Disneyland Opens in Hong Kong
In the presence of Disney’s CEO Michael Eisner, his soon-to-be successor Robert Iger and the Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong, Disneyland Hong Kong opened to the public on September 12th in a spectacular grand opening gala with around 2,500 guests. The resort is located on the lushly overgrown island of Lantau just outside Hong Kong. The 126-hectare large amusement park with 21 attractions also has two Disney hotels with 400 and 600 rooms apiece, an area with boat rental called “Inspiration Lake,” and a 3.5-hectare large nursery. Disneyland Hong Kong is the smallest of all five “Disneylands,” and at around 36 euros for a day ticket, it’s also the most inexpensive Disney park.
As a joint venture of the Walt Disney Company and the government of the special administrative zone of Hong Kong, the resort employs 5,000 so-called cast members. Current prognoses estimate around 5.6 million visitors within the first 12 months, after which more than ten million each year are expected.
Disney just wouldn’t be Disney if it does not attempt to export additional products of its media enterprise to Mainland China via the ease of the Hong Kong gateway. On the other hand, both China and Hong Kong justifiably hope that the construction of the theme park will be a shot in the arm for Hong Kong’s tourism industry and create a distinct attraction for visitors from other Asian countries. The city of Hong Kong invested an impressive sum of approximately 1.8 billion dollars in the three billion dollar construction.
Apart from economic relevance, this major undertaking also has a very high degree of political importance. No matter what the contracts say, future potential strain between China and the US is not likely to pass by this project without a trace – much like the political divergence between France and the US has been no boost to visitor numbers at Disneyland Paris... The first disputes arose already before the grand opening: numerous media outlets reported in August that employees of a number of Disney’s cooperative partners in the Far East work under partially inhumane conditions. Right before the park opened there was also some trouble with the Hong Kong administration due to food inspectors, who, according to Spiegel Online quoting BBC News, were called in to check up on some cases of food poisoning and were requested by Disney officials to replace their regular uniforms with civilian clothing during their work at the park. Hong Kong city officials were quick to interpret this as meddling and consequently protested against special treatment for Disney. (eap)
