From CNN.com...

[MichelleBelle]

Shanghai may welcome Mickey Mouse<FORM name=alertbox onsubmit="return getSelectedButton()" action=http://audience.cnn.com/services/cnn/alerts/activateAlert.jsp>

</FORM><!--endclickprintexclude-->BEIJING, China (AP) -- Is there a Disney park in Shanghai's future?

Shanghai's mayor says the city is making preparations to build a Disney theme park, but is still awaiting the go-ahead from China's central government.

"Shanghai wants to build a Disney park and has hoped for a long time to do so. But we can't be sure when construction work will begin," Mayor Han Zheng told reporters during the annual session of the national legislature in Beijing.

"Shanghai has the right conditions to build a park, and we're carrying forward all aspects of the preparatory work," he said. Han said only the State Council, China's Cabinet, could give permission to build a park. A Shanghai park could compete with Hong Kong's newly opened Disneyland, which has counted on mainland Chinese tourists as a major source of visitors. But another senior tourism officials says he believes Hong Kong Disneyland is already overcrowded -- a statement which may hint at support for a Shanghai park to accommodate demand from China's huge and newly affluent population.

"China has a very large population. We now have 1.3 billion people. The market is very large. As far as I know, Hong Kong Disneyland is now very crowded," said Shao Qiwei, director of China's State Administration of Tourism, whose comments were broadcast on Hong Kong's Cable TV.
The Hong Kong theme park, which opened in September, was widely criticized in January when it turned away hundreds of Lunar New Year holiday makers from mainland China because the park was full. Chaos erupted when angry crowds tried to force their way into the park.

The embarrassing incident prompted a public apology from Hong Kong Disneyland Managing Director Bill Ernest and a dressing down from Hong Kong's leader Donald Tsang.

The official Xinhua News Agency has reported that no agreement has been reached on the park in Shanghai, quoting senior vice president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Leslie Goodman.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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[Ghostbuster626]

I hope not.

 

[Bravesfn1]

I hope not.

Why? Please explain

 

[Ghostbuster626]

Why? Please explain

1) Hurts our economy: Why would tourists from other countries want to visit places like Disneyland and Walt Disney World when they got one thats just "good enough" locally. This means less tourism in this country and less consumer spending while they are here. Essentially Disney is outsourcing the fun.

2) American parks loose out: Disney only has a limited amount of money to spend on new attractions and such...the more parks you have the more you have to spread the money around. The american parks get less and less attractions as a result. For example, Disney can't afford to build Beastly Kingdom because other parks need new attractions too so they can only afford to build smaller scale and less grand attractions.

 

[DME]

I thought Disney does use their own money directly. They lease or something like that..to another company to manage all the fuctioning of the park.

 

[NoNoNoNoNo]

why would american parks "lose out"?

aren't most of the foreign parks sponsored by the host country? Isn't that why tokyo DL and DS kick so much butt?

 

[AndyP]

1) Hurts our economy: Why would tourists from other countries want to visit places like Disneyland and Walt Disney World when they got one thats just "good enough" locally. This means less tourism in this country and less consumer spending while they are here. Essentially Disney is outsourcing the fun.

You would still get visitors from those in China that want to travel outside of the country and this park would more target those who probably don't travel outside of the country anyway imo. For example WDW still gets lots of visitors from the UK, despite Disneyland Paris being much easier to go to in terms of distance/transport cost. Plus Disney makes money which adds to the US economy.

2) American parks loose out: Disney only has a limited amount of money to spend on new attractions and such...the more parks you have the more you have to spread the money around. The american parks get less and less attractions as a result. For example, Disney can't afford to build Beastly Kingdom because other parks need new attractions too so they can only afford to build smaller scale and less grand attractions.

Disney would almost certainly not fund/own the entire park and would end up with higher profits at the end of the day. Hong Kong has recently opened but we still see alot of investment at WDW at the moment, though I agree there is a possibility of less investment at the American themeparks.

 

[Ghostbuster626]

I believe Disney "co-funds" the parks because the american parks suffered from Euro Disneyland opening..which became a fiasco (for whatever reason I don't know I just know it was a bust).

 

[imagineerfan]

I had trouble finding the article on CNN.com, could you possibly post a link to the article so I can site it in a paper I am doing for school?
Thanks

Dan

 

[Captain Hank]

I believe Disney "co-funds" the parks because the american parks suffered from Euro Disneyland opening..which became a fiasco (for whatever reason I don't know I just know it was a bust).

It was because they built too many hotels. And that wasn't the reason for co-funding--Tokyo Disneyland, which was build several years earlier, was majorly funded and is actually owned by the Oriental Land Company.

As for the proposed Shanghai park, I really feel that the Company is running the risk of over-proliferating and diluting the Disney brand. Yes, I understand that they are marketing to a group that would probably not otherwise visit any Disney park. However, I feel that we may reach a point where parks start being built that aren't up to Disney's standards (*cough* DCA *cough* WDS *cough*). I really think that the Company and brand would be much better served with fewer properties, but with a full investment of resources focused on these properties. I doubt that the current parks would suffer a quality loss, but newer parks might.

I fear that if new parks are built without the full backing of the Comapany's resources, they won't be nearly as successful as the Company hopes (see previous coughing fit). The last thing I want to see is a Disney park somewhere in the world closing its gates because of lack of quality.

If, however, the Company can actually invest its resources in creating additional overseas parks worthy of the Disney name over the gate, I might not be quite as worried. I am optimistic that the new administration will make decisions that benefit the Company in the long term, though time will tell.

 

[Captain Hank]

I had trouble finding the article on CNN.com, could you possibly post a link to the article so I can site it in a paper I am doing for school?
Thanks

Dan

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/03/15/china.disney.ap/

Edit: here's a blurb from Google News' search page that seems to confirm that Disney will build a Shanghai park. However, the full text article only comes up as a Error 404: http://www.chinacsr.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1369

Shanghai Will Invest RMB30 Billion To Build Disneyland
China CSR, China - 12 minutes ago
... Shanghai will build a Disneyland, Robert A. Iger, CEO of Disney has now further confirmed the news saying that that Disney and Shanghai Municipal Government ...

 

[Pongo]

Hmm.

I understand the demand for one. I can see why Disney would want to build there.

Not that I agree with it. It seems the like the parks are becoming less unique to themselves...

 

[Connor002]

1) Hurts our economy: Why would tourists from other countries want to visit places like Disneyland and Walt Disney World when they got one thats just "good enough" locally. This means less tourism in this country and less consumer spending while they are here. Essentially Disney is outsourcing the fun.

No, I can't say that I agree with that, or that it makes much sense. The fact of the matter is the percentage of visitors to the US Disney parks are not from mainland China. It would not make a noticeable difference. As for the "outsourcing the fun" comment, I have absolutely no clue what you could be meaning by that statement; it doesn't appear to make any sense...

2) American parks loose out: Disney only has a limited amount of money to spend on new attractions and such...the more parks you have the more you have to spread the money around. The american parks get less and less attractions as a result. For example, Disney can't afford to build Beastly Kingdom because other parks need new attractions too so they can only afford to build smaller scale and less grand attractions.

Um... no, I fairly confident that although your comment is based in fact, it doesn't necessarily work that way. If you want an example, look to HKDL. The honest truth is that Disney went into this without much risk. If there was ever a smart way to get returns on an investment, this was it. Not only do they get a foothold in China, but they were able to avoid most expenses. The government of HK took care of it. Granted, HKDL has far fewer attractions, but this works to their advantage. Now they're left with a steady plan to expand as needed, to draw visitors (local and from further away) back to the park. As for your example of BK, that is, to put it nicely, a figment of your distorted imagination turned around and put in fact form. Thankfully, not everyone is stupid enough to follow blindly...

I thought Disney does use their own money directly. They lease or something like that..to another company to manage all the fuctioning of the park.

OLC (Oriental Land Company) owns and operates Tokyo Disneyland Resort. They finance, staff, and run the resort on their own accord. In return the Disney brand is basically leased out to them; Characters, brands, attractions, Imagineers, etc. are all in the agreement.

aren't most of the foreign parks sponsored by the host country? Isn't that why tokyo DL and DS kick so much butt?

See above, and note that the Chinese government owns 51% off HKDL.

I believe Disney "co-funds" the parks because the american parks suffered from Euro Disneyland opening..which became a fiasco (for whatever reason I don't know I just know it was a bust).

Disney put up for some money for HKDL, but when you take into consideration that the People's Republic of China and the local Hong Kong government funded about 50% of park construction, as well as fully funding the original reclamation projects and utility infrastructure.

 

[bigcarolina77]

I doubt a new park in Shanghai would hurt attendance at Disneyland and Disney World. It's not like the commie red leaders in Beijing are letting a lot of their people do much world travel.

 

[Tim G]

Disney as mogul doesn't stop on the beaches of the pacific nad / or the atlantic ocean...

It's called Big Business economics...

 

[ballewclan]

Hmmm I'm not the economy/money/geographical type person but Disney seems to be spreading out a little too much. I just hope its a smart move money wise and creativily wise. I guess this is ok because its kind of a extension of HKDL but i wonder how many more will be built in the next 50 years...

 

[disneyracefan]

i was always hoping that the next park would be in south america that way those lousey tour groups would stay there instead of always running around in packs messing up other peoples vactions at wdw

 

[Ghostbuster626]

The more Disneyland's there are in the world the less special they become.

 

[Tim G]

The more Disneyland's there are in the world the less special they become.

The word "special" has long gone...

The guests make it "special", it's better (up to now) than the others...

But Disney isn't "special" anymore.. Disney is a Large world Wide Company, making money, just as many others... like CNN (Turner) etc. etc...

Only this one has Theme parks as well... and good ones... and coming to that, the goal of every CEO is making money... so it's good to expand... more park get real Global.