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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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Hello everyone,
Sorry for the lack of news updates lately. I, as always, have been quite busy with normal life. Anyway, there are a number of things I want to talk about that have come up in the last couple of weeks.
We'll start with Tokyo Disney Resort, and work our way around the world.
From 24th June until 7th July at Tokyo Disney Resort, you can celebrate the magic of Disney Tanabata Days, also known as the Star Festival.
At Tokyo DisneySea you can meet ShellieMay and Duffy in their special Disney Tanabata Days costumes at Cape Cod's Village Greeting Place in American Waterfront. You can also see Mickey and friends in a very special show on Mediterranean Harbor, three times per day (10.45am, 1pm and 4.30pm) wearing their special Star Festival costumes.
At Tokyo Disneyland there is a special parade each day at 11.20am and 4.15pm, featuring your favourite Disney friends wearing yet more beautifully crafted costumes.
At both parks guests will be given the opportunity to make a wish on special cards, and tie them to specially dedicated "Wishing Places" in the parks.
After the Disney Tanabata Days end, summer season arrives at the resort, and so does the water! Jon and I have been to Tokyo Disney Resort in the summer before, and I must warn you - prepare to get wet!
At Tokyo DisneySea's Summer Festival, Minnie's Tropical Splash is described as being a "carnival celebrating the bountiful harvest of fruit" and where "hot Latin rhythms begin to throb as colourful fruit themed barges appear on the Harbor". The TDR website then goes on to describe the "torrent of water" that then sprays from the barges and the shore! Characters appearing in the show - and in new costumes this year too - are Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Clarice. The show will be presented three times daily and lasts about 20 minutes.
At Tokyo Disneyland's Natsu Matsuri event, "hot and lively dances" are the thing at the Castle Stage, during Garyo Gunbu. Team Miyabi Kenran starring Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Max and Pluto compete against Team Ryobu Shippu's Donald, Daisy, Chip, Dale and Clarice in a water filled dance battle! We've seen these water canons in action, and trust me when I say, if you don't want to get wet, avoid Central Plaza during your visit!
The show will be presented three times per day and lasts about 13 minutes.
The other show at Castle Stage will be Ondo-Ko-Don! which will be presented once per day, morning only, lasting 11 minutes. It will feature Mickey, Minnie, Donald and "others" in a special performance of a Japanese dance called the "ondo".
At both Tokyo DisneySea and Tokyo Disneyland there will be special merchandise, decorations and menu items to accompany these events.
Summer season at both parks runs from 8th July through 31st August inclusive.
We have a discussion topic about the summer fun, here on our forum.
A week later on the 7th September, the long running Legend of Mythica will end. If you're visiting before then, be sure to see this jaw dropping show before it goes away forever!
After the summer, we come to Halloween. At Tokyo DisneySea, the park will be filled with Disney Skeletons! In American Waterfront you can join the skeletons as well as the Disney characters in special costumes for their brand new show "New York's Halloween Follies". At Mediterranean Harbor you can join skeletons for "Welcome Skeleton Friends" in a participation show as they try to make new friends. In the Lost River Delta you can watch Chip 'n' Dale's Skeleton Fiesta, and finally "Street Party of the Skeleton" will be carried out in multiple areas of the park, where skeletons will dance and play around, interacting with guests and greeting them.
At Tokyo Disneyland, from what I can make out from the Japanese release, the Happy Halloween Harvest parade will return with the theme of a Halloween fair.
As with every event in Japan, there will be decorations, merchandise and food involved, too! Halloween at Tokyo Disney Resort runs from 8th September until 31st October inclusive.
Don't forget that throughout the year you can enjoy the brand new nightly spectacular at Cinderella Castle, Once Upon a Time. You can read my review of it from opening week, last month, here.
Additionally, remember that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit made his Disney Parks debut just about 8 weeks ago at Tokyo DisneySea's American Waterfront! He is super cute and gives you yet another reason to visit this summer - as if you needed ay more excuses, right?! You can check out my blog post about meeting Oswald for the first time, here, and our dedicated Oswald page, here.
