Hong Kong Disneyland
| File:HongKongDisneylandLogo.jpg File:Hongkongcastle.jpg Sleeping Beauty Castle on opening day | |
| Location | Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Penny's Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong |
|---|---|
| Operated by | The Walt Disney Company and the Government of Hong Kong |
| Theme | Magic Kingdom |
Hong Kong Disneyland (Traditional Chinese: 香港迪士尼樂園, Simplified Chinese: 香港迪士尼乐园; Cantonese Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2 dik6 si6 nei4 lok6 jyun4; Mandarin Pinyin: Xiānggǎng Díshìní Lèyuán) is a theme park at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. It was constructed by The Walt Disney Company and the Hong Kong Government on reclaimed land from the Penny's Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong. The park was officially opened to vistors at 13:00 local time on Monday, September 12, 2005, although VIPs and winners of a ticket lottery had been allowed entry on a number of "test days" held before the grand opening. The theme park uses both English and Chinese (both in Traditional and Simplified for text, Cantonese and Mandarin in verbal) in its communication.
Construction
On September 23, 2004, a special castle "topping ceremony" was held in the park to commemorate the placing of the tallest turret of Sleeping Beauty Castle. Many important people were present, including Tung Chee Hwa, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Jay Rasulo, president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts; Michael Eisner, CEO of The Walt Disney Company; Bob Iger, president of Disney; as well as Mickey Mouse and other costumed characters. Hong Kong Disneyland had the shortest construction period from the start to the opening day among all the Disneyland-style theme parks (possibly because it is the smallest one).
Current Event
A Magical Chinese New Year Celebration
From January 29 to February 12, 2006 - A series of special activities will take place throughout Hong Kong Disneyland to welcome the start of the Year of the Dog. Disney friends will be dressed up in their specially tailored Chinese outfits during the celebration. Also, special guests will be chosen to bring the three lions to life in an eye dotting ceremony on stage in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Adding to the Chinese New Year atmosphere, blossoming plants will welcome guests as they enter the park and stroll along Main Street USA. In Town Square, a delicate plum blossom tree will flower throughout the first 15 days of Chinese New Year. [1]
So, come and celebrate the first Chinese New Year of Hong Kong Disneyland.
Recent Events
- November, 2005 - Hong Kong Disneyland announced a Salute to Hong Kong Residents to say a warm "thank you" to the community for its support. The Salute to Hong Kong Residents invited local residents to enjoy the magic of Hong Kong Disneyland with a discount. The offer started on 8 November 2005 and ended on 8 December 2005 ([2])
- December, 2005 - Hong Kong Disneyland celebrates its first holiday season. A 60-foot Christmas tree will stand at the Town Square. The rooftops of buildings will be capped with snow and Main Street will be covered with artificial snowflakes. Plenty of treasures and gift ideas to fill holiday stockings, featuring over 140 Christmas season only items, will be available for guests to choose. ([3])
Shows and Attractions
The park currently features four themed lands similar to those at other Disney parks: Main Street, U.S.A., Adventureland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland.
After finishing its pharse one expansion, Hong Kong Disneyland will then consist of six theme parks including Frontierland and Mickey's Toontown.
The park features a daytime parade, "Disney on Parade", and a "Disney in the Stars" fireworks show in the evening.
The attractions include:
- Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad
- Jungle River Cruise
- Tarzan's Treehouse
- "Festival of the Lion King"
- Mickey's PhilharMagic
- Cinderella Carousel
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- Fantasy Gardens
- Mad Hatter Tea Cups
- "The Golden Mickeys"
- Space Mountain
- Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
- Orbitron
The following attractions will be added soon for the Phase 1 extension:
- Autopia (open in Summer 2006)
- Raging Spirits (open in 2007)
- "it's a small world"
- Peter Pan's Flight
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Fantasmic!
Autopia is already illustrated on the park guide map. Raging Spirits, which debuted at Tokyo DisneySea, is a jungle temple themed rollercoaster and will likely appear in Adventureland. Pirates of the Caribbean will take the format already created at Pirates of the Caribbean attractions at other Magic Kingdoms and mixed with the Splash Mountain format, creating a dark ride with a log flume. Peter Pan's Flight and "it's a small world" are well known Fantasyland attractions and will be included in the latter part of the phase 1 extension.
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Entrance to the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort -
Lucky the Dinosaur roaming Adventureland
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The Disney on Parade procession.
Criticisms
Disney fans have complained about the small number of opening-day attractions. None of these attractions are unique to Hong Kong Disneyland, and many "classic" attractions (such as the Haunted Mansion) have not been included. And although the ticket is the cheapest among all Disney theme parks, there are only 22 entertainment items in the Hong Kong Disneyland, comparing to 44 in each of the theme park of Paris, 45 in Tokyo and Florida, and 65 in California. The per-item cost is the highest among all Disney theme parks.
