Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Seven Ports, Twelve Years...










A dozen years has past since the unveiling of a beautiful jewel...

On this day in 2001, the Oriental Land Company introduced the world to Walt Disney Imagineering's masterpiece of theme park design: Tokyo DisneySEA.  It was a prime example of what can happen when you let brillliant Imagineers dream, and dream BIG.  This park is what happens when ideas win out over bean counters and unimaginative Suits.

For those that have never heard or seen this magical place, you can check out Blue Sky's extensive catalog of articles on the Park and the Project that was its inspiration: Port Disney - The Long Beach Project.  If you want to see what is possible, and not improbable, check them out.  

For someone like myself that loves the ocean as well as Disney, it's a magnet of adventurous fun.  Of only more Disney Suits would not only go see this place, but embrace its philosophy.  It redefines what a theme park, not just a Disney theme park can be.  So, from everyone here at Blue Sky I want to wish DisneySEA happy twelfth birthday.  It doesn't need any gift though, it's a gift to you.

May I suggest you go there, open it up and enjoy...








6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dineysea is amazing. Its beauty is indescribable unless you see it in person.

Allan said...

Is there any plans to add more rides to DisneySea?

Anonymous said...

I wrote the special effects manuals for Indiana Jones, Sinbad and Magic Lantern Theater and was blown away by the project while working on it. I finally made it to Tokyo last winter to see it and was not disappointed. Happy B-day TDS. I'm still in favor of building Port Disney in Long Beach... anyone?

Honor Hunter said...

I would love to see Port Disney built, but I think seeing it in California is not a realistic hope...

The business environment here is not constructive for such a large project, and the California Coastal Commission's environmental regulations would make it almost cost prohibitive to actually implement this poject in a profitable manner.

I can see the Long Beach Project being built, just not in the state Long Beach is in. Sadly, maybe not even in America. But you never know, dreams do happen when you least expect it.

Anonymous, if you're reading this I would hope that you would contact me by e-mail so that I could ask you more about your job working there on this and other projects.

I'd really like to know more...

Anonymous said...

Honor,

While it would be awesome to seePort Disney built, you have to remember that it would be DISNEY doing it, not OLC. So the entire project would probably be underwhelming and in no way comparable to TDS.

Honor Hunter said...

Of course it wouldn't bear much of DisneySEA...

But that would be the appropriate thing. Port Disney had a DisneySea themepark, but it was not exactly what you would find in Tokyo. That park is more like an aquatic version of Disney's Animal Kingdom. While it does have similar aspects to TDS, it had far more educational, and far more naturalistic experience to it. Think of it as if Disney had did Sea World.

And please remember, although Disney is not the Oriental Land Company, the Disney we're speaking about today is far different from the one in the late 90s. So there would be a better chance of seeing it now than under the previous leadership of the company.

So when we talk about Port Disney being built, we are not talking about DisneySEA being built...