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We next headed over to the Arabian
Coast area of the park, which is in the farthest north
(right) corner of Tokyo DisneySea. This area can be compared to
Adventureland in Disneyland or Walt Disney World, and resembles the city
of Agrabah from the film "Aladdin."
There are a few shops, restaurants, and attractions here, but the
architecture and details are the most impressive feature of this land.
The scale and layering of the buildings helps create the illusion of a
large Arabian town, with lots of winding paths and alcoves to
investigate. This was definitely my favorite land in terms of
architecture and detailing.
Within the Arabian Coast is the Sinbad’s Seven Voyages
ride, our second ride of the day. The queue area has Arabian-style
murals that depict Sinbad’s voyages and give us an idea of what we’re
about to see. This is a Small World type of ride with slightly larger
than Small World-sized animatronics that have larger heads and smaller
bodies. The animatronics are absolutely amazing—each figure is very
animated with fluid and realistic movements, and each figure moves
independently of the others. There are no air compression and release
noises or clicking like we hear in older animatronic attractions in the
U.S. The narration is again in Japanese, with Sinbad greeting you in
each room of the ride to describe the different scenes. As a nice touch,
the music within the ride is Bernard Herrmann’s score from the
original Sinbad films of the 1950’s. We really loved this ride for its
details and also for the advances in animatronics that left us simply
amazed.
Near the Arabian Coast is a
Fantasyland-style land called Mermaid Lagoon. This area is
almost entirely indoors, except for a couple of small outdoor rides near
the entrance.
Inside are a bunch of little kid-type rides, which are all
extensively themed and detailed. The whole area looked like we were
truly "under the sea" in King Triton’s kingdom, complete
with water reflection lighting effects everywhere and extensive sea life
details. Imagine taking Toon Town, compacting it, and putting it into a
large room: the result is the Mermaid Lagoon – a great place for
smaller children.
There were also several really neat shops containing nicer Princess,
Little Mermaid, and ocean-themed merchandise. We didn’t take the time
to experience any of the attractions here, since they are mostly meant
for the younger guests.
We continued our exploration of the
park by walking west through the Lost River Delta area (the
Indiana Jones themed area) and to Port Discovery. Our third ride was on
the DisneySea Electric Railway, an elevated tram that
provides one way trips between Port Discovery and the American
Waterfront.
We took the one-way trip to the American Waterfront (passing the
hotel, shown above), and then re-boarded to ride back to Port Discovery.
The ride itself is nothing spectacular, and I would compare it to the
old Skyway at Disneyland: it provides an elevated view of the park, and
saves a small amount of walking. Upon exiting the Railway, we walked
back toward Port Discovery through the American Waterfront.
The biggest feature of American Waterfront is the S.S. Columbia,
a huge Queen Mary-style steamer ship that is docked along the waterfront
(above). It’s almost unimaginable that the designers would actually
construct this life-size steamship merely to sit alongside the docks,
but that’s just what it does. There are two restaurants located in the
lower part of the ship, and parts of the ship are used for the shows
performed on the entertainment stage located in front. For the most
part, however, the majority of the ship seems unused. It’s such an
impressive sight, however, and is a true testament to the "spare no
expense" mentality that seems to be behind the entire park.
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You can write Lisa at:
scarlett1214@ yahoo.com
