The Tokyo Disney Resort recently announced an expansion to the park. This new section will be the largest expansion made to the Tokyo property since its opening. Disney is committing 2 billion dollars to the project, which will include Frozen and Peter Pan-themed attractions. This expansion will be part of the Tokyo Disney Sea Park, which is essentially the second park at the resort. The Peter Pan and Frozen-themed lands will join the existing “Tangled” attraction, which is already operating at the park. This aforementioned Tangled attraction has received very positive reviews from guests and Disney bloggers alike, who are calling for a version of it to make its way stateside.
This expansion is set to be ready for the public to enjoy by June 6th; however, the date could still vary. Oriental Land, the company that runs the resort in partnership with Disney, forecasts that the new attractions will help the resort attract at least 1.5 million more people per year. The combined attendance for both parks at the resort last year was reportedly 27.5 million. That would allow the park to hover around the same number of visitors that it saw in 2019. This may seem like a slow post-pandemic recovery time. COVID-related restrictions in Japan, however, were still present at certain times throughout 2023. That was generally not something that happened in other parts of the world.
Although the rides have not officially debuted, scenes from them are already available online. The queue for the Peter Pan ride will take people to the island where the lost boys are settled in the famous movie. There’s a pre-show that will give guests a bit of context about the ride story. According to insiders, the story revolves around Peter Pan leaving the lost boys to rescue John Darling from Captain Hook. We’ll take their word for it because the preview is entirely in Japanese. The ride itself is filled with 3D animations through different screens that people will pass along within the ride vehicle. Apart from this ride, the Tokyo version of Peter Pan’s flight is still going to be available at the park, at least for now.
Spoilers from the Frozen ride have also been released online. Guests have already been able to preview the experience. In this case, the queue brings guests into a Chalet-style building. It allows folks to explore the home of sisters Anna and Elsa. The ride itself is actually a boat ride. Again, the guests are going to be taken along a journey that features 3D animation and more in-person theming. From the previews, it looks like the Peter Pan attraction relies more on the ride video to provide the experience.
Meanwhile, the Frozen attraction is more concerned with making guests really feel like they’re within the actual location. These are mere speculations at this point, however. Ultimately, we’ll have to wait until around June 6th, when full-ride videos will likely begin to pop up online. Of course, the other option is catching a plane to Tokyo!
