Showing posts with label Shanghai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shanghai. Show all posts

Thursday, March 20, 2014

DreamWorks Jeffrey Katzenberg Unveil Plan for Shanghai Dream Center !


Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation and Chinese partner Li Ruigang, Chairman & CEO of China Media Capital, together with representatives from the Shanghai government unveiled today designs for the 15 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) and 463000 square meters entertainment complex in Shanghai, expanding Hollywood's growing ties with China.




From Associated Press: The "DreamCenter," will open in 2017 and will have a 500-seat IMAX cinema with international film festivals and red carpet events in mind, bars, restaurants and performance venues, the companies said. It will also showcase a "Dream Avenue" theater district modeled on London's West End and New York City's Broadway.


The project is led by "Kung Fu Panda" and "Shrek" maker DreamWorks Animation, Chinese investment fund CMC Capital Partners, whose owners include state-owned companies, and Hong Kong developer Lan Kwai Fong.


"This will become the world's third great urban center of entertainment and arts alongside New York's Broadway and London's West End," said DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg at a news conference in a former cement factory, which will become one of the performance venues.


The area near the 2010 Shanghai Expo site in the city's west will also include the headquarters of animation production company Oriental DreamWorks, a joint venture between DreamWorks and Chinese partners which will produce "Kung Fu Panda 3."
Below, a digital rendering of the 500-seat IMAX cinema.


The 15-hectare (40-acre) site includes eight outdoor events plazas. The project gives Shanghai an opportunity to diversify beyond its status as a financial and manufacturing center by adding media and cultural industries.


Another project highlighting Hollywood's influence in China is Shanghai Disneyland, the first Disney park on the Chinese mainland. It is scheduled to open in the city's Pudong district at the end of next year. Below, a rendering of the future Dream Center office buildings in Shanghaî.


Here is another short video of the announcement ceremony.




Pictures: copyright Dreamworks Animation

Friday, May 31, 2013

Shanghaî Disneyland Update : SDL will use green technologies to generate power ! Plus: Park Entrance Map, and more



Last news from Shanghaî Disneyland as Shanghaî Disney Resort Management Company announced yesterday that Shanghaî Disneyland will adopt green technologies to generate some of its energy!


"SDL theme park will use natural gas as its primary energy source for electricity, heating, cooling and compressed air via distributed energy systems, thereby increasing overall energy efficiency three-fold, according to company sources.

A combined cooling and heating plant will be built and operated on site by Shanghai International Tourism and Resort Zone New Energy Company Limited, a joint-venture company owned by Huadian Fuxin Energy Corporation Limited, Shanghai Shendi (Group) Co Ltd, and Shanghai Yiliu Energy Group Co Ltd.

The plant will cost about 520 million yuan (US$84.8 million) and be connected to the city's power grid. It will be operational in time for the amusement park's grand opening, scheduled for the end of 2015.

Upon completion, the primary energy utilization rate of the project will be more than 80 percent, much higher than that of conventional energy resources, which is around 45 percent, said Huo Guangzhao, vice president of Huadian Fuxin Energy Corporation Limited.

The plant is expected to generate 170 million kilowatt-hours of on-grid energy annually, which can save about 20,000 tons of standard coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 75,000 tons, according to Huo.

"Shanghai Disney Resort has been devoted to seeking new technology and business solutions which reduce our impact on the environment, save resources, and promote sustainable technology, and to supporting all kinds of cooperation with our local partners," said Howard Brown, senior vice president overseeing development of the resort.

"The project is an excellent example of partnership, localization and Disney's long-term commitment to environment protection. We are excited to be creating a world-class destination here in Shanghai to showcase environmentally friendly and leading Chinese and international technologies," he added".




