Official Oriental Land Company press release confirms that Tokyo Disneyland Resort will be closed at least until March 21

The Oriental Land Company has issued a press release which confirms that Tokyo Disneyland Resort will be closed at least until March 21:

"Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea suspended operations today due to the effect of the Tohoku Region Pacific Coast Earthquake on 3/11. Theme park operations will continue to be suspended tomorrow and thereafter. We will target 3/21 for a decision and notification on when to expect operations to resume.

This earthquake did not cause major damage to the facilities and buildings in the theme parks, and we have already begun safety verifications. We will make a decision on the timing of restarting operations carefully, taking into account the safety of the parks, and the recovery of transportation systems as well as neighboring infrastructure".

It couldn't be more clear, and not only it confirms that the parks will be closed until March 21 but also may be after that date as Oriental Land still have to decide and notify when parks operations will resume.

Here is some new reports from people who were at TDR last Friday:

"No injuries and only superficial damage, but of course the situation is near chaotic...We were fortunate here at TDR to avoid major injuries among Guests and Cast, and while safety inspections are ongoing there was no catastrophic damage to the infrastructure. No tsunami waves reached the seawall surrounding the property, either.

The parks closed after the quake (which occurred at 14:46 JST Friday) and have remained closed. Several thousand Guests and Cast were stranded due to transportation disruptions and had to spend the night in various park and hotel facilities, but all were kept warm and provided with simple food and beverages. Train service is being gradually restored and roads are reopening throughout Tokyo.

The damage in northern Japan is devastating, from the violent shaking of the quake and its seemingly endless aftershocks, as well as from the numerous tsunami waves that have hit virtually the entire coastline of Japan. We're simply lucky that the epicenter wasn't closer to Tokyo - it could have been a lot worse."

Another report:

"Everyone at OLC is safe. Those who were at work that day ended up staying at the office overnight. Among the Guests there were NO injuries and the Resort only had some minor damage. But outside the Parks and Backstage areas there was a lot of damage and liquefaction. Water and mud flooded the street between the Parks and Ikspiari. The Cast Members and everyone at OLC and WDAJ did a great job taking care of the Guests and all of the Cast Members, too. There was electricity, water, heat, food and drinks for everyone."

I remind you that you can see many TDL and TDS videos filmed during Japan's earthquake in my previous report HERE.