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Hello everyone,
Today Tokyo Disney Resort's operating company, Oriental Land, announced through an official press release that they are investing 500 billion Yen (US$4.5bn approx) in the resort over the next 3 years, which will include a huge expansion to both theme parks, amongst other things. I thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at these plans, and offer some of my own thoughts.
The key elements that are outlined in the plan are the development of a brand new themed port next to the Lost River Delta in Tokyo DisneySea, and the doubling in size of their Fantasyland, plus massive upgrades to the existing areas. In the process of expanding Fantasyland it appears that the Raceway and the StarJets will be removed. I have inserted the images from the release, below.
While I imagine for an extended period of time the parks will be even more chaotic than usual, with less attractions open and vast areas of walkway closed off, ultimately it can only be a good thing. Tokyo Disneyland has long suffered from having the worst designed Fantasyland, still stuck in the pre-mid-1980s format, with the renaissance tents and the 8-arm Dumbo. While I admit WDW's New Fantasyland is an improvement, they did nothing for the existing area which is also still stuck with the medieval tents, let's hope Tokyo does a better job, which is implied with the concept art and "Fantasyland Redevelopment" piece (above). The new concept art shows that the location of Dumbo will move, and if you scrutinize it closely, it will be the newer style as seen at the all the other parks around the world. The concept art also appears to include what looks like Beast's Castle AKA Be Our Guest Restaurant from the "new" Fantasyland at Walt Disney World. All other details are sketchy, besides saying "new restaurants and attractions", and we probably won't know more for some time to come yet, but it is exciting nonetheless, and definitely interesting to speculate what may come.
Before looking at DisneySea, let's take a look at the current Tokyo Disneyland Fantasyland and Tomorrowland in pictures, and I think you'll agree that they really need this new project.
Here are some photos of Be Our Guest at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, and Dumbo at Disneyland Paris, to give some idea of how vastly different things could look (with a strong emphasis on the could!)
Tokyo Disneyland, as you saw above, had a piece of concept art released with the announcement today, but sadly Tokyo DisneySea did not. However, and although this is pure speculation, it would not surprise me one bit if we saw the installation of an Arctic themed port - not too dissimilar to the "polar land" rumored a number of years ago for the other parks. Could they be resurrecting those plans? If they are, could Anna and Elsa finally be getting a permanent Arendelle style retreat in exotic Japan? Afterall, Arendelle is a port in the movie! I guess we'll find out in a couple of years! The vague circular shading over the photo of the new development appears to encompass an area which currently houses the Lost River Delta meet 'n' greet area. Although it may remain, the crude image does seem to imply this space will be swallowed with the new development.
This photo of ours shows the current Indiana Jones attraction, the trees to the left are the start of what would be the new area.
The press release also talks about "easing of congestion" (improving crowd control and guest flow) across the parks, which again is something that desperately needs to be addressed. We have been going to Tokyo Disney Resort for a number of years now, and it has only gotten worse. Let's take a look at some of our insane crowd photos.
So, those are my thoughts. Of course, anything can change at any time, and we won't know exact plans pretty much until they are in full construction, but it's fun to speculate on this exciting news.
It's definitely great news to wake up, and I am very excited for the future of Tokyo Disney Resort, as I am sure countless others are too!
Dan.
Editor's Note: Lots of people on the internet, social media, etc are saying that a Frozen land is coming for sure, but I just want to clarify that the actual press release does not mention this at all. I myself even speculated above that this is likely, but at this point that is all it is - speculation. Dan.
Concept images are copyright the Oriental Land Company, Tokyo Disney Resort and The Walt Disney Company, and were taken from their press release, here. |
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 | Happy National Cat Day! | |
| DisneyDan
Wednesday, October 29, 2014 3:58:20 PM |
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Today is National Cat Day in the US, and here to celebrate are some of our favourite Disney feline friends!
Happy National Cat Day everyone!
Dan.
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 | Happy 43rd Birthday Walt Disney World Resort! | |
| DisneyDan
Wednesday, October 1, 2014 8:53:28 AM |
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Today is the 43rd anniversary of the grand opening of the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and the 32nd anniversary of EPCOT!
For 43 years Walt Disney World has enchanted millions of guests from all over the world with its incredible attractions, amazing entertainment and excellent service and facilities.
In our usual style, here's a cavalcade of photos of our magical experiences at Walt Disney World over the years. I have deliberately left out character images for today, since I really wanted to celebrate the beauty of the parks, and the work of the dreamers who believed they could build this magical place.
Happy 43rd birthday Walt Disney World, here's to many, many more!
