To the right, the path leads to Mysterious Island, and to the left, the path leads to the American Waterfront. or Disney's Hollywood Studios' Hollywood Boulevard"). Mediterranean Harbor's layout differs from the entry "lands" of other Disney parks as it is a large "V" shape rather than a main street that leads to a hub (as found in Disneyland's Main Street, U.S.A. Littered throughout the port are various shops and restaurants. Mediterranean Harbor is the entrance "port-of-call" and themed as an Italian port city, with Venetian Gondolas that guests can board and ride. The entrance to the park is Mediterranean Harbor, which opens up to six more nautically themed ports: American Waterfront, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, and Mysterious Island. There are currently seven themed lands, or "ports of call". The previous record-holder was Universal Studios Japan, 338 days after its opening. Tokyo DisneySea reached the milestone of 10 million guests in 307 days since its grand opening, which is a record among theme parks worldwide. The closure, originally slated to expire in mid-March, was later extended twice, with the latest extension being until 1 July 2020. On 28 February 2020, Disney announced a temporary closure of Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea from 29 February to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2019, both Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea were temporarily closed due to the threat of Typhoon Hagibis. The award was presented at El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, California. In 2002 Tokyo DisneySea won a Thea Award from the Themed Entertainment Association for the concept, design, and construction of the theme park. Later the idea was passed on to the Oriental Land Company to expand their resort. The idea was scrapped after the company endured financial trouble with the Euro Disney project. The idea for the park can be traced to a proposal to build a second theme park in Southern California called " Port Disney" in Long Beach, California, with the RMS Queen Mary as the main attraction. It has an overall nautical exploration theme. Upon opening, Tokyo DisneySea became the ninth park of the twelve worldwide Disney theme parks to open. Ground was broken on Octoand the park opened on September 4, 2001.
During the creation of the park, the United States and Japan had to compromise on certain design elements of the park due to cultural differences, such as the park's entrance focal point. Initially, these plans included a park similar to Disney's Hollywood Studios (then Disney-MGM Studios), to be called Disney Hollywood Studio Theme Park at Tokyo Disneyland. Plans for a second Disney park in Tokyo were first conceived in 1987.