyland, and take advantage of the free shuttle bus and a pass that gets you through the gates 15 minutes before everyone else. This might not seem like a huge headstart, but when you see how fast people run when the doors open, you’ll understand.
Many assume that DisneySea is in Disneyland. However, it’s a different park with a completely different feel, and its shows and attractions are all based around water. There are many ‘tastes’ of the world you can experience here, such as taking a boat ride down a Venetian canal, wandering around a Mediterranean harbour, or exploring the coastal Arabian city where Aladdin was (fictionally) set. And the thrill rides are simply out of this world.
Soar around the world
If you have your early entry pass – or even if you don’t – when DisneySea’s gates open, run like you would in an Aldi sale, and get to Soaring: Fantastic Flight. It’s an incarnation of the popular Disney Soarin’ experience that’s at other Disney Parks around the world, but Tokyo has taken it to an amazing new level.
Set in a an old-worldly European museum dedicated to humanity’s pursuit of flight, the venue itself is extraordinary. Once inside the museum, just like in a Disney film, a painting
of early-aviation innovator Camellia Falco comes to life to tell a story before the real fun begins – starting with guests being firmly buckled into her old-fashioned flying contraption, the Dream Flyer.
Take your shoes off, swing your legs and act like a kid, because here, technology merges seamlessly with Disney brilliance. On the flight simulator you are propelled into the clouds and taken on an exhilarating journey around the world. The places around are so real it’s as though you are there.
Elephant herds kick up dirt (that you can smell) below your toes in Africa – so close you feel as though you can touch their backs. Flying above the Great Wall of China you can feel the overpowering sense of height and ancient grandeur. Riders soar over Sydney Harbour (where a seaplane speeds right at you), and burst in upon camel riders at sunset around Egypt’s pyramids, fly through America’s awe-inspiring canyons, drift above cheeky Pacific Islanders paddling their canoes, see Niagara Falls underfoot, and watch in awe as families of polar bears walk across ice caps and humpback whales leap out of the ocean.
It’s breathtakingly amazing and I'm not ashamed to say that I cried with happiness, both times I flew. Hand on heart, it’s one of the most extraordinary travel experiences I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of.
Get wet with pirates & explore with Indiana Jones
If there’s one thing the Japanese love, it’s a great show, and Disney doesn’t hold back when it comes to impressing guests. So it’s not surprising that the Pirates Summer Battle ’Get Wet’ performance is an extravaganza that makes you feel as though you are in the middle of an epic buccaneer fight.
DisneySea is set around an enormous lake with cities and villages on all sides, and the size of it really hits home when life-size pirate ships sail into the harbour, cannons and guns blazing, pirates going so wild with energy that the crowd erupts in a frenzy. If you are really going to get into it – and everyone does – take a spare set of clothes, because the people 20 to 30 deep around every spare inch of ‘coast’ get completely saturated by water fired rapidly from the ships. It’s what Disney does so well – makes adults feel like kids again, and has kids feeling as though they are witnessing wild acts of magic. People are screaming with laughter, and Jack Sparrow-style pirates are leaping about in dance and song, bellowing as they soak onlookers. Watching the crowds is just as hilarious as watching the show.
Now that you’re into being terrorised, make sure you head into the forest behind the lake and delve into Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull. On a rollercoaster you’ll be shot around through tunnels with special effects going bonkers at every turn, like that out-of-control boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Speaking of haunted houses, the park’s take on a hair-raiser is unbelievable. The Toer of Terror ride is set in a circa-1912 ridiculously grand New York hotel where the owner mysteriously disappeared in 1899. Guests enter Hotel Hightower’s lobby and take an elevator to the top floor. When you ‘drop’, you might feel as though you left your insides at the top of a skyscraper. And there are remarkable views (if you’re brave enough to keep your eyes open and take them in) across all of DisneySea.
You might be getting the gist by now. The rides in this place aren’t just rides. They are entire experiences in lands that have been so well crafted, you can’t help but believe the stories behind them.
Don’t leave the mountain before heading into the heart of it, for a roller-coaster ride like no other – Journey to the Centre of the Earth. After all, there aren’t many places out there where you can be shot out of the top of a volcano.
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