Its Official! Shanghai Disneyland Resort Breaks Ground! ALSO New Concept Art

[WDICO2010]

Hey all, first time poster and what a post to share.

Finally Disney officially announced the Shanghai Disneyland Resort as well as broke ground today. Some new concept art was also released at Disney Parks Blog. Will be open in about 5 years. So come end of 2015, we will see what the first Disneyland park under Bob Igers CEO reign will be like. And from what I have seen.....its rewriting the Theme Park Book and breaking away completly from the "Disney" model. About the only thing the same will be the names of thr attractions/lands, and the name of the park. Everything else is completely new. Enjoy. See you all in Shanghai in 2015!


http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blo...disney-resort/

[RandySavage]

Welcome! Good to have someone who has had an inside look. Can you provide any specifics about what we're seeing in the new art (it is officially released, so I don't think there's any harm in discussing what's in the image).

What is the gray area north of what is presumably Pirate Mountain in the lower right Adventureland (looks like it might be some kind of stunt show).

Presuming Tomorrowland is in purple on the left, I'm assuming the Tron coaster is in the big dome, what else are we seeing in that land?

What are the lands to the Northwest, North and NorthEast of the castle?

[AlastairW]

what is isnteresting is that most of the attractions appear to be around the periphery of the park, with very little accomodating the space between the hub and the lands. About the area beyond the castle I am not sure if its a continuation of fanasyland because there is only the carousel and dumbo in front of the castle.

[cbconglom]

the layout has me so confused

[RandySavage]

Some interesting bits from the official WDC press release:

"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."


***
I've seen $4.4 billion and $3.7 billion as the price tag in various reports. This is Disney's official release, so should be pretty reliable, and if they're spending $3.7 billion on just the park and an additional $700 million on hotels, retail, etc., that could mean some very good things. From memory, that's 3x what was spent on HKDL (just the park) or Animal Kingdom and about equal towhat was spent on TDS.

[Asa]

BBC News - Shanghai Disneyland project breaks ground at last

"The large Barbie brand store in Shanghai, which opened with fanfare only two years ago, recently closed."

Interesting, with Barbie and Ken being so prominent in Toy Story 3, the Barbie store failed to last in Shanghai. That just means Disney still has lots of work to do in mainland China.

[HKDLFAN]

The "beautiful 11 acre green space" sounds a lot like HKDLs Adventureland. Boring and empty and built almost for the same reasons-"reinforce the themes of sustainability and nature". Anyways, it does look like it will be a beautiful park.

[OC2Epcot]

I'm really excited about Shanghai Disneyland. I actually leave for Shanghai on Wednesday and will spend 3 weeks in China. My wife will be there on business, and we will visit her family as well, being she is originally from the Shanghai area. I will certainly be making plans to be there for the opening.



Concept Art:





Construction video that appeared on one of the news programs this morning.







Chinese News Photos:

[DisneyKid1994]

Wait... I thought I heard that SDL was going to have a new different castle...

[Magic Lamp]

Wait... I thought I heard that SDL was going to have a new different castle...

It will be different. From the looks of it, it'll be Orlando's Cinderella castle with a baroque twist and some Rapunzel castle elements thrown in and inside it will feature interactive areas, a restaurant and other showcase elements, more than what all the other castles are able to provide together.

[OC2Epcot]

From the concept art the base of the castle appears it will be very large allowing for the restaurant and other areas inside the castle.

[Witches of Morva]

ORWEN: Well, it looks too much like Cinderella's Castle to me. I was really hoping for something that looked totally different from either hers or Sleeping Beauty's so that Shanghai Disneyland would have a whole new look.

[isny]

the layout has me so confused

I think all the "Concept Art" is really just that, and not what the final thing will look like at all. Most of the park is trees and foliage, and that's clearly not going to be the way the park will look in the end.

It will be different. From the looks of it, it'll be Orlando's Cinderella castle with a baroque twist and some Rapunzel castle elements thrown in and inside it will feature interactive areas, a restaurant and other showcase elements, more than what all the other castles are able to provide together.

It does indeed look almost identical to Florida's castle, with a few tweaks. I am disappoint =(

[OC2Epcot]

[Tomorrowland_1967]

According to Al ... this park is suppose to be very kinetic. Wonder what they meant by that. The layout concept does not seem to show much in the lines of kinetics. Which generally infer to transportation rides (Skyway, Peoplemover, DLRR train, etc) .. this overall shot .. seems devoid of any such transportation attractions.

So ... I'll be tuned in .. just like the rest of us .. for more artwork to surface.

Tomorrowland's content seems a large mystery!

Tron?
Space Mountain?
Wall-E ?
Astro Orbitor?
Star Tours?
Buzz?

Some completely new concepts never before mentioned could potentially put this TL over the top!

I'm just hoping there's not a repeat of HKDL's Tomorrowland. About the size of a village, no kinetic transportation systems ... too much TOONing around - Stitch, Buzz ..... I'm sure everyone is up for a Tomorrowland that is a complete departure from the endless tooning of other Tomorrowlands.