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Disney’s Tokyo Theme Parks to Get $4.5 Billion Expansion

Walt Disney Co.’s two Tokyo theme parks are getting a $4.5 billion renovation and expansion over the next decade, the attractions’ Japanese owner announced on Friday. Oriental Land Co. announced it would invest the money to double the size of the Fantasyland section of 115-acre Tokyo Disneyland and add a themed port with attractions, restaurants and shops at Tokyo DisneySea, a 176-acre nautical-themed sister park. Oriental Land, in Urayasu, has been a partner of the Burbank media and entertainment company since 1974. It opened Tokyo Disneyland in 1983 and Tokyo DisneySea in 2001. Disney has no ownership stake in either park but receives substantial licensing and operating revenue. The expansion plans would include an attraction based on Disney’s international hit movie “Frozen,” according to entertainment industry trade publication Hollywood Reporter, which cited a report in the Nikkei Asian Review, an English language business publication. Other improvements at both parks include renovating restaurants; easing of congestion and developing measures to protect guests from hot and cold weather. Tokyo Disneyland had an attendance of about 8.7 million visitors last year while Tokyo DisneySea drew more than 14 million visitors. Oriental Land is a publicly traded company that for the first half of its 2015 fiscal year reported revenue from its theme parks at $1.6 billion, a 5.2 percent decrease from the same period in the previous fiscal year. The company attributed lower revenue to a drop in visitors and less spending per visitor.

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Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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