Shanghai Disneyland Park

Shanghai Disneyland Park

The Enchanted Storybook Castle in April 2016
Location Shanghai Disney Resort, Pudong, Shanghai, China
Coordinates 31°08′38″N 121°39′25″E / 31.1440°N 121.6570°E / 31.1440; 121.6570
Theme Fairy tales and Disney characters
Owner Shanghai Shendi Group (57%)[1]
The Walt Disney Company (43%)[1]
Operated by Shanghai Shendi Group[1]
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts[1]
Opened June 16, 2016 (June 16, 2016)[2]
Website Shanghai Disneyland Park

Shanghai Disneyland Park is a theme park located in Pudong, Shanghai, that is part of the Shanghai Disney Resort. The park is operated by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and Shanghai Shendi Group, through a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Shendi.[1] Construction began on April 8, 2011.[3][4] The park opened on June 16, 2016.[2] The park operated in its first half-year with a visitor attendance of 5.60 million guests.[5]

The park consists of seven themed areas: Mickey Avenue, Gardens of Imagination, Fantasyland, Treasure Cove, Adventure Isle, Tomorrowland, and Toy Story Land.

History

The Chinese government approved the resort on November 4, 2009.[6] The Walt Disney Company announced on November 5, 2010 that they had signed an agreement with Shanghai Shendi Group to build the resort and park in Shanghai, with a planned opening in 2015.[7] On April 7, 2011, groundbreaking began at the Shanghai Disneyland Resort site.[8] On June 29, 2013, construction on the Enchanted Storybook Castle began.[9]

Opening and construction cost

A satellite view of the resort in 2015.

On March 8, 2013, the company announced that the park would open in late 2015.[6] On February 2, 2015, the opening date was pushed back to early 2016.[10] On January 12, 2016, the park's opening date was announced as June 16, 2016.[2] According to some reports, this was due to construction delays and quality control problems. The final opening date is June 16, 2016.

The cost was initially estimated at 24.5 billion yuan (USD $3.7 billion) for the theme park and an additional 4.5 billion yuan (USD $700 million).[6] This rose to around USD $5.5 billion before delays,[11] which was due in part to additions to the number of attractions open to the public on opening day, which added USD $800 million to the cost.[12][13] The added cost doesn't take into account lost revenue from the lost admissions fees.

In addition to the attractions and two hotels, the company is building a high-speed rail system to get visitors to and from the site.[13]

Disney owns 43% of the property while the state-controlled Shanghai Shendi Group owns the remaining 57%.[6]

On May 7, 2016, Shanghai Disneyland Park had started soft openings.[14]

Disney aired the live broadcast of the grand opening show on its Facebook page on the night of June 15, 2016. Bob Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company was joined by nearly 3,000 distinguished guests and celebrities for a showcase of choreography, acrobatics, costumes and technology in grand scale, with dazzling lights, Disney music, pageantry, special effects and fireworks. The show featured world-renowned pianist Lang Lang who performed a custom arrangement of the musical sensation “Let It Go” (from Disney’s “Frozen“) and China’s television and movie superstar Sun Li who took center stage. The historic event included the debut of an original song, “Ignite the Dreamer Within,” written especially for the grand opening of Shanghai Disneyland. Acclaimed composer and conductor Tan Dun, widely known for his stirring scores for the films “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Hero,” led the Shanghai Symphony with an original composition of the new song.[15]

Ticket pricing

Tickets for the park went on sale on March 28, 2016, with a two-tiered pricing scheme.[16] On most days, one day adult tickets will be CN¥ 370, while child and elderly one day tickets will cost CN¥ 280, roughly 20% cheaper than Hong Kong Disneyland (which charges HK$539 for a one-day adult ticket).[16] During busier periods, including the first two weeks of the park's operation, adult one day tickets will cost CN¥ 499,[16] while child and elderly tickets will cost CN¥ 375.[17] The park will be the first Disney park to feature tiered pricing.[17]

According to the International Business Times (IBT), the US dollar equivalent of park ticket pricing will cost about $75 for adults and $60 for children on holidays and weekends, and around $60 for adults and $45 for children on weekdays. IBT notes that "a two-day weekend ticket for two adults and one child comes close to China’s average urban monthly wage."[18]

Opening day tickets sold out in a few hours after going on sale at midnight, March 28. However, more tickets were put on sale several days before the official opening day.[19]

