Disney Reveals Name for New Hotel Opening in 2027

Disney revealed the name for its newest hotel, which broke ground nearly three years ago and will be the third themed resort at Shanghai Disneyland. Here are full details from the official announcement, followed by our commentary and what else is happening at SDL as the park celebrates its milestone 10th Anniversary.

Inspired by the fabled Wishing Star, Shanghai Disney Resort has unveiled the name of its third themed hotel: Disney Enchanted Star Hotel! Along with that, they’ve released a brand-new rendering pictured below, and a tease promising that the Enchanted Star Hotel will light up even more magical journeys at Shanghai Disneyland. I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean; perhaps it’s confirmation the hotel will have light fixtures. Good to know.

This third themed hotel project adds to the massive expansion plans already underway at Shanghai Disney Resort. While that doesn’t officially feature a second gate (yet), it does include the development of a fourth themed hotel at the park entrance, a ninth themed land at Shanghai Disneyland, and a major expansion of the park’s iconic Soaring Over the Horizon attraction.

Construction officially commenced on Shanghai Disney Resort’s third themed hotel, Disney Enchanted Star Hotel, back on August 31, 2023. Leaders and representatives of Shanghai Shendi Group, The Walt Disney Company, Shanghai Disney Resort and the Administrative Commission of Shanghai International Resort attended the groundbreaking ceremony, which represented the official commencement of construction.

At the time, Disney and Shanghai Shendi Group touted the expansion as further cultivating the highly popular Shanghai Disney Resort’s credentials as a multi-day tourism destination. This has been reinforced by projects we’ve seen since, all of which are paving the way for the inevitable second gate to accompany Shanghai Disneyland.

Disney Enchanted Star Hotel is a deluxe hotel with 400 rooms. When it opens, the new hotel will join the elegant 420-room Shanghai Disneyland Hotel and the playful 795-room Toy Story Hotel to provide resort guests with even more accommodation options.

Disney Enchanted Star Hotel is slated to open in Winter 2027. We take that to mean early in 2027 as opposed to late in the year, but it could go either way based on Disney’s track record with “winter.”

Located on the shores of Wishing Star Lake, the new Disney Enchanted Star Hotel will provide extraordinary views of Shanghai Disneyland. The property will offer family appeal and experiences, with exciting new indoor and outdoor recreational amenities and programming.

Influenced by Art Nouveau architecture and design, and infused with Disney storytelling and whimsy, Enchanted Star Hotel’s design is an homage to Shanghai’s unique early 20th century architectural legacy, while staying true to Shanghai Disney Resort’s overarching planning principle of being “authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese.”

Continuing the tradition of extending the Disney magic beyond the company’s iconic theme parks, the new Disney Enchanted Star 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 Shanghai Disney Resort.

Here’s a quick rundown of the other projects that are ongoing at Shanghai Disneyland as the resort reaches its milestone 10th Anniversary…

Fourth (Unnamed) Park Entrance Hotel

Last November, Shanghai Disney Resort announced the development of a fourth themed resort hotel, located immediately adjacent to the entrance to Shanghai Disneyland, which upon completion will be a gateway for its guests to begin their experience at the resort.

Located just a few steps away from the Shanghai Disneyland’s front gates, the brand-new hotel will become the closest Disney hotel to the park. As part of the expansion, a wide variety of brand-new shopping, dining and entertainment offerings will accompany the development of the fourth hotel, in what will essentially be Disneytown’s second phase.

As one of the highlights of the expansion, a new Disney shopping destination, similar to the World of Disney Store on the opposite side of Shanghai Disneyland’s front entrance, will offer a new and unique shopping experience, allowing guests to have access to the resort’s exclusive merchandise without entering the park.

New Spider-Man Land

As of June 2026, the signature coaster of the upcoming Spider-Man-themed land has officially completed track installation, with the high-speed adventure speeding ever closer. Disney shared on Shanghai Disneyland’s anniversary that the final piece of track was just put into place.

This project has progressed at spidey-speed. Last fall, Shanghai Disney Resort installed the first vertical steel column for the major attraction at Shanghai Disneyland’s new Spider-Man-themed land, marking the official beginning of the installation work for this high-energy thrill coaster.