Always about SDL, Luke, from Luke and the Temple of Fun has posted last monday the interesting map above showing the connection between the bus terminal, the train station and the park entrance. Because everything written on it is in chinese, here is the translation - thanks to Luke! - for each word:


0. Equipment room
1. Bus terminal
2. Side entrance to connection area
3. Side entrance to connection area 
4. Park side entrance
5. Side entrance to connection area
6. Entertainment and dinning area 1
7. Park side entrance
8. Entertainment and dinning area 2
9. Park side entrance
10. Entertainment area
11. Park main entrance 
12. Entertainment area
13. Lake
14. Ferry station
15. Park side entrance
16. Construction line 
17. Construction line
18. Connection area (name of the whole area)
19. Vehicle entrance
20. Park service route

As you may have noticed, the map also show the entrance of the park (in blue, below) - as well as the entrance street which will be called Mickey Avenue (in orange, below) - and here is this part of the map in bigger size. Note that the part on the left will be the dining, shopping and entertainment area located outside the park although sticked to it.


This last picture is a zoom on the train station itself which, as you've seen on the first big map will be apparently located on the right, when the bus station will be on the left. Either the bus terminal or the train stations will be located quite near from the park so SDL visitors shouldn't have to walk too much to reach the park entrance!



Pictures: copyright Disney - Shendi - Many thanks to Luke and the Temple of Fun!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Shanghaî Disneyland Update



Here is a new Shanghaî Disneyland update and i have to say that it's pretty hard to have any infos about SDL as WDI is quite well keeping the secret on this park. That said, i have some new ones that are quite interesting. The first one is not necessarily a good news as from what i've been told it seems that the first stage of SDL might be a downsized plan of what was originally envisioned. If that is true it could explain why there is so much space available in the park for "future expansion" as we saw last month in my previous article. You must remind that Disney is not alone to invest in the SDL project and that a joint-venture with the chinese was created. If it happened that the chinese didn't agreed to put the amount of money that Disney has expected this downsized plan might be real and due to insufficient capital. However, and although my source is as always a reliable one, please take this info as a not-totally-confirmed news until i'll be able to double-check it.

Let's have a look now at what rides we can expect in the park. Laughing Place has posted some weeks ago a list of the SDL expected rides which is quite accurate, but not totally as we will see.

So, in Fantasyland according to LP the rides would be:

-Storybook Castle
-Castle Boat Ride
-Dumbo
-Carousel
-Tea Cups
-Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
-Peter Pan's Flight
-Winnie The Pooh ride

LP is right on most of them except that the tea cups ride would be replaced by the Winnie the Pooh Hunny Pot Spins. Talking about Pooh, the SDL Pooh dark ride will be the same than in HKDL and not unfortunately the Tokyo Disneyland version. Fantasyland seems to be the most completed land and my source also mentioned a Alice in Wonderland garden/maze and that the Carousel will be themed with a Fantasia theme, which by the way is a good idea.

Let's have a look now at Adventureland. According to LP the rides should be:

-Lost World River Rapids

Pirates Cove:
-Pirates of the Caribbean Water Ride
-Pirate Stunt Show

Laughing Place is right on all of them and i've been confirmed that there will be indeed a POTC stunt show, may be partly inspired from the one previously envisioned for DLP WDS and which was never built. The Dinosaurs "Lost World River Rapids" ride will be indeed a raft ride with AA Dinos but there will be also in Adventureland, and on another theme, a walk through attraction. It might be one called "Sunken Treasure" that i've been told about but so far the mystery of what would be precisely this "Sunken Treasure" still remains a WDI secret.

About the POTC ride i thought that WDI would put at SDL the concept which has been developed for HKDL but in fact it might not be the case. More strangely, i've been told that SDL might not have many audio-animatronics at its opening, and even in POTC there might be less AA than in other POTC versions. Apparently WDI will also use projections effects. I can agree with you that all this remains not perfectly clear but Shanghaî Disneyland is a big puzzle that will take the next three years to be completed and the parts of the puzzle are coming one by one, little by little ...

Let's move to Tomorrowland rides now. According to LP SDL Tomorrowland should have:

-TRON Indoor Rollercoaster
-Astro Orbitor / Rockets Ride

I can't confirm the Astro-Orbitor but the TRON motor bike coaster seems to be definitely a "go". A Stitch encounter is also envisioned and it should be the same one than we can find at HKDL and Paris WDS.

Apparently Tomorrowland will also have a Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster ride but from what i've heard it will be a different version than the interactive dark ride we know and it'll be changed into a ride with projections rather than animatronics or 2D animated decor. Could WDI recycle the Toy Story Mania technology in a ride dedicated to the universe of Buzz Lightyear? I'm afraid we'll have to wait a little bit to know exactly the truth!

