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Hong Kong Disneyland
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Hong Kong Disneyland 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 May 22 2005, considered an auspicious date according to Chinese almanacs for the opening of a new business.
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Hong Kong Disneyland 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 May 22 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, 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, inciting criticisms from local legislators. However, the park attendance slightly increased by 8% in the third year, attracting a total of 4.5 million visitors in 2007-2008 fiscal year. Since the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005, the theme park has attracted 15 million guests.
The resort currently has , with the actual park taking approximately . 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", opened on 28 April 2008. Furthermore, according to Bill Ernest, the former 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.
Dedication
Michael D Eisner and Donald Tsang, May 22, 2005
Construction
An audience of more than 400 guests celebrated the ground breaking of Hong Kong Disneyland on January 12, 2003.Those present included Tung Chee Hwa, then Chief Executive of the 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.
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.
The park adds new attractions continuously. See Future construction for more details
Themed areas
The park currently features four themed lands similar to those at other Disneyland parks: Main Street, U.S.A., Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.
Main Street, U.S.A.
*Animation Academy
Adventureland
Fantasyland
Tomorrowland
Characters
Main Street, U.S.A.
Adventureland
Fantasyland
(In Fantasy Gardens)
Tomorrowland
Entertainment and celebrations
The 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.
Entertainment
Disney on Parade
- A day-time parade which features 9 floats with famous Disney characters including Mickey and Friends, Chip 'n' Dale, Disney Princesses, Alice, Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Jessie.
Disney's Rainy Day Express
- A parade shown on rainy days that consists of a specially design train with characters wearing brightly colored raincoats.
High School Musical: LIVE!
- A uniquely created mobile stage-show inspired by the movie High School Musical and its sequel High School Musical 2. It features a troop of singers and dancers mostly from the Philippines and Hong Kong on a mobile stage which will stop at Castle Forecourt for performance with hit songs from the movie, including "What Time Is It?" and "Get'cha Head in the Game". This is a new attraction launched on March 7, 2008. The attraction will temporarily be suspended from November 27, 2008 until further notice.
Disney in the Stars
- Nightly fireworks based on a similar format used in the Fantasy in the Sky fireworks at other Disney theme parks, fireworks and pyrotechnics are co-ordinated to orchestrated classic Disney music such as "A Whole New World".
Muppet Mobile Lab
- a free-roving, audio-animatronic entertainment implemented on a Segway platform, an interactive comedy show performed by two Muppet characters, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant, Beaker. The characters ride their two-wheeled rocket-ship/laboratory vehicle.
Seasonal entertainment
Mickey's WaterWorks: A summer, water-themed parade that consists of seven new floats, 100 performers and 30 Disney characters. This parade was originally created for Mickey's Summer Blast celebration, Mickey's WaterWorks made its debut on July 7, 2007, and now runs annually in the summer months.
Glow-in-the-Park Halloween Parade: This parade, designed for the Haunted Halloween event, features seven floats. This parade will be shown again during the Disney's Haunted Halloween event (from 26 September 2008 until 1 November 2008) with a newly-added Ghostly Parade Ship.
'Let it Snow' Christmas Parade: A Christmas parade that features floats with Christmas decorations from Disney on Parade during the A Sparkling Christmas event from 27 November 2008 until 2 January 2009.
