The world is home to some incredible theme parks, perfect for those thrill-seekers looking for the most intense roller coasters, or a family planning a magical vacation for both adults and kids alike. While the US is most known for its selection of impressive parks, from Epcot to Six Flags to Animal Kingdom, there are other countries that have impressive, and totally unique experiences.
Tokyo DisneySea is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in the Chiba Prefecture, Japan, just next to the capital. It opened in September 2001, at a cost of 335 billion yen, around £1.7 billion. Covering an area of 176 acres, it is so vast that it even houses its own Venice, complete with canals and boat tours for its visitors.
In 2023, Tokyo DisneySea hosted 12.4 million visitors, making it the seventh-most visited theme park in the world and the third-most visited in Japan.
The park, named one of the 20 “best in the world” by Travel + Leisure, has an overall nautical exploration design and originally opened with seven themed lands or “ports of call”. Since then, Disney characters and themed rides have also been added.
The entrance to the park is Mediterranean Harbor, which opens up to six more nautically themed ports: American Waterfront, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, and Mysterious Island.
Boats of the DisneySea Transit Steamer Line ferry passengers between Mediterranean Harbor and American Waterfront near the park entrance to Lost River Delta. The Mediterranean Harbor is themed as an Italian port city, with Venetian Gondolas that guests can board and ride.
Built into the architecture of the port is Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta, which serves as a full-scale reproduction of the various buildings of Portofino and Venice’s ports and serves as the southern border of the park.
The design choice of combining a real hotel within the themed park areas helps to further the illusion that you are in an actual city.
Plans for a second Disney park in Tokyo were first conceived in 1987 and its plans initially included a park similar to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Originally, it was to be called Disney Hollywood Studio Theme Park at Tokyo Disneyland.
However, this idea was later reconsidered in 1991 because of the economic collapse caused by the Japanese asset price bubble. Ground for DisneySea was broken in October 1998 and upon opening, it became the ninth park of twelve worldwide Disney theme parks to open.
Incredibly, DisneySea reached the milestone of 10 million guests in 307 days since its grand opening, which is a record among theme parks worldwide. It eclipsed the previous record-holder, Universal Studios Japan, which reached the landmark 338 days after opening.
