DisneySea Fantasy Springs Review. Disney’s Incredible $2.1 Billion Expansion

Fantasy Springs is the newest expansion to Tokyo DisneySea, which is one of two theme parks located in Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan. Fantasy Springs was first announced as Tokyo DisneySea’s newest land, or “port” as they’re called in this park, back in 2018. Six years, a ton of hype, and $2.1 billion dollars later, Tokyo Disney Resort’s newest expansion is finally open. Does it live up to the expectations? Is it worth traveling to Tokyo to see? How does it fit in with what some consider to be the most beautiful theme park on the planet? Keep reading to find out. You may want to grab a snack and a beverage, because this is going to be a long one. We’re going to go over all four rides, three restaurants, tips for how to get into the land, cover the land in general and everything else associated with Fantasy Springs, and share our thoughts.

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What is Fantasy Springs?

Fantasy Springs is one of eight ports, or lands, in Tokyo DisneySea. Fantasy Springs is divided into 3 sections, each themed to a different movie franchise; Frozen Kingdom (Frozen), Peter Pan’s Never Land (Peter Pan), and Rapunzel’s Forest (Tangled). These three areas aren’t sectioned off or have any signage indicating where one begins and ends, but you will be able to tell by the theme of each area. Also attached to the land is hotel called Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel.

I love making tables, so here’s one showing everything inside Fantasy Springs:

Frozen Kingdom	1 Attraction 1 Quick Service Restaurant 1 Quick Service Food Window
Rapunzel’s Forest	1 Attraction 1 Quick Service Restaurant
Peter Pan’s Never Land	2 Attractions 1 Quick Service Restaurant
Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel	475 rooms (Fantasy Chateau: 419 rooms – Grand Chateau: 56 rooms) 2 Restaurant and a lobby lounge 2 Stores: 1 convenience store and Fantasy Springs Gifts (accessible only from inside the park)

What is the Story of Fantasy Springs?

I’m just going to paste this directly from Tokyo Disney Resort’s website. Get ready for this one:

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a magical spring where a sprit lived. While the spirit fed beautiful gardens, she was curious and flowed great distances where she encountered enchanted stories.
Upon returning home, the spirit used her powers to sculpt stone, branch and bank into intricate shapes resembling those she met. As she bubbled and sparkled in pools, fountains, and waterfalls, the spirit often sang melodies discovered on her many journeys.

One day a Duchess, who loved travel and adventure, discovered the beauty of the springs. Wandering along the rivers and streams of the springs, the Duchess found herself transported to magical places.
The Duchess loved the enchanted springs so much that she built a little summer home nearby.
As more of her friends visited, the Duchess built a grand palace to host them all. Even today, should you follow the water flowing from the springs source, you would come to fabled kingdoms found in storybook tales.

Now you know and can impress all your friends. Unless I and every single other person who has covered/visited Fantasy Springs since it opened has completely missed something, it is impossible to know any of this just by simply visiting the land. You would have to had read it on the  website.

 

How to get into Fantasy Springs?

“How to get into Fantasy Springs?” is the question everyone is asking. You’d think you’d be able to buy your ticket to DisneySea and simply enter the land. But for now that is not the case.

To access to Fantasy Springs, you need one of the following:

• A free Standby Pass to one or more of the land’s attractions.
• A paid Priority Access pass to one or more of the land’s attractions.
• A Fantasy Springs Magic ticket, which is obtained by staying in any of the official Disney hotels through a Disney Vacation Package.
• Be a guest at the Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel.
• A mobile order from any of the land’s quick service restaurants.

Now I will breakdown the difference between Standby Pass, Priority Access, and Fantasy Springs Magic Ticket. Don’t skip this section! it has a lot of useful information:

Standby Pass: There is currently no standby lines for any of the four attractions in Fantasy Springs. So, to enter the land and be able to wait in line to ride them, you’ll need a Standby Pass. These are obtained in the official Tokyo Disney Resort app. Before you enter the park you’ll need to download the app, create an account or log in to your current MyDisney account (American MyDisney accounts DO work), link a park ticket, and then once you enter the park you can go into the app and make a Standby Pass reservation. You can only make one Standby Pass at a time, and then book another one after 2 hours. I will reiterate that Standby Passes are FREE, but they do quickly run out. In my experience and based on the experience of others, the Standby Pass supply for the day will run out within the first 30-60 minutes after the park opens. Considering how long it takes to get through security, you’ll want to arrive at the park at least 90 minutes early. And yes, I would consider 90 minutes to be the bare minimum. Another wrinkle to this that makes the Standby Passes even more difficult to obtain is that Tokyo DisneySea will regularly open 30-60 minutes before the official opening time. So if Tokyo DisneySea is listed as opening at 9:00 AM, you may want to arrive at the front of the park between 6:30 to 7:00 AM. Occasionally additional Standby Passes will be released during the day, but this is unannounced and to obtain one you need to be on your phone and refreshing availability. It’s a total crapshoot. After you obtain a Standby Pass you will be given a return time. When your time arrives, go to the attraction and enter the Standby Pass line, where you will proceed through the ride’s regular queue and wait in line. Much like standby times at other attractions, wait times vary depending on the time of day and by attraction.