Finally for Tokyo, member Ryo on our forum posted that OLC have announced some new changes to Dreamlights in 2015, including the addition of Rapunzel and an update to Peter Pan's float! I can't seem to find the actual OLC release for this, as it's probably entirely in Japanese, but if I do, I'll link it here.
Ok, moving on to Walt Disney World now, and the Disney Parks Blog released a short list of some of the characters we can expect at the Unleash the Villains event on 23rd August this year. This is the only official list posted so far, but rumours have been flying around the internet of all sorts of rare appearances! None of the characters on the current list come as any great surprise, so it'll be interesting to see who else they put into the mix. We have a discussion topic about the event here on our forum, so join us in the speculation!
The new Harambe Theater District opened in Animal Kingdom just recently, and is now the new home to the Festival of the Lion King, after a short hiatus when it closed in Camp Minnie-Mickey. Not too much to report here, but people seem to like the new location and the show remains as popular as ever. I'm glad that Timon and friends have now moved back to their native Africa after spending the past ten years in an American Summer Camp!
Finally for WDW, our friends on our forum noticed that when visiting the Magic Kingdom recently, Winnie the Pooh has decided to sport a slightly different expression! Check out this discussion thread to see how he looks now when greeting at the Crystal Palace.
Jumping across the continent to Disneyland in California, and summer has kicked off with a special Frozen pre-parade at Disneyland Park. You can check out this video of it from Inside the Magic here, and discuss it here on our forum.
Also at Disneyland, Merida has now stopped meeting at her location near "it's a small world", and has been moved to inside the Royal Hall, where I guess her appearances will be more random (switching with her royal friends). In other princess news, Anna and Elsa's greeting times have apparently been extended, and they now meet until 8pm daily.
Flying across the Atlantic to Disneyland Paris, the press preview of the brand new Ratatouille attraction and restaurant happens this weekend. The restaurant is believed to be character dining (based on concept art and even one lady on the reservation line at Disneyland Paris), but is yet to actually be confirmed - we shall find out in the next day or two for sure! Rumours have been circulating for quite some time now, and have additionally strongly suggested that Linguini will appear in the new area (not inside the restaurant)! I'll let you know of any developments on those rumours as the weekend progresses. Jon and I have reservations for Chez Remy in August, and cannot wait to see the new land! You can join our discussion topic about Chez Remy (the new restaurant), here on our forum.
Staying in France, and DisneylandBerry on Twitter (who is often very reliable) has suggested that long running show Animagique will close at some point in 2015. As much as I love this show, it would be great if they put in a brand new show, since this once has been here for over 10 years now! Disneyland Paris are notoriously bad at announcing anything, so we won't know if this is actually true for quite some time yet, I would imagine. Our members are discussing this topic here on our forum.
Finally for Disneyland Paris, InsideDLParis revealed that from 5th July this year Disney's Stars 'n' Cars parade would end. The meet 'n' greets that currently take place using the same characters and cars would be extended to include more set times, and 4 of the current cars would be used to transport the characters on and off set from the greetings. InsideDLParis also revealed that the Incredibles would return to the park for the summer near the new Spider-Man location.
To our final topic today, Iron Man. Our good friend DisneyMart discovered something interesting yesterday, while randomly poking around the Disney Consumer Products website. The recent Disney Consumer Products at Licensing Expo 2014 featured Iron Man as a character, alongside Mickey Mouse, Stormtroopers and Buzz Lightyear! What's interesting is that his appearance has been kept so quiet. He did appear at D23 last year, but since then fans have discovered that the Marvel characters at the event were not wearing their official Disney outfits, meaning that Iron Man and Spider-Man were not appearing as they will at the Disney Parks. I have no idea if this is the case for this most recent appearance, and it could be why Disney have kept hush about it, not wanting people to believe they have already developed Tony Stark's new outfit for him, but instead using an older outside design of his!
Finally, although it was a couple of weeks ago now, why not check out my previous news post to read about the Frozen Disney On Ice show and Hong Kong Disneyland's new nighttime parade!
