Tokyo Disney Sea is a 176-acre
(71.22 ha) theme
park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located
in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, just
outside Tokyo.[1] It opened on 4 September 2001,
at a cost of 335 billion yen. Owned by The Oriental
Land Company, which licenses Disney characters and themes from The Walt
Disney Company, Tokyo Disney Sea attracted an estimated 11 million visitors in
2016, making it the sixth-most-visited theme park in the world. Tokyo
Disney Sea was the second theme park to open at the Tokyo Disney Resort and the
ninth park of the twelve worldwide Disney theme parks to open. Tokyo Disney Sea
was the fastest theme park in the world to reach the milestone of 10 million
guests, having done so in 307 days after its grand opening. The previous
record-holder was Universal Studios
Japan 338 days after its opening.
Concept
Tokyo
DisneySea has an overall nautical exploration theme to it. The idea for the
park can be traced to a proposal to build a second theme park in Southern
California called "Port
Disney" in Long Beach,
California, with the RMS Queen Mary as
the main attraction. The idea was scrapped after the company endured
financial trouble with the Euro Disney project.
Later the idea was passed on to the Oriental Land Company to expand their
resort.
Layout
There
are seven themed areas or "ports of call". The entrance to the park
is Mediterranean Harbor, which opens up to six more nautically themed ports:
American Waterfront, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian
Coast, and
Mysterious
Island.
Mediterranean Harbor
Mediterranean
Harbor is the entrance "port-of-call" and themed as an Italian port
city, with Venetian
Gondolas that guests can board and ride.[1] Littered throughout the port
are various shops and restaurants. Mediterranean Harbor's layout differs from
the entry "lands" of other Disney parks as it is a large
"V" shape rather than a main street that leads to a hub (as found
in Disneyland's Main Street, U.S.A. or Disney's
Hollywood Studios' Hollywood Boulevard"). To the right, the path leads
to Mysterious Island, and to the left, the path leads to the American
Waterfront. Built into the architecture in this port is the Tokyo
DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta. The hotel serves as a full-scale reproduction of
the various buildings of Portofino and Venice's ports. The Hotel MiraCosta
serves as the southern berm (or border) of the park. Mediterranean Harbor also
features the Fortress Explorations which is a large-scale interactive play area
for guests that features exploration themed activities and attractions. Fantasmic!, premiered on 28
April 2011, as part of the park's 10th anniversary celebration.
Mysterious Island
Mysterious
Island is a "port-of-call" within Mount Prometheus, the giant volcano
that is the park's centerpiece and most prominent feature. It relies heavily on
the storytelling of Jules
Verne and, specifically, the mythology of the volcano fortress
mentioned several times in the books called "Vulcania". The Mount
Prometheus ride employs technology similar to Epcot's Test Track. The
smallest "port of call", it nevertheless holds two of the more
popular attractions: "Journey
to the Center of the Earth", a thrill ride, and "20,000 Leagues
Under the Sea", a dark
ride. While appearing to be a volcano on the water, Mysterious Island is
not an island; it is built into the side of Mount Prometheus, which is part of
the show building of the two attractions. The architecture in this port is of
Victorian style.
Mermaid Lagoon
Mermaid
Lagoon is home to the characters of The Little
Mermaid. The facade is made to look like the Palace of King Triton and
features fanciful seashell-inspired architecture. This "port of call"
is mostly indoors and recreates the feeling of being underwater. Attractions
include Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster; Scuttle's Scooters; Jumpin' Jellyfish;
Blowfish Balloon Race; The Whirlpool; all of which are children's rides. Also
in this area are Ariel's Playground which is a children's playground and
extensive walk-through attraction that recreates the various settings in the
movie; and the Mermaid Lagoon Theater which is home to 'King Triton's Concert',
a musical show featuring live actors, large-scale puppetry and Audio-Animatronics that
recreate the story of The Little Mermaid.
Arabian Coast
This is
themed after Aladdin. It
recreates an Arabian harbor combined with an "enchanted world from 1001
Arabian Nights". There are three attractions in the land: Sindbad's
Storybook Voyage, an indoor dark ride boat ride
whose art direction seems to be (at first glance) a variation on "it's a small
world" (with its own theme song, Compass of your Heart, composed
by Alan Menken);
Caravan Carousel, a double-decker carousel that can hold
over 190 passengers; and the Magic Lamp Theater, which houses a combined
live-action/animatronic based magic show with a 3D movie featuring the Genie.
Lost River Delta
Located
at the back of the park, the dominant structure in this "port of
call" is the ruins of an ancient Aztec pyramid which houses
the dark thrill ride, Indiana
Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull. Also in the Lost River Delta
is the DisneySea Steamer Line which transports guests back to Mediterranean
Harbor, 'Out of Shadowland', a live theatrical show that follows Mei, a young
girl lost in a world of shadows who finds confidence and strength through her
sojourn there. Furthermore, the Lost River Delta also contains an Intamin roller coaster named Raging Spirits. This
ride opened in 2005 and is similar to Indiana
Jones et le Temple du Péril at Disneyland Park in
Paris.
Port Discovery
This
"port of call" is home to the fictional 'Center for Weather Control',
Port Discovery is home to two attractions: Aquatopia, a boat ride that
uses LPS tracking (the 'trackless' technology also used in Tokyo
Disneyland's Pooh's
Hunny Hunt) to move and spin through a lagoon amid waterfalls and
whirlpools, and the 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge DisneySea
Electric Railway, an overhead electric trolley that transports riders to
and from the American Waterfront. On 12 May 2017, the land became home to Nemo &
Friends SeaRider based on Finding Nemo/Finding Dory which
replaced the former StormRider simulator.[6]
American Waterfront
This
"port of call" represents the northeastern seaboard of the United
States in the early 20th century. It features two themed areas, an "Old
Cape Cod" section, and a "New York Harbor" section. This land is
dominated by the large passenger ship, SS Columbia,
which is usually the site for various shows and events. Guests have the option
of riding the area's "Big City Vehicles" which roam the streets of
this area. It also features
the 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge DisneySea
Electric Railway, which takes passengers from The American Waterfront to
nearby Port Discovery. This port has the Broadway-themed theater which plays
the show "Big Band Beat", which features 1940s style swing jazz
performed by a 12-piece band, as well as 20 singers/dancers. The port's
most popular attraction is a version of The
Tower of Terror, an elaborately themed free-fall E-ticket ride.
Toy Story Mania is
an interactive 4-D theme park attraction located at the American Waterfront in
a new area called Toyville Trolley Park. It is inspired by Disney Pixar's Toy Story Animation.
The attraction was opened on 9 July 2012. Guests are asked to wear 3-D glasses
during their ride of the spinning vehicles that travel through virtual
environments based on classic carnival games. There are shooters on the
vehicles to let guests to shoot targets in those 3-D games like "egg
toss" and "balloon pop".
Awards
In 2002
Tokyo DisneySea won a Thea
Award from the Themed
Entertainment Association for the concept, design, and construction of
the theme park. The award was presented at El Capitan Theater in Hollywood,
California.
Symbols
The
park's two symbols are the Disney Sea Aqua Sphere - a water fountain with a large
model of the earth - in the entrance plaza, and the volcano, Mount Prometheus,
in the center of the park.