Shanghai, China | Shanghai Disneyland | Theme Park

[marc]

Disney will build a park in Shanghai China, the govenment have now approved it. There are still some details to sort out but it does look like it will go ahead.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 341570.stm

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Busine ... 1115433626

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Well, this doesn't shock me really! But, it seems un-Disneylike to kick people off land, haha. Seriously though, that's gonna have to be a pretty big field if they plan on building a really big park on it.

I'm excited to see what they do with it, though.

 

[spicy]

Does anyone know if they building another magic kingdom park? Or is it a different park.

I hope its not another Magic Kingdom park they will lose their magic if theres too many of them.

 

[marc]

They always build a Magic Kingdom type park so it will have one I am sure.

What will be interesting to see is if they go for a Disney Sea style park.

 

[Gavin]

Finally! They've been hammering this thing back and forth for years.

 

[nadroJ]

Surely they should sort out the absolute shambles they made of Hong Kong Disney before starting this? Oh well....

 

[Ben]

^Move "Hong Kong" to where "this" is, and then put "Paris" there

 

[marc]

^^They are

They are doing loads of work there.

 

[Crazycoaster]

What will be interesting to see is if they go for a Disney Sea style park.

DisneySea was rumoured to cost roughly $4 billion to construct on its own, let alone without building the magic kingdom park, so I doubt that the £$3.6 billion will include a second park.

Buut, that was built in Tokyo, which would have been very expensive, so it'll be interesting to see just how far this budget will go in china with its cheap labour.

 

[ECG]

Disneyland plan unveiled
2011-03-09 08:14

A BLUEPRINT of Shanghai Disneyland, the first Disneyland on China's mainland, was made public yesterday.

The planned area covers 7 square kilometers, with the location of the theme park, hotels and parking areas clearly marked.

Two Metro lines, Line 2 and Line 11, will converge at the area. Line 11 is included in the project's first phase while the Line 2 stretch will be introduced later. They will share a station inside the area, according to the plan.

The 24.5 billion yuan (US$3.73 billion) phase 1 will cover 3.9 square kilometers, while the rest is listed as reserved land for future development.

Four plots in the phase one project are marked as hotel compounds, but the plan doesn't specify how many hotels it will contain. Two hotel compounds will be built by the southern side of the inner lake.

The amusement facilities and the inner lake are separated by support facilities including a parking lot, a hotel and recreational facilities.

Water will be a prominent feature of the amusement park. A river, about 10 kilometers long and 60 meters wide, is being created around the park area and a 0.39-square-kilometer lake will be inside.

The theme park is close to the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park, Kangqiao Industry Zone and the International Medical Zone, according to the blueprint.

The park will have two main entrance boulevards - Xiupu Road will lead to the western entrance and Liufeng Road to the southern entrance.

The theme park, in the southeast of Shanghai, is about 21 kilometers from People's Square, 18km from Lujiazui, 12km from Pudong International Airport and 30km from the Hongqiao transport hub.

People who wish to comment on the plans can do so at the Pudong New Area branch of the Shanghai Urban Planning, Land and Resources Administration Bureau.

The first phase of the amusement park in the Pudong New Area is expected to attract 7.3 million visitors a year when it opens in 2015.

It will be Disney's first theme park on the Chinese mainland and the third in Asia after Tokyo and Hong Kong.

The city government regards the project as an important step in its bid to build the city into a world-class tourist destination in the next five years.

Source: Shanghai Daily, translation http://english.eastday.com/e/110309/u1a5770120.html

 

[rollermonkey]

I still want a third gate to be built in Tokyo:

Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo DisneySea
Tokyo DisneyAir

 

[yinyang]

This could potentially be a giant disaster, I can imagine the exact words a year after its' finished being built and been open for a while..."This is the one thing we didn't want to happen."

 

[marc]

I still want a third gate to be built in Tokyo:

Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo DisneySea
Tokyo DisneyAir

Well this is now probably going to be delayed for sometime.

The China park I still dont know, but it will turn out great I just hope it has enough to do in the one park to start off with.

 

[bezzzzzer]

So here we go, await until 2015 when a very bare park will be constructed. People will be dissapointed, but then they'll release a masterplan of an expansion to get the park to a 'normal' Disney standard.

Ahhh the days when going to a Disney park felt exclusive. That was pre my lifetime, let alone now.

 

[marc]

They should build 2 parks in one go I just do not see why they keep going for 1 now days. The demand will be high enough etc.

 

[Nic]

I don't know enough about it, and I'll probably get shot down in flames by someone or other, but is it not about the cost of investment? By building one park at a time, they make a smaller initial investment. Then they're able to re-coup some of the cash by opening it before ploughing that money into the next park. No?

