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Shanghai, China | Shanghai Disneyland | Theme Park

There's an article on the front page of the South China Morning Post today about the park. To get interest going, they've just opened a new Disney store, the biggest in the world, but seemingly also the most expensive. They've also topped out the castle.

Shanghai Disney shows what’s in store with flagship opening

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As work on US$5.4 billion theme park enters the home stretch, fans can enjoy a taste of the fun when the resort's huge shop opens today

The countdown to lift-off for Shanghai Disneyland begins in earnest on Wednesday with the opening of its flagship Shanghai store, the first of its kind on the mainland and the biggest in the world.

The opening comes a day after the topping out of the theme park's iconic central attraction, the Enchanted Storybook Castle, another milestone in the Walt Disney Company's efforts to tap rising affluence on the mainland.

The much-anticipated US$5.4 billion Shanghai Disney Resort is expected to open its doors next spring but city residents and mainland tourists will get a taste of how Disney will blend its products with Chinese elements when the flagship store begins business in Shanghai's Lujiazui financial district today.

More than 2,000 products, from clothing, bags and stationery to smartphone covers, will be available at the store, which has 860 square metres of indoor retail space.

Workers install a finial on top of the Enchanted Storybook Castle.Shanghai Disneyland was expected to be up and running this year but Disney delayed the opening, partly because of redesigns to some attractions.

Disney chairman and chief executive Robert Iger and chief operating officer Tom Staggs were in Shanghai yesterday as a golden finial was installed on top of the tallest of the castle's eight towers. The castle was the tallest, biggest and most complex Disney castle ever built, Disney said.

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A Pudong government official said the resort was expected to become one of the top six Disney theme parks around the world, buoyed by interest among mainland residents.

Shanghai resident Lynn Lin, who is the mother of a 10-year-old girl, said: "We have been keeping an ear out for any news about the Disney theme park … My daughter can't wait until she can visit it in another few months."

The enthusiasm over Shanghai Disneyland has ratcheted up pressure on its Hong Kong counterpart, playing into the Shanghai-Hong Kong rivalry and Shanghai's rise as a world-class city.

But Disney and officials from both cities have tried to play down the new park's impact on Hong Kong Disneyland, pointing to the huge market potential for both operations.

A Hong Kong Disneyland spokeswoman said there would not be a major shift in the theme park's marketing strategy because the mainland market was big enough for two Disney attractions.

The spokeswoman said the various Disney theme parks could differentiate themselves with proprietary attractions and different lines of products or memorabilia.

Economist Andy Kwan Cheuk-chiu said mainlanders living near Shanghai would be attracted to the new theme park.

"Hong Kong Disney would definitely lose some customers," Kwan said.

But he predicted that the impact on the Hong Kong economy would be short-term and minimal, because the new resort was likely to target children and their families, rather than the individual visitors who came to Hong Kong mostly for shopping.

At the Shanghai Disney store, prices will be up to 50 yuan more expensive than those products available in Hong Kong and Tokyo Disney Resort outlets, according to local media.

"We can't really accept the fact that prices here are higher," Lin said.

"After all, Shanghai residents don't earn as much as people in Hong Kong and Japan."

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/soci...hai-disney-shows-whats-store-flagship-opening
 
This looks incredible. The scale of the castle is amazing, could be the best Disney resort yet.

Can't wait to see what the new Pirates turns out like, if all the animatronics are as realistic as the Jack Sparrow ones are its going to feel surreal.
 
Not exactly a new video of the construction progress, but it hasn't been posted here yet so here ya go...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJMWFWZLaSM[/youtube]
 
There have been lots of developments from the official announcement by Bob Iger.

This is the first map of the new park:



Disney Parks have posted an overview of Tomorrowland whilst Inside the Magic has a number of previews of the various lands and an overview of the model of the whole park.

I'm surprised there is no train around the park, the entrance looks like it features a station building, possibly just for decorative purposes. The crocodile model for the rapid ride is looking great as is the roof over Tron. Looking at the maps, I wonder if the Snow White mine train will be a larger version? Maybe we will see the use of launches like on HK's Grizzly Runaway.

It was also mentioned the Pirates ride will use a unique system where the boat can travel sideways and backwards during the ride. It sounds a large ride, with 3 'event domes' being mentioned.

Embedding won't work, so here's a link to the overview of the model: https://youtu.be/RSofDJW07OU

And lots of pretty photos here: http://disneyandmore.blogspot.fr/
 
The Rapids and Tron sound fab.

Is Pirates supposed to be an extension of the trackless technology? It sounds like Aquatopia on steroids.

And it sounds like Peter Pan will be a cred yay!
 
Yeah Peter Pan sounds like it's using the new Mack powered coaster system which is great. After riding the Arthur coaster at Europa I was hoping Disney or Universal would use the ride type, it's perfect.

Pirates sounds epic, it's like all of the new exciting ride tech all in one ride.

The rapids looks fab, look forward to seeing more.

Also anyone seen how massive their seven dwarfes coaster is? It's huge, I can see it being like a weird mix between the wdw version, big Thunder Mountain and the Grizzly coaster.

Obviously Tron coaster is what I'm most excited about, gawd I've wanted this ride since Tron legacy. The jet pack themed dumbo ride is also a great idea, curious as to how that'll look.

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So excited for this whole thing!

Was skeptical about the look of the "Tron-cover" at first, but now that I've seen the Tomorrowland preview video, I think it'll look sweet!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dKsvqCEbrI[/youtube]

The huge Audio Animatronic for the rapids is great news as well!

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Really liking the overall look of Adventure Isle as well.

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So many new, never before seen Disney attractions! - Can't wait to visit!
 
^ They only turned the Yeti off because of the sheer size and cost. Pretty much all other animatronics work.

Adventureland looks **** incredible.

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^It broke and they couldn't fix it without taking too much out, didn't it?

But I think Mark's point is this will be a similar size and ambition so hopefully it doesn't have a similar fate.
 
^ Yeah something to do with it being actually attached to the ride structure rather than being a separate part?

I'm assuming they won't make that mistake again, so if/when this does need maintenance, they'll be able to get to it.

The lava monster on Journey to the Centre of the Earth is also huge and hasn't had any major problems as far as I know.
 
Am I the only person who thinks Tomorrowland looks meh? Like compared to everything else that looks out of this word incredible, Tomorrowland looks a bit pedestrian.
 
GuyWithAStick said:
^ They only turned the Yeti off because of the sheer size and cost. Pretty much all other animatronics work.

Adventureland looks **** incredible.

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Yeah, you're wrong. It was structurally unsafe. The Expedition Everest attraction compromises of three main structures - the 'mountain', the track and the yeti's structure. During it's operation, they found that the yeti could cause extreme damage to the other two structures and therefore make the ride extremely unsafe, therefore they stopped using the yeti. So it has nothing to do with the costs associated with it.
 
I'm crying. The Gardens of Imagination. Roaring Rapids (That monster is huge <3). Wandering Moon Teahouse. The Voyage To The Crystal Grotto. The entire Pirates Cove. We are not worthy.
I'll have to wait for Tomorrowland. I can feel it will be stunning, I just can't picture it in my mind yet.
 
marc said:
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.

I have heard about this park but have not still seen the picture of it. Can you show me some picture of that project?
 
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