Walt Disney breaks ground on third themed hotel in Shanghai resort in display of US ‘soft power’ after Raimondo visit
- Once completed, the hotel will provide 400 rooms and offer an overview of the Disneyland theme park
- Construction on the yet-unnamed hotel began on Thursday beside the resort’s Wishing Star Lake
The Walt Disney Company this week broke ground on its third themed hotel at its Shanghai resort, in what the visiting US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo hailed as the display of “American soft power.”
Construction on the yet-unnamed hotel started on Thursday on the shores of the resort’s Wishing Star Lake in Pudong district, according to a statement by the Shanghai Disney Resort.
Once completed, the hotel will provide 400 rooms and offer an overview of the Disneyland theme park, adding to the 420-room Shanghai Disneyland Hotel and the 795-room Toy Story Hotel, it said.
“The new hotel will immerse guests in spaces and activities which showcase Disney characters and stories, introduce new dining, shopping and entertainment experiences, and provide more options for guests planning multi-day visits to the resort,” the resort said.
The design of Disney’s new hotel will follow the principle of being “authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese,” embedding the element of Disney storytelling and whimsy with Shanghai’s unique architectural legacy in the early 1900s, according to the statement, without saying when construction will be completed.