D&M Exclusive: A Closer Look at the Construction of Shanghaî Disneyland Enchanted Storybook Castle

I've got a fantastic pictorial article for you today about the construction of Shanghaî Disneyland Enchanted Storybook Castle, thanks to a video posted on a Chinese news site. The news report in itself was not extremely interesting for Disney fans as they used mostly stock shots of the SDL model or Disney U.S theme parks but it included pictures from where are coming the screen captures below. 

Since the last two years we've seen the castle and its towers rising little by little but many sculpted elements were created separately in the meantime, stored backstage and then added to the castle. What you'll see today is rare pictures of these elements as well as workers at work inside the castle. So, let's not wait anymore and have a look at these pics, shall we?

We'll start by a few pics of the castle as seen from outside as i know you like these shots so much. The picture at the top shows some of the castle tower and their different styles. Some have concerns about the mix of different architectural styles for this castle, and i have too. I'm still not convinced that it will" work", but i give it the benefit of the doubt until i see it in real next June. Same for the colors. My first reaction was "Bring back John Hench from his grave and ask him to redesign all the castle colors!". Let's wait for the final painting and see how it will look on opening day. The good point with painting is that they can change them later - even if "later" probably means "10 years later" when they will repaint the castle if no one is satisfied... something they can't do of course with the architecture.

And now, let's have a look at these sculpted elements, as some bring surprises.

Yes, it's some of the animals from Disney's classic animated film Bambi that you see sculpted above, and below it's the mouses from Cinderella.

             

On the next picture i think that we have Chip and Dale...

Note that Disney characters won't be "hidden" - if i can say as they'll be clearly visible - on each sculpted elements, like these other ones below.

Of course, all these innumerable pieces must be fixed on the castle and that's what Shanghaî Disneyland workers are doing now...

...while others take care of the final touches here and there.

Hope you enjoyed this update on the making of Shanghaî Disneyland castle, more Shanghaî Disneyland updates will come soon. Disney and more is the only Disney fan site which post Shanghaî Disneyland updates several times per week always doing the best to find for you never seen before pictures. Your support is not only always appreciated but truly needed. Please consider donating via Paypal, you can use if you wish the Paypal button below. Thanks!
 

Shanghaî Disneyland Update !

Let's start the week with a Shanghaî Disneyland article, would we? Bob Woodruff is correspondent for ABC News and is the one who did the interview of Bob Iger right at Shanghai Disneyland site last July. He posted on Instagram some amazing pics shot when he was there and these pictures gives for the first time an idea of the gigantic dimensions of Shanghaî Disneyland Enchanted Storybook Castle. In addition, i post the aerial picture above that i may have posted before but this one is in amazing quality.

Bob Woodruff is on the picture below, will you find him?

Yes, he's HERE:

Bob ( Woodruff ) and Bob ( Iger ) during the shooting of the interview at Shanghaî Disneyland site.

If you've never watched the interview, here it is!




While we are in Shanghaî three more infos: first, it was announced this morning: Shanghai launches emergency plans for Shanghai Disneyland park:

"Shanghai authorities have launched a series of emergency plans to manage the expected massive flow of visitors at Shanghai Disney. The emergency plans are expected to cover areas including crowd control procedures, rapid transit system and shuttle services, extreme weather scenarios, and other public security issues.

Zhou Xianqiang is an official from the Shanghai International Tourism and Resort Zone Administration Committee: "We have a general contingency plan in place, which centers on the control of big crowds, and we will also have a specific plan for crowd control. Along with that, we will carry out emergency drills based on what is actually needed to ensure good management."

The city will also add more subway trains on Line 11 upon the official opening of the new Disney park and traffic hours will be extended. Shanghai Disney Park in the city's Pudong District, will officially open on June 16, and is expected to host around 10 million visitors a year."

Another SDL news, and not a good one this time as Shanghaî Disneyland may face fireworks ban on polluted days...

"Fireworks are an important attraction for visitors to Disneyland, but the mega park set to open in Shanghai will have to comply with firework bans on polluted days.

An official from the city's fire department said all firework shows will be prohibited without exception when the air quality index is above 201. It was added that Shanghai has a licensing system that bans large-scale firework shows without approval.

Fan Xiping, chairman of Shanghai Shendi Group, Chinese partner of Walt Disney Co, said the theme park is located outside the Shanghai outer ring, and is therefore not normally restricted by the firework ban. However, the park will minimize the effects of spectacular pyrotechnics on the local environment and use fireworks that are the most advanced and environmentally friendly."

The last info is about the tower now in place at the entrance of Shanghaî Disney Store. As you'll see on the video below it's more than a simple decor element and there is mechanims turning inside as well as light effects. But there is more and it's small figures of Disney, Pixar and Marvel characters - see picture above - which will move around probably every 15 minutes like the ones of the It's a Small World clock. In the video we can spot Snow White, Minnie Mouse, Buzz Lightyear  but also Iron Man, the Hulk, etc... 




See you soon for a new Shanghaî Disneyland update!


Pictures: copyright Bob Woodruff

Videos: copyright ABC, George Tzeng

First Picture of Shanghaî Disneyland Castle Model

We've seen Shanghaî Disneyland castle in artworks or CGI renderings but here is what i think is the first picture showing a WDI model of the castle. The picture was shot apparently during a visit at WDI in Glendale, although it could have been shot at SDL office in Shanghaî. You can see a few more by going on the blog indicated at the bottom of the picture.