Picture: copyright Disney

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Cracking the Shanghaî Disneyland Case



Sam Wilson is a huge Imagineering fan and a faithful Disney and more reader since i've started the site. Recently he has created his own site and yesterday he did a great article about Shanghaî Disneyland.

For the reasons we know WDI don't disclose any infos about SDL rides - mostly because Disney want to avoid SDL ideas to be stolen by other chinese theme parks - but this lack of infos didn't stopped Sam Wilson to try to crack the Shanghai Disneyland case. So, after analyzing all the infos available on different sites like Screamscape or Blue Sky Disney as well as official renderings or the SDL model displayed at D23 he did this very first Shanghaî Disneyland map that you can see below - click on it to see it in larger size.



You will read in Sam article how he did to create this map. Is he right? He probably is for some of the rides and may be not on others but that's not the problem as SDL won't open before three or four years and some of WDI choices might change. Also, in his article Sam is saying that SDL Tomorrowland might have a People Mover. It would be a good idea and we'll see if it will be the case or not but recently i've found this picture shot during an Imagineering presentation at the last D23 Expo. This rendering was apparently done for a new People Mover ride at Disneyland Anaheim, so there is no relation with SDL. Still, it's an interesting artwork as if you have a closer look to it you'll see that this new People Mover had a totally new ride system. In fact you can see that riders are sit on a platform attached to a robotic arm which obviously have the ability to move in all directions while also moving all around Tomorrowland.



What was probably envision here was to use the Kuka robot arm technology, the one that Universal used in the Harry Potter land E-Ticket ride. Universal succeeded to have an exclusivity on the use of the Kuka robot arm technology in theme park rides for the next ten years, but if i remember it well they only have this exclusivity for the U.S. Which means that Disney might be free to use this People Mover / Kuka arm idea for other theme parks, and why not at Shanghaî Disneyland? To be honest i don't think they will use it at SDL as they probably wouldn't have shown the artwork at D23 if they were planning to include this ride at Shanghaî Disneyland.

Now, to come back to SDL and Sam's map i suppose that you're interested to learn how Sam did it and how he put all the infos together to create this great map, so it's time to jump to Sam Wilson's article on his site to learn more about Shanghaî Disneyland secrets! It's right HERE.

Picture: copyright Disney

Map: copyright Sam Wilson

Download the great Tokyo Disney Sea Wallpapers app!
Click HERE for a direct access to the TDS Wallpapers HD iTunes page
or READ my article first HERE.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Shanghaî Disneyland : The Surprise behind the Christmas Tree



Bob Weis, the WDI Imagineer who has supervised the huge placemaking of Disney's California Adventure and who is now at the head of Shanghaî Disneyland creative development - has posted on his blog on December 8 the above picture in a post called "Shanghai Christmas Tree at Site Office".

Well, we're happy to learn that SDL Imagineers are ready to celebrate Christmas but as you can guess it's not the christmas tree in this image that drew my attention. It's what is behind it. Of course Bob took great care that what is on the wall of the SDL office can't be seen in details and the image was posted in very small size and low resolution. But let's have a look anyway to see if we can learn more from this image when we make it bigger.



Right behind the tree are displayed pictures and what is it written above them? : "Government Works". And indeed it is pictures of the works on SDL site. As we know currently they're preparing the ground and nothing is built so there is nothing of big interest for us in these pictures. BUT, what do we see right in the middle? That's right, a Shanghaî Disneyland map! And it would be difficult to have a better source as the picture was shot at SDL site, and, thanks to the christmas tree, we know that it was shot very recently, probably a week ago. It will be difficult if not impossible to have a map more up to date. The only problem is that the map, partly hidden by the tree, shows only 60% of the park in addition to the lake and the land around it, and that it is a low resolution image, as i've said. Now, let's blow up the image and give it even more pixels to try to see better.



