Question:
I plan on visiting both on 14th of April 2011, but saw from their website that both parks are still closed since the earthquake. Anyone knows when they will re-open again?
Answer:
As a Disneyphile myself, I can understand your desire to visit the park. I certainly would want to do so if I had saved enough for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Japan.
The official word is no word.
http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/en/in…
Disney Parks Blog mentioned that a decision would be made March 21, but if it was it was not announced.
Understand that it isn't just the park that was impacted. Minor damage to some parking lots is about all the structural damage they suffered. But they rely on their cast members who may have family in impacted areas. Trains and roadways that get both visitors and cast members to the park have been damaged and need to be rebuilt or repaired. Power is apparently an issue due to surges and blackouts from the troubled nuclear reactors nearby. And now the entire world thinks that Tokyo (and as a result, Disneyland) is covered in radioactive fallout due to media over-exposure of the nuclear crisis.
This source says they will announce the re-opening five days before it is scheduled.
http://www.ivpressonline.com/business/la…
I am of the opinion they would need far more time than that. They evacuated all the American entertainers from the park, shipping them all back home, so they would need to get those people back or hire new ones to portray the various characters. They would need to market the safety of Tokyo and the parks to the world in order to combat public fears of radiation. And they would want to gauge Japanese reaction to a frivolous entertainment facility opening so soon after tragedy, since the park relies so heavily on local visitors.
My guess is six months, minimum. Then again, they are losing quite a bit of money every day they are closed, so as the article above suggests it may be far sooner than that.
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