If you missed parts 1 or 2 of this trip report, click on the corresponding number to catch up!

No place makes me feel more awake than being in Japan. At home, I’m somewhere between a 7 and 8 hour per night sleeper. I can function pretty well on less than that but it’s not ideal. Vacation in general has me feeling more alive, if you will. Trips usually see me in the 6 to 7 hour range, as I’m more of a traveler than relaxer. But once I’m in Japan, something takes over and running on between 5 or 6 hours of sleep each night doesn’t feel like a problem. Maybe it’s the cheap coffee, liberal usage of caffeine mints or the excitement of new places but I enjoy needing less sleep.

Any other time, I definitely would have wanted more sleep after 2 open to close theme park days and 1 full Tokyo day. On our 4th day of the trip though, I woke up after about 6 hours of sleep and was excited for the day. We had budgeted a ‘rest day’ for ourselves in between the vacation package portion and regular ticket portion of our Tokyo Disney time. Naturally, that rest day included going into the busiest city in the world!

We had checked into the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay the night before, which is just a few steps away from one of the Tokyo Disney monorail stops. A review of the hotel is coming soon. Because of a weird booking quirk, we did have to switch rooms after one night but that was no big deal, and was my own fault in the booking! After sorting all of that out, we headed into Tokyo for lunch at the wonderful Seirinkan which is right next to the Naka Meguro Station.

Like most food in Tokyo, the pizza scene is excellent right now. Seirinkan is a cool spot, themed to The Beatles and serving Margherita personal pizzas, among other things. I don’t want to be hyperbolic but this was the best pizza I’ve ever had. With the wealth of things to do in Tokyo, I don’t like to repeat our visits to anywhere but this one might be a must-do on nearly every trip.

The restaurant sports photos of the lads from Liverpool all over, including some from their visit to the Tokyo Dome. There are also a few instruments and different pieces of memorabilia throughout. Like many dining spots in Japan, Seirinkan was cozy but did seat a decent amount of people with 3 floors. Everything about the meal was fantastic!

After filling ourselves with pizza, we took the train back to Ginza which is one of Tokyo’s premier shopping districts. While the exchange rate is still favorable to Americans, this was at the real height of it. I planned accordingly and came with a half empty suitcase. That led us to the UNIQLO flagship store and we had the time of our lives. I won’t bore you with all of the details but suffice to say we bought a bunch of clothes for a relatively small amount of money! I’ve never really been on a shopping spree before but that 12 story store provided the opportunity. We took it!

We stopped at a few other stores in the area but the UNIQLO experience took up most of the afternoon. Wanting this to have some semblance of a rest day and needing to get back to do some writing, we took the train back to Tokyo Disney Resort. Along the way back to the hotel (well, it wasn’t really on the way) we stopped at the Tokyo Disney Ambassador Hotel’s Tick Tock Diner for dinner.

I was eager to try another of the official hotel’s restaurants. That’s not always the easiest thing to do at TDR, some are only available for guests staying at the specific hotel. Even with my eagerness, Tick Tock Diner blew me away. The menu is modest in size and in basically just offering sandwiches. But those sandwiches were crafted so perfectly and they were delicious. The restaurant is well worth stopping in if you have a travel day.

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing at the hotel. Usually our rest days on trips don’t actually end up that restful but this one somehow managed to fit that bill. Don’t get me wrong, we still got 15,000 steps or so in but there was no rushing around or much of an agenda. Despite that, the day was very memorable. Great pizza and buying most of a new wardrobe will do that for you!

After a little more sleep, we were up early for our next day at Tokyo DisneySea. We arrived at the gates about an hour before they opened (around 7:30) and joined the masses already waiting in line. The entry process was easy enough and we managed to grab a standby pass for one of the Fantasy Springs attractions once inside. I know I just said it was easy but the whole process is overly complicated at the moment. The question I’ve been asked the most over the last few months is if people need a vacation package to get into Fantasy Springs. You don’t. Attaining a standby pass for Frozen Journey that morning was easy and that was opening week. I’m hopeful that the limited entry for the new port will be dropped sometime in 2025.

Our Frozen Journey Standby Pass wasn’t until mid-afternoon so we went about our normal DisneySea day until then. That was nice, as it’s the best theme park in the world with or without Fantasy Springs. After doing everything we needed to on our phones, we visited the beautiful Hortense that’s pictured above. Narrowly escaping the Lava Monster in Journey to the Center of the Earth is a good way to start the day!