Ok, that is everything for today! Have a great weekend everyone,
Dan.
To read my May 2014 review of Tokyo Disneyland's Crystal Palace Character Dining, click here.
To read my May 2014 review of Tokyo Disneyland's Mickey and Company Dinner Show, click here.
To read my May 2014 review of Tokyo Disneyland's Mickey and Minnie's Polynesian Paradise Dinner Show, click here.
To read my May 2014 review of Tokyo Disney Resort's Chef Mickey Character Dining, click here.
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Hello everyone,
Today's news is all about some great events coming to Tokyo Disney Resort in 2014!
A couple of weeks ago, Oriental Land Company released a press statement announcing the Easter and Spring events for 2014.
The complete press release can be read in English on the official TDR website, here.
A summary of everything regardning Easter/Spring is as follows:
- The event will run from April 2nd through to June 23rd inclusive.
- At Tokyo Disneyland there will be a brand new theme for Easter, titled "Easter Garden", complete with a new parade, and interactive activities such as Easter Egg hunts.
- Mickey and Duffy's Spring Voyage will return at Tokyo DisneySea, apparently the same as - or at least very similar to - this year (2013).
The actual press release has more information about further events throughout 2014, right up until Christmas, but for the most part they seem the same as this year, and of course, anything can change between now and next Christmas!
It's really great to see the return of the Easter parade to Tokyo Disneyland, as, as the press release points out, it was missing this year, and was always a staple of the Spring events in the park.
The next thing is Sweet Duffy, but that was announced in Japanese only, on the official Tokyo Disney Resort Blog, which can be found here.
Using Chrome's in-built translator, here's everything I could figure out!
- The event will run from January 6th until March 20th inclusive.
- The incredibly popular 'My Friend Duffy' at American Waterfront will present a brand new version. As far as I could work out, the current My Friend Duffy will end on January 5th to make way for the new version. The new version, although being launched as part of Sweet Duffy, will remain permanently.
- Everything else on the list looked like it was either smaller activities or photo-op based things, merchandise or sweet treats to me. As far as I could tell, there were no special greetings, parades or other shows, besides the new version of My Friend Duffy. There was, for example, mention of a new limited time show-stop for the day parade at TDL, but it sounded like it would just be a lot of clapping! (really, that's what it says!)
So, that's everything up until the start of summer, at least. Like I said above, there were some details about later in the year, but we can discuss those at a later date, once more information becomes available.
Ok, I think that's all for this evening!
Dan. |
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Hello everyone,
This week we start our updates in Disneyland, where the Disney Parks Blog announced that Marvel hero, and God of Thunder, Thor would start making appearances at the park in the winter (no confirmed date as of yet)!
Currently it is unclear as to how long Thor will stay at the park once he starts appearing, but it will mark the first time a Marvel character will greet guests inside a Disney Park.
Captain America, Iron Man and Spider-Man previously appeared at D23 (which was not inside the park), and Captain America is due to appear on the DCL Disney Magic from the autumn.
To mark the end of summer, just across the esplanade from Disneyland, Disney California Adventure is holding an End of Summer Party at the Pier.
All this week, until next Monday inclusive, Paradise Pier will host variety acts and the Disney Characters in beach wear. The LTM website doesn't make it clear whether the characters will be meeting, or part of the acts and other entertainment. Technically it did start yesterday, but I haven't yet seen any photos yet of who is starring - I guess we'll find out soon enough!
Similarly over at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Tomorrowland's regular dance party will add Dug and Bolt into the mix for a special Dog Days of Summer party, also running through next Monday.
Other dogs in attendance will be Goofy, Pluto and honorary dog, Stitch. Basically Chip and Dale are being replaced with Dug (who is over at DAK daily anyway), and Bolt. Hosts are also handing out bone shaped character autograph cards (similar to how all previous LTM events have had character autograph cards).
Staying with WDW, and the Parks Blog released an image of the marquee going up at the new Princess Fairytale Hall in Fantasyland. They also confirm that the new princess meet 'n' greet is set to open in the fall.
