The new Disney flagship store in Shanghai is the company's first in the Chinese mainland. GAO ERQIANG / CHINA DAILY

The launch of the Disney flagship store in Shanghai on May 20 was a preview of the things to come at the Shanghai Disney Resort which is scheduled for opening in the spring of 2016.

Located in Lujiazui, the financial area in Pudong district, the Disney flagship store is the company’s first in the Chinese mainland and its largest store by size. It features more than 2,000 products, of which 90 percent of them are exclusive to the site.

In contrast to the other Disney stores around the world, the store has a 19-foot castle at the heart of the site that features an hourly musical and projection show, and a Marvel-themed area with hand-sculpted statues of superheroes. Its exterior includes a landscaped plaza and Mickey Mouse-shaped roof sculpted with 8,000 LED lights visible from key tourist attractions such as the Oriental Pearl Tower.

Some limited edition products have been designed to celebrate the opening of the store, such as Mickey Mouse toys embroidered with “Disney Shanghai” or “Disney 2015”, as well as mugs and key rings printed with Chinese-style lane houses. A series of “I Love Shanghai” products are also exclusively offered at the Shanghai store.

On its first day of operations, the store was forced to close after just an hour due to overcrowding issues as hundreds of customers turned up at the same time. During its first month, customers had to queue for up to an hour on weekends before they could enter the store, which had imposed a crowd limit of 100 people as part of safety measures.