Tokyo DisneySea Celebrates 25th Anniversary

Urayasu, Chiba Pref., Sept. 4 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo DisneySea, one of the most popular theme parks in Japan, on Friday celebrated the 25th anniversary of its opening. The only ocean-themed Disney park in the world, located in the city of Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, adjacent to Tokyo, has continued to attract and excite visitors from both in and outside Japan since its opening on Sept. 4, 2001. The park has continued to evolve over a quarter of a century, with its operator, Oriental Land Co., revamping existing attractions and making massive investments to build new areas. The “Sparkling Jubilee” celebration to mark the milestone kicked off in April this year. Special shows and merchandise aligning with the event’s color theme of “jubilee blue,” described on the theme park’s website as being “inspired by the beauty of the seas,” will be available to visitors during the period of the event through March 2027. On Friday, an official commemorative book featuring past events held at Tokyo DisneySea will be released from major Japanese publisher Kodansha Ltd. While neighboring Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in April 1983 and mainly targets families with younger children, Tokyo DisneySea primarily targets young customers with many thrilling attractions, such as the Tower of Terror, a drop-tower dark ride. At the same time, Tokyo DisneySea has built upon this further to attract families by offering park features for elderly people and meet-and-greets with characters for children. At a cost of over 300 billion yen, the new “Fantasy Springs” area was opened at Tokyo DisneySea in 2024. An attraction themed on the Indiana Jones franchise will reopen in November this year after going through a revamp, including the introduction of projection mapping. Oriental Land President Wataru Takahashi said at an earnings briefing in April, “Tokyo DisneySea has taken on new challenges in its quarter-century history.” The park faces issues such as tackling higher personnel and other costs and securing human resources. Still, Takahashi stressed, “We are making steady progress in discussions for our next leap forward.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]