Tokyo DisneySea Opening Day Report
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It's official! At 7:30 am, September 4th, 2001, Tokyo DisneySea Park opened to the general public!
The 7:30 opening was a bit of a surprise... The park was scheduled to open at 8. Early opening may not be unusual at the American parks, but here in Japan it's unheard of.
At about 7:45am, an official ceremony took place on one of the Porto Paridiso Water Carnival ships out on the waters of Mediterranean Harbor. The president of Oriental Land Company Toshio Kagami, Michael Eisner, Roy Disney, Tokyo Disney Resort Ambassador Satoko Shiyanagi, and Mickey and Minnie were on board.
I wasn't there. Thanks to Barry of the Australian chapter of the NFFC, I was able to see the ceremony on tape later in the day during a liquid lunch at Vulcania Restaurant. (It was a real pleasure meeting all of you.:) I missed the ceremony because I was here -
It was 7:25am and six helicopters circled the sky over DisneySea. A small groups of Cast
Members began to form up into a line in front of the passage which leads to Mediterranean
Harbor.
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It was very nearly 7:30 and the line was complete.
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