2016 saw the first Shanghai Disneyland map when the park debuted; the maps have evolved each year to reflect changes in the resort and at Disneyland.
It’s fair to say that Shanghai Disneyland was the most complete resort Disney opened; the company having learned its lesson from the misfire of Hong Kong Disneyland.
Hong Kong opened with a very small park.
The Disney executives, undoubtedly, assumed the crowds would show up and they could slowly expand the park drawing those crowds back year after year.
Instead, the park was widely panned for being too small and not having enough content to keep guests busy for an entire day.
Shanghai, if anything, was the exact opposite.
Shanghai Disneyland opened with an enormous park, the largest castle in the Disney canon, and enough attractions to keep guests busy and (hopefully) coming back.
Read our Shanghai Disneyland review
Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, often cited statistics about 300,000,000 people living within three hours of the Shanghai Disney Resort and the park was a quick success drawing in excess of 10,000,000 guests in its first year and ahead of the company’s public expectations.
A fun way to see the changes within Disney parks is through their maps and looking at the Shanghai Disneyland map evolution is a great example.
2016 Map of Original Lands 2017 Shanghai Disneyland Map 2018 Shanghai Disneyland Map 2018 Shanghai Disneyland map with first reference to Toy Story Land 2019 Shanghai Disneyland Map
Park maps are a great reference point for parks on your Shanghai Disneyland vacation.
I personally love examining them for slight nuances and small name changes from year to year!
