DisneySea (31 Mar 2026)
Having experienced Fantasy Springs in April 2025, there was 1 particular seasonal attraction that I was really keen to try - Tower of Terror Level 13, aka the ride operating the more intense drop sequence.
I had planned a trip to Suzuka to catch Formula 1, and since I booked my accommodation really early, I made some assumptions based on past years with respect to the dates that Level 13 would operate, hoping that it would be available until the first weekend of April when I would be in Tokyo.
However, when the event details were finally released, I found out that this year it was only available until Mar 31, a day before I checked out of my Nagoya hotel. Given hotel availability during this period due to F1, it was impossible to make changes to my hotel reservation, meaning that I had to make the Shinkansen trip from Nagoya to Tokyo and back if I were to visit on Mar 31, and so I did.
I booked the 6:20am Shinkansen from Nagoya, arriving at Tokyo Station at 8:15am. Adding in the transfers to the Keiyo Line and then the Disney Resort Line monorail, I arrived at the park gates just minutes before 9am. Unlike previous visits, the security line was excruciatingly slow; it took a full 45 minutes to get through. A year ago the same number of people could be cleared in 15 minutes.
Priority Pass
By the time I got in, Priority Passes for Raging Spirits were completely gone. I wouldn't consider this a terrible miss though, as I've had mixed feelings towards this ride. I was still able to get one for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which I've grown to enjoy more despite it just being a slow dark ride and thematically similar to Journey.
Disney Premier Access (DPA)
Meanwhile, I quickly bought myself a DPA for Tower of Terror, getting me in just 10 minutes later, while the standby line was already posting a 120-minute wait. The Level 13 version of the ride was great, as the drop sequence begins with some smaller drops before you even go up to the top of the tower, making it quite exciting. Even so, I felt that the ride was still a bit short. I know that there were 2 enhanced versions, namely Level 13 and Level 13: Shadow of Shiriki, and the sequence would be assigned randomly.
Overall, I certainly think that this is the perfect thrill level for the ride. The original version with 3 drops definitely ends before you know it. Without hesitation, I booked another DPA for later in the afternoon, and was honestly tempted to do it a 3rd time if not for the horrid weather.
The other DPA I got for the day was for Journey to the Center of the Earth. I do wonder how overestimated the wait times are when it's up at 180-200 minutes. 60 minutes is already very painful in my opinion.
Single Rider
Another new change from 2025 was the addition of Single Rider option at Peter Pan and Frozen, which was great because I managed to take 2 rides apiece. One thing I noticed is how they don't always bother to fill in the single seats. I definitely saw them dispatching many ride vehicles with empty seats. Had they just cleared the Single Riders more efficiently, I think the wait time could even be halved. I wonder if this is just to deter some people from using it too extensively.
Frozen was definitely more enjoyable this time as compared to my first experience last year; perhaps my expectations were too high based on all the reviews on social media. Frozen's Single Rider was significantly more popular, and it wasn't available throughout the day, leading to probably 30-40 minutes of waiting.
Entry Request
I also got an Entry Request for one of the park's newest shows, Dreams Take Flight, a musical featuring original songs as well as some classics. It was quite an enjoyable experience compared to past visits where I was just spending all my time running around trying to check off as many different rides as I could.
Mobile Order
For lunch, I tried the Grilled Reuben sandwich at New York Deli, just a short walk from Tower. It was honestly quite good. I visited Zambini Brothers' Ristorante for an early dinner before heading back to Nagoya.
Disneyland (5 Apr 2026)
Disneyland was a more last-minute addition to my itinerary, having decided to do it instead of visiting a few more sakura spots (during full bloom, they are really common after all, and not necessary to go out of the way to find them in my opinion). This time, I arrived at the park just after 8am. Security checks were extremely quick, and I was soon in line at the park gates. Unlike my previous visit in May 2023 where the line started moving at 8:30am, they did not open the park earlier - Happy Entry only started at 8:45, meaning regular guests only started entering at 9am sharp. This is rather peculiar - I thought that since it's still spring break with larger crowds, they should let people in earlier.
