Fantasy Springs is the new over $2 billion expansion themed to Frozen, Tangled, and Peter Pan at Tokyo DisneySea. And it is now OPEN to all guests as part of unpaid previews or technical rehearsals several weeks prior to its official opening in June! This covers everything you need to know: how to access the land during soft openings, likelihood they’ll continue in the days/weeks to come, and more.
If you’re reading this post, you’re probably already familiar with the basics of Fantasy Springs. In case not, it’s a record-setting addition to what’s already the best theme park in the world. That park is already lavish, and this is its most expensive port of call. Of course, Fantasy Springs was also built a couple decades after the rest of the park, and everything costs more now. But still.
At the in-park entrance to Fantasy Springs, nestled between Lost River Delta and Arabian Coast, guests will first be welcomed to this world of fantasy by an entry archway adorned with magical springs representing Disney characters such as Anna, Elsa, Rapunzel and Peter Pan. This is where you’ll enter for soft openings. There will either be a small sign up that says “Fantasy Springs is currently open to all guests” or a line of Cast Members with countdowns blocking the entrance. (Presumably, the sign will also change once paid previews start and guests of those enter through here.)
Within Fantasy Springs, there are three distinct areas. In Frozen Kingdom, with its beautiful views of the kingdom of Arendelle, guests can experience the Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey attraction. Towering over Rapunzel’s Forest is a tower, literally, where guests can experience the Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival attraction.
Peter Pan’s Never Land offers spectacular scenery, including Captain Hook’s pirate ship and the iconic Skull Rock that guests may recall from the Disney Animation film Peter Pan. At the Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure attraction, guests join Peter Pan and his friends as they encounter Captain Hook and fly over Never Land. There’s also the Fairy Tinker Bell’s Busy Buggies attraction in Pixie Hollow, the fairy valley where Tinker Bell lives, which welcomes guests at fairy size to enjoy the changing seasons.
Throughout all three areas of Fantasy Springs, guests can also enjoy new restaurants, shopping and more, each with their own unique charms that bring to life the worlds from the films. There’s also the aforementioned Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel, which is the sixth Disney hotel in Japan. (See Everything You Need to Know About Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea for all of the specifics about the port-of-call.)
Soft openings of Fantasy Springs began on May 15, 2024 at park opening.
If you’re in the park, rather than walking a mile from the front to the Fantasy Springs entrance to check the status, you should check the Tokyo Disney Resort app. This is absolutely essential for visiting TDR, so hopefully you already have this downloaded and ready to roll.
If Fantasy Springs is open for unpaid previews, you’ll see both the status of Standby Pass for its attractions as well as estimated wait times in the Tokyo Disney Resort app.
Look at the actual list of attractions or click on an attraction name, as unlike other attractions, a wait time won’t be displayed prominently on the interactive park map. (Disregard the “Opens June 6” line in each attraction name–that’s obviously not the case when Fantasy Springs is undergoing soft openings!)
The land is presently open-access, meaning that there is no virtual queue or Standby Pass required to enter. However, you will need to use Standby Pass and Mobile Order to access the attractions and restaurants, respectively. Currently, Disney Premier Access is not available for purchase as an alternative to Standby Pass.
This is all perfectly fine by us, but please note that it may be subject to change. We visited during the soft openings of Believe! Sea of Dreams and they (eventually) did introduce Disney Premier Access for viewing that. If I recall correctly, it didn’t happen until only a couple days before the grand opening, so the same might happen here. I’d imagine OLC wants to capture as much revenue as possible, but we shall see.
This follows a couple weeks of media previews, which we were able to attend. (Lots more posts coming soon from that–for now, check out our review of the marquee attraction: Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey is One of Disney’s Best Rides Ever.)
Unfortunately, we are not able to attend the current soft opening of Fantasy Springs. We’re still in Japan, but now exploring the Kansai region, which is our home base for the next couple of weeks.
We’ll be back in Tokyo towards the end of this month and in June, and will hopefully be able to attend a soft opening (or two) of Fantasy Springs at that time. However, we’re concerned that won’t be possible for reasons discussed below.
The issue that may preclude more widespread (free) soft openings is previously scheduled (paid) previews of Fantasy Springs. There are a lot of these, with guests selected by lottery as part of a promotion earlier this year, as well as the official fan club (think D23, but just for Japan), as well as corporate sponsors.
To the best of our knowledge, upcoming Fantasy Springs paid previews will be held May 21-22, 2024. The FUNderful Fan Club will then have its paid previews May 28 to June 2, 2024. We do not have a list of corporate sponsor preview dates, but they’re probably in there somewhere, too.
One wildcard is that the FUNderful Fan Club previews supposedly include an asterisk that there may be other guests in Fantasy Springs during their event. I’m paraphrasing second-hand information here, relayed to us by a Japanese friend who is attending one of those events and previously speculated that soft openings could be possible on those dates despite the ticketed events. (With soft openings starting this early, it’s looking like he might be right!)
The bottom line is that we don’t know how long soft openings of Fantasy Springs will continue, whether they’ll be a daily occurrence, or how they’ll change.
My best guess is that there’s a window between now and May 21, 2024 that is conducive to daily soft openings, and again from May 23-27, 2024. More soft openings June 3-4 also make sense, but I could see the land being closed for an official grand opening celebration with VIPs on June 5, 2024. (It seems like there’s a drone show scheduled for that evening, for whatever that’s worth.)
As for the other days during which paid previews are occurring, I wouldn’t bet for or against soft openings. My hunch is that they won’t happen all day–that the FUNderful folks and others get a “head start” on Fantasy Springs and that a soft opening occurs later on in the day as a mix-in sorta deal. Otherwise everyone who paid big bucks for the preview will be pretty pissed off. (In reading Japanese DisTwitter, they already are!) We’ll keep you posted, so stay tuned!
Planning a trip to Tokyo Disney Resort? For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Tokyo Disneyland & DisneySea Trip Planning Guide! For more specifics, our TDR Hotel Rankings & Reviews page covers accommodations. Our Restaurant Reviews detail where to dine & snack. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money post. Our What to Pack for Disney post takes a unique look at clever items to take. Venturing elsewhere in Japan? Consult our Ultimate Guide to Kyoto, Japan and City Guide to Tokyo, Japan.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be attempting to attend a soft opening of Fantasy Springs? Already on the ground and have anything to report? What do you think of the Fantasy Springs expansion at Tokyo DisneySea? Any questions? Hearing your feedback is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
