 Life is not all about magic in Disneyland in Hong Kong
Added: 02/24/2006 |
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It seems as if the new Hong Kong Disneyland owned jointly by the Hong Kong Government and the Walt Disney Company, is a huge success and has been pulling in gigantic crowds. However, the park now seems to be a little small to accommodate the never ending flux of visitors. Plus, there are other problems that the Park has encountered in its short history?
Disneyland in Hong Kong officially opened on September 12, 2005. The next day after the Park opened, Chairman George Mitchell brought up the subject of building a second park next door. Land reclamation has already begun. It?s long been known that if the first park is successful then a second park would be built next door. However attendance will have to rise to about the 10 million visitors a year level before it gets approved, since the first Disneyland in Hong Kong already seems to be a little too small to accommodate everyone desiring to enjoy some magic. The Park had to close its gates for the Chinese New Year as scores of visitors, many of whom are mainland Chinese visiting the resort during the Lunar New Year holiday week, arrived at the closed gates. Several people, many from mainland China who came all the way to Hong Kong for the holiday week just to see the park, began to climb the fence and walls to get into the park, some even throwing their children over the gates. Some of the problem came from a ?flexible? advanced ticket sale that allows entry anytime during a six month period of time. Unfortunately, those don't guarantee admission if the park is too crowded. Total in-park attendance was capped at around 30,000. Legislators view Disney's decision to refuse holders of presold tickets entry as a breach of contract. They also said the chaotic scenes at the theme park will harm Hong Kong's reputation as a tourist paradise. Disney corporate communication director Alannah Goss said the company fully understood the disappointment of ticket holders, but it was necessary to limit entry at certain times in order to ensure safety of the guests inside the Park. The government, which is a 57 percent shareholder in the Lantau theme park, urged Disney to improve its ticketing arrangements.
Disneyland in Hong Kong is also being sued by a Singaporean woman who claims her dying mother was made to wait almost three hours for an ambulance at the park. Nge Yoi Chan , 82, fell ill in the Park?s first month of opening last September. She was pronounced dead of congested arteries upon arrival at hospital. Her daughter Joanna Boey claims that Disney did not offer first aid when she fell ill and made her wait half an hour for a bus to the
Hong Kong Disneyland hotel. Boey also claims that hotel staff refused to make an emergency call and at the front entrance an ambulance told to go to the back to protect Disney's image. A Disney spokeswoman, however, told the newspaper an internal investigation found staff had 'handled the case in the most appropriate manner, taken care of the situation and given immediate attention'. The incident is the latest in a string of public relations blunders at the US entertainment giant's first park on Chinese soil. In the meantime, the management of Disneyland in Hong Kong is planning to expand the Park. New attractions will be introduced to the already existing ones ? Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. Autopia is confirmed in 2006 and Pirates of the Caribbean will be built somewhere around 2009/2010.
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