Hong Kong Disneyland
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 Hong Kong Disneyland (traditional Chinese: 香港迪士尼樂園; simplified Chinese: 香港迪士尼乐园; pinyin: Xiānggǎng Díshìnílèyuán; Cantonese Yale: heung1 gong2 dik6 si6 nei4 lok6 yun4) is the first theme park inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and is owned and managed by the Hong Kong International Theme Parks, an incorporated company jointly owned by The Walt Disney Company and the Government of Hong Kong. The fifth Disneyland style park, the park is located on reclaimed land in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island. After years of negotiations and construction, the park opened to visitors on September 12 2005, considered an auspicious date according to Chinese almanacs for the opening of a new business. Disney attempted to avoid problems of cultural backlash by attempting to incorporate Chinese culture, customs, and traditions when designing and building the resort, including adherence to the rules of Feng Shui. The park consists of four themed lands similar to other Disneyland parks: Main Street, U.S.A., Fantasyland, Adventureland and Tomorrowland. There is as yet no Frontierland, although it may be included in future expansion projects. The theme park's cast members use English and Chinese, including Cantonese and Mandarin dialects, to communicate verbally. Guide Maps are printed in both Traditional and Simplified characters, Japanese, and in English. The capacity of the park is 34,000 visitors per day[1], and is the smallest Disneyland park. It has so far fallen short of meeting its targeted visitorship figures. The park attracted 5.2 million visitors in its first year, below its target of 5.6 million. Visitor numbers fell 20% in the second year to 4 million, which was below company targets,[2] inciting criticisms from local legislators.[3] The resort currently has 310 acres (1.3 km²), with the actual park taking approximately 100 acres (0.4 km²).[4] With its small size cited often to explain its under-performance, the park has announced various plans for expansion. The classic Disney attraction, "It's A Small World", will open in early 2008. Furthermore, according to Bill Ernest, the executive vice president and managing director of Hong Kong Disneyland, the park is planning to add two unique theme lands in its future expansion. Over a 15 year expansion period, the park capacity will increase to handle up to 10 million visitors annually.[5]
Dedication
Michael D Eisner and Donald Tsang, September 12, 2005 ConstructionAn audience of more than 400 guests celebrated the ground breaking of Hong Kong Disneyland on January 12, 2003. Those present included Tung Chee Hwa, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China; Michael D. Eisner, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company; and Robert A. Iger, President of The Walt Disney Company.[6] On September 23, 2004, a special "castle topping ceremony" was held in the park to commemorate the placing of the tallest turret on Sleeping Beauty Castle. Among those present were Tung Chee Hwa, then chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Jay Rasulo, president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts; Michael Eisner, then CEO of The Walt Disney Company; and Bob Iger, president of The Walt Disney Company, in addition to Mickey Mouse and other costumed characters. Hong Kong Disneyland had the shortest construction period among all of the Disneyland-style theme parks. Future constructionImage:HKDisneylandreservedland.jpg
Land reserved for future expansion viewed from the Tarzan's Treehouse in Adventureland
The Phase 1 Extension began with three new attractions for Tomorrowland that opened in the summer of 2006. The three new rides for the 2007/2008 season are the Animation Academy, Mickey's Waterworks Parade (a water-based summer parade), and "it's a small world". With the reclaimed land reserved for the Phase 2 Extension and the Disneyland park being blocked by the Park Promenade (a pedestrian walkway which links the MTR Disneyland Resort Station, Disneyland park and Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel), it is expected that the resort's second Disney theme park will be built on that site. A Phase 3 Extension is being considered by the Walt Disney Company and the Hong Kong government. Themed areasThe park currently features four themed lands similar to those at other Disneyland parks: Main Street, U.S.A., Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. The park is missing a classic land, Frontierland, but it may be built in the future. In total, there are currently 26 attractions in Hong Kong Disneyland(3 additional ones will open at 2008), compared to 48 in Disneyland Park in Paris and Florida's Magic Kingdom, 46 in Tokyo Disneyland Park and 57 in California's Disneyland Park. Main Street, U.S.A.Image:HKMainStreetUSAatnight.jpg
