Tokyo DisneySea (東京ディズニーシー, Tōkyō DizunīShī) is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, just next to Tokyo.[1] It opened on 4 September 2001, at a cost of 335 billion yen.[2] The Oriental Land Company owns the park, and licenses intellectual property from The Walt Disney Company. In 2022, Tokyo DisneySea hosted 10.1 million visitors, making it the eighth-most visited theme park in the world and the third-most visited in Japan.[3]
History
Plans for a second Disney park in Tokyo were first conceived in 1987. Initially, these plans included a park similar to Disney's Hollywood Studios (then Disney-MGM Studios), to be called Disney Hollywood Studio Theme Park at Tokyo Disneyland. This idea was later scrapped in 1992. During the creation of the park, the Walt Disney Company and the Oriental Land Company had to compromise on certain design elements of the park due to cultural differences, such as the park's entrance focal point.[4] Ground was broken on October 22, 1998 and the park opened on September 4, 2001. Upon opening, Tokyo DisneySea became the ninth park of the twelve worldwide Disney theme parks to open. It has an overall nautical exploration theme. The idea for the park can be traced to a proposal to build a second theme park in Southern California called "Port Disney" in Long Beach, California, with the RMS Queen Mary as the main attraction.[5] The idea was scrapped after Disney endured financial trouble with the Euro Disney project. Later the idea was passed on to the Oriental Land Company to expand their resort.
In 2002 Tokyo DisneySea won a Thea Award from the Themed Entertainment Association for the concept, design, and construction of the theme park. The award was presented at El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, California.[6]
In October 2019, both Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea were temporarily closed due to the threat of Typhoon Hagibis.[7] On 28 February 2020, Oriental Land announced a temporary closure of Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea from 29 February to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.[8] The closure, originally slated to expire in mid-March, was later extended twice, with the latest extension being until 1 July 2020.[9]
Park layout and attractions
There are currently eight themed lands, or "ports of call". The entrance to the park is Mediterranean Harbor, which opens up to six more nautically themed ports: American Waterfront, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, and Mysterious Island.[1] Boats of the DisneySea Transit Steamer Line ferry passengers between Mediterranean Harbor and American Waterfront near the park entrance to Lost River Delta.[10] An eighth port of call Fantasy Springs opened on June 6, 2024.