Port Discovery Expansion & Aquatopia Replacement Revealed for Tokyo DisneySea

Less than a year after the successful opening of Fantasy Springs, the blockbuster $2 billion Tangled, Frozen, and Peter Pan expansion that opened last summer at Tokyo DisneySea, the Oriental Land Company (OLC) has unveiled brand-new concept art for future expansions in both parks. This breaks down the replacement for Aquatopia and expansion of Port Discovery at Tokyo DisneySea.

This reveal comes via OLC’s 2035 Long-Term Management Strategy, released to investors on April 28, 2025. Along with this, OLC reported record results for the most recent fiscal year, likely fueling the desire for further expansion beyond that Wreck-It Ralph and new Space Mountain attractions currently under construction in Tomorrowland at Tokyo Disneyland.

This 10-year plan for Tokyo Disney Resort reveals that the goal is to “provide moving experiences and surprises that cannot be found anywhere else in the world through development unique to Tokyo Disney Resort.” This will be accomplished via the “dynamic restructuring of our theme park sites including possible large-scale development such as area-wide redesign.”

OLC further states that the goal is to “constantly enhance the appeal of our theme parks by redesigning attractions and entertainment programs, offering time-limited special versions, and utilizing previously unused intellectual property and new technologies.”

To accomplish this, they plan to create new facilities and experiences, while also revamping existing venues and expanding services in pursuit of comfort and convenience to respond to changes in guests’ behavior and needs within the parks.

Nothing here is stop-the-presses news. OLC began offering vague summations of its medium and long-term plans in this report from 2016 when first announcing the Fantasyland/Tomorrowland expansion (Beauty and the Beast and Baymax) for Tokyo Disneyland and Soaring: Fantastic Flight for Tokyo DisneySea. This 10-year plan is pretty close to what they presented as their long-term vision almost a decade ago.

In that 2016 document, OLC indicates that the long-term plan for Tokyo Disneyland is “area-based development for each themed land, to take place in stages, is intended to leave a lasting impact.” While I’m not going to comb through every OLC report over the last decade, the vibe we’ve gotten from all of them has been a mix of place-making and replacing/revitalizing existing attractions, not outright expansion.

Even back then, Oriental Land Company indicated that leaning more heavily on tourists is only one of its medium-term goals (as of 2017), and not the main one. Rather, the top priority is to “foster medium to long-term fans (repeat guests),” which OLC ties directly to the aging population and declining birthrate.

That was in the lead-up to the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, which were to be instrumental in helping Japan achieve a new record number of inbound tourists. That did not happen in 2020 for reasons that should be obviously. That year and 2021 set record lows, with international tourism only starting to recover in late 2022.

However, Japan did set a new record for inbound visitors last year, and the data I’ve seen thus far in 2025 suggests the country will be breaking that record. Cumulative visitor numbers for 2025 reached 10.5 million in the quarter through March, up 23.1 percent, marking the fastest pace on record to surpass 10 million, according to the government-affiliated Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO).

The JNTO has incredibly aggressive long-term goals for inbound visitors that, frankly, I’m not sure are even remotely sustainable given the current strain in some locales. But that’s a bit beyond the scope of this post. The point here is that OLC wants a bigger slice of this international tourism pie, as these guests are far and away the highest spenders.

Enter the expansion plan proposal for Port Discovery:

As part of the 10-year plan presentation, Oriental Land Company shared concept art for a possible reimagining of Port Discovery at Tokyo DisneySea. This very clear shows the removal of the opening-day attraction, Aquatopia.

There’s also a new promenade connecting to Cape Cod (don’t worry, Duffytown USA is safe–it’s too lucrative) and shops on one side and a medium-to-large sized show building on the other side in roughly the footprint of Aquatopia.

TDR diehards have already gotten to work detailing what this plan could entail, so here’s a look:

雑パワポ(仕事中に作るな)

航路潰すとインディ/ピタパン規模で大規模ライドの可能性があるけど、潰さないならソアリン系/中規模ライド/ボートライドかな～って感じ？

エリアのバランスを見ると、航路潰さず中規模ライドかなーっていう予測 pic.twitter.com/CKH7GBwNz0

— UNIVERSAL SC●●P (@universal_scoop) April 28, 2025

To add context, the building housing Nemo & Friends SeaRider is safe as is Horizon Bay Restaurant and the DisneySea Electric Railway. As SeaRider isn’t particularly popular and was a stop-gap solution even when the reimagining (from StormRider) was done, we would expect that show to be replaced.

Interestingly, the DisneySea Electric Railway does not appear to be extended, which was part of the previous long-term plan for Tokyo DisneySea expansion that predated Fantasy Springs. This means that OLC does not intend to use the last major expansion pad by Lost River Delta between now and 2035.

Also worth noting is that there appears to be a turnaround area for the DisneySea Transit Steamer Line, which is the boat service that circles the park’s waterways. This means that the new show building could extend all the way to the monorail line. (Although the fan-made concept art allows for both possibilities, hence the larger dotted line.)

Before we get carried away, it’s important to underscore that this concept art represents an example of the possible expansions under consideration. Think of this as a blue sky daydreaming session, if you will.

At the same time, don’t be overly dismissive of it. This is not completely like the 2022 D23 Expo “plans” released by Josh D’Amaro for Beyond Big Thunder expansion at Magic Kingdom and Dinoland replacement at Animal Kingdom. This is being released by OLC to investors to illustrate their 10-year vision for the parks. It’s not being done to hype up the crowd or take fans’ temperature on certain projects.

