Today, 27 years ago the first Disney theme park outside the United States had it's grand opening in Tokyo Japan. The first studies for Tokyo Disneyland began back in 1974 under the project "ORIENTAL DISNEYLAND". In fact when the park was being developed, the land it would eventually sit upon was still being packed from reclaimed land. The land was designated by the Japanese government for recreational purposes only for citizens of Tokyo and surrounded communities. Tokyo Disneyland went thru many concepts and attraction assortments including Matterhorn Mountain, Storybook Land, The Western River Expedition, America Sings and even If You Had Wings. The Oriental Land Company who licensed Tokyo Disneyland from The Walt Disney Company, wanted a unique park-one that was Japanese, yet it had to be a very American "Disneyland" experience. Tokyo Disneyland at it's opening was mostly a composite of attractions directly lifted from Disneyland and Walt Disney World. One detail the Oriental Land Company developers considered an important visual aspect of a Disney theme park experience was the Disney ATTRACTION POSTER!! They requested that their park have it's very own set of these posters. The WED graphics team went to work to develop a set of 24 TOKYO DISNEYLAND attraction posters for the park's opening this day, 27 years ago.
In actuality, only 23 were completed.......a poster for PRIMEVAL WORLD (seen from the trains of the Western River Railroad) was never produced. Over time I will discuss the many posters done for Tokyo Disneyland, but today, on the "KINGDOM OF FAMILY DREAMS AND MAGIC's" birthday, I'll show the posters for the attractions that were unique to TOKYO DISNEYLAND on APRIL 15, 1983.
TDL#001 WORLD BAZAAR 1983
this attraction poster reflects the Victorian style exposition atmosphere of Tokyo Disneyland's glass covered Main Street. It has always been one of my favorite posters and captures the feeling of the "land". It is influenced by turn-of-the-last-century department store catalog covers and advertisements.
It was deigned by a WED Imagineering hero of mine: RUDY LORD. It was also the first attraction poster done for a entire "land"
TDL#011 THE ETERNAL SEA 1983
This is probably the shortest lived Disney attraction ever--yes, shorter than Rocket Rods. Open from April 15Th, 1983 to September 16, 1984. It was replaced by MAGIC JOURNEYS in 1985. The Eternal Seas was a 200 degree film produced especially as a cultural attraction for Tokyo Disneyland. It explored the importance of the relationship of the Japanese and the sea. The Japanese however deal with the sea in everyday life--it's always around them, and the show was not very popular, and quietly closed it's doors.
TDL#016 MEET THE WORLD 1983
Meet The World was a favorite of the Oriental Land Company--it was originally designed--and built for EPCOT CENTER'S JAPAN PAVILION, however it opened at Tokyo Disneyland first to meet cultural requirements for the new Japanese park. WED always planed to build another MEET THE WORLD for EPCOT CENTER however this was sadly never to be. The attraction was a Carousel Theater show, but unlike America Sings or the Carousel of Progress, the theater seats were in the center and the stages were on the outer-ring. With each rotation of the theater, guests heard the Sherman Brother's catchy song "We Meet The World With Love". The attraction at the time was one of the most technically advanced shows ever created by Disney. It featured two Japanese kids who explore the history of Japan with the help of a magical crane. Meet The World closed it's doors early 2009.
TDL#016 MEET THE WORLD c. 1993 revision
This is a early 1990's re-screening of the MEET THE WORLD poster.......it has a slightly different lettering arrangement and is also missing NATIONAL PANASONIC --the attraction's sponsor. The exact reasons for this edition has been lost to history--------for now.
TDL#014 THE MICKEY MOUSE REVUE 1983
Another favorite of the Oriental Land Company was the famous Mickey Mouse Revue. Built for Walt Disney World's opening in 1971, this attraction was one the Japanese insisted on having for their park --the CEO of the Oriental Land Co. felt the show encompassed the true feeling of Walt Disney. Walt Disney World was more than happy to let it go. It's operating costs exceeded the amount of guests attending the show. Bean counters looked at the number of guests inside the theater seats during each show. Rolly Crump of Imagineering was irritated: He tried to explain, the show does NOT have low attendance because it's unpopular!!!! It was a popular show, however during construction-the pre show space inside the attraction's building was made smaller to accommodate an additional merchandise location next to the Mickey Mouse Revue.......so from opening day, the pre show was never able to accommodate enough people to fill the larger theater inside! So during it's run at Walt Disney World, The Mickey Mouse Revue never had a full house----until it's cast member closing finale. So rather than build a duplicate of the show for Tokyo, Florida was willing to give their's up! A poster revision for WDW was being developed in the late 1970's, but was never completed. This poster was created especially for Tokyo Disneyland, but had elements of the proposed WDW poster redo concept.
