Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Tokyo Disneyland Update : No Cars Land for TDL , Major Additions Coming to TDL Fantasyland


May be you remember the Mice Age article posted by Al Lutz last November. In his update, called "Cars Land in Tokyo", Al was revealing that TDL was planning to bring Cars Land at TDL Magic Kingdom but at a cost: "Much of Tokyo’s “Westernland” would need to be repurposed and the Rivers of America section would be removed entirely..." although "...Big Thunder Mountain, the Country Bear Jamboree and the original frontier town buildings would remain at the front of the land, with the Western River Railroad continuing to circle the property. But towards the back of Westernland the entire Rivers of America would be leveled and turned into Cars Land." 

Disney fans reactions were not specially enthusiastic at the idea to see TDL Rivers of America disappearing from Westernland, specially in a park which don't have that much spaces with water, even as Al said if "the Rivers of America takes up a huge amount of space but delivers very little in the way of attraction capacity for that crowded park". And God knows how Tokyo Disneyland can be crowded all year long. So, i suppose that WDI Imagineers had a point on this one when they did in Glendale their presentation to Oriental Land top executives, including OLC President and CEO. As Al noted in his update "additional capacity is a huge selling point for the Japanese executives" and for sure we can't blame them to try to add capacity to Tokyo Disneyland. 

But i have a good news for TDL fans who were furious at the idea to can't sail anymore on Westernland Rivers of America as from what i've been told the project to build Cars Land at TDL has been cancelled. I don't know the precise reasons, but may be TDL execs finally understood that the idea to remove a big part of Westernland was not that good after all, or may be it is because of the cost, or may be it is not possible to build Cars Land for technical reasons. As you may know Tokyo Disneyland was built on landfill, and the weight of Carsland rockwork may have been a cost issue in firming up the ground beneath it. Another reason could be for earthquake regulations, the weight and height of the rockwork might have been a problem in case an earthquake happen...

So, except if TDL execs change their mind, Cars Land won't come to Japan - at least at Tokyo Disneyland. But the story has a good ending as in exchange Tokyo Disneyland envision a major Fantasyland expansion, apparently pretty big in size, similar or almost to WDW New Fantasyland. No news yet on which attractions will be part of it but, as OLC pretty much only copy in TDL what has previously been done in U.S parks and go for cute things the most, the Little Mermaid or Seven Dwarfs coaster rides could come soon at TDL Fantasyland. Though with Mermaid Lagoon next door at TDS it's may be not sure that the Little Mermaid ride will come finally to TDL... 



That said, the big question is: where these Fantasyland additions will be built? Because the problem of the available land remains the same and there is not that much spaces available at TDL. Have a look at the Google Earth screen capture above - click on the picture to enlarge it - as it will help you to understand the problem. The picture shows TDL Fantasyland with Westernland on the right, Toon Town on the bottom left with part of the parking lot, and Autopia and Tomorrowland on the top left. The show buildings in the bottom center are those of It's a Small World, Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain.

As you can see there is not a lot of choice. Something is going to be removed to make room for these Fantasyland additions and either it will be Autopia, or it could be Toon Town, or they might take a part of the parking lot behind Toon Town. Although Westernland is close to Fantasyland i can't imagine they will build their new Fantasyland there as it will mean that we'll be back to the previous problem, i.e the disappearing of a big part of Westernland. Removing Autopia would be the logical choice, as Autopia always take a lot of land, but this will mean to reduce Tomorrowland and TDL might be interested to keep this space for a future Star Wars or Marvel lands. Another option would be to take away only a small piece of the Rivers of America near the Haunted Mansion. You could make the river loop smaller and gain some land that way, but it may not be enough. Losing Toontown might also be the easiest fix. Removing Toon Town and Autopia next to it would make available a big piece of land. On the right of Toon Town is a Small World, but i wonder if they would ever get rid of It's a Small World, the ride is almost sacred! So far, i don't have the answer so is suppose that for now all we have to do is to wait for more details about this exciting Fantasyland additions!

Pictures: copyright Disney, Google Earth

15 comments:

rafael said...

Great news!

Anonymous said...

I hope this doesn't put Snow White's Scary Adventures in jeopardy. It's by far the scariest one left an one of the main reasons their Magic Kingdom style park is even worth visiting over just going to DisneySea. But given Tokyo's track record with getting rid of scarier attractions (the original version of Sinbad, Castle Mystery Tour) I wouldn't be shocked.

Anonymous said...

Also, why would they want the Little Mermaid ride when they already have a superior Little Mermaid area at Tokyo DisneySea? A Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster would also probably spell Snow White doom. Would much rather they create a legit Beauty and the Beast attraction. Do you think any specific announcements will be made at D23 Tokyo?

Alain Littaye said...

Good point, i totally forgot about Mermaid Lagoon at TDS. I'm going to do an edit!

TMH said...

