Hong Kong Disneyland Educating Future Guests
While Hong Kong Disneyland is celebrating their first year Disney is aware of the fact that people from other parts of the world (In this case China and Hong Kong) have other ideas, needs or motivations to visit a theme park.
Hong Kong Disneyland was a little short on their 5.600.000 guests needed to make the first year a success. The park is to small and not enough ride with long waiting times being the main issue for many of the guest. While new rides, opened already, and a planned 2nd gate might solve this issue in the short term, they will need to get the guests to return on many future visits.
To start getting the guests back for a return visit they are working on a Annual Pass for the near future, but that is not all! For the first time in Disney history they will add a pre-show to make the public familiar with the Disney concept.
Disney will launch a 10-15 minute “pre-show” induction course at its Hong Kong theme park in the coming months to teach its guests about its characters, stories and park attractions. This crash course — a first for any Disneyland — is aimed at minimizing any cultural confusion. (Washington Post)
While the nearby Ocean Park was first worried about the coming of Disneyland they only benefited and pulled in an amazing record of 4.000.000 guests.
Whilst Disney struggles to adapt, its attempts to tap the lucrative mainland market are being shadowed by a homegrown competitor called Ocean Park. This 30-year-old theme park, modeled on Sea World in the United States with dolphin shows, panda enclosures and roller coasters has had a bumper year, drawing over 4 million visitors. It is not considered a direct competitor with Disney. (Washington Post)