Work has apparently begun on a new Disneyland in Shanghai. This report says that it will open in 2010 and will be almost 4 times bigger than the Hong Kong Disneyland. This has been in the pipeline for years, but it was previously reported that Disney wouldn’t open in Shanghai unless it had a guarantee that it could launch a Disney channel on Chinese TV.
It is interesting to note that Disney have promised that this park will be bigger than Hong Kong’s. The HK one is the smallest off all the Magic Kingdoms and one of the many complaints levelled at it since it opened is that there aren’t enough rides inside (a mere 16 apparently, compared to 52 at the original). HKDL did not release visitor numbers for its first year of operation but it is suspected that they are well short of the target. (Notwithstanding the mini-riots caused by crowds trying to storm the place over the Spring Festival)
On a related note, this blog’s former stomping ground, Wuhu city in Anhui province, has announced that it will build the biggest theme park in China. It’s due to open next year, and the developers are expecting 3 million visitors a year. Given that Wuhu’s rather run-down train and bus stations can hardly cope with the current capacity, some serious upgrading would be necessary to cope with an extra 9,000 visitors on average every day.
The much greater worry, though, is where Wuhu is going to find these 3 million extra visitors once it has splashed the cash (2 billion RMB) on this new development. It’s is certainly well located, near Nanjing, Hefei and other major centres. But even Wuhu natives would surely admit that the city doesn’t have many tourist draws, and would struggle to sell itself as a holiday destination. Most people have never even heard of it, and many of those that have, know it only as the hometown of popular pop moppet and actress Zhao Wei.
What’s more, as this report outlines, themeparks are cropping up all over the country as grasping investors eye easy ways to soak up some of the disposable income of the emerging middle class. Even the VP of the China Association of Amusement Parks is worried (and this is surely not a good sign): "If you go to any medium-sized and large-sized cities, you will find a theme park that is built up or under construction. I am kind of worried what do we do with so many amusement parks?"
Exactly. It’s the same old cycle of Innovation - Imitation - Saturation that has happened so many times before in the Chinese market. As soon as someone starts making profit from something, the market becomes flooded with barely distinguishable versions of the same basic product, and before long nobody is making money. Remember the short-lived Chinese pizza craze?
