Hong Kong Disneyland: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 00:21, 27 February 2007
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| File:HongKongDisneylandLogo.jpg File:Hkdisneyfireworks.jpg | |
| Location | Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Penny's Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong |
|---|---|
| Operated by | Hongkong International Theme Parks |
| Theme | Magic Kingdom |
Hong Kong Disneyland (Traditional Chinese: 香港迪士尼樂園; Cantonese Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2 dik6 si6 nei4 lok6 jyun4; Mandarin Pinyin: Xiānggǎng Díshìní Lèyuán) is the first theme park inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, which 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.
Hong Kong Disneyland, the fifth and most recent Magic Kingdom style park in the world, is located on reclaimed land in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island. After years of negotiations and construction, the park finally opened to visitors on September 12, 2005. Currently, the park is able to handle a maximum of 32000 visitors daily.
The park consists of four themed lands similar to those found in the other Disneyland parks around the world. They are Main Street, U.S.A., Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. Adventureland in Hong Kong Disneyland is the biggest one among all the Disneyland parks.
Although the park is the smallest Disneyland in the world, the park has announced the planned opening of two new attractions in the summer of 2007. In addition, the classic Disney attraction, "It's a Small World," will open in early 2008. The park will continue to expand by adding more new attractions in the future. After completing the expansion, the park will be able to handle 10 million visitors annually.
The theme park uses both English and Chinese (mainly in Traditional for text, both in Traditional and Simplified for Guide Maps, Cantonese and Mandarin in verbal) in its communication. The park also provides Guide Maps in Japanese.
Dedication
"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 Eisner & Donald Tsang, September 12, 2005
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, then 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).
Future Construction
Phase 1 Extension has started with three new attractions to Tomorrowland having opened in summer 2006. After completing the Phase 1 Extension, the Disneyland park is expected to be able to handle 10 million visitors annually.
With the reclaimed land reserved for the Phase 2 Extension and the Disneyland park being blocked by 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.
Alegedly a Phase 3 Extension is being considered by the Walt Disney Company and the Hong Kong Government.
Attractions and Entertainment
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 fifth classic land; Frontierland is not present at the park, as Disney chose not to build a park big enough to contain it.
The park features a daytime parade "Disney on Parade" and "Disney in the Stars" fireworks show in the evening. Occasional celebrations, such as Disney's Halloween, A Magical Christmas and Disney's Chinese New Year, are held in the park.
Main Street, U.S.A.
Hong Kong Disneyland's Main Street, U.S.A. is an almost exact replica of the Disneyland in California, including the train station, the buildings, and the Sleeping Beauty Castle. The only exception to this is that there are no horse-drawn streetcars, meaning no tracks are embedded into the ground.
Current Attractions
- Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad - Main Street Train Station
- Take a grand tour of Hong Kong Disneyland aboard an excursion-style train. The train stops at Fantasyland.
- Main Street Vehicles
- Cruise up or down Main Street, U.S.A. aboard newfangled motorised vehicles: the Ominibus, Paddy Wagon or Main Street Taxicab.
- The Disneyland Story, How Mickey Mouse Came to Hong Kong
- Original artwork, rare film footage, artefacts take you on a journey from the creation of Mickey Mouse to a creation of Hong Kong Disneyland, with an exciting peek in the future.
- City Hall
- Guest relations and information.
Adventureland
This features a large island area, home to Tarzan's Treehouse, which is circled by the Jungle Cruise. It is also home to the Festival of the Lion King show.
Current Attractions
- Jungle River Cruise
- Tarzan's Treehouse on Tarzan's Island
- Rafts To the Tarzan Island
- Festival of the Lion King at Theater in the Wild File:FASTPASSAvailability.png
- Liki Tikis
- Sway to the beat of the jungle rhythms pounded out by these "leaky" tiki poles.
Fantasyland
Current Attractions
- Mickey's PhilharMagic
- Immerse yourself in a magical 3-D adventure starring Maestro Mickey Mouse and a surprise "con-DUCK-tor".
- Cinderella Carousel
- a Carousel based on the Disney movie Cinderella
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh File:FASTPASSAvailability.png
- Board a hunny pot and join Pooh for a whimsical storybook journey through the Hundred Acre Wood.
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- Fantasy Gardens
- Meet and take photos with Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and all of your favourite Disney friends at this one-of-a-kind attraction.
- Fantasyland Train Station
- Board the train at this stop for the Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad.
- Mad Hatter Tea Cups
- A tea cup ride based on the Disney movie Alice in Wonderland.
- Sleeping Beauty Castle
- Walk through this magical portal into a timeless realm of imagination and enchantment where childhood dreams come true.