Looking to next month's LTM offerings, and Friday the 13th at both Disneyland and WDW looks set to be a blast, with special villainous events.
As we already know, at WDW they are holding a dance party at Hollywood Studios. Disneyland will run the same hours (8pm - 1am) for the event, but will instead have what appears to be various activities scattered throughout the park.
Interestingly, both resorts will apparently have 13 villains in attendance. All other details right now are sketchy, and of course anything could change. I'll be very interested to see what Disneyland has up their sleeves for this one!
Finally, moving ahead to Christmas season, and the Parks Blog announced some of the seasonal offerings taking place this year at Tokyo Disney Resort. When I say some, I really mean very little, because as you read below, you'll see a lot of the previous years offerings were missing from the announcement.
Tokyo Disneyland will be host to the Christmas Fantasy celebration, featuring Santa's Village, complete with a toy workshop, and the Santa's Village Parade. The Santa's Village itself I expect will be home to Santa Claus while he is visiting Tokyo. There are no other details, so we shall wait and see!
Last year TDL had a small nighttime projection show at Cinderella Castle titled Twinkling Christmas Castle. It has not been stated whether this will return this year yet.
Also, in the past, up to last year, during the park's electrical parade Dreamlights Mickey and Friends would wear sparkling Christmas outfits. Again, no mention as to whether they will do this again this year.
At Tokyo DisneySea the Christmas Wishes celebration will feature Colors of Christmas, which is a nighttime Christmas Tree lighting show on the Harbor, and stars Mickey and Friends. There will also be Holiday Greeting From Seven Ports, a daytime show on the Harbor waterfront featuring Mickey and Friends.
Last year, the American Waterfront show A Table is Waiting had a Christmas overlay, titled Christmas Cuisine. It has not been mentioned whether this will return this year yet.
In the past Duffy and ShellieMay have greeted guests in special Christmas outfits, Santa Claus has appeared in American Waterfront, and fireworks at both parks usually changes over to the Starbright Christmas version. Again, we'll have to wait and see if any of this returns this year.
Both parks will of course have special merchandise, decorations and menu items.
Apologies if all the Tokyo stuff seemed like a lot of non-news, you can blame the Parks Blog for their lack of information! It was interesting nonetheless to see what is definitely confirmed, and what else we might expect based on previous years, despite not being announced yet.
UPDATE: A Japanese friend of mine posted on our forum after I had written this article, saying that a recent Japanese press release had revealed a few more details about this years happenings. I really wish Disney would release everything in multiple languages as so that we can avoid confusion! Anyway, he tells me that A Table is Waiting, Big Band Beat, Super Duper Jumpin' Time and Dreamlights will all receive their Christmas overlays this year. Also, as well as Duffy and ShellieMay wearing Christmas outfits, Ariel (greeting at her grotto in Mermaid Lagoon), also has a festive costume.
Ok, that's everything for today. We are actually off to Disneyland on Friday for four days, so be sure to follow our Facebook and Twitter pages for live updates from the resort!
Dan. |
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 | Happy 30th Birthday Tokyo Disneyland! | |
| DisneyDan
Monday, April 15, 2013 11:18:19 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Today is the 30th anniversary of the opening of Tokyo Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan.
Often billed as the most successful theme park of all time, it was Disney's first theme park venture outside of the United States.
We have been fortunate enough to visit Tokyo Disneyland (and the rest of the resort of course), a few times, most recently in October 2012 for Halloween. We will also be back again in just a couple of weeks, to check out all the 30th anniversary offerings!
So, in our usual Character Central celebratory style, here's a photo cavalcade from our adventures there!
Happy 30th Birthday Tokyo Disneyland!
[ Read More... ] |
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 | Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Planning - Part Three | |
| DisneyDan
Saturday, March 2, 2013 11:35:24 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Earlier this week I published my two part trip planning guide to Tokyo Disney Resort.
Since then, I have had some questions, and thought of some additional things I think might be useful for you to know.
So, here we have a part three, albeit much smaller than the previous two parts.
[ Read More... ] |
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| Hello everyone,
I have some character related updates for you this afternoon.
