Shanghai Disneyland

[Sam]

There isn't a dedicated topic on this yet, which is probably going to be the biggest theme park news story of the decade!

What we know
At opening:

• 4 hotels
• One "Magic Kingdom" park
• Two metro lines to Shanghai
• 3.73 billion dollars.
• 10 kilometre moat running around the complex.

Plan released today on "Disney and More" blog:


The complex will apparently eventually include three theme parks when complete, with EPCOT and Animal Kingdom currently the frontrunners to be built.

Here is the only piece of concept art that has officially been released. I've seen speculation that it's so vague as Disney are scared of Chinese "copycats" scooping the opening with a similar copy of the planned rides.



Rumours so far:

• The above concept art has a sort of mountain on the right hand side with clearly a sizeable drop. This is rumoured to be the new Pirates of the Caribbean, based entirely on the 21st century movies instead of the Anaheim ride, dubbed "Splash Pirates" as apparently it will replace Splash Mountain and Pirates by rolling them into one.
• There may be "no main street".

What does everyone think about this? What about the ethics of Disney building a theme park in mainland China, a country that deals in free speech suppression and human rights violations?

[DiogoJ42]

[quote=""Sam""]What about the ethics of Disney building a theme park in mainland China, a country that deals in free speech suppression and human rights violations?[/quote]
Seems to me like Disney will be right at home

It's an odd decision, but then China is the current place to be in the theme park market. Good luck to them.

[Joelio]

They'll most likely clone the planned "Splash Pirates" as its been dubbed that was penned for Hong Kong Disneyland, to say it looked stunning would be an understatement. As for no Main Street, I think we can thank Chinese culture for that, afterall, how many Chinese (big generalization on my part here :P) do you think yearn to be in 1920's America? :P

Looking forward to it, i've also seen another more detailed picture of Shanghai's Disneyland its fairly promising from warped negative fabonyism viewpoint.

We also know that it'll be a 3 park resort, where they'll be getting an EPCOT and an Animal Kingdom (I think).

[Adam]

Looks and sounds very interesting and promising. The good thing about the Asian resorts is they always offer something a little different. Never just a copy of the American versions.

Which is nice...

[Sam]

Today Shanghai Disneyland was officially announced by the Disney company, and groundbreaking took place.









[quote=""Press release""]DISNEY AND PARTNERS BREAK GROUND ON SHANGHAI DISNEY RESORT
First Disney theme park to be built in mainland China

SHANGHAI (April 8, 2011) - The Walt Disney Company and Shanghai Shendi Group, its joint venture partner in China, have broken ground on the Shanghai Disney Resort following approval from the Chinese central government in Beijing. Both companies marked the start of construction on the first Disney resort in mainland China at a groundbreaking ceremony held earlier today.

"Today marks a significant milestone in the history of The Walt Disney Company," said Robert A. Iger, President and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. "Our Shanghai resort will be a world-class family vacation destination that combines classic Disney characters and storytelling with the uniqueness and beauty of China. Working with our Chinese partners, the Shanghai Disney Resort will be both authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese."

"We're incredibly excited to build a Disney resort in Shanghai, one of the world's most vibrant cities," said Thomas O. Staggs, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. "We are hard at work designing Shanghai Disneyland, which when complete will be a special place where guests of all ages will discover a world of imagination, creativity, adventure and thrills."

Today's groundbreaking ceremony paid homage to the culture and people of China. Traditional Chinese drum music, a female soloist singing in Mandarin, a 50-voice Shanghai children's choir and Mickey Mouse dressed in a traditional Chinese costume were on hand to mark this special occasion. Following the entertainment and remarks, Iger and Staggs were joined by Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng and Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng to officially break ground on the project.

The new Shanghai Disney Resort is slated to open in approximately five years.

The Shanghai Disney Resort will be home to Shanghai Disneyland, a Magic Kingdom-style park that will blend classic Disney storytelling and characters with all-new attractions and experiences tailored specifically for the people of China. The park will feature several themed lands complete with exciting, iconic Disney attractions and experiences. At the heart of the park will be an interactive Disney castle that is truly an attraction unto itself with entertainment, dining and performance experiences that will be unique to Shanghai Disneyland. The park will also contain other large-scale entertainment venues, indoor and out, that can be used for various purposes throughout the year.

