Welcome to Aladdin's home town,
Agrabah!
While Disney has been building and opening
the California Adventure park in Anaheim, the Oriental Land Company has
been working on a new Disney park clear on the other side of the world,
in Japan.
Like it's new California cousin,
Tokyo DisneySea park resides next door to the existing Disneyland park.
The similarity ends there however, because Tokyo DisneySea is not like
any park in California, or even the world. The Oriental Land Company has
broken the mold with a theme park full of detailing so incredible it can
easily be compared to -- if not surpass -- some of the most expensive
and richly themed hotels in Las Vegas, such as the Venetian and Bellagio.
MousePlanet is extremely pleased to
offer you the following photos, taken by Todd Meigan*, over a recent
weekend during a soft opening of the park. Todd is a regular contributor
to our MousePad discussion boards, and is our very own Tokyo insider. We
hope Todd's photos will give you an idea of the sheer wonderment and
amazement of the new park.
Part Six: More Mermaid's Lagoon /
Arabian Coast
Text by Al Lutz
Ok, so I promised
yesterday that you'd see the Lost Delta today - but instead thanks to
some new shots we just got emailed to us from photographer Todd in
Tokyo, we'll change course a bit. (Yes, we are assembling this huge tour
nightly chapter by chapter for you!)
So first we'll
finish off the Mermaid's Lagoon tour with some final shots we got, and
then we'll hop across the canal to the Arabian Coast (which would make
more sense anyway if we were actually touring the park together).
Another view from
inside the Mermaid's Lagoon shows us the Blowfish in the top shot, and
the Whirlpool (yes, DisneySea's version of the teacups) below.
Again note that
every surface is themed, and below you can see a close-up of a Whirlpool
vehicle.
Exiting the
Mermaid's Lagoon (and heading towards the Arabian Coast area) we see the
back side of the Lagoon entry - which is just as detailed as the front.
Again, the close-up
taken from the shot above, shows just how much care went into this
facade - again you can see all the water that pours through everything,
giving it a bit of life.
Stepping around we
spot the Flying Fish coaster - which looks like a Gadget Go-Coaster type
ride, more geared to the little ones. Again, this kind of Fantasyland /
Toontown type of area was ignored when the new California Adventure park
was slapped together - the Tokyo folks didn't forget the family aspect
of their audience. (Todd also noted how they picked the nearby trees to
look like seaweed!)
That completes our
walk out of the Mermaid's Lagoon area! Now let's look across the way,
shall we?
CONTINUED
