Welcome to Extinct Attractions. This week, we’ll be taking a break from the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company to celebrate the 15th anniversary of a Tokyo park.
Tonight, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania begins its theatrical run with what is sure to be closer to a giant-sized opening than its name would suggest. There hasn’t been a tentpole film released since Avatar: The Way of Water two months ago, so audiences are ready to sink their teeth into the newest Marvel movie. Well, American audiences at least as Marvel movies have lost some momentum in the overseas market since the pandemic, especially in China where Ant-Man is the first movie to release day and date with domestic release since 2019. WIth that in mind, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Marvel footprint in the Asian Disney parks is relatively limited, with Hong Kong Disneyland as the only park to have a major presence.
Tokyo DIsney Resort is the only Disney resort to have no Marvel presence in the park, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have tons of ideas for attractions, arguably much better ideas. For the 15th anniversary of Tokyo DisneySea, they decided to try and plus the show Mystic Rhythms that had called the Hangar Stage in the Lost River Delta home with a new show called Out of Shadowland that debuted on July 9, 2016.
Via TDR Explorer
Just like its predecessor, Out of Shadowland was completely in Japanese and featured no Disney characters, instead being composed of a completely original story and characters. The show combined projection mapping, live performers, and original songs from Japanese artist Angela Aki, all to amazing effect. Just sitting there and staring at the stage waiting for the show to begin was a journey in itself with the projections giving the entire forest backdrop perspective while also allowing it to change at a moment’s notice.
Our story begins with some kids who are on some kind of camping or school trip with an instructor. (The show being in Japanese, I’m going to try and give my best interpretation of events here.) One girl, Mei, shows up a bit late and almost immediately gets lost as she follows a (projection mapped) eagle. Resigned to her fate, Mei sets up her tent for the night while singing a song to build her courage up. As she sings, her tent expands and she pops out to see a magical flutter of light appear that she begins to learn that she can control.
Via Disney Wiki
As her song comes to a close, a deer makes its way through the background, changing from a projection mapped creature to a performer dressed as a deer (the instructor) right before our eyes. The deer then starts guiding Mei who is suddenly surrounded by spirits of the forest who perform a dance around her, with Mei finding particular delight in a pink spirit who hands her a pink flower that Mei manages to turn into what looked like a pearl by the end of the song.
Via Disney Wiki
After the song ended, Mei suddenly got a little scared as the forest went dark. Out of nowhere, a waterfall appeared and the floor of the stage started to transform and appear like a river. As music came back, Mei and the deer saw two water spirits emerge, with both performers on a wire. As the performers started dancing, the floor of the stage slowly started lifting up until it was completely vertical with the water spirits basically dancing up and down the wall. It was so completely entrancing because I had never seen anything like it before.
After their number, there was a brief song between the deer and Mei and then it was time to get to the fire portion of the experience with the sudden about face catching Mei and the deer unawares. The original hawk from the beginning, whose cries had been heard throughout, kept cawing as Mei and the deer used some swords to fight the fire spirits before the big bad showed up, an hawk so large it took three puppeteers. The hawk was similar in appearance to Maleficent in Fantasmic and just as fearsome, even killing the deer before the final battle with Mei. Mei struggles before remembering her magic that she uses to infuse her sword with power and defeat the hawk once and for all.
Now that the hawk was destroyed, it was time for the big reveal, that everything that had happened throughout the night was all a dream as Mei’s instructor and classmates managed to find her in her tent. Along the way, Mei had learned about finding confidence in herself and overcoming her fears to become the best that she could.
On the whole, Out of Shadowland was a beautiful show that taught a great message to guests of all ages. (At least I think that was the message because again, the show was in Japanese.) It lasted for nearly three years before closing on March 31, 2019 to make way for Song of Mirage, which is still in the Hangar Stage to this day. I thought it was a great and beautiful show, but eventually you’ve got to get some Disney characters back in the theater, even at the expense of the different pieces of art.
Via Orlando Weekly
As always, don’t forget to check out my interactive maps of the Disney Parks throughout the years where you can watch or learn more about all the attractions from every Disney park around the world.
Thanks for reading and have a magical day!