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The rebirth of DisneySea in Tokyo

Image: Disney

Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in 1983, was a big success.  It was doing so well that, at an event celebrating Tokyo Disneyland’s five-year anniversary on April 15, 1988, the resort's owner, The Oriental Land Company, announced intentions to open a second theme park. What would that theme park be? That wasn’t announced for almost ten years.

The first plan was to make a version of Walt Disney World’s Disney-MGM Studios, which had just opened in 1989, in Tokyo. The proposed name was a mouthful: “Disney Hollywood Studio Theme Park at Tokyo Disneyland.” Things stalled on that by 1991. In 1992 they started considering a theme park based on the seven seas, which led to the second park that Tokyo has today. By 1997 the name “Tokyo DisneySea” and a general description were made public. 

The owners of Tokyo Disneyland wanted a theme park that was radically different from the first park so that they could appeal to the broadest group of people with their resort. They also wanted something that celebrated Japanese culture, which was a small source of contention between Disney and The Oriental Land Company. They had to figure out a way to compromise between what would make sense to both Japanese and American cultures.

The icon of the park itself was up for debate. Disney wanted a lighthouse, because to Americans it usually represents coming home as a beacon of safe return. But to Japanese people a lighthouse is a symbol of loneliness; Japan has a saying meaning "It's always the darkest under the lighthouse.” So Disney and The Oriental Land Company compromised with the AquaSphere, a majestic structure that highlights how much of the world is water. It’s at the entrance to Tokyo DisneySea and is glorious to behold, as the above picture attests. Another debate was held over how much money would be spent on the S.S. Columbia, a ship for the area in the park that celebrated American history.

The groundbreaking ceremony for Tokyo DisneySea was held on October 22, 1998. A press conference hosted both by Disney and The Oriental Land Company announced that the park would soon open. After two years and over $4 billion spent, it opened in September of 2001. There was a Grand Opening Ceremony at the central area, called the Mediterranean Harbor, attended by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner and the president of The Oriental Land Company, along with a number of early guests. Eisner took the honor of dedicated the park. Read his inspiring words below.

Welcome one and all to a world where Imagination and Adventure set sail. Tokyo DisneySea is dedicated to the spirit of exploration that lives in each of us. Here we chart a course for Adventure, Romance, Discovery and Fun and journey to exotic and fanciful Ports of Call. May Tokyo DisneySea inspire the hearts and minds of all of us who share the water planet, Earth.

—Michael D. Eisner, September 4, 2001 

The attractions at DisneySea in Tokyo

We know many readers of Theme Park Tourist won’t have the chance to travel internationally to experience DisneySea, no matter how great that experience might be. But it’s still fun to dream! For that reason, below is a list some of the best unique attractions found at DisneySea in Japan. Tokyo DisneySea currently has seven separate lands (each referred to as a “port-of-call”) for guests to visit.

Mediterranean Harbor

Hotel MiraCosta

The Mediterranean Harbor is referred to as a hub for DisneySea, and is themed after an Italian city that is known being based largely on water. The hotel inside the theme park area, the Hotel MiraCosta, recreates the structure and design of buildings found at Portofino and Venice's ports.

Mysterious Island

Image - Wing1990hk/Wikimedia Commons

Originally planned for Disney’s proposed aquatic California park, this is based on the setting from the classic novel by Jules Vernes also named The Mysterious Island. It has the character Nemo’s secret base, including a harbor for his ship from the books. Nemo takes visitors on journeys based on Vernes’ two most popular books, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth, both made into movies by Disney at some point. It also has a giant volcano at its center.

Mermaid Lagoon

Image - Wing1990hk/Wikimedia Commons

This is made up as the palace of King Triton, best known to Disney fans as Ariel’s father in The Little Mermaid. It’s mostly indoors and gives you the sense of being outside, with seashell architecture. Its attractions are geared towards children, but certainly anyone can enjoy the scenery there.

