Happy 30th Birthday, Tokyo Disneyland!

April 15, 2013, 11:05 AM · Tokyo Disneyland opened 30 years ago today -- April 15, 1983. Disney Parks chairman Tom Staggs joined Oriental Land Company Chairman Toshio Kagami for a celebration in front of the park's castle to commemorate the park's anniversary.

Tokyo Disneyland's 30th birthday celebration
Photo courtesy Disney

Earlier, Oriental Land, which owns and operates the Tokyo Disney Resort under a license with the Walt Disney Company, announced that it is investing US$1.5 billion in improving and expanding its parks between 2011 and 2020. That figure includes the recent opening of Toy Story Mania at Tokyo DisneySea, as well as other, as-yet-unannounced improvements.

Elias Hotel
The 'Elias Hotel' facade in Tokyo Disneyland's Westernland pays tribute to Walt Disney's middle name, as well as to the park's opening year -- exactly 100 years after 1883.

We visited the Tokyo Disney Resort in late 2011, as the parks rebounded from the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan earlier that year, closing the parks for a month. Theme Park Insider readers voted Tokyo DisneySea the world's best theme park last year, and I'm in complete agreement. The Tokyo Disney Resort sets the standard for Disney theme parks worldwide.

Replies (5)

April 15, 2013 at 11:15 AM · One of my goals in running this website is to encourage people not to be intimidated by travel, especially foreign travel. A visit to the Tokyo Disney Resort would become a lifetime highlight for any theme park fan. Sure, it can be expensive. But the expense isn't so great that a middle-class family couldn't manage it, with advance planning and saving. Here's our guide to planning a trip to the Tokyo Disney Resort.
April 15, 2013 at 12:11 PM · Congratulations to Tokyo Disneyland. A blueprint for the proper way to run a theme park resort. Build quality attractions, keep maintainance in good shape and invest for "long term" success.
April 15, 2013 at 8:32 PM · I agree Disney Tokyo looks like they take great pride in everything they do! i do wish ours was alittle more like this. everything they have at Disney Tokyo seems to made extremaly well!
April 15, 2013 at 7:02 PM · Tokyo is on my bucket list it'll be t least 5 years before I get to do it.though
April 15, 2013 at 8:36 PM · I would love to go see Tokyo Disneyland. It seems really differnt, but also the same as ours. If that makes any sence.. But the main reason i want to go is for their ADORABLE POPCORN BUCKETS!!! I'm a huge collector! I'd buy a ton of popcorn for those!! lol. And the different flavors of popcorn would'nt be bad either. I wish Disney World here in the States would have a Popcorn Bucket Round-up like they have in Tokyo Disney. A girl i chatted with over there, told me it was big fun going all of the park trying to find all the cutest popcorn buckets with the best flavors, and then choosing which one you wanted to take home as a souvenir ( i'd probably buy more than one). I guess over there in Tokyo each popcorn bucket has its own flavor of popcorn. So you may like the popcorn, but not the bucket..or you may like the bucket, and not popcorn...get it ? Anyway, i think it would be fun at least once, or twice a year. Like maybe in the summer, and again for Halloween, or Christmas. I like the Halloween popcorn buckets myself. I use them as decorations because they are made EXTREMALY WELL! alot better then ours here. If you've ever seen them, or have any, then you know what i mean. So i say we need to put a little bug in Mickey's ear about this. I think it would be a huge hit!! Well thats all for now. And let Disneys big wigs know whatcha think about a popcorn bucket round-up. Who knows, maybe they'll listen!! "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DISNEY TOKYO"

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