Dedication

To all who come to this happy place, welcome. Shanghai Disneyland is your land. Here you leave today and discover imaginative worlds of fantasy, romance and adventure that ignite the magical dreams within us all. Shanghai Disneyland is authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese. It was created for everyone, bringing to life timeless characters and stories in a magical place that will be a source of joy, inspiration, and memories for generations to come.
— Robert A. Iger, June 16, 2016

Lands

Upon the company's promise that the Shanghai resort would be “authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese”, Chinese architects and designers and teams of researchers were hired to find ways to incorporate Chinese cultural elements.[20] Many usual Disney park features have been redesigned or are absent from Shanghai Disneyland Park to cater for Chinese visitors' penchants. The park does not feature a steam railroad surrounding the park's perimeter nor does it have an earthen berm to obscure the outside world from guest view. As a replacement for a central spoked-hub, the center of the park features a 4.5-hectare (11-acre) collection of Chinese zodiac gardens called the Gardens of Imagination.[21] Main Street U.S.A. has given way to Mickey Avenue that introduces Chinese visitors to classic Disney characters.[20] Conventional-themed lands such as Adventureland are reimagined into Adventure Isle, whereas other lands, such as Frontierland, are omitted entirely.[22] Several staple attractions, such as Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, and It's a Small World, are excluded as Disney wanted to avoid criticism of cultural imperialism.[23] Restaurants seating has been revised upwards after studies found that Chinese guests take longer over meals and extensive picnic areas better adapted to extended families with grandparents; there is more live entertainment as many Chinese patrons prefer these to thrill rides.[20]

Mickey Avenue

The entrance to the park, which leads onto Mickey Avenue.

Mickey Avenue, the entrance of the park, is the park's equivalent to Main Street, U.S.A.. The area is inspired by the personalities of classic Disney cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Chip 'n' Dale, as well as Disney films including, Ratatouille, The Three Caballeros, and Lady and the Tramp.[24] Avenue M Arcade, the largest gift shop in the park,[25] is modeled after the Carthay Circle Theater.[26] The Storytellers statue, which depicts a young Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse, is located at the end of Mickey Avenue and in front of the Gardens of Imagination.

Gardens of Imagination

The "hub" of the park, this land features seven 4.5-hectare (11-acre) Chinese gardens with each of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac represented by Disney characters.[26][27] Attractions include Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Fantasia Carousel, and Marvel Super Heroes at Marvel Universe, a meet-and-greet pavilion featuring Marvel characters. Entertainment includes castle stage shows, as well as, the nightly Ignite the Dream, A Nighttime Spectacular of Magic and Light.[25][28] Mickey’s Storybook Express, a parade with a musical soundtrack and colorful performers on the longest parade route in a Disney park.

Fantasyland

Fantasyland is the park's largest land themed to classic Disney animated films. The land features the 197 ft (60 m) Enchanted Storybook Castle, themed to Disney princesses.[24][29] The castle is the largest in any Disney theme park, and features the Royal Banquet Hall restaurant, a boutique,[26] and Voyage to the Crystal Grotto —a boat ride, located beneath the castle, that takes guests past scenes from films including Tangled, Aladdin, Mulan, Fantasia, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.[26] Attractions include Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan's Flight, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration. The area features unique attractions such as the Alice in Wonderland Maze—a walk-through hedge maze inspired by the 1951 and 2010 versions film adaptations—and the Hunny Pot Spin, a spinning Teacups-style ride themed to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.[26]

Treasure Cove

Treasure Cove

Treasure Cove is themed to an 18th-century Spanish harbor town located on a Caribbean island that has been captured by Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean.[26][30][30] The land's marquee attraction is Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure, a dark ride based on the films.[30] Guests, riding in magnetically propelled boats, travel past audio-animatronic and projected depictions of Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones as the two battle against each other in attempt to seize the cove's sunken riches.[26]

The land also is home to Eye of the Storm: Captain Jack’s Stunt Spectacular, a stunt show inspired by the films and Siren's Revenge, a shipwreck-themed three-storey interactive play area set aboard a wrecked French galleon.[24][26] The land also has Explorer Canoes, a canoe ride in Treasure Cove.

