Tokyo Disneyland is reportedly planning a $2.7bn expansion by 2023, including an area dedicated to Frozen, the US media company’s biggest animated hit in recent times and the second most successful movie in Japanese history.
Shares in Oriental Land, the attraction’s operator, rose more than 4% to reach an all-time high after the story broke in the Nikkei Asian Review.
Oriental Land licenses the rights to run the theme park from the Walt Disney Corporation. Talks are understood to be under way over the planned investment, although Oriental Land said in a statement that it was not the source of the report, and that it continues to consider all options to increase the value of its resort. Disney has not commented on the news.
The Tokyo Disneyland amusement park, which features attractions such as "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Splash Mountain", has about 30 million visitors a year.
The report comes as Japan’s tourist industry is experiencing a record boom, which this year is expected to beat its record of 24 million. Oriental Land expects overseas visitors at its resort to double by 2020, partly on the back of publicity generated by the newly-opened Disney theme park in Shanghai.
Image: Tokyo’s Disneyland celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2013 (Disney)
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