Shanghai Disneyland Is a Go!

[MANEATINGWREATH]

Today I found out from the wonderfull websites Disney and More, and Jimhill media that Shanghai Disneyland is a go! So I here are the details which consist of some good news and some bad news.

The Good News-
The resort will feature three hotels and the world's largest magic kingdom style park!

The Bad News-
It won't be built until 2012.

The Good News-
It will actually have all the classic attractions and lands on opening day!

The Bad News-
Sigh, this will be the most Pixar-themed Disney park on earth.......... that's right jimhill was told by an Imagineer friend that Autopia will be themed to Cars in a new Cars area, Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye will reign over Frontierland, and Buzz Lightyear and Wall-E will probably be spotted in Tomorrowland.

The Good News-
It will also have original and unique attractions such as a Rapunzel Tower in Fantasyland themed to the upcoming Disney film, "Rapunzel."

The Bad News-
Adventureland will be completely themed to Pirates and Jack Sparrow.

The Good News-
Disney and China will announce the park officialy after the 2008 Bejing Olympics!

Well what do you guys think? Has Disney jumped the shark with Pixar themed rides? Will this be the best magic kingdom yet? Or will it bomb like DLP and HKDL? Only time will tell, as long as their is imagination left in the world.

[Alex_Toto_Disneyland]

Disney Disney Disney.... Well Idk What Will Happen with this, really Pixarland Shangai???
-Alex

[Kileli]

Sorry, but I won't believe this right now. Disney hasn't been talking about it too much, and Hong Kong was a bomb, why make another China park?

[PeoplemoverMatt]

It's the Disney theme park of the future.

-- PMM

[Magic1]

Originally Posted by Kileli

Sorry, but I won't believe this right now. Disney hasn't been talking about it too much, and Hong Kong was a bomb, why make another China park?

Count the number of Disney consumers in the US, then count the potential Disney consumers in China and ask yourself that question again.

.:Magic1:.

[MANEATINGWREATH]

Personally I think it probably won't happen because it will most likely put HKDL out of business, but it was announced, just look it up.

[Mad About Mickey]

Welcome to Shanghai Disney-Pixarland!

[PeoplemoverMatt]

Originally Posted by MANEATINGWREATH

Personally I think it probably won't happen because it will most likely put HKDL out of business, but it was announced, just look it up.

WDW didn't put Disneyland out of business. The two Resorts would be far enough apart to avoid direct competition with each other.

Shanghai being on the Chinese mainland will attract its own audience. Hong Kong Disneyland being where it is will still attempt to maintain/grow the audience its already receiving. There is certainly a big enough population base to support both Resorts.

-- PMM

[MANEATINGWREATH]

That is true they are a reasonable distance apart and Shanghai is on the mainland.

[BPBfan]

Disney doesn't need another China park. TDL & HKDL are already close enough together. They need to go somewhere new.

Maybe Russia? Canada? Brazil?

[MANEATINGWREATH]

Russia is still kind of poor and recovering from the Communisim, Canada might work but it would be really crowded and cold, if they tried to build one in Brazil they would have to destroy the rainforest and nobody wants that to happen anymore. It seems they are running out of locations.

[Kileli]

^ But do they really need any more parks? Do we want Disney to expand to fast, and have to close a whole bunch of parks, like Starbucks did? Starbucks expanded WAY to fast, and now they are closing a great deal of them.

And I still can't find an actual news report that they are building in Shanghai. Do you have any links?

[Magic1]

Originally Posted by Kileli

^ But do they really need any more parks? Do we want Disney to expand to fast, and have to close a whole bunch of parks, like Starbucks did? Starbucks expanded WAY to fast, and now they are closing a great deal of them.

And I still can't find an actual news report that they are building in Shanghai. Do you have any links?

Well, this is still in the Rumor Mill forum so until an official announcement is made (and I'm not holding my breath until after the Olympics), it will probably stay here.

There are ~14-15 million people in Shanghai which is the largest urban center in China by population. And, even though China's population is shrinking, there are a further 1.3 billion more in the rest of China. Compare this to the United States having barely 300 million and we can support DL and WDW (with a little help from foreign visitors).

There are plenty of good reasons for them to open a park in Shanghai other than having the just park there. It helps build the Disney brand and characters in China, and with more people familiar with Disney films, characters, etc. it makes Disney money. Plus it gives them a stronger voice when fighting for intellectual property issues... IOW, they will have more power over protecting their characters from being used by other people to create "knockoffs", illegal copies of movies, etc. As people get more familiar with Disney (and vice versa), Disney will be positioned to offer more China-centric products like resorts, tv programming, etc...

There are a lot of good reasons to build a park in Shanghai. For Disney, this move (if it happens) is more important strategically than Euro Disney ever was.

.:Magic1:.

[ryguy222]

You mentioned thanks to Disney websites, do you have a link?

[MANEATINGWREATH]

Look up Disney and More, it is a fantastic blog, and down a few posts there is a link to Jimhill Media where he has written a whole article about the upcoming theme park.