Shanghaî Disneyland " Gardens of Imagination " Model Picture Released

The big news of the week came during the WDC annual stockholders meeting when was released a picture of the Shanghaî Disneyland model - here below in high-res - and more precisely the portion of the model related to one land of the park which will be called "Gardens of Imagination".  Right in front of the castle this land will be a 11 acre green space at the center of the park in front of Enchanted Storybook Castle.

As i was away from home the last two days you probably already read articles about it on other websites but there is more to say about this model picture. Of course it will be there that SDL guests will find the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride...

...but also the Carousel that you can see on the right of the model picture. Most of you probably think that it will be the usual carousel which is normally located in others Magic Kingdom at Fantasyland, but it won't be the case. In fact, at "Fantasia Carousel" SDL guests won't find the classic wooden horses as, instead, WDI Imagineers have designed a brand new and unique carousel entirely composed of Disney movies characters. SDL guests will be able to ride - literally - famous Disney characters like, for instance, Aladdin's Genie or also others Disney creatures including some coming from under the sea. If horses are include in the carousel it might be mythological ones who may come directly from Fantasia, like the centaurs. And from what i've been told, this new Carousel looks absolutely beautiful.

If you look well at the very bottom of the picture you'll see that a Walt with Mickey statue similar to the one placed last year at DCA will be located near the lagoon and in front of SDL castle, for sure a future popular photo location.

Another thing interesting on the picture are the lampposts which seems to be already equipped with loud speakers, and this is no big surprise as you can see fountains in the lagoon, and there is little doubts that a fountain show is envisioned for a SDL night show. A SDL version of DLP Disney Dreams show or a SDL World of Color? Future will tell but for sure a fountain night show will happen at Gardens of Imagination.

Always in this land visitors will find several gazebos and will be able to meet Mickey and his friends and also some gift shops, all this in beautiful gardens that chinese for sure will love as there is a long tradition of gardens in China. Talking about gardens, we can note a difference between the model picture and the rendering released two years ago: the long path with the trees which looks on the rendering like cherry trees in blossom was relocated more on the right...

...when on the rendering it was more in front of the castle.

I guess that the relocation was done to avoid that the trees hide in part the castle and you can see also how the lagoon has changed since this artwork was done - the Dumbo ride was also moved up. Finally, the famous Center Plaza usually in front of the castle will also be in front of SDL castle and chances are that a stage show will happen during the day on what seems to be a stage over the castle moats. You'll also note, as there won't be a Main Street U.S.A at SDL - so, no Town Square - that the Christmas tree will be located on the castle plaza, slightly on the right to don't hide the view of the castle.

I know that some of you would like to see more of the other SDL lands but for this you'll probably have to wait until next D23 Expo in August. Or simply book a plane ticket for Shanghaî Disneyland when it will open its gates, at the end of 2015!

Pictures and artwork: copyright Disney - Shendi

Shanghaî Disneyland Update

Interesting news from Shanghaî Disneyland today with this model picture posted on ShanghaiNews.net of one of Shanghaî Disneyland hotels. Actually, this one will be the Toy Story themed hotel, supposedly located outside the park, behind Toy Story Land which might be a good idea as the hotel will have the Toy Story Land in the background. The model picture below should help you to locate where this Toy Story themed hotel will be. It's the "hotel 2" , the "hotel 1" being the Shanghaî Disneyland 5 stars hotel.

It was rumored that this hotel would have a Toy Story theme, but now we can be sure of it thanks to some deco elements that can be seen on the model picture ( the one at the top ). First, as you can see, there is this orange structure located at the hotel entrance which looks clearly like if it was a RC Racer track put horizontally. Then you have the clouds painted on the exterior building walls, who looks like the ones in the movie on Andy's bedroom walls. 

The hotel also have this shape which looks like an "8", a lucky number in China meaning prosperity, wealth and success,  and God knows - or in this case Confucius! - how important the symbolism of numbers can be for Chinese people. That said, the hotel will also have two patios gardens, supposedly having two different designs  paying tribute to the Yin and Yang symbols. On the others pictures below - posted by Shanghai Environment Online and showing the different walls of the hotel - the purple and green rectangles are supposed to be glass panels, and the green ones are supposed to "open" so it might be the guest rooms windows...

As i told you, this SDL Toy Story hotel - which, by the way, looks very much like a "budget" category hotel - should be located in an area outside the park behind Toy Story Land. If this is the case it would be a smart idea as hotel guests would probably have TSL in the background with at least the RC Racer track visible from the hotel. And why not the parachutes of the Parachute Drop attraction, you ask? Good question, as the height of the Parachute Drop structure would surely  be high enough to be visible in the background. Except that SDL Toy Story Land will NOT have the "Parachute Drop" ride. Why? It took me a while to understood why and the first reason could have been for a question of visual intrusion, but in fact it's probably not this one, and my future SDL update will explain you more about all this.  

Let's end with another fresh - and interesting - news about Shanghaî Disneyland released today by China Daily: "Shanghaî Disneyland will feature a production center, which will showcase some of the technical and creative wizardry, which will be used at the site, the company said on Friday. The first of its type in Asia, and scheduled to be open by the second quarter of 2013, the center will become the "heart" of show production for Shanghai Disneyland, the company said, highlighting the park's most complex technology before it is permanently installed within the theme park, the company said".

Looks like to me that it could be a kind of "preview center", certainly different than the one they did for Disneyland Paris before DLP opening but it might be a kind of Blue Sky Cellar like at DCA. This will be definitely interesting to follow. 

Picture: copyright Shendi - Disney

All my thanks to Luke from Luke and the Temple of Fun!