Main Street, U.S.A. at Hong Kong Disneyland
Adventureland
Fantasyland
TomorrowlandCharactersMain Street, U.S.A.AdventurelandFantasyland
TommorrowlandEntertainment and celebrationsThe park features both a daytime parade "Disney on Parade" and "Disney in the Stars", a fireworks show, in the evening. Seasonal entertainment, such as Disney's Haunted Halloween, A Sparkling Christmas and Disney's Chinese New Year, are held in the park to celebrate main festivals. EntertainmentImage:Hong Kong Disneyland by Denn.jpg
Fireworks over Sleeping Beauty Castle
Seasonal entertainment
Park celebrationsList of past, current, and future park celebrations
Note*: Festive entertainment are shown in italic Future attractionsOn 14 December 2006, the Hong Kong International Theme Parks announced[7] their new attractions for 2007 and 2008, including an update of the classic Disney ride. It's a Small World will be located in Fantasyland and include, in addition to the classic scenes, previously unseen Chinese, Middle Eastern, North American and Hong Kong scenes. The ride will also include 30 additional characters from Disney films and a new optical effect not seen in other versions of the ride.
Turtle Talk With Crush gives Guests a chance to have unscripted, real-time conversations with Crush, the beloved laid-back sea turtle from the popular Disney/Pixar animated film “Finding Nemo.” From his digital world under the sea, Crush chats, plays and jokes with Guests in a unique, personalized way. The 152-year-old turtle recognizes Guests and asks them questions about themselves and the human world in this live, real-time animated show.
In December 2007, the Hong Kong International Theme Parks announced four new attractions will be introduced in 2008, apart from the already-announced It's a Small World. The Art of Animation will be a walk-through attraction which mainly shows the concepts of Disney's and Pixar's films, including some never-seen concept art. Criticisms
Overcrowding problemsJust before the grand opening, the park was criticized for overestimating the daily capacity limit. The problem became apparent on the charity preview day on 4 September 2005, when 29,000 locals visited the park. The reported queue time for fast food stands exceeded 45 minutes and over 2 hours for rides. Before the park opened, some within the Disney Company were concerned that the park would not offer enough because of the small number of attractions present. Although the community, and the park's biggest shareholder, the Hong Kong Government, put pressure on the park to lower the capacity, 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 that the mentioned practices would do little to solve the problem[citation needed]. During Chinese New Year 2006, many visitors arrived at the park in the morning bearing valid tickets, but were refused entry, because the park was already at capacity. Disgruntled visitors attempted to force their way into the park or gain access by climbing over the barrier gates.[8] Disneyland management was forced to revise their ticketing policy and designated future periods close to Chinese public holidays as 'special days' during which admission would only be allowed through a date-specific ticket. Food safety panelOfficers from the Food and Environmental Hygiene department, who were asked by Disney staff to take off their badges and caps in order to enter the park, left park visitors feeling very uneasy. The officers investigated a food-poisoning case in the park's restaurants.[9] 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 apologized for the incident. Secretary for Justice said that the government did not have enough evidence to make a prosecution, thus dropping the case. Staff behaviorSome celebrities who participated in the Hong Kong Disneyland promotional videos, including Kelly Chen and Daniel Wu, complained that the park employees had been rude to them.[citation needed] Public relationsDisney initially refused to release the attendance figures after media reports surfaced saying the park's attendance numbers might be lower than expected. Disney finally relented, and declared[10] on November 24, 2005, that Disney had officially welcomed over 1 million guests during its first two months of operation. In response to negative publicity locally and to boost visitor numbers, Hong Kong Disneyland offered $50 discounts for admission to the park to holders of Hong Kong I.D. cards in the period before Christmas in 2005. In the period from March to June 2006, the park offered holders of Hong Kong I.D. cards the opportunity to buy a two-day admission for the price of a single day. References
External links
Official websites
Fan websites
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