Tokyo Disneyland Resort Expansion

[JohnyKaz2078]

Europa Park will close off its summer season on November 4th this year. The winter season will start on November 24th and end daily operation on January 6th 2019. It will be open an additional weekend on January 12th and 13th 2019 before closing the rest of January, February and reopening late March. So yes, it is a seasonal operation with roughly 3 months of closure.

Phantasialand is nearly the same except the winter season ends January 20th 2019. I visited in Winter years ago and it was quite an experience! It had snowed overnight, so maintenance was sweeping snow off coaster tracks when we showed up in the morning and they had turned the river rapids ride into a skating rink. They had campfires around the paths to keep guests warm.

Interesting. I thought that they remained open during the winter season after Christmas. Thanks for the info!

London is not an option for Disney since planning permission would be impossible to get and the fact the land that could be built on is so expensive. Look up the Warner Bros studio tour with Harry Potter: in order to get permission to build and open, they had to control traffic in the area by only selling a fixed number of tickets in advance to the park. Walk-ups are not allowed. Imagine now a Disney park with a potential 10 million visitors a year and think of all the restrictions that would be placed on Disney.

Rome tourist demographic is not theme park oriented at all.

Back to Asia, Taiwan is a hot potato politically and Disney and Universal would lose it all in China if they would build there. Look up the recent thing with Mainland China where they forced foreign airlines that serve China to stop referring to Taiwan as just "Taiwan". Also, notice that there are little embassies for foreign countries in Taiwan...

South Korea already has Lotte World (owned by the Lotte Group) and Everland (owned by Samsung) near Seoul. More south, you have Gyeongju World that cornered the market in that area with a brand new 20 million dollars B&M Dive Coaster and a large waterpark. Competition there will be quite ferocious and I am curious to see if Universal Studios Korea plans will be revived or it will join Universal Studios Dubailand in the "announced but never built category".

What you say it's true about London. But it is without doubt that it would be a smashing success. Maybe that's what they can present to the city's administration to help them get the planning permission.

Rome doesn't have any big theme parks around it (to the extend of say Gardaland and Efteling). You can't judge the behavior of citizens and tourists if there isn't something they can be judged on.

Back to Asia I never said that Disney or Uni are planning any kind of theme park in Taiwan and South Korea. It doesn't make sense anyway since they are located between Japan and China and both of them have Disney or Universal parks (Beijing opens in 2020) so it would hurt the other ones.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

I heard that Tokyo Disneyland is expanding

 

[JohnyKaz2078]

Interestingly, USJ attendance dropped quite sharply in 2002 (its first full year) to 8 million guests. Compare that to 2001, where it had 9 million guests in just 9 months of operation (from its grand opening to end of the calendar year).

https://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/shawg/extra/topparks2001.html
https://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/shawg/extra/topparks2002.html

I guess it was because the excitement for the park had faded.

 

[DisneyFan18]

I heard that Tokyo Disneyland is expanding

Sounds exciting, the OLC is definitely investing a lot lately! Is it a Tomorrowland Expansion?

 

[ThemeParkTraveller]

Back on topic, what do people think will be the ride system for the "motion based" Peter Pan E-ticket? Could it be something that's not been used for a Disney attraction yet? It has to capable of creating both the sensation of floating down a river and flying over a jungle. I saw some speculation that it could be a state of the art simulator like Flight of Passage, but the show building seems too big for just screens. Not to mention the ride vehicles are supposed to resemble boats.

 

[Robbiem]

Back on topic, what do people think will be the ride system for the "motion based" Peter Pan E-ticket? Could it be something that's not been used for a Disney attraction yet? It has to capable of creating both the sensation of floating down a river and flying over a jungle. I saw some speculation that it could be a state of the art simulator like Flight of Passage, but the show building seems too big for just screens. Not to mention the ride vehicles are supposed to resemble boats.

It could be something like pirates in shanghai using boats and screens to simulate flying

 

[Daveeeeed]

Construction progress on Beauty & The Beast from the monorail. The sheer scale of this is huge. It's truly epic what the OLC is doing. Photo was taken last week.

 

[ThemeParkTraveller]

And here's a very recent video showing the same construction site. They've really progressed on the demolition of the parking lot for the new TDS port. Also gives you an idea of just how big this expansion plot is.

 

[SweetDuffy101]

Fun Fact 1. Annual pass Blockout dates had begun and it looks like a success for both parks and Low wait times in some attractions and greeting trails.

2. Fastpass will available In TDR app starting next year, and yes it will be free.

 

[IMDREW]

Fun Fact 1. Annual pass Blockout dates had begun and it looks like a success for both parks and Low wait times in some attractions and greeting trails.

