The world got a glimpse of what the much-anticipated Shanghai Disney Resort will look like on Thursday, when the Shanghai Disney Resort Management Company released the first artist's impression of the attraction.

The image shows a night scene of its Enchanted Storybook Castle, the iconic central attraction of the theme park.

It provides the public with a first look at the 11-acre green space at the center of the park and a closer look at the design of the castle with 1:100 scale.

Shanghai's Enchanted Storybook Castle is expected to be the largest and tallest of the castles among all Disneylands worldwide.

"We are excited to see the resort development move into an intensive phase of construction," said Mike Crawford, general manager of the Shanghai Disney Resort.

"We look forward to providing more updates in the future, as we reach key milestones," he added.

Intended to open at the end of 2015, the resort will initially be comprised of Shanghai Disneyland, a Magic-Kingdom-style park as well as two themed hotels, a large retail, dining and entertainment venue, recreational facilities, a lake and transportation hubs.

Covering an area of 1.16 square km, the theme park inside the 3.9-square-km Shanghai Disney Resort will be the world's sixth Disney amusement park and the first on the Chinese mainland.

It will also be the third of its kind in Asia, after the company's theme parks in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Its construction will cost a total of 24.5 billion yuan (about 3.93 billion U.S dollars).