So there seems to be a lot of history books and fun facts about the creation of Disneylnd and WDW Magic Kingdom but but barely any about Tokyo Disneyland. I would love for all to chime in and add any fun facts or history about Tokyo Disneyland and it’s first couple of years operating.
I’ll put some of the info I know from reading online. When Tokyo Disneyland was being created, The OLC company wanted a westernized version very similar to Magic Kingdom and some aspects from Disneyland. The OLC team traveled to the American parks and chose the attractions they wanted to bring over.
Opening carbon copy attractions from Disneyland included Pirates of the Caribbean, Mark Twain Riverboat, Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes, Tom Sawyer Island, Space Mountain, Starcade, Penny Arcade, it’s a Small World, Main Street Cinema, Snow White Grotto, Main Street Vehicles
Opening day carbon copy attractions as well as others with altered layouts from WDW included The Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Enchanted Tiki Room, Cinderella Castle, Magic Carpet ‘Round the World, Diamond Horseshoe Revue, Cinderella’s Golden Carousel, Peter Pan’s Flight, Snow White’s Adventures, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Star Jets, Grand Prix Raceway
Shooting Gallery had a different shooting theme.
Pinocchio’s Daring Journey opened here about a month before Disneyland in CA, do that technically makes it a TDL original. Both attractions were developed at the same time making it cheaper to produce.
The Mickey Mouse Revue was relocated here partly to Magic Kingdom’s lack of pre-show capacity therefore making it difficult for the show to ever fill up and because the OLC team chose to have a copy of the attraction but thought it would be cheaper to simply transfer the attraction.
Meet the World was originally suppose to have two attractions, one in Tokyo and one in Epcot. When building Meet the World, it was found that the venue they built would not be able to support the attraction so the plans to bring it were dropped and they solely created it for the Tokyo park. Anything the imagineers built for the epcot attraction were simply used for Tokyo’s. Disney Legends Claude Coats, Blaine Gibson and the Sherman Brothers worked on this attraction.
Skyway had fully enclosed buckets due to the crazier weather and they looked more industrial. The line route only went in one direction and was very short.
The Eternal Sea was a film seen on multiple screens similar to Epcot’s Impressions de France. This attraction was unique to the park and only lasted less than two years. There is no video of it as well as not a lot of information about it, it is truly Disney’s rarest attraction as it is faded into history. I don’t even think the Disney archives has a copy of it. Here are the only two photos of the Eternal Sea that I could find.
The Haunted Mansion opened at the edge of Fantasyland because they didn’t know where else they could put it in the park.
I read a story from Jim Korkis about how Tokyo’s version of Dumbo was originally supposed to go the Magic Kingdom but it didn’t have much information as to why.
Another unique attraction named the Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour came to Tokyo Disneyland in 1986. This was designed by Claude Coats.
Mad Tea Party was not added until 1986 and was the only version not to open with it’s respective park. This may have been due to budget cuts.
Can someone else shed some light on the history of TDL or interesting stories about the park
I’ll put some of the info I know from reading online. When Tokyo Disneyland was being created, The OLC company wanted a westernized version very similar to Magic Kingdom and some aspects from Disneyland. The OLC team traveled to the American parks and chose the attractions they wanted to bring over.
Opening carbon copy attractions from Disneyland included Pirates of the Caribbean, Mark Twain Riverboat, Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes, Tom Sawyer Island, Space Mountain, Starcade, Penny Arcade, it’s a Small World, Main Street Cinema, Snow White Grotto, Main Street Vehicles
Opening day carbon copy attractions as well as others with altered layouts from WDW included The Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Enchanted Tiki Room, Cinderella Castle, Magic Carpet ‘Round the World, Diamond Horseshoe Revue, Cinderella’s Golden Carousel, Peter Pan’s Flight, Snow White’s Adventures, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Star Jets, Grand Prix Raceway
Shooting Gallery had a different shooting theme.
Pinocchio’s Daring Journey opened here about a month before Disneyland in CA, do that technically makes it a TDL original. Both attractions were developed at the same time making it cheaper to produce.
The Mickey Mouse Revue was relocated here partly to Magic Kingdom’s lack of pre-show capacity therefore making it difficult for the show to ever fill up and because the OLC team chose to have a copy of the attraction but thought it would be cheaper to simply transfer the attraction.
Meet the World was originally suppose to have two attractions, one in Tokyo and one in Epcot. When building Meet the World, it was found that the venue they built would not be able to support the attraction so the plans to bring it were dropped and they solely created it for the Tokyo park. Anything the imagineers built for the epcot attraction were simply used for Tokyo’s. Disney Legends Claude Coats, Blaine Gibson and the Sherman Brothers worked on this attraction.
Skyway had fully enclosed buckets due to the crazier weather and they looked more industrial. The line route only went in one direction and was very short.
The Eternal Sea was a film seen on multiple screens similar to Epcot’s Impressions de France. This attraction was unique to the park and only lasted less than two years. There is no video of it as well as not a lot of information about it, it is truly Disney’s rarest attraction as it is faded into history. I don’t even think the Disney archives has a copy of it. Here are the only two photos of the Eternal Sea that I could find.
The Haunted Mansion opened at the edge of Fantasyland because they didn’t know where else they could put it in the park.
I read a story from Jim Korkis about how Tokyo’s version of Dumbo was originally supposed to go the Magic Kingdom but it didn’t have much information as to why.
Another unique attraction named the Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour came to Tokyo Disneyland in 1986. This was designed by Claude Coats.
Mad Tea Party was not added until 1986 and was the only version not to open with it’s respective park. This may have been due to budget cuts.
Can someone else shed some light on the history of TDL or interesting stories about the park
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