PORT DISCOVERY
TOKYO Disney RESORT
東京ディズニーリゾート
Attraction Design
The Oriental Land Company's (OLC) 2035 Long Term Management Strategy presentation was the source of several nuggets of information, from the more concrete plans for Tomorrowland to the more abstract future plans for Adventureland and Port Discovery.
While we don't have too much to go on, we were treated to a fairly significant piece of concept art that gives some interesting clues as to what OLC/Disney might have planned for Port Discovery. We'll get to that in a minute, but first a quick review of what is currently there.
Port Discovery Today
Port Discovery is one of the smaller "ports of call" at DisneySea, measuring around 5.4 acres, or 22,000 sqm. It's worth noting that while this makes it small by DisneySea standards, this still considerably larger than many lands in the US parks. This is very close in size, for example, to Disneyland's Pixar Pier (5.3 acres) or Magic Kingdom's Liberty Square (5.7 acres), both of which include fairly large attractions (Incredicoaster and Haunted Mansion respectively).
Aquatopia
Nemo & Friends SeaRider
Electric Railway Tracks
Electric
Railway
Food and Beverage
Waterway for Transit Steamer
Port Discovery, of course, has its own large attraction in Aquatopia, and it's probably this large footprint which has sealed the fate of this port of call as next in line for update. Aquatopia is a pretty fun, innovative attraction that brings some energy to this side of the park, and looks particularly great at night. It's use of the trackless ride system to operate a water ride was ground breaking, and the theming fits well with the Jules Verne inspired aesthetic that bleeds into Port Discovery from Mysterious Island. Imagineers have dipped into that particularl creative well several times, whether it be Disneyland Paris' Discoveryland (good!) or Disneyland's Tomorrowland '98 (not so good!) and this version probably falls in the middle. All of these lands arguably have roots in Tony Baxter's Discovery Bay, one of the frequently cited examples of great attractions/lands that never were, with the linked history from ParkLore being well worth your time.
Nemo & Friends SeaRider is the other (non-transportation) attraction in this land, which replaced the opening day StormRide back in 2017. The land also has two forms of transportation running through it - the DisneySea Electric Railway and Transit Steamer Line - which will be important below when discussing what this land can become.
The scale and ambition of Baxter's old plan, together with some of the best elements we saw delivered in Paris, does make one feel that this area could be more than it is, and with the park desperate for ride capacity, this does feel like a natural place for expansion and renewal. Combined, Aquatopia and SeaRider have a combined hourly capacity of around 3,000 guests (1,700 for SeaRider and 1,300 for Aquatopia) which is fine but doesn't maximize this space as well as it could.
The Future of Port Discovery
OLC provided a single piece of concept art in their 2035 Long Term Management Strategy presentation, which gives us clues (but not necessarily answers) as to what might come next to this port of call:
4
5
1
2
3
#1 and #2 How Does This Impact the Transit Steamers
The most notable part of this picture is of course the giant show building taking the place of Aquatopia (#4 above) so, naturally, let's first look at what could be hiding in those clouds and what this artwork isn't showing us.
Labels #1 and #2 come together to tell a story about how this change might impact the flow of transportation through this port of call. First, let's remind ourselves how this area looks right now from a similar viewpoint as the concept art:
1
2
The #1 and #2 labels are in approximately the same positions as in the concept art above, with the notable thing being the large channel of water running along the edge of the park which allows the Transit Steamer boats to pass through (but not stop in) Port Discovery on their way around the park. It is possible that if the Imagineers wants to maximize the new show building then they could reclaim that land and build all the way to the park boundary and then have boats turnaround in this port rather than circumnavigate the whole park. Adding weight to this thought is the circular structure at point #2 in the concept art which could potentially be a turnaround point for boats arriving from the Lost River Delta.
I'm not totally convinced by this idea for a couple of reasons:
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If the show building really needed to be larger, it seems that it could encroach on the water area between it and the SeaRider building rather than needing to expand all the way to the park boundary.
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Rather than being an either/or choice, I would have thought it was possible for the new show building to partially push back into that relatively wide channel and just leave a narrower pathway for the (relatively small) transit steamers, or, the building could push back to the wall but only on the first level, leaving a tunnel for the boats to pass though.
