Sunday, August 14, 2011

First picture of Shanghaî Disneyland Castle ?



Is the picture above, shot recently in China, the very first picture showing Shanghaî Disneyland castle structure? Are the pictures below showing SDL Fantasyland walls?





It could have been, but no, these are not pictures from Shanghaî Disneyland! First it would be too soon, the castle construction won't probably begin before at least one year, and two, these pictures are coming from a video report of Catherine Hyland showing something incredible. Supposed to be called Wonderland, these are in fact pictures of a giant chinese theme park - not one that "never" was, but that "almost" was.

For reasons that i don't know, probably financial reasons, the works began on the Wonderland theme park which was supposed to be China's biggest theme park in the north of Beijing - close to the Badaling Highway leading to the Great Wall - and then everything was stopped and literally abandoned. What was already built has never been destroyed and just remain like it was. Incredible. It is now a kind of giant playground for kids of the neighborhood!

Have a look at Catherine's video below and you can see more screen shots on the Graphisme and Interactivité blog HERE. Let's just hope that Shanghaî Disneyland will not have the same fate! ( probably not! )


Wonderland from catherine Hyland on Vimeo.



Pictures and video: copyright Catherine Hyland

Thanks to Travel Pics for more infos about the park's location!

8 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

Creeeeeepy! Where in China is this?

Alain Littaye said...

Apparently, near Beijing

TravelPics said...

Indeed, this "park" is in the north of Beijing. It's very close to the Badaling Highway leading to the Great Wall. I've seen it last year and I couldn't believe my eyes. It was like a part of Disneyland in the middle of the desert. You can only see the top of the castle's skeleton above the first walls, and I wondered if that park had ever been opened. Sad...

DuyAnh92 said...

They have something like World Bazzaar and look exactly like Tokyo Disneyland

DuyAnh92 said...

They have something like World Bazzaar and look exactly like Tokyo Disneyland

Will said...

Do you think Disney may have something to do with the end of construction there? Apparantly, Wonderland looks like Disneyland - maybe Chinese officials stopped the Wonderland project as part of their deals with Disney.

Alain Littaye said...

It's a good question, Will, and to say the truth i also thought about this. My guess is that the Shanghaî Disneyland project might have had an influence in why the Wonderland project was stopped, BUT it also might have been simply a financial or chinese regulations problem...not to mention the project that Universal Studios had to build a park near Beijing... I'm afraid we might never know the truth about the real reason...

Marco Antonio Garcia said...

They certainly tried to copy Tokyo Disneyland, but it doesn't look like a Disney park, it looks more like a cheap generic Chinese Disney imitation.