DIS Walt Disney Co

After more than a decade of planning and five years of construction, Walt Disney Co. plans to open its first theme park in mainland China on June 16, according to people close to the project.

After initially setting a plan to launch it in 2015, Disney said last year that the Shanghai Disney Resort would open in the first half of 2016. The official date, on the tail end of that time frame, represents not only the significant construction challenges of a $5.5 billion, 963-acre theme park, hotel and entertainment complex, but the political and cultural barriers of such a massive project undertaken in partnership with a state-owned consortium.

Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger previously said he hoped to announce an opening date by the end of 2015—a goal that appears to have slipped due to the political challenges of coordinating an announcement with Chinese officials.

Major construction on attractions such as the company's biggest princess castle, a land based on the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, and a Toy Story hotel, is close to complete, one of the people familiar with the plans said. The next several months are expected to be spent largely on hiring and training employees, testing systems and working on entertainment, including a Mandarin-language version of "The Lion King" musical.

Disney has so far hired 2,000 of the 10,000 employees it will need to operate its new resort.

About 8,000 people have been involved in construction.

Tickets aren't yet on sale and Disney hasn't announced prices for the Shanghai Disneyland theme park.

For those hoping to attend in the opening days or months, Disney is likely to sell tickets usable only on certain dates to manage demand, as it has done when opening other theme parks.

In selecting the opening date, a Thursday, the company had a number of cultural considerations, including holidays earlier in the month, the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, and local belief that the number four is unlucky.

Shanghai Disney is 57%-owned by a state-backed consortium, Shanghai Shendi, and 43% by Walt Disney Co. Local partners are responsible for construction and the accompanying infrastructure, including a subway extension.

However, the media giant is 70% owner of the joint venture that will operate the park, and its executives are largely overseeing that process. Any problems at Shanghai Disneyland won't just affect the theme park, but could hurt public perception of all of Walt Disney Co.'s businesses in the world's second-largest economy.

In 2014, Mr. Iger announced an $800 million expansion of the park beyond initial construction plans, which included a $4.7 billion budget.

Disney hasn't said what the capacity of Shanghai Disneyland will be, but it is expected to be among the largest of the six parks total that the company will have following the launch.

Some of the expansion will still be under construction on June 16, but all of the previously announced attractions, including a Tron-themed roller coaster, a new Tomorrowland and a reimagining of the Chinese zodiac with Disney characters, are expected to be open, according to one of the people close to the project.

Disney has been looking to build a park in Shanghai since the 1990s. In 2002, it signed a letter of intent with the local government with the goal of a 2008 opening. Construction finally began in April of 2011.

Ben Fritz and Yang Jie

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 12, 2016 16:35 ET (21:35 GMT)

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