The pictures above and below might look the same than the other one above but in fact they're bigger so click on them to see them in bigger size. On the one below i've put numbers to help you to locate what is what. Number 6 is the park entrance, 7 is the castle, 8 is Adventureland, 9 is Fantasyland and 10 is Tomorrowland. Now, Tomorrowland and part of Fantasyland are hidden by the christmas tree but not the rest of the park. Although it's impossible to guess any attraction there is some interesting elements, specially the parts which are in light green color. If you look for instance at the numbers 1, 2 and 3 they show lands located in the back of Fantasyland or Adventureland and it seems that these parts are not expected to be built - at least right now. It doesn't necessarily mean that nothing will be built there on opening day, but so far it seems that they keep these pieces of lands for a future SDL expansion. Same for the land number 4 at the south of Adventureland although this one might be for the SDL Hotel. And we can see the vegetation limits between these lands and what is sure to be built. Also interesting are the three lands number 5 located around the lake. Will they build new hotels there? Might be, it would be a good location for future hotels.



What this map seems to confirm is what part of the park we can expect being built on opening day and what will not. It's logical that they keep land for future expansion as they always do but at first sight and if there is no changes in the future Adventureland looks smaller than expected and may be Fantasyland too. However we must be cautious as we don't know the exact proportions of the park and the lands might be bigger than we think when we look at this map. Anyway, i sincerely hope that Disney will have learn from HKDL and that Shanghaî Disneyland will not be too small when it will open in 2016. For those of you who would like to compare this recent map with the official rendering released last April, here it is below in its high-res version.



And if we have a look back at the SDL model which was presented at D23 Expo last August, it seems that this map reflects what the model was showing - if i can say, as WDI took great care that the model precisely shows almost nothing in details!



Anyway, this was one more piece added to SDL mystery, and we might have to wait a bit more before Disney release new official infos about the park.

Picture: copyright Bob Weis, Disney, and Andy Castro

Friday, April 8, 2011

Shanghaî Disneyland Groundbreaking Event !

Editor's Note: Apparently Photobucket is doing some maintenance and the D&M pictures will be back soon. Good news: you don't have to wait for their return to read today's article about SDL HERE as it doesn't include pictures!



That's the day we were waiting for: the Shanghaî Disneyland groundbreaking ceremony happened this morning and here is a full report about it! Disney also released new Shanghaî Disneyland concept-arts - you can see the castle above - and we will have a closer look at them. But first, pictures and videos of this historical moment!



Bob Iger, tom staggs, Shanghaî mayor, a lot of chinese officials and Disney characters were there for this groundbreaking event!









Before we look at the SDL artwork, here is the official press release. Among the important informations, the now official name of the park is Shanghaî Disneyland - and not Disneyland Shanghaî - the SDL resort will open in approximately five years and the castle will be the first "interactive castle" that Disney has ever built.

DISNEY AND PARTNERS BREAK GROUND ON SHANGHAI DISNEY RESORT

First Disney theme park to be built in mainland China

SHANGHAI (April 8, 2011) - The Walt Disney Company and Shanghai Shendi Group, its joint venture partner in China, have broken ground on the Shanghai Disney Resort following approval from the Chinese central government in Beijing. Both companies marked the start of construction on the first Disney resort in mainland China at a groundbreaking ceremony held earlier today.

"Today marks a significant milestone in the history of The Walt Disney Company," said Robert A. Iger, President and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. "Our Shanghai resort will be a world-class family vacation destination that combines classic Disney characters and storytelling with the uniqueness and beauty of China. Working with our Chinese partners, the Shanghai Disney Resort will be both authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese."

"We're incredibly excited to build a Disney resort in Shanghai, one of the world's most vibrant cities," said Thomas O. Staggs, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. "We are hard at work designing Shanghai Disneyland, which when complete will be a special place where guests of all ages will discover a world of imagination, creativity, adventure and thrills."

Today's groundbreaking ceremony paid homage to the culture and people of China. Traditional Chinese drum music, a female soloist singing in Mandarin, a 50-voice Shanghai children's choir and Mickey Mouse dressed in a traditional Chinese costume were on hand to mark this special occasion. Following the entertainment and remarks, Iger and Staggs were joined by Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng and Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng to officially break ground on the project.

The new Shanghai Disney Resort is slated to open in approximately five years.

