Even to the most ardent Imagineering fans, Shanghai Disneyland often feels very, very far away. At least until “Abu Dhabi Disney” It can be seen that Shanghai Disneyland may be the most distant one among Disney’s six major resorts in the world. and Symbolic for most of us. There are a lot of readers here (essentially, this is a very deep I think Disneyland fans may have a subconscious feeling that they are unlikely to actually visit Shanghai Disneyland in their lifetime.
So for real As a regular Disneyland fan, it's fair to say that what's going on at Shanghai Disneyland is a bit like “Palace Conspiracy”; something they might see on YouTube, but not necessarily an attraction they expect to see in person. In fact, as Shanghai Disneyland’s e-ticket spectacle launches online, the median response for each item is basically: “Bring it to Disney World!”
To be fair, the benefits of Shanghai's innovation are already being felt in Disney's U.S. parks large and small – not the least of which is the Disney clone Modern Marvel: TRON Lightcycle Powered Operation Florida, and an alleged adaptation of the park's Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure ride system Avatar Attractions at Disney California Adventure.
But despite its convincing glimpse This is what the post-Magical World Disneyland land lineup might look like Perhaps the most talked-about new addition to Shanghai is the Zootopia land opening in 2023… Of course, this “living land” based on the 2016 film is a very cute project and worthy of study in its own right, but what makes Zootopia a major topic of conversation among fans is whether this land should come to the United States… If so, then whether the park that seems most obvious to call home might just be worst place to carry Zootopia Life… Let’s dig into this paradox…
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Zootopia Rise
In case you missed it, Disney Animation Studios' 2016 movie Zootopia It tells the story of Judy Hopps, a rabbit who dreams of leaving the woodlands of her rabbit hutch and becoming a police officer in the big city. That big city is Zootopia, a modern metropolis subdivided into areas designed in the style of natural biomes and populated only by anthropomorphic animals. Naive Judy soon meets con man Red Fox Nick Wilde, and the two become embroiled in a “buddy cop” detective mystery that explores why the city's marauders have reverted to their original ways and turned on their fellow citizens.
Zootopia It was a hugely successful film, entering the rare club of hit animations that have topped $1 billion at the box office. But in the footnote of the film's income, it is special Be successful in China.
There, the film (its Chinese title translates to “Zootopia”) grossed $235 million and had the biggest weekend ever for an animated film (its second weekend saw it gross $60 million, an unprecedented 139%). Increase during its opening weekend). It also became the first animated film in Chinese history to have a box office of over 200 million U.S. dollars, making it the highest-grossing animated film. once in China.
undoubtedly, Zootopia Linking to China's emerging “middle class” and serving as the avatar of Disney in a less loyal country snow White, little mermaidnor their contemporaries. In other words, you can see why Zootopia It is the location of Disney's first park in mainland China…
Fortunately, this is already a break from the norm. You have to remember that Shanghai Disneyland in 2016 is a reinvention as far as the “Disneyland formula” goes. Among them, “classics” such as Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Jungle Cruise are deliberately absent to make room for custom creations born of Disney. Current IP Obsession and rearranged into Layout that differs from norm.
This also gives Shanghai Disneyland a new-age flexibility that the other five “Disney parks” on Earth lack to varying degrees. For example, when Shanghai Disneyland debuted “Toy Story Land” in 2018, few lost sleep – it was a “land” that was hard to imagine appearing in any other “Castle Park” alongside Fantasy and Tomorrow. But in Shanghai, the ground feels less sacred. Less divine; more adaptable.
All this taken together explains why in January 2019 it was announced Zootopia The land in Shanghai is of great significance to the park. Disney will live here Next “A place of life”. In one fell swoop, Zootopia will harmonize with the film's cultural success, embrace Shanghai Disneyland's inherent contemporaneity and position it as an important expansion for a still-young park.
