Zootopia characters make an appearance upon the announcement of Zootopia-themed land at Shanghai Disney Resort in east China's Shanghai, Sept. 5, 2023. (Photo/Ren Long, Xinhua)

Shanghai - The world's first Zootopia land, scheduled to open to the public starting from Dec. 20 at Shanghai Disney Resort, has kicked off trial operation, the resort said Wednesday.

The new themed land was open to the media for the first time on Wednesday. It is based on the Walt Disney Animation Studios movie "Zootopia" and will become the eighth themed land in Shanghai Disneyland.

According to the resort, the Zootopia land's construction began in December 2019, and it involves many latest original design concepts from the international Disney engineering team.

Shanghai Disney Resort opened with six themed lands on June 16, 2016. Its seventh land, Disney Pixar Toy Story Land, opened in 2018, making Shanghai Disneyland the fastest-expanding Disneyland in the world. In August this year, the resort began construction of its third themed hotel.