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The author hanging out with the
denizens...
A bit further up from the Columbia is a Cape Cod-style area,
complete with lighthouse and East Coast fishing village styled
buildings. This is a quiet little area that has some neat shops, and
provides a nice respite from some of the busier areas of the park.
You can ride one of the Big City Vehicles that are similar to the
Main Street vehicles at Disneyland. These cars putt-putt very
slowly from here to the American Waterfront area (as seen above); if you’re
short on patience, a mild walking pace will outrun the cars (no, we didn’t
take the vehicles).
Back in Port Discovery,
the Tomorrowland-type area of DisneySea. It has a retro science fiction
feel to the area, similar to the redo of Tomorrowland in Disneyland but
of much higher quality and detail. It’s a fairly small area overall
with one major attraction as the anchor. You’ll see some interesting
characters performing and entertaining here, using stilt-like legs,
hopping around and performing weird dance-type rituals for pure
entertainment value.
We hopped in line for our fourth attraction of the day, Stormrider.
This is best described as a combination of Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
and Star Tours.
The premise is that we are visitors to a weather research facility
(below) to see their latest invention, which can better predict
devastating storms. Guests enter the building in groups and receive a
spiel from a cast member about this new invention (narration in
Japanese, but English subtitles are provided on TV screens).
The group then boards a plane-like weather chaser, which really is
theater-type seating in front of a large, slightly dome-shaped movie
screen. Movement of the seating platform, and water, air, and steam
effects are all well-used as the transport travels into a storm. We
thought it was well-done—as good as or better than Honey, I Shrunk the
Audience.
One warning: I would definitely not take small children into this
attraction. It is very loud and startling, and somewhat jerky. A family
behind us had two children, probably between 4 and 7 years old, who
screamed and cried during the whole ride.
By now we were hungry for lunch,
so we headed back to the Lost River Delta, to try Miguel’s El
Dorado Cantina. The Lost River Delta is a well-themed area,
feeling very much like the 1930’s style expedition area around the
Indy ride at Disneyland as well as the Indy stunt show at Walt Disney
World. The feeling of an expedition outpost is captured very well, with
lots of wood shacks with corrugated metal roofs, wooden bridges, and
even the floating bi-plane from Raiders of the Lost Ark parked
down on the riverbank.
As for the Cantina restaurant, you’d be correct in guessing that
they serve Mexican-style food here: Fajitas, Chimichangas, Soft Tacos,
and Flan. Beer is also available, but only with a meal order. This was
the Japanese interpretation of Mexican cuisine—our Tacos did not
contain any cheese, nor were they served with sour cream or salsa. As
with a lot of Japanese cuisine, the flavor was a bit bland, and I used
Tabasco to add some spice to my food. If you have a real affection for
quality Mexican food, save yourself some disappointment and avoid the
Cantina. Afterward, we hit the restrooms, which all had only cold water
for hand-washing and cold air for hand-drying (a numbing experience in
January--BRR!!)
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NEXT: We'll
continue our visit of the DisneySea park
You can write Lisa at:
scarlett1214@ yahoo.com
