A few weeks ago, Tokyo DisneySea made the much needed move to turn their complicated Fantasy Springs virtual system into standby lines for all guests. We applauded that change and have been tracking wait times ever since. Thankfully, the attractions have been dependable and haven’t suffered many down times. Tracking them has led to some conclusions for us and that’s what we’ll share in this post today!

Before we get to the five main thoughts, I’ll just reiterate that we’re early in this process. Japan is very busy right now and will only get more so through the first week of May before calming down a little bit. Any conclusions we make could change quickly, just like the entire entry process could change. That said, I feel confident in the assertions below. Let’s get to them!

Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey Reigns Supreme

This comes as no surprise, but the wait times have bore out that Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey is easily the most popular attraction in Fantasy Springs. This is fitting, as we think it’s the best ride in the port and in DisneySea.

We’ve seen wait times climb over 200 minutes on multiple days at Frozen Journey. Keep in mind, this was during the busy period and the last few days have been far more attainable from a wait time perspective. Still, you’ll want to budget some time for this attraction unless you jump ahead to our second takeaway!

While we don’t advise anyone to wait 200 minutes in a line, I want to emphasize that this is a must-do attraction for us. This is not Epcot’s Frozen ride! The animatronics are stunning and the plot device for the ride is smart without being invasive. This is an exceptional dark ride that probably needs to be rope dropped unless…

Disney Premier Access for Frozen Journey Will Alleviate Problems

For so long, we’ve resisted recommending that people pay out of pocket to skip lines. Honestly, it’s probably a fault of Wandering in Disney and a bit of a blind spot for us. Our hope is that we can offer smart enough itineraries so that guests don’t have to pay extra. That era of resisting upcharges is officially over with this post. The smartest thing to do at DisneySea from an itinerary perspective, especially if you’re on limited time, is to purchase Disney Premier Access for Frozen Journey.

The cost will be a little below $15 per person for this, depending on the exchange rate. That certainly adds up for families and we sympathize with that. But we’re exchanging time for money hand this is a case where the time saved is well worth the money. Instead of waiting 3 hours in a line, you can do all 4 Fantasy Springs attractions in that amount of time.

Not to mention, this frees up the ever important rope dropping slot! My ancestors persevered so I could write that sentence. Anyway, the biggest rush in DisneySea is going to be at Frozen Journey come opening. If you can follow that crowd back there but be in the line virtually then getting on either Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival or Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure will be a breeze. Or maybe you want to start the day at Journey to the Center of the Earth! Either way, getting a DPA for Frozen Journey as soon as you enter DisneySea will make the day much smoother and more fun.

Navigating the Popular vs. Better Attraction

There’s a clear pecking order in popularity of Fantasy Springs attractions:

1. Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey
2. Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival
3. Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure
4. Tinker Bell’s Busy Buggies

The first and fourth option fit our ranking of the attractions but we flip Rapunzel and Peter Pan and haven’t heard anyone who disagrees with that opinion. There’s a pretty wide margin between those two attractions in our mind and if you only have time for one then the choice is easy – off to Neverland!

But chances are that people want to do both, and you probably should! With that in mind, our ideal plan for Fantasy Springs is getting Premier Access for Frozen and rope dropping Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival. We’ll follow that up with Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure and hopefully the big attractions are done within the first few hours of park opening. If you’re planning to ride both, more strategy is needed for the Tangled attraction at this point.

Tinker Bell’s Busy Buggies is surprisingly fun and well done but shouldn’t be top of mind. At this point, assuming you want to ride the attraction, I recommend going back to the port in the evening and having dinner at Royal Banquet Hall of Arendelle along with a ride on the kiddie attraction. That makes for a nice Fantasy Springs nightcap, where you can see the land with the lights on.

Tokyo DisneySea is Busy

This isn’t a surprise but the wait times at Tokyo DisneySea are very high. While the standby waits alleviated a little bit of pressure from the rest of the park, the lines are long and chances are that you won’t want to be as patient as the locals. Japan is in the midst of a huge tourism boom and monitoring these Fantasy Springs wait times for a few weeks has also shown me just how busy the place is as a whole.

There’s nothing really to gain from that other than just a word of warning. That’s not to say you shouldn’t go, you should. Tokyo Disney Resort is absolutely incredible even with crowds. It’s more just a reminder that you will be doing some waiting in line on your trip. Budget an extra day for the park if it’s really important to you. If you’re not willing to take more time out of your Japan trip (which is reasonable) then make sure you come in with a plan and prioritize what you most want to do.

This Is the Right Move

Despite the long lines, I am still in favor of the move and hope nothing is rescinded with Golden Week just a few days away in Japan. On a selfish note, it’s so much easier to give people touring the park an actual strategy rather than “just look at your phone a lot and hope for the best.” The virtual system for Fantasy Springs was broken and it’s a relief that guests and planners don’t have to think about it anymore.

Now the game turns to a time and monetary value instead of a system that was incredibly convoluted. While I appreciate the effort of alleviating crowds, theme parks are generally better when people can make their own choices on how long to wait.

The standby lines have only been in place for a few weeks and we will continue to monitor them. I would expect crowds to simmer a little bit over the next few months, at least once Golden Week is over. But the Japan tourism boom shows no sign of slowing down and that impacts the parks more than ever. We’ll be updating our posts as more information comes in. For now, thanks for reading!

Do you have questions or thoughts about Fantasy Springs or this change? Let us know 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!