Shanghai Disney Resort to feature hotels and shopping district

Shanghai Disney Resort will open next year with two hotels, a theme park with six themed lands and a shopping and dining district known as Disneytown.

Details of what is expected to be the second-largest Disney resort, behind Disney’s massive resort in Orlando, Fla., were released Thursday at a travel trade show in Shanghai.

The project, developed by Disney and its Chinese partner Shanghai Shendi Group, shares some similarities with Disneyland in Anaheim, which has three hotels, a shopping district and eight themed lands.

In Shanghai, the nearly $5-billion project will include the 420-room Shanghai Disneyland Hotel and the 800-room Toy Story Hotel, featuring characters and scenes from the animated franchise.

Shanghai Disneyland will have six themed lands and attractions like the Enchanted Storybook Castle, the pirate-themed Treasure Cove and the Garden of the Twelve Friends.

Nearby will be the Disneytown, with nearly half a million square feet of stores and restaurants, and a theater.

“Shanghai Disney Resort will provide a world-class tourism destination for Chinese guests, offering the same spirit of shared family entertainment that Walt Disney first introduced nearly 60 years ago” in Anaheim, said Philippe Gas, general director of the park.

To read more about travel, tourism and the airline industry, follow me on Twitter at @hugomartin.