I went back from vacation last friday, and as usual i had a choice of magazines when i entered in the plane. So, i choose the last issue of TIME magazine and also another one called ASIA News. And the big surprise was on the front cover not only with Mickey and Schrek, but also the title: "The Battle of Theme Parks"!
Incredible, i thought. I'm going back home and theme parks news are "falling from the sky" before i even asked for them! In this long and interesting special report ASIA News reporters details the theme park battle which is about to begin in Asia. Well, as a matter of fact it already began with the new Universal Studios Singapore but in the next years South Korea should have three new theme parks from Paramount, Universal and MGM, China is awaiting Shanghaî Disneyland, India will have a Bollywood theme park, etc....
So, below, you'll find the full ASIA News report, starting with the first article called "Mickey vs Schrek". Just click on each page to get them on bigger scale, the reading will be more comfortable.
The next article in this interesting special report is about Hong Kong Disneyland. HKDL financial results are not fantastic yet but it's a bit logical as the first of HKDL new attractions will open only in 2011 with Toy Story Land.
Next article is avout Universal Singapore and a interesting list of all the upcoming theme parks in Asia and South East Asia. Strangely, they forgot Shanghaî Disneyland but perhaps it is because the final opening date is not officially announced yet.
One thing is sure: in the next five years theme parks development in Asia is going to be huge. And it'll be very interesting to see who will win the battle which is about to begin!
All pages: copyright Asia News
I just can't believe the big boost the theme park industry is receiving in some countries where the 5 or 10% of the population has the 90% of the richness... I think Asia, out the bounds of Japan and little else, is a very risky decission.
ReplyDeleteU.S. Singapore will be a good place to see if those bets can work. Hong Kong Disneyland has demonstrated to be (by lots of and varied reasons) a complete failure.
By the way... could it be possible that (at least a part of) the projects that are now practically abandoned from the Dubai planning land here in Europe? PLEASEEEEEE..?
We just have a medium/poor Disney resort; no Universal at all, no Busch, no Sea World... Even Korea is getting a MGM Studios Park that looks awesome :-( And here we have to deal with just some minor parks.
"We [Europe] just have a medium/poor Disney resort" - somehow you seem to have failed to notice that Europe has the most beautiful theme park ever created - yes, I´m talking about Disneyland Paris. Sure, it has suffered from neclect - but it still is an amazing park, and with a bit of investment, it could rival TDS any time. (I´m talking about DLP here - I won´t even mention that abomination next to it...)
ReplyDeleteYep. It's a beautiful theme park but hasn't received an E-ticket ride since 1995. We're talking about fifteen years ago, and there's still no E-ticket ride on the horizon.
ReplyDeleteAnd we have the ugliest Disney theme park ever: if DCA needed a major revamp, WDS needs probably a couple of bulldozers to demolish it all...
@Juan: oh yes, WDS... that´s what I refered to when I wrote "abomination next to it" - horrible, no doubt
ReplyDeleteI think that Disney is not being smart to invest a lot of money in a new theme park in China when they already have a theme park there which is a big failure, loosing money and needing desperately a major expansion (if you think that Disneyland Paris is bad, is because you haven't been to Hong Kong).
ReplyDeleteDisney invested a lot in Europe initially, made the most beutiful Magic Kingdom there and the Theme Park business did not develop in the continent as planed because, at least in the beginning, Disneyland Paris was a big failure and lost a lot of money, that's why they had to build a cheap second park (it's European's fault).
Regarding the MGM park, the only MGM park I knew was the former Disney-MGM Studios Park, is there another one? Is Disney involved in the project? As far as I know, the MGM studio is bankrupt.
Anyway I think that it is a mistake for all these theme parks to start making tons of franchise like McDonalds, the quality and exclusivity gets compromised and I think that it is a big risk for all of them.
The Magazine placed Jack Sparrow at Universal!