2. Fastpass will available In TDR app starting next year, and yes it will be free.

When will the app be available for non japan accounts?

 

[SweetDuffy101]

When will the app be available for non japan accounts?

I think they’re still working on it. But before 2020 I think It will be available for all.

 

[ThemeParkTraveller]

I think they’re still working on it. But before 2020 I think It will be available for all.

Will paper Fastpasses still be available after that period? In any case, this is a great addition to reduce the congestion around the Fastpass machines.

 

[SweetDuffy101]

Will paper Fastpasses still be available after that period? In any case, this is a great addition to reduce the congestion around the Fastpass machines.

Yes, it will still be available.

 

[SweetDuffy101]

(NEWS)Re-imagining of TOKYO DISNEYLAND is expected after Fantasy Springs in DisneySEA.

Price increase of passports to be effective as of October 2019.

 

[ThemeParkTraveller]

(NEWS)Re-imagining of TOKYO DISNEYLAND is expected after Fantasy Springs in DisneySEA.

I'm guessing Fantasyland will be the first land to be re-imagined, as the old look will clash very much with the upgraded visuals of the Beauty and the Beast area. I was hoping some of that work could be done concurrently with the new port at TDS though, as there is still a 3 year gap between Beauty and the Beast and Fantasy Springs.

Also, do you mind sharing where you are getting the latest news and updates on TDR? I'd love to read some of that discussion (even in Japanese) if available.

 

[cheezbat]

(NEWS)Re-imagining of TOKYO DISNEYLAND is expected after Fantasy Springs in DisneySEA.

Price increase of passports to be effective as of October 2019.

Interesting...

While they’re at it, how about re-imagining the castle so it isn’t a clone of WDWs.

 

[JohnyKaz2078]

I'm guessing Fantasyland will be the first land to be re-imagined, as the old look will clash very much with the upgraded visuals of the Beauty and the Beast area. I was hoping some of that work could be done concurrently with the new port at TDS though, as there is still a 3 year gap between Beauty and the Beast and Fantasy Springs

My exact thought. I'm guessing that they'll probably get rid off the old castle courtyard area or re-imagine the rides to look fresh (and remove Peter Pan). I really have no ideas though with what they can do with the space. Maybe 2 new E-Tickets? Tomorrowland could also use an update since it really feels like an old concrete cluster of buildings right now. But I agree that this revamp really is far away right now (5 whole years at least).

 

[SweetDuffy101]

According To an interview with the COO of OLC after the TDS expansion in 2023, the next focus will be at TDL re imagining the park once again and a Price increase of the ticket prices will begin in October 2019 together with the opening of Soarin!.

I'm guessing Fantasyland will be the first land to be re-imagined, as the old look will clash very much with the upgraded visuals of the Beauty and the Beast area. I was hoping some of that work could be done concurrently with the new port at TDS though, as there is still a 3 year gap between Beauty and the Beast and Fantasy Springs.

Also, do you mind sharing where you are getting the latest news and updates on TDR? I'd love to read some of that discussion (even in Japanese) if available.

The source was from Sankei Fuji Newpspaper interview with OLC COO. ill put the link later on but its in kinda in japanese.

 

[ThemeParkTraveller]

The source was from Sankei Fuji Newpspaper interview with OLC COO. ill put the link later on but its in kinda in japanese.

Thanks. So from the quote above, this confirms October 2019 opening for Soarin'?

 

[ThemeParkTraveller]

－－ＴＤＳ拡張の次の計画は
「用地に余裕はあるが、ＴＤＳ拡張規模の大型投資は難しいとみている。それよりも既存施設やエリアをリニューアルすることで、将来的に施設全体が大きく変わっていくイメージを持っている」
－－ハード面だけでなくソフト面の取り組みは
「ＴＤＳ拡張に向け、高いレベルのホスピタリティー（もてなしの心）を持った人材を確保、育成する必要があり、動き始めている。同時にさまざまなオペレーションも効率化する」

- The next plan for TDS expansion

"Although we have plenty of land, we see that large-scale investment of TDS expansion scale is difficult. When renewing existing facilities and areas, we have an image that the whole facility will change dramatically in the future."

- Not only the hardware aspects but also the soft side efforts

"We need to secure and nurture talent with a high level of hospitality (hospitality mindedness) towards TDS expansion, we are beginning to move, and at the same time various operations will be streamlined"

@SweetDuffy101 Can you clarify what was meant by the quote above, especially the last line about hospitality? I also didn't understand the exact reason why they think large-scale expansion of TDS is difficult? I could only get an abridged answer from Google Translate.