In Tokyo, our friend attended a Disneyana convention, and made a report on our forums about what he saw, which includes Mickey and Friends in their brand new 30th Anniversary outfits! I believe this is the first time they have been out for any public event, so he was very lucky to see them! I have to say, they do look better in person than what the previous artwork releases had made them appear. We'll be in Tokyo Disney Resort in May, shortly after the 30th launch, so we can't wait to see all the cool new stuff, including their brand new parade! For those interested, also in that thread are pictures of the brand new 30th merchandise, including pins.
The Disney Parks Blog has officially confirmed that the new Fantasy Faire in Disneyland will open on March 12th (less than 2 weeks away!). The Disneyland website has been updated accordingly, and now includes lots of info of what we can expect to find there! It details the new stage which will bring to life two beloved Disney stories. One will be Beauty and the Beast, and will star Belle; the other will be about Tangled, and star Flynn Rider. The website specifically says "Disney heroes and heroines". I think they are deliberately going for a Flynn oriented story for Tangled, to appeal to the boys, which will be cool. It also mentions the new Princess met 'n' greet, which sounds like it will be really detailed, and much better than the Princess meet 'n' greet in either Magic Kingdom or Paris. We'll be there in May, and can't wait to see it all!
Over in Animal Kingdom, the new Mickey and Minnie meet 'n' greet will open in "the spring", which could mean anytime soon basically! Taking over the former Beastly Bazaar store (because DAK really needs less retail...), it will literally just feature Mickey and Minnie. Donald and Daisy are apparently moving to Discovery Island where the Pooh friends currently are, and Goofy is already seen in Dinoland practically all day. Camp Minnie-Mickey is remaining as-is, less the Greeting Trails, for the time being, and you can continue to meet some critter friends and other random Disney pals, as well as watch the Lion King show. The Pooh friends are suspected to move into C M-M, maybe to Greeting Trails, but no official confirmation of that, as yet.
Limited Time Magic continues to be a bit of a flop, with the Golden Horseshoe Revue (DL) and Long Lost Friends Week (WDW) still being the best ones so far. Disneyland is yet to hold its own Long Lost Friends Week, and I have heard rumours that they want to out-do Florida, and so we might be treated to some really cool characters! Other upcoming events include Pirate Week (Jack Sparrow rumoured to appear. No date yet), Independence Week (Patriotic characters) and Friday 13th Villains Dance Party (Villains of course! September 13th).
Remember also that this new version of the site has some wonderful new features, including the ability to create your own profile and check off all the characters you have met! They'll appear on your profile in a big list! Find out how, here!
Ok, that's all for today,
Dan. |
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 | Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Planning - Part Two | |
| DisneyDan
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 10:59:48 AM |
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Hello everyone,
Welcome to part two of my Tokyo Disney Resort trip planning article.
In the first part we discussed the challenges of booking flights, hotels, park tickets, arriving at the resort, transport and Ikspiari.
Tokyo Disneyland is often described as being the most popular or successful theme park of all time (a fact I personally can't prove, but honestly don't doubt!). On all our ventures into the park, from open 'til close we have always experienced complete and utter mayhem.
In this part, I'll talk extensively about how to get the most out of your day at the TDR parks, covering attractions, shows, parades, shopping and dining. [ Read More... ] |
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 | Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Planning - Part One | |
| DisneyDan
Friday, February 22, 2013 9:53:07 AM |
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So you want to go to Tokyo Disney Resort?…
Planning a trip to Disney can be exciting, rewarding and indeed frustrating - and that's just to the US Parks! Now consider this, you find yourself wanting to visit Tokyo Disney Resort. Sounds exotic, right? Land of the Rising Sun, the Far East. Fortunately for you, Jon and I will be going for the third time this spring, and we are quite familiar now with the bizarre and even infuriating systems and hoops you have to jump through to get a trip organised. Hotels, tickets and dining reservations are not as easy as the US and DLP to arrange, and take some concentration and forward thinking.
Let us begin where all trips would begin, and that's with booking flights and hotels. [ Read More... ] |
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