- Snow White Grotto
- Sword in the Stone
- The Golden Mickeys at Disney's Storybook Theater
Tomorrowland
Current Attractions
- Space Mountain File:FASTPASSAvailability.png
- Take a thrilling high-speed journey to the far reaches of the universe and back to this interstellar roller coaster featuring music and sound effects synchronised to the ride's twists, turns and drops. Minimum height for this attraction is 102 cm.
- Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters File:FASTPASSAvailability.png
- Journey to infinity and beyond to help Buzz Lightyear save the universe from the evil Emperor Zurg on this interactive adventure.
- Orbitron
- Pilot your own flying saucer high above Tomorrowland on this out-of-this-world adventure.
- Autopia
- (opened 13 July 2006) - Drive into the future aboard electric cars that cruise along the highways of tomorrow. No driver’s license is necessary and the road is open to guests of all ages. The only requirement is that they be tall enough to “put the pedal to the metal” in their battery-powered “zoom” buggies with on-board instrumentation and audio effects. The cars jet around an alien landscape filled with strange-looking trees and shrubs that are (or at least appear to be) out of this world; this attraction has been listed on the Park Map since opening day.
- Stitch Encounter
- (opened 13 July 2006) - Guests are invited to visit Space Traffic Control for a tour. Space Traffic Control (or STC) is the nerve center for this quadrant of the galaxy and where all space traffic is closely monitored. The tour goes as planned until the host is interrupted by Stitch, a fluffy blue mischievous alien known also as "Experiment Number 626" in a “borrowed” space ship. Stitch interacts in real time with the guests, plays games with the kids and even teaches everyone how to speak Hawaiian. Ultimately, Stitch’s nemesis, Gantu shows up and wants his ship back. It is up to the guests in the audience to help Stitch escape! The show is a combination of action and comedy, and never the same show twice. Separate experiences are offered in Cantonese, English and Putonghua respectively. This attraction is not related to Stitch's Great Escape at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, but is similar to Turtle Talk with Crush at Epcot and Disney's California Adventure.
- UFO Zone
- (opened 13 July 2006) - Guests are invited to get up close and personal with some UFOs (Undeniably Fun Objects) in this interactive play area designed for guests of all ages. The colorful, oversized props include a mischievous robot that sprays water and makes noises when his buttons are pushed, a water-squirting ray gun, a crashed rocket ship (still “smoking” from impact), a flying saucer in take-off mode and an alien plant that unexpectedly wiggles to watery life every few minutes. Guests can choose to get wet – or not – amid all the pop jets, bubblers, misters, thrusters and squirters. This is one alien invasion people will be running to, not from.
Entertainment
- Disney on Parade
- Disney on Parade is a daily cavalcade of Disney characters and music in a magical procession starting in Fantasyland and proceeding down to Main Street, U.S.A.
- Disney in the Stars
- A magnificient, magical fireworks spectacular choreographed to classic Disney songs and music.
Confirmed Future Attractions
On 14 December 2006, the Hongkong International Theme Parks announced [1] three forthcoming attractions for 2007 and 2008.
- It's a small world - This update of the classic Disneyland ride will be located in Fantasyland and boast 30 additional characters from Disney films; previously unseen Chinese, Middle Eastern, North American and Hong Kong's scenes and a new optical effect not seen in other versions of the ride.
- Mickey's WaterWorks - A summer water-themed parade, due to open in Hong Kong's Summer 2007.
- Animation Academy- Where guests will learn how to draw Disney style. Will be located on Main Street, USA.
Possible Future Attractions
According to Tim Delaney, vice president and executive designer of Walt Disney Imagineering, new moderate attractions, such as the confirmed "it's a small world", will be built in the near future. Also, rumours suggest Frontierland and Mickey's Toontown will be built in the next 3 to 5 years. After completing Phase 1 Extension, Hong Kong Disneyland will then consist of six themed lands.
According to a recent artcile by seasoned Disney observer Al Lutz, an entirely new version of the Pirates of the Caribbean, based closely on the movie trilogy, will be built in Hong Kong by 2010. [1] A semi-circular lagoon will front this huge expansion area, and it will be used for the Hong Kong version of Fantasmic!.
The following are possible attractions that may be added soon for the Phase 1 Extension:
- Entertainment
- Disney's Electrical Parade - An evening-parade featuring lighting choreographed to work in sync with the memorable melody. Mentioned on the Official Disneyland Podcast, although no further information has been provided by the company.
- Disney's Halloween Parade - Though only to be in October, the parade will be a fun halloween-themed event in where the characters will be in their own costumes, and will be much longer than the previous one. scheduled in 2007.
- Disney's Dream On Parade - This event will be replacing the original daytime parade and will be based much more on Tokyo's version. scheduled for 2008.