Adventure Isle

Adventure Isle is the park's counterpart to Adventureland. Focused around a mysterious lost world full of hidden treasures, the land features Roaring Rapids, a river rapids ride through the land's towering Roaring Mountain and Soaring Over the Horizon, a hang gliding flight experience across the world. Additionally, the land features Tarzan: Call of the Jungle, a live acrobatic stage show, and Camp Discovery.

Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland is the park's futuristic-themed land. Unlike other Tomorrowlands, this version does not feature a traditional Space Mountain, and instead is home to TRON Lightcycle Power Run, an indoor Tron-themed roller coaster. Similarly, instead of a classic Astro Orbiter attraction, Shanghai's park includes a spinning Jet Packs ride. Other attractions include Star Wars Launch Bay, Stitch Encounter, and Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue, a differentiated version of previous Buzz Lightyear dark rides.[31]

Toy Story Land

A future land themed to the Toy Story franchise is in development and will open in 2018.[32] The original plans for Shanghai Disneyland had a Toy Story area with 2 rides, 2 restaurants, a show, and a gift shop.[33] The Celebration Café, a restaurant that opened on opening day, was meant to be in Toy Story Land. Also the nearby bathrooms are the same as the Toy Story Green Army Men attractions found at the other parks.[34]

Major complaints and controversies

Ticket issues

According to news reports from Zhejiang Television, during the first few days of the operation, some visitors who held the tickets sold from third-party partner websites were denied entry, because their tickets were not recognized by the turnstiles at the front gate. Therefore, they were forced to wait for two or more hours at the Service Centre in order to exchange for the physical tickets, or purchase them.[35]

Pricing

During the period of trial operation, many visitors complained about the high costs and prices of Shanghai Disneyland. According to estimates by some news reporters, if a family of three (two adults accompanied with a child) from Beijing decided to visit Disneyland, it would cost the family roughly RMB 5,300 (approx. US$806, €711, HK$6,256 or £550) for spending one day in it (including all the fares and round-trip railway tickets between Beijing and Shanghai), RMB 8,500 (US$1,292, €1,140, HK$10,033 or £882) for a two-day travel to it.

In addition, the prices for services and the food in the restaurants and food stands are "extremely expensive", according to complaints on major websites and WeChat. Even worse, the park cannot provide invoices, and visitors have no official ways to complain.[36]

Crowd culture

During the park's trial run operations, the park was faced with major criticism on social media about how many guests were littering, publicly relieving themselves on the plants, trespassing into areas unavailable to guests, vandalizing lamppoles, and cutting lines.

Numerous tourists ignored signs warning them to stay off the grass and to stay out of the flowerbeds. Some picked flowers.[37]

YouTube user "Disney Dwayne", an American-Chinese man, recorded footage during a two-day visit to the resort, showing and describing the rude behaviour of other guests including cutting in lines to purchase tickets and queue for attractions, apparent vandalism, the lack of personal space, guests accessing a non-public area, and one parent helping a child urinate in a public ornamental garden.[38][39]

