Quote:
Originally Posted by PerryCo  Avoid Disneyland in Hong Kong. It is a total waste of time and money. Go to Ocean Park and you will have a wonderful experience, plenty to see and do, and the cost is less than Disneyland.
I think from reports in the news, Disney will close the park here after they open one on the mainland. |
Did you just think that up of the top of your head ??
Even though its small, its still an attractive " Disney experience " and is not missing its targets by much, when all said and done. The expansion should provide the items needed to get the all important return visit traffic. It should never be compared to the US ventures as Disney Florida is about the same size as HK island !!
The problem in HK is, that unless you exceed expectations you are a dismal failure. We all read what we thought would happen with the cable car when it reopened . However, it was full up over the holiday making all the doom and gloom merchants look real silly.
Lets also not forget the Ocean park was a dismal underfunded wretched place before Disney came along. It provided the incentive to invest and ( being on a much larger piece of real estate ) could be a worthy compliment for a piece of the tourist pie.
All respect to Ocean Park but Disney has only just started on a postage stamp.
Also on the " open a Disney in Shanghai " theme this link just about sums it up
/www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-11/14/content_6252584.htm
No doubt Shanghai wants it, is making lots of noises and, depending on who you listen to, could be open by 2012 " if agreement was reached immediately". However Disney are not as stupid as most who believe China a huge pot of money. Control is their paramount concern and trustworthiness with recoverable profits a close second. It is no surprise to those of us with hands on experience of the China beast that they have made no commitment to this. It would be a HUGE risk and there are Everest sized mountains of corpse on entertainment ventures gone wrong on the mainland. Unless you have experienced it you really can't imagine how difficult it is.
The future of Disney HK is, IMHO, close coupled with the events unfolding in Macau and the development of the PRD, including Hainan. I have always believed their true market to be Asia Pacific first. The Japan venture could be seen as peculiar to that culture and in any case is prohibitively expensive for the " normal " AP customer base. This alternative 2 or 3 point experience is a travel agents dream in the medium term and with PRC giving more holiday time can only get better.
Finally ask any mainlander where they would rather go, HK / Macau or Shanghai for a holiday experience. The northern Chinese middle class are all buying investment / holiday property in Hainan if you need a clue.
Disneyland Hong Kong 