A beautiful, 11 acre (46,130 square meter) green space at the center of the theme park will differentiate Shanghai Disneyland and reinforce the themes of sustainability and nature that will be integrated throughout the park. The space will also be a place where friends and family can enjoy local cultural celebrations and customs together.

On Opening Day, the Shanghai Disney Resort will be located on a 963 acre (3.9 square kilometer) site in Pudong, Shanghai, with additional room to expand in the future. At opening, the resort will include Shanghai Disneyland, two themed hotels, a large retail, dining and entertainment venue, recreational facilities, a lake and associated parking and transportation hubs.

There will be an initial investment in the project of approximately 24.5 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion) to build the theme park and an additional 4.5 billion yuan (US$0.7 billion) to build the other aspects of the resort, including the hotels and the retail, dining and entertainment area. The investment amounts will be split between Disney and the Shanghai Shendi Group with Disney holding 43% of the shares of the owner companies and the Shanghai Shendi Group holding the remaining 57%. Financing will be proportional to ownership. In addition, a joint venture management company will be formed with Disney having a 70% stake and Shanghai Shendi Group having a 30% stake. The management company will be responsible for creating, developing and operating the resort.[/quote]

Points confirmed at press conference:

• The castle will be Disney's biggest and will be the first "interactive castle", whatever that means.
• There will be NO Main Street U.S.A!

It also is pretty obvious from the concept art above that we can expect to see the Fantasyland Carousel as well as the Dumbo ride. But anything else apart from that is anyone's guess. My money would be on a spinning Space Mountain, like Space Fantasy.

[Blaze]

Main Street Decadent Imperialist West?

[Adam James]

To me it currently looks like you enter directly into Fantasyland though a long garden path so to speak, which certainly looks like an interesting concept.

Just found a video of the groundbreaking on youtube - this is the start.. [url=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;] ... tu.be&hd=1[/url]

[BIan]

This looks like it is going to be fantastic, and a park I would love to visit when it opens.

Ian

[pfleety]

Mickey 'Furher' Mouse?

[Doopy Dan]

The Pirates ride epsecially interests me, although I will be watching this whole project with great anticipation.

[Sam]

[quote=""Screamscape""]Park News - (7/1/11) Screamscape sources tell us that the Tron themed coaster planned for Shanghai Disneyland is a fairly solid lock-in project at the moment, though very little is 100% locked in for sure until the final budgets are approved. The coaster will have a Lightcycle theme and use the Vekoma Motobike coaster system… indoors… kicking things off with a high speed launch start and run through an intense but inversion-free layout through the world of Tron.

Meanwhile on the other side of the park, I’ve also been told about a new River Rapids style attraction in the works that has been described as being very similar to Grizzly River Run in California Adventure. But instead of being themed to bears… this one will have dinosaurs and be called the Lost World River Rapids. Sounds very exciting and new. From what I’m told, the Lost World River Rapids is the dark mountain near the front right side of the park (sitting where one would normally expect to see Space Mountain) in the original park aerial concept art image.

Now for those keeping track of the things we wont see in the park, you can add Frontierland up there next to Space Mountain on that list, which isn’t all that surprising as I don’t think the Chinese have any love for the American Western genre. As one might expect, the park also wont have a Main Street, and perhaps the biggest surprise to some is that this will be the first Magic Kingdom park to not have a train making a loop around the park’s perimeter. (Note: Tokyo has a train, but it only makes a loop around Westernland.)[/quote]
I don't think Tron will have the timeless appeal of Space Mountain. I mean really, even with the new Tron film, how long will it be until people completely forget about Tron? But I do like the idea of Disney getting a Vekoma motorbike coaster, they are fantastic family coasters, and with duel stations I can see the throughputs being pretty high. I wish they'd gone with a new version of Space Mountain though.

I like the idea of a rapids, Disney really lack rapids. I hope this doesn't come at the expense of Pirates of the Caribbean, though I don't mind it replacing Splash Mountain. Anyway let's be frank... Dinosaurs are awesome. Dinosaurs... Disney... rapids... I don't see how this can possibly be bad. Does no Frontierland also mean no mine train? Or maybe they'll add a Seven Dwarfs coaster, like in WDW's new Fantasyland.

[Maelstrom]

I read somerwhere a few weeks ago that it looked like disney was planning a copy of the seven dwalfs coaster for shanghai.

