SHANGHAI The Walt Disney Company placed a huge bet on Chinas shifting approach to Westernized entertainment on Friday as it broke ground here on a $4.4 billion theme park and resort even if it is one without classic American features like a Main Street.
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Mickey and Minnie trying to sway pedestrians in an ad for Disney in Shanghai.
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A rendering of the Shanghai Disney Resort. The castle will be Disney's biggest among its resorts.
Disney hopes the Shanghai Disney Resort will be as transformative for the company as the establishment of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., was in the 1970s. It wants to create an engine that will drive demand among Chinas 1.3 billion residents for other products, like Pixar films and princess dolls.
Like many global companies, Disney is putting its faith in the rise of the Chinese consumer, and at the same time it is counting on Shanghais specific ambitions to become a world-class city.
There will be obstacles. Disneys first foray into China its theme park in Hong Kong got off to a slow start after opening in 2005. It may be a small world, but cultural miscues, including a failure to understand how guests would use the park on holidays like Chinese New Year, resulted in angry customers and damaging media coverage.
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Qilai Shen/European Pressphoto Agency
Mickey and Minnie trying to sway pedestrians in an ad for Disney in Shanghai.
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Disney, Walt, Co
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Enlarge This Image
Disney
A rendering of the Shanghai Disney Resort. The castle will be Disney's biggest among its resorts.
Disney hopes the Shanghai Disney Resort will be as transformative for the company as the establishment of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., was in the 1970s. It wants to create an engine that will drive demand among Chinas 1.3 billion residents for other products, like Pixar films and princess dolls.
Like many global companies, Disney is putting its faith in the rise of the Chinese consumer, and at the same time it is counting on Shanghais specific ambitions to become a world-class city.
There will be obstacles. Disneys first foray into China its theme park in Hong Kong got off to a slow start after opening in 2005. It may be a small world, but cultural miscues, including a failure to understand how guests would use the park on holidays like Chinese New Year, resulted in angry customers and damaging media coverage.
