Zootopia-themed land to be latest attraction at Shanghai Disneyland

Shanghai Disneyland will open its Zootopia-themed land and future attractions, a first of its kind anywhere in the world, on Dec 20.

Based on the animated film Zootopia made by Walt Disney Animation Studios, this will be the eighth themed land in Shanghai Disneyland, Shanghai Disney Resort said on Tuesday.

The opening will see the introduction of a new attraction — "Zootopia: Hot Pursuit", where guests will hop on to an all-terrain cruiser powered by a trackless ride system in an action-filled chase through Zootopia's different districts, as well as several new themed entertainment experiences.

In the windows of Zootopia Park Apartments, which is also part of the new land, a lineup of "animal residents" will interact with guests throughout the day.

The new land will also feature a merchandise store based on Fru Fru, one of the well-known characters in Zootopia.

Shanghai Disneyland opened in June 2016 with six themed lands. The seventh, Pixar Toy Story Land, was opened in 2018.

The latest Zootopia-themed land, which started construction in late 2019, will open at a time when the tourism sector is rapidly recovering from the effects of COVID-19 pandemic.

Shanghai International Resort, where Shanghai Disney Resort is located, received 763,200 tourists during the eight-day Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday beginning Sept 29 this year, up 57.4 percent from 2019. Total tourism income touched 568 million yuan ($77.8 million), up 91.9 percent from the 2019 levels.

During the first half of this year, the resort reported 13 million visitor trips, 50 percent higher than in 2019. Its tourism income reached 9 billion yuan in the first six months, 90 percent higher than the 2019 level, according to the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism.

Meanwhile, Shanghai reported 139 million domestic tourist trips during the first half of this year, up 100 percent year-on-year. Income from domestic tourism also doubled from last year to top 155 billion yuan in the first six months, according to the administration.

Legoland Shanghai Resort, located in the southwestern outskirts of Shanghai, started construction in November 2021. The key design of a theme park at the resort was completed in mid-August and construction of the main project began in September. The new resort is scheduled to open its doors to visitors in early 2024.

According to a report by market consultancy McKinsey&Co, China is the world's second-largest themed park market, but only 27 percent of Chinese have visited themed parks, while the ratio is 68 percent in developed markets. The themed park industry, it said, will maintain robust growth in the following years with the market value exceeding 90 billion yuan in 2025, up from 40 billion yuan in 2019.

At present, there are six Disneylands around the world, located in California, Florida, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Walt Disney's latest results showed that the revenue generated by Disney Parks surged 17 percent year-on-year in the first three fiscal quarters ended July 1 to exceed $24.8 billion, accounting for nearly one-third of the entertainment giant's income during the same period.