Just came back from a day at DisneySea with friends, and the experience left a lot to be desired. Some context: we're all adults with no kids, we prefer thrill rides, and we're big fans of WDW (we've been to Paris as well and enjoyed it).
First things first, we had a nice time and don't regret going. The weather was perfect, and we didn't miss out on anything we wanted to do. The visit came at the tail end of a two-week trip to Japan, so it was a nice change of pace. What I write below is going to sound like I hated it, so I want to make it clear that is not the case, but I/we can't reconcile the hype this park gets on this and other subs with the reality we experienced.
Starting with the positives:
• Food is amazing, and cheap. We were constantly surprised at the quality of even basic snacks. Compared to US parks, this was Michelin-star quality lol
• Many areas of the park are very pretty to look at
• Journey to the Center of the Earth was a ton of fun
• Believe! Sea of Dreams was excellent
• Bought a super cool Jubilee reversible fleece jacket, probably my favorite purchase at a Disney park
As for the cons… (warning again, I'm going to sound like a hater):
• Rides were mostly meh, and short. Frozen is just the movie, Rapunzel is two seconds long, Soaring is Soarin'. But again, we're more thrill ride people, so these didn't do as much for us
• We paid for the Priority Pass on every ride that offered it because we could afford it, but I cannot imagine finding any enjoyment in this park standing in line for 3 hours for a 2-minute ride. On behalf of others who may choose the standby lines: it is not worth it in the slightest, and we would've had a horrible time if we'd had to stand in longer lines
• Tower of Terror and Indy were closed. I can't really fault the park for this since I knew it coming in, but still
• The next few points are where it gets controversial, and I'm bucketing them under the banner of "severe lack of Disney magic":
1. Theming: It was nice but… pointless? Everything felt a bit disjointed and out of place, areas were small, and it didn't feel like the theme had a purpose for all but a handful of rides
2. Highly visible blemishes: There was a ton of visible scaffolding on the volcano that they didn't even try to blend in; it just looked like your average construction in NYC. The (closed) ride next to Nemo was drained and looked like a barren parking lot with puddles in it, and the Soaring walls were filthy (this was right after park open). Completely against what I've seen here about park cleanliness and quality
3. Lack of special touches: Cast members were a non-factor; they're just there. At WDW, there are a million little moments and interactions you can have with even regular park employees that make you feel special (cast members walking around and greeting people, multiple parades and bands, the people drawing with water on the pavement, etc.). At DisneySea we saw one marching band and a random monkey walking around the whole day, outside of scheduled shows. Employees are only there to shepherd you onto rides and give you food
4. If you removed the Disney-branded elements of this park and dropped it off at Universal Orlando, not only would it fit right in, it would likely be a skip for us due to the lack of thrill rides. You can really tell it's not run by Disney, unfortunately
Additionally, I was surprised by the lack of English "accessibility" throughout the park. This isn't a complaint, and it obviously makes sense for rides and shows to be in Japanese, but with the high volume of non-Japanese tourists it was a bit strange to have almost no non-Japanese audio, even for some important announcements on rides (no subtitles either!). Again, I can't fault the park for catering to the local audience, but the language barrier doesn't help with the feeling that something is missing.
Overall, we found the park to be average, with some cool moments but otherwise nowhere near WDW park quality and enjoyment. I would love to hear from others in this sub with similar experiences, as well as those who think this is the best Disney park and what your perspective is on the above. Are we not seeing something that makes this park special?