Priority Access: Priority Access is the paid version of Standby Pass and can also be obtained in the Tokyo Disney Resort app. The benefit of Priority Access is that you will have minimal wait for the attractions you purchase it for. These also run out well within an hour after the park opens for the day. Each Priority Access costs 2000 yen, or about $13 USD. Priority Access is available for Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival, and Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure. After purchasing Priority Access you’ll be given a return time. When your time arrives, go to the attraction’s Priority Access line entrance where you’ll walk through a queue much shorter than the Standby Pass queue. Wait times for Priority Access attractions range from 5 to 20 minutes.

Your list of return times for Standby Pass and/or Priority Access will be listed in the Tokyo Disney Resort app. When your time arrives click Display Code and then it will be scanned at the attraction’s entrance. a Standby Pass and Priority Access lane will clearly be marked.

 

 

A screen with a barcode will appear that will grant you access to the attraction.

Fantasy Springs Magic ticket: This special ticket can be obtained by purchasing a Disney Vacation Package or by staying at Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel. These packages combine a hotel stay, park tickets, and other perks (such as a unlimited drink voucher, a meal at the hotel, and more). The Fantasy Springs Magic Ticket is downright incredible. You are granted unlimited access to Fantasy Springs at any time, as well as unlimited rides at any time via the Priority Access queue for each attraction. It’s like experiencing Fantasy Springs with a cheat code. You are, of course, paying a premium for this experience. I did a one night vacation package for two at Toy Story Hotel, which is the cheapest hotel at Tokyo Disney Resort, and the total was $1200 for the Disney Vacation Package. Other than Fantasy Springs, the Fantasy Springs Magic Ticket works like a normal park ticket for the rest of the park.

No matter how you’ve gained access to Fantasy Springs, the entry procedure will be the same. As you approach Fantasy Springs, which is located between Lost River Delta and Arabian Coast, you will see two caves. The cave on the left is the entrance to Fantasy Springs and the exit to the land is on the right.

At the end of the entrance cave is an army of cast members. Here you will scan your park ticket and be granted access to Fantasy Springs. Once you’re in you can stay as long as you like.

What rides are in Fantasy Springs?

Fantasy Springs is home to four attractions:

• Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey – Mega E-Ticket boat ride retelling the events of the movie Frozen
• Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival – Short but lovely boat ride retelling the events of the movie Tangled
• Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure – Motion simulator on a track, similar to The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man at Universal Studios Florida
• Fairy Tinker Bell’s Busy Buggies – Children’s ride with scenery and a story based on the Tinker Bell film series

Fantasy Springs Ride Reviews

Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey is the marquee attraction in Fantasy Springs. It takes the classic Fantasyland dark ride formula where they retell a Disney animated movie and amps it up to stratospheric levels, but I’ll say more on that in a bit. As I mentioned earlier in this post, Fantasy Springs is split into four different sections, with Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey being located in the Frozen Kingdom area. This are area recreates Arendelle in stunning detail. As you approach the attraction you’ll see Elsa’a ice palace high upon a snow-covered mountaintop.

Fitting in with the water theme of Tokyo DisneySea, Arendelle features a port with a dock.

Arendelle castle is home to Royal Banquet of Arendelle, which is a counter service restaurant that I will cover later in this post. The structure is impressively large and looks just like its movie counterpart.

Inside Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey you’ll find a lavishly detailed queue that is an attraction of its own. If you’re using a Priority Access pass you’ll skip almost all of this and go into the load/unload area.

What strikes me about Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey is that every scene has a “wow” moment. For example, during the Do You Want to Build a Snowman? scene, it starts out by showing a young Anna knocking at the door, only for the whole scene to rotate revealing young Elsa who proceeds to freeze the door shut. The effect is achieved with special lighting and crystal clear projections.