By the time I scanned in, it was already 9:12am or so. I initially booked a Priority Pass for Monsters Inc. with a 12:30pm return time, but decided to cancel it a few minutes later and get Pooh's Hunny Hunt for 2:30pm instead. These 2 run out the fastest among the rides with Priority Pass. Once that was settled, I decided to order the Mickey waffle, which I had just seen on social media as being booked out very early in the day (it's only available via Mobile Order). I also booked a DPA for Splash Mountain as that ride was getting crowded fast.
I managed to clear quite a few attractions with low wait times of 5-15 minutes: Haunted Mansion, Mickey's Philharmagic, Star Tours, Country Bear Theater, Mark Twain Riverboat, Tom Sawyer Island Rafts, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise.
I also tried out the new Single Rider line for Beauty and the Beast. The line barely moved at first because they don't process Single Riders for every batch of the pre-show. When they finally did let us through, the wait after the pre-show before boarding was fairly fast. All in all it still took a good 45 minutes or so for the entire experience.
I happened to successfully book a 2nd Priority Pass for Big Thunder Mountain at 11:18am after the 2-hour blackout window, though the return time by then was at 7:15pm.
DisneySea (26 May 2026)
After a relatively last-minute trip planned to Tokyo again in late May, I decided to visit DisneySea yet again with my friend.
As my friend hadn't visited Fantasy Springs, our priority was to head there immediately at rope drop and clear both Rapunzel and Peter Pan (Frozen was closed for maintenance).
We arrived at the park right around 7:30am and the lines were already fairly long. I was fully expecting a slow security clearance process like my last visit as well as a 9am opening given it was off-peak season, so I was pleasantly surprised when the lines began moving just after 8:30am. This time it seemed that park opening was shifted earlier to 8:45am. Security was pretty speedy this time too, and by the time we scanned in it was a few minutes before 9am!
While brisk walking to Fantasy Springs, we also booked a Standby Pass for the Tower of Terror Memorabilia (Capsule Toy) at 11:15am, 40th Anniversary Priority Pass for Raging Spirits at 11:50am and DPA for Journey to the Center of the Earth at 12:10pm.
We made it to Fantasy Springs in just about 10 minutes, joining the line for Rapunzel and 9:07 and boarding at 9:25, i.e. waiting ~18 minutes where the posted wait was 30 minutes. In my opinion, it's definitely not worth getting DPA given the ride length. Unfortunately, Peter Pan was temporarily suspended (and stayed that way for much of the morning), so we headed to other attractions instead. We went to Sindbad's Storybook Voyage next since it was almost a walk-on, and then did the Magic Lamp Theater as it just opened at 10am.
On the way to the Magic Lamp Theater we also quickly booked another DPA for Tower of Terror at 10:30, which would put us just in time for our capsule toy booking. Then, utilising the passes we booked earlier, Raging Spirits took 10 minutes while Journey took 5 minutes.
We then headed back to Lookout Cookout for a snack break, by which time Peter Pan was back up and running. We were done at around 1pm and joined the Single Rider line for Peter Pan but that line was really long, extending almost to the ride entrance, and I was expecting a wait of at least 45 minutes, so I suggested my friend to get a DPA for themself while I'd give it a miss since I've done the ride many times before. The earliest return timing was at 2:45pm, so we headed back to the entrance area for some shopping and lunch. With some time to kill we even did a lap on the Big City Vehicles just for fun. We would have tried the Venetian Gondolas or Transit Steamer Line but both were out of service at that hour. Our mobile order return time was also quite late at 2:40pm (I wonder why New York Deli is so popular - the standby line was also really long even at 2pm).
After our late lunch, I decided to head back to Tokyo with the intention of returning later in the evening, while my friend went back to Peter Pan.
I had originally planned to return by myself at around 7pm but with various minor delays (e.g. waiting longer than expected at dinner etc.), I only made it back at 8pm. By the time I navigated through the crowds all leaving the park after the night show, I knew I only had time for maybe 2 rides in the last hour. I decided to take the Electric Railway to Port Discovery and try out Aquatopia since it was closing down for good soon. I entered the queue at 8:23pm with the posted wait time at 30 minutes and that was a very accurate estimate. Despite the long(er) wait I was glad I got to experience this ride before it was gone. By the time I exited, it was 8:57pm and I brisk walked to 20,000 Leagues, and fortunately made it in just as they were about to close off the line for the night.
