Tag Archives: Disneyland

LEISURE: Wanda Hires from Disney, Google in Global Talent Hunt

Bottom line: China’s Wanda Group will continue a recent trend of hunting for top global talent to build its growing entertainment empire, as it seeks to challenge the likes of Disney.

The aggressively expanding Wanda Group is filling up its ranks with foreign-trained China veterans as it tries to challenge the likes of global names like Disney (NYSE: DIS) with moves into the movie and theme park spaces. Now the company is going on a major shopping spree for top talent from some of those companies, led by new reports that it has just poached a top Disney theme park executive to head its own theme park division. At the same time, other reports are pointing out that Wanda also recently hired Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) former top China executive to help lead its Internet division. Read Full Post…

Shanghai Street View: Disney Doodads

Long lines, no attractions for irate Disney visitors
Long lines, no rides for irate Disney visitors

Two stories from our 2-month-old Shanghai Disneyland are taking center stage in this week’s Street View, one involving some irate visitors who had to wait in long lines for attractions that were closed, and the other a campaign to rid our subways of Disney balloons. But the real story here is the fact that our new Disney Resort has been relatively scandal-free in the 2 months since its grand opening in June, which seems like a major accomplishment due to the huge attention it’s attracting.

As a longtime reporter who formerly covered Disney, I can say with authority that the US entertainment giant is a magnet for publicity, both negative and positive. Any sort of accident or other negative thing that would normally be considered quite minor suddenly becomes major news when it happens inside a Disney resort, which undoubtedly causes numerous headaches for the company’s public relations team. Read Full Post…

LEISURE: Crowds, Prices to Challenge Shanghai Disney after Festive Opening

Bottom line: The new Shanghai Disneyland may ultimately need to lower prices and control admittance to avoid negative publicity that could hurt its image, forcing analysts to lower some earlier bullish forecasts for the resort.

Shanghai Disney opens with fanfare
Shanghai Disney opens with fanfare

I do feel like I’ve written just a tad too much about the new Disney (NYSE: DIS) Resort here in Shanghai, which has just held its carefully scripted grand opening with surprisingly few glitches or negative publicity. But then again, the $5.5 billion investment is likely to be the largest for China this year, and Disney has averaged less than one new park per decade since opening its first Disneyland in Los Angeles in 1955. And based on previous experience, the new Shanghai Disney resort may also land at the center of at least a few minor scandals before it finally finds a more stable long-term footing, which could include a tempering of initial bullish profit forecasts. Read Full Post…

Shanghai Street View: Experiencing History

Big queues haunt Shanghai Disney
Big queues haunt Shanghai Disney

Shanghai’s past and future are center stage in this week’s Street View, the former represented by an exhibit on one of our city’s most famous historic families and the latter by this week’s opening of our new Disneyland theme park in Pudong.

I attended “The Soong Sisters: Special Memories” exhibition shortly after it opened last month, hoping to learn more about 3 of Shanghai’s most famous figures in the early 20th century. Separately, I visited the new Shanghai Disneyland (NYSE: DIS) a few days before its official opening this past Thursday, in a different quest to understand what is likely to become one of China’s top tourist attractions of the 21st century. Read Full Post…

LEISURE: China Hot on Disneyland Buzz, Cool on High Prices

Bottom line: Shanghai Disneyland will suffer from teething problems in its first year, most notably negative publicity due to high prices in the park, but will gradually overcome that resistance to become one of Disney’s most profitable resorts.

Shanghai Disney set for strong opening
Shanghai Disney set for strong opening

Everyone is buzzing about the looming opening of Disney’s first mainland China resort, so I thought I’d weigh in with my own forecast for the $5.5 billion Shanghai Disneyland set to formally open this Thursday. In addition to all the facts and figures flying about, my assessment includes a personal visit to the newest Disneyland over the past weekend for a preview visit ahead of the grand opening. I thought the crowds would be restricted during the preview period to give a good impression to visiting reporters and VIPs, but was slightly surprised to find the place quite packed. But more on that shortly. Read Full Post…

Shanghai Street View: Culinary Culture

Shanghai sets the table for Michelin Guides

A couple of culinary headlines this week are spotlighting the important role that food plays in defining a city’s character, not only in terms of local tastes but also its openness to out-of-town flavors. Shanghai’s culinary evolution over the last 2 decades has been nothing short of spectacular in that regard, as the city transformed from a regional backwater dominated by local fare like xiaolongbao to one where top-notch flavors from throughout China and abroad are widely available. Read Full Post…

ENTERTAINMENT: Shanghai Disney Greets 1 Mln, Fends Off Critics

Bottom line: Huge publicity around the new Shanghai Disneyland ensures it will rapidly become a major new profit center after it opens in June, but will also expose Disney to a wide range of mini scandals like one involving its high food prices.