Attendance

2016 Worldwide rank
5,600,000[5] 21

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Brzeski, Patrick (June 8, 2016). "Shanghai Disney Resort Finally Opens After 5 Years of Construction and $5.5B Spent". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Smith, Thomas (January 12, 2016). "Opening Date Set for Shanghai Disney Resort, Disney’s Newest World-Class Destination". DisneyParks Blog. Archived from the original on June 18, 2016. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Disneyland Shanghai to open 2016". The Independent. April 8, 2011. Archived from the original on November 19, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Disney and Partners Break Ground on Shanghai Disney Resort" (Press release). Shanghai Disneyland Press Room. April 8, 2011. Archived from the original on June 12, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
  5. 1 2 "TEA/AECOM 2016 Theme Index and Museum Index" (PDF). Themed Entertainment Association. 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 2, 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Rapoza, Kenneth. "Shanghai Disney To Open 2015". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 19, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Disney signs agreement for Shanghai theme park". Reuters. November 5, 2010. Archived from the original on February 17, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Shanghai Disney Resort Website « About the Resort". Disney Parks. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Construction Begins on Shanghai Disneyland Castle". Disney Parks Blog. Archived from the original on January 21, 2016.
  10. ↑ Ben Fritz in Los Angeles and James T. Areddy in Shanghai (February 3, 2015). "Shanghai Disneyland Opening Pushed to First Half of 2016". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on January 12, 2017.
  11. ↑ Fritz, Ben; Areddy, James T. "Shanghai Disneyland Opening Pushed to First Half of 2016". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on April 2, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  12. ↑ "MiceAge Disneyland Update: Shanghai Surprise". MiceAge. Archived from the original on April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  13. 1 2 Block, Alex Ben (February 2, 2015). "Disney's $5.5 Billion Shanghai Disneyland to Open In Spring 2016". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  14. ↑ Daniel, Ren (May 7, 2016). "Shanghai Disneyland trial run hit by lengthy queues". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on May 9, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  15. ↑ Glover, Erin (June 14, 2016). "Tune in for ‘Grand Opening Celebration of Shanghai Disney Resort’ Television Special, June 16 and 17". Disney Parks. Archived from the original on June 17, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  16. 1 2 3 Rachel Chang (February 3, 2016). "Disney Prices Shanghai Park Tickets Cheaper Than Hong Kong's". Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on September 5, 2016.
  17. 1 2 "Shanghai Disneyland will be the first Disney Park to adopt demand pricing". DisneyExaminer.
  18. ↑ "Inside Shanghai Disneyland: How Walt Disney’s $5.5 Billion Theme Park Is Taking A Big Risk In China". June 16, 2016. Archived from the original on June 17, 2016.
  19. ↑ Chang, Rachel (March 27, 2016). "Opening Day Tickets Sold Out Online in Hours". Archived from the original on April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  20. 1 2 3 "How Disney made sure Shanghai Disneyland doesn’t put off Chinese visitors". Archived from the original on July 14, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Disney Gathers Local Friends for First Shanghai Disneyland Attraction". Variety. December 6, 2013. Archived from the original on February 20, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  22. ↑ Frater, Patrick (June 14, 2016). "Shanghai Disney Opens With a Distinctly Chinese Focus Amid Stiff Competition". Variety. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  23. ↑ David Barboza; Brooks Barnes (June 14, 2016). "How China Won the Keys to Disney’s Magic Kingdom". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 25, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  24. 1 2 3 "Additional details revealed about Shanghai Disneyland: Tangled restaurant, Jack Sparrow stunt show, Tim Burton: Alice in Wonderland maze". Inside the Magic. Archived from the original on August 26, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  25. 1 2 "Shanghai Disneyland Themed Lands to Include New Attractions, Live Shows". Disney Parks Blog. Archived from the original on August 18, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "D23 Expo: Disney Parks & Resorts Pavilion takes you to Shanghai". MiceChat. Archived from the original on August 21, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  27. ↑ "Shanghai Disney Resort Announces Alliance Agreement and Details of the 'Garden of the Twelve Friends'". The Walt Disney Company. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Shanghai Disneyland Unveiled: What To Expect from the New Resort". Disney Blogs. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  29. ↑ Barnes, Brooks (June 16, 2016). "Shanghai Disneyland Opens Amid Rain and Pageantry". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 20, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  30. 1 2 3 "‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Themed Land to Open at Shanghai Disneyland". Variety. March 18, 2014. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  31. ↑ "上海迪士尼度假区" [Shanghai Disney Resort] (in Chinese). Archived from the original on October 11, 2015.
  32. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 11, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
  33. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 11, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
  34. ↑ "Toy Story Land Headed to Shanghai Disneyland? Photographic Proof - Theme Park University". May 26, 2016. Archived from the original on November 11, 2016.
  35. ↑ "上海迪士尼正式开园 想进园区不容易" (in Chinese). Zhejiang Television. Archived from the original on August 23, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  36. ↑ "上海：物价贵服务差管理混乱 上海迪士尼遭游客集体"吐槽"" (in Chinese). Anhui Television. Archived from the original on August 23, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  37. ↑ "Tourists are trashing Shanghai Disney, but it's not even open". FoxNews.com. Archived from the original on July 21, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  38. ↑ "Crowd Culture at Shanghai Disneyland - YouTube". YouTube. July 16, 2016. Archived from the original on July 15, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  39. ↑ McGuire, Caroline (July 18, 2016). "Video shows the rude tourists at Shanghai's Disneyland urinating in the streets". Mail Online. Archived from the original on April 26, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2017.

Coordinates: 31°08′38″N 121°39′25″E / 31.1440°N 121.6570°E / 31.1440; 121.6570

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