The Shanghai Disney Resort will be home to Shanghai Disneyland, a Magic Kingdom-style park that will blend classic Disney storytelling and characters with all-new attractions and experiences tailored specifically for the people of China. The park will feature several themed lands complete with exciting, iconic Disney attractions and experiences. At the heart of the park will be an interactive Disney castle that is truly an attraction unto itself with entertainment, dining and performance experiences that will be unique to Shanghai Disneyland. The park will also contain other large-scale entertainment venues, indoor and out, that can be used for various purposes throughout the year.

A beautiful, 11 acre (46,130 square meter) green space at the center of the theme park will differentiate Shanghai Disneyland and reinforce the themes of sustainability and nature that will be integrated throughout the park. The space will also be a place where friends and family can enjoy local cultural celebrations and customs together.

On Opening Day, the Shanghai Disney Resort will be located on a 963 acre (3.9 square kilometer) site in Pudong, Shanghai, with additional room to expand in the future. At opening, the resort will include Shanghai Disneyland, two themed hotels, a large retail, dining and entertainment venue, recreational facilities, a lake and associated parking and transportation hubs.

There will be an initial investment in the project of approximately 24.5 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion) to build the theme park and an additional 4.5 billion yuan (US$0.7 billion) to build the other aspects of the resort, including the hotels and the retail, dining and entertainment area. The investment amounts will be split between Disney and the Shanghai Shendi Group with Disney holding 43% of the shares of the owner companies and the Shanghai Shendi Group holding the remaining 57%. Financing will be proportional to ownership. In addition, a joint venture management company will be formed with Disney having a 70% stake and Shanghai Shendi Group having a 30% stake. The management company will be responsible for creating, developing and operating the resort. (end of the press release)



Let's have a look now at the renderings. The one above is a bird eye's view of the park and there is no Main Street at the entrance as Iger confirmed it at a conference after the ceremony: "We decided this park would not begin with a typical main street because we simply believe that a Main Street USA might not be that interesting for people here. So the experience you get when you enter the gates will be quite different".

Bob Iger also said this morning that Shanghaî Disneyland will be "both authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese. Our Shanghai resort will be a world-class family vacation destination that combines classic Disney characters and storytelling with the uniqueness and beauty of China". The least we can say is that Iger is right. If we have a closer look at the entrance you'll see that instead of the traditional Main Street SDL guests will find lush 11 acres of green space including water, trees, small chinese pagodas and costumed characters. Obviously WDI Imagineers didn't forgot chinese's love for parks and trees in blossom. This 46,000 square meter green space at the centre of the park is also designed to be a cultural hub and a reminder of "the themes of sustainability and nature that will be integrated throughout the park."

I've tried to enlarge the artwork to see more details and it was not easy as Disney - to avoid that any SDL concepts will be copy before the park opening - has released these artworks in good definition but small size. However, let's have a closer look at the castle first. Surprise! it's not a "chinese" castle but a new version of a european castle, closer to the one at TDL than to a "Mulan" castle.



Also released this morning, this other artwork supposedly showing SDL castle...



...and if this artwork reminds you another one it's may be not a coincidence as Herb Ryman did a long time ago a painting for Tokyo Disneyland who looks really a lot like this one (without Cinderella's coach).



Always about the castle, we saw in the press release that it will be an "interactive" castle - no more details for now about this interactivity - but Iger also revealed that Shanghaî Disneyland castle will be "the largest and tallest "Story Book Castle" of any Disney park".

As we'll see it's such an unusual concept that, at first sight, it will be hard to find any Disney's iconic attractions in it. But at least we can find two classic Disney rides, just in front of the castle. The first one is the Dumbo ride...



...and the other one is the famous Fantasyland Carousel.



We can see nearby others carousels which might be more of a chinese inspiration and the idea to have include classic Fantasyland rides in this huge "green space" area is interesting. But the details about SDL attractions will stop here as it's impossible to identify on the artwork others classic Disney attractions. This is not going to stop us to have a closer look at the different areas and let's begin by the lake, the boats and the pier.





Let's move to Shanghai Disneyland's entrance area.





