Volume 1, No. 16. September 7, 2001
New Arrivals
New arrivals
It's
a theme park!
The Walt Disney Company and the Oriental Land Company
announce the arrival of Tokyo DisneySea, in Maihama, Urayasu-shi, Chiba, Japan,
September 4, 2001. Measurements: 71.4 hectares, seven "Ports of Call" themed
areas, 23 rides and attractions, 33 restaurants, 32 retail outlets, 8,500 cast
members.
When it comes to theme parks, nobody can rain on Disney's parades: not even
Mother Nature herself. On a cloudy morning with occasional sprinkling rain,
some 10,000 people had gathered by 7:30 a.m. at the entrance to Tokyo Disneyland's
second gated park to witness the official opening at 8. The park allowed the
guests in so that they would become part of the opening ceremony, which took
place on the central lagoon around which the thematic Ports of Call cluster.
At 7:45 the ceremony started with Michael Eisner, Roy E. Disney and Oriental
Land Company President Toshio Kagami, and just then "the rain stopped, the clouds
parted and the sun came down," said Greg Albrecht, director of marketing and
sponsor affairs for Walt Disney Attractions, Japan. "Roy Disney said it was
Walt looking down on the new park."
The elder Disney likely would be proud, as the intricately themed park opened
to much anticipation and enthusiastic acclaim. "This is the kind of park I don't
think we'll see again in our lifetime because of the incredible detail," Albrecht
said.The 338 billion yen park (US$2.8 billion) offers fanciful living portrayals
of a Mediterranean Harbor, an American Waterfront, an Arabian Coast and the
Central American jungles of Lost River Delta, as well as the more fantasy-inclined
Mermaid Lagoon, Mysterious Island (Captain Nemo's haunts) and Port Discovery,
a "marina of the future."
However pretty the park may be, rides seemed to carry the day on opening day.
All 23 rides are unique to TokyoSea except Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple
of the Crystal Skull, which uses the same ride system as the California
version but has different theming and surprises. Upon the park being officially
proclaimed operating, the bulk of first-day guests headed immediately to this
Disney territory's icon, Mount Prometheus, where the park's two most popular
rides, a whole new version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and Journey
to the Center of the Earth, are located. "Because of advance announcements
and media coverage and internet reports, they all went directly for that area,"
Albrecht said.