Tokyo DisneySea

Tokyo DisneySea (東京ディズニーシー, Tōkyō DizunīShī) is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, just next to Tokyo. It opened on 4 September 2001, at a cost of 335 billion yen. The Oriental Land Company owns the park and licenses intellectual property from the Walt Disney Company. In 2024, Tokyo DisneySea hosted 12.4 million visitors, making it the seventh-most visited theme park in the world and the third-most visited in Japan.

Plans for a second Disney park in Tokyo were first conceived in 1987, the same period when the "Law for the Development of Comprehensive Resort Areas" was passed. Initially, these plans included a park similar to Disney's Hollywood Studios (then Disney-MGM Studios), to be called Disney Hollywood Studio Theme Park at Tokyo Disneyland. This idea was later reconsidered in 1991 because of the economic collapse caused by Japanese asset price bubble. During the creation of the park, the Walt Disney Company and the Oriental Land Company had to compromise on certain design elements of the park due to cultural differences, such as the park's entrance focal point. The idea for what eventually became DisneySea was traced to a proposal to build a second theme park in Southern California called "Port Disney" in Long Beach, California, with the RMS Queen Mary as the main attraction. The idea was scrapped after Disney endured financial trouble with the Euro Disney project. Later the idea was passed on to the Oriental Land Company to expand their resort.

Ground for DisneySea was broken on 22 October 1998 and the park opened on 4 September 2001. Upon opening, Tokyo DisneySea became the ninth park of the twelve worldwide Disney theme parks to open.

In 2002 Tokyo DisneySea won a Thea Award from the Themed Entertainment Association for the concept, design, and construction of the theme park. The award was presented at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California.

In October 2019, both Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea were temporarily closed due to the threat of Typhoon Hagibis. On 28 February 2020, Oriental Land announced a temporary closure of Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea from 29 February to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The closure, originally slated to expire in mid-March, was later extended twice, with the latest extension being until 1 July 2020.

The park has an overall nautical exploration motif, and originally opened with seven themed lands or "ports of call", although Disney characters and themed rides have since been added. The entrance to the park is Mediterranean Harbor, which opens up to six more nautically themed ports: American Waterfront, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, and Mysterious Island. Boats of the DisneySea Transit Steamer Line ferry passengers between Mediterranean Harbor and American Waterfront near the park entrance to Lost River Delta. An eighth port of call known as Fantasy Springs opened on 6 June 2024.

Mediterranean Harbor is the entrance "port-of-call" and themed as an Italian port city, with Venetian Gondolas that guests can board and ride. Throughout the port are various shops and restaurants. Mediterranean Harbor's layout differs from the entry "lands" of other Disney parks as it is a large "V" shape rather than a main street that leads to a hub (as found in Disneyland's Main Street, U.S.A. or Disney's Hollywood Studios' Hollywood Boulevard). To the right, the path leads to Mysterious Island, and to the left, the path leads to the American Waterfront. Built into the architecture of the port is Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta; the hotel serves as a full-scale reproduction of the various buildings of Portofino and Venice's ports and serves as the southern berm (or border) of the park. The design choice of combining a real hotel within the themed park areas helps to further the illusion that (as either a park or hotel guest) you are in an actual city; since the hotel is a functional building (rather than a 'set facade' -- the general standard in theme park designs) the effect of onlooking hotel guests, that may observe the park from hotel's rooms, balconies, and terraces serve in adding a level of kinetic authenticity in passing for an authentic Italian villa for park visitors, while the hotel guest enjoys the harborside views and novelty of location. Mediterranean Harbor also features Soaring: Fantastic Flight, a flying simulator, and Fortress Explorations, a large-scale interactive play area for guests that features exploration-themed activities and attractions.

Mysterious Island is a "port-of-call" within Mount Prometheus, the giant volcano that serves as the park's centerpiece and most prominent feature. It relies heavily on the storytelling of Jules Verne and, specifically, the mythology of the volcano fortress mentioned several times in the books called "Vulcania". The Mount Prometheus ride, Journey to the Center of the Earth, employs technology similar to Epcot's Test Track. The smallest "port of call", its two attractions are among the more popular: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a dark ride, being the second. Despite its name, Mysterious Island is not an island; it is built into the side of Mount Prometheus, which is part of the show building for the two attractions. The architecture in this port is of Victorian style.