On Thursday, we visited Tokyo Disney Sea. What can I say?!?

WOW!!!!!!

As you walk through the gates, you are greeted by the Aquasphere, a huge globe that slowly rotates while water runs down its oceans and spurts out around it. This is without a doubt the new symbol of Tokyo Disney Sea. It is set against a backdrop of a very authentic looking Italian town.

Unfortunately, the weather was absolutely terrible. It was raining heavily and there was a cold wind. It made it very hard to enjoy the outside attractions and the effort that had gone into creating realistic surroundings. We decided to spend the day going on as many attractions as we possibly could and hope for good weather to enjoy the park properly the following day. We decided to head straight for Indiana Jones at the Lost River Delta. Not only is it one of our favourite attractions at Disneyland California, but it is right at the back of the park. We were hoping that most people would not head there first as it was so far away....And we were right. We passed other lines on the way that had already grown to more than 90 minutes so were happily surprised to find the line at Indiana Jones was for 20 minutes. Just like the Californian version, the pre-ride area is huge with lots of theming.

Next stop was Port Discovery, a futuristic weather station. Here you can see all sorts of unique sea crafts (like the fish on the left) and visit the popular Storm Rider. This is a simulation ride in a moving theatre. The idea is that you are riding into a storm to launch a rocket which will destroy the storm. Naturally everything goes horribly wrong and you have to get out of there. I'm not going to tell you any more as I will ruin the surprises. :) Aqautopia is also at Port Discovery. These little crafts are a lot of fun (although, if it is raining, you will get VERY wet). They use a remote control system rather than tracks so you can never tell which way you are going. You might go under the waterfall or perhaps around a whirlpool. Every ride is different. It's great!

We then headed to Mysterious Island (inside Mt. Prometheus) and Journey to the Centre of the Earth. It was long wait, but definitely worth it. As always, much of the pre-ride area is heavily themed, in this case, with Jules Verne motifs, including his office. The ride itself takes you down into the caverns of the earth before shooting you out near the top of the volcano. From there we were going to head to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea but we weren't in the mood for another long queue.