Tokyo Disney Resort: General Discussion

[Sam]

Some wonderful news from Screamscape:

Fall 2014 - New Jungle Cruise - Confirmed - (7/14/13) Huge news from Tokyo Disneyland came out on Friday afternoon that the park would put the Jungle Cruise under the knife for a 1.6 billion Yen ($16.1 million US) upgrade that will be ready to reopen by Fall 2014. According to the press release from the Oriental Land Company,
“The revamped version of the attraction will have new lighting effects and other special show effects. In addition, a specially written musical sound track will be heard throughout the attraction for the first time in any Jungle Cruise. Also, an after-dark only “night cruise” will provide a unique take on the jungle adventure.
The new Jungle Cruise will offer Guests an adventure that is even more thrilling than before. From on board the attraction’s boats, Guests will explore jungle landscapes full of wild animals with the help of their daring and comical skipper who guides them through the beauty and dangers of this exotic world. The adventure includes a startling encounter with one of the animal spirit guardians in the ruins of a lost jungle temple.”
The current version of the Jungle Cruise will close down on January 6, 2014.

A really great idea. Jungle Cruise does feel a bit 'old-hat' when you ride it these days, but it's a proper classic, and doesn't deserve to go. There's too much potential in the concept. These upgrades sound like they're going to enhance the ride and bring it up to the standard of modern Disney rides, while retaining everything that makes it Jungle Cruise - most importantly, the performance of the skipper.

 

[Sam]

2015 - Stitch Encounter - (12/20/13) Tokyo Disneyland has confirmed that Captain EO will close down forever on June 30, 2014 to make way for a new Stitch Encounter theater attraction to open in Summer 2015. This is not a copy of the Walt Disney World attraction, but instead seems to be a copy of the Stitch Encounter from Hong Kong Disneyland where a theater full of guests can communicate with a computer animated Stitch character on a large screen. The concept was first used to create the Turtle Talk with Crush at Walt Disney World’s Epcot theme park.

Will this be the first of a wave of Captain EO closures?

 

[Sam]

General Resort News - (12/27/13) The Oriental Land Company has released documents showing that they have acquired new land, “totaling approximately 23,382 square meters along with ancillary facilities located in the Urayasu-shi, Chiba Prefecture” from the Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, LTD. The land itself is described as being “within the Tokyo Disney Resort” and offers a valuable and sizable new space to be used for future use. The site itself is listed as the former site of the “Tokyo Bay NK Hall”. While the agreement has been finalized, it appears that the property itself will not change hands until April 2016.
The Tokyo Bay NK Hall was a sporting and concert arena once on the Tokyo Disney Resort property site from 1988 to 2005. The site sits along the waterside of the resort property, nestled in between several resort hotels and the Bayside monorail station.

Any new land purchased by what is probably the most universally-respected Disney resort worldwide has to be good news!

 

[josht]

Looks like a new Star Wars dark ride thing
http://www.tokyodisneyresort.jp/en/tdl/atrc/tomorrow/tours/index.html

 

[Ian]

Apparently the upgraded version seen there opened May last year. Even so, it seems that yet another park gets Star Tours II whilst Paris continues to sit there rotting. If I'm not mistaken doesn't this make Paris the only original Star Tours left?

 

[Rob]

There has been a major announcement from the Oriental Land Company regarding future additions to the Tokyo Disney Resort Parks:

Oriental Land Co., Ltd. announced that several themes for the further development of the Disney parks at Tokyo Disney Resort® have been decided. For Tokyo Disneyland® Park, two of the areas within the Fantasyland redevelopment plan will be themed to the Disney films Beauty and the Beast and Alice in Wonderland.

The overall theme for the new themed port at Tokyo DisneySea Park will be Scandinavia with a portion of the area being themed specifically to the world of the Disney film Frozen. These new areas will include attractions, restaurants and other facilities filled with enchantment that will enhance the Guest experience at Tokyo Disney Resort.

