Guest Posting Tokyo Disney Resort Pictures

Daynah’s Experience: Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival in Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea

Jul 20, 2024 daynah Fantasy Springs, Tangled, Tokyo DisneySea

My family and I were on vacation in Japan and one of our goals was to visit Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea. As we entered the park I managed to secure a Standby Pass for “Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure.” In my earlier post – Daynah’s Experience & Tips to Visiting Fantasy Springs in Tokyo DisneySea – I detailed my entry experience.

After we secured Standby passes for “Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure,” we started scheduling the rest of our day at DisneySea. At 8:45am, “Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival” was showing available for Disney Premier Access, so we purchased two tickets, one for myself and one for my younger daughter (for ¥2,000 each ~ $12.70). “Tangled” is one of my favorite Disney movies, so I was very excited to have the opportunity to see the lanterns on this trip. We were able to get a 3:40pm return time, so that meant I could leave Fantasy Springs and return to the area right after the “Big Band Beat: A Special Treat” show we had a reservation for.

After enjoying the “Big Band Beat: A Special Treat” show with my family, we hopped onto the “DisneySea Electric Railway” and rode it to “Port Discovery.” At this point, my younger daughter and I made the trek back to “Fantasy Springs” while the rest of my family went on “Nemo & Friends SeaRider.”

Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival Experience

Since we had Disney Premier Access for “Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival,” we were able to skip the very long Standby line and walk quickly through the queue. I enjoyed looking at all the little details while in line. They had the sun logo and lanterns at many places. We got into the queue and were on the ride within 5 minutes. Since I was with my younger daughter, the short wait was well worth the investment!

A boat waited for us as we moved to the front of the line. This attraction takes guests on a slow moving/romantic boat ride that leads to the annual Lantern Festival. Guests get to experience Rapunzel’s “best day ever” as she falls in love with Flynn Rider and visit various scenes featured in the movie, Tangled. Each boat has a capacity of 16 people, having four rows and fitting 4 people in each row. The best view is on the left side of the boat, preferably in the front row as guests will get a clear view of the boat scene with all the lanterns. My daughter and I were sitting in the 4th row, on the right side, so we has guests blocking some of our view.

disneysea rapunzel tower2 — Rapunzel Singing in her Tower

Your journey starts with an outdoor cruise through Corona, a fictional island kingdom in central France. Look up and to the right, you will see Rapunzel’s Tower where you will find her singing a snippet of “When Will My Life Begin” in Japanese. Her movements look so realistic. You want to take a moment to soak this all in. It feels like you are in the movie and this is one of my favorite parts from the ride.

As the boat continues, you can see Flynn trying to stay out of sight on the left while Max was just being.. Max. Their slight movements add so much fun to the scene.

The boat then slowly enters a cave and onto the next scene. You are then transported indoors and to the right is a scene of what happened after Flynn freed Rapunzel from the tower. She excitedly swings around the tree on her hair while Flynn smiles.

Then we get a quick glance at the “Snuggly Duckling,” the pub located somewhere in the woods that hosts many of Corona’s ruffians and thieves who use the location as a hangout.

The boat continues on and the next scene on the left shows Rapunzel singing the “Healing Incantation” to heal Flynn’s hand with her magical glowing hair. If you look closely, you will see Pascal smirking at the entire scene.

As the boat moves on, a scene of the castle with lanterns flying all around it appears. This prepares you for what’s to come next. As the boat moves under the bridge and into the next room, you are just struck in awe, looking up and down and all around. Countless flickering lanterns illuminate the climactic scene. It feels incredible to be at the moment in time when Rapunzel and Flynn sing the iconic song “I See the Light.” It truly was an unforgettable finale to the attraction.

The boat moves onto the next scene and we see a few of Rapunzel’s new friends being a little lovestruck. The last room is filled with beautiful artwork that Rapunzel created of her happily ever after as we wait to return to land.

Thoughts and First Impressions

My daughter and I really enjoyed the “Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival” attraction. The boat ride was nice and slow and there were so many scenes to look at. It was fun looking for Pascal in each scene too. My only complaint for this attraction is that it felt really short. Rapunzel and Flynn’s love story was told in just under 5 minutes on this ride. I felt they could have added another scene from the movie to extend the ride more. The kingdom dance scene would have been nice to add since that was the moment Flynn saw her in a different light.

My best advice for this attraction is sit in the front row or on the left side of the boat. In my opinion, the best scenes are on the left side and you want a clear view of them, especially the lantern scene.

For more information on Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival, here is the Official Tokyo DisneySea Webpage.

Note: To experience “Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival,” you will need to have Disney Premier Access or a Standby Pass, there is currently no traditional stand by queue.