Sam
TS Member
That wonderful source of goodness and my eternal companion Screamscape brings us our first glimpse at the layout of SDL this morning:
Really shaping up to be the theme park project of the decade! Also, replacing Space Mountain with the Tron coaster for the loss.
Screamscape said:Today I’m happy to present our first look at what appears to be the layout of Shanghai Disneyland. There is no way to know if this is a current layout or just a peek at an older idea since retired, but it does give us a look idea at the overall layout of the park and major E-Tickets to be included. This image has been quietly making the rounds at a few of the European Disney fan sites and has been sent on to me along with a slightly enhanced version that is focused on the park itself.
Main Street USA will be replaced by Mickey Avenue, which was previously rumored to be a new version of Main Street USA, if it were taken over by Mickey and friends who all run their own shops.
The central “hub” appears to be much larger in scale in this park and seems to be labeled as “Gardens of Imagination”, though I can’t quite make out that last word very clearly. There is an interesting body of water placed in the lower left corner of the hub. Things get more interesting if you look up at the castle area itself. Instead of a drawbridge into the castle, guests will have to walk around the edge of a large water moat to gain access to the castle. In front of the castle on either side you can also see a section of tiered walkways, which would be a perfect viewing area for whatever nighttime spectacular they have planned for the park. If I had to guess, we could be seeing something similar to the Disney Dreams show that opened at Disneyland Paris this year, which incorporates fireworks, water fountains and projection mapping on the castle. Along the upper left side of the hub appears to be some kind of flat ride as well as a long pathway going back to a show building of some kind. (Perhaps a Mickey Meet & Greet building?)
Over to the right of the hub you can clearly see the entrance pathway to Adventureland near the front of the park, and what appears to be a Pirate Cove themed area just behind it. Here we can clearly see the long rumored river rapids ride, that was thought to be volcano themed and involve a Lost World style dinosaur encounter. The layout of the rapids in the art appears to be very similar layout to Grizzly River Run at California Adventure. Beyond the Lost River ride there appears to be some kind of twin-theater show building as well. There also appears to be a river with boats it in across the pathway, but as far as I’ve heard, the park is not expected to have a Jungle Cruise, so I’m not sure what may be going in here.
This river leaves into the main body of water that serves as the shoreline for Pirates Cove, which is home to a massive attraction building structure that surely must be for the new Pirates of the Caribbean ride based on the film series. There are also rumors about a Pirate themed stunt show, which I’m guessing could very well be performed on the lake itself with Pirate ships.
The backside of the park is home to a very large version of Fantasyland. The right side appears to be home to this park’s version of the Seven Dwarves Mine coaster, along with two medium sized buildings along the back that could be for attractions or perhaps a very large themed restaurant, but there are also a ton of smaller buildings in between as well. To the left of the castle is another series of medium sized structures and I’m guessing at least one may be an attraction. In the center of Fantasyland lies another body of water where a small river twists and turns through various forest scenes, which I assume may be that rumored new indoor/outdoor boat ride. In the upper left, just outside the boundary of Fantasyland is a small area clearly labeled as Toy Story Playland. Expect Toy Story Land to end up with most of the same attractions we’ve seen before in Hong Kong, along with a few classic Fantasyland flat rides nearby as well.
Finally in the front left side of the park, kind of off to the side a bit, lies Tomorrowland. Tomorrowland looks to be a bit on the small side in my opinion, and I can only see one large attraction building along with two smaller buildings, one of which is also likely to house some kind of attraction, like Buzz Lightyear. The big building will likely be home to the Tron Light Cycle coaster. I’d expect a few outdoor flat rides like an Astro Orbiter or something here as well. From the looks of things, I don’t see any sign of a Star Tours ride or anything to do with Indiana Jones, so I’m expecting Shanghai could be a Lucas free Disney Resort.
Speaking of Disney Resorts… I’m hearing that there are two major hotels expected to be up and running when the park opens. One will be a major 5-Star hotel experience that may look like a cross between the Disneyland Paris Hotel and the Grand Floridian. The other will be a 4-Star Resort that will be given a Toy Story theme.
Really shaping up to be the theme park project of the decade! Also, replacing Space Mountain with the Tron coaster for the loss.