Lifestyle
The Shanghai Disney Resort on Tuesday opened the world's first Zootopia land, offering guests an up-close look at the beloved animal characters and world featured in the popular animated movie.
The new themed attraction, based on the hugely successful film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, will officially open to the public on Wednesday, the resort announced.
Disney decided to debut the much-awaited land in Shanghai due to the films massive welcoming China, according to Jill Estorino, president and managing director of Disney Parks International.
The film broke box office records in China following its release in 2016 to become the highest-grossing imported animated feature film, a title that it still holds today.
A filmmaker who contributed to the movie and attended Wednesday's opening praised the Shanghai Disney Resort for bringing his work to life.
"Honestly, being here is incredibly emotional to me. We started working on this movie 12 years ago, and to see this world come to life in reality, to be able to walk through it, to see giant elephant doors down to tiny, shrewd doors. Honestly, it's a dream come true," said Jared Bush, co-writer and co-producer of Zootopia.
The new addition is the eighth themed land inside the Shanghai resort and marks the end of the park's second major expansion phase which began in December 2019.
Joe Schott, the president and general manager of the Shanghai Disney Resort, said that it is designed to give visitors an immersive experience of the enchanting film using advanced animatronics and other state-of-the-art techniques.
"We use a lot of cutting-edge technology to bring this creativity to life and the storytelling. We also expect our guests are going to love that in the process and really enjoy being a part of it," he said.
The Shanghai Disney Resort first opened with six themed lands back on June 2016, with a seventh - the Disney Pixar Toy Story Land - opening in 2018, making it the fastest-expanding Disneyland worldwide.
Josh D'Amaro, chairman of Disney Experiences, said that the continuous growth of the company's operation in China shows the strong confidence it holds in the Chinese market.
"We're seeing more and more fans come to this theme park. We continue to expand here. So, we're very bullish on the market. We're now opening Zootopia, and we have a new hotel coming as well. So, we're feeling very good about the market and very good about our performance here," the company's officer said.