Shanghai Disneyland Project~ concept reveal with photo @ will be done at 2015

Minnie and Mickey Mouse in traditional Chinese costumes are all smiles at a ceremony marking the start of construction of the Shanghai Disney Resort project on Friday.

The $3.7bn (£2.25bn) project to bring Mickey Mouse and other Disney figures to China has taken 10 years of talks.

Construction is expected to take five years, but analysts are ambivalent about the project's chance of success.

A Disneyland in Hong Kong attracts more than 40% of its visitors from mainland China, and is still loss-making.

Officials there have described the Shanghai plans as a "devastating blow" to the Hong Kong park.

The chief executive of Walt Disney Co, Bob Iger, and Shanghai Communist Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng led a ceremony featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse in traditional Chinese dress.

"Our Shanghai resort will be a world-class family vacation destination that combines classic Disney characters and storytelling with the uniqueness and beauty of China," Mr Iger said.

The Shanghai city government retains a majority interest in the project, with Disney holding 43%.

The Hong Kong park, which opened in 2005, has been criticised by tax-payers there for the amount of government investment required for something that has yet to make a profit.

Shanghai's Disneyland is expected to attract 7.3 million visitors in its first year, according to the city government's website.

It is planned to be part of an "international tourism resort" zone not far from the city's main international airport in Pudong.

"Disney is a classic urban entertainment brand. This project will help improve Shanghai's profile as a world famous tourism destination and lend a big boost to the development of culture and leisure industries of Shanghai and the Yangtze river delta," said the mayor of Shanghai, Han Zheng.

The park will be Disney's fourth outside the US, after Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

The large Barbie brand store in Shanghai, which opened with fanfare only two years ago, recently closed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I got an e-mail asking me what I thought of that concept painting of the Shanghai Disneyland Resort which was shown at The Walt Disney Company's 2011 Investor's Conference yesterday.

Concept art for the Shanghai Disneyland Resort. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

To be honest, I thought that it looked an awful lot like that image of the Shanghai Disneyland theme park which was briefly unveiled at a Walt Disney Family Museum event back in July of 2010 ...

Concept art for the Shanghai Disneyland theme park. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

... in that it really didn't show you a hell of a lot. But just gave you a rough sense of what this yet-to-be-built project might look like from 5000 feet up.
Given that John Hench had a hand in the overall design of so many Disney theme parks during the 60+ years that he worked for the Company ...

Peter Ellenshaw painting the now-famous blacklight image of Disneyland. Copyright
Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

... I once asked this Disney Legend if there was a secret to putting together these early-early concept paintings. And what John said in response kind of surprised me.
"You can't really be concerned about getting all of the details right. After all - at that point in the project - the design of the Park is actually pretty loose, subject to change," Hench explained. "So you have to be a good enough artist to give people the illusion of detail when what you're really doing with an image like this is working in broad strokes."
According to Hench, his longtime friend & colleague Herb Ryman ...

Disney Legend Herb Ryman working on concept paintings for Euro Disneyland
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

... was the absolute master when it came to these sorts of images. Using roughly sketched-out lines & splashes of color to make viewers think that they were seeing far more than they actually were when they looked at one of WDI's early-early theme park concept paintings.

Of course, it's not really a surprise that Herbie was the very best at these sorts of paintings & drawings. Given that he was the one who worked with Walt over that infamous "Lost Weekend" back in September of 1953. Putting together the very first overview drawing of Disneyland. Which Roy O. Disney then took with him to New York City so that he'd then have something to show the network people & money men which Roy hoped to get to invest in Walt's dream project.

Herb Ryman's 1953 overview drawing of Disneyland. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

I then asked John if there were any tricks-of-the-trade were when it came to putting together these sorts of early-early theme park concept paintings. And Hench said "It's all about distracting people. Putting something in there that catches their eye. In the original Disneyland painting ...

Walt Disney in front of John Hench's blacklight painting of Disneyland
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

... we put in a red observation balloon. People noticed that ...

... but not the yet-to-be-designed part of Disneyland that was directly below and behind that balloon. So I'd have to say that that was a successful bit of misdirection."
According to what Hench told me, this balloon gag was thought to be so successful on Disneyland's concept painting back in 1954 that -- ever since then -- the Imagineers have used this same bit of artistic bait-and-switch over & over again ...

... whenever they needed to hide the fact that the theme park which they were doing a concept painting of wasn't fully designed or developed yet.

John also talked about the Imagineers would often use banks of clouds to fill in blank spots on these canvases ...

... or deliberately position shafts of sunlight ...

... or insert multiple spotlights that then racked the night sky ...

... as a way to give the people the impression that they were seeing a lot more in this image than they actually were. More importantly - when in doubt - a colorful burst of fireworks and/or an explosion at the very edge of your concept painting was another great way to pull people's eyes away from those seriously under-designed & developed areas on your painting.

"You have to understand that the whole point of a concept painting like this is that Imagineering is trying to sell some corporation or Disney's board of directors on funding this very expensive proposition. So all your concept painting for this proposed theme park really has to do is convey a sense of energy, the excitement of this place," Hench continued. "So accuracy isn't all that important when it comes to creating an image like this. What you're really looking to capture here is the sizzle, not the steak."
Which isn't to say that John was a fan of theme parks that were sold to Mouse House management using this somewhat deceptive method. As Hench famously said after attending an Imagineering preview night for Disney California Adventure back in January of 2001 ...

.. "I liked this place better when it was a parking lot."
One hopes that John (who sadly passed away in February of 2004) would have had a far different opinion of the revamped version of DCA that's currently under construction at the Disneyland Resort. Given that the Walt Disney Company is reportedly spending $1.1 billion to remove all of that sizzle that fizzled and then replace it with one big honking steak of a theme park.

i ~talk~ wat i want to ~talk~ !!

see here !

see here ~

Shanghai Disneyland Project~ concept reveal with photo @ will be done at 2015

1 comment: