Disney Expects New Park in Japan to Make a Splash

DisneySea, set to open Tuesday, is the Walt Disney Co.’s newest amusement park in Japan--a nation whose love for Mickey Mouse has made Tokyo’s Disneyland an overseas star for the entertainment company.

Built right next to Disneyland in this Tokyo suburb, DisneySea is expected to draw as many as 10 million people a year, or 25 million for both parks combined.

Advance ticket sales have been strong; the Saturday after the opening is sold out.

But popularity has a price. Visitors at several preview openings had to stand in three-hour lines for rides.

“I can’t take this anymore,” said Makiko Nagase, a 53-year-old housewife. But she still bought towels decorated with Mickey. “This is proof I was here,” she said.

The crowds at DisneySea strike a contrast with the vanishing lines at theme parks in the United States.

Some U.S. parks are slashing admission prices to woo customers during the ongoing economic slowdown. Admission is now down $10 at Disney’s California Adventure, to $33.

Japan is in the middle of an even worse downturn, but that isn’t expected to stop people from visiting the $2.8-billion DisneySea. Admission costs about $45 at each of Japan’s two Disney parks.

The new park, which has adventure rides and restaurants that serve alcohol, targets an older crowd than Disneyland. Instead of Cinderella’s castle, it has an ominous mountain spurting smoke and fire. The volcano is the setting for one of DisneySea’s main attractions, a roller coaster in a tunnel filled with luminescent creatures.

Some visitors say they miss Mickey and Donald, who don’t appear as often in the new park as in the old one.

Misa Kurita, a 24-year-old child-care worker, made a point of getting to DisneySea at 7 a.m. to beat the crowds. She said the underwater musical production based on “The Little Mermaid” was fantastic. She was less impressed with “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” a ride over an artificial terrain of anemone and coral viewed through bubbly glass.

“We waited for an hour and a half to get on that ride,” Kurita said. “But it was, like, ‘What?’ I was disappointed.”

Oriental Land Co., the Japanese developer that operates the parks, says it has no plans to restrict attendance at DisneySea. “The wait depends on the rides,” said spokeswoman Sayaka Motohashi.

The key to the park’s success is ensuring that people keep coming back, said Masaaki Kitami, analyst with Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo.

“Disney is going to have to come up with a strategy to deal with the frustrations that arise, like the long lines,” Kitami said.

Japan’s Disneyland, which opened in 1983, records $1.7 billion in annual revenue. DisneySea is expected to follow suit.

Universal Studios, which opened a park pushing “Terminator” and “Jurassic Park” themes in Osaka in March, has been attracting a million visitors a month, well on its way to its target of 8 million visitors a year.

One blessing for Disney is that Japanese tend to be used to standing in lines. In the crowded island nation, lines form for almost anything--movies, lottery and train tickets, doctor’s appointments and the latest video game.

“I stood in line for two hours, but I didn’t mind because it was pretty fun looking at the elaborate surroundings,” 15-year-old Satomi Yamauchi said of her DisneySea visit.

Others were less upbeat.

“I expected too much,” said Yukiyo Kuribayashi, a 28-year-old hospital worker. “The rides were predictable.”