Water is the other element of Shanghaî DisneylandLand we can see it everywhere as you'll see in these next pictures showing the right part of the park. The dark mountain on the foreground seems to be a water ride with a big drop and you will also notice the building behind with what seems to be giant crystals included in its architecture.



And here is a closer look at the left side of the park. And don't ask me what it is as i have no idea! It could be a kind of Tomorrowland or it could be anything else!



Finally, Disney also launched this morning the new Shanghaî Disney Resort web site! You will find it HERE. No more artwork in it but Tinkerbell is already there! Put it in your bookmarks for the future!



Edited: Don't miss the others video of the groundbreaking event in my new article HERE.

And that's all what we can say in this historical day. Details will come later but one thing is sure: Shanghaî Disneyland works have now began, the park looks big - obviously Disney learned from HKDL "size" mistake - and we can't wait to walk in to discover this very unusual disney theme park!

Pictures and artwork: copyright Disney

Sunday, March 13, 2011

A closer look to the Shanghaî Disneyland Resort map



Last week you discovered the first map of Shanghaî Disneyland Resort. The first version of the map was in black and white but since then i've found it in color as you can see above. And the colors reveal something extremely interesting.

If you remind what was written in the text of last week article you probably remember this quote: "Water will be a prominent feature of the amusement park. A river, about 10 kilometers long and 60 meters wide, is being created around the park area...". Now that we see the map in color you can see clearly on it this "60 meters wide river", in light blue on the plan, making a square all around SDL resort. It looks unusual, and it's true that this "river" going all around the resort is a premiere for a Disney Resort.

When i first saw this it reminded me something and i had the feeling that it was more than simply a river going all around the resort. However, technically, practically, that's what it is, a kind of water barrier which both indicates the limits of the resort and also prevents too easy intrusions inside Shanghaî Disneyland Resort. But we are in China, a country where symbolism always had a lot of importance, so i knew this square of water was meaning something else.

First, you must remember the importance of wall/barrier for Chineses. All along the centuries Chinese Empire took great care to protect the country by building walls and the most famous wall is of course the Great Wall of China, which was built to protect the Empire from invasions but also, almost by definition, to mark the limits of the Empire. And a nation which is able to build a 6700 km long huge wall definitely attach some importance and a symbolic value to it.



For instance, in the Mah Jong - China's most famous game - the players begin the game by building a square of four walls which symbolize...the Great Wall of China - and also the walls around the Forbidden City where was living the Emperor. Since centuries each time that millions on chineses were playing Mah Jong they've repeated symbolically the Great Wall of China. As you will see soon this have some importance.



And, talking about Beijing famous Forbidden "Imperial" City, have a closer look at the picture below. As you will see the Forbidden City was not only protected by a wall but also by...moats filled with water, all around the Imperial City!



Now, look back to the SDL plan and its water "river". That's right, it's making a square all around the resort just like the moats around the Forbidden City. Interesting also to note that, just like the Forbidden City, SDLR has also a "right in the middle" south entrance. But when you'll know that in chinese energetic science the water element is linked to dream time and also to early years of childhood - the famous "Peter Pan" years - you'll understand the symbolic thrust of this "square of water". By creating this "river" going all around the resort - a subconscious reminiscence of the moats filled with water around the Imperial City - the Imagineers signify to Shanghaî Disneyland future visitors that the ones who will come will enter a kingdom - in this case a MAGIC KINGDOM - where DREAMS come true.

Frankly, i don't know who at WDI had this idea but it's pure genius. You can believe me, the chineses will get instantly the symbolism, it will "talk" to their subconscious. And this time the water won't be a barrier around a Forbidden City where no one is allowed to enter. This time, everyone will be invited to come, to enter and enjoy the "Kingdom"!

Pure genius idea, really.

Edited 3/17: According to one of Screamscape sources: "The moat seen surrounding the Shanghai Disney resort area on the above map image will very likely not be built. According to this source, that map image is old and the man-made perimeter river has long since been cut from the plan". If that's true, that's too bad as it was a good idea.


Always about Asia: Don't miss today's article about Tokyo Disneyland and to what could happen if the Fukushima nuclear plant problems goes totally out of control. It's HERE.

Picture: copyright Disney
 
  翻译: