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WALT DISNEY CO. opened its Shanghai theme park Thursday, its first in mainland China, with speeches by Communist Party leaders, a Chinese children’s choir, Sleeping Beauty and other Disney characters.
A Chinese vice premier joined Disney CEO Bob Iger in cutting a red ribbon as the park opened, signalling the ruling party’s endorsement of the $5.5 billion (€4.9 billion) investment in promoting tourism and other service industries at a time of slowing economic growth.
They read out letters of congratulations from the Chinese and American presidents, Xi Jinping and Barack Obama.
Shanghai Disneyland gives the Hollywood giant a chance to burnish the brand behind “Frozen” in the world’s most populous film market and to revive its struggling international theme park business.
“This is one of the proudest and most exciting moments in the history of the Walt Disney Co.,” said Iger, speaking after the kids choir sang When You Wish Upon a Star.
Later, actors dressed as Sleeping Beauty, Donald Duck and other Disney characters danced on stage.
Speaking as a light rain fell, Vice Premier Wang Yang quipped, “I would like to call this a rain of US dollars or of renminbi”, the Chinese currency.
Wang, a member of the party’s powerful Politiburo, described the park as an example of Sino-US “practical cooperation” and “people to people exchanges.”
The festive sentiment was tempered by grim news from Florida that an alligator killed a 2-year-old boy at Disney’s flagship Walt Disney World.
The boy drowned after the animal dragged him into the water at a lagoon in the park on Tuesday.
The park’s opening follows a decade of negotiations, five years of construction and weeks of having over 1 million visitors try out its rides, shops, restaurants and two hotels.
Distinctly Chinese
Global brands like Disney are rushing to create products for Chinese tastes. The company added China-themed elements and put the emphasis on popular characters at the Shanghai park, while downplaying its American identity.
At the entrance, instead of “Main Street USA,” it’s “Mickey Avenue.”
Ahead of the opening, Iger said the park was “authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese.”
In a garden leading to its iconic Storybook Castle, Disney created a “Garden of the Twelve Friends” using characters such as Remy from “Ratatouille” and Tigger from “Winnie the Pooh” as animals of the Chinese Zodiac.
Disney says the park’s Wandering Moon Teahouse, modeled on a building in eastern China, is the only Chinese-style structure in any of its parks.
Analysts expect Shanghai Disneyland to become the world’s most-visited theme park, attracting at least 15 million and as many as 50 million guests a year. By contrast, Walt Disney World drew 19.3 million people in 2014.
“It’s going to be a huge success,” said Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research in Shanghai.
Everybody in China who has a kid or a grandkid is going to want to go to Shanghai Disney.
Despite a sharp slowdown in growth, China’s economy still is one of the world’s best-performing and tourism spending is rising.
“Even with the weak economy, Chinese are not cutting back on tourism,” said Rein.
They are still spending on experiences and on their kids.
Wanda Group
Shanghai represents a market of 300 million people living within three hours of the park by car or train in one of China’s most affluent regions. China’s bullet train network can draw in areas further afield.
The park should generate some $1.5 billion to $4.5 billion (€4 billion) a year in revenue, according to Drexel Hamilton analyst Tony Wible.
Disney’s state-owned Chinese partner, the Shanghai Shendi (Group) Co Ltd, which owns 57 % of the 7.5-square-kilometer (2.9-square-mile) park, will get the lion’s share.
Disney’s international parks in Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo haven’t made a profit in six of the past 10 years, Wible figures.
So the main advantage of the huge park may be promotion of the brand and merchandise.
China’s tourism market is filled with inexperienced but ambitious competitors for Disney, from theme parks to golf resorts to cultural parks.
Declaring it hopes to overtake Disney as the biggest global tourism company by 2020, Wanda Group opened a 20 billion yuan (€2.7 billion) entertainment complex in the southern city of Nanchang in May.
Wanda, founded by Wang Jianlin, Asia’s second-richest businessman, bought Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment in January.
Challenging environment
China is a challenging environment in other ways, with official controls on business activities and on taking profits out of the country. Live shows like Disney’s Lion King musical must be approved by Chinese censors.
Disney’s DisneyLife direct-to-consumer online movie and book offering was closed in April, five months after opening, amidst a Chinese regulatory review.
In the Shanghai park, Disney needs its Chinese partner’s approval to change restaurant prices and other management details.
“They are hamstrung in a lot of areas,” said Rein. But still, he said, Shanghai Disneyland “is far above anything else in China”.
YouGov, a market research firm, said 44% of people it surveyed in China in May said they plan to visit Shanghai Disneyland within a year.
It said 80% plan to take family members.
“Disney is good. I had a lot of fun during the trial. It is exciting,” said Wang Lei, who works for a food chain in Shanghai.
The architecture, the castle and other buildings are very special.
“I’m sure I will go again, maybe again and again,” she said.
I’ll bring my kids and relatives from my hometown.
But Disney faces the danger that it might be so crowded potential visitors would be put off.
“People are waiting in line for long hours to have fun, which is not fun,” Wang said.
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I remember being locked on the Ha’penny bridge before…
excellent. My big laugh for today………
Could have done with reading this article a few years ago, could have saved a few quid on an eternity ring.
A stupid “tradition” that seems to have started on the Pont des Arts in Paris and has now spread all over the place. Do something useful with your money instead. Or give it to me.
Or preferably me
ah booo! you’re no fun!
Would be cynical of me to suggest that maybe this “tradition” was started by padlock manufacturers?
I think if they were left there they were going to be subject to the controversial new padlock/love tax.
Finally! I walk over the Ha’penny at least twice a day and these locks have indeed been an eyesore. Pointless and useless, I am delighted that they have been removed. The Ha’penny is far too lovely to be covered in locks.
The locks would cause the paint on the bridge to chip off, allowing rust to cause damage
Holy mother of god, a rare photo of a council worker working..
And a smile, but to be fair what you can’t see a few feet away from him is a group of 5 Council Workers standing with a shovel watching him
Quick Romance. Kill IT.
Pat is a man who enjoys his work
The locks are a nice idea but they are distracting the aesthetic beauty of the bridges design,
Thought they where for locking the Roma for begging as these bridges are usually maned by Roma beggars each day.Hope they are next to be removed as they Are eye sore too
Roma? Whenever I cross it’s Irish beggars. They must take turns.
careful micheal your perilously close to getting an ear full off the bulshit do gooder brigade!!……… i agree insidently
not a penny in the kitty and they can send a team out to cut down harmless tokens of love
Selling them for scrap value
Ah well……we’ll just have to go back to carving our initials on trees…benches….desks etc.
Somebody just didn’t get enough hugs as a child…
Cutting them down is probably going to see an explosion in love locks….. saw a bridge in Russia covered in locks, it looked fantastic.
Perhaps. But the Ha’penny would look ridiculous covered in padlocks.
For why would they take them down? It’s incredibly romantic – I tells ya, the City Council has no heart.
There is obviously too much drinking going on in Dublin. Even the bridges get locked. Ouch. Sorry.
Handcuffs be better or a ball & chain
Or a Engelbert Humperdinck CD of “Please Release Me….”
And here it is!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCZO9xeYA8g
Aww shucks.. wasn’t love great! :-)
He removed photographs :O
Typo fixed now! Cheers for heads up.
P.S apologies if I appeared to be a but of a spelling Nazi! I hate them.
i think you mean bit
F**k.
1 – 0
There used to be two old coins welded/glued to the underside of the railing in the centre of the Ha’penny bridge, I always thought they were an interesting talking point, unobtrusive and harmless, they weren’t there after the refurbishment :(
What a waste of a good padlock. Locks and chains belong attached to the overpaid officials and speculators who wrecked the country – chain ‘em up and chuck ‘em in the Liffey. Claddagh rings for lovers are nicer.
He looks a little too happy about it!! aw such a shame, i think its a lovely idea!!! :) <3
This should have gone to a referendum. Those locks were privately owned, the council had right to take them down…
*no right
are you serious? or just a little touched in the head?
That’s actually kind of sad, I interrailed last summer and every city I went to had them on famous landmarks. I thought it was a sweet idea.
So essentially these padlocks are a form of sentimental metal fungus infecting European landmarks? That’s what it sounds like.
Or just a symbolic gesture of love that looks quite pretty… I admit, I am a creature of sentiment.
Are they going to cut the locks off the Grand Canal as well?
instead of spending money on love locks ,and donate the money to charity of there choice,this will make you feel better and also those who benefit from it
I walk over the hapenny bridge at least once a week and NEVER even noticed them……..sure what harm are they doing. Answer the council better to use taxpayers money by cleaning graffiti off walls or better still spend the money doing essential works to the flats in Dolphins Barn and Mercer House who have serious issues with moulde, damp, and old leaking rusty pipes (in the case of Mercer House these pipes are70 years old) that result in the flooding of homes.
just put locks on mercer house then
Anyone up for setting up a padlocking campaign to annoy Dublin City Council???
To be fair, removing the pad-locks is a form of work so I see it as job creation and people are spending their hard-earned money on pad-locks and spendign is what the government wants so…what is the problem?
also remember to use irish made padlocks and buy them in a local store.
hope this people react and go and put more locks on it, I think they looked pretty cool
get a few kryptonite locks up there
Looks like the teenagers will now have to go back to graffiti or carving their names into trees and park benches.
Saw this also on the bridge in Logroño in northern Spain, it’s quite cute…
Dirty padlock photos! :)
meh, stick the locks on the millennium bridge instead or something, the haypenny needs to be protected methinks
This truely is no joy Ireland!!
