www.themeparkinsider.com: Shanghai's castle will be Disney's largest, housing a boat ride as well as a princess meet and greet, a "Once Upon a Time Adventure" walk-through attraction, and a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. Here's what the exterior will look like, according to Disney's design concept:
7 comments:
I can definitely get behind this concept, however i’m wondering what the motivation was to build the largest one in Shanghai. Obviously it would incredibly difficult to build larger ones at their main location in Orlando, and since they’re building an entirely new park it gives them more opportunity to do so, but it almost feels like a decentralization of “the magic”.
It might be a really good thing, to diversify their customer base and allow for more people to enjoy what Disney has to offer, but its curious to think about how this could affect the mystery of Disney in the future if they continue to develop parks all over the world. If everyone has a Disney in their backyard, a lot of the magic could potentially get muddled up. At the same time, Shanghai is a far enough distance that this wouldn’t be much of an issue, but every new park addition does kind of change up the dynamics.
We, in the entertainment world know just as much as anyone how much technology has evolved recently and I am really excited to see how Disney incorporates this new technology into their new park. Most of the other disney parks were written before the recent technological boom of the past 10 years and while Disney has adapted their already existing parks, with a new park there is so much they can do. As for the castle, they are making it so big because they can. Building technologies are expanding greatly as well and Disney is essentially building a real castle with a lot of usable space inside. this is different from their other castles which have a large part of the insides unusable for attractions or things like that. However, I am not sure how I feel about putting an boat ride attraction in the castle since a castle wouldn't have that. I like the idea of having a walk through tour and they can furnish the castle like it is a castle and the visitors are actually walking through cinderella or whoevers castle.
The rendering for that new castle looks absolutely beautiful, and the plans for what it’s going to have inside sounds really good. Disney is fantastic at creating the fantastical, and its newest and largest castle is no exception to that. I’m excited to see what the water ride looks like, and I think it’s pretty cool that Disney is trying to incorporate a ride like that into a castle. I’m amused that they’re still far behind, but hopefully they’ll be able to complete everything by this new date (although I’m not sure how possible that is if they are going to try to incorporate a water ride). Also, I hope that when the castle is completed it will photograph like the rendering, because the photo of it under construction is rather bleak looking. I know that the weather wasn’t great and that it was probably taken on an iPhone, but I’m still excited to see how well the final product photographs with an actual sky in the background.
I am totally behind making big great Disneyland’s all over the world to spread the Disney magic, but I also agree with Brennan about why they decided to put the biggest castle in Shanghai. It seems like such a random location, but at the same time maybe that makes it even a better idea because it will get more tourism in parts of the world that you might not think of visiting right away, which will in turn make more people exposed to more cultures. This castle also reminds me of how countries are always trying to make the biggest building in the world. It would be really funny if they started competing for the biggest Disneyland castle too.
I’m also kind of confused by the boat ride, but I think if they do it right, it could be really fun to ride. Basically I just want to see what it looks like finished inside and out and what kind of cool technological things they have added throughout the castle.
When last I heard from him at USITT a few yeas ago, Doug Rogers, who was my uncles roommate in undergrad at Baylor, was still working on the architectural designs for the Shanghai castle, and mentioned that there were problems with the fact that the Disney castle was built on was built on a swamp and that the Chinese engineering was not equipped to deal with the issue. That aside, I think it’s a smart move for Disney to open up a new market of theme parks in Shanghai, I really think the success of the part will depend less on the actual content of the park, but more on how the “Disney culture” is perceived in the population. In America at least it seems to be the “ideal family vacation.” I wonder if it will have the same impact in China.
I love the idea of creating a Disney castle with more usable space inside. The first time I ever went to anything disney was two years ago when I was 16. So I although my experience was amazing, I was never really saw it from the "magical" side. So I was immediately confused by the idea of having a Disney castle that you couldn't really go inside. But the creation of a Disney castle that is not only bigger but has more available space, seems to be a really smart idea. Also when I went to Disney World, I felt like the main castle (Cinderella's castle I believe...) felt very off limits. Like it was something to be looked at more than entered. It just seemed very unapproachable, which, if I were much younger, would have been very disappointing. So having a bigger and more approachable castle would greatly improve the experience of many kids going there. Shanghai does seem like a very random place, but if it works there hopefully it can spread to more locations.
I loved the concept art and the renderings for the castle. I think this really adds to their collection of castles but I don't think it adds to disney. The more they build the less i feel like its the happiest place on earth. It becomes more like the happiest places on earth. I'm sure the fact that its in china explains why its so big. I've read many articles about themed entertainment and Asia's relationship and influence on its process. from what I've heard and read china's mind set likes having the "one great thing". Industry professionals have told me they mostly want to have the new best thing out there and the promise that it will yield the entire nation honor and wealth. China now gets to say they have the biggest disney castle in the world...and that will indeed accomplish their goals.
Post a Comment