Sunday, January 18, 2009

Shanghai Disneyland – Bad News for Hong Kong?

Just as Hong Kongers lament shrinking of their wealth due to the bear market, the year of 2009 brings another bad news – Walt Disney is going to build another theme park in Shanghai.

The 3 year-old Hong Kong Disneyland is already underperforming. Its visitors largely come from mainland China. Will it survive once the Shanghai Disneyland opens in 2013?

Compared to Shanghai, Hong Kong is at disadvantage. Mainland Chinese require permits to enter the Special Administrative Region, but they can go to Shanghai at any time. Furthermore, Hong Kong Disneyland is the smallest of all Disney theme parks. If Shanghai Disneyland is bigger, it certainly will have an upper hand.

As an ethnic Chinese in Malaysia, I understand that Chinese like to compete among themselves. Infighting is common. The building of Shanghai Disneyland exemplifies this characteristic.

Japan has a Disneyland located at Chiba, near Tokyo. Osaka, the third largest city in the country, has a Universal Studio. The two theme parks complement each other. One wonders why Shanghai does not choose to open a Universal Studio instead.


Hong Kong Disneyland - will it survive?

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揽住一齐死


14 comments:

  1. 有竞争就会有进步。。。

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  2. wow, shanghai gonna do one? wow. this is of course bad news to hk! but at least, there's none yet in the (asean) region, so hk is still safe in a way.

    i wonder how grand the shanghai one is gonna be! :)

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  3. kikey
    Provided that the market is big enough. But I'm afraid not...

    quachee
    Given that Chinese like infighting, I suspect Shanghai Disneyland will outdo HK's one.

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  4. Wei, open one in Malaysia la.

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  5. i always want to go to disney land =(

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  6. neo
    If Disney opens one in Malaysia, it would have to be an air-conditioned one, hahaha...

    irvine
    HK Disneyland is the nearest. Or you may want to wait for the Shanghai's one to open.

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  7. Wow, I was in HK for a while and didn´t even know there was a Disneyland.

    I tend to agree: Chinese regions like to compete with one another I noticed.

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  8. like our political party/ election, Chinese like to fight with Chinese..ai..

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  9. its like the fight of lips and teeth.

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  10. zhu
    Even 老外 realize this, haha...

    pingping
    Very 显, huh?

    xin
    You're right, haha...

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  11. If Disneyland opens in Shanghai, can say bye bye to HK Disneyland! The Shanghai Disneyland will be bigger and better, even we Malaysians will go there instead of HK!

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  12. foongpc
    Looks like future is bleak for HK Disneyland...

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  13. ks: super显!本是同根生,相煎何太急?不身在其中,不会知道努力过后的辛酸。人总是善待自己,柯对他人。 :)

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  14. isnt it good news? the dirtiest disneyland wont be hk's >.> and ppl wont need to waste that much time in queue+ing, i would still go to hk's

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