Another thing I wanted to mention that so far no images or videos have captured about Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey is the epic scale of the scenes. They’re so massive that I can’t even think of another Disney ride that compares. Imagine the room with the AT-ATs from Rise of the Resistance, but instead of one room, it’s every almost scene. The building Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey is housed in is rumored to be over 95,000 square feet and Imagineers masterfully took advantage of this space. For comparison, Indiana Jones Adventure in Disneyland is a little over 57,000 square feet.

You may have seen one of the thousands of videos and social media posts going around showing off the animatronics in Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey. Seeing these figures in the ride itself does not disappoint and one could be considered them to be the best looking and most realistic animatronics ever produced. While the ride does use screens in a hand full of places, the rest of the ride is a full on animatronic spectacle.

In yet another show stopping moment, Elsa uses her powers to freeze an entire scene. The entire set piece is turned to ice, fountains freeze before your eyes, and giant icicles suddenly rise from the ground. The animatronic cast reacts appropriately with a look of terror on their faces.

You’re undoubtedly familiar with the story of Frozen so it’s not much of a spoiler to say that eventually Elsa saves Anna from being encased in ice. Again, here you see a fantastic mix of lighting, sound, and animation come together as Anna returns to normal. This is another one of those things that’s impossible to capture with an image, so if you do want to see it in motion, check out the following video of a full ride through from our YouTube channel:

Kristoff and Sven have never looked better.

Overall Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey is a masterpiece. It takes every skill and tool of Walt Disney Imagineering’s arsenal and masterfully mixes them together. It’s a perfectly paced ride with beautiful lighting, gorgeous backdrops, stunning animatronics, wonderful music, and jaw dropping special effects. Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey is a flex on the entire theme park industry and up there with the greats of which all other attractions will be judged and compared against going forward.

Now on to Rapunzel’s Forest, home of Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival. This slow moving boat ride. You should know that I adore slow moving boat rides. Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival has a unique twist; it starts outside. After the boat leaves the load/unload area, it gently floats past Rapunzel’s tower.

High atop Rapunzel’s tower is blondie herself. She’s rendered in yet another impressive animatronic. She sways and sings along to calm renditions of the songs from Tangled. This tower and Rapunzel are both visible from inside Fantasy Springs. In fact, this is one of the first things you’ll see upon entering the land. It’s a striking first impression.

Rapunzel looks so good that every time I walked by I observed people stopping dead in their tracks to look up and observe for a few minutes. This along with the boats slowly floating by make this area one of my favorite spots in all of Fantasy Springs.

Silently observing Rapunzel in her tower is Eugene Fitzherbert Flynn Rider. Every once in a while he’ll peek out from the rock.

Like Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival is another retelling of the events of the film its based off of. In this scene Rapunzel swings around a tree while Flynn watches.

In this beautiful scene Rapunzel shows off her glowing hair. It’s hard to capture on camera but the glowing hair effect looks fantastic.

If there was any musical number in Disney’s library that was begging for a theme park rendition, it’s I See the Light. I’m happy to report they nailed it. The room is filled with floating lanterns while boats circle around Flynn and Rapunzel serenading each other.

After the floating lantern section the boats enter a large room with paintings depicting the events of the rest of the movie. It’s an abrupt ending that I’m sure they had a good reason for, whether it be budget or space restraints, but Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival is still a solid attraction with a high rider capacity.

Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure is in Fantasy Springs’ Peter Pan’s Never Land area. It’s housed in a gorgeous recreation of Never Land’s mountain range, including fluffy white clouds and smokey volcanos. Parked out front are Captain Hook’s ship and Skull Rock.

Here’s another look at Captain Hook’s ship. The deck of the ship is open so everyone can explore and take photos.

Skull Rock can also be explored.

Here’s some fun decorations outside of Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure.

Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure is a motion simulator ride that blends 3D film with physical sets. You start by going through yet another elaborate queue before entering the Lost Kids’ hideout. Everything appears to be hand built by Peter and the Lost Kids, including the ride vehicles themselves.

It’s difficult to get pictures of this ride due to heavy use of screens, but there’s also a shocking amount of fantastic looking physical sets. The story of the ride is that Peter Pan needs to rescue John from Captain Hook and his pirate crew.

Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure is just plain fun. I did not expect this to be my second favorite ride in Fantasy Springs but it’s such a good time. It takes the formula and ride system nearly perfected on The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man and Transformers at Universal Studios, but mixes it with a classic Disney dark ride. Much like Fantasy Springs’ Frozen ride, you’re never thinking about the technology powering the experience, because all of that is invisible when you’re on the ride itself. It’s worth mentioning that while you do get some light thrills on Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure, it’s pretty tame overall and it’s something the whole family can enjoy together.

