The Tokyo Disney Resort — comprised of Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea — is often hailed as the best Disney resort on Earth. However, for every revolutionary ride that’s been built, some unbuilt projects reside in the realm of blue-sky dreams.
Tokyo Disneyland
Before we go on, a quick reminder that the Tokyo Disney Resort is unique when compared to the American Disney parks in that it is not owned by the Walt Disney Company. The parks are actually owned by the Oriental Land Company (OLC), who have essentially a licensing and profit-sharing deal with Disney. When it comes to project design, that means that Imagineers do the design work, but OLC foots the bill. With that established, let’s take a look at some Tokyo Disney projects that have gone unbuilt.
Sci-Fi City
During the late 1990s, Imagineers, including Eddie Soto, planned to transform Tokyo Disneyland into Sci-Fi City, a new futuristic scape with visuals inspired by influences including anime, The Jetsons, and Buck Rogers.
The centerpiece of the land was meant to be an “an enhanced version of the existing TDL Space Mountain which includes on-board audio, new show elements in the pre-show and along the ride, a new facade as well as a new entrance queue”, with concept art that looks to take some inspiration from the then-new interpretation of Space Mountain at Disneyland Paris.
©Disney
The land, which would have retained Star Tours, would have also included new attractions, including the E-Ticket Rocket Bikes, Lunar Racers, and an animatronic Sci-Fi Zoo.
©Disney
The revamp didn’t come to fruition, as OLC’s focus shifted to the then-upcoming Tokyo DisneySea theme park. A renovation of the park’s Tomorrowland is currently underway with a different plan altogether.
Mickeyville
Mickeyville (or Mickey Ville, according to some sources) was a proto-ToonTown concept that was developed for Tokyo Disneyland during the early 1990s.
©Disney
Based more on Mickey’s “medieval” cartoons, like The Brave Little Tailor and Mickey and the Beanstalk, the land would have featured a massive theater, a boat ride launched from the dock of Donald’s boat, and music and candy stores themed to Mickey and Minnie, respectively.
©Disney
The plans were abandoned for a version of the style of ToonTown that was designed and built at Disneyland in the early 1990s.
Glacier Bay
Glacier Bay holds the distinction of having been considered for two different Disney resorts and not built at either of them. At different points, a land bearing the name was planned to be a port at Tokyo DisneySea, as well as a proposed expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland years later.
©Disney
The land as planned for Hong Kong was to be “an arctic outpost filled with an array of cold-weather activities. Guests can jet-ski through an iceberg-filled glacial lake, grab a sled and slide down an massive snow hill and ride an icy roller-coaster deep into the interior massive ice cavern of Glacier Peak—a research base for studying glacial formations and life forms where they are treated to a variety of interactive games and show experiences.”
Scandinavian Port
Back in 2015, the OLC announced that a Scandinavian port heavily themed to Frozen, including recreating The Kingdom of Arendelle, would open at Tokyo DisneySea in 2020. However, the plan was shelved in favor of Tokyo Disneyland’s Fantasyland expansion.
It’s Arendelle!
That wasn’t the end for Frozen at Tokyo DisneySea, however, as many of the plans for the land were reconfigured into the Frozen Kingdom portion of the large Fantasy Springs expansion of the park, which opened in 2024.
Frozen Kingdom
Like Disney’s other resorts around the world, the Tokyo Disney Resort has a long history of unbuilt attractions. Stay tuned to AllEars for more Disney history.
This Canceled Disney World Project Could Have Changed EVERYTHING
Which of these unbuilt Tokyo Disney plans would you like to see resurrected? Let us know in the comments below.
Post a Comment
AloJapan.com