The Strange Easter Eggs Hiding In Some Bathrooms At Tokyo Disneyland
Bathrooms are peculiar places. Foreign bathrooms are weirder still. The already uncomfortable experience of heeding nature's call in public, compounded with the heightened nerves that come with being far from home, can lead to a real sucker punch of subverted expectations when, say, you notice that Paris is peppered with open-air urinals, or that Sweden is covered in pay-to-pee facilities, or that what you thought was a particularly fancy South Korean rest stop is actually Seoul's World Toilet Association Museum, and that you suddenly owe the curator an apology.
Now imagine adding two more factors to the scenario: the oft-misunderstood pop cultural appreciation of Japan, and the legacy of legendary futurist Walter Elias Disney. What might one expect in the restrooms of Tokyo Disneyland? Animatronic Fantasia brooms that clean up after you, occasionally glitching out and begging to be freed? Anthropomorphic toilet bowls à la Beauty and the Beast, brought to life through advanced imagineering? Bidets?
Maybe, but all of that is burying the lede. According to Walt Disney World News Today's report on the park's newly unveiled Fantasyland expansion, the real star of the Tokyo Disneyland bathroom experience is a subtle series of Easter eggs. Saunter past Le Taverne de Gaston and over towards Bonjour Gifts. Hang a right to get to the restrooms. Inside, visitors will find exactly what they always expected inside of a family-friendly, cartoon-themed toilet area: a collection of harnesses, blacksmithing equipment, and used horseshoes.
Tokyo Disneyland's bathrooms contain a trough of references
Of course, Tokyo Disneyland's bathrooms aren't decorated with just any collection of harnesses, blacksmithing equipment, and old horseshoes. They're decked out with Disney-themed harnesses, blacksmithing equipment, and old horseshoes. It's an immersive Disney bathroom experience. With horseshoes.
More specifically, each set of iron crescents that is bolted to the park's bathroom walls is helpfully labeled, identifying it as having once been the property of an iconic Disney steed. There's a set of horseshoes credited as having graced the hooves of Philippe, the Belgian draft horse who belonged to Belle and Maurice in Beauty and the Beast. Footwear attributed to Angus, Merida's shire horse from Brave, is hung by the toilets with care. One set of horseshoes, with a sign beneath it reading "Khan," was either the property of Mulan's horse or, in a more magical world, Ricardo Montalbon. Adding to the equestrian oeuvre, the toilet stalls' "occupied" signs feature cartoon horses.
While a bench draped in the Sultan of Agrabah's prescription socks or a minimart featuring Hades' Gold Bond would undoubtedly be a big hit, at present, it is unclear whether the bathrooms at Tokyo Disneyland represent the only Disney park facilities decorated with stuff that beloved characters put on their feet.