Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival is a boat ride attraction through Rapunzel’s best day ever, leading to the iconic lantern festival seen in the movie Tangled. The new ride is a part of Tokyo DisneySea’s Fantasy Springs, a massive expansion that opened in June 2024. As of opening, the attraction can only be experienced via Standby Pass, Disney Premier Access or a special vacation package. In this post, we’ll give a spoiler-free review of Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival (there will be some photos!) before moving into more of the ride details.

Fantasy Springs opened with many expectations. Theme park fans had eagerly awaited the opening for years, knowing that it cost more than any other expansion ever has. On top of that, there’s also the burden of being in the best theme park in the world. DisneySea is no stranger to perfecting details, making any expansion a double-edged sword. Could a new land hold the highest of standards?

It didn’t occur to me until inside the brand new Fantasy Springs that the area also holds one other expectation. It’s a modern day Fantasyland and the three IP’s that are covered (Frozen, Tangled and Peter Pan) have massive followings. People have waited years to be immersed into the worlds they have seen in the theater and countless times at home. Peter Pan has obviously been represented by a classic Fantasyland ride but Tangled and Frozen have patiently waited their turn. Want to feel old? The preteens who watched those films when they debuted are several years into adulthood.

Melissa (my wife) wasn’t a preteen when she saw Tangled for the first time but she was a senior in high school. The movie immediately became one of her favorites, she watched the DVD (yes, we’re old now too) enough to where it just wouldn’t work anymore. She’d waited years to enjoy a Tangled attraction that was more than toilets in the middle of the busy Magic Kingdom.

We turned the corner into Fantasy Springs to see Rapunzel’s tower and she was nearly in tears before it even began. Once the boat ride actually started, we were both feeling things. That carried all of the way until the end. Naturally, she is thrilled with the addition of Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival in Tokyo DisneySea and so am I.

I try to be mostly objective when it comes to reviewing attractions, shows and restaurants on this website. More often than not, I brush off something being immersive as a current theme park buzzword that’s overused at this point. But after seeing that tower with a wonderful animatronic Rapunzel and riding the boat into the lantern festival while sitting next to Melissa, I got it. The line between nostalgia and objectivity gets so blurry because of moments like those.

Objectively speaking, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival is pretty clearly the third best attraction in Fantasy Springs, ahead of the kiddie Tinker Bell ride but behind Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey and Peter Pan’s Neverland Adventure. That’s not a slight on the Tangled attraction, the two ahead of it are phenomenal. This slow boat ride that lasts around 6 minutes can’t keep up, nor is it meant to.

Jumping between a few scenes from the movie in which Rapunzel has her best day, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival is there to be pretty. There’s no major conflict in the plot (the ride is in Japanese but fairly easy to follow along with) as guests are shown different landmarks and characters from the movie. There’s a reference to the Stabbington Brothers in the form of a wanted poster in the queue but Mother Gothel is never mentioned, at least from what I could tell. Good vibes only.

For a stateside comparison, Animal Kingdom’s Na’vi River Journey makes some sense. Guests are floating along, looking at gorgeous things throughout. Don’t get me wrong though, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival is far superior in every way to that attraction. The different scenes are almost all practical, with next to no screens, and the quality of the animatronics would make even that giant Na’vi shaman blush. The only reason I make the comparison is simply in terms of plot and ride vehicle.

Like the Pandorian attraction, that’s what eventually holds Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival back from being great. Even that feels unfair to the Fantasy Springs ride though as I think the attraction did exactly what it set out to do – get guests to the lantern festival that they’ve all been dreaming of seeing. When it reaches that climactic moment, Imagineers got out their frying pan and hit a home run.

Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival is the most experiential of the Fantasy Springs additions. Frozen Journey goes with a more book report style plot and Neverland Adventure takes you on a thrilling trip with the Lost Boys. I’m not sure what is going on with Tinker Bell’s buggies but that has more to do with my understanding, or lack thereof, of the fairy realm and the Japanese language.

