Zootopia Coming To Shanghai

lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
MickeyMario said:
Well if you can't see how interesting and unique the design of the city of Zootopia is, there's not much else I can say
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That interest is character driven. It’s seeing the different animals using the city at different scales but you can’t have a functioning elephant ice cream shop because your tables and counters, by law, have to be certain sizes.
 
BrianLo

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
DisneyExpert said:
That's basically their point, though. The entire appeal of the cities in Zootopia for me was seeing how the animals interacted with their surroundings and the different concessions made on construction to accommodate the various animals of all sizes. Without the animals going about their day to day, you kind of lose the whole thing and the environment becomes a much less appealing one to visit, in my opinion.

A city full of people is just... a city. I live in a city. It's akin to TSL for me... a backyard is not a hugely compelling environment, and neither is an empty city to me.
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I would hope (and it looks like) they’ll do a little bit of the Diagon Alley window display thing with AA animals.

I understand though that they picked the less compelling portion of the city (the Times Square essentially)... versus something pretty that would have worked a little more devoid of animals.

The other option was just tacking on the attraction to fantasyland, but this culdesac miniland looks like a fun compromise to me.

This does not look like TSPL. It’s an actual environment and not props spread out over a concrete slab.
 
Yert3

Yert3

Well-Known Member
dennis-in-ct said:
Is anyone else imaging a convention of Furrys showing up at the Zootopia land?

This is why we can’t have this land here in the states - I don’t think “Furrys” is a “thing” in China - lol

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furry_fandom
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They wouldn’t be allowed into the parks wearing their suits anyway, so it’s an irrelevant concern. Costumes aren’t allowed for anyone over 14.
 
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Timothy_Q

Timothy_Q

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
That interest is character driven. It’s seeing the different animals using the city at different scales but you can’t have a functioning elephant ice cream shop because your tables and counters, by law, have to be certain sizes.
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You also don't have wizards doing real magic at Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade.

But somehow the design of the world is enough to make the land interesting
 
R

RandySavage

Well-Known Member
For me, the more apt analogy for this discussion is not imagining Carsland without the car denizens, but without the all the rockwork/mountains (e.g., you only experience Monument Valley inside a show-building).

My initial imagining for a Zootopia land would be something akin to this concept by Kevin Dang:
Zooptopia z Fan (2).jpg


I'm okay with idea of Zootopia land in SDL, but was a little disappointed the art only showed (and Brian makes it sound like the only pedestrian area will be) the city square cul-de-sac. Something like the above maybe too much to fit in a mini-land, but I can understand how the city center part of Zootopia is not as enticing as the movie's other realms (which will surely be part of the ride interior, via screen or set).

Hoping the ride is a successor to Splash Mountain (long, physical sets & AAs, thrills), versus the Mickey's Railway ride.
 
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IMDREW

IMDREW

Well-Known Member
O
RandySavage said:
For me, the more apt analogy for this discussion is not imagining Carsland without the car denizens, but without the all the rockwork/mountains (e.g., you only experience Monument Valley inside a show-building).

My initial imagining for a Zootopia land would be something akin to this concept by Kevin Dang:
View attachment 344353

I'm okay with idea of Zootopia land in SDL, but was a little disappointed the art only showed (and Brian makes it sound like the only pedestrian area will be) the city square cul-de-sac. Something like the above maybe too much to fit in a mini-land, but I can understand how the city center part of Zootopia is not as enticing as the movie's other realms (which will surely be part of the ride interior, via screen or set).

Hoping the ride is a successor to Splash Mountain (long, physical sets & AAs, thrills), versus the Mickey's Railway ride.
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Oooh! Zootopia would make a perfect IP for a splash ride.
 
FerretAfros

FerretAfros

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
The specific residents of Radiator Springs and their businesses are established in Cars. The constituent parts of the town relate to known characters. Zootopia isn’t known as a place tied to specific characters, it is known through vignettes, many of which are visual gags.
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I would also add that Radiator Springs works on a more universal level because at it's core it is based in a very specific concept: early/mid-century roadside tourist trap on Route 66. Similar to Main Street or Hollywood/Sunset Blvd, it's an idealized version of something that most visitors to the park are vaguely aware of, but probably haven't visited themselves (at least not during the "glory days" as being presented). Even if someone knew nothing of the Cars movies, they should be able to enjoy the land

So Carsland works on a variety of levels, depending on a guest's familiarity with the source material: First it works as a universal roadside attraction. Then, it works with the notion of a world built for/by/from cars. And at the most familiar level, it works with the characters that they may know from the films. Meanwhile, Zootopia is more-or-less just an unremarkable contemporary city, "but this time, with animal puns and gags!"

