Shanghai Village, the Other BIG Project of Shanghaî Disney Resort

Something else really big is currently being built at Shanghaî Disney Resort, right at the other end of SDL lake, and it completely escaped to our sight until now. And it's not because it hadn't been announced, it was announced last year but the location of the luxury Shanghaî Village - as it is named - was not disclosed explicitly so we couldn't knew that in fact this huge luxury shopping destination will be in fact located so near to Shanghaî Disneyland.

And don't think that Disney is not involved in it as it is a joint venture between Value Retail China and Shanghai Shendi Group, the developer of Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone (SITRZ). Shendi as we know is the joint venture with Disney and it is master planning SITRZ with premium hotels, health spas, recreation facilities and restaurants that cater to affluent tourists and residents, and of course Shanghai Disney Resort.

Shanghaî Village will be located within the core zone of SITRZ, adjacent to Shanghai Disney Resort, at the other end of the lake. Accessible by car, metro, train and bus, Shanghaî Village will also enjoy the excellent transport links of Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone.

Public transport to the Village will be provided by local buses and by Metro line 11. Metro line 11 is the first cross-provincial metro line in China. In the future, there are plans to extend Metro line 2 into a tail of the existing metro station.

From the local Shanghai Disney Resort metro station ( bottom left on the picture above ) a dedicated shuttle will transport visitors to Shanghai Village. Visitors may also choose to walk along the lakeshore paths or arrive by boat across the lake.

Shanghai Village will ultimately have more than 50,000 square metres of outlet retail and restaurant space. It will serve tourists visiting the Shanghai Disney Resort (an estimated 15 million visitors in the first year), the international and domestic tourists visiting Shanghai, as well as the catchment area of the Yangtze River Delta region, with a population of approximately 140 million.

But what i find really exciting with this Shanghaî Village is its architecture. If just like me you like art-deco style you'll be i heaven as they cleverly did the choice of a style which will remind the old romantic Shanghaî of the 20-30's, still visible on legendary Shanghaî Bund. I let you have a look at the pictures below as pictures as we know worth a thousand words...

Looks great, isn't it? Sure, it's one more place inside Shanghaî Disney Resort where they expect you to buy, eat and spend money but it will be the only luxury outlet shopping destination within the Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone - you can be sure that Disney won't have any competitor miles around - and it will be defined by "a distinctive offer of international luxury, fashion and lifestyle brands and by an authentic European shopping experience, consistent with the nine Villages by Value Retail in Europe.cShanghai Village will be one of the most important luxury shopping destinations in Asia. Shanghaî Village reflects a rewarding 15 year history shared between Disneyland Paris and the popular La Vallée Village, also developed and operated by Value Retail.

Shanghai Village will be home to a unique mix of leading international and Asian luxury and fashion brands, offering their previous seasons' collections with exceptional savings throughout the year. Fashion for men, women and children, together with luxuries for the home, will be available. A suite of carefully prepared amenities will include restaurants and cafés, offering local and international cuisine.

Shanghai Village will be located in Pudong New District, 40–60 minute drive from central Shanghai and if you think it's a long term project for SDL, you're wrong. At the time i write this article Shanghaî Village is currently being built and has an opening scheduled for ...Spring 2016! May be they'll be a bit late but the goal is to open as soon as possible after Shanghaî Disneyland opening. One more good reason to go to ShanghaI Disneyland? Probably and we'll end this article with the video below showing the project and from where the screen captures below are coming.




Pictures and video: copyright Shendi - Value Retail

Disney's Africa, a Third Theme Park Concept for Disneyland Paris

I'm always amazed how Disney fans can create amazing theme parks or attractions concepts thanks to new softwares and their own talent. JameS Studios is one of them and did this really good concept of a third theme park for Disneyland Paris which would be called "Disney's Africa". The video was posted in December 2013 so i'm a bit late on this one, but better too late than never as they say...

With Pride Rock at its center and rides or shows based on The Lion King, Tarzan, and more, this Disney's Africa would also include a Jungle Cruise version, the Kilimandjaro Safaris, etc.. The software have limits so it was obviously hard for him to create ride scenes in 3D but the creation of the park architecture and vegetation is excellent and  the whole thing has a really good editing as well as smooth camera moves.

In addition there is an excellent idea for a nighttime show with projections on Pride Rock and additional fountains and fireworks, and the whole thing is very pleasant to watch, if you accept the technical limits. Very good choice of music too. At the end James and his team did such a good work that you will surprise yourself thinking you would be pleased if this Disney's Africa was existing in real at Disneyland Paris!

So, have a look at the video which is the "complete tour" of this park concept!




There is more as James also did an excellent RCT3 creation of a Grizzly River Run re-titled "Sequoia River Run" which he envision for DLP Frontierland, of course.




Videos: copyright JameS StudioS

New Revised Renderings For George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

Nearly one year after initial designs by China's Ma Yansong were unveiled to the public, refinements to the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art planned for a lakefront site in Chicago have been released. The site will be located between Soldier Field and McCormick Place and is currently a parking lot, When MAD Architects' design was unveiled last year happened some controversy about its size and alien form. Actually it looks a bit like Imagineer John Hench early concepts for Disneyland Space Mountain, but considering that the museum will include rare memorabilia pieces from Star Wars, the "space" style of the architecture is almost logical!

Jump to my Innoventions Blog to read the full article with plenty of artworks HERE.

New Shanghaî Disneyland Pictures !

New pictures of Shanghaî Disneyland seen "from the ground" have been posted on Twitter! The first one above shows for the first time pictures of Disney Town, SDL shopping, dining and entertainment area. The picture on the top right shows the 5 Stars Shanghaî Disneyland hotel, on the other side of the lake.

As i told you when i saw the aerial picture i still think that the "streets" of Disney Town are too narrow and i won't be surprised if they have some guest flow problem when it be will open. However there might be a reason why the streets are narrow and, apart the question of land available, it might be to keep a kind of intimacy to the town to remind the old Chinese towns... we'll see.

The other picture shows the constructions site in SDL Tomorrowland. As you'll see in the background the TRON dome  - or "cover" as they call it - is now partially covered and i think it will look much better than we thought previously.

Details About Dubai Motiongate Theme Park Rides

We've got some news about Motiongate, the theme park which will be part of Dubai Parks and Resorts which plan to become the largest leisure destination in the Middle East. Motiongate is set to open in Jebel Ali in October 2016 and will be 1.9 million square feet. This one will be the  “Hollywood” theme park with 27 attractions inspired by 13 blockbuster films. Check out the new park artwork above.

DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate will have licensed rides in the park with films like The Hunger Games, Ghostbusters, Hotel Transylvania, The Smurfs, Zombieland, Shrek and more, see the list on the screen capture below. Attractions will include rollercoasters, multimedia theatre and a massive water ride which will use 793,000 gallons of water.

Here are some pics showing some of the lands, starting by Sony Pictures Studios land...

According to a comment on Themeparx, the Hotel Transylvania ride will be in a 2,800 square metre indoor space and will be seven minutes long. During it you’ll be seated in a carriage that holds four people. The ride is ‘trackless’, and there are 27 separate carriages going around at once, which means you’ll never know which way you’ll turn and you’re likely to have near-misses with other punters. The highest point of the ride is 42 metres (about the same height as the Statue of Liberty). The ‘story’ of the ride will be a surprise party hosted by the monsters in the movie.

The Smurfs land...

The Dreamworks zone...

"Studio Central"...

The Hunger Games attraction … hopefully let's hope that a bunch of teenagers will not be chasing us with weapons.

Guido Zucchi, Motiongate General Manager said of the park, “It’s going to be like Hollywood in the desert.” Let's hope they'll have air-con! When the full Dubai project will be finished i will include also a Bollywood theme park, a retail centre, a hotel operated by Marriott, and a separate Legoland park. More than 11,000 people are currently working on the parks to get them ready for the grand opening next year.

Last but not least here is a short video demo for part of the rides.




Pictures and video: copyright Dubai Parks and Resorts

Comcast Buy 51% Stake in Universal Studios Japan !

It don't look like but it might be a bigger news than it seems, as Comcast - Universal Studios owner -  will buy 51% of the company ruling Universal Studios Japan for an amount of 1.5 Billion dollars. Just like Disney with TDR, Universal Studios Japan was not own by Universal Studios U.S, it was a license and with 51% of the shares Comcast will now own USJ. More about this from a Japan Times article:

"U.S. media giant and cable operator Comcast Corp. confirmed Monday it will buy a 51 percent stake in USJ Co., operator of the Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka, for about $1.5 billion (¥180.42 billion).