The theme park development plans, first outlined in Oriental Land Group’s “2016 Medium-Term Business Plan” (for the period of March 2015 through March 2017) announced on April 28, 2014, include a 500-billion-yen level of investment in the theme park business over the next ten years. The plan for Tokyo Disneyland Park centers on the redevelopment of Fantasyland, which will nearly double the size of the themed land. For Tokyo DisneySea Park, the new eighth themed port will be developed in the expansion site located south of Lost River Delta.

Oriental Land Co. will proceed in the redevelopment of Fantasyland and the development of the new themed port and expects to decide within 2015 on the themes and facilities for all of the areas.

Looks extremely good. 500 billion yen over the next ten years is a ridiculous amount of money.

The Scandinavian port at DisneySea looks particularly exciting, there are rumours for a very impressive and expensive Frozen themed E-ticket attraction. As usual the best of Disney goes to Tokyo!

 

[Nick]

Damn. Disney Sea was already pretty much the best looking park in the world, and now they're getting that.

 

[Rob]

Another new attraction confirmed for DisneySea in 2017:

The Oriental Land Company has announced a new attraction will open at Tokyo DisneySea in Spring 2017 that will be themed to the world of Pixar's Finding Nemo and the upcomming Finding Dory (2016) animated films. Guests will board a special submarine that will then shrink itself down to the size of a fish so that they may "expore the vast underwater world from the same point of view as Nemo and Dory." Even better, the production staff of Finding Dory will be involved with the creation of the visuals for this attraction. The unnamed attraction will be placed in the park's Port Discovery section of the park and take the place of the existing StormRider simulator attraction which will close down permanently sometime in May 2016 to allow for construction to begin. The overall investment into the new attraction is estimated to be around 5 billion Yen

Only a miserly £26.5 million for this...

To be fair, this doesn't look or sound overly special by Disney standards, more like a glorified 4D cinema. Although with everything else going on I have no complaints!

 

[Rob]

Following on from last years announcement of 500 billion yen investment into the Resort over the next 10 years, Oriental Land Co. have today announced more details of the Fantasyland expansion developments for Tokyo Disneyland (opening 2020 at present) and a Soarin' attraction for DisneySea (opening 2019 at present).

Details regarding Disneyland park changes:

Grand Circuit Raceway, StarJets and some food facilities and shops currently in Tomorrowland will close permanently to make way for the proposed redevelopment. The expansion of Fantasyland will include a theater for live performances and a new area anchored by a major attraction themed to Beauty and the Beast. In neighboring Tomorrowland and Toontown, a new attraction and a Disney Character greeting facility will be opened in each themed land respectively. Total investment for the development of the new area and facilities is expected to be about 75 billion Japanese yen. In addition, plans are being developed for new versions of current attractions and entertainment programs.

Beauty and the Beast Area (tentative name)

This new area opening in Fantasyland will let Guests experience the world of the Disney film Beauty and the Beast. With the Beast’s castle and the village where Belle lives, the entire environment of this area will make Guests feel like they are in the film.

Located within the Beast’s castle will be a major attraction themed to Beauty and the Beast that can be experienced only in Japan. And in the village, there will be a shop and
a restaurant.

Area Overview

Facilities:
One major attraction
One shop
One restaurant

Attraction Overview

Type: Ride
Duration: About 8 minutes
Description: Guests board enchanted serving dishes that dance in rhythm to the film’s well-known music and follow Belle on a romantic musical adventure inside the enchanted Castle where she dances her way into the heart of the Beast, just in time to break the fateful spell. Guests will feel like they have entered right into the film.
Opening: Spring 2020 (tentative)
Investment Amount: About 32 billion yen (tentative)

Live Entertainment Theater (Theater name to be determined)

Opening in a new area of Fantasyland, this will be the first full-scale indoor theater for live entertainment at Tokyo Disneyland. Signature Disney entertainment unique to Tokyo Disneyland and featuring the Disney Friends will be presented in this storybook theater environment.

