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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