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The Tokyo Disney Resort has revealed that despite the $2 billion investment in Fantasy Springs, it believes attendance will be down 11% in 2024 compared to 2019.
The Walt Disney Company is a name that’s ubiquitous when it comes to making magic and creating wonder for children and adults alike. Whether it’s the Walt Disney World Resort in Central Florida or Disneyland Resort in Southern California, there’s certainly a lot to love about being at a Disney Park.
Cinderella Castle, Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo Disney Resort / Credit: Disney
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However, off-late, the international Disney Parks have also been making their presence known and felt among Disney fans.
Think of the recent expansion projects announced for Disneyland Paris, including the renovation and redesign of the formerly named Walt Disney Studios Park (now called Disney Adventure World) and the soon-to-open Fantasy Springs in Tokyo Disney Resort.
The expansion of Tokyo DisneySea and the construction of its eighth port have made waves among fans from around the world, who have been incredibly impressed with the quality of rides and attractions at the Disney Park.
Tokyo DisneySea, Tokyo Disney Resort / Credit: Disney
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In fact, many fans have been demanding that Walt Disney Imagineering and The Walt Disney Company rework their priorities to bring a similar quality of innovation to the Central Florida Disney Park and the Southern California Disney Resort.
Not all fans are convinced that Disney will actually do the work to make this happen at the domestic parks. Some believe that the company is more focused on services like Disney+ rather than making the parks a better experience.
ひと足お先に見てきます👍#tokyodisneysea #fantasysprings #tokyodisneyresort pic.twitter.com/NW17xrM2c6
— TAKA🇯🇵YAMA (@taka0001jp) May 14, 2024
In the meanwhile, the Oriental Land Company, the operating company working with Walt Disney Imagineering that has made the Tokyo Disney Resort the Disney vacation destination what it is to so many fans, is being lauded as an example for Disney to learn from.
This conversation has particularly come up in relation to Tokyo DisneySea’s eighth port, Fantasy Springs, which will feature three new lands inspired by Peter Pan, Tangled, and Frozen.
Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs / Credit: Disney
So far, all of the visuals from the Disney Park of upcoming attractions and animatronics have had fans salivating over how incredibly well-made they are. For example, fans have been really impressed with how realistic the animatronics of Anna and Elsa are on the Frozen-themed attraction.
Tokyo Disney Resort spared no expense to make this happen. They are said to have spent $2 billion on the expansion, which is the biggest at the park since it opened back in 2001.
C’est à couper le souffle, tellement la la scène est bien retranscrit dans l’attraction 🏮✨ #FantasySprings #Tokyodisneysea #Tokyodisneyresort pic.twitter.com/DU1Eu42cEP
— Magic Disneyland (@magikdisneyland) May 14, 2024
Despite all of this, Forbes recently reported that OLC is expecting attendance at the Disney Park this year to be down by 11% from its high in 2019 of 32.6 million.
As the outlet explained, “Combined attendance at the two Tokyo parks surged by 24.5% to 27.5 million in the 12 months to March 31, 2024 as Japan continued its recovery from the pandemic.”
However, even with the upward trend, they’re not expecting attendance to reach its 2019 peak this year.
OLC hopes that sales will increase by $424.3 million (¥66.3 billion) to $4.4 billion (¥684.7 billion) in the year to March 31, 2025 with revenue from the theme parks representing 79.8% of the rise. Theme park revenue is expected to hit $3.6 billion (¥566.7 billion) whilst sales from the six on-site hotels are only forecast to grow by 15.4% to $650 million (¥102 billion) despite the opening of the Fantasy Springs Hotel.
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