- Adventureland
- Pirates of the Caribbean - Pirates of the Caribbean was originally believed to take the format already created at Pirates of the Caribbean attractions at other Disney Theme Parks and mixed with the Splash Mountain format, creating a dark ride with a log flume. Pirates will be given an entire subland themed to Port Royal. However, recent articles [2] have indicated that a more traditional version of the attraction will be used, albeit based closely on the film of the same name.
- Fantasmic! - A semi-circular lagoon will front the new Pirates area, and it will be used for the pirates version of Fantasmic!.
- Haunted Mansion - Will be featured in the Pirates subarea with an exterior more along the lines of the original with a pirates based story. It will likely open two years after pirates.
- Raging Spirits - A clone of the Tokyo DisneySea roller coaster with the same name.
Miscellaneous
Feng Shui
The Walt Disney Company have been criticised for ignoring French culture when it built Disneyland Paris in the early 1990s. This time Disney paid close attention to Chinese culture, customs, and traditions when building Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. The resort was built with many interesting settings according to the rules of Feng Shui.
Moreover, the opening date and time of the Hong Kong Disneyland was determined to be extremely lucky by a Chinese consultant. That day is considered to be a good date for the opening of a new business, according to a Chinese almanac.
Criticisms
Insufficient attractions
There have been persistent complaints reported in local press and media about the limited number of attractions. There are only 22 entertainment items in the Hong Kong Disneyland, compared to 44 in Paris, 45 in Tokyo and Florida, and 65 in California. None of the attractions are unique to Hong Kong Disneyland, and many classic attractions (such as the Haunted Mansion) have not been included. Although the ticket is the cheapest of all Disney theme parks, the per-item cost is the highest.
High financial risk over investment on the government
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, notably including the reclamation of the land the park sits on and 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 Resort). A park in Shanghai would decrease the market for the Hong Kong Disneyland by taking mainland visitors from the Hong Kong park.
Problems of over estimation of the number of visitors
Just before the grand opening, the park was also criticised for overestimating the daily capacity limit of 30,000 visitors. The problem became apparent on the charity preview day on 4 September 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 massive chaos.
Although the community and the park's biggest shareholder, the Hong Kong 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.
During Chinese New Year 2006, many visitors, including tour groups from Mainland China, arrived at the park in the morning and were informed by the staff that the park was already full. This led to disturbances as visitors attempted to force their way into the park or climb over the barrier gates. Disneyland management responded to the problem by designating future periods close to Chinese public holidays as 'special days' when admission would only be by a date-specific ticket.
Rudeness of employees
Further complicating this public relations snag were complaints from several music stars who participated in the Hong Kong Disneyland promotional videos, including Kelly Chen and Daniel Wu. They complained about the rudeness of park employees, especially from overseas employees[2] and the senior levels of Disney management. Disney has not acknowledged nor tried to correct this problem, even though several stars threatened not to promote or go to Hong Kong Disneyland ever again. More than 50% of staff are from the Philippines, leading some visitors to suggest renaming the park Philippines Disneyland. The rudeness of employees as stated in Daniel's blog [3] however, points to the disrespectful behavior of supervisors and staff from the US while making a promotional video, and does not complain about the behavior of the Filipino staff.
Lack of government law enforcement
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 asked 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 feel very uneasy. 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. It said there was a mix up in communications and in the future they would 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 their admission is arranged by the security inside the park.
Poor working conditions of Disney employees
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.
Staff at the park working in costumes as 'meet and greet' Disney characters have complained about poor working conditions including low pay (HK$9000 per month), long working hours in extremely uncomfortable costumes and having to tolerate being treated abusively by some of the park's guests.
Environmental issues
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. Disney uses more environmentally-friendly fireworks at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, USA.
In an effort to appeal to Chinese visitors, the park originally planned to offer shark's fin soup on its restaurant menus, but objections from environmental and animal rights groups led to this plan being cancelled.
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 in non-smoking areas; a woman helping a young child loosen his trousers to urinate beside a flower bed. Also included were reports of mainlanders defecating in washroom sinks, going barefoot and laying their feet on chairs, cutting through queue lines, and spitting in public, a habit regarded as unsanitary and poor etiquette in Hong Kong, especially since the SARS and avian flu outbreaks. Many Hongkongers were upset that Disney allowed such behaviour in the park.
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 public urination in the park is illegal.
Public relations
In other news, Disney released a press announcement [4] 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.
In response to negative publicity locally, 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
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External links
- Hong Kong Disneyland (Official Website)
- Google Maps (Satellite Image) (Latitude: 22.313 Longitude: 114.041)
- Hong Kong Disneyland Secrets and Facts
- Dreamagic World - Fans site of HKDL providing the most updated news