TDL#005 THE WESTERN RIVER RAILROAD 1983/1977
When Disney was researching and developing the first presentation for "ORIENTAL DISNEYLAND"....they closely studied the Japanese culture. Some things Disney noted and left out of the first master plans for what became Tokyo Disneyland included: NO popcorn, ice cream, or churro carts--Disney noted that Japanese do not eat while standing--it was considered rude and poor service.--Oriental Land company insisted that since the American Disney parks had outdoor vending, so too must Tokyo Disneyland. Disney also decided that Japanese ride trains all the time in their daily lives, and a train around the park would not be something Tokyo Disneyland guests would enjoy. The very first thing the Oriental Land Company brought attention to in the earliest WED presentations was that there was NO train around the park!! WED quickly fixed that, however, Disney ran into a problem with the Japanese Government--If the "Tokyo Disneyland Railroad" was to make more that one station stop, or it's length was a a certain length or longer, it would have to be operated as mass transportation and be under control of the Japanese government. Both Disney and Oriental Land Co. agreed that the attraction would need to be shortened, thus the creation of THE WESTERN RIVER RAILROAD!
Attraction poster fans will recognize this poster as being screened onto a generic-blank of the famous 1977 "Railroad" poster designed by Jim Michaelson. Oddly "THE" has been covered by the 'W" of Western River. The lettering could have been condensed to prevent that--it is unknown why it was done this way, as The Walt Disney World version manages to fit the "THE" in..... Tokyo Disneyland guests board one of four trains at the Adventureland Depot, travel around the Rivers of America-thru Primeval World and back to Adventureland. This poster has recently been replaced by a Hong Kong Disneyland style poster that is based on the original 1977 type.
TDL#023 PINOCCHIO'S DARING JOURNEY
Although this attraction was proposed for Disneyland in California as early as 1974, it actually opened first at Tokyo Disneyland...and this poster debuted there..hence it is featured in this post. Disneyland's opened in May of 1983. As I mentioned in a response in my last post--many of the posters that were ultimately used at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, owe their existence to Tokyo Disneyland. These attraction posters were very expensive to produce, so it was always difficult to justify new poster or re-dos of old ones without sponsors or large enough budgets. The WED graphics departments were finally able to make many newer posters for the US parks by designing the posters in such a way that they could have multiple park uses.......all paid for by the Oriental Land Company's generous financing! All of Disneyland's New Fantasyland attraction posters were really done for Tokyo Disneyland (but in heart the Imagineers were always thinking of DISNEYLAND USA!!)
TOKYO DISNEYLAND ATTRACTION POSTERS
OPENING COLLECTION 1983
(30"x45") screen-printed on coated Tyvek except where noted
WORLD BAZAAR
CRYSTAL PALACE RESTAURANT **
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
ENCHANTED TIKI ROOM
THE WESTERN RIVER RAILROAD
COUNTRY BEAR JAMBOREE **
MARK TWAIN RIVERBOAT
DIAMOND HORSESHOE REVUE
STARJETS
"MAGIC CARPET 'ROUND THE WORLD"
THE ETERNAL SEA
JUNGLE CRUISE
DUMBO THE FLYING ELEPHANT
THE MICKEY MOUSE REVUE
SPACE MOUNTAIN **
MEET THE WORLD
SKYWAY
GRAND CIRCUIT RACEWAY
SNOW WHITE'S ADVENTURES
IT'S A SMALL WORLD
HAUNTED MANSION
PETER PAN'S FLIGHT
PINOCCHIO'S DARING JOURNEY
**offset lithography
next posts: Tokyo Disneyland adds new attractions and posters.........some WED poster secerets..........some opening year posters get redone.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOKYO DISNEYLAND!!!!!
