Disney's new heights

A simulated image of the Shanghai Disney Resort, which will be the first such on the Chinese mainland when it opens in 2015. [Photo provided to China Daily]

At first glance, it has the look of a cutting-edge, high-tech exhibition. There's a digital showroom that positions viewers into a 3D experience, an electronic wristband that can be used as your admission pass, and a talking robot that looks like a fortune-teller.

These exhibits were just a part of the Walt Disney Imagineering open house at the Disney D23 Expo held from Aug 9-11. The weekend-long event took consumers behind the scenes to experience the company's many franchises through a mix of traditional storytelling and new technologies.

The exhibit for D23, the official Disney fan club, was the third bi-annual event held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Southern California. Fans arrived from 48 states and 21 countries and formed long queues or waited anxiously in their tents to get a ticket.

But the fans who will have to wait even longer to interact with Disney's new technological gadgets and exhibits might be from China. Many of the company's new technologies on display at the D23 Expo might make their way to the Disney resort in Shanghai when it opens in 2015.

During his frequent trips to China, Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Co, reiterated that he will give Chinese customers a resort that is "authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese".

The Shanghai park will be distinctive because "every single thing we put in the Shanghai park will have been rethought, reimagined, or even re-engineered, to respond and make sure that we tailor everything for our Chinese audience," he said. "It is going to be the best of Disney but designed specifically for the people of China."