Not only that, but both the above-mentioned proposals teased by Disney were announced within a couple of years, just not with the intellectual properties initially teased (save for Villains Land). Similarly, we’d expect that the proposals released by OLC show the areas being viewed as ripe for redevelopment. Even if the final concept art varies, redevelopment of Port Discovery is probably happening. It just makes too much sense.

For those who are unfamiliar with Port Discovery, Tokyo Disney Resort describes it as a “futuristic marina located across the horizons of time.” The port of call is a vision of a wonderful tomorrow: a time where science and nature are in balance.

If Tokyo DisneySea is Japan’s EPCOT Center (it’s an apt comparison), Port Discovery has the potential to be its forward-looking thesis. This port should be the one pushing the envelope, offering something ambitious and with a real optimism for the future.

It has always fallen flat on its face in this regard–and injecting Finding Nemo only exacerbated that (and made it feel like Epcot in another way). Port Discovery had a good idea at the conceptual level, but it feels like one of the rare areas at Tokyo DisneySea where OLC didn’t give Imagineering a blank check.

The best way to describe Port Discovery in terms of other lands in Disney theme parks is Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris meets Tomorrowland ‘98 at Disneyland, but with water. Conceptually, these two lands are similar. The only difference is that Discoveryland in Paris is brilliantly executed, and Tomorrowland ‘98 in Disneyland was horribly executed.

Port Discovery fits somewhere in between. It has a lot of whirligigs and various other ornamentation on top of a industrial base, featuring lots of bronzes, greens, and other muted colors. It’s also a rather small land, never having lived up to its potential.

In additions to those existing lands, Port Discovery feels like it drew inspiration from Tony Baxter’s design for the unbuilt Discovery Bay at Disneyland. That was to be his masterpiece, and the original plans for Discovery Bay have eventually come to fruition at other parks around the globe. If you look closely at the new facades in Port Discovery (or the existing murals within the port of call), they have that same energy. Below is concept art for Discovery Bay, for reference:

If you squint, you can kind of see how Discovery Bay could translate to Port Discovery, right down to the Electric Railway and Mount Prometheus looming on the horizon. Replace Aquatopia with what’s in the foreground, and we’re almost there. Sorta, kinda.

As for Aquatopia, it’s an interesting attraction–but one that I’d happily sacrifice for a meatier Port Discovery (Bay). It uses the trackless ride system from Pooh’s Hunny Hunt (in fact, the system was first designed for Aquatopia even though it opened later according to Imagineers working on the project) and combines that with water, which undoubtedly made for an expensive attraction with high maintenance costs, but there’s not really any substance to it.

To its credit, Aquatopia is enjoyable and pretty (especially at night). It also adds a lot of kinetic energy to the area. It’s more fun than Autopia and definitely looks cooler, but I was still left with a “that’s it?” feeling from Aquatopia. We still ride it from time to time, especially at night or during the “get wet” version in the summer, but it’s not high on my list of priorities. I won’t wait in a line longer than 10 minutes for this.

Along with Raging Spirits, Aquatopia is one of two attractions at Tokyo DisneySea that is as enjoyable to watch as it is to ride. When it comes to the “get wet” version of Aquatopia, I’d argue that it’s more fun to watch the reactions of Japanese guests.

In any case, this isn’t exactly high praise for Aquatopia. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that nothing of value is being lost here–as Aquatopia does have value and will undoubtedly be missed–but a new modern ride with a show building and Imagineering given an OLC budget will almost assuredly be better.

Equally exciting for me is that it appears the futuristic city of Port Discovery will finally be realized along the promenade lined with shops and the attraction facade. There’s concept art in the Electric Railway Station and Horizons Bay teasing what this could be…and now it might finally come to fruition?! Sign me up.

Ultimately, that’s where I stand with the Port Discovery redevelopment and expansion. This is the weakest port of call at Tokyo DisneySea, despite being the one with the most unrealized potential. It’s very shallow, lacking in depth and dimensionality in a park that’s otherwise oozing details. For all of these reasons, we’ve assumed for a while that Port Discovery was on the chopping block–potentially being replaced by a larger land and tied to the expansion pad behind it. I’m pleased that won’t happen–that Port Discovery is being given a second chance and that OLC is saving that pad for future use.

It’s not like the premise of Port Discovery is inherently limiting–this could be the original EPCOT Center of Tokyo DisneySea, so there are a ton of possibilities here. While I doubt we’ll get a modern version of Horizons as a replacement for Aquatopia (it’ll probably be an IP ride, if we’re being honest with ourselves), this is most definitely a high-floor, high-ceiling type of project. There’s about a 99.1% chance that this ends up being better than what it replaces. We cannot wait.

Planning a trip to Tokyo Disney Resort? For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Tokyo Disneyland & DisneySea Trip Planning Guide! For more specifics, our TDR Hotel Rankings & Reviews page covers accommodations. Our Restaurant Reviews detail where to dine & snack. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money post. Our What to Pack for Disney post takes a unique look at clever items to take. Venturing elsewhere in Japan? Consult our Ultimate Guide to Kyoto, Japan and City Guide to Tokyo, Japan.

YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of the Port Discovery expansion and redevelopment proposal? Disappointed to be losing Aquatopia, or do you view this flat ride as underutilized capacity in a space-constrained park? What do you think of anything else covered here? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!