Disneyland in Hong Kong May Not Make It

Filed in archive Destination: Asia & the Pacific on March 30, 2009

According to BusinessWeek, "the Magic Kingdom theme park has steadily lost money since opening in 2005. Now it's laying off workers and has put expansion plans on hold."

Some perspective may help understand the park's problems. Back in 2005 I wrote about the park's opening.

By almost any measure the opening of Disney's new Hong Kong theme park was a monumental feat.

• It is China's first theme park.
  


• Hong Kong invested huge sums of money in the project on Lantau, the biggest of Hong Kong's 236 islands, and owns a 57% share of the park.
  


• Land was reclaimed from the sea and new resort hotels built (check out About's Hotels site.).
  


• And Feng Shui experts were enlisted to help make the park "The Happiest Place on Earth."

But despite all the effort and money that went into the park's development, Hong Kong Disneyland opened to a swirl of bad press, possible legal action from Hong Kong health inspectors, protests from environmentalists and human rights organizations, a flooded market of fake Disney goods in the city, anger in Hong Kong over plans to begin work on another China theme park right away (in Shanghai), and (perhaps worst of all) long lines of impatient visitors inside the park.

The Shanghai theme park never got off the ground. Disney's relationship with the Hong Kong government has always been strained. And the park's days may now be numbered as the world recession makes it's financial situation even worse. At the very least, there will be no expansion.

Should Disneyland Hong Kong close its doors, the effort to put a park in Shanghai would gain new momentum. That may motive the Hong Kong government to find a way to keep the park open.


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