Multiple news outlets in Japan are reporting that OLC is planning to spend 300 billion yen (about US$2.7 billion) on new lands and attractions at the resort, starting in 2025. This is in addition to already-announced expansions now under construction, including new Beauty and Beast and Big Hero 6 attractions, as well as a Broadway-style theater and a Soarin' show.
Despite some mistranslations appearing now in U.S. press, Oriental Land has not announced that it will build a third gate at the Tokyo Disney Resort. In fact, Japanese reporting seems to indicate the OLC sources said the expansion could be the equivalent of adding another park's worth of content to the resort, not that it would be an actual third park.
To facilitate the expansion, Tokyo Disney would build a parking garage to replace some surface parking lots at the resort. Here's the Google Maps aerial view of the resort, with Tokyo Disneyland to the north and DisneySea to the south, so you can see how much surface parking area the resort has to play with between the two parks.
Sources say that Tokyo Disney finally wants to start aiming to attract international visitors to the parks, which have drawn almost exclusively from Japan - and primarily the Tokyo area - for visitors in its 35-year history. The parks remain wildly popular, however, drawing about 30 million visitors a year, combined. But with a declining birth rate and aging population in Japan, not to mention increased competition from Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, Tokyo Disney needs to expand, and to reach beyond Japan for visitors, to ensure continued financial growth.
Oriental Land is said to be in negotiations with Disney over the expansion, with an announcement hoped for by May 2018.
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Yeah, the Japanese theme parks are certainly congested, though I'd say it's a much greater problem for Universal Studios Japan since there doesn't seem to be nearly as much expansion space available within industrialized Osaka. The OLC's plan seems like a smart one, responsive and proactive in a way Disneyland CA ought to be.
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