The New Fantasyland project has been long-awaited at Tokyo Disneyland for over four years now, and we were so close to seeing it in public before the COVID-19 closure started at Tokyo Disney Resort and cancelled its original April 15th grand opening. Now, the opening of the land is delayed until further notice, but the construction is reportedly complete, according to the Oriental Land Company. So, we decided to stop over for ourselves on our latest excursion to Tokyo Disneyland! Let’s take a look!
Tomorrowland
We begin our journey today in Tomorrowland, where the atom sculpture’s wrappings have been removed. There’s also a lovely flower bed below the sculpture for some extra color.
A peep over the Tomorrowland end of the planters reveals that signage for the Fantasyland Forest Theater and the Fantasyland sign itself are also out of wrappings, and the pathways are clear, complete, and ready to welcome Guests.
Stargazer Supplies even has some shelves outside under wraps, no doubt ready to be stuffed with Baymax goods once the expansion opens.
Next door, the planters for The Happy Ride with Baymax still proclaim “Riding soon!” to passing Guests. Only time will tell how far “soon” truly is.
Unlike the rest of the signage around the attraction, the main sign for the Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree/Alien Swirling Saucers clone is still covered under wrappers.
We do know now that The Happy Ride with Baymax will offer both standby and FastPass. Tokyo Disney Resort sometimes does this with new attractions and quietly removes them later once the novelty has worn off, similar to the it’s a small world refresh in 2018. Those height markers are also pretty neat, don’t you think?
Don’t worry, Baymax! We’ll be swinging around with you soon enough, I promise!
Last week, we talked about the adorable Baymax/cat hybrid vending machines in Tomorrowland. What I forgot to highlight is the Hamada family cat, Mochi, lounging above the vending machines. How cute is that?
For the first time, we can see The Big Pop completely out of scaffolding, and even inside a little bit! This shop will offer three special popcorn flavors as well as a number of different buckets when it opens.
A deactivated digital sign is also out in the open, presumably to either display wait time or the current popcorn flavors.
Fantasyland
Things are looking pretty cozy over at Maurice’s cottage. The new Beauty and the Beast-centric area loop is playing now, which was a wonderful sound to hear! This will be the FastPass ticketing area for The Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast, the E-ticket attraction of this expansion.
Now that the walkway is out of planters and scaffolds, we can see that this part of the path is actually a bridge over a small brook!
Of course, we can’t talk about New Fantasyland without talking about Belle’s Village. All signs areound the village have been removed, and construction has completed. All that’s missing are the Guests!
As we discussed last December, La Taverne de Gaston will be the new counter-service offering in this area.
We now know the names of two of the three Village Shoppes too – Little Town Traders and La Belle Librairie!
Off in the distance looms the Beast’s castle, home of the new E-ticket attraction. We can’t wait to take a ride ourselves! You can learn more about The Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast in our post from December.
Two adjacent stands were thinly veiled behind planters – one presumably for ice cream, one for drinks.
Toontown
Over in Toontown, the sign and most of the building for Minnie’s Style Studio, the new meet-and-greet area for Minnie Mouse, is out in the open now. Something about seeing these out of wraps but just behind planters makes this situation even more depressing.
It seems some steps may be involved inside, as a separate wheelchair entrance is on the Fantasyland-facing side of the building.
Parade Route
Much of this section of the parade route was walled off in September to be transformed from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland. Now it fits the aesthetic of Belle’s Village!
And that’s the latest from New Fantasyland at Tokyo Disneyland. We don’t really expect any more changes until the area opens, which has no timeframe as of yet. Hopefully it won’t be too long, but it would be fair to assume that it won’t be until the park can operate at full capacity once again. What was your favorite sight at New Fantasyland in Tokyo Disneyland? Let us know in the comments below or on social media!