The Tangled ride says “Oh you want to go live in this movie for a few minutes? Here you go!” Again, objectively that’s not the most interesting ride. But when something looks as good as that does then maybe simple immersion in meticulously designed art is all you need. When someone has been waiting over a decade for that, it’s definitely all that was needed.

Breaking down the scenes a little farther (more spoilers in this section), the queue starts in Rapunzel’s Forest. The tower is easily spotted even before the queue and is the icon of that section of Fantasy Springs. I can’t say enough good things about the tower, after spending a good amount of time zooming in on the detailing the whole thing looks flawless. Rapunzel hangs over the window ledge, singing and hoping to be rescued. The queue winds guests through views of that and a number of lanterns before boarding a 16 passenger (4×4) boat.

Once aboard, the boat turns the corner and guests are given the best look at that tower. This is the one angle in the park where it actually seems like Rapunzel is looking at you. Again, beautifully done. Shortly after, we see Flynn Rider and Maximus below the tower.

The next scene takes us inside with Flynn and Maximus apparently having helped our girl down. She’s swinging, by her hair, around a tree while Flynn gives us a smirk. This looks better than it has any right to, especially for being the fourth best scene in a seven or eight scene ride. Rapunzel swinging looks convincing and they nailed the smirk!

Rapunzel’s hair lighting up to heal Eugene’s hand is sandwiched by sailing by The Snuggly Duckling and the Tangled castle with lanterns floating above. The latter is the only screen used in the ride, at least by my amateur eye, and the former is strictly a timeline piece to the minimal plot but it does look good. As for the hair lighting up, I thought it was convincing but could have used slightly better timing.

Finally, there’s the lanterns. It will be the most photographed ride scene ever if we started the count on June 6th, 2024. Chances are that you’ve already seen video! It really is a wonder how beautiful they made this. The scene is a testimony to Tokyo Disney Resort (and the Oriental Land Company’s budget) covering every detail. Rapunzel and Flynn is the centerpiece and that view speaks for itself.

Beyond that, there’s texture in the walls and lanterns everywhere you look. I guess if you really wanted to pick nits then maybe the lanterns could move more? That would lend itself to a host of problems and I honestly prefer the scene as we get to experience it, frozen in time. When designing this attraction, they knew that this was why people would come to the ride. That’s both good and bad (the bad is mostly from the missing plot), but when you’re in that final scene it’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the beauty.

In most ways, I respect what Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival set out to do. Peter Pan and Frozen are the rightful headliners in Fantasy Springs but this ride is an outstanding third option. It could have done a little bit more but mainly it wants to look beautiful and, boy, does it succeed.

Some of the problem I have with the domestic theme parks right now is just how big they try to go on every new thing. Yes, that can work out in everyone’s favor like with Rise of the Resistance or Cosmic Rewind. Other times it can miss the mark. But the problem isn’t just theme parks right now, it’s throughout pop culture. Every major studio movie feels like it’s trying to make a billion dollars, people sell their soul to go viral, and TV shows are canceled daily because they weren’t the biggest thing on a streaming service. Everything is so boom or bust.

What we need is just more quality. That extends to theme parks, where each one just needs more good rides. That’s part of the reason that I’ve raved about Epcot’s Journey of Water so much. That attraction knows what it wanted to be and artfully succeeded. Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival does the exact same – the ride isn’t the best in the world but the quality is so irrefutably high for the parameters set on the attraction. Whether you can look at that objectively or through Tangled nostalgia-filled glasses, it’s easy to see. As my wife said, “We’ve got more than a bathroom now!” In this instance, that’s more than enough.

Have you been on Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival yet? Let us know your thoughts, along with any questions you might have, in the comments below! If you are planning a trip to Tokyo Disney Resort, check out our Trip Planning Guide. If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. All of those links are on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!