Should the castle be a Beauty and the Beast Castle?

[Witches of Morva]

ORDDU: I shouldn't think they'd want to duplicate an Asian palace, like the one in Mulan, for the same reason Disneyland Paris had to come up with a castle unlike anything one might already find in France. China would want something more unique and much less common. A fairytale castle is what's needed there.

[dogtherock]

ORDDU: I shouldn't think they'd want to duplicate an Asian palace, like the one in Mulan, for the same reason Disneyland Paris had to come up with a castle unlike anything one might already find in France. China would want something more unique and much less common. A fairytale castle is what's needed there.

Yep. Agreed.

[dland_lover]

No. Snow White's castle, please.

[krystledm]

ORDDU: I shouldn't think they'd want to duplicate an Asian palace, like the one in Mulan, for the same reason Disneyland Paris had to come up with a castle unlike anything one might already find in France. China would want something more unique and much less common. A fairytale castle is what's needed there.

But that isn't what they did...

They used Sleeping Beauty in France BECAUSE Sleeping Beauty is French. It should follow to use their ONLY Chinese story. This would give the Chinese people some ownership as well as a chance to see something they might not otherwise get to. After all, China is a BIG place...

[AmbuhVee]

I don't like the idea of the Beauty and the Beast castle, only because most of the movie it's so dark and foreboding. I like the Rapunzel idea though!

[Witches of Morva]

ORDDU: Well, I still say they need a centerpiece for Shanghai's Disneyland that isn't like what you can already find elsewhere in China. That's the point Imagineers made in regard to France. Yes, Princess Aurora was French. But her castle didn't look anything like other castles in France. Mulan's story is more of a legend than a fairy tale. Therefore, she doesn't represent Fantasyland very well. Unless they wanted to discard having a Fantasyland altogether, it wouldn't be appropriate to make an emperial palace in her honor. If they wanted to build something like that for another section of the park--one that focuses on Chinese history--that would be much better. But when it comes to representing Fantasyland, they need a fantasy castle.

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

In an autocratic communist country like China, they don't want to be greeted by an imposing Chinese imperial palace, they want a fantastical fairytale castle that they can "live" in. Or at least feel welcome in.

We're selling Americana and Western culture at Disneyland. Not repackaging China for Chinese consumption.

That's an important distinction. Chinese consumers aren't familiar with this whole concept and to take it to an extremely obscure reference on original material they aren't familiar with, means it will be lost on the everyday visitor. In other words, k.i.s.s.

[Witches of Morva]

ORDDU: From what my sisters and I have read, the Disney version of Mulan wasn't all that well received in China. This might be another reason to avoid a structure devoted to Mulan.

[mark]

I think we'll see some form of a Chinese castle. Read the press announcement and notice how nods/concessions to their culture will be included. Don't remember the exact wording, but it was certainly alluded to.

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

ORDDU: From what my sisters and I have read, the Disney version of Mulan wasn't all that well received in China. This might be another reason to avoid a structure devoted to Mulan.

They hated MULAN in China. It wasn't the same story they knew. It wasn't supposed to be about female empowerment, it was a story about respecting your ancestors.

[Tyler1994]

I would really like to see the Rapunzel castle happen.

[tasman]

I don't like the idea of the Beauty and the Beast castle, only because most of the movie it's so dark and foreboding. I like the Rapunzel idea though!

Agreed.

But, a BATB ride would be great.

[toonaspie]

No. Snow White's castle, please.

That would be an even better idea than a Beauty and the Beast castle actually. Have all the castles represent fairytales that Walt himself worked on and having the castle based on the film that launched the Disney empire as the park's centerpiece would be quite symbolic.

I just want them to do something a little more unique with the castle than the standard Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty castles. It's a bummer that they didnt think to have each Magic Kingdom have a different castle before they started building parks outside of the U.S..

I think we'll see some form of a Chinese castle. Read the press announcement and notice how nods/concessions to their culture will be included. Don't remember the exact wording, but it was certainly alluded to.

Being offtopic: I can see how they loved Kung Fu Panda more than Mulan. Disney's approach to Mulan did kinda lacked the feeling of a chinese epic in tone if that makes any sense.

[Baloo]

what if they completely took the icon into a diferent direction and instead of basing it off a Princess or one of the main female characters of a movie they based it on a secondary character.

Right now we are working on the promotional art and theater displays for the live action "Alice in Wonderland" movie. One of the main displays has all the characters sitting having tea. (Anne hathaway, Helena B Carter, and Johnny look great in the displays) Another display and artprint has the Queen of Hearts and behind her is her castle. The Castle looks awesome. I would not mind if Disney stepped away from the other MK formulas and built a Castle based on the Alice movie. The front area could have a very interesting landscape and a section of the castle could be used to house a new innovative Alice attraction or walkthrough.

[Ice101]

what if they completely took the icon into a diferent direction and instead of basing it off a Princess or one of the main female characters of a movie they based it on a secondary character.

Right now we are working on the promotional art and theater displays for the live action "Alice in Wonderland" movie. One of the main displays has all the characters sitting having tea. (Anne hathaway, Helena B Carter, and Johnny look great in the displays) Another display and artprint has the Queen of Hearts and behind her is her castle. The Castle looks awesome. I would not mind if Disney stepped away from the other MK formulas and built a Castle based on the Alice movie. The front area could have a very interesting landscape and a section of the castle could be used to house a new innovative Alice attraction or walkthrough.

NO!

I am going to pray that we do not see any of Tim Burton's version of the film in the Disney Parks.