Some weeks ago, strong rumors announced that Oriental Land Co might be in charge of Shanghai Disneyland management. Considering that OLC Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea are known to have an excellent management - and definitely the best maintenance of all Disney Theme Parks - the arrival of OLC in the SDL project was an excellent news. Sadly, Oriental Land denied yesterday being involved in Shanghai Disneyland management. More about this in today's China Daily article:
"Oriental Land Co Ltd, the operator of Tokyo Disney Resort, on Thursday denied local media reports that it is negotiating with Walt Disney Co to participate in the running of a planned Disneyland theme park in Shanghai. The total investment could top 100 billion yuan ($15.09 billion), according to the reports.
"We have approached neither Walt Disney Co nor the Shanghai municipal government about jointly running the Shanghai Disneyland theme park," Hiroshi Suzuki, director of public relations at the leisure and tourism company, told China Daily on Thursday, adding that "media reports are not true".
A report in the 21st Century Business Herald claimed Oriental Land has entered into talks with the US-based Walt Disney Co to participate in the operation of the Pudong, Shanghai-based theme park.
The report said Walt Disney Co is pleased with Oriental Land's daily operation and personnel training at its Disneyland theme park in Japan and wants it to bring its experience to Shanghai.
Akiyoshi Yokota, executive-director of Oriental Land, was quoted by Bloomberg in January 2010 as saying "there's a possibility we may work together with Disney in Shanghai".
Infrastructure work on the park is set to begin this year, said a Jan 4 statement by the Shanghai Pudong New Area Construction and Transportation Commission."
Text: copyright China Daily
Thursday, January 6, 2011
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2 comments:
I wouldn´t call that bad news - who cares what´s going on in China? I doubt many of us will ever see that park, so I can live with the news :-)
There's a long tradition of animosity between the Chinese and Japanese cultures, and it extends to business relationships. They don't like doing business with each other. So I could see Disney testing the waters with such an option, but the Chinese nationals would probably view Japanese participation in a very negative light. I wouldn't be surprised if this was in negotiation, and someone pointed out how it might lead to a French-Farmer-style protest of the park somewhere down the line. It's not worth the bad PR in Shanghai.
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