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New coaster coming to Shanghai???
- Thread starter J4546
- Start date
Disgruntled Walt
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Is this coaster eventually going to be enclosed?
Gusey
Well-Known Member
I don't think it's entirely going to be, there will be a mix of outdoor track and some indoor scenes with Spidey like this one
Pizza Moon
Well-Known Member
It’s a cheaper approach for Disney, more like Universal. This was supposed to be the Expedition Rverest route, which mind you isn’t even expensive compared to modern themed coasters like Cosmic Rewind or Hagrid’s, but I suppose VelociCoaster territory adjusted for inflation. Does Spider-Man end up costing around these I guess?
I’ll only excuse it if it’s actually that thrilling like the newer Universal ones, but it doesn’t seem to be themed as well as Hiccup’s or VeliciCoaster, but it’ll probably have better launch elements than VC, and be in between them on thrill. I’m guessing like DLP’s Space Mountain or RNRC. It is my guess that they just took the cheaper route, as in good enough for the budget but not that it’s cheap per se, plot was likely never getting anything larger budgeted like a Hagrid’s or Cosmic Rewind, but correct me if I’m wrong. It’ll still be a great addition. Glad aesthetically we aren’t diluting Tomorrowland for this.
That corner with Winnie the Pooh, Zootopia, and Spider-Man is basically a dumping ground for their mega IPs that they didn’t know what else to do with, so as long as it stays over there I’m fine with it.
Keep the place making perfect in the rest of the park and of course the EPCOT World Showcase/DisneySea style Shanghai 2nd gate as well. I think they should try to better integrate IP in their Asian parks again going forward instead of like these “isolated” new experiences we’ve seen with Hogsmeade, Super Nintendo World, Fantasy Springs, and Zootopia. I think that’s where it’s headed at least if Tropical Americas and Villains are anything to go by.
infloencer
Active Member
I‘m curious how or if they try to hide the new coaster from the rest of the park regarding sight lines. Spider Man is very popular in China so the coaster will probably be a huge success, however it remains to be seen if it fits esthetically (I fear it won’t). I really don’t like the direction of Shanghai Disneyland since its opening. The park was so intricately designed and really had a clear vision with its themed lands. Toy Story Land and Zootopia feel completely out of place and don’t add anything to the existing lands, which I think should be the way for any castle park (exceptions being large new lands like Toon Town and not single attraction lands or dumping grounds for flat rides). I feel like Spider Man goes in the same direction of just dumping another single attraction land that’s completely out of place, hoping to be proven wrong though. Kind of a shame because the rest of that park is absolutely gorgeous in my opinion.
FerretAfros
Well-Known Member
What are you talking about?
Everest was very expensive in its day. It's ~$100M budget was very high at the time, and the lavish research expeditions to Nepal were cited for years as an example of WDI's inefficient spending. The highly-publicized technical elements of the attraction, like the three separate-but-interwoven structural systems and star AA "with the thrust of a 747," were extravagant solutions that only work with high cost. Even the advertising budget, filled with all types of wide-reaching Travel Channel-type TV specials, was huge.
Cosmic Rewind is not a themed coaster. It's a rollercoaster in the dark inside a box; the box is plainly visible on all four sides and not themed on any of them. The queue, preshow, load area, and first lift are decorated (the least compelling approach to theming) to varying degrees of success, but it's pretty bare after that; they didn't even bother to hang curtains to block view of screens intended for other vehicles along the tracks. Sure it's fun ride, but themed it is not.
Without knowing anything about the design intent for the Spider-Man ride, saying that it was to follow the Everest route simply doesn't make sense. Everest is a terrain-hugging coaster. Spider-Man (the character) is known for high-flying acrobatics in urban environments. Regardless of budgets, those two simple concepts are at odds with each other, and it's highly unlikely that approach and IP were ever seriously considered together. It was always destined to follow a Universal-style approach of mostly-unthemed tracks passing occasional scenic elements. Whether that approach is appropriate for a Disney castle park is another discussion entirely.