Also in Peter Pan’s Never Land is Fairy Tinker Bell’s Busy Buggies, which is a ride that the whole family can ride, but mostly children will enjoy. The story here is that you are helping Tinker Bell deliver items to other fairies in Pixie Hallow.

A cute thing about this ride is that all the cast members working the attraction have fairy wings.

Fitting in with theme, everything is in scale with Tink and her pixie friends.

The ride begins with Tinker Bell explaining the task at hand. It’s all in Japanese, but like pretty much every ride in Tokyo Disney Resort, it should not change your enjoyment of the experience since every ride uses visual storytelling.

Here’s one of the scenes.

The ride ends with an encounter with Cheese, a friendly mouse who loves… cheese. Fairy Tinker Bell’s Busy Buggies is a simple kiddie ride, but it has it’s moments. Down the line, when the newness of Fantasy Springs wears off and you can just hop in line for any of the attractions,Fairy Tinker Bell’s Busy Buggies will be the perfect thing to take small children on without much of a wait.

What kind of food is in Fantasy Springs?

I won’t spend too much time on the food offered in Fantasy Springs and it’s obviously impossible to talk about every item sold in the land, but I do want to go over some highlights. Inside of Arendelle castle in Frozen Kingdom you’ll find Royal Banquet of Arendelle. This is another wonderfully themed space in a land full of beauty.

Near the counter are plates of fake cheese and desserts. I’ve always been obsessed with fake theme park food and this was such a joy to discover.

WOW the food at Royal Banquet of Arendelle was good! I got the Seafood Arendelle’s Royal Set (it’s also available with beef). It includes Smoked Salmon Trout and Orange Salad, Potato Gratin, Lobster and Redfish Pot Pie, Bread, Olaf’s Marshmallow-Chocolate Mousse, and a soda for ¥3,500 (around $22 USD). Sure that’s a little pricy but it’s a lot of food and the quality is top tier. The pot pie was rich and creamy with a gloriously flaky crust and a generous portion of lobster and redfish. This instantly became my favorite entree in DisneySea. Do not miss out on this.

Also in Frozen Kingdom is Oaken’s OK Foods. This snack stand sells one item and a few soft drinks.

Oaken’s Yoo-Hoo Bread is filled cardamon and meat. It’s a tasty snack that can be grabbed without much of a wait.

The Snuggly Duckling was a fan favorite location from Tangled, so it makes sense Fantasy Springs would get its own rendition.

In the film, Snuggly Duckling was a tavern. Fantasy Springs keeps this aesthetic, but the menu is made up of burgers.

It looks like everything jumped right off the screen.

Rapunzel has lightened things up since the events of the film. Snuggly Duckling and Royal Banquet of Arendelle both have a ton of details to discover so be sure to look around. It’s worth mentioning that you can not simply walk into any the restaurants in Fantasy Springs. You must wait in line to place an order, or have a mobile order that is ready to be picked up.

I got the Duckling’s Dream Burger, which is a hamburger with a big slab of bologna. I’m not going to say this was awful, but I would never eat it again and I advise you to avoid it. There’s much better food in DisneySea. Hamburgers are not necessarily uncommon in Tokyo, but they’re not a part of the culture like in the US. So, to some visitors a burger could be seen as a unique treat. But to visitors from the states this would be considered underwhelming. I also ordered Rapunzel’s Magical Milk Tea, which was fruity and delicious.

Next to Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure is Lookout Cookout, which continues the theme of looking like it was created by the Lost Kids. I did not eat anything here, but on the menu are snack boxes with Chicken Tenders, Popover, Seaweed Fritter, Banana Chips, Shrimp Chips.

I did however try the Pixie Dust Soda which I instantly knew was going to be a problem. It’s fizzy kiwi soda that was so good I ended up getting it three separate times during my two days in Tokyo DisneySea. If you’re at all familiar with Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea you know that the parks are known for their variety of ever changing popcorn flavors. Fantasy Springs got a new popcorn cart in the Peter Pan Never Land area, which looks absolutely fabulous. The new flavor exclusive to Fantasy Springs? Roast beef.

I try not to be hyperbolic when I write or post on social media, but this popcorn flavor haunts my dreams. It tastes like you took a big swig of room temperature marinade, and then a awful mucky aftertaste lingers in your mouth for much too long. This is easily one of the worst food items I have ingested in a Disney theme park, and I’ve been doing this for over 12 years.

Before we move on I wanted to point out this nice little vending machine near the land’s entrance. It may be unusual for Disney theme parks to have vending machines, but in Japan it’s culturally appropriate. I have to say it’s nice and convenient to be able to quickly grab a beverage from one of these machines, especially when it’s hot out.