I thinks it good they not just putting in a carbon copy like they did in Hong Kong and to some extent to paris as each market is completly different and many things such as main street wouldnt work in China.

[AstroDan]

Well, to be fair - Hong Kong is China and that has a Main Street etc.

[Sam]

Park News - (1/10/12) While I’m still hearing that not every facet of Shanghai Disneyland has been locked down, I have heard about a very interesting new take on just what the park’s version of Main Street would be like. So far we have seen versions of Main Street installed at both American parks as well as Disneyland Paris and even Hong Kong Disneyland. At Tokyo Disneyland they build World Bazaar instead, but it still has the same look of Main Street USA, just with a canopy covering it all from the rain.
    Shanghai Disneyland however will very likely have a unique looking Main Street of it’s own, incorporating all the Disney Characters into the mix. I’ve been told to think of Shanghai’s Main Street as almost a ToonTown style concept, where each retail store front will be themed as if run by a specific character proprietor. (ie: Minnie’s Bowtique, Candy Cauldron, etc…)

[Sam]

Park News - (2/8/12) The latest report from Disney and More has quite a bit to share about the possible attraction lineup we could be seeing at Shanghai Disneyland, which also involves a possibly scaled back “Phase 1” plan, with more attractions left up in the air as possible future expansion space. Please keep in mind that there is a lot of time left before we see this park open and the plans are bound to go through a ton of changes along the way still before the first guests are allowed in through the gates.

    From the sound of things currently, Fantasyland may be the most fleshed out land designed for the park. This makes sense as it is also the most likely land to contain the most “off-the-shelf” style attractions installed at other Disney parks. The list implies we can count on seeing classic rides like Dumbo, a Carousel and Peter Pan’s Flight, with the Winnie the Pooh dark ride said to be a close copy of the Florida and Hong Kong versions, and not the Tokyo version. The land is also supposed to feature a copy of the new Seven Dwarves Mine Train ride currently going into Walt Disney World, in addition to the unique “Castle Boat Ride” we’ve talked about previously. Disney and More believes that the Tea Cups ride however may not make the cut.

    Adventureland sounds like it will match up quite well with what I’ve also reported lately, and feature the Lost World River Rapids ride as well as a heavy themed pirates area that will be home to a new generation Pirates of the Caribbean ride as well as a possible Pirates themed stunt show. Disney and More believes there may be some kind of walk through attraction named “Sunken Treasure” here as well. (I’ve got to wonder if this may be more of an exportable environment style thing to appeal to the kids much like the Pirate’s Lair built on top of Tom Sawyer’s Island at Disneyland.)

    All that is known about the parks other major land, Tomorrowland, is that it will feature that long rumored Tron Lightcycle themed indoor coaster. There is also a desire for an Astro Orbiter, an interactive Stitch Encounter as seen in Hong Kong as well as a possible new Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters style dark ride concept that could have more in common with Toy Story Mania than previous Buzz Lightyear rides.

[Chris W]

Looking forward to seeing what they do with Pirates and the TRON coaster (that was originally rumoured for WDW as a enclosed Vekoma motobike launch coaster)

[AstroDan]

I hope there's a Space Mountain?

[Adz]

Nope. Not in the first phase at least.

I like the idea actually, it'll be interesting to see how Disney 'redefine' how a Magic Kingdom park is designed and its attractions set.

[oldgitBEN]

Im rather fascinated by this project, the first magic kingdom that isnt going to be cookie-cutter.

No main-street (or world bazar) - and what looks like a stunning garden entrance with trees and a road leading to the view of the castle - Im very impressed. Forget upselling, they arent even having a shop on the street. Can you imagine walking down that pathway of trees and flowers until it ends and you are faced with the castle?! I imagine it being stunning.

As for Space Mountain, I hope they take on the discoveryland theme from DLP, much more thought and care than a standard generic 'futureworld' - i know its disney and it would of course be amazing, but to see them pushing limits again is impressive. Im gutted the new ride will get a Tron tie in, I dont think every ride needs a tie-in and tron certainly isnt the strongest to go with.

Overall, a very interesting concept from disney, and I look forward to following it.

[Sam]

Tron seems a very weak (relatively) brand to base an A-ticket ride on. Even Space Mountain itself is a stronger brand than Tron!

The entrance seems inspired by the beautiful forest entrance at Animal Kingdom.