Dan. |
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 | Happy 27th Birthday DuckTales and Rescue Rangers! | |
| DisneyDan
Thursday, September 18, 2014 12:19:03 PM |
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Hello everyone,
On this day, 18th September, in 1987 Disney premiered two of its most popular television shows of all time - DuckTales and Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers.
Let's celebrate in our usual Character Central style with some of our favourite DuckTakes and Rescue Rangers character photos from the Disney Parks!
Happy Birthday Gadget, Launchpad and all the other stars that debuted that day!
Dan.
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 | Character Couture - Goofy | |
| DisneyDan
Sunday, September 14, 2014 8:36:08 AM |
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Hello everyone,
In this third instalment of our Character Couture series, we are going to take a look at the wardrobe of everybody's favourite goof, Goofy!
Let's start in California, where you can meet Goofy daily on Buena Vista Street wearing his suit and tie, fitting right in with the local area!
At the Magic Kingdom in Florida, Goofy takes on a more adventurous role, as the Great Goofini - stunt pilot extraordinaire!
The Stars 'n' Cars greeting at the Walt Disney Studios in Paris is a great place to find lots of characters, and of course Goofy is there dressed ready for a day of filming on set!
When he's not filming in at the Studios, Goofy finds time to come up with some crazy scientific experiments at Port Discovery, at Tokyo DisneySea.
Goofy likes to find time to relax, and one of his favourite hobbies is surfing - during The Golden Mickeys show at Hong Kong Disneyland.
When he's done surfing, Goofy likes to soak up the rays on the beach, at Castaway Cay, part of the Caribbean itineraries on Disney Cruise Line.
In case you missed them, you can find Minnie's Character Couture article here, and Daisy Duck's here.
Dan.
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The Disney Parks Blog just announced that Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and everybody's favourite snowman Olaf will be coming to Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party this year!
They have also confirmed that Elsa will feature at Cinderella Castle, which will as always be turned into an ice palace - but presumably replacing Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother.
At Disney's Hollywood Studios, the Frozen Sing-a-long which features Anna, Elsa and Kristoff will run through the holidays.
We can't wait to see Olaf join the Disney character family this Christmas season!
Although not holiday related, it's also been announced that Frozen will take over EPCOT's Maelstrom (Norway) attraction, and "will take our guests to Arendelle and immerse them in many of their favorite moments and music from the film." The Blog also confirmed that Anna and Elsa would greet guests at the Norway pavilion, too.
Dare I say it? The only park missing a Frozen addition will be Animal Kingdom!...
Are you excited to see all these additions and changes at Walt Disney World for the holidays and beyond?
Dan. |
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 | Happy National Teddy Bear Day! | |
| DisneyDan
Tuesday, September 9, 2014 11:39:20 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Today is National Teddy Bear day, so to celebrate I have put together some of our favourite pictures of some of the teddy bears you might find at the Disney Parks around the world!
Happy National Teddy Bear Day everyone!
Dan.
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 | Happy 84th Birthday Pluto! | |
| DisneyDan
Friday, September 5, 2014 11:26:03 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Today, 5th September, is Pluto's 84th birthday! First appearing in the Mickey Mouse short "The Chain Gang" in 1930, Pluto was first seen tracking Mickey down after he escaped from prison! Since then though, Pluto has become Mickey's faithful companion and one of his best friends.
Let's celebrate in our usual Character Central way, with a cavalcade of photos from our adventures with Pluto over the years at the Disney Parks!
Happy 84th Birthday Pluto!
Dan.
In case you missed it earlier, today is also Oswald the Lucky Rabbit's birthday! You can check out my dedicated Oswald post, here.
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 | Happy 87th Birthday Oswald the Lucky Rabbit! | |
| DisneyDan
Friday, September 5, 2014 6:45:02 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Today, 5th September, is the 87th anniversary of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit's debut in the United States.
As we all know, sadly, Oswald was lost by Disney for many years due to an unfortunate set of circumstances. However, he was returned to the Walt Disney Company in 2006 thanks to Bob Iger, and has since found his permanent home at Tokyo DisneySea's American Waterfront. In nine days time Oswald will finally come home to the US when he makes his first ever greeting debut at Walt Disney's original Disneyland Resort, on Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure. Buena Vista Street is the perfect place for Oswald, as it is a monumental tribute to the early days of Walt Disney's career and his arrival in Hollywood.
We can't wait to meet Oswald on Buena Vista Street, but we have met him in Tokyo, and so I want to share some of our pictures from our trip there in May (below). You can check out our dedicated Oswald the Lucky page that has many more pictures, here.
Happy Birthday Oswald!
Dan.
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