The construction of the Spider-Man-themed land officially began last May. As the latest addition and the ninth themed land at Shanghai Disneyland, this Spider-Man area will present the park’s first major Marvel attraction, a high-energy thrill coaster featuring Spider-Man.

Guests entering the Spider-Man land will be surrounded by Spider-Man and his friends with unique shopping, food and beverage, and entertainment experiences that extend the story and invite guests into the web-slinger’s world.

Soaring Over the Horizon Expansion

Shanghai Disneyland’s iconic attraction, Soaring Over the Horizon, is expanding to significantly increase the daily capacity for one of the theme park’s most popular attractions. As a special surprise, once completed, guests will encounter a brand-new scene at the end of their aerial journey. The attraction will remain open during the expansion phase.

Featuring an original story, Soaring Over the Horizon takes guests on a flight across the globe, offering a fan-favorite guest experience. The expansion will see an approximately 50% increase on the current attraction capacity, so more guests can take flight on aerial tours around the globe (and with lower wait times).

Our Commentary

Whenever projects are announced for the international parks, the inevitable response among many Walt Disney World and Disneyland fans is: “why aren’t they investing that money here instead of overseas?!”

Well, for one, they absolutely are. Both Walt Disney World and Disneyland are in the early phases of a 10-year plan that will yield a minimum $20 billion investment through the 2030s. Probably more.

If you still believe that Disney is overinvesting in the international parks and underinvesting in the domestic ones, that’s entirely a matter of bias or over-exposure to what’s happening locally and under-exposure to what’s happening globally. There’s much more happening at Walt Disney World and Disneyland than the international parks at this point.

For another thing, the park is hugely popular and there’s a compelling case for investing even more than Disney already is in its newest resort complex. Shanghai Disneyland was behind only Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, Universal Studios Japan, and Tokyo Disneyland in global attendance. Those are three other high-capacity castle parks–the newest of which is over 40 years old–plus Universal’s most crowded park on the planet.

Shanghai Disneyland is punching above its weight for a park that is only just celebrating its 10th anniversary. The initial investment in the park now looks brilliant, and I say that as someone who openly questioned whether Disney would make the same decision to build Shanghai Disney Resort were the decision made in 2020 (perhaps even more recently). The post-COVID comeback has been huge. Investing more money in SDR/SDL absolutely makes sense.

Bob Iger should’ve retired after opening Shanghai Disneyland, because it would’ve been a great legacy project that aged like fine wine. The series of decisions and events since has been a bit more, ahem, mixed. Maybe in a different multiverse, Tom Staggs is on stage for the opening of the park as part of his transition into the CEO role. We could’ve been spared the whole Chapek Era and all that came with it.

It looks like a brilliant decision almost a decade later, but it was a rocky road to get Shanghai Disneyland to this point. Or even just to opening day. Getting a deal done with the Chinese government was no easy process–it took roughly two decades (and two CEOs) after the initial idea of entering the mainland to sign a deal to build Shanghai Disneyland, with partner Shendi owning a majority stake in the project.

That agreement was approved by the Chinese government in November 2009, with the park announced a year later by Disney in November 2010. Construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony on April 7, 2011.

Originally scheduled to open in 2015, an additional $800 million investment was made due to cost overruns, delays, and/or to add capacity and entertainment. Reports of various problems, from the health of the workers on the construction project to talk of rebuilding certain elements due to shoddy construction, were tied to the project. As a result of these issues or others, the opening date of Shanghai Disneyland was delayed by roughly a year.

As longtime readers might recall, we attended opening day of Shanghai Disneyland, assuming it would be the last new castle park in our lifetimes. Perhaps that will end up being wrong if/when Abu Dhabi Disneyland is completed. We’ve called Shanghai Disneyland the most complete opening day park in decades, and a return to form for Disney in that regard.

Shanghai Disneyland has been such a success story that it helps explain not only Disney’s bullishness in investing in other theme parks around the globe, but also Universal building out Epic Universe as a more complete park from day one.

For comprehensive Shanghai Disneyland trip planning–covering everything from culture to hotels to transportation from the airport and more–read our Shanghai Disneyland Trip Planning Guide!

Your Thoughts

What do you think of Enchanted Star Hotel at Shanghai Disney Resort? Will you stay in this new hotel, or do you prefer the existing options? If you’ve been to Shanghai Disneyland, what are your thoughts on the park or resort complex as a whole? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!