Type: Live Entertainment Theater
Capacity: About 1,500 persons
Opening: Spring 2020 (tentative)
Investment Amount: About 17 billion yen (tentative)

New Attraction themed to the Disney film, Big Hero 6 (Attraction name to be determined)

A ride-type attraction themed to the Disney film, Big Hero 6, will open in Tomorrowland. Also, for the first time in either Tokyo Disneyland or Tokyo DisneySea, a shop themed to outer space and selling popcorn in multiple flavors will open next to
the new attraction.

Type: Ride
Duration: About 1.5 minutes
Description: The lovable robot Baymax, from the Disney film, Big Hero 6, invites Guests to join their own personal healthcare companion for an exciting musical “whip ride” that swings them unpredictably round and round.
Opening: Spring 2020 (tentative)
Investment Amount: About 6 billion yen (tentative)

New Disney Character Greeting Facility (Facility name to be determined)

A new Disney Character greeting facility where Guests can meet Minnie Mouse will open in Toontown.

Description: Minnie Mouse, as a fashion designer, will greet Guests in her studio dressed in fashionable costume. After walking through Minnie’s design studio and her work area with interactive elements, Guests can meet Minnie in person, take pictures with her, and generally spend a memorable time together.
Opening: Spring 2020 (tentative)
Investment Amount: About 2 billion yen (tentative)

Notes:
To make way for the new development areas and the new facilities, the following attractions in Tomorrowland will close: Grand Circuit Raceway in January 2017 and StarJets in autumn-winter 2017.

Concept of the Beauty and the Beast area:

And of the ride:

Big Hero 6 ride:

And here are the Soarin' at DisneySea details:

New Attraction at Mediterranean Harbor

A simulator attraction, Soarin’ (tentative name), will open at Mediterranean Harbor in Tokyo DisneySea. This very popular attraction, which has been enjoyed by Guests visiting the Disney parks outside Japan, can now be experienced at Tokyo DisneySea with original scenes and the newest visual images.

Type: Simulator
Duration: About 5 minutes
Description: Guests who visit the attraction overlooking Mediterranean Harbor will be able experience a journey soaring over famous landscapes of the world, while feeling the breezes and scents that match the various scenes.
Opening: Fiscal year 2019 (tentative)
Investment Amount: About 18 billion yen (tentative)

No further news on the Scandinavian port for DisneySea but I assume that is still in development as well. If only Paris received the same levels of investment!

 

[Rob]

Nothing like quoting yourself!

No further news on the Scandinavian port for DisneySea but I assume that is still in development as well. If only Paris received the same levels of investment!

It has been revealed by the president of Oriental Land Company that the Scandinavian/Frozen area will now not open until 2021 at the earliest. It appears there have been some problems in ensuring they have enough land for everything that they want to do.

 

[Rob]

Despite the apparent lack of interest in what is going on in Tokyo I'm going for this quadruple post!

Disney & More have posted pictures of a new model depicting the planned Fantasyland changes. First of all here is a before and after comparison:

And a couple of close up photos:

Looks good! That is a big show building for the Beauty and the Beast ride.

 

[Rick]

I feel like I should respond so that @Rob isn't talking to himself!

All these additions look phenomenal, on top of what is an amazing couple of parks. I had no real interest in visiting them (too much to do in Japan!) but I ended up with a couple of days to kill and WOW.

Without any real intention of visiting, I did no research, I turned up and had an absolute blast. DisneySea is perhaps my favourite park anywhere and I wouldn't consider myself a Disney fan by any means.

The attendance at those parks is crazy but they have a bunch of people eaters and handle crowds with typical Japanese efficiency.

 

[Rojo]

Rumours of Tokyo Disney getting bigger by 2025. I wonder if they are hitting their capacity more this year and have decided to expand for this reason?

Alternatively Universal will have their Nintendo area complete by 2020 and Studio Ghibli will have their park complete in Nagoya in 2020 also. Maybe they feel need more space/areas to compete with the competition.

https://tdrexplorer.com/huge-expansion-rumoured-for-tokyo-disney-resort/

 

[Rob]

Just been having a look in to this, there seems to be some confusion over whether a third park is on the cards or whether it is an expansion of one or both of the exsiting parks. The latter seems the more likely option.

