If you are visiting Tokyo Disney Resort, but you only have a day or two in each park, this immediately raises the question: which rides should be your top priority?
Leaving aside Tokyo Disneyland for now, let’s take a quick look at this list of The Gaijin Ghost’s five favorite rides/shows at Tokyo DisneySea. It would be presumptuous to label these the objective “best;” rather, they are merely the ones that come with the highest recommendation from this website.
#1 - Sindbad's Storybook Voyage
Location: Arabian Coast
This attraction is exclusive to Tokyo DisneySea. Buoyed by a catchy Alan Menken song, Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage reverses the disappointment of short rides with long waits by offering an 11-minute dark ride ... which seldom has a wait of more than 5 minutes. Sort of like It’s a Small World, only cooler and more adventurous.
#2 - Journey to the Center of the Earth
Location: Mysterious Island
Also exclusive to Tokyo DisneySea. Take a look at the Guided Photo Tour for this attraction. The first line ought to be enough of a hook: “It spits you out of a volcano.”
#3 - Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull
Location: Lost River Delta
The ride itself is not exclusive, but the amazing queue through an Aztec pyramid is. Worth it for the walk-through; and this is a Single Rider attraction, so if you do it that way, you can conserve that Fastpass option of yours for busier park attractions, like #2.
#4 - Fantasmic!
Location: Mediterranean Harbor
Again, not exclusive to Tokyo DisneySea, but to hear others tell it, this version of the nighttime spectacular is significantly different from the ones running in Florida and California. For one thing, it is performed on boats and barges in the middle of Mediterranean Harbor. Disney Imagineers have termed it “Fantasmic 2.0.” Can be seen from different vantage points all around the harbor.
#5 - Big Band Beat
Location: American Waterfront
Previously, the #5 spot on this list would have gone to A Table Is Waiting, another show in American Waterfront, which was much more accessible in terms of being able to see it (and photograph it). Now that that show has been retired, however, the honor goes to the jazzy Big Band Beat.
But perhaps that serves as a good jumping-off point for this post, and a good jumping-on point for a separate post about Big Band Beat. After all, A Table Is Waiting was already the subject of some in-depth coverage here on the blog. But we have barely skimmed the surface of what makes Big Band Beat list-worthy.
In another article, then, to be published someday soon, we will delve into more specifics about that show. In the meantime, be on the lookout tomorrow for another TDS Top 5 list related to restaurants in the park.