Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
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Image:HongKongDisneylandLogo.jpg The Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (香港迪士尼樂園) was built by The Walt Disney Company and the Government of Hong Kong and officially opened on September 12, 2005. It consists of one Hong Kong Disneyland theme park, two hotels (Disneyland Hotel and Disney's Hollywood Hotel), and retail, dining and entertainment facilities stretching over 1.3 km² (310 acres) on Lantau Island. It is located on reclaimed land beside Penny's Bay, at the northeastern tip of Lantau Island (approximately two kilometres from Discovery Bay), in Hong Kong.
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Construction
Image:Disneyland Site from the air.jpg
A joint-venture company, Hongkong International Theme Parks Limited (HKITP), was created in 1999 with Disney investing US$316 million for a 43 % equity stake in the project and the Hong Kong government owning the remaining 57 % of the US$1.8 billion project. The Hong Kong government expects it to provide 18,400 jobs on opening and up to 35,800 jobs over the following 20 years. The total economic benefits amount to an estimated HK$ 148 billion (US$19 billion), or about 6 % of gross domestic product (GDP) over 40 years of operation.
The construction of the theme park itself started in January 2003, and it opened on 12 September 2005 .
In an effort to avoid cultural friction similar to what happened when Disneyland Resort Paris opened in France, Disney has taken efforts to make this new park reflect the local culture. The New York Times reported that feng shui consultants have helped with the layout of the park and the grounds. Incense was burned when the construction of each building was completed, and one of the main ballrooms is 888 square meters large, as eight is an auspicious number in Chinese culture, signifying fortune. The hotels will skip the number four when numbering of their floors because four is considered bad luck. Hong Kong Disneyland employees speak English, Cantonese, and Mandarin, and were trained at other Disney parks while their home park was being constructed. Image:Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel.jpg Image:Hong Kong Hollywood Hotel.jpg The park is projected to attract five to six million visitors in its opening year, mostly locals, tourists from mainland China and nearby Asian countries. The World Tourism Organization predicts that the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort will become one of the world's largest tourist destinations within the next fifteen years.
If the park's first working year is successful financially, and both the government of Hong Kong and Disney see benefits, the Phase Two of construction will commence. (There is room for a 40% expansion.) Disney forums across the world wide web have been busy with rumours and ideas for the second phase, mainly made up of installing classic Disney attractions that were not built in the first phase. At launch, Hong Kong Disneyland was the smallest of any Disney parks. The most likely result of Phase Two will be a fifth land, probably Frontierland, Mickey's Toontown or less likely an original and unique land not built before at a previous park.
The government of Hong Kong has made it clear to the public and Disney that there is land next to the resort for a second theme park and several more hotels, but without a much higher price than what Disney paid for the land they already own, the government is liable to sell the land to one of Disney's theme park industry rivals. Names rumoured to be looking at the land feature NBC Universal, Six Flags and Anheuser Busch. Many view this move as a way of getting more money out of Disney, as the government does not actually want another company to build a separate theme park in the area.
Theme park
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Hotels
There are two hotels in the Resort, the five-star Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel and the four-star Disney's Hollywood Hotel, located on the seashore of the reclaimed land with about 1,000 rooms in total.
Transport
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort is connected to the rest of Lantau Island via highways and a dedicated MTR metro, the Disneyland Resort Line. It will also be served by bus.
Controversies
Shark fin soup controversy
Disney originally planned to serve shark fin soup, a traditional Chinese delicacy, at wedding banquets [1]. Animal rights groups protested in June 2005, citing the declining shark population in global waters and the cruel methods sometimes used of cutting the fin and discarding the live carcass back into the water.
At first, Disney removed shark's fin soup from its menu but said it would still offer the soup if their clients insisted on having it served at their wedding. They said they would distribute leaflets about shark conservation to discourage the choice. [2].
However, after constant pressure from environmental groups and shareholders concerned about the company's image, Disney announced on 24 June 2005 that shark fin soup will not be served at all, because, according to their press release, "After careful consideration and a thorough review process, we were not able to identify an environmental sustainable fishing source, leaving us no alternative except to remove shark's fin soup from our wedding banquet menu." [3]
Other controversies
- There have been widespread concerns in the media and by local watchdog groups of the inherent endangerment to children at the park. These concerns include the excessive violations of smoking by visitors in the designated non-smoking areas of the park. It has been reported that Disney employees have been very lax in enforcing any type of non-smoking policies out of fear of offending their customers. There have also been many reports of unsafe sanitation at the park, including visitors from mainland China urinating in the flowerbeds and near the food facilities. Locals newspaper ran photo essays for days after the park opening showing this anti-social behavior. Complaints have been made by visitors that despite witnessing such infractions, Disney employees did nothing to enforce any type of civic responsibility.
- The Walt Disney Company gets 43% of share of the joint venture by investing HK$2.3b, while the Hong Kong Government gets only 57% while investing HK$23b.
- Cast members are paid relatively low wages.
- Fish around Ma Wan died as a result of land reclamation, damaging the economy
- Ancient commercial vessels and bone china on the sea floor have been buried under land reclamation
- The refusal to use a more environmentally-friendly fireworks launching technology developed and used at Disneyland in California. This is a concern for neighbouring residential area, Discovery Bay.
- The official size of the entire development as released by the government is 1.26 km². The size of the first phase was reported to be 700,000 m². Nevertheless the size of the area of the theme park portion, the Disneyland, is estimated to be between 152,100 and 187,200 m². For the maximum capacity of 30 000 visitors, the area per visitor would be 2.5 m² . The commercial area is divided into:
- Disneyland: 325,700 m²
- Two hotels: 165,300 m²
- Car park and public transport hub: 171,900 m²
- Inspiration Lake 300,000 m²
- When health officers came to inspect the facility after several reports of food poisoning, they were asked to remove their caps and badges. Although two of the officers did so, the department has taken offence, indicating that Disney is not above the law. [4]
- Hong Kong Disneyland Resort only exists to make Hong Kong seem real.
Trivia
- The plans for the park, when released in early 2001, made it clear that Hong Kong Disneyland would be based on the original 1954 plans for Disneyland in California - including just four lands (Main Street USA, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland). Public outcry both from Disney fans and the Chinese caused the addition of Frontierland to the plans which would come later on, possibly as a second phase expansion.
- This is the first project of The Walt Disney Company's extension into Asia (despite the Tokyo Disney Resort having opened more than 20 years ago). Animation studios have been set up in India, Disney has been extensively advertising and publicising the traditional characters on billboards and Asian-only Disney cartoon shows, and plans are being drawn up for a second Chinese resort in the mainland, probably in Shanghai. Scouts are also reportedly surveying Australia for a new resort.
See also
External links
- Hong Kong Disneyland official site
- Government web site about the project
- Arrangements of the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland and Penny's Bay
- Hong Kong Disneyland news
- Board of Directors of the Hongkong International Theme Parks (HKITP) Limited
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