Got to be honest, I've lost track with developments at Tokyo recently so I am not at all sure how this latest news fits in with all of the announced additions posted in this thread already. One article I have read suggests that the Scandinavian/Frozen port for DisneySea has been scrapped due to space issues, however Frozen is likely to be on the cards for this newly announced expansion.

 

[Rojo]

I'd say expansion too. I can't imagine there is enough room in the current bay and the only area from memory that wasn't packed in was the park a bit further down the bay (the one with the Tokyo sea life centre)

One thing for sure is that OLC don't sit on their hands and whatever gets put in will be a high quality addition.

 

[Rojo]

Sorry for the double post but...

OLC have confirmed a small part of the rumour. They are redesigning Disneyland's entrance and confirmed the new multistory car park.

First up is a ¥12 billion ($107 million USD) redesign of the Disneyland entrance which will improve the flow of guests into the park and enhance accessibility for foreign tourists. The redesign promises the following:

• The number of entrance/exit gates will be increased from 48 to 54 gates
• A photo recognition system will speed up entry for Annual Passport holders
• 12 new ticket vending machines will offer a faster way to buy tickets and will display options in Japanese, English, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Korean, Thai, and Indonesian
• The number of staffed ticket booths will decrease from 32 to 6, with staff focusing on helping people using the vending machines instead
• Flap ticket gates will replace the current turnstiles

Work is set to begin in April 2018 and will be completed by 2020, although some elements may be completed during 2019.

Next up, the new three-story parking structure will be built above ground in the Tokyo Disneyland Guest Parking area, but the exact location and number of spaces are yet to be confirmed. The project is due to be completed during the 2019/20 financial year, just in time for the Fantasyland expansion.

More info can be found in the below link

https://tdrexplorer.com/tokyo-disneyland-confirms-new-entrance-parking-structure/

 

[Rojo]

As I am in the queue for star tours at DLP, I had a quick Google about Tokyo and see how it compares. I then stumbled across this unconfirmed but AMAZING breaking news...

According to a report in the Sunday edition of the Mainichi Shimbun, a leading Japanese newspaper, Oriental Land Company (OLC) is making plans for a third park at Tokyo Disney Resort. Consideration is being given to theming the park as Tokyo DisneySky.


The sky and space themed park would feature a jet plane simulator, moving walkways, and open as early as 2022.

The news builds on last year’s rumors of a $2.7 billion investment at the resort.

Disney Sky article in The Mainichi Shimbun, published Sunday, February 4

There has been no official announcement from OLC, who own and operate Tokyo Disney Resort.

According to the report in the Mainichi Shimbun, the theming of the new park would be unique to Tokyo Disney Resort, just like Tokyo Disney Sea. Moving walkways would move guests around, and there would be no paper ticketing. Instead, guests would use a smartphone app to gain access to the park.

An official announcement is expected in April or May 2018, with construction set to begin in 2019. The park would be built in the parking area behindTokyo Disneyland.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to receive updates on this exciting news!

EDIT: In a statement late Sunday morning, OLC said it had not made an announcement about a third park.

Wow hope this is true given how well Disney Sea is themed.

Might have to delay my planned 2021 visit now.

 

[Matt N]

Sounds like a tech lover's paradise as well as a theming extravaganza!

 

[Rojo]

I had to check if today was a Japanese version of April fools day

It will be interesting to see how walkways will be implemented and what IPs make it to Disney sky. I'd love to see some Jules Verne airships to compliment the volcano/20000 leagues at Disney sea.

 

[Rose Of Dawn]

https://wdwnt.com/2018/02/rumor-tok...okyo-disney-resort-anchored-star-wars-avatar/

A new rumour suggests that DisneySky will focus on IPs such as Star Wars and Avatar.

I hope this isn’t the case. One of things that makes DisneySea so special is the original theming (with the IPs being more limited compared to other Disney parks).