Friday, January 24, 2014

Shanghaî Disneyland Update !


What a week, folks, with news and updates about almost every park and we will end the week with the latest news about Shanghaî Disneyland - news, not rumors!

It is officially announced by SDL press office: the first of the two Disney-themed hotels in Shanghaî Disney Resort topped out on Wednesday: "The first topping out of a front of house building at Shanghai Disney Resort was celebrated today at the resort build site, marking a new milestone in the project’s development. The moment was commemorated when concrete was poured into the last section of the roof structure for a key building in the resort’s retail, dining and entertainment area. The hotel will feature 800 rooms over seven floors and will offer Guests stunning views of Shanghai Disneyland, the retail, dining and entertainment district and the resort’s central lake.


SDL press office don't mention the name of the SDL hotel but i think they're talking about the 5 stars Shanghaî Disneyland hotel located near the lake which will indeed have 7 floors and face SDL Castle, you have the plan below.

By the way, talking about hotels, the chinese press also talk about the announcement of an Atlantis Hotel which will be built nearby SDL, in this case a "non -Disney" hotel: "Local media have reported that a 7-star Atlantis hotel could also be developed outside but near the resort. Chinese developer Fosun International has said it plans to build a new ultra-luxury water-based resort near the attraction in Shanghai's Pudong district". 



The hotel topping out was preceded by the installation last week of the first vertical steel for Shanghai Disneyland’s “mountain”, marking the official start of vertical construction for another remarkable attraction at the resort’s Magic Kingdom-style theme park. The mountain will be located in a key area of the theme park and will be the second highest structure at Shanghai Disney Resort after the Enchanted Storybook Castle. On completion it will also stand as the highest “mountain” in Shanghai’s Pudong New District. 


Although there is no indication about the land and the attraction for which they're building this "mountain", i suspect that it will be the one on Roaring Rapids, the raft ride supposedly with Audio-Animatronics dinosaurs, the one you can see on the bottom right of the rendering below. There won't be anyway dozens of "mountains" at Shanghaî Disneyland. There will be a smaller one for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, but this one is too small to be "the second-highest structure at Shanghai Disney Resort after the Enchanted Storybook Castle" that's why i place my bets on the one for Roaring Rapids.



More news, this time about the transportation to Shanghaî Disneyland! It was announced officially yesterday that Shanghai will not have a special Disney Line like Hong Kong but some Metro trains running from Luoshan Road to Shanghai Disneyland will feature Disney elements.

"Three trains on Line 11 will be painted with popular Disney characters inside and outside the carriages, Zhang Jianbin, the chief planner of the Shanghai Shentong Metro Group, the city's subway operator, told legislators at the annual session of the Shanghai People's Congress. "Line 11 will not become a special Disney Line like in Hong Kong because it will mainly serve regular commuters," Zhang said. To serve the theme park, Line 11 will have an extension from Luoshan Road Station to Disneyland with stops at Kangqiao Road E., Hengxin Road and Disneyland. Passengers will be able to change at Luoshan Road Station for a ride on one of the three theme-park painted trains, he said".

"The 9.2-kilometer Metro line extension will include 7.7 kilometers above ground but the final stretch will be underground. Passengers will enter the park through an underground passageway. The under-construction Disneyland Metro station will feature a blue color scheme with fantasy elements. The Disneyland station will be partially underground but will allow in natural light indoors. According to officials it will be surrounded by an artificial lake, trees and shrubs."

That's all for today about Shanghaî Disneyland!

Pictures: copyright Disney - Shendi

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Has been anything said about the winning design from the architecture contest for the station?

Alain Littaye said...

No, no specific info on the winning design was given, unfortunately.

Anonymous said...

Hotel layout looks very similar to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I wonder if it is Africa/Jungle themed, but without the animals.

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised that Disney will build a dinosaur-inspired ride. In my opinion dinosaur themes (except for Jurassic Park!) are a little outdated.
Maybe this is an early answer to upcoming Universal Parks in China, since Universal always includes Jurassic Park in their parks!