Al Lutz: Cars Land in Tokyo

Al Lutz has posted a new update today with this interesting rumor

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Turning Japanese…

Earlier this month the top executives from Oriental Land Company, including their President and CEO, made a rare multi-day visit to Anaheim and Glendale. They spent hours touring Cars Land before going on to a private dinner at the Carthay Circle restaurant. They also spent a full day in Glendale where WDI gave presentations and showed models of how a nearly identical version of Anaheim’s Cars Land could fit perfectly in the space currently used for their version of… Frontierland.


To get Cars Land into Tokyo Disneyland, much of Tokyo’s “Westernland” would need to be repurposed and the Rivers of America section would be removed entirely. Thunder Mountain, the Country Bear Jamboree and the original frontier town buildings would remain at the front of the land, with the Western River Railroad continuing to circle the property. But towards the back of Westernland the entire Rivers of America would be leveled and turned into Cars Land.


This plan has gained fast traction with the OLC team, as the current real estate used for the Rivers of America takes up a huge amount of space but delivers very little in the way of attraction capacity for that crowded park. Tokyo’s three Rivers of America attractions combined; the Mark Twain Riverboat, Tom Sawyer Island Rafts and Davy Crockett Canoes, only manage about 1,500 riders per hour on even the busiest afternoons. And at dusk the Island and the Canoes shut down, leaving half an operating day with just a few hundred riders per hour taking an evening cruise on the Mark Twain. The Rivers of America is simply a huge waste of space with very little payoff in Tokyo.


Comparatively, the three Cars Land attractions combined in Anaheim are now returning well over 3,000 riders per hour up to 16 hours per day; 1,600 per hour at Racers, 900 per hour at Mater’s, and 800 per hour at Luigi’s (now that the beach balls are gone and loading is faster). That additional capacity is a huge selling point for the Japanese executives, with the wild popularity of Cars Land with Japanese tourists in Anaheim a good indicator of future popularity if it were to be cloned for Tokyo Disneyland. Replacing the Rivers of America with Cars Land in Tokyo would buy the OLC triple the daily rider capacity in a splashy expansion that could fuel Tokyo resort attendance for years, and the Japanese are now contemplating jumping in and fast-tracking the project while the Orlando executives continue to dawdle and downsize.

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MiceChat - Al Lutz Update, Cars Land in Tokyo, DCA numbers beat WDW

we im fine with it,make it full of rides that are unique to that park
and the only way for them to expand is by demolition

horrible idea!

I'm not thrilled with this idea at all. Tokyo Disneyland is voided of many places where you can relax and enjoy the ambience. The Rivers of America is one of those few places. So much of the Park is industrial looking and very dated by today's standards. So to lose one of the few areas which provides an escape with landscaped theming just sounds ridiculous to me. If the plan goes ahead we will see the end of the Riverboat, Tom Sawyer Island + Rafts and the Canoes. Also the Train would clearly lose much of its landscaping and visual sight. So much of Tokyo Disneyland is looking dated and tired. This is one area of the Park that never fails to fall into the category. I'd much rather see the money invested in either Tomorrowland or Fantasyland. The Imagineers have done an amazing job over at WDW with New Fantasyland. Some of the theming has really matched the level you'll find at DisneySea. And it's time this level of detail was added to Tokyo Disneyland. But why does it have to come at the cost of losing the Rivers of America when so much more of the Park could use it. With Harry Potter on the way to USJ, it makes sense why the OLC would consider Cars Land. And I'm not totally against the idea of them bringing it to Tokyo. Just it's location is the issue!

I have no issue with adding Cars Land - but to remove the rivers of America - not a good idea. The park will loose a great deal of magic if that happens. Is there no other place to put Cars Land?

This SUCKS. Losing one of the beautiful and tranquil areas of the park, one that genuinely reflects Walt Disney's ideas of what should be included in his parks, is a disaster. A complete and utter disaster.

And it doesn't have to be this way, since that area of the park is not the only land available by any means. I will refer again (for the tenth time) to that entire rear area of the parking lot that backs up onto both parks and is used only on the busiest of days. It is empty land most days of the year and you could easily build an entrance into Cars Land through the backside of the park.

I hated the movie Cars--it's stupid, but I love Cars Land. It obviously can't be shoehorned into DisneySEA, but it would be great to see it in Tokyo Disneyland, which needs a large area that sucks up a lot of people. The park is becoming impossible to negotiate on many days. But I don't want to see it replace the Rivers of America!

Here's the area I'm talking about for expansion.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...parkinglot.jpg

Seems odd they'd want to remove an iconic part of all Magic Kingdom style parks for Cars Land.

Though I suppose the ascetic of the American Southwest will still remain even with Cars Land

As Al's article accurately points out, the Rivers of America area is terribly under-utilized.

If you have been to TDL on any weekend and know how incredibly crowded it is, even though the park is huge, you can comprehend the need to better utilize all the available land.

There is some parking areas that are not always used, but remember those very parking lots are the ones that turned to mush with liquifaction during the earthquake 3/11. At that time we learned that the reclaimed land under the parks is more fortified against liquifaction compared to the parking areas. It might not be possible to utilize the parking area for anything else without very extensive work to re-reclaim the land so that it will stand up to earthquakes better.

