Do you think Shanghai will go for another expansion next or go for a second gate?

[Haymarket]

Universal Beijing have already announced construction moving ahead for park 2. That first park is well laid out with its themed lands and I could see SDL is going for a similar vibe.

Wow, I didn't know this. This pretty much convinces me a second park at Disney Shanghai Resort is going to be announced "soon."

Domestic consumption is the name of the game, as is "high quality development." Both scream "second Shanghai Disney park."

Construction on the second phase of Universal Resort to be launched​

By Yang Yang | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2023-08-24 16:44

Construction on the second phase of Universal Beijing Resort is expected to be launched as a new landmark for consumption, Beijing Daily reported on Thursday.

China's capital city Beijing proposed to coordinate and promote high-quality supply to lead and create new demand, and promote investment and consumption to continuously emerge new highlights in an action plan on further promoting high-quality development.

Restoring and expanding demand is the key to a sustained recovery of economy at present.

Beijing will better leverage its advantages in digital, green and international consumption as well as cultural, tourism, health care, exhibition and other services consumption to continuously improve the quality of consumption supply.

The city will also upgrade and supplement a number of new commercial complexes in its southern part and the area behind the mountains in Haidian district, according to the action plan.

The Universal Beijing Resort, currently the largest in scale worldwide, opened to the public on Sept 20, 2021.

Covering 4 square km, the resort includes the highly anticipated Universal Studios Beijing theme park, the Universal CityWalk and two hotels.

Located in Beijing's Tongzhou district, the east part of the city, the resort is the fifth Universal Studios theme park globally, the third in Asia and the first in China.

 

[Haymarket]

Universal Beijing have already announced construction moving ahead for park 2. That first park is well laid out with its themed lands and I could see SDL is going for a similar vibe.

Looks like they're going to expand the existing park and add five hotels. Perhaps not a second park?

Construction work to begin on Universal Resort Beijing's second phase 'by 2025'

POSTED 10 SEP 2023 / BY TOM WALKER

• Construction work on the second phase of the Universal Resort Beijing is set to begin by 2025
• The expansion of the resort will form part of the government's wider action plan to invest in Beijing's tourism infrastructure
• The second phase will add around 2.2sq km to the total park area at Universal Beijing
• The park currently has seven themed lands and details of the new areas, attractions and rides will be revealed at a later date
• Construction work on the second phase of the Universal Resort Beijing is set to begin by 2025.

The expansion of the resort, which first opened in September 2021, will form part of the Chinese government's wider action plan to invest in Beijing's tourism infrastructure and to develop the city into a global destination.

The second phase will add around 2.2sq km to the total park area at Universal Beijing and will include up to five new hotels.

As a result, the second phase is set to more than double the current size of the 1.8sq km park.

Further details of the new areas, attractions and rides will be revealed at a later date.

The park currently has seven themed lands – The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Transformers Metrobase, Kung Fu Panda Land, Hollywood, WaterWorld, Minion Land and Jurassic World Isla Nubar.

Across the seven zones, Universal Beijing houses a total of 37 rides and attractions.

In addition, the park features a Universal City Walk and two hotels.

Universal Beijing Resort is owned by Beijing International Resort Company, a joint venture between Beijing Shouhuan Cultural Tourism Investment Company and Universal Parks & Resorts, a business unit of Comcast NBC Universal.

The news about the second phase comes four months after Universal Parks & Resorts underwent a rebrand, which renamed Comcast NBC Universal's theme park arm as Universal Destinations & Experiences, to "better reflect" the changing nature of its offerings.

 

[Haymarket]

Just posting this old example/theoretical layout from Imagineering for reference.

 

[Mark_E]

Looks like they're going to expand the existing park and add five hotels. Perhaps not a second park?

Construction work to begin on Universal Resort Beijing's second phase 'by 2025'

POSTED 10 SEP 2023 / BY TOM WALKER

• Construction work on the second phase of the Universal Resort Beijing is set to begin by 2025
• The expansion of the resort will form part of the government's wider action plan to invest in Beijing's tourism infrastructure
• The second phase will add around 2.2sq km to the total park area at Universal Beijing
• The park currently has seven themed lands and details of the new areas, attractions and rides will be revealed at a later date
• Construction work on the second phase of the Universal Resort Beijing is set to begin by 2025.

The expansion of the resort, which first opened in September 2021, will form part of the Chinese government's wider action plan to invest in Beijing's tourism infrastructure and to develop the city into a global destination.

The second phase will add around 2.2sq km to the total park area at Universal Beijing and will include up to five new hotels.

As a result, the second phase is set to more than double the current size of the 1.8sq km park.

Further details of the new areas, attractions and rides will be revealed at a later date.

The park currently has seven themed lands – The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Transformers Metrobase, Kung Fu Panda Land, Hollywood, WaterWorld, Minion Land and Jurassic World Isla Nubar.

Across the seven zones, Universal Beijing houses a total of 37 rides and attractions.

In addition, the park features a Universal City Walk and two hotels.

Universal Beijing Resort is owned by Beijing International Resort Company, a joint venture between Beijing Shouhuan Cultural Tourism Investment Company and Universal Parks & Resorts, a business unit of Comcast NBC Universal.

