Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong Kong

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Akyriel
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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by Akyriel » May Mon 24, 2010 8:57 am

WalletPop wrote:And inside the park, staff must continually explain to Chinese guests why it's not all right for them to urinate in the park's gardens...
OMG That was soooo funny to read.... "paint the roses yellow..."

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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by mindflipper » May Mon 24, 2010 12:26 pm

Not like they didn't have cultural differences either when EuroDisneyland first opened. That "frequent bathing" thing ticked off many French employees...

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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by momeja » May Tue 25, 2010 10:44 am

That's true. Every time you go elsewhere you deal with different cultural issues. You know, Disney almost built WDW outside St. Louis, but Anheuser Busch told him that a dry park would never fly in that town. So they went to the swamplands of Florida instead.

Btw, I bet they'll keep HK but reorient it to a Southeast Asian market. I think it was really not very smart of them to think they could get Mainland Chinese to HK. Travel in China anywhere isn't so easy, much less travel to HK. The folks at the border are always concerned that the "visitors" won't go home, so they're pretty strict. Shanghai was a better choice for the mainland.

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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by aboden » Jul Sat 03, 2010 3:31 pm

Actually a US citizen traveling to Hong Kong is amazingly easy. You just fly there and land and have a 90 days to stay. There issue with "visitors not going home" is a different industry in Hong Kong. But granted getting Mainland China Citizens a passport to visit Hong Kong is very hard. But also Disney I think locked themselves into a place that is hard to expand. The mountains behind Fantasy Land are amazing. There is a limited amount of space on Lantau Island for them to expand.

Also getting to Disney Via the airport is soooo Easy now, Rail from the Airport stops there at the Disney Rail and you get dropped off in front of Disney.
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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by Amy » Jul Sat 03, 2010 6:44 pm

aboden wrote:Actually a US citizen traveling to Hong Kong is amazingly easy. You just fly there and land and have a 90 days to stay. There issue with "visitors not going home" is a different industry in Hong Kong. But granted getting Mainland China Citizens a passport to visit Hong Kong is very hard. But also Disney I think locked themselves into a place that is hard to expand. The mountains behind Fantasy Land are amazing. There is a limited amount of space on Lantau Island for them to expand.

Also getting to Disney Via the airport is soooo Easy now, Rail from the Airport stops there at the Disney Rail and you get dropped off in front of Disney.
Good information aboden. Now to figure out how the heck to afford the trip :roll: :(

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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by stinoi » Jul Sun 04, 2010 11:04 am

How sad. It sounds like another case of where the analysis didn't consider all of the relevant questions. I hope that they can turn it around, though. It would be an ugly smudge on the Disney brand if the park closed.

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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by Jacca5660 » Jul Sun 04, 2010 12:49 pm

That would be truly ugly!
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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by masterj345 » Jan Sun 23, 2011 4:24 am

hopefully this will turn around, id be sad to see any disney park close particularly in rising asia . its good for an american company to have as many parks as possible in asia.

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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by mindflipper » Jan Sun 23, 2011 10:48 am

masterj345 wrote:hopefully this will turn around, id be sad to see any disney park close particularly in rising asia . its good for an american company to have as many parks as possible in asia.
Last time I heard, the Chinese Government wanted a second park near Shanghai. I had not heard what is the status of this park. HKDL is planning two different expansions that will add a ghost-less version of the HM, the Grizzly River Rapids from DCA, and the BTMRR.

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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by Wizzard419 » Jan Sun 23, 2011 2:27 pm

Oh, you're talking about Bear Mountain? The ride that will make you hate bears because they cause nothing but trouble.

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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by MoonPet » Jan Thu 27, 2011 9:47 pm

Have things turned around for HK? I know this is the 5 year anniversary and at the Expo in 2009 they showcased some expansions for the park.

We'll be there this summer and I am very much looking forward to it!

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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by Amy » Jan Thu 27, 2011 9:49 pm

I would think they would have some interesting stuff for the 5 year anniversary! You're very lucky to be able to go see it during some sort of celebratory year :D

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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by mindflipper » Jan Thu 27, 2011 10:35 pm

MoonPet wrote:Have things turned around for HK? I know this is the 5 year anniversary and at the Expo in 2009 they showcased some expansions for the park.

We'll be there this summer and I am very much looking forward to it!
I know there are three expansions plan and confirmed in their recent corporate annual report: Mystic Point, Toy Story Land, and Grizzly Trail. I expect the Toy Story Land will be a duplicate of the DLP Studio's Toy Story area.

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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by MoonPet » Jan Fri 28, 2011 12:08 am

mindflipper wrote:
MoonPet wrote:Have things turned around for HK? I know this is the 5 year anniversary and at the Expo in 2009 they showcased some expansions for the park.

We'll be there this summer and I am very much looking forward to it!
I know there are three expansions plan and confirmed in their recent corporate annual report: Mystic Point, Toy Story Land, and Grizzly Trail. I expect the Toy Story Land will be a duplicate of the DLP Studio's Toy Story area.
So then Disney isn't abandoning it... which is good.

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Re: Big trouble in Hong Kong: Disney all but abandons Hong K

Post by mindflipper » Jan Fri 28, 2011 12:55 am

Nope, not the plan. The initial park in some ways looks similar to DLR layout, except Rivers of America & Tom Sawyers Island is in fact the Jungle Cruise at HKDL. Grizzly Trail and Mystic Manor are going to be lands "exclusive" to HKDL. The Chinese Government had expressed interest in Disney building a second theme park near Shanghai, and it seemed like an accord was struck, but I haven't heard if the second China park is still a go after the economic recession hit.

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