Thousands flock to Shanghai Disney before opening

The hype is rapidly building as Disney (NYSE: DIS) gets set to launch its first theme park in more than a decade, attracting droves of visitors and also the first of what are likely to be many mini-scandals involving the $5.5 billion Shanghai resort. Leading the headlines is word that nearly 1 million people have already flocked to the areas outside the official park just to catch a glimpse of China’s first Disneyland from the outside.

The park has also been admitting smaller numbers of guests on a trial basis to sample the rides and other attractions in the run-up to the official June 16 opening. Some of those got indigestion from the high prices for food at restaurants in the park, leading to a mini-firestorm of criticism that Disney has quickly tried to control. Read Full Post…

Leisure: Scalpers, Stars Flock to Shanghai Disney Ticket Launch

Bottom line: Disney will face huge challenges in running a smooth opening for its new Shanghai park in June, as it faces potential negative publicity from aggressive ticket scalpers and other glitches associated with such a big event.

Tickets sell out for Shanghai Disney opening day

The official countdown has begun to the June opening of Shanghai Disneyland, in a story that contains both scripted and unscripted moments reflecting what a commotion this event is likely to become. In the scripted category, luminaries including basketball legend Yao Ming and piano superstar Lang Lang attended an event this week kicking off the 80 day countdown to the big opening. In the unscripted column, opening day tickets to the park sold out quickly after going on sale, and were showing up later in the day from scalpers who were asking for twice the price or more.

I was living in Hong Kong just before Disney opened its last theme park there back in 2005. I don’t recall nearly this level of hype before that opening, and certainly not the big issue with scalpers that are an endemic part of the Chinese landscape. But I do recall the numerous glitches that occurred in the months after the Hong Kong park opened, and how media feasted on the negative developments that are almost inevitable when launching a project of such magnitude. Read Full Post…

ENTERTAINMENT: Shanghai Disneyland Prices Tickets, Battles Scalpers

Bottom line: Shanghai Disneyland’s ticket pricing and proactive efforts to stop scalpers are being well received by media and local Chinese, boding well for a broadly positive launch when the park opens in June.

Shanghai Disneyland prices tickets

It’s still 4 months until Shanghai Disneyland (NYSE: DIS) formally opens its doors to the public, but already the park operator is fixating on its entrance tickets that are almost certain to become a hot commodity when they start hitting the market next month. The announcement of pricing for Shanghai Disneyland tickets, which was quickly followed by measures the company is taking to avoid scalpers, are part of a barrage of hype that will only accelerate as the park charges towards its opening date in mid June.

I’m usually a bit cynical about this kind of thing, since companies like Disney are masters at creating news just to keep their names in the headlines ahead of a big event, even if there’s no real news to report. But in this case the opening of the Shanghai Disneyland really does seem worthy of the buzz, since the new park marks a major milestone for both China and Disney itself.  Read Full Post…

News Digest: February 5, 2016

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Shanghai Disneyland (NYSE: DIS) Announces 30 Travel Partners, Heads Off Scalpers (Chinese article)
  • Merchants Bank (HKEx: 3968) Terminates Payment Support for P2P Lending Sites (English article)
  • Evergrande Taobao Soccer Club Fined 1 Mln Yuan, Sues League (Chinese article)
  • ChemChina, Syngenta (Zurich: SYNN) to Move Quickly on US National Security Review (English article)
  • eLong (Nasdaq: LONG) Enters into Definitive Merger Agreement for Going Private  (PRNewswire)

News Digest: February 4, 2016

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 4. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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  • Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Announces Fiscal Q3 Results (HKEx announcement)
  • RMB Our Guest: Shanghai Disneyland (NYSE: DIS) Unveils Ticket Prices (English article)
  • Hackers Steal Account Details of 20.6 Mln Users of Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) Taobao (English article)
  • KFC China Boosts Yum Brands’ (NYSE: YUM) Established Restaurants Sales (English article)
  • Ming Yang (NYSE: MY) Enters Into Definitive Merger Agreement For Going Private (PRNewswire)