Disney's first Zootopia land opened Wednesday morning local time to guests at Shanghai Disneyland. The park hosted a grand opening party for the land Tuesday night, during a press event for the launch of the new land.
During the day, Disney CEO Bob Iger dedicated the new land in a ceremony with Shanghai Vice Mayor Liu Duo and Zootopia characters.
"For 100 years, The Walt Disney Company has been entertaining, thrilling, and inspiring audiences and fans through exceptional storytelling that transcends generations and geographies," Iger said. "Our popular Zootopia film continues to delight fans across the globe, especially in China, and we’re excited to give guests at Shanghai Disney Resort the chance to interact with the stories and characters they love in innovative new ways when they visit this spectacular new land."
Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D'Amaro introduced the new land during a press conference, which was interrupted by Duke Weaselton, a new prototype moving Audio Animatronic character from Walt Disney Imagineering.
Then Shanghai Disneyland staged an opening-night concert with "Gazelle," in front of its Enchanted Storybook Castle.
Zootopia is the eighth themed land in Shanghai Disneyland and the second to be added since the park's 2016 grand opening, following Toy Story Land. The land includes a new trackless dark ride, Zootopia Hot Pursuit, as well as a new interactive character encounter, Disney Zootopia Comes Alive at the Zootopia Park Apartments.
I could not make it into China for the press event, but Theme Park Insider has a correspondent on the ground in Shanghai to cover the opening for us. Please see Justin Olsvik's coverage below:
For tickets to the park, please visit our partner's Shanghai Disneyland tickets page.
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Well that interaction with Duke was pretty cool, and worthy of a special mention. Especially the way he moved onto the stage looking like he was pushing the cart! (sadly that didnt work work for his departure). We need more of this DISNEY!!!!