- Joined
- Jan 3, 2001
- Messages
- 9,288
FEBRUARY 6, 2006
Disney's Mobbed Kingdom, Besieged by would-be patrons, Hong Kong Disneyland had to turn many away. A PR debacle, it also has execs eyeing a second park in Shanghai
The folks at Hong Kong Disneyland can't seem to catch a break. For months, the problem was that there were too few visitors at the new theme park, Disney's (DIS ) first in Asia outside of Japan. Now there are too many. With China on a week-long holiday to celebrate Chinese New Year, tens of thousands of visitors from mainland China have descended on Hong Kong for a "Golden Week" of eating, shopping, and getting their picture taken with Mickey, Goofy, and the rest of the Disney gang. Advertisement
The Hong Kong park, which opened in September, measures just 100 acres, making it Disney's smallest. But local officials -- the park is joint venture between the Hong Kong government and Disney -- hope that it will eventually grow to rival that of the original Magic Kingdom in Anaheim, Calif.
SELF-INFLICTED TROUBLES. To keep crowds from spilling out of Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Main Street USA, Disneyland officials have set a maximum capacity of 30,000 visitors for the Hong Kong park. Until recently, that wasn't much of a problem. But during the Chinese New Year "Golden Week," the park has maxed out after just a few hours.
That's turned into a public relations disaster for Disney, as furious tourists denounce the Mouse. The top official of the park tried to control the damage on Saturday. "Unfortunately, because of the high demand, we were not able to accommodate everyone who came to the park," Bill Ernest, executive vice president and managing director of Hong Kong Disneyland, told a news conference. "No one is more disappointed about this than we are. And we apologize to those who have been inconvenienced."
It's partly a problem of Disney's own making. In early January, the Hong Kong park introduced a new ticketing system that gives a ticket holder the opportunity to visit for one day within a six-month period rather than on a specific day.
This move away from date-stamping tickets was in response to concerns from local travel agents and others that selling tickets that were limited to a set day wasn't flexible enough for Chinese tourists. Since admission is on a first-come, first-serve basis, if the park fills up quickly, many people who purchased their tickets in advance find themselves stuck outside with tearful children and nowhere to go.
OVER THE TOP. On Feb. 2, some irate ticketholders took matters into their own hands, scaling the fence surrounding the park. Newspapers quoted angry visitors denouncing Disney and Hong Kong. With visitors from China playing such an important role in Hong Kong's tourist and retail industry, the Hong Kong government has been quick to try to show the mainlanders that it cares about their gripes.
Following the fence-scaling on Thursday, the Hong Kong government issued a statement calling for Disneyland executives to do a better job. "We are concerned that this advance sales arrangement has caused a lot of inconvenience to guests who could not enter," read the statement. "We consider that there are areas for improvement such as the ticketing and guest-entry arrangements. We have reflected these concerns to the senior management of the theme park and requested them to make improvements."
The good news for Disney: people want to get in, which is a nice change from a few months ago. The park got off to an inauspicious start in late summer, when Hong Kong was in the grips of a heat-and-smog wave that made visibility poor and locals grumpy (see BW Online, 9/13/05, "Disney's Not-Do-Magic Kingdom").
HITTING ITS NUMBERS. The launch was accompanied by some major public-relations problems, involving everything from serious overcrowding during the pre-launch test runs to the alleged mistreatment of stray dogs captured at the site. "It was a mess," says Allan Zeman, chairman of Ocean Park, the other government-owned theme park in Hong Kong. Adds Zeman: Many of the problems "were things that somebody who did their homework should have realized and understood."
Disneyland hasn't released attendance numbers, but Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, says that the park is on course to hit its first-year target of 5.6 million visitors. In early January, there was a shakeup of top management, with managing director Don Robinson leaving the company. He was replaced by Bill Ernest, a Disney veteran who had served, among other positions, as vice-president of resort operations at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
While the Hong Kong part is certainly smaller than what visitors familiar with other Disney parks might expect, Rasulo says the plan is to eventually double its capacity. And, he adds, Disney is still talking with the Chinese government about opening a second Chinese Disney park. Despite a recent report in the South China Morning Post that the Beijing government was interested in hosting a Disney park, Rasulo says that Disney is eyeing another metropolis. "Shanghai is one of the most appealing places to us," he says.
"MIDCOURSE CORRECTIONS." A Shanghai park would still be many years off, though. The focus right now is on making Disney's Hong Kong offering work. The park will be adding several new attractions this year, including the Autopia car-driving ride in Tomorrowland. Rasulo also stresses that Disney is working more closely with travel agents specializing in arranging visits from mainland Chinese. "We've shifted a little," he says, "but these are not out-of-the-ordinary midcourse corrections."
If the crowds this week are any indication, the Chinese certainly seem to be interested in hanging out with Mickey and friends. Still, as the Golden Week problems demonstrate all too well, Disney has some work to do in order to make sure its first foray into China is a success.