If the water channel was to be blocked off, then the Transit Steamers would need to run as an out-and-back route, forming a backwards "C" shape with turnarounds in Port Discovery and the American Waterfront. That does seem like a material loss to me, both in terms of the operational simplicity and guest accessibility of having a simple, clockwise route, although they do already run different routes now so this isn't perhaps a deal breaker. The presence of the Electric Railway also helps, as this connects Port Discovery to the American Waterfront (close to Mediterranean Harbor) which sort of completes the circle and allows guests to get to different corners of the park:
Electric
Railway
Possible New Transit Steamer Route
#3 No Extension of the Electric Railway to the Expansion Pad
Following the addition of Fantasy Springs, the only remaining expansion pad of material size at DisneySea is this plot of land next to the Indiana Jones attraction and across the river from Port Discovery.
Port Discovery
Indiana Jones
Attraction
Hangar Stage
Expansion Pad
Electric Railway
One prior possibility for this area of land would have been to extend the Electric Railway across the river to this new land, but this doesn't seem to be the plan as the concept art has no evidence of such a change. Of course, this doesn't preclude any changes in the future, but if this is to be major overhaul of this land, then it would then seem somewhat unlikely for OLC to come back in a couple of years and make a further significant change.
#4 Aquatopia Replacement
The replacement of Aquatopia is the main headline here but we needed to set that context before discussing what the footprint of this attraction could be. As discussed, we are looking at two scenarios, one where the attraction leaves the water channel as it is now, and one where we reclaim that land and extend the show building all the way to the park boundary:
70,000 sqft
(6,300 sqm)
115,000 sqft
(10,700 sqm)
There's no indication so far that this new attraction is going to be water based, but given that we have the show building measurements for a number of boat attractions to hand (from the Coco attraction preview), let's see how they compare:
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Pirates of the Caribbean (Shanghai Disneyland): 130,000sqft (12,500 sqm)
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Anna and Elsa's Frozen Journey: 93,000 sqft (8,600 sqm)
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Pirates of the Caribbean (Magic Kingdom): 91,000 sqft (8,500 sqm )
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Pirates of the Caribbean (Disneyland) - includes Blue Bayou: 75,000 sqft (7,000 sqm)
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it's a small world (Disneyland): 59,000 sqft (5,500 sqm)
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Rapunzel's Lantern Festival: 38,000 sqft (3,500 sqm)
And here's a few select dark ride show buildings:
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Peter Pan's Never Land: 84,000 sqft (7,800 sqm)
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Indiana Jones (Disneyland): 72,000 sqft (6,700 sqm)
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Flight of Passage, excluding exterior queue (Animal Kingdom): 50,000 sqft (4,600 sqm)
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Soaring: Fantastic Flight: 40,000 sqft (3,600 sqm)
We can see that with the smaller footprint - which doesn't require closing the water channel - we still have room for a pretty significant attraction. Now, this space potentially also needs to accommodate back of house operations, or food and beverage locations so might not all be available for a single attraction, but that should still work for most attractions other than very large water rides or rollercoasters.
#5 Nemo & Friends SeaRider Replacement
The single piece of concept art we have doesn't give any clues as to what might happen with SeaRider, though I don't think a lack of obvious alteration to the building facade is necessarily an indication either way that this attraction will or won't be altered. Other than the large Nemo mural and a change in color scheme, this show building didn't go through many changes when it changed from StormRider to SeaRider:
StormRider
SeaRider
The issue here is that this is a small, and uniquely designed building layout which is going to make it difficult to put anything drastically different in here. Given that the concept art seems to confirm they aren't tearing this show building down, I don't think it is 100% certain that even get a new attraction here, though if I was betting I would still guess that we do.
Timeline
The OLC presentation doesn't give any concrete dates for this expansion but seems to suggest that this change - and the renewal of Adventureland - are penciled in for 2031+. A couple of factors suggest that this change to Port Discovery is likely to come before changes at Adventureland:
First, OLC make reference to the upcoming anniversaries at the Tokyo Disney Resort, which fall in 2031 for DisneySea (30th anniversary) and then 2033 for Disneyland (50th anniversary). As discussed in the Tomorrowland update, OLC have launched some attractions and lands to coincide with anniversaries (although this hasn't been a hard and fast rule).
Second, and more importantly, we already have a closing date for Aquatopia, which is set to spin its last ride vehicle on September 14, 2026. Although this attraction isn't a huge crowd eater, taking much-needed capacity offline is a big deal, and a decision that OLC wouldn't likely take earlier than they need to. I would expect work to begin clearing this area soon after the Aquatopia closure which then makes 2031 seem like the more likely date, and even then, I wouldn't be shocked to see something come online here even earlier than that.