Disney's 11th theme park opened September 12, 2005 to lukewarm reviews, mostly due to the park's small size and limited number of attractions. However, Disney and its partners invested heavily in expansion, adding the first Toy Story Playland in 2011, Grizzly Gulch in 2012, and Mystic Point in 2013 — home of the Theme Park Insider Award-winning dark ride Mystic Manor. Today in Hong Kong (which is tomorrow for those of us in the Western Hemisphere), Disney Parks Chairman Bob Chapek announced several new additions for the park's "Happily Ever After Celebration," which will begin in November, following the Hong Kong Disneyland's popular Halloween festivities.
None of the additions will match the scale of the park's previous expansions. The new attractions include:
In addition, a previously-announced new Iron Man-themed motion-base ride will open next year.
The additions come as Hong Kong Disneyland is suffering a decline in attendance. "Figures for July showed a year-on-year decline in visitor numbers of 8.4 per cent, a decrease that was reflected in retail sales, which have seen falls for six consecutive months year on year," according to a local report.
Hong Kong's currency is tied to the U.S. dollar, whose recent strength has made traveling abroad a bargain for Americans, but travel into the country relatively more expensive for foreign visitors. Those exchange rates have made it less attractive for outsiders to visit Hong Kong Disneyland, as well, where more than two-thirds of visitors come from outside the Special Administrative Region. (And the strong dollar makes it easier for Hongkongers to visit elsewhere, accelerating the attendance slide at the park.)
As for the future, a developing economic crisis in China, coupled with the planned opening next year of another, much larger, Disneyland in Shanghai, are leaving analysts skeptical whether Hong Kong Disneyland can reverse its declining attendance anytime soon.
"This time, it is different. It is not a slump. We don't know when it will bounce back," one local politician told the South China Morning Post, in regard to Hong Kong's tourism outlook.
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It seems that, outside Japan - where Oriental Land Co. owns and operates the Tokyo Disney Resort, no Disney park outside the United States is doing particularly well right now.
I attended the park in about 2007, and it was farely sparse. Nothing wrong with the park, just not the quantity of attractions. This seems to have improved. So I wonder if the problem is not the park itself, but a reflection of Hong Kong which may be being dwarfed by the expansions in mainland China.
That impression, to be honest, is interesting as they have no first hand knowledge. But, rather accurate based on resort feedback. And WDCo has admitted that Hong Kong and Disney Studios Paris were built on the cheap. And that Disneyland Paris was allowed to run into serious disrepair.
So what's the solution?
Bob Iger has openly spoken about the solution... investment. Behind the scenes DIS has discussed another $1B is needed at both HK and the Paris studios. Further internal discussions have shown $1B is a minimum at both parks, as the attractions will need to be unique for HK to compete with Shanghai and Paris to compete with upcoming competitors.
Don't forget, Iger committed the WDCo to purchase the Paris resort as part of the on-going recapitalization. Will it happen? Who knows.
WDCo's internal projections continue to show attendance will continue to decline at the Paris resort as all efforts are focused on restoring both park's deteriorated looks.
For HK they seem to be in a holding pattern, rightly or wrongly, to see how Shanghai effects HK. Remember, HK and Shanghai were originally thought of as a replay of LA and Orlando. HK regional and Shanghai wide. HK needs more e-Ticket attractions and they are planned, but another issue continues to be the minority position WDCo holds in the joint venture.
While running around screaming 'Doom & Gloom' can be fun, it becomes a fools errand when you realize WDCo has short-, medium- and long-term plans for all their parks.
Honestly, WDCo hasn't hidden their intention towards HK or the Disneyland Resort Paris.
But in the short-term, it gives me more reason to go! Less crowds means a more relaxed stroll through the park, and multiple rides on Mystic Manor and Grizzly Mountain!
As I wrote some time ago after my visits, December 2014, the park was fairly deserted. Late February this year, it was "crowded", due to Chinese New Year. And when I say "crowded", I'm talking a 45 minute wait for Mystic Manor. That's actually not bad, but compared to a 5-minute wait last year, it felt like an eternity.