Just curious if you have any particular source, like another website, or this is just rumors you've heard? I'm very pleased to hear Carsland is scraped. As anonymous said, the Little Mermaid ride doesn't make sense so it'll probably, mercifully, not be cloned. I wouldn't mind if Snow White at Tokyo Disneyland was removed or reworked. I consider myself a Snow White ride connoisseur, and I consider it the worst of the three that remain. With the exception of the magnificent scary woods scene, it's rather bad. It has the worst ending of the three. Because of the short space between the stormy climax and unload station, the ride cars always stack at the end, ruining the climax. Interesting news!

Alain Littaye said...

TMH, in this case it is not a rumor. When it is a rumor that i've heard here and there i always specify that it is a rumor. And when i don't do it, like with today's update, it means that it's an info from a source, and an info extremely reliable AT THE DATE i post it, as the execs can always change their mind - like they apparently did for instance on Cars Land - until an official announcement is done.

Anonymous said...

TDL has the Best Tom Sawyer Island being a flip flop of the original Disneyland edition. No Pirates invasion as well, which I feel messed up Disneylands plus lack of maintenance to the Fort. Westernland as its called actually at TDL, still has room to expand and add a train station and more of a town as Paris Disneyland has. No Cars Land is a Good Thing! Put that in a third park. OLC has learned from Disney that first edition rides cost the most and copycats are cheaper as all the concept and design work has been done, and not a part of the cost.

Steve said...

That's interesting to view this Blog! just went through and like it!

Allan said...

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201309/3653/

Theme Park Insider Robert Niles also report that Cars Land won't be built at Disney Hollywood Studios. So in a single week two parks cancelled Cars Land plans.

Is there a relation between the two cancellations? Maybe both parks are looking to spend their budgets on something even more attractive?

Alain Littaye said...

No, Allan, i don't think there is any relation between the two cancellations. But for Disney Hollywood Studios it might be related to a choice in where-do-we-spend-our-money and i think they decided instead to spent their money in the upcoming big Star Wars Land project.

Anonymous said...

Always the best information here at D&M, thank you. Thrilled they are not recreating Carsland in Tokyo. Was a terrible idea, for a underwhelming ride to go there. Mt. Prometheus puts that rock heap to SHAME, not to mention that its a car ride thought the dessert, yawn. (Granted, that would at least be novel in Japan) - not quite the center of the earth! TDL really does not have any Fantasy land available. I sure don't see space for the Dwarfs coater. Maybe reworking the dark rides. Fantasy Faire? Fantasia Gardens meetNgreets? Certainly the Dumbo ride needs an upgrade. I hope Disneyland there does not loose it's expansive garden spaces.. Too bad we can't see the photos large any longer, as the link currently leads to a non-enlarging page. Thanks again for the always awesome info for around the world Disney parks.

Marco Antonio Garcia said...

That's excellent news! Not because I don't like cars Land, on the contrary, I think that it is an awesome land with a great main attraction, but because I think that it would completely ruin the Theme of Westerland.

The best space to expand FL would be to use Toon Town, or maybe Toon Town and Autopia (the latter is too much space for a weak and outdated attraction), but I like Anaheim's and Tokyo's version of Toon Town, it is really nice for kids, and I really like the Roger Rabbit attraction, because it's very good and the movie is one of my all time favorites.

Also, IMO the little Mermaid area has nothing to do with the Mermaid's dark ride, and I don't think that the first is superior to the second in any way.

For me the dark ride is a really nice modern take on the classic Disney FL dark rides, and the space on TDS is a play area for little children, with many mermaid themed carnival rides and a nice stage show. I think that the Mermaid dark ride with an added final climatic scene (what is missing for me in the US versions) would be a perfect addition for TDL FL.

A new original attraction would also be great...

Herc said...

It's great that Carsland has been cancelled in TDL. I am a HUGE fan of Carsland in DCA, but I have to admit that it should only stay there. It should be a unique land to DCA. Alot of work went into it. The attention to detail is amazing. Add another two attractions and the drive-in (ala SciFi Dine In at DHS) and it would be complete.
There is nothing more underwhelming than to clone attractions at every park. Mickey Mouse Revue was pulled from WDW and sent to TDL. Why didn't they just clone it? It was a great attraction that had so many characters in it. Maybe TDL wanted something exclusive and a deal was struck.
I would rather see DHS expand on Pixar Place and put attractions in from their line up of movies. DHS needed the doorcoaster more than DCA. Not happy with that decision. But hopefully get some other Pixar based attractions.

Anonymous said...

I'd just like to point out that Tokyo Disneyland does not have Autopia. They have Grand Circuit Raceway, which is just as boring and ugly as Tomorrowland Speedway in Florida with a questionable "race" theme for such slow vehicles and totally unfitting for a futuristic land (compared to Autopia which is a futuristic fantasy driving place for kids, particularly in Hong Kong where the cars are electric). Anyway, I wouldn't miss Grand Circuit Raceway at all if they took over that space for something better.

Anonymous said...

if they built it everyone from australia would go there as most kids are fans of disney cars they should so build it as everyone would go there as america cost to much