Although this article of The Voice of Russia is talking about a Disneyland in Russia, in no way it means a "Disneyland" from "Disney" designed by "Walt Disney Imagineering", and if it does i will believe it when i will see it. That said, it seems that russian authorities have discovered that in the world we're living a country with no decent theme park can't pretend to be a real super power, economically speaking. I know, it's absurd, but it's all about image, just like fashion.
Anyway, apparently several theme parks projects have been proposed, including one designed by Gary Goddard, and in some years may be Russia will be the new theme park Eldorado like Asia is right now. In the meantime, here is the Voice of Russia article called "Russian Disneyland to be built near Kaliningrad":
"A Russian Disneyland may appear in the Kaliningrad Region, the westernmost region of Russia. The idea of laying out a modern amusement park in the Amber Land has been supported by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
This Disneyland will be the second in Europe if it opens near Kaliningrad. So far there is only one park like this in the Old World. It opened near Paris in1992. The French Disneyland is visited by over 18mln people annually. The very first park with this name was laid out in 1955 in American California. It became the embodiment of Walt Disney’s idea of a park giving life to the world of animated cartoons and fairy-tales. At present, Tokyo and Hong Kong also have Disneylands. The largest Disneyland outside the USA is being built in Shanghai on an area of 67 hectares. It is planned to open in 2016.
Building a Disneyland in the Kaliningrad Region will be a priority project, Inna Moreva, the press-secretary of the regional administration, told The Voice of Russia.
“To develop tourism in our region we are going to use our strong points like our historical past, mild climate and proximity to Europe. We are also prepared to consider prospects of building new facilities, such as an amusement park.”
A park, which will be interesting to both children and adults, will help the region to attract more tourists. Now it is too soon to say what it will be like, Inna Moreva continues.
“We think that tourism should grow fast in the Kaliningrad Region. What can we offer tourists? We need new modern interesting facilities, one of which may be an amusement park in the style of Disneyland, or Hansaland in Germany, or Legoland in Denmark, or Port Aventura in Spain. It would be wonderful to have something like this in Kaliningrad. Such a place would attract visitors not only from the Kaliningrad Region but also from neighbouring countries.”
The groundwork of the Yekaterinburg project will possibly be used when building an amusement park in the Kaliningrad Region. The first Russian Disneyland was planned to be built in Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains several years ago. It was to cover an area of 60 hectares with amusements, hotels and restaurants. The project was expected to pay its way in 8.5 years. It was planned to receive 15,000 visitors simultaneously but because of the crisis the construction of the park in Yekaterinburg never began in 2008."
Text: copyright Voice of Russia
oh...those russians...they should have a look on the revenues of Euro Disney SCA before fantasizing about a project in an area with probably the lowest purchasing power in EU...
ReplyDeleteNews about Russian Disneyland reappeared in russian press during last 5-10 years. But don't take it serious,because in Russia every theme park calls Disneyland)) And I honestly don't believe such news... Even if it's just any theme park.
ReplyDeletejust one question, when they said a 2008 project was to begin several years ago, that was not a real disneyland right? cause i have never heard of it. they are only using disneyland as a example in this article right?
ReplyDeleteRight, they use here Disneyland as an example.
ReplyDelete"an area with probably the lowest purchasing power in EU..." - except that Russia is not a member of the EU...
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a very stupid idea!
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I like Russia very much, been there several times and that there are many very nice places to visit in the country, but definitely Kaliningrad is not one of them. I think that the best place to build such a project in Russia would be near Moscow, that would make more sense.
That said, I think that almost no one is going to Kaliningrad to visit a Theme Park, people in Europe that wants to travel to a theme park neaer by just go to Paris, and the local population can not sustain such a big complex, that usually needs over 10 million visitors per year to be profitable.
Too many criminals for my taste in Russia... my advice is to stay away. "Kidnap and Extortion - the ride!"
ReplyDeleteRussia is not much worse than any other European country nowadays. By the way, have you seen what is happening in London?
ReplyDeleteRussia is a beautiful country, with beautiful girls, a rich history and literature, and very nice places to visit.
I've been there many times and nothing bad has ever happened to me, but I've already been robbed in Spain.
Where are you from?
Marco, I absolutely agree with you! I'm from Russia and I think that best place for such big project is Moscow or at least Saint-Petersburg. There're big population and lots of tourist (comparing to other russian cities). But I have big doubts about that. Too many reasons not to do it. First - climate. Much colder winter than in Europe. But also political and economical factors. And I also think that russian entertainment market not ready for this for now.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for such pleasant words about Russia))
to Mark: Please come visit Russia and you will be surprised. It's not soviet country anymore and it's not 90s! Don't trust everything you see on TV))
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the winter Eugenia, last time I went to DLP was on a very cold winter, in which even the rivers of America were frozen, and it was not a very pleasant experience, so I can image what it would be like in a cold Moscow winter day.
ReplyDeleteAnd I really like Russia, I was just being honest about it. I went several times to your country especially for business reasons, because I work for a company that exports a lot to Russia, and I even study the Russian language and can speak and understand a little, as it is such a difficult language to learn, with declinations, many verbs of movements, three genders...
"Hansaland in Germany"? I mean, the Park is called "Hansa Park"... but why comparing Disneyland to Hansa Park?? I mean, there are so many bigger Parks. Why not comparing the project to Europapark or Phantasialand? Seems like Inna Moreva has no clue about that.
ReplyDelete