Mickey Mouse is set to make a second splash across Japan next month when Tokyo DisneySea opens, but a lack of fast rides and Disney characters could turn the watery kingdom into a damp squib, warn visitors and analysts.
Riding the crest of the wave of the "Seven Seas of adventure and imagination" that comprise Disney's all new 338 billion yen (US$2.82 billion) watery Magic Kingdom, the theme park hopes to leave competitors such as Universal Studios Japan in its wake.
PHOTO: AFP
"We wanted to create something new and original," said Shintaro Mogi, publicity director of Oriental Land, the Japanese firm operating the park in partnership with The Walt Disney Co.
"This area has been reclaimed from the sea and is facing Tokyo Harbor. Also our country is an island and the Japanese nation is fond of the ocean so we decided the sea was a good theme for our new park."
But a number of visitors chosen to sample the 48-hectare complex before it opens to the general public on Sept. 4 -- with tickets priced from 5,500 yen (US$45.80), for adults to 3,700 yen for children under 11 -- said it lacked the usual Disney flair.
"It is a long trek from attraction to attraction and the scenery is not as fun as Tokyo Disneyland [which stands next door]. It is rather boring," said 20-year-old business student Haruka Ooki.
Kazuko Kogure, a 38-year-old housewife, agreed. "I personally prefer Disneyland as there are more rollercoaster rides," she said.
From an Aladdin-style Arabian coast and A waterfront based on the film Titanic to the Mermaid Lagoon, DisneySea markets itself on being a watery world of "adventure, romance, discovery and fun."
But the theme park must turn up the action if it is going to make significant waves across Asia, said UBS Warburg real estate analyst Hiroshi Okubo.
"I hope they add a few more attractions to make sure they get more repeat customers," he said.
"Also the Disney characters are not as apparent, they are much more hidden," said Okubo, who covers Oriental Land's stock.
People enter DisneySea through the Mediterranean Harbor, a seaport village with a European flavour, where they can hitch a ride on a Venetian gondola and float along the Canal of Love listening to Italian folk music.
A DisneySea Transit Steamer awaits the more adventurous to whisk them back in time to the 1930s and the Lost River Delta, a primitive settlement home to the Temple of the Crystal Skull.
Based on George Lucas's film character Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, the decaying temple resembles an Inca pyramid and houses a hair-raising rollercoaster ride, one of the park's three major attractions.
The two other headline events are StormRider, a simulated typhoon experience where adventurers strap themselves into a three-dimensional weather centre, and Journey to the Centre of the Earth, a rollercoaster that rips down through the park's huge volcano.
Most were impressed by the action, but said they wanted more.
"I enjoyed myself. Especially I liked the [Mediterranean] harbor. It is just a pity there are so few rollercoasters," said Nobuo Kogure, a 38-year-old businessman.
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