Why did they remove some from the Millenium Bridge, they’re hardly going to be an eyesore on that!! Speaking of which, does anyone remember when the millenium bridge used to make noises as you walked on it, like nature sounds and stuff?
Seems a bit cheesy to do something like this, in my personal opinion.
“I love you Stacey” (Random name) “So I put a padlock on a bridge!!”
Staceys possible response: “…..eh.. right how romantic. Rob, we’re finished. You’re just way too weird”.
most of the people who put these locks on the bridge will probably break up eventually show your commitment by getting married
Marriage is like a bath. After awhile, it’s not so hot.
Putting a Padlock on a bridge as an expression of your undying love for each other, what a load of bollox.
500 Padlocks? Hmmmmmm….no….but would like to buy an Electronic Voting Machine!
police state
Oh I dunno. Hardly oppression to remove an eyesore from a protected structure just because a couple of moon eyed lovers decide they want follow the same sentimental bovine nonsense tradition of defacing a national landmark with a padlock. Just sayin’.
@Gay Dave – To be a police state you’d need something a bit more, how can I put it, Police-like, than the Garda Siochana. Try and conjure up a mental picture of Stalinist Russia with gardai, it doesn’t quite work, does it?
Killjoy State I would go along with!
The mental image of Stalin & gardai was my laugh for the day!
What is the HARM, ITS very social, DCC are just spoil sports, Lovers Locks are very common here in Valencia and in Spain in general and People love to examine the NAMES on them. In these HARD Days in Ireland I think the LOCKS are a positive symbol of LOVE and COMMITMENT. LET THEM STAY.
Anyone wanna buy 500 padlocks?!!
Stupid waste of money tbh
The locks or the removal?
You’ll all be just fine, couples. Just remember to shout when you’re throwing out the feet water. Yes. Don’t get on the bad side of the gentry.
How happy is pat
I people want to do it then why not have a purpose built “blank” sculpture and leave the bridges alone? it’d be brilliant, it would look amazing when it was completely covered in locks!
As an executive decision right up there with fiddling while Rome burns. Do they not have more to be doing?
Maybe the council should follow the lead of places such as Moscow, and install ‘lovescapes’ where people can legally ‘lock their love’ without damaging existing structures and without the risk of removal! The Luzhkov bridge in Moscow has the most beautiful row of lock trees on the bridge over the canal and has become famous for it, driving tourists from all over the world!
They should see this as an opportunity! See http://www.lovelocksuk.com- the specialists in this stuff in Europe!
Oh no ! In a few years they will be chucking the padlocks at each other …… :) Nuts !
That would never happen on the virtual version of this very sweet tradition ! … Feel free to visit : http://www.thelovegrid.com
I agree Bridget….why spoil peoples fun… even a blank canvas (so to speak) would be perfect….my last comment admittedly was a little “Tongue & Cheek”! And…. a box for struggling Charities beside it might work, so more Love can be spread.
I like Padlock of Love but I am opposed to destroying nature because of those padlock people.
Also, I feel vulgar when I see rusted padlock and padlock that were ignored for long time.
There is a good way to share friendship among the people around the world.
I am Jungnam from South Korea.
You can just think that the original Padlock of Love is moved online.
The e-Love’s Padlock I made is to protect the nature and making people to love each other.
e-Love’s Padlock >> http://thevow.co.kr
Neil Murphy who wanted a spire built from the “Electronic Voting Machines has just given me another idea….anyway Lovers Locks can be attached to these Machines?
I like Padlock of Love but I am opposed to destroying nature because of those padlock people.
Also, I feel vulgar when I see rusted padlock and padlock that were ignored for long time.
There is a good way to share friendship among the people around the world.
I am Jungnam from South Korea.
You can just think that the original Padlock of Love is moved online.
The e-Love’s Padlock I made is to protect the nature and making people to love each other..
e-Love’s Padlock ▶ http://thevow.co.kr
You know Bernard Andre (sorry about accent missing on e)…. liked your link. If we think around the box, over the bridge or whatever….this could be the greatest money spinner ever to make up the short fall in the kitty. All we have to do is have a tasteful & I stress tasteful (not an eyesore) “Love Grid” in designated central areas, shops selling special locks like the National Lotto sells tickets & every tourist or indeed people at home “In Love” is going to want to be photographed in front of it with their own personalised lock. While we are at it, why don’t we go a step further & design some machine that can print out a dozen or so postcards of them so they can profess their Love to their friends at home or abroad. Locks, Postcards, Stamps….????
lover should Pad lock each other fLY’S for long lasting love lol
NO THEY SHOULDN’T BE REMOVED
I’ve just given a padlock from my tools to a couple who were looking for a hardware shop to buy one. Of course I told them it wouldn’t be open at this time but it seemed to mean alot to them. I didn’t question them but told them more than once that I thought it was a waste of time, telling them the locks are removed periodically. They were delighted with it, I helped make them hapoy. Who cares if they are removed next week?!
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