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Tokyo Disneyland, the theme park in Urayasu, Japan tourist attraction

Tokyo Disneyland

The theme park in Urayasu, Japan tourist attraction

Cinderella Castle is the icon of Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland is a 115-acre theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be built outside the United States and opened on April 15, 1983. The park was built by WED Enterprises in the same style as Magic Kingdom in Florida and Disneyland in California. It is owned by The Oriental Land Company, which licenses intellectual property from The Walt Disney Company.

The idea of a Japanese Disneyland dates back to the late 1950s, when Kunizo Matsuo, a Japanese businessman, approached Walt Disney with the idea of a Disney park in Nara. Although it is rumored that Walt initially agreed to the idea, he later backed away from it. Matsuo, still determined to open his Disney themed park, opened Nara Dreamland in 1961, a near replica of Disneyland in California, only without the Disney characters or IP. This park will be operational till 2006.

Masatomo Takahashi approached Walt Disney Productions in August 1978 with the idea of Tokyo Disneyland. The idea seemed good considering the success of the recently opened Disney World in Florida. Because of this success, Disney and Takahashi negotiated and the initial contract to build Disneyland in Chiba Prefecture was signed in April 1979. Japanese engineers and architects visited California to inspect Disneyland and prepare for the construction of the new park. Construction of the park began a year later and was covered by hundreds of journalists, indicating high expectations for the future park. The final cost of Tokyo Disneyland was 180 billion yen rather than 100 billion yen.

Attractions of Tokyo Disneyland

World Market

World Bazaar is the main entrance corridor and primary shopping area of Tokyo Disneyland. Despite the use of the word "World" in its name, the general look and theme of World Market is that of early 20th century America, referred to as "Main Street, U.S.A." corresponds to Other Magic Kingdom-style park areas. World Bazaar consists of two intersecting "streets": Main Street (the primary corridor leading from the main entrance to Cinderella Castle), and Center Street, which forms a perpendicular line with Main Street and leads to Adventureland on one side and Tomorrowland on the other. . World Market has a permanent canopy covering the Main Street and Center Street areas, designed to protect guests from the elements.

Adventureland

Adventureland consists of two distinct yet complementary areas: a New Orleans-themed area and a "Jungle"-themed area. It borrows stylistic and architectural features from the New Orleans Square and Adventureland areas found at Disneyland Park in the United States.

Westernland

Westernland is an "Old West" themed area, on par with Frontierland at other Magic Kingdom-style parks. Westernland's landscape is dominated by Big Thunder Mountain, a Monument Valley-style mountain surrounding a mine train roller coaster, and Rivers of America, a man-made waterway featuring Mark Twain riverboats, Tom Sawyer Island, and numerous live and audio-animatronic animals.

Fantasy land

As with other Magic Kingdom theme parks, the central entrance to Fantasyland is a castle, in this case Cinderella Castle, a near exact copy of Florida's Magic Kingdom. If there are no "thrill rides", Fantasyland attractions are usually dark rides that take visitors through scenes from Disney films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan and Pinocchio.

A new Beauty and the Beast subdivision opened in September 2020 as part of the theme park's largest expansion. A dark ride called the Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast is housed in the new Beauty and the Beast Castle at the entrance to Maurice's Cottage and Gaston's Fountain. The new section includes the village of Belle with La Taverne de Gaston eatery and village shops selling souvenirs and gifts.

Toontown

Like its counterparts at other Disney theme parks, Toontown (called "Mickey's Toontown" in other Disney parks) is heavily inspired by the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Appropriately, the main attraction here is Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin.

A new attraction called Minnie's Style Studio opened in September 2020 as part of the theme park's biggest expansion. As a character greeting area, it allows guests to take photos with Minnie who will be wearing a rotating selection of seasonal outfits.

Tomorrowland

Like other modern Disney theme parks, Tokyo Disneyland's Tomorrowland eschews a realism-based vision of the future and instead features science-fiction fantasy themes. Architecturally it borrows heavily from the 1971-1993 version of Tomorrowland in Florida. Rides include Space Mountain, Star Tour - The Adventures Continue and Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters.

A roller coaster ride called The Happy Ride with Baymax opened in September 2020 as part of the theme park's largest expansion. The ride is Disney's first attraction based on the movie Big Hero 6. A new specialty space-themed popcorn shop called The Big Pop also opened on the same day.