During the development of Tokyo DisneySea's Fantasy Springs, Disney Imagineers and the OLC figured out that what the local guests wanted most of all out of the new port were more top-level, high quality rides, and got to work on a fifth ride to flesh out its attraction roster. As the other four rides were based on singular IPs (Frozen, Peter Pan, and Tangled), it was decided to give this additional ride an original story, one that would tie everything together.
According to the backstory of Fantasy Springs,
"Once upon a time in a land far away, there was a magical spring where a spirit 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 spring's source, you would come to fabled kingdoms found in storybook tales."
The final port consists of three main "neighborhoods":
Frozen Kingdom, host to the North Mountain Expedition family coaster
Peter Pan's Never Land, host to the Peter Pan's Never Land Adventure 3D multimedia dark ride and the Tinker Bell's Busy Buggies outdoor track ride
Rapunzel's Forest, host to the Rapunzel's Lantern Festival boat ride
Where a deluxe hotel was once considered, guests instead find the Duchess's Grand Chateau, flanked by the magical springs themselves, to be the facade to the port's main E-ticket: Dreaming of Fantasy Springs.
Queuing through the palace's gardens and halls, guests wind up back "outdoors" as they proceed to the loading dock, where their enchanted canoes await. Dreaming of Fantasy Springs uses the same magnetically-propelled boat system as Shanghai Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure. The boats can travel forwards, backwards, and even sideways along the ride's course, often in tandem with what's unfolding around them, and can hold up to 16 guests.
After a brief opening scene where we can see the spirit at work along the rivers of the springs, we join the Duchess and her dragonfly companion Tombo on a magical, dreamy voyage through many of the places the spirit has traveled to, among them the following moments from these animated classics:
the woods beyond Aurora's kingdom (Sleeping Beauty), where Briar Rose has an unknowing run-in with her true love
a wintery wonderland in Bambi's forest, which then gives way to rainy "Little April Showers" - the icy waters and the winter winds send guests' canoes drifting sideways
the bayous of New Orleans (The Princess and the Frog)
Yen Sid's flooded workshop (Fantasia), where Sorcerer Mickey struggles to regain control of the brooms he's accidentally brought to life...whose torrential pours of water send canoes sliding down a backwards drop
The trip ends "happily ever after" with a banquet at the Duchess's summer house - and guests onboard aren't the only ones invited, for people staying at Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Lodge can look on from an upstairs patio of the house. This glimpse hopefully will inspire them to check out Fantasy Springs for themselves...every bit as much as guests are to take the cruise again.