The news about the second phase comes four months after Universal Parks & Resorts underwent a rebrand, which renamed Comcast NBC Universal's theme park arm as Universal Destinations & Experiences, to "better reflect" the changing nature of its offerings.

2.2 Km square is 543 acres. Or about the size of Animal Kingdom. The current resort area is 420 acres. I can’t see it not meaning a second gate (rumoured to be based on majority Chinese IP)

 

[lazyboy97o]

New parks take years to design. The park would have to be fairly well designed by now. It also doesn’t make much sense to add a whole new gate before adding much to your first gate.

 

[Advisable Joseph]

According to an old article from 2011, the resort was to have three parks: you can see the two future parks on the picture above if you look carefully. Possible ideas for the future parks were Epcot and Animal Kingdom.

 

[Supersnow84]

New parks take years to design. The park would have to be fairly well designed by now. It also doesn’t make much sense to add a whole new gate before adding much to your first gate.

I’m assuming they have ideas for Shanghai’s second gate they put into motion the second they saw Shanghai’s success

Shanghai has the advantage over HK that Shanghai’s problem is diffusing it’s guests away from its E tickets so it can either build more in park c and d tickets or it can diffuse them into another gate, HK’s attendance barely justifys the first gate

 

[Advisable Joseph]

I’m assuming they have ideas for Shanghai’s second gate they put into motion the second they saw Shanghai’s success

Did you see my post?

You can look at the the master scheme picture posted by @Haymarket

Just posting this old example/theoretical layout from Imagineering for reference.

View attachment 745514

Future theme parks are to the right, and in the lower left corner. Zoom in to read the labels.

Here is a better link to the newspaper article, from the Shanghai Daily: https://archive.shine.cn/metro/ente...nd-to-get-its-own-Metro-station/shdaily.shtml

Disneyland, the first Disneyland on Chinese mainland, will include three theme parks.

Details had been made public of one of the parks, "Magic Kingdom." The possible choices for the other two theme parks are "Epcot" and "Animal Kingdom," delegates at Shanghai People's Congress were told yesterday.

Dai Haibo, deputy director of Pudong New Area government and a congress deputy, said he was deeply impressed by the Orlando Disneyland which includes four theme parks, including Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios. He promised that Shanghai Disneyland will provide entertainment for both adults and children.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I’m assuming they have ideas for Shanghai’s second gate they put into motion the second they saw Shanghai’s success

Shanghai has the advantage over HK that Shanghai’s problem is diffusing it’s guests away from its E tickets so it can either build more in park c and d tickets or it can diffuse them into another gate, HK’s attendance barely justifys the first gate

I was referring to Beijing but the same is true of Shanghai. Neither Disney nor Universal just have places for entire parks sitting just waiting to be activated.

 

[Supersnow84]

Did you see my post?

You can look at the the master scheme picture posted by @Haymarket

Future theme parks are to the right, and in the lower left corner. Zoom in to read the labels.

Here is a better link to the newspaper article, from the Shanghai Daily: https://archive.shine.cn/metro/ente...nd-to-get-its-own-Metro-station/shdaily.shtml

Concept art can just be filled with anything, the equivalent concept art for HK had a fully fleshed out second gate and 6 hotels, it’s very possible that the park may never get a second gate, the concept art is just there to fill space

I was referring to Beijing but the same is true of Shanghai. Neither Disney nor Universal just have places for entire parks sitting just waiting to be activated.

They don’t have entire parks pre planned but when Disney saw Shanghai’s instant success and it already having designs for 3 parks they likely started the ball rolling, it’s not like they wait till the park is announced before they decide to design it

 

[lazyboy97o]

Concept art can just be filled with anything, the equivalent concept art for HK had a fully fleshed out second gate and 6 hotels, it’s very possible that the park may never get a second gate, the concept art is just there to fill space

They don’t have entire parks pre planned but when Disney saw Shanghai’s instant success and it already having designs for 3 parks they likely started the ball rolling, it’s not like they wait till the park is announced before they decide to design it

Getting the ball rolling is a massive undertaking. And actually, with Disney, they do often announce projects very early in the design process.

 

[BrianLo]

They don’t have entire parks pre planned but when Disney saw Shanghai’s instant success and it already having designs for 3 parks they likely started the ball rolling, it’s not like they wait till the park is announced before they decide to design it

They don’t have designs for subsequent parks either. They have a master plan, yes, of where the parks will go. But that’s it. It was all vague placeholder work.

Decade old ‘Concepts’? Sure. Designs, no.

Unless there is a yellow light the resort is going to be ready soon for another gate, they aren’t going to work on fluff.

 

[Advisable Joseph]

They don’t have designs for subsequent parks either. They have a master plan, yes, of where the parks will go. But that’s it. It was all vague placeholder work.

Decade old ‘Concepts’? Sure. Designs, no.

Unless there is a yellow light the resort is going to be ready soon for another gate, they aren’t going to work on fluff.

Did you see the newspaper article I quoted? They were actually planning on future theme parks, and were considering Epcot and Animal Kingdom as possibilities.