My guess is that the Japanese will overwhelmingly embrace Cars Land and not hold on nostalgicaly to the Rivers of America. Tokyo and Japan itself are very use to progress and impermanence. Most of Tokyo has been re-built twice since World War II.

Bottom line, the Rivers of America area of Westernland is huge and underutilized. Space is a premium wherever you turn in Tokyo. TDL is terribly overcrowded.

I say to OLC...green light Cars Land right now. If anyone needs a place to get away and relax, got to Ueno Koen (park).

I'd say the space currently being used for Autopia is underutilized. Does the Park need two Car based attractions?

What would happen with Luigi's Flying Tires. OLC are not going to want an attraction with such a poor and slow moving capacity?

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Originally Posted by Roger55

As Al's article accurately points out, the Rivers of America area is terribly under-utilized.


My guess is that the Japanese will overwhelmingly embrace Cars Land and not hold on nostalgicaly to the Rivers of America. Tokyo and Japan itself are very use to progress and impermanence. Most of Tokyo has been re-built twice since World War II.

Bottom line, the Rivers of America area of Westernland is huge and underutilized. Space is a premium wherever you turn in Tokyo. TDL is terribly overcrowded.

I say to OLC...green light Cars Land right now. If anyone needs a place to get away and relax, got to Ueno Koen (park).

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I agreee with you Roger55 . I feel that when Monsters Inc, Toy Story Mania and even Turtle Talk with Crush came to the Tokyo Disney resort , the guests were not overtly concerned about how it would fit with the theme area but I feel the imagineers did a great job especially with Toy Story Mania and Turtle talk making sure the attractions while high tech fit the areas well.
I posed this question in Al's column with all the rain in Tokyo my concerns are on the operation of radiator springs racers. Dont they currently shut down temporarily in both Anaheim and with test track in florida? Will we also see Luigis flying tires and Maters Junkyard Jamboree domed or covered?

---------- Post added 11-27-2012 at 10:24 AM ----------

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Originally Posted by Malin

I'd say the space currently being used for Autopia is underutilized. Does the Park need two Car based attractions?

What would happen with Luigi's Flying Tires. OLC are not going to want an attraction with such a poor and slow moving capacity?

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I would imagine they do what they with Maters Junkyard Jamboree. Make it double sided either that or make the overall base larger to allow for more tires

It's not only the capacity concerns but also the fact Luigi's is a flawed attraction. The beach balls were added as a distraction. And these have been taken away already. If this land does make it to Tokyo then a major re think is needed to add something different to this area. Although I would still much rather see the Rivers of America stay and for Cars Land to go elsewhere.

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Originally Posted by Malin

It's not only the capacity concerns but also the fact Luigi's is a flawed attraction. The beach balls were added as a distraction. And these have been taken away already. If this land does make it to Tokyo then a major re think is needed to add something different to this area. Although I would still much rather see the Rivers of America stay and for Cars Land to go elsewhere.

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Not sure if Tokyo Would lawyer up as much as Anaheim did, I wonder if we could see the originally planned attraction which would allow for a much more buoyant experience and the joysticks actually allowing you to spin... I have been on the attraction times now. Twice when it was not busy and frankly its fun once you get the hang of it and with some changes it could work. The question is what does WDI have up its sleeves lol..

Like most when reading the article I had a smile on my face right up until I read the word "Frontierland" and what that entailed.

But then as asked in a few posts earlier, where else inside the park can they put it? Not that I'm condoning "paving paradise to put in a parking lot" (pun intended) but I guess they're stuck in TDL, and TDS is a no go I suppose - unless they had space in American Waterfront.

Anyway, Fukai, I like your idea of beyond the berm expansion. That way they could have the land as they want, rather than trying to make it fit in what land they have flattened inside the park. And they could probably build another multi-story parking garage to replace what capacity they've lost, they could even theme it to Cars.

The area of the parking lot I circled did not "turn to mush" during the earthquake. And it's a matter of land compression, which could be accomplished.

The reason they close Test Track when it's raining (lightening aside) is that the rain hurts your face pretty badly when you're traveling at 65 mph. Adding roofs to the ride vehicles would eliminate that problem. Journey to the Center of the Earth, same ride system, does not close when it rains or snows.

---------- Post added 11-27-2012 at 12:33 PM ----------

And Journey's ride vehicles have roofs as well.

I'm not a fan of this rumor. Maybe I'm just optimistic, but I don't buy it either. The OLC isn't stupid. While any new E-Ticket would be a smashing success, I wouldn't see them ripping out the ROA when there's other underutilized space (Tomorrowland Speed Way). I did a mock up of how they could fit in just Radiator Springs Racers and still keep half of the Rivers of America. I could post it if anyone would like. It still doesn't fit too well, so it looks like if they want to do RSR / Carsland in Frontierland, they'd have to get rid of all of ROA. Which would be a pitty since Thunder Mountain, the Railroad, and Splash Mountain all integrate so well with it. There are alot better options not just to Carsland in Frontierland, but Carsland in general. Journey to the Center of the Earth is already better than RSR.