Hong Kong Disneyland – Lantau Island, Hong Kong

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 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, 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.

The resort currently has 310 acres (1.3 km²), with the actual park taking approximately 100 acres (0.4 km²). 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 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 and Construction

“To all who come to this happy place, welcome. Many years ago, Walt Disney introduced the world to enchanted realms of fantasy and adventure, yesterday and tomorrow, in a magical placed called Disneyland. Today that spirit of imagination and discovery comes to life in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Disneyland is dedicated to the young and the young at heart, with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration, and an enduring symbol of the cooperation, friendship and understanding between the people of Hong Kong and the United States of America.” – Michael D Eisner and Donald Tsang, September 12, 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.

Future construction

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 areas

The 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 27 attractions in Hong Kong Disneyland (3 additional ones will open at 2008), compared to 48 in Disneyland Park in Paris, 47 in Florida’s Magic Kingdom, 46 in Tokyo Disneyland Park and 57 in California’s Disneyland Park.

Main Street, U.S.A.

• Animation Academy
• The Disneyland Story *
• Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad
• Main Street Vehicle
• Disney on Parade
• High School Musical: LIVE!
• Muppet Mobile Lab

Adventureland

• Jungle River Cruise
• Raft to the Tarzan’s Treehouse
• Tarzan’s Treehouse on Tarzan Island
• Festival of the Lion King
• Liki Tikis

Fantasyland

• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Cinderella Carousel
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Fantasy Gardens
• Fantasyland Train Station
• Mad Hatter Tea Cups
• Sleeping Beauty Castle
• Sword in the Stone
• The Golden Mickeys
• Snow White Grotto
• “it’s a small world”

Tomorrowland

• Space Mountain
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Orbitron
• Autopia
• Stitch Encounter
• UFO Zone

Characters

Main Street, U.S.A.

• Mickey Mouse
• Minnie Mouse
• Donald Duck
• Daisy Duck
• Goofy
• Pluto
• Chip and Dale

Adventureland

• Timon
• Marie

Fantasyland

• Mickey, Minnie and Goofy
• Winnie The Pooh
• Alice
• Snow White
• Princess Aurora
• Cinderella
• Belle
• Mushu
• Woody
• Jessie
• Stitch

Tommorrowland

• Buzz Lightyear

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 rain coats.

• 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.

• 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 will feature a troop of singers and dancers mostly from the Philippines and Hong Kong which will travel along the Main Street and sing 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 apart from the announced It’s a Small World.

Seasonal entertainment

• Mickey’s WaterWorks

A summer, water-themed parade that consisted of 7 new floats, 100 performers and 30 Disney characters. Originally created for Mickey’s Summer Blast celebration, Mickey’s WaterWorks made its debut on July 7, 2007. The parade has now ended after the mid-2007 season. However it is coming back in 2008 as announced by HKDL in its 2008 TV promotion video.

• Glow in the Park Halloween Parade

This parade, designed for the Haunted Halloween event, featured seven brand-new floats and over 100 cast members including eight never-before-seen characters. The parade has now ended after the Halloween event.

• ‘Let it Snow’ Christmas Parade

A brand-new Christmas parade that will feature floats with Christmas decorations from Disney on Parade during the A Sparkling Christmas event from 23 November 2007 until 2 January 2008.

Future attractions and Public relations

Future attractions

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. They are Muppet Mobile Lab, High School Musical: LIVE!, Nemo Submarine Turtle Talk and The Art of Animation.

Nemo Submarine Turtle Talk is an interactive attraction inspired by Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo. It gives guests a chance to have unscripted, real-time conversations with Crush. From his digital world under the sea, Crush chats, plays and jokes with Guests in a unique, personalised way. It will be introduced in Summer 2008.

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. The attraction is scheduled to open in Autumn or Winter 2008.

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[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.

Criticisms

Overcrowding problems

Just 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 30,000 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.

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.

Other Information

Hong Kong Disneyland

• Location: Penny’s Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong
• Opening Day: September 12, 2005
• Resort: Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
• Theme: Magic Kingdom
• Website: Hong Kong Disneyland Homepage
• Operator: Hong Kong International Theme Parks

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