It also explains why – apart from the occasional loss of information (e.g. D23 2022 peep Animal citizens bring life to the land through puppets) – fans of Disney parks in the U.S. and Europe seem forget One of Imagineering's largest projects is quietly underway (per company norms, slowly) is beginning to take shape. (Remember, except Cancel Avengers Attractions At Disney California Adventure and Tiana's Bayou Adventure in America's “Castle Park,” the to-do list for Imagineering's domestic resorts has dried up as former CEO Bob Chapek cuts capital spending in this era. )
In September 2023 (just months before the park is scheduled to open), Disney finally gave people a more substantial look at the area. This, of course, includes the hallmarks of the Living Place model pioneered by the Wizarding World more than a decade ago: characters, retail and dining opportunities “in-universe.”
These include the aforementioned meet-and-greet (including an encounter with a puppet polar bear), Fashions by Fru Fru Outfitters (located on the city's “Mane Street”), and Jumbeaux's Cafe (where guests can enjoy Officer Clawhauser's favorite donuts or claw-shaped popsicles pulled straight from the movie).
There's no doubt about it: Zootopia is a great environment with some great puns, hidden details and a lot of love and care – even if it doesn't quite transcend the IP like Pandora: World of Avatar or Cars. But you know, there's no need! Like Stitch joining the chorus at Tokyo's Enchanted Tiki Room, sometimes American park fans just learn to let go and accept the fact that other cultures tend to have different stories, different standards, and different contexts, while we might prefer our own parks. Zootopia Serving a Chinese audience and working within the context of Shanghai Disneyland, so more power to them, right?
In terms of rides, “Zootopia” only has one – Zootopia: Hot Pursuit. Disney's September press release painted a picture of the family's dark ride, in which guests will be recruited into the Zootopia Police Department (ZPD) to patrol the city's streets for a night. As the newbies in the group, guests naturally take on transportation duties before the Gazelle concert in town.
Luckily for the riders, an otherwise boring night of moving violations becomes more interesting when the Antelope pop star is kidnapped, instantly elevating the newly recruited parking enforcement officers to private detectives hot on the kidnapper's tail. Uh, traces.
That's exactly what happened when the ride officially debuted on December 20, 2023. Guests flock to Disney's newest land to get an introduction from an impressive animatronic of donut-loving Officer Clawhauser (above), then line up at Zootopia's city jail, whose cells are filled with Easter eggs and good-natured puns about animal inmates.
From there, guests boarded ten-man ZPD police cruisers, which were actually – let's say it with us – Trackless ride vehicles...Disney’s new go-to system for dark rides. Recruits race alongside Judy and Nick in the city's biome-style neighborhoods, where trackless technology allows vehicles to glide through the icy streets of Tundra Town, hurtle through the rainforest canopy, and more.
Since there is no “Remy's Ratatouille Adventure” in Shanghai Disneyland, Star Wars: The DNA of Rise of the Resistance or Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway (a double-duplicate trackless dark ride) can be found in Hot Pursuit. There are different paths; simulated movements; integrated predictions; forward, sideways and reverse movements; and of course, some famous animatronics.
In addition to animatronic encounters with Sergeant Clawhauser and Chief Bogo (a buffalo) in the queue, the ride also features quite a few important characters – not the least of which are Judy and Nick, who are ready to ride together in a police car (ahem, see Runaway Railway ) and hip hop gazelle When the guests finally arrived at her show.
In other words, Zootopia: Hot Pursuit is a perfectly fine ride in a land that is clearly a very good project by a very skilled designer. Both are bright, colorful and showcase the best of modern Imagineering, though neither is necessarily a game-changer. Basically, Zootopia is a perfect fit for Shanghai Disneyland—a park that cares less about tradition and timelessness while still more In line with Chinese audiences’ expectations of contemporary Disney. No harm done!
…But that’s where things get tricky.
As we all know, “clone” is by no means a dirty word at Disney. In fact, once a park covers the R&D costs of designing, engineering, manufacturing and installing a new ride, the simple attraction build another Becoming difficult to ignore. In theory, giving audiences in Orlando, Anaheim, or Paris a copy of a ride in Shanghai, Tokyo, or Hong Kong (and vice versa) is a “win-win”—the median U.S. Disneyland visitor may not know such a ride exists Not at all.
But for better or worse, the mood surrounding Zootopia in Shanghai is starting to change as it enters a new context—the discussion surrounding whether the neon city of animal cops and pop stars should come to the United States, and, most importantly, if so, Where…?