What about Fantasy Springs Hotel?

I will preface this section by saying that I did not stay at Fantasy Springs Hotel, so any opinion I share will only for what I observed from inside and outside of the park. The hotel sports a art nouveau aesthetic, and like Hotel MiraCosta at the front of DisneySea, Fantasy Springs hotel is also located inside of the park. I don’t think Fantasy Springs Hotel is particularly ugly, but I also don’t think it visually fits in with the rest of Fantasy Springs.

From the outside of the park Fantasy Springs Hotel looks underwhelming and some parts even look unfinished. I’m not sure what happened here, but large slabs of blank concrete with a few flourishes doesn’t cut it when the rest of the land looks as good as it does. Personally I would never stay here over Hotel MiraCosta. Both have nightly rates ranging from $500 to $700 and up, but one is the most beautiful hotel Disney has ever built, and the other looks like it was plopped down partially unfinished. A unique feature of Fantasy Springs Hotel is that is has an entrance directly into Fantasy Springs. The use of this entrance is only for guests staying at Fantasy Springs Hotel. I stayed at Toy Story Hotel during my recent visit, which is directly across from Fantasy Springs Hotel and Bayside Station, which is one of the stations on the Tokyo Disney Resort Line (aka the monorail). Both entering and exiting Tokyo DisneySea from this entrance is exclusive to Fantasy Springs Hotel guests, so at the end of the night it was a bit frustrating knowing my hotel was that close, but instead I had to walk to the front of the park and take the Resort Line back to my hotel. By the way, if you’re familiar with Tokyo, walking from the entrance to Tokyo DisneySea, through the park, into Fantasy Springs, and then to the end of the land where the hotel is located is about the same distance as walking from Harajuku station to Shinjuku.

What shops does Fantasy Springs have?

Shockingly, Fantasy Springs has only one gift shop, called Fantasy Springs Gifts. It’s located at the foot of Fantasy Springs Hotel. Almost all of the Fantasy Springs items that were available during my visit have since sold out, so I won’t bother posting them here.

Here’s a look at the inside. If you do want to visit Fantasy Springs Gifts, be prepared to wait. The line to get in was 30 to 60 minutes long every time I checked.

Before I wrap this up I wanted to talk about the land itself for a bit. Throughout Fantasy Springs are these rock formations of famous Disney characters. Fitting in with the theme of DisneySea, the rock work is surrounded by waterfalls, pools, and streams. Hearing flowing water in the land is lovely and really adds to the atmosphere.

Everything looks even better at night. Here’s Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip while Maleficent dragon watches.

 

Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey rock near Fantasy Springs Hotel.

Overall Fantasy Springs is a spectacular achievement worthy of being inside the world’s most beautiful theme park. It’s filled with some wonderful attractions that raise the bar of can be accomplished in a theme park ride. The entire land adds not only value to your Tokyo Disney Resort visit, but it also adds much more capacity to a park that was in need of a big expansion. It gives Tokyo DisneySea something it didn’t have before; an equivalent to Fantasyland where stories like these can be told without feeling shoehorned in. My only bit of minor criticism is that Fantasy Springs does feel separate from Tokyo DisneySea, much like Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge feels separate from the rest of the original Disneyland. All of the other lands/ports in Tokyo DisneySea feel cohesive, they all transition seamlessly to one another and everything comes together to paint one beautiful picture. Fantasy Springs is hidden rock work and accessed via caves. Mount Prometheus, the icon of Tokyo DisneySea, is almost impossible to see from Fantasy Springs. Meanwhile Mount Prometheus is not only visible, but is often accentuated when viewed from the other lands/port in the park. None of this takes away from my enjoyment from Fantasy Springs, but it’s worth mentioning. There’s a thousand reasons why Tokyo DisneySea and Tokyo Disneyland are worth going out of your way to visit, not to mention the chance to see the incredible country of Japan. If you were looking for a reason to push you over the edge and visit, let Fantasy Springs be the one.

Again I want to remind everyone, check out our Tokyo Disneyland guide which covers every aspect of the trip planning process, including tips for how to get cheap airfare, tickets, and more. Also take a look at our TouringPlans for Tokyo Disney website which goes over these topics more in-depth.

Finally, buy tickets to Tokyo Disney Resort, Universal Studios Japan, Sanrio Puroland Ghibli Park tickets, and anything else in Japan easily and securely using Klook. We can’t recommend them enough. Using our Klook link directly supports coverage of Tokyo Disney Resort on this website.

 

What did you think of Fantasy Springs? Are you planning on going?  Share your thoughts or ask questions in the comments.