Disney has backburnered plans for a second theme park at Shanghai Disney Resort, Puck reports, as Imagineering layoffs hit. Here’s what’s still on the way in Shanghai.
If you were hoping for a second Disney park next to Shanghai Disneyland, you may be waiting a long time.
Disney has put a planned second theme park at Shanghai Disney Resort on the back burner indefinitely, according to a report from Puck that Laughing Place picked up on Friday, Oct. 30. Puck says a “big chunk” of the Walt Disney Imagineering jobs cut this week were tied to that park, Laughing Place reported.
Puck didn’t say why the project was pushed aside. Disney hasn’t commented, and neither has the Shanghai Shendi Group, Disney’s state-owned partner in the resort.
Did Disney ever announce a second Shanghai park?
No. Disney “never formally announced” a second park in Shanghai, Laughing Place notes. But fans have been expecting one for years.
In June, Forbes reported that a new park was “widely expected” to be built in Shanghai. Former Imagineer Jim Shull told Forbes a second park would open “around the 15th anniversary,” Fantasyland News reported.
That didn’t happen. Shanghai Disney Resort’s 10th anniversary event came and went in June without a park announcement, WDW News Today reported. Instead, Disney named its third hotel.
Former Imagineering president Bob Weis wrote about the idea in his 2024 book, Dream Chasing. He said energy “was put toward the development of a second park,” but it “was deemed too early in the development cycle for Shanghai.” The focus shifted to Zootopia, which opened as a new land at Shanghai Disneyland on Dec. 20, 2023.
How do the Imagineering layoffs tie in?
The timing lines up. A California state filing shows 159 permanent layoffs at Walt Disney Imagineering’s headquarters in Glendale, BlogMickey reported. The notice is dated Oct. 27, and the cuts take effect Dec. 29.
The Los Angeles Times reported that between 100 and 200 people in Disney’s parks division were being let go, most of them at Imagineering. Laughing Place’s sources blamed “shifting priorities within the division.”
Some early reports said the cuts focused on Imagineers working on Shanghai and Abu Dhabi. Laughing Place’s sources say the Abu Dhabi park isn’t delayed. Disney announced that park with Miral, on Yas Island, in May 2025.
What’s still coming to Shanghai Disney Resort?
Quite a bit, actually:
Disney Enchanted Star Hotel: The resort’s third hotel opens Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2026, with 400 rooms and suites in an Art Nouveau style that nods to early 20th-century Shanghai. Bookings open at midnight Shanghai time on Nov. 6, which is 11 a.m. ET on Thursday, Nov. 5.
A Spider-Man coaster: Full-speed testing has started at Shanghai Disneyland, Laughing Place reported Oct. 20. Disney hasn’t announced an opening date.
A fourth hotel and a bigger Disneytown: The resort announced both in November 2025. The new hotel will sit next to the park entrance.
So the resort is still growing. It just may not be growing a second gate anytime soon.
How big is Shanghai Disney Resort?
Shanghai Disneyland opened June 16, 2016, and it’s still the only Disney park in mainland China.
Its Enchanted Storybook Castle stands about 200 feet tall, making it the largest Disney castle. Disney owns 43% of the resort, and the Shanghai Shendi Group owns 57%. The management company is 70% Disney.
The park has been busy, too. In the new TEA Global Experience Index, Shanghai Disneyland drew about 15 million visitors in 2025, up 2%, good for No. 5 in the world.
What does this mean for Disney’s other park plans?
Disney said in September 2023 that it planned to spend about $60 billion on its parks and cruise lines over 10 years, roughly double what it spent in the decade before, the Associated Press reported.
Most of that money is going into projects already underway, like new lands at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, new cruise ships and the Abu Dhabi park. A second Shanghai park was never part of an official list.
For now, Shanghai fans can look forward to a new hotel in December and a Spider-Man coaster sometime after that.
Article compiled and written by Kambrea Pratt (editor-in-chief), Derek Gibbs (beat editor) and the Pirates & Princesses newsroom. Pirates & Princesses is part of WebReef Media.
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Hat Tips:
Puck (Oct. 2026), the report on the second park
Laughing Place (Oct. 20, 28, 29 and 30, 2026), the Puck report, layoffs, hotel and coaster
BlogMickey (Oct. 30, 2026), the state layoff filing; (2026), Bob Weis’s book
Forbes and Fantasyland News (June 14, 2026), second-park expectations
WDW News Today (June 15, 2026), the 10th anniversary event
Associated Press (Sept. 19, 2023), Disney’s $60 billion plan
Chris Explorer on YouTube, the park tour
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