New theme parks in Asia

New theme parks in Asia

include...

- Joy Valley Theme Park in Shanghai will be the biggest amusement park in China. The 87-hectare Joy Valley Theme Park, expected to open in 2010, includes a hotel, a conference center, and theatre, and is expected to receive five to seven million visitors every year.

- Shanghai’s Chongming Island will build the country’s first theme park for bicycles that will include bike paths, competitions, and entertainment. Three cycling stadiums are planned, including one for motocross. The park will also include a training school, a gallery, and a bicycle museum.

- Overseas Chinese Town, a new park in Sheshan, will add the country’s first wooden coaster, “Fireball,” in 2009. The coaster will stand 108.25 feet tall with a first drop of 103 feet. It will feature 3,819 feet of twisted track and reach a top speed of 56 mph.

- Kids City in Hangzhou allows children ages 5 to 10 to experience adult professions. The indoor entertainment and education park offers more than 50 professions, including pilot, doctor, police officer, and lawyer.

- Outside of Shanghai in the neighboring city of Zhouzhuang, a $40 million park will open to celebrate the theme “5,000 Years of Chinese Culture.”


Well, with the plans of Disneyland on the way there will be no shortage of things for tourists to do when they come to Shanghai. The fast rate of development of China and the whole northern Asia region is kinda scary thing!

Shanghai Disneyland

OK so according to this article building of Disneyland won't commence till AFTER the Expo in 2010.

SHANGHAI, China (AP) — Shanghai is awaiting approval of mainland China's first Disneyland, and the theme park could be built on an island in the Yangtze River, according to reports in the mainland and Hong Kong media....
The park would be built after 2010, when the city is due to host the World Expo, it said.
Chongming, first settled for farming during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, is slated for development as a non-industrial region. A Disney park would provide employment on the jobs scarce island, which has long relied on work schemes that put residents to work driving taxis in the city.
The island, which sits right at the mouth of the Yangtze, will soon be connected to the city via tunnels and a bridge.....

Shanghai Disneyland a reality

OK OK this is 2 weeks old news but I'm sure not everyone knows... yet. :) For the city that has (almost) everything, the world's biggest theme park will soon be landing on our shores too.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2007-11/14/content_6253146.htm

Disneyland plan dusted off in Shanghai

By Zhang Kun (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-14 07:13

SHANGHAI: The authorities have confirmed that the previously suspended plan to build a Disneyland theme park in this city has been revived and preparations are going ahead full steam.

Qian Weizhong, director of the economy committee of Nanhui district, said residents had moved off the land targeted for Shanghai Disneyland, in suburban Chuansha town. The planned theme park will occupy 6 sq km, which is about 4.7 times the size of Hong Kong's Disneyland, according to the original plan.

"Local authorities have received positive feedback from the central government about the Disneyland project," Qian was quoted as saying by the Oriental Outlook.

Representatives of Disney yesterday declined to comment on the development, saying only: "Our focus is on the successful operation of our first theme park in China - Hong Kong Disneyland."

However, Walt Disney Company (Shanghai) Ltd said in a statement faxed to China Daily: "China is a priority for the entire company, and we have a continuing dialogue about a variety of Disney initiatives, including television, motion pictures and consumer products, of which theme parks are only a part."

Qian said arrangements had been made to ease travel to the planned site.

"The Shanghai A20 highway has opened an exit for Chuansha, near the planned east gate of the Disneyland," Qian said.

Foxtown, an outlet mall located near the site of the planned theme park, is one beneficiary of the development.

Lu Qiang, its CEO, said he was glad to hear the Disneyland project had been revived, as Foxtown had won the right to set up shop after several rounds of bidding.

"If the Disney project was aborted, Foxtown would face great difficulties recruiting tenants," Lu said.

He said he had been briefed about the recent developments by Nanhui authorities last week.

The planned Pudong railway will stop at the theme park. Metro line No 11 will also stop there.

When finished, the transportation connecting the park will be the biggest in the country's eastern region, bringing visitors from more than 50 cities in the Yangtze River Delta.

The plan to build a Disneyland park in Shanghai was first floated in 2005, but was soon suspended. Disney signed a statement of intent to build a Disneyland on the mainland in 2002.

Several suburban district authorities competed over the location of the theme park. The municipality compromised by putting the park in both Chuansha and Nanhui.

The Lujiazui Group and Walt Disney Company then set up a joint-stock company, but the plan was suspended. Hong Kong media reported there were widespread fears that having a third Disneyland in Asia, especially if it were in Shanghai, would harm Hong Kong's park.

An unidentified official from the Shanghai economy committee said the Shanghai plan had been suspended in part because of concerns the Hong Kong park would suffer.

My thoughts? If they want it to be a success they really need to un-China-fy it. Thinking back to our visit to the Dino Beach waterpark and our experience at Universal Studios Japan (Osaka) there needs to be:

1) efficient queueing and barriers to prevent queue jumpers
2) none of this pay an entry fee then pay for all the rides (or in our case inflatable tubes) inside crap
3) have more food outlets with different varieties of food (cuisines)
4) have decent gift/souvenir shops selling COOL or cute stuff, not tacky stuff, pleasantly displayed. Not put out randomly or in an ugly untidy fashion
5) an entry fee that is not extortionate
6) friendly, helpful staff that SMILE
7) lockers (not too expensive) and toilets spread out throughout the grounds
8) crowd control in general
9) signs in English and staff that speak English, mutli-lingual and/or pictorial signs would be most beneficial

They say that it's expected to be completed in 2010, the same year as the World Expo. If this is true then 2010 will be a very big year for Shanghai indeed!