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Steampunk paradise
Originally uploaded by Tavie

It's a futago thing.

Today's one of those days that we'll look back upon when we're old ladies and speak volumes with a single word or gesture. It was a day when my sister and I rediscovered all the magical parts of our childhood together without having to force it. Today I discovered DisneySea.

It's the most beautiful theme park I've ever been to. I took about a gazillion pictures because everywhere I looked, I was dazzled.

K. was most excited for me to see this place. She wouldn't permit any "spoilers", which meant I couldn't peek at a guidemap or read too much on Wikipedia, or even face the park as we rode over on the monorail. She wanted the experience to be "pure" for me. As seasoned a Disneypark otaku I am, it is an extremely rare occurrence to experience one for the first time. I had those pit-of-the-stomach "I'm too excited to sleep" butterflies as the monorail approached the park. I warned her I might cry. I was that excited. (I didn't cry, but my eyes about fell out of my head.)

My favorite part was Discovery Bay, the steampunk dreamland that must've given Cory Doctorow a hundred little nerdgasms when he stepped foot there. One of the multitude of little signs of the day's perfection was during our second go-round in their spectacular update of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (a.k.a. "The Submarine Ride") - there's a sunken ship called the "HMS Octavia".

It was a toss-up between that and "Journey to the Center of the Earth" for favorite ride. I honestly can't decide; when I'm riding each, I love it best. We rode each one twice and it wasn't nearly enough times.

We also discovered something new together - K. hadn't gone into Mermaid Lagoon on any of her visits to the park, and I think it was because the Fates wanted us to discover this wonderland together. I don't care who you are - male or female, 5 years old or 95, this place is fucking beautiful and should be experienced. We were instantly 9-year-olds again, reaching for eachother's hands, giggling and running through Ariel's world together. I can't be remotely snarky or sarcastic about this place. It was that beautiful. For some reason, it made us both think of our friend Erin - maybe because she, of all people we know, appreciate beautiful design, and this place exemplifies that notion.

Even the little-baby-kiddie attractions are awesome. Sindbad's Storybook Village was a charming ride that was, surprisingly, not based on any existing Disney franchise. It's sort of an Aladdin-meets-Small World, with strangely ugly-cute character design and an infectious (Japanese) theme song. Oh, Alan Mencken wrote it - that explains it.

Yes, and even their Tower of Terror was fun, with its dastardly-yet-dapper old-man hero, depicted in the post-show area as attended by numerous adoring concubines. It took K some coaxing to get me on this one, but well worth the effort.

I wish we could have had a hundred days like today. I wish today had gone on forever. It kind of will, I think.

Kirsten says:

The Japanese word for "atmosphere" is fuinki. Say that fast and it sounds like "fwinky". The "fwinky" stepping out of the Hilton into the warm, humid air (Japan in July is stupid hot), smelling the moisture, and reliving past days of being cooped up in a car to be greeted by overabundant sunshine and the promise of discovery was like having one's childhood handed back to them. On the monorail, we could see the ships lining Tokyo Bay. We could even see the commuter subway train pass by on its way to the city center. That was on the left; on the right was an entirely different universe altogether. Tokyo DisneySea is at once familiar and yet a wholly different experience from Epcot, MGM, even the Magic Kingdom in any hemisphere. The paucity of costume-characters is one clue that this is definitely Disney on the "B" side. The Mouse has little overt presence in DisneySea, because the Mouse is a figurehead for the children, whereas DisneySea tends to attract an entirely different age group. However, it is no less mystifying and wondrous, at any age.

I snack. I snack a lot. Everywhere I go in Disney, I'm surrounded by unusual things to eat. Disney Japan, in particular, offers a wide variety, given the Japanese penchant for seasonal ingredients and the universal plague of finicky children. Frozen mango on a stick so hard you can barely chew it; shaved ice with passionfruit syrup; flaky sausage pies; curry-flavored popcorn, for the love of god! Outstanding.

To beat the heat, the steampunk imagery went well, given that the "steam" was actually cooling mist. Each section of DisneySea caters to a specific echelon of one's inner moppet. My personal favorite is the Spanish fortress, a gorgeously-designed collection of parapets, each containing its own amusement, from alchemy lab to Foucault's pendulum. "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" - I had lost hope of ever seeing that breed of attraction again. I rode the "Raging Spirits" roller coaster alone because Tavie was a pussy, but every other moment I shared with the only other person on the planet that would understand every nonsensical thing that would come out of my mouth that day.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 10:27 AM | shower me with attention