Spotlight turns from Shanghai Disney to Orlando — for all the wrong reasons
After more than 5 years of work and a $5.5 billion investment, Shanghai Disney Resort — a vital part of Disney’s expansion plans in Asia — is opening this week with all the pomp and ceremony you might expect.
In Florida, Walt Disney World is getting ready to raise the curtain on a number of long-awaited attractions in the coming days, including the “Frozen” ride coming to Epcot.
Instead, attention has turned to Orlando for all the wrong reasons.
First, the atrocity at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando — a terror attack, a hate crime, and the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. The club itself is miles from Disney World, but in the wake of the attack it was reported that the Disney resort itself had been cased as a potential target.
Then, a 2-year-old child splashing at the edges of the Seven Seas Lagoon just outside of the Grand Floridian Resort was snatched by an alligator and dragged away as his horrified parents tried to save him. The little boy’s body later was recovered from the lagoon.
At a time when “Good Morning America,” which airs on Disney’s ABC television, had planned to broadcast live from Shanghai Wednesday morning, it was instead reporting from the Grand Floridian, where authorities were still searching for the missing toddler.
Disney responded to the terror attack by increasing security at its parks — where it already was in the process of adding metal detectors to its screening process — and by making a $1 million donation to the OneOrlando fund, which will benefit those affected by the shooting. And Disney fans were planning an unofficial vigil at the Magic Kingdom Saturday night.
The statement from the company on its increased security read, in part: “Unfortunately we’ve all been living in a world of uncertainty, and we have been increasing our security measures across our properties for some time, adding such visible safeguards as magnetometers, additional canine units, and law enforcement officers on site, as well as less visible systems that employ state-of-the-art security technologies.”
Disney won praise for its security measures, if not for its vague “no swimming” signage around the lagoon.
CEO Bob Iger, meanwhile, is in Shanghai, presiding over the festivities there. He released a statement about the shooting at the Pulse nightclub, but has not yet made any comment on the alligator attack.
In the coming days, attention will begin to shift back to Shanghai, and to the new attractions opening at Disney World.
On Friday, the Magic Kingdom stage show “Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire” will debut, along with Soarin’ Around the World at Epcot and the “Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular” fireworks show at Hollywood Studios. And on Tuesday, the hotly anticipated “Frozen Ever After” attraction and the Royal Summerhaus character greeting area will open to guests.
If you’re ready a little magic after this grim week in Orlando, the “Grand Opening Celebration of Shanghai Disney Resort,” will be broadcast Thursday, June 16, at 8 p.m., on Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, and Friday, June 17, at 10 p.m., on Freeform.
