We’re on the ground in Japan to preview the rides, restaurants, retail and resort at Fantasy Springs, Disney’s blockbuster new land themed to Frozen, Tangled, and Peter Pan. So let’s head inside Tokyo DisneySea, where imagination and adventure set sail, to check out the $2 billion eighth port-of-call!
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. There’s another entrance to Fantasy Springs via the land’s eponymous new luxury hotel, which is located near Bayside Station.
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. Last but not least is 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.)
We’ll be taking you inside all of this over the next few days and weeks!
We’re already at Tokyo Disney Resort, and have been sharing our journey from airport to arrival on social media. (The Friendly Airport Limousine is not, in fact, a limousine. It’s a bus. But it is very friendly!) We’ll have more from the parks and hotels at Tokyo Disney Resort, especially Fantasy Springs, in the next several days.
Since we’re not particularly active on Instagram–and given that some of these posts disappear after 24 hours–we thought it might be smart to give you a heads up to look out for photos, videos, and stories on my Instagram (@tom_bricker) and the Disney Tourist Blog Facebook page.
Here’s an example:
While I’d far prefer to post live updates here on the blog, that just isn’t realistic. We’ve tried doing that before, and between actually experiencing the new offering and taking photos & video and updating the website…it was just too much. Now add a baby into the mix, and it’d be downright impossible.
We want to be present to enjoy and fully appreciate the experience while also capturing and sharing it. We also don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver. Sharing on social media is the much easier option, especially since we can more quickly do it from our phones real-time, or with a slight delay during middle-of-the-night feeding sessions…and that’ll be the middle of the day for most of you, so it still works!
If you’re not on Instagram or Facebook, the good news is that we’ll have blog posts about Fantasy Springs starting this weekend or early next week. Those will feature first look photos and video from the previews, along with first impressions and I don’t know what else. Starting next month, we will also be putting together *spoiler-free* planning posts with need to know info and advice so you can properly prepare for Fantasy Springs.
In the interest of full disclosure and transparency, the first wave of coverage comes from the Fantasy Springs media event as invited guests of Oriental Land Company and Disney. Following that, the subsequent Fantasy Springs planning and review posts will come via our firsthand experiences as paying guests during actual operations with real crowds (and everything else) once the new port-of-call opens to the general public. (Well, hopefully we also get a shot at soft openings, but the window for those is very narrow.) We bought a vacation package and will be testing that as well as regular tickets, Standby Pass vs. Premier Access, and a lot more.
We are really, really excited to experience Fantasy Springs and are almost as excited to share it with you all!
Introducing new Disney fans to the Tokyo parks is one of our passions, and has been this blog’s biggest point of pride since 2013. Of course, we love sharing the ins and outs of Walt Disney World and Disneyland–but for the most part, those are trips you all were going to make anyway. At best, we (hopefully!) helped make them better.
We have actually inspired many readers to visit Japan in the first place, so it just isn’t the same. Readers have told us that they were intimidated by international travel or Japan wasn’t on their radar, but they took the plunge after hearing our “pitch” and had the trip of a lifetime. There are few things more rewarding than the messages that start out, ‘I had never planned on going to Tokyo Disney Resort…but it was the best trip.’
We’ve gotten more than a few of those over the last decade-plus, and they’re honestly what fuels the Tokyo Disney Resort content here. Of course, that comes with a lot of pressure. If we’re convincing someone to spend the money and time to travel halfway around the world, we want these resources to be fantastic to ensure they have nothing short of a stellar experience.
It’s very much a passion project to share our two favorite parks in the world with more Disney diehards, and convince you all to take the plunge! (It’s also incredibly humbling and rewarding that you all trust us enough to take these trips on our recommendations, in the first place.)
Of course, we’re also over the moon to share our favorite parks with our new favorite person. We’ve been sharing our experiences from Baby Bricker’s First Visit to Walt Disney World, which was essentially a ‘dress rehearsal’ for this trip to Japan. I’m not exactly sure how well a 3 hour time change readies an infant for a 16 hour difference, but I guess we’ll find out! (So far, so shockingly good. I’m honestly waiting for the other shoe to drop.)
Really, though, that Walt Disney World trip was about preparing us, the new parents, for traveling with a baby after establishing over a decade of traveling as a couple and developing a real cadence together. Rather than a bit of trial by fire with baby’s first trip being an international flight to Japan, we wanted to take some unknowns and uncertainty off the table. And of course, we really wanted to see one of our favorite places in the world, Walt Disney World, through her eyes for the first time.
Now we get the chance to see another one of our favorite places through her eyes for the first time in Japan. (Actually, not just one–several of our favorite places in the world are in Japan.)
Not to get too sentimental or anything, but we still vividly recall visiting Tokyo Disney Resort about one month after construction had started in Summer 2019. Calling that “construction” would probably be a charitable term, as it was really more like parking lot clearing.
Our next visit was that Christmas (when the above photo was taken from our room at Hilton Tokyo Bay), and it was even more exciting. Things were really taking shape and it was starting to feel real. Every day while walking in front of the site access point, Sarah would say ‘ohayou gozaimasu‘ to the construction worker on guard, who would enthusiastically (shockingly so!) say the same in response to her.
It was an exciting time. The Fantasyland expansion was wrapping up at Tokyo Disneyland, and we could see Beast’s Castle and other finished details. We couldn’t wait to return for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics and experience everything that would be new then, and again with Fantasy Springs only another couple years later. None of that happened for obvious reasons.
After being on pins and needles waiting for Japan’s reopening, we were able to return in late 2022 just after the country reopened. It was a bittersweet homecoming. We planned to return again last year but cancelled those plans for the best reason ever–finding out we were expecting a baby girl! And now a little over one year after that cancelled trip, we get to take her to Japan for the first time!
Fantasy Springs holds special significance to us. That Christmas 2019 trip to Japan was the last one we took before the world shut down; that Christmas 2022 trip was the first big one we took after things reopened; this is the first international trip we’re taking with our baby. In between all that there were a lot of challenges and heartbreak to overcome. And now the highest form of happiness we’ve ever felt, as our hearts are fuller than we ever knew possible.
For us, this really feels like a full circle moment, closing one chapter as we’ve started another. It’s difficult to fully articulate, but the point is that this is meaningful for both the substance of the thing (we’re really excited for Fantasy Springs!) and the symbolism of it.
We’re looking forward to experiencing Fantasy Springs as a family, and we’re also excited to take you along for the ride. This is the biggest-budget addition to an existing Disney theme park ever–here’s hoping it has the wow-factor we’ve come to expect from Imagineering and Tokyo Disney Resort, raising the bar on what’s possible at a theme park yet again!
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
Anything you want to see covered during our days in Fantasy Springs? Wondering how any aspects of visiting work? Curious about crowds or anything else? What do you think of the Peter Pan’s Never Land, Rapunzel’s Forest, and Frozen Kingdom? Excited for this blockbuster addition to Tokyo DisneySea, or do you not care? Wish the domestic parks would build lands and attractions like this? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
