Oriental Land Company will expand one of its two existing theme parks at Tokyo Disney Resort, officially ruling out the construction of a rumoured third park.
Disney and Oriental Land have been in discussions since last November regarding an estimated $2.68bn expansion to increase the Tokyo Disney Resort footprint by around 30% to help ease congestion problems.
One of the proposed options was the creation of a third park with a sky theme. Tokyo Disney Resort already has two parks, the ocean-themed Tokyo DisneySea and Tokyo Disneyland.
However, the new park has now officially been ruled out. Toshio Kagami, chairman of Oriental Land, revealed the plans to extend one of the current parks at a ceremony commemorating the 35th anniversary of Tokyo Disneyland earlier this month.
“We would like to create a Tokyo Disney Resort that fulfils new dreams. Currently, we are planning the park’s expansion,” he said.
Details about the expansion, such as new attractions and a timetable for the work, have not yet been released.
Oriental Land is already working on a range of additions to Tokyo Disneyland at a cost of ¥75bn ($637m). They include a new Beauty and the Beast area, live entertainment theatre, an attraction themed on the Big Hero 6 film and a character greeting facility. According to a recent investor presentation, the projects are expected to be ready for 2021.
A new simulator attraction, currently under the working title Soarin’, is also in development at Tokyo DisneySea with an expected opening in 2020.
https://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0004374768
