Shanghai Disney Resort Full Announcement + Ride and Attraction Details

Yesterday's post about Shanghai Disneyland ended with me hoping that additional details about the park would be released soon - and then a couple hours after I posted that Disney CEO Bob Iger did just that.  I'd like to pretend I was expecting the announcement, but it was just lucky timing.

In a grand media presentation in China, nearly every detail of the new Shanghai Disneyland was announced, with a plethora of new concept art and videos released for us to dig through.  Additionally, an expected grand opening of Spring 2016 was set.

We've been expecting a pretty unique Disney park for some time, and that's just what we're getting.  The park has six themed areas that start with Mickey Avenue, a bit like Main Street but with a unique take on the layout.  The large Garden of Imagination serves as a hub for the rest of the park, but also contains attractions of its own.  The remaining lands are Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Treasure Cove and Adventure Isle.  Treasure Cove is the first all pirate themed land in a Disney Park, and Adventure Isle is a modern interpretation of an Adventureland with a unique theme.

Some attractions opening at the park will be modern versions of existing rides, like a Peter Pan dark ride that uses what the park calls and "inverted-coaster ride system" to make riders swoop and dive during the ride.

Other attractions, like Roaring Rapids seen above, use a familiar ride system with a unique story and theme.  On Roaring Rapids riders will head up into a large mountain and encounter the Q’aráq, the giant reptile creature in this concept art.  Certainly looks like it could be pretty awesome ride!

The amount of concept art that was revealed in the announcement is so expansive that I won't try to tackle it here, especially since I'd like to give credit to sites that already dug through it all.  For more photos and descriptions than I thought possible, check out this post at Disney And More.  Attractions Magazine has a great video at the bottom of this post that shows the model of the resort in detail.  Finally, the official Shanghai Disneyland website is now live and while light on photos, there is much more information already on there in text form than in the press release.