Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0" target="_blank">http://www.time.com/time/asia/ magazine/article/0</a>,13673,501060515-1191881,00.html >>Disneyland is supposed to be "The Happiest Place on Earth," but Liang Ning isn't too happy. The engineer brought his family to Disney's new theme park in Hong Kong from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou one Saturday in April with high hopes, but by day's end, he was less than spellbound. "I wanted to forget the world and feel like I was in a fairytale," he says. Instead, he complains, "it's just not big enough" and "not very different from the amusement parks we have" in China. His seven-year-old daughter Yaqin disagrees, calling the park "fantastic," but her father grumbles: "If she wants to come again, "I'll send her with somebody else." Hong Kong's Magic Kingdom has so far been a little short on magic. The $1.8 billion theme park, which opened last September, was touted by Disney executives as its biggest, boldest effort to build its brand in China, a potentially vast new market for its toys, dvds and movies. The Hong Kong government—which aggressively wooed Disney and is the park's majority owner"hoped Disneyland would help secure the city's reputation as one of Asia's top tourist destinations. However, the conservative approach of Disney and its partner has produced a pint-sized park that so far hasn't matched visitors' lofty expectations. Hong Kong Disneyland has a mere 16 attractions—only one a classic Disney thrill ride, Space Mountain—compared to 52 at Disneyland Resort Paris. Meanwhile, management glitches involving everything from ticketing to employee relations have further tarnished the venture's image. In a recent survey conducted by Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 70% of the local residents polled said they had a more negative opinion of Disneyland since its opening. "Disney knows the theme-park business, but when it comes to understanding the Chinese guest, it's an entirely new ball game," says John Ap, an associate professor at the university's School of Hotel and Tourism Management. << Much more at the link
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< "Disney knows the theme-park business, but when it comes to understanding the Chinese guest, it's an entirely new ball game," says John Ap, an associate professor at the university's School of Hotel and Tourism Management. >>> I'd have to disagree with Mr Ap's conclusion here. From what I'm aware of, very little that's wrong with HKDL has anything to do with not understanding the Chinese market. I don't think it's uniquely Chinese to be able to realize that a theme park with only 16 attractions (does this count City Hall?) isn't a full-day experience. To the contrary, it seems that offerings such as the in-park food options very much took the Chinese market into consideration.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I also question the chinese market itself... I mean, DL has been opened for 51 yrs now and TDL has been there close to them as well... I have a hard time believeing any of these guests would not have prior ideas of what to expect once they got there. Even with a comunist regime...seems to me these are guests who never gave a hoot about Disneyland until now.