 

[bezzzzzer]

I think another factor as well is that they get guests in when it's opened, then get guests back every time they make something new. For example, people going to Hong Kong Disneyland, saying it's crap, then going back to see all the new expansion they're doing.

If it opens up as that then you only get one visit. That's how I see it anyway. I'm not saying they deliberatley open the park with the intention of it being crap, but I'm positive they open a park with the intention of having a 'Phase 2' to get people back in.

 

[marc]

This park will be a winner as a lot of the Chinese people go to Japan to visit Disney, there is a huge demand for Disney in China. The only problem is it could effect the parks in Japan.

I think they need 2 parks and within a very short space of time the 2nd park will be built.

As long as they dont build to small like they did in Hong Kong.

 

[Gavin]

This park will be a winner as a lot of the Chinese people go to Japan to visit Disney, there is a huge demand for Disney in China. The only problem is it could effect the parks in Japan.

Sorry, but that's not very accurate at all. The number of Chinese visitors to Japan has been increasing over the last few years, but it's only been very recently that the Chinese have been visiting Japan in any significant numbers. They only started accepting group tours from China about 10 years ago, and it's only been in the last 10 years or so that more Chinese have had the money for foreign travel.

Tokyo Disneyland has been thriving since it opened in the early '80s. They managed to open DisneySea, the world's most expensive theme park, in 2001 thanks to the money coming in from mostly Japanese visitors.

The Shanghai park will most likely affect visitor numbers to Hong Kong Disney, but Tokyo really won't see a significant shift in visitor numbers at all.

Anyway, the groundbreaking for the Shanghai park has just gone ahead:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO1t5h_HmF0&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

 

[Pablo237]

Shanghai Disneyland is official! Disney has officially broken ground on their latest vacation destination, Shanghai Disney Resort. Shanghai Disney Resort marks the first time Disney has ventured into the main land China, and with a new audience will bring a distinct new park with Disney executive describing the park as “authentically Disney, yet distinctly Chinese.”With a predicted 2015/2016 opening, Shanghai Disney Resort will open on a 963 acre site and will include one theme park (Shanghai Disneyland), two themed hotels, a shopping district (i.e. Downtown Disney), recreational facilities, a lake, and adequate transportation to all of the resort’s offerings.Shanghai Disneyland will not include a typical Main Street U.S.A. entrance area, but rather a new take with beautiful green and water filled park. © DisneyShanghai Disneyland will be custom tailored for the Chinese audience. The most dramatic new change is the removal of Main Street U.S.A. The press release describes the new entrance area: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.With the idea of a turn of the century middle town of America have no significance towards the Chinese, the new entrance area will be a dramatic change from anything we have seen from another Magic Kingdom style park. In one piece of concept art, it appears that Dumbo and the Mad Hatter Tea Party are located infront of the castle in this new grassy entrance area.Storybook Castle will be the largest and most unique of all the Disney Castles. It will include entertainment and dining offerings, as well as interactive elements. © DisneyAt the center of Shanghai Disneyland will be Storybook Castle. This will be the largest of all the Disney castles, and is also being described as the most versatile; the castle will include dining offerings, entertainment locations, and other interactive elements making it one of the most distinct elements. Visually, the Imagineers are clearly trying to hide the final design of the castle but some concept indicate a larger scale version of Cinderella’s castle while others indicate a castle that echoes Rapunzel’s castle. No doubt that this decision is being made to prevent other Chinese parks from creating knock-offs of the castle prior to Disney’s opening.Tom Staggs, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, says that this is a “defining moment in our company’s history”, and it most certainly is. In 1992, Disneyland Paris was introduced at EuroDisney Resort and while the park proved to be the most beautiful and “fully grown” of all the Magic Kingdom park’s around the world, the company built six hotels to serve one theme park. The result was a financial mess that still affects the park today. In 2005, Hong Kong Disneyland opened up with just four lands and hardly any major attractions. Hong Kong Disneyland continues to under perform when compared to it’s sister resorts.An artists rendering of Shanghai Disney Resort. Set to open in 2016, the resort will feature a lake, shopping district, and two themed hotels, along side the theme park Shanghai Disneyland. © DisneyIf done correctly, one spectacular theme park, two right sized hotels, and a shopping district could make Shanghai Disney Resort one of the greatest starts for a new Disney resort in recent history. It is too early to make predictions on if the resort will be successful or not with very little information being given out.Shanghai Disneyland also brings many questions as to what will be included:
Will the park follow the typical hub and spoke style layout?
Will this be the first Disney park to include a Marvel Super Hero attraction or possibly land?
Will the park maintain the concepts of Tomorrowland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Adventureland, or will those two also be changed?
Will Disney add any elements of Chinese mythologies to the park?
This and so many more questions are being asked by Disney fans across the world.

I edited your post. Please put a space between multiple images so that they line up vertically instead of horizontally. Thanks - ECG