Crowds Were SURPRISINGLY LOW for the Opening of Disney's NEWEST Land — and We Think We Know Why

Disney’s newest theme park land is officially open!

Let’s go to Fantasy Springs!

Fantasy Springs has finally opened in Tokyo DisneySea, and we were there for the big occasion! A few weeks ahead of time, we got to tour the new land and check out the rides and food during a media event, but then we went BACK for the grand opening. And what surprised us most? Probably the crowds!

Overall, the grand opening was fairly calm! Crowds in the land weren’t too bad, and the ride wait times were minimal — hanging out around 30 minutes each for most of the day. We had priority access to the rides in Fantasy Springs with our vacation package (priority access is one of the skip-the-line options), and those lines were 10 minutes or less.

Heading into the land

The main crowd-related issue had to do with Mobile Ordering food. All the Mobile Order windows for the three new Fantasy Springs restaurants sold out at some point during the day, so we encourage you to place your Mobile Orders EARLY. Royal Banquet of Arendelle’s Mobile Order windows filled up by 10:30AM and the other two restaurants were gone by 3PM.

Snuggly Duckling

This is incredibly important to note because, on the first day, visitors were not allowed inside the restaurants without a Mobile Order. That policy may change going forward, but just know that it’s a possibility.

The Snuggly Duckling

Most of the day, there was a line for merchandise at Fantasy Springs Gifts. Once you got to the front, they gave you a merchandise ticket that allowed you one transaction (you could buy as many things as you wanted in that one transaction, but some things had a limit of one per transaction). The inside of the gift shop is stunning, and there was lots to see!

Fantasy Springs Gifts

Merchandise was also available at one of the big stores at the front of the park, which had a much longer line. We’re guessing that many people who were in this line didn’t have access to Fantasy Springs that day, so they did their shopping elsewhere.

Inside Fantasy Springs Gifts

Another thing to note about the opening day was the characters — we spotted a few princesses out and about near the Fantasy Springs Hotel, but other than that, the land was pretty void of live characters. This is another thing that may change as time goes on, so be on the lookout!

Ariel was out by the hotel!

All in all, we were SHOCKED by how calm it was in Fantasy Springs on the opening day! Keep in mind that the reason for the low crowds may be the reservation system Disney has in place. In order to visit Fantasy Springs, you need to have purchased a vacation package with access to the new land. It seems as though this choice is limiting the crowds in the new area a bit.

Crowds loading on a ride

Stay tuned to DFB for more news and updates from the Disney parks around the globe! We’ll keep you in the loop.

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