Park celebrations
List of past and current celebrations |
| Celebration | Attractions and entertainment* | Year |
|---|
| A Magical Christmas | Tree Lighting Ceremony | 2005 | | Magical Chinese New Year | Chinese New Year Celebration Stageshow | 2006 | | Disney's Halloween | The Villains' Lair; and
Halloween Costume Mini-Parade | 2006 | | A Magical Christmas | Santa's Corner; and
Mickey's Sing-a-long Tree Lighting | 2006 | | Disney's Chinese New Year | Disney "Come and Celebrate" Stageshow | 2007 | | Pirate Takeover | Captain Jack Sparrow's Pirate Boot Camp;
Mirabella, the Gypsy Fortune Teller;
"The Doctor of Soul" Voodoo Drum Show;
Pirate Procession; and
Pirate Party Nights | 2007 | | Mickey's Summer Blast | Animation Academy;
Mickey's WaterWorks; and
Stitch's Summer Blast Dance Party | 2007 | | Disney's Haunted Halloween | Main Street Haunted Hotel;
Space Mountain - Ghost Galaxy;
Villain in Adventureland; and
Glow in-the-Park Halloween Parade | 2007 | | A Sparkling Christmas | Santa's Workshop;
Ice Fantasy;
Let it Snow' Christmas Parade; and
Sparkling Castle Lights | 2007 | | Year of the Mouse Celebration | Mickey's House;
A Salute to Mickey Statues;
Mickey's Rockin’ the Mouse Castle Show;
Adventures in Fashion; and
Rhythum of Life: Dragon Procession | 2008 | | Nonstop Summer Fun | "it's a small world";
Turtle Talk with Crush;
Mickey's WaterWorks;
High School Musical: LIVE! and
Muppet Mobile Lab | 2008 | | Disney's Haunted Halloween | Demon Jungle;
Main Street Haunted Hotel;
Adventureland Haunted Trial;
Space Mountain - Ghost Galaxy;
Scary Photo Fun; and
Glow-in-the-Park Halloween Parade | 2008 | | A Sparkling Christmas - Royal Kingdom | Mickey's Christmas House;
Let it Snow' Christmas Parade;
Royal Christmas Ball; and
Sparkling Castle Lights | 2008 | | Mickey Celebrates the Year of the Ox | Lucky Trail;
Mickey's House; and
Celebration in the Street Procession | 2009 | | Celebration of Love | Meet Disney Darlings; and
Romatic decorations | 2009 |
Note*: Festive entertainment is shown in italic
Future construction
Finished construction
The Phase 1 Extension began with three new attractions for Tomorrowland that opened in the summer of 2006. In 2007, Animation Academy and Mickey's Waterworks Parade (a water-based summer parade) are added. In 2008, High School Musical: LIVE!, Muppet Mobile Lab, Turtle Talk with Crush (during Summer months only) and the classical attraction "it's a small world" were added.
One of the announced attractions, The Art of Animation, officially opened to guests in August 2008. This latest attraction is located in the Opera House, which is next to the Animation Academy and was originally occupied by the Disneyland Story.
Recent construction
The outer edge of Adventureland has been under construction since early May 2008, next to Festival of The Lion King and Rafts to Tarzan's Treehouse. Digging is under way beneath the berm, to permit expansion beyond the railroad track perimeter. A temporary structure for Demon Jungle, an exclusive attraction for the 2008 Halloween season was built in the area beyond the railroad. Also, the walkway will most likely link to new themed lands in the future if funding is secured to start Hong Kong Disneyland's 5-year expansion plan (and the park is granted permission by the Hong Kong Government).
Planned construction
The Walt Disney Company is now negotiating with the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of the Governement of Hong Kong on funding the upcoming Phase 1 Extension. The park is planning to introduce three new theme lands, which will increase the total land area of the park by about 12 hectares. A number of new thrilling rides has been chosen and will be built in order to satisfy the market of young-adults and teenagers. It is reported that the preparation for groundbreaking has been finished and the park is ready to start the construction once it has granted permission from the government. In order to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of Hong Kong Disneyland, the park is aiming to start the construction in 2009 so that the first part of the extension will be able to open in 2011, while the second part of the project is expected to be finished in 2013, one year prior to the opening of Shanghai Disneyland Resort.
For long-term construction, 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 also being considered by the Walt Disney Company and the Hong Kong government.
Criticisms
Overcrowding problems
Just before the grand opening, the park was criticized for underestimating the daily capacity limit. The problem became apparent on the charity preview day on 4 September 2005, when 30,000 locals visited the park. This event turned out to become a disaster, there were too many guests, too many of whom clog rides while taking lots of photos of each other and clog restaurants ordering long, expensive meals. Wait times at fast food outlets were at least 45 minutes in length, and wait times at rides were two hours in length.
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.
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. 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 panel
Officers 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. 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.
Public relations
Disney 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 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.
External links
Official websites
- (Chinese & English)
- (Japanese)
- (Latitude: 22.313 Longitude: 114.041)
Fan websites
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