It is Comcast’s biggest overseas investment, as the largest U.S. cable operator seeks international growth after being stymied in its bid to acquire its second-largest competitor Time Warner Cable Inc.

Under an agreement reached with USJ shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Comcast will purchase the shares via its unit NBCUniversal, which operates Universal Studios theme parks in Hollywood and Orlando, Florida.

“We see Comcast and NBCUniversal becoming more of a global company,” Brian Roberts, Comcast’s chief executive officer, told reporters in Osaka on Monday. “This is the beginning of us making more global investments,” he said, adding the USJ deal will be Comcast’s biggest investment outside the U.S.

Philadelphia-based Comcast, which in April dropped its bid to buy Time Warner Cable Inc. amid opposition from antitrust regulators, has been seeking growth elsewhere, including from digital media in the U.S.

USJ Chief Executive Officer Glenn Gumpel said at the Osaka news conference that the company will drop its plan to relist shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange for now. He also expressed his intention to resign at the end of November.

USJ has kept some distance from Universal Studios Hollywood, and some attractions have features that are unique to Japanese anime and games.

The planned acquisition will likely bring into focus how and whether it will have any impact on the ongoing talks between USJ and Okinawa to build a new theme park in the island prefecture, industry observers said.

Universal Studios Japan opened in 2001 to become a major tourist draw in the Kansai region. Although it had been suffering from a drop in visitors, the theme park drew a record 12.7 million visitors in fiscal 2014 after adding the popular Harry Potter zone.

USJ was delisted in 2009 from the bourse’s Mothers market for startups due to the lackluster performance of its shares. Goldman Sachs’ investment fund acquired USJ."

Now, what effect this could have in the future? Richard Bilbao from Orlando Business Journal has some thoughts about it and explain the few reasons why the Japan theme park buyout may help Orlando:

New ride ideas: Now there's wasn't anything keeping the parks from cross-pollinating since a Harry Potter attraction opened at Universal Studios Japan last year. But having the parks under one umbrella will further promote the parks to share best practices and technology that could land Orlando's parks some new ride ideas. Universal Orlando seems to be the pioneer in new attractions, but it doesn't mean the other parks don't have anything to offer.

Unifies leadership: Comcast Corp. is cutting out the middleman on making sure the theme parks are all on the same page. This acquisition streamlines the final decisions being made for a majority of the parks and should play well on improving visitation and expansion at the parks.

More money, more expansions: Comcast's executives have had nothing but praise to say about Universal Orlando Resort. The theme park has been growing in attendance aggressively, and they know it will take spending more to keep that momentum. The success of the Japan park should help keep the wallets of Comcast's decision makers fat and ready to spend each year.

Discover Light Chaser Animation Studios "Little Door Gods" Trailer

So far 3D Animation Studios leaders are Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, the folks at Fox or Sony and a few others. Well, it seems that we may have to add to the list a new animation studios and this one is from China and named Light Chaser Animation. The trailer for their new movie "Little Door Gods" to be released in China January 1st has a great animation quality, and the film storyline asks: What happens to good luck “door god” decorations when no one in contemporary society believes in their spiritual powers anymore?

Written and directed by Light Chaser founder Gary Wang, Little Door Gods match occidental 3D animation standards and boost the ones of Chinese feature animation usually produced in China. Cartoon Brew did an article about it that you can read HERE and Light Chaser told them that "the studio plans to qualify the film for the feature animation category of this year’s Academy Awards, which would likely make Little Door Gods the first homegrown Chinese animated feature to compete in the category."

At a press conference in Beijing, "Wang and producer Yu Zhou explained that a team of 160 people spent two-and-a-half years producing Little Door Gods, while the script went through 30 versions of continuous refinement. Zhou said that the film required 80 million CPU render hours, comparable to American films. Both the music and sound effects were produced in Dolby Atmos, a first for a domestic Chinese movie production. Little Door Gods also marks the first time that a Chinese animation studio has worked with Skywalker Sound."

Little Door Gods will begin playing its roadshow on October 3rd in Qingdao, Changchun, Changzhou, Zhengzhou, Kunming, Foshan, and Taiyuan. No American distribution is set at this time.




Picture and video: copyright Light Chaser Animation