Disney's Mobbed Kingdom, Besieged by would-be patrons, Hong Kong Disneyland had to turn many away. A PR debacle, it also has execs eyeing a second park in Shanghai
The folks at Hong Kong Disneyland can't seem to catch a break. For months, the problem was that there were too few visitors at the new theme park, Disney's (DIS ) first in Asia outside of Japan. Now there are too many. With China on a week-long holiday to celebrate Chinese New Year, tens of thousands of visitors from mainland China have descended on Hong Kong for a "Golden Week" of eating, shopping, and getting their picture taken with Mickey, Goofy, and the rest of the Disney gang. Advertisement
The Hong Kong park, which opened in September, measures just 100 acres, making it Disney's smallest. But local officials -- the park is joint venture between the Hong Kong government and Disney -- hope that it will eventually grow to rival that of the original Magic Kingdom in Anaheim, Calif.
SELF-INFLICTED TROUBLES. To keep crowds from spilling out of Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Main Street USA, Disneyland officials have set a maximum capacity of 30,000 visitors for the Hong Kong park. Until recently, that wasn't much of a problem. But during the Chinese New Year "Golden Week," the park has maxed out after just a few hours.
That's turned into a public relations disaster for Disney, as furious tourists denounce the Mouse. The top official of the park tried to control the damage on Saturday. "Unfortunately, because of the high demand, we were not able to accommodate everyone who came to the park," Bill Ernest, executive vice president and managing director of Hong Kong Disneyland, told a news conference. "No one is more disappointed about this than we are. And we apologize to those who have been inconvenienced."
It's partly a problem of Disney's own making. In early January, the Hong Kong park introduced a new ticketing system that gives a ticket holder the opportunity to visit for one day within a six-month period rather than on a specific day.
This move away from date-stamping tickets was in response to concerns from local travel agents and others that selling tickets that were limited to a set day wasn't flexible enough for Chinese tourists. Since admission is on a first-come, first-serve basis, if the park fills up quickly, many people who purchased their tickets in advance find themselves stuck outside with tearful children and nowhere to go.
OVER THE TOP. On Feb. 2, some irate ticketholders took matters into their own hands, scaling the fence surrounding the park. Newspapers quoted angry visitors denouncing Disney and Hong Kong. With visitors from China playing such an important role in Hong Kong's tourist and retail industry, the Hong Kong government has been quick to try to show the mainlanders that it cares about their gripes.
Following the fence-scaling on Thursday, the Hong Kong government issued a statement calling for Disneyland executives to do a better job. "We are concerned that this advance sales arrangement has caused a lot of inconvenience to guests who could not enter," read the statement. "We consider that there are areas for improvement such as the ticketing and guest-entry arrangements. We have reflected these concerns to the senior management of the theme park and requested them to make improvements."
The good news for Disney: people want to get in, which is a nice change from a few months ago. The park got off to an inauspicious start in late summer, when Hong Kong was in the grips of a heat-and-smog wave that made visibility poor and locals grumpy (see BW Online, 9/13/05, "Disney's Not-Do-Magic Kingdom").
HITTING ITS NUMBERS. The launch was accompanied by some major public-relations problems, involving everything from serious overcrowding during the pre-launch test runs to the alleged mistreatment of stray dogs captured at the site. "It was a mess," says Allan Zeman, chairman of Ocean Park, the other government-owned theme park in Hong Kong. Adds Zeman: Many of the problems "were things that somebody who did their homework should have realized and understood."
Disneyland hasn't released attendance numbers, but Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, says that the park is on course to hit its first-year target of 5.6 million visitors. In early January, there was a shakeup of top management, with managing director Don Robinson leaving the company. He was replaced by Bill Ernest, a Disney veteran who had served, among other positions, as vice-president of resort operations at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
While the Hong Kong part is certainly smaller than what visitors familiar with other Disney parks might expect, Rasulo says the plan is to eventually double its capacity. And, he adds, Disney is still talking with the Chinese government about opening a second Chinese Disney park. Despite a recent report in the South China Morning Post that the Beijing government was interested in hosting a Disney park, Rasulo says that Disney is eyeing another metropolis. "Shanghai is one of the most appealing places to us," he says.
"MIDCOURSE CORRECTIONS." A Shanghai park would still be many years off, though. The focus right now is on making Disney's Hong Kong offering work. The park will be adding several new attractions this year, including the Autopia car-driving ride in Tomorrowland. Rasulo also stresses that Disney is working more closely with travel agents specializing in arranging visits from mainland Chinese. "We've shifted a little," he says, "but these are not out-of-the-ordinary midcourse corrections."
If the crowds this week are any indication, the Chinese certainly seem to be interested in hanging out with Mickey and friends. Still, as the Golden Week problems demonstrate all too well, Disney has some work to do in order to make sure its first foray into China is a success.