Arabian Coast

Image - Wing1990hk/Wikimedia Commons

The Arabian Coast is, naturally, based on the Aladdin movie. It features a recreation of an Arabian harbor, using the setting and characters of the movie along with more influences from the book Aladdin was born from, 1001 Arabian Nights. The Middle-Eastern and Indian influences create a pretty unique atmosphere and experience, especially for people who are accustomed to the kinds of theme parks found in North America. 

Lost River Delta

Image - Wing1990hk/Wikimedia Commons

At the back of DisneySea is the ruins of an Aztec temple. It holds the Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull attraction, not related to the often maligned fourth film in the Indiana Jones series. The Lost River Delta also has ‘Mystic Rhythms,’ a live theater show in a hangar in a jungle, and a roller coaster situated in the ruins of the Aztec ceremonial site called Raging Spirits. 

Port Discovery

Image - Wing1990hk/Wikimedia Commons

This is often referred to as the “marina of the future.” Kind of a water-themed version of Tomorrowland, Port Discovery combines elements of the Discovery Bay concept planned for Disneyland but never constructed and the Discoveryland built at Disneyland Paris. 

American Waterfront

Image - Wing1990hk/Wikimedia Commons

Based on the Northeastern seaboard of the United States in the early-1900s, the American Waterfront is actually composed of two themed sections. One is an Old Cape Cod area, meant to recreate the atmosphere and scenery of the New England fishing village. That’s a much more leisurely area than the other section, a good place to stroll around with no specific attractions to speak of.

More lively is the New York Harbor, representing New York near the end of the bustling Industrial Age. It has a classic American Theater and boats including S.S. Columbia, a huge ship that was part of the detailed backstory for the area involving a wealthy citizen named Harrison Hightower III, a man who disappeared after getting a hold of a cursed African Idol. It holds the Tower of Terror in the Hightower Hotel, Turtle Talk in the S.S. Columbia and a version of Toy Story Mania.

There’s also a new Scandinavia area opening in the near future, entirely based around the world of Frozen. There is also a new attraction coming in 2017 based on Pixar movie Finding Nemo and the upcoming sequel Finding Dory. On it passengers are on a submarine that “shrinks” to fish-size and combines visuals from the movies together with a motion system, and apparently can expect to discover new aspects of the environment every time they ride. 

With all this in mind, Tokyo’s DisneySea might be the international theme park that needs to be on the top of a Disney theme park fan’s priority list. Because the base concept of a water-based park is so different from the original Disneyland model, there were opportunities for Disney and the Oriental Land Company to add a lot of unique attractions and events that you won’t find anywhere else.

The lasting legacy

So what’s the legacy of DisneySea?

Maybe DisneySea could have made it to Long Beach, California if the “Disney Decade” wasn’t such a mess. An overconfident Michael Eisner wanted to do far too much far too fast. In regard to DisneySea, one of the biggest mistakes was officially announcing the project in the Port Disney News long before they could have been confident that it would actually materialize.

Another problem that was Disney’s own fault was the massive expense. Because the Port Disney complex as a whole would have cost a purported $3 billion, all it took was a less-than-successful start to EuroDisneyland for the company to have to start abandoning the project that Imagineers and theme park fans alike were starting to get really excited about.

To be fair, they did make some worthwhile progress. The Disney Decade was declared in the early 1990s and by 2002 both California Adventure in Anaheim and Walt Disney Studios in Paris had been added to the Mouse’s theme park portfolio. But those two parks are only a fragment of all that Eisner and his colleagues had planned for those years, and have been heavily criticized for their lack of ambition.

DisneySea is very unique amongst Disney’s many abandoned projects in that it actually lived on elsewhere. Aspects of various projects have been incorporated into new attractions before. But it's rare for a whole park that was scrapped to be put back together again somewhere else entirely.

It isn’t easy to pay for a trip to Japan, but to see DisneySea fully materialized is a persuasive reason to try to make the trip.

 
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