Very few places make me feel like I’m on cloud nine like DisneySea does. The delightful attraction exit signs only help that, even if they’re a little cornballer.

The first exit sign is from Journey while the latter is from Electric Railway, our second ride of this particular day. With the pristine day showing off the Pacific on one side and Mediterranean Harbor on another, it was the perfect time for a ride on this railroad that goes from Port Discovery to American Waterfront and vice versa.

We walked through American Waterfront for a few minutes, enjoying the views of Tower of Terror and the Broadway Music Theatre. It’s one of the best theme park lands (ports) in the world, able to feel both expansive and personal. There’s so much story here, it’s impossible to find it all. Here’s a few scenes from that beautiful morning.

Not to be outdone in terms of views, Mediterranean Harbor beckoned to us next. We wanted to make sure to enjoy most of the DisneySea attractions we didn’t get to on the vacation package day. That meant a late morning ride on the Venetian Gondolas!

I think I may need to a top ten prettiest rides post. This would have a good shot at number one.

Despite Fantasy Springs only being a few days old, Tokyo Disney Resort did not feel that busy! It helped that we were there on a weekday for this portion of the trip. Guests may have done some more waiting around than usual too, trying to figure out the entry process. But for the most part, crowd levels seemed low. That was especially true for the next day at Tokyo Disneyland but it worked out here, as well. We were very surprised but maybe shouldn’t have been!

It seems like theme park openings and events have become less crazy from a crowds perspective. Some of that has been the entry process and COVID. I think there’s also been some warning from theme parks that have scared guests away from those days and weeks. This particular week would have been a brilliant time to visit Tokyo Disney Resort for the first (or fiftieth) time because of the beautiful weather and low crowds. Epic Universe is the next big event to monitor this, although that’s an entire theme park so results may be very different.

After walking through Mediterranean Harbor, enjoying the pastels and architecture, we circled back to Mysterious Island to visit more Jules Verne-inspired creatures. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea continues to look great and a fun take on the classic attraction.

Sadly, Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage was closed for refurbishment during this trip so making our way to the back of the park wasn’t as much of a priority. We did eventually though, taking the waterside walkway to Indiana Jones Adventure. Naturally, there were stops for photos and popcorn.

Seeing how well Indy fits into DisneySea makes me all the more optimistic for the IP coming to Animal Kingdom. Once we’re past the surface level “Indiana Jones doesn’t have anything to do with water or animals” argument, there’s plenty of reason to believe this is a great fit. Indy being an archaeologist/adventurer/explorer fits both parks sense of discovery quite well. Here’s hoping the queue in Animal Kingdom is even half as good as the one in DisneySea!

The morning was breezing by as we took the long loop around the park. We stopped for a ride on Aquatopia, with a much less menacing side of Mount Prometheus facing us. Like every trip we’ve taken here, I’m still blown away that there are views like this in a theme park. For example…

That cloud nine feeling I mentioned is tough to avoid on days when you’re just wandering (excuse the self-referential word choice) around DisneySea. The dopamine hits from seeing views like this while stretching your legs and walking around come often!

We settled in for lunch at Teddy Roosevelt Lounge shortly after. I’ve already raved about this place in the review so please go read that! That said, it was a weird lunch. The offerings were pretty comical on their take on American cuisine. I think they were in on the joke though. Either way, we had a great time enjoying lunch and drinks. It’s a must-do at Tokyo DisneySea.

With our Fantasy Springs standby time approaching, we wanted to squeeze in a few more things. We walked to the front of the park so Melissa could go through a shop and I snapped a few photos during the walk. Enjoy!

That last one really shows how empty the park was at that point. I strolled back to the Harbor and caught the last bit of a show celebrating the Fantasy Springs opening. As usual, the harbor show was extravagant, if not a little incomprehensible. The character outfits were cute though!

Throughout the day we had picked up a few other standby passes for Fantasy Springs! That meant we’d start our time in there at Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure. We had a few extra minutes to spare in walking back there so we stopped for the following photo and then the weird adventure that is Magic Lamp Theater. It wasn’t open last time we were at DisneySea and I did like it more than I remembered. That said, it’s strange and not an essential part of the park experience.

We eventually made our way back to Fantasy Springs and that’s where we’ll pick up our next installment of the trip report!

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