It’s a zoo in there
First Zootopia-themed land to open soon at Shanghai Disneyland
Newbie rabbit cop Judy Hopps, her buddy (or is their relationship more than just platonic?), reformed con artist fox Nick Wilde, and a menagerie of other anthropomorphic creatures from the “Zootopia” film and TV series will be taking up residence at Shanghai Disneyland in a new land that is scheduled to open December 20. The highlight will be a new E-Ticket attraction, Zootopia: Hot Pursuit, that will include trackless vehicles and a gaggle of Audio-Animatronics characters.
According to a company release, passengers aboard Zootopia: Hot Pursuit will be recruited to the city’s police force and immediately sent on a wild chase to apprehend meanie Bellwether who has kidnapped Gazelle just before the famous chanteuse’s big concert. (Because, you know, things always go horribly wrong–before neatly resolving themselves–on theme park rides.) The adventure will take guests into the Rainforest District, slip-sliding on the ice at Tundra Town, and other locales from the popular franchise.
Trackless vehicles have become Disney’s conveyance of choice lately. Attractions such as Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance feature the technology in which, as the name suggests, vehicles are computer programmed to make their way through a dark ride show building rather than follow a predetermined track. That gives designers the freedom to create multiple ride paths and for the vehicles to behave in ways that more traditional ones cannot.
As guests walk down the bustling city’s Mane Street (you gotta love the name), they’ll discover shops of all sizes designed to accommodate the varied species and body types of its animal denizens. For example, visitors will be able to spy on giraffes, as well as mice, working out side-by-side at a gym. Guests will also be able to see animals using the Zootopia Transit Authority’s hyper-tube (apparently, Elon Musk’s transportation technology has somehow bored its way into Zootopia). Visitors will be able to enter one of the shops, Fashions by Fru Fru, to load up on themed merch.
The animals residing at Zootopia Park Apartments will occasionally poke their heads out of their windows to interact with each other and the guests below. The concept sounds similar to the the delightful, but regretfully short-lived, The Muppets Present Great Moments in American History at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
Hungry visitors will be able to pop into Jumbeaux’s Cafe for a Zootopia Popsicle, which is based on the paw-shaped frozen treat from the movie. Many other Zootopia-inspired items, such as tiny and oversized donuts, a mini chocolate bar, and a carrot-shaped lollipop, will also be available at the eatery.
I was at Shanghai Disneyland for its grand opening and got to experience the unique park. Following CEO Bob Iger’s design mandate, “authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese,” the castle park charts its own course. Zootopia will be its seventh land, following Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Adventure Isle, Treasure Cove, Gardens of Imagination, and Toy Story Land. Shanghai Disneyland’s wildly reimagined take on Pirates of the Caribbean, subtitled Battle for the Sunken Treasure, is among the best attractions in the world. From the sounds of it, Zootopia: Hot Pursuit will likely join Pirates and the original TRON Lightcycle Power Run as the park’s signature attractions.
Earlier this year, Disney announced that a “Zootopia” sequel is in the works.
Have you visited, or might you consider visiting Shanghai Disneyland? Would you want to see Disney bring Zootopia to one of its other parks?
As an annual passholder/regular visitor to Shanghai Disneyland, I'm surprised at how mixed my feelings are toward the new Zootopia land… It looks fantastic, both in concept art and photographs, and I'm confident the ride will be quite impressive (even if Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure will be very hard to unseat as the park's best). Meandering the park in these last few pre-Zootopia months, I also think it fits in reasonably well; I like how the very front and back of the park now contain mirroring cartoon-y streets full of anthropomorphized animals. With all that said, however, Shanghai Disneyland's greatest flaw has always been that it's too weighted toward a few top-tier rides separated by far too much empty walking space. Zootopia solves exactly none of those problems while making them all so much worse by introducing another ride that should easily average a 2.5-hour wait and adding yet more empty pathway to the park. Of course, it's great that Shanghai Disneyland gets another land to explore, and as an American living in China, I enjoy seeing Chinese theme parks grow (and of course I'll be waiting however many hours it takes to ride Hot Pursuit once I can get over to the new land in January).
It's exciting to hear Disney is continuing to pursue the "trackless" ride trend. One of my favorite things about "Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance" when I rode it last summer was the fact that you can't easily tell where you're going to go next and what's going to happen. Hope to see more trackless rides in the O.C. Disneyland as well.
Also, I was just at Shanghai Disney 2 months ago! Gotta say their Pirates ride is 5x better than the one we have here in Anaheim and I'm slightly jealous 😭.