Construction costs are also notoriously difficult to adjust for inflation, as they rely on material prices that fluctuate in ways that don't always follow the larger market. R&D spending really doesn't translate over time, since novel elements 20 years ago are relatively commonplace an inexpensive today. Construction codes change over time, requiring more expensive approaches, and technology evolves in a way that makes direct comparisons difficult across different eras.
But of course, it's really WDI's costs that have exploded beyond control. That there's even a misunderstanding that Everest is considered a low-budget alternative simply shows how insane their costs have gotten. From 2006 to 2022 inflation was about 45%, yet Cosmic Rewind cost about 6 times more than Everest while failing to be anywhere near as transportive or convincing. Unless there's someone (or several people) walking down the halls of WDI with hundreds of millions of dollars in their pockets, it's hard to see where all the extra money went.
Pizza Moon
Well-Known Member
You misread my post, I wasn’t saying Spider-Man was similar to Everest I was literally implying the opposite.
It’s going on the plot in Shanghai originally earmarked for Everest.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
The master plan was showing the size and scale of what could be added. Expedition Everest was not actually intended to be built on the site.
Disgruntled Walt
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Wait, Everest was going in Shanghai?
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
No. It and The Haunted Mansion were used on the master plan to fill out expansion space. They were existing footprints used to demonstrate that something of their size could fit in the area without going through the wasted effort of designing something.
malice
Well-Known Member
I’d agree apart from this castle park threw the rule book out before it opened.
DrStarlander
Well-Known Member
At this point, there really is no longer a steady-state premium in "Disney quality" over "Universal quality." They have converged within, and share, the range that historically existed between them.
Pizza Moon
Well-Known Member
They’d be a better fit than Zootopia and Spider-Man, and we all know the only reason Zootopia, Winnie The Pooh, and Spider-Man are in that area is because they’re some of the biggest franchises in the world, and absolutely for China too.
Point was, the land could’ve been used for a very aesthetically integrsated area between Mine Train and Pirates with Everest, but they chose Spider-Man and Zootopia isolated “worlds” as an IP dumping ground instead. Whether Everest was legitimately going to be used or not is irrelevant as new expansions are always in flux. Look at how many projects were slated for where Pandora and Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge sits today.
Other IPs like Nightmare Before Christmas, Narnia would also feel more natural in my opinion given the forresty and supernatural concepts at least. I assume they’re saving a Fantasy Springs/New Fantasyland/Beauty and the Beast type of expansion for the massive expansion plot to the North of their Fantasyland. My guess is the IPs that end up at SDL depend on what goes to the EPCOT-style park. Like if Mulan, Mary Poppins/101 Dalmatians, Moana, Sleeping Beauty, Tangled, & Aladdin go to EPCOT, then that frees up the space for IPs like Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Hunchback, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, or even the Lion King.
Man I wish Oz the Great and Powerful and Atlantis: The Lost Empire were more successful as I feel like the worlds of Oz and Atlantis should be explored in a park setting. At least Universal is doing their equivalent to Oz with the so-so Wicked, but palcemaking should drive expansions, paired with high ROI. I guarantee you that Spider-Man and Zootopia were like the highest of the highest ROIs they could do, disregarding all else lol.
I don’t blame them and the finished rides will be good, but it’s a shame that area of the park is always going to feel like a modern Disney Adventure World or Hollywood Studios or even Universal Studios Japan instead of you know, a more natural Disneyland-esque expansion they naturally flows.
Random but I also can’t help but think that someday either TBA gets an update to make it like the movie and actually good or it goes back to Song of the South. Just like Galaxy’s Edge sliding back to the OG is inevitable, I think TBA getting either an update or a retheme is too honestly, but that’s a 2030s problem at the earliest, way higher priority stuff.
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BrianLo
Well-Known Member
I think the coaster is quite odd for a castle park, but fortunately it’s very, very tucked away. Their tree/foliage game is also great at this resort.
Of course if something needs to be tucked away to work it doesn’t technically work.