Here's hoping for another big expansion - they certainly have the room.
Universal is struggling in Singapore too - again a far too small park.
Specifically you have Wonders of the World and Happy Valley in Shenzhen which are owned by the Shenzhen OCT group which is #4 in terms of annual attendance ahead of Six Flags.
There is also the Chime Long theme parks in Panyu (like a Busch Gardens)and their Ocean Kingdom (think a supersized Seaworld) and the latter which most more accessible and convenient when the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge opens next year.
The 2011 Winnie the Pooh movie and the 2014 Muppets Most Wanted movie were both NOT distributed in HK cinemas, even though both were well received in the USA. So clearly not all Disney properties are marketable here. Disney has a lot of work to do to expand its reach.
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure HKD was built shortly after Eisner stepped down. Eisner made a lot of mistakes during his reign (like a LOT) but it's important to remember that he did as many good things for the parks as he did bad things. There was more parks opened under him then any other Disney CEO and he gave us the company's best attractions to date, including Splash Mountain and Tower of Terror. Even Walt made a couple of mistakes! Let us not forget how unprepared Disneyland was for opening day. (Thankfully he learned from that experience)
Now that my little rant is over, I have a couple of questions. How popular is Marvel in China? Despite being owned by Disney, it's still not considered full, pure Disney. Does Universal have any properties under it's belt that are popular in China? Any theme park-worthy IP that Disney doesn't get usually hoes to Universal. They're bound to have something the Chinese would be interested in. And, lastly, what countries outside of the US and Japan would be a good idea for a Disney theme park? A huge amount of WDW visitors are foreigners, so obviously other countries out there are interested in the Disney product.
I'm glad Disney are going all the way in with Shanghai - with Hong Kong, and initially with Paris they were very half baked. Hong Kong Disney is just too small. Same with Universal Singapore - far too small.
So a Hong Kong Disneyland makeover won't work because it is Disneyland? That doesn't make any sense and it ignores how great the full makeover content that includes new attractions and a full theming makeover of California Adventure's Main Street that also includes a recent makeover of Condor Flats to Grizzly Peak. To continue the makeover process, the Hollywood Backlot is next. HK Disneyland needs to re-think its theming and completely change out the tiny pink castle.
They also said credit should be given to Eisner for the massive expansion the parks experienced under his leadership. No one has denied the expansion has been good for DIS stock. They have agreed with Iger that...
Hong Kong Disneyland -- opened with almost no eTicket rides, became instant brand withdrawal and continues so to this day despite small expansions
--DCA v1.0 was a brand withdrawal until entrance entirely rebuilt, Little Mermaid added and Cars Land added. Some still feel park lacks eTicket rides
--Disneyland Park (Anaheim) fell into disrepair -- leadership team, Presser and Harris fired and backlog of repairs/maintenance implemented
--Disneyland Paris fell into disrepair and, again, financial hardship. Financial stability restored with WDCo as only lender and backlog of repairs/maintenance currently on-going. Lack of new eTicket rides has made the park a brand withdrawl
--Paris Studios -- opened with no eTicket rides, added Tower and Ratatouille, but still considered a brand withdrawl
--Animal Kingdom -- opened lacking eTicket rides, eTicket ride added, but park still lacks attractions to make this park an all day ticket
--Hollywood Studios -- opened lacking eTicket rides, eTicket rides added, but park still lacks attractions to make park an all day ticket
Iger and the WDCo board has agreed to a massive investment in Paris (have a contractual obligation to buy the resort), WDW is seeing a massive investment, Disneyland Resort Anaheim saw a massive investment and will see another massive investment, Hong Kong is in limbo pending Shanghai launch.
Looks like under Iger's leadership, he's done A LOT of clean-up!
BTW...
Shanghai negotiations were started under Eisner!
The Marvel purchase was first floated under Eisner's regime.
Eisner also struck the ORIGINAL Lucasfilm licensing deal.
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Look at DLP. Granted, it had a quicker turnaround, but it was left for dead at the beginning and now its the place to go!