Thursday, August 11, 2011

More about Shanghaî Disneyland Fantasyland + Tom Staggs discloses SDL operation mode



There is more news about Shanghaî Disneyland! First, Shanghaî Daily posted this morning these two new renderings of the Shanghaî Disneyland castle which show the outside and the interior of the planned Shanghai Disney Resort's Storybook Castle. An ornate archway (rendering on the right) will provide a grand entrance to the castle and in the heart of "Enchanted Storybook Castle" will be a magnificent winding staircase (rendering on the left) that will lead guests on a "Once Upon a Time Adventure" featuring Disney princesses.

More interesting is that Shanghaî Daily also confirmed that SDL visitors "will be able to take a 10-minute ferry boat trip from the ground floor of the castle around other scenic spots in the resort". On this last info Shanghaî Daily is right and wrong at the same time. I can confirm that there will be a long slow flume ride (slow like Story Book Land is) but it will go all around Fantasyland and not all around the park. And, yes, this flume ride will go from SDL castle ground floor but before going out all over Fantasyland the boats will also move under the castle, which will be a premiere in a Disney theme park. Finally, i'm not sure that the word "ferry" used about the boats in the Shanghaî Daily article is the right one as i will be surprised if the boats going around Fantasyland look like "ferry boats", we'll know more about this in the future...



And what about the Fantasyland rides, you ask? Well, considering that the Dumbo and Carousel rides will be placed on the other side of the castle in the big garden area right in front of it what kind of Fantasyland dark rides can we expect? Apparently, only the Peter Pan's Flight and the Winnie the pooh rides will find place at Shanghaî Disneyland Fantasyland. So, no Snow White or Pinnochio dark rides BUT the Seven Dwarf Mine Coaster which will open at WDW new Fantasyland should be include in SDL Fantasyland (as long as they don't change their plans, of course).



There is no doubt that there will be more rides in SDL Fantasyland and very probably they will be based on Chinese legends, it will be the right place for that, but no details yet about these. Apparently you can also expect a big maze, may be themed on Alice in Wonderland but also no confirmation about the theme yet.

Little by little details about Shanghaî Disneyland emerged and we might know much more about it in a few days at the D23 Convention. For those of you planning to be there it will be interesting to have a close look at the Disney Parks "Carousel of Projects" section as i've heard that there should be a Shanghaî Disneyland area in it!

Edited: Last Minute SDL News! The China People's Daily online just released an article saying that "In an interview with the International Finance News yesterday, Tom Staggs, President of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, released information about the latest progress and specific details of the project.

Staggs said the project is in full swing since it broke ground four months ago. The land leveling is underway the blueprint-based design work is also coming to an end.

As for the details, Staggs revealed that some special design elements will be applied to Shanghai Disneyland. First, the landmark for this theme park is the world's largest, highest and most interactive castle. Second, the castle will be named "Fantastic Fairytale Castle," which is different from the other castles that are named after princesses.

The "Shanghai Mode" is also applied to other fields. With a unique management method, Walt Disneyland and the Chinese party will jointly participate in investment, construction and administrative management of the future amusement park Disneyland Shanghai and other facilities. These all create a precedent in Disney's overseas theme park project management. In this regard, Staggs made more detailed disclosures..

"Disney and Shendi Group established two joint companies: One runs the resort, in which Disney holds most of the shares. The other, as the operator of the resort project, owns and invests in the resort and the theme park, in which Shendi Group holds most of the shares," he said.

He said profits will be distributed to partners on both sides, which is also the precondition for the cooperation. Yet, the specific profit distribution proportion cannot be disclosed."

BUT, according to another China Daily article: "Disney and Shendi Group established two joint companies: "A source close to the deal disclosed that 70 percent of the shares of the management company in charge of the operation of the Disney theme park is controlled by Walt Disney and 30 percent held by Shendi. The properties of the park and its facilities will be controlled by Shendi holding 57 percent of the shares and Walt Disney holding 43 percent.

"To put it in a simple way, Shendi provides funding and land, while Walt Disney offers funding and intellectual property. The two sides share the profits according to the shares they hold," the source said.

All pictures: copyright Disney





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9 comments:

Marco Antonio Garcia said...

Are they going to build a Mulan dark ride in Fantasyland?

Alain Littaye said...

Good question, Marco. They might build a Mulan ride, but so far i don't know the answer...

Michael Burgower said...

I am so excited for this resort and is excited about the castle and fanstyland i love that they will put 7 dwarf coaster and peter pan the alice and wonderland maze is not a bad idea either and pooh is alway a classic. Do you know anything about the other lands??? And also do u know if HK Disneyland will get any new fanstyland ride because if they can get 2 or 3 new rides in fanstyland it would really help then out. Thanks for your articles and is excited to read them when its the expo

Alain Littaye said...

Michael, the only new rides for HKDL Fantasyland will be those in Toy Story Playland opening later this year.

Johnathan said...

HKDL will be.. :( Probably demolished forever?

Alain Littaye said...

I hope not! It's a wonderful little resort as you will see in my upcoming updates...

robert metzler said...

hello alian this for Johnathan: they dont that would be lose money and one thing disneyland will be never completed it will continue to grow as long as still there is walt disney . for alain did you shanghai disneyland will be large resort i dont know how many theme and water park giong be . robert

No said...

I am surprised that Tom Staggs announced the operation mode for Shanghai Disneyland. I assumed that before they broke ground for the construction ceremony, they have finalized all the details for fincancing, management rights for the Disney park operations. Tom's announcement seemed to me that there had been some disagreements over (1) who pays for the expensive construction works and how much (2) who controls/manages what operations in the park - management rights.

Runescape Gold said...

We are therefore excited for this holiday resort which is pumped up about the actual fortress as well as fanstyland i like that they'll set Seven dwarf rollercoaster and john p pot the actual alice along with wonderland maze isn't a bad idea sometimes and also pooh will be alway a classic. Have you any idea something regarding the various other countries???