I think @Supersnow84 was suggesting that due to Shanghai Disney's popularity, they have likely been already developing those plans, not necessarily Epcot or Animal Kingdom, further.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Did you see the newspaper article I quoted? They were actually planning on future theme parks, and were considering Epcot and Animal Kingdom as possibilities.

I think @Supersnow84 was suggesting that due to Shanghai Disney's popularity, they have likely been already developing those plans, not necessarily Epcot or Animal Kingdom, further.

They have been planning theme parks in that there is sufficient space allocated at the resort for future theme parks. It looks like they used Disney’s Animal Kingdom as a template to fill one of the spaces and filling space is as far as the exercise goes. Walt Disney Imagineering is still quite small after the pandemic and the cancelled relocation. Despite their success, the geopolitical situation is a very real concern for Disney and Universal and both parks were difficult projects.

 

[Advisable Joseph]

They have been planning theme parks in that there is sufficient space allocated at the resort for future theme parks. It looks like they used Disney’s Animal Kingdom as a template to fill one of the spaces ...

Ok, ignore the picture then: it is just confusing things.

The newspaper article said, concerning a meeting early during development/construction:

'Details had been made public of one of the parks, "Magic Kingdom." The possible choices for the other two theme parks are "Epcot" and "Animal Kingdom," delegates at Shanghai People's Congress were told yesterday.'

That was a quote from the article I posted above. It seems it is not showing up for people.

So it's more than just space and it's not the picture, which I regret bringing up. Those two parks were being considered.

 

[BrianLo]

Ok, ignore the picture then: it is just confusing things.

The newspaper article said, concerning a meeting early during development/construction:

'Details had been made public of one of the parks, "Magic Kingdom." The possible choices for the other two theme parks are "Epcot" and "Animal Kingdom," delegates at Shanghai People's Congress were told yesterday.'

That was a quote from the article I posted above. It seems it is not showing up for people.

So it's more than just space and it's not the picture, which I regret bringing up. Those two parks were being considered.

Consider these placeholders. Yes I’m sure WDI said ‘look, Epcot could fit here and Animal Kingdom there’. But that’s the extent of how much either exist. They really don’t, beyond a pitch.

It’s a tactic to sell. Actual design work would not start until there is a more medium term plan that they want to sell their partner on a new park.

As @lazyboy97o said WDI was decimated during the pandemic. I expect a hiring spree, but a team to support a new gate build doesn’t really exist in this moment. I am optimistic that I think the next decade can bring great things, but that department seriously needs to hire. And historically that’s how WDI operates, boom and bust… though it leads to a flush of institutional knowledge.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Ok, ignore the picture then: it is just confusing things.

The newspaper article said, concerning a meeting early during development/construction:

'Details had been made public of one of the parks, "Magic Kingdom." The possible choices for the other two theme parks are "Epcot" and "Animal Kingdom," delegates at Shanghai People's Congress were told yesterday.'

That was a quote from the article I posted above. It seems it is not showing up for people.

So it's more than just space and it's not the picture, which I regret bringing up. Those two parks were being considered.

The article also says Shanghai Disneyland is going to open in 2015. What the article states relates very much to the master plan because that’s as far as work had progressed on anything. The article is from January 2011 and the Master Plan posted is from August 2010. Early design work on Shanghai Disneyland continued into 2011. There was no commitment to future gates while the first was still being figured out. There was agreement as to the scope and scale that can be supported because they had recently worked out the full build master plan.

 

[TP2000]

Bob and Josh were in Shanghai for it's 7th Anniversary earlier this week. They went onto HK the next day. As always I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during the trip.

No kidding. I wonder what they talked about after flying halfway around the globe?

While looking at that publicity photo, I had to laugh.

I'm reminded of that old Perry Como song... "The Bluest Skies You've Ever Seen Are In Seattle Shanghai!"

But it's the smiles on those Cast Members faces that really tell the story! Look at the enthusiasm! They're Ambassadors of Magic and Happiness!

 

[Supersnow84]

No kidding. I wonder what they talked about after flying halfway around the globe?

While looking at that publicity photo, I had to laugh. I see Communist China still has some of the cleanest air on the planet. How many lightly regulated coal power plants has the CCP built this year? 75? 100?

I'm reminded of that old Perry Como song... "The Bluest Skies You've Ever Seen Are In Seattle Shanghai!"

But it's the smiles on those Cast Members faces that really tell the story! Look at the enthusiasm! They're Ambassadors of Magic and Happiness!

View attachment 746168

I do think in general the Shanghai cast members are over-hated but that photo is a god damn PR nightmare, like they didn’t even try to pretend like they didn’t hate their jobs even around their boses boses boses Boses boss

 

[TP2000]

I do think in general the Shanghai cast members are over-hated but that photo is a god damn PR nightmare, like they didn’t even try to pretend like they didn’t hate their jobs even around their boses boses boses Boses boss

I don't have any opinion of the Shanghai CM's in general as I've never been there, and I don't know anyone who has been there.

But these three CM's are my favorite. Is there perhaps a cultural thing about not smiling in photos in China?

Ladies, is it really that bad?