That said, I've argued before that Carsland is perhaps the most overrated land Disney has ever built. While it can be fun to explore the town from the movies, its overly-literal translation of the location really doesn't bring anything new to the table. Sure, it's fun to walk down the street and look at the neon, but then what? The best themed areas pick and choose highlights from their source material to include, and allude to other things that exist just beyond the limits of the land, giving an impression of limitless depth to the experience. But when something is essentially a 1-for-1 copy it draws attention to its limits, because everything is already known and there are no hidden corners. While the guest-accessible parts of Carsland are physically much larger than DL's Adventureland, the latter does a much better job of implying a large, limitless location, and manages to do it without requiring any specific prior knowledge from its visitors.
 
DDLand

DDLand

Well-Known Member
Looks weird.

For those who haven’t been there, Shanghai Disneyland is difficult to imagine. It’s closest to Epcot. You know how you can look all around World Showcase Lagoon and see much of the park from anywhere? That’s Shanghai Disneyland.

It’s basically a series of one sided dioramas. Deep immersion is hardly ever attempted. Pandora, Harambe, Frontierland, and Adventureland are completely different animals from Shanghai. Arguably the setting of Shanghai Disneyland is Disneyland.

It works in a way, but is distinct.

Much of Shanghai Disneyland on the East Side is extremely natural. A mountain range from Adventure Isle to Snow White Mine Train is nearly continuous (Pirate’s MASSIVE show building is dressed up as a mountain with a fort on top... one of the coolest details of Shanghai Disneyland).

Even past Mine Train, Fantasyland continues to be essentially wild and extremely landscape dependent. Instead of the building focused Fantasylands of old, New Fantasyland’s Storybook style is adopted. It feels wild and untamed. Like a fantasy forest with different worlds contained within.

The same can even be said of Toy Story Land.

Finally we come to Tomorrowland. Interestingly, it is reminiscent of Cars Land’s monument valley. An iconic backdrop, in which the guest inhabits the space in its foreground. Anytime you turn around you’ll be greeted by the Castle standing above it all.

I know it’s criminal to think a clone was appropriate, but I was really excited to see Everest make its way into that spot between Pirates and Mine Train. It would be the perfect conclusion to that side of the park.

This city is going to be weird. It will be crammed between the Pirates and Mine Train. I’m going to be interested to see how it’s executed.

This is a fundamentally urban environment. I’m surprised they didn’t go for a more natural environment. It’s also really cartoonish. Besides Mickey Town Thing and Andy’s Backyard, all of the park is actually extremely focused on realism.

I’ll be interested to see how it works! If it doesn’t fit, it will be a sad sad commentary on Imagineering. The head of Imagineering was design lead of this park. This is also Bob’s park. I’m hoping for the best!

Shanghai just keeps getting more unique.

Other thoughts...

1. One thing I haven’t seen mentioned, but is opened up due to it’s location, is the possibility of more Zootopia in Park 2. Build the Train over to a different neighborhood and you have a massive Zootopia World.

2. I’d also be remiss if not to mention my theory on Tangled. Does anyone else think the Frozen Sing Along building was destined for a Tangled Show? Its architecture looks Tangled and is close to the Snugly Duckling. Frozen wasn’t going to have a presence at Shanghai, but a quick switch seems to have occurred. The Tangled Show that came to Disney Cruise Line adds some fodder to my speculation. Thoughts?
3. Is Pandora dead? That at Shanghai would be weird yet awesome. No more weird than Star Wars at Disneyland...
 
champdisney

champdisney

Well-Known Member
TwilightZone said:
I could totally see a lot of characters existing in it
Chicken Little and Robin Hood come to mind.
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Yep. Robin Hood set hundreds of years before the events of Zootopia, while Chicken Little takes place more or less within the same time period but in the countryside.

Lots of characters to put into the mix. Of course, that doesn’t mean Disney will use em’.
 
britain

britain

Well-Known Member
If it's back far enough, the buildings probably won't hurt views of Pirates fortress.
...but they could still hurt view of the Seven Dwarves mine train.

1548911559536.png
 
MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
​
Although Fisher didn’t reference them much, a couple of models from the Zootopia land coming to Shanghai Disneyland could also be seen by our tour group. From what I could see, it looked like it’ll be one street with various small buildings on either side, leading up to a large facade, very similar to the concept art below. At the end of the street, there will be an “E-Ticket” ride in a large building behind the facade.​

What I Learned:​
  • The Zootiopia land coming to Shanghai Disney seems as though it’ll consist of some stores, shops and one big E-Ticket ride.
 

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