The management of Disney and Disneyland--especially Michael Eisner--was heavily criticized and the financial crisis that EuroDisney is experiencing was cited as the reason for the recent trend in "mini-Disney parks." They are small in the beginning - to be expanded once it is financially safe to support a bigger park.
Another issue is whether the Hong Kong government secured good terms in its deal with Disney. The government is bearing most of the financing risk, including the construction of a new subway line to the park, but it has not secured an exclusive deal for the region. Disney has already been in talks with cities in China to host another Disney theme park - most notably Shanghai (see Shanghai Disneyland). A park in Shanghai would decrease the market for the Hong Kong Disneyland by taking mainland visitors from the Hong Kong park.
Just before the grand opening, the park was also criticized for overestimating the daily capacity limit of 30,000 visitors. The problem became apparent on the charity preview day on 4 Sep 2005, when 29,000 locals flocked to the theme park and found the most dominant attractions in the park to be queues. The estimated queue time for fast food outlets exceeded 45 minutes and for rides, over 2 hours. The day was summed up by the local press as a massive chaos.
Although the community and the park's biggest shareholder--the SAR Government--put pressure on the park to lower the limit, the park insisted on keeping the limit and only agreed to relieve the capacity problem by extending opening time by one hour or introducing more discounts during weekdays. However, the park said local visitors tend to stay in the park for about nine hours per visit, implying the mentioned practices would do little to solve the problem.
Further complicating this public relations snag were complaints from several music stars who participated in the Hong Kong Disneyland promotional videos, including Kelly Chen. They complained about the rudeness of park employees, especially from upper levels of Disney management. Disney has not acknowledged nor tried to correct this problem, even though several stars threatened to not promote or go to Hong Kong Disneyland ever again.
The lack of government law enforcement within the resort also made headlines two days before the park's grand opening. Officers from the Food and Environmental Hygiene department were told by Disney staff to take off their badges and caps when they wanted to enter the park to investigate a food-poisoning case in the park's restaurants, lest the park visitors get scared. The chairman of Legco's Food Safety panel, Fred Li, described the incident as shocking, and called on the director of the department to take follow-up action against Disney. Hong Kong Disneyland says what happened was inappropriate and has apologised for the incident. It said there was a "mix up in communications" and in the future they'd comply with all local laws.
The police also insisted that it has definite power to enforce law in the park. But they admitted they cannot get into the park whenever they need to, unless arranged by the security inside the park.
Some scholars and university students also complain that Disney produced its souvenirs in mainland China, by contracts with local factories. The production conditions are said to be poor, the workers exploited. Some further criticize that Disney behaves irresponsibly by quickly severing deals with these factories when they discover poor working conditions.
Environmental issues were also a problem. Reclamation works were carried out before an environment report was concluded. Fishing farms on the island of Ma Wan nearby were not compensated for their loss during the reclamation phase of construction, creating a high level of toxins in the sea that killed fish. Residents of nearby Discovery Bay are upset about Disneyland's decision to put on fireworks every evening, which produces airborne particles that might be hazardous to people with cardiac and respiratory diseases. Disneyland uses more environmentally-friendly fireworks at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, USA.
Problems
On the opening day of Hong Kong Disneyland, the park estimated that of the 16,000 guests that entered the gates, one third were from mainland China. Although they did bring good business to the park, they also caused some problems. Sources such as the Apple Daily and Ming Pao showed pictures of visitors from mainland China smoking in restaurants and non-smoking areas and a woman helping a young child loosen his trousers to urinate beside a flower bed. Some people were barefoot and laid their feet on chairs; others were spitting in public, a habit regarded as unsanitary and poor etiquette in Hong Kong since the SARS and avian flu outbreaks. Many Hongkongers were upset that Disney allowed this behaviour in the park. [4]
Hong Kong Disneyland spokeswoman Esther Wong declined to say whether she thought the reports would tarnish the park's image. She said the rules require that all guests wear shoes within the park, and that urination in the park is illegal.
Miscellaneous
In other news, Disney released a press announcement[5] on November 24, 2005, that Disney has officially welcomed over 1 million guests during its first two months of operation. Disney finally decided to release the statement after media reports surfaced saying the park's attendance numbers might be lower than expected.
External links
- Hong Kong Disneyland (Official Website)
- Gallery of publicity photos and park map
- Google Maps (Satellite Image) (Latitude: 22.313 Longitude: 114.041)
- Brief intro and tips about Hong Kong Disneyland
