Translating Anaheim for Asia

Walt Disney Co.’s new theme park here is said to be lucky, nestled as it is between one hill shaped like a white tiger and another that resembles a dragon.

But when its fabled Imagineers set out to create Hong Kong Disneyland, there were a few things even they could not foresee -- things like beetles chomping on the hotel furniture, environmentalists putting the bite on plans for shark fin soup and wild dogs coming down from the hills to menace the newest House of Mouse.

“Are there things we didn’t anticipate? Yes,” said Jay Rasulo, Disney’s president of parks and resorts. “Are they keeping me up at night? No.”

Whether Rasulo continues to sleep soundly hinges largely on the success of Hong Kong Disneyland, set to open Monday.

Under construction since January 2003, and in the planning stages for three years before that, the 310-acre park represents Disney’s boldest move yet into China’s vast and rapidly emerging market of 1.3 billion people.

Modeled after the original Disneyland in Anaheim, but with a feng shui twist here and a few culturally sensitive innovations there, Hong Kong is Disney’s latest entry in the growing Asian amusement industry -- and much is riding on it. If successful, analysts say, it will boost other Disney ventures in China, including product licensing, mass media and a second park on the mainland, probably in Shanghai.

“If Hong Kong works, there’s a good chance that Shanghai will get built,” said media analyst Dennis McAlpine of McAlpine Associates. “If Hong Kong bombs, it won’t.”

In recent weeks, Disney has staged a series of previews for visitors, including thousands who turned out last week on a steamy Friday to tour a park that looks and feels very much like the original 50-year-old Disneyland.

Walk through the turnstiles and under the railroad overpass and you’ll face Main Street U.S.A., complete with Disney City Hall, the Emporium, even the crystal shop. The park has the same themed sections as Disneyland, with Tomorrowland, Adventureland and Fantasyland surrounding Sleeping Beauty Castle.

“The colors of the walls, the music, even the maintenance buildings behind the attractions -- man, it’s like being home,” said Tony Silvas, a 42-year-old ride mechanic from Fullerton, one of a handful of Disneyland employees sent to Hong Kong to help launch the new park. Most of the 5,000 workers are local hires.

Disney executives say they want to give Asian visitors an authentic “immersive” Disney experience, with its storytelling and Western trappings, yet still make them feel at home. As a result, Mickey’s people have made many nods to Asian tastes, including the Magic Kingdom’s first Chinese restaurant, on Main Street no less, where the Plaza Inn serves classic Cantonese dishes in a turn-of-the-century Victorian building.

Don Robinson, who started as a dishwasher in 1972 at Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Fla., and now runs Hong Kong Disneyland, said two years went into testing sauce combinations and developing menu items. One is char siew pork burger, which costs about $5 and vies with double cheeseburgers and fish burgers at Tomorrowland’s Starliner Diner.

At least one attempt at culturally sensitive cuisine went awry with Disney’s plan to serve shark fin soup at banquets in the park. That upset environmentalists, who say consumption of the local favorite threatens global shark populations.

Disney pulled the offending concoction from the menus of 52 weddings it had booked, apologizing to its suddenly soupless guests and offering six substitute flavors. Robinson said Disney also printed cards taking responsibility for the switch so that the wedding hosts would not lose face.

Environmental activists also clashed with Disney over the park’s nightly fireworks displays, complaining about noise and air pollution. They demanded the same expensive, more environmentally friendly air launch system Disney uses in Anaheim. Disney refused, saying it had complied with local regulations and noting that the Hong Kong displays are much smaller than Anaheim’s.

Animal rights activists, meanwhile, took the company to task for the handling of packs of wild dogs that descended from the surrounding hills. Hundreds of stray mutts, which are common on Lantau Island, where the park is located, were attracted to the construction site. Many were rounded up by Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, which tried to find homes for the healthy ones but destroyed at least 45 sick animals, said Sally Andersen of Hong Kong Dog Rescue.

Disney executives acknowledged that the dogs chased some of their employees, including Robinson, but say the situation is now under control and no park visitors are at risk. They also say they are working with the government and others on a permanent solution.

Most recently, student groups accused Disney of exploiting workers at four mainland Chinese factories it contracts with for stuffed animals and other goods. Disney said it would hire outside auditors to investigate.

This isn’t the first time the Burbank-based entertainment giant has found itself at the center of controversy while launching a new park.

When then-Disney Chairman Michael Eisner -- with Mickey, Donald and Pluto in tow -- showed up in Paris in 1989 to announce the sale of Euro Disney stock on the French exchange, they were pelted with eggs and ketchup by communists protesting government spending on the park.

“Disney is somewhat of a lightning rod because of the international exposure they have,” said Bill Coan, a Florida-based theme park consultant and former Disney executive who worked on Euro Disney and recalls the large “Mickey Go Home” banner hanging in the small town where he lived near Paris. “When you’re that big you’re going to be a target.”

After offending the French at Euro Disney by initially refusing to sell wine, Disney has taken extra care to avoid cultural missteps in Hong Kong. It hired a feng shui master, whose recommendations prompted designers to rotate the park’s front gate, place three five-ton boulders on the grounds and make dozens of other adjustments to tap the proper forces of the natural elements.

Even the familiar Jungle River Cruise ride illustrates the cultural complexity of doing business in China. Like almost everything at Hong Kong Disneyland, the skippers’ snappy patter comes in a choice of three languages: English, Mandarin and Cantonese, with separate lines for each. And just to be on the safe side, Disney hired language consultants to make sure the ride’s trademark-corny wit wasn’t lost in translation.

“With a live spiel, language becomes very important,” said Tom Fitzgerald, senior creative executive with Walt Disney Imagineering. “The Jungle Cruise skippers are half the show.”

On Friday, Wing Kong Poon, a 30-year-old Hong Kong native, queued up for English, wanting a taste of American humor.

“Look out! Look out! Look out!” shouted the bespectacled young narrator, hoping for a big reaction, as he steered the boat past a not-so-scary mechanical crocodile that slid out from under a tree. Wing and the few other passengers smiled politely.

“I think the Cantonese one was better,” Wing said.

One attraction that pays tribute to camera-happy Hong Kong is Fantasy Gardens, a tranquil spot with gazebos where visitors can rendezvous for photo ops with their favorite Disney characters.

On Friday, as the sun dipped below the mountains behind Fantasyland, crowds filled the gardens, waiting for Mickey Mouse and the others.

Hong Kong Disneyland has 21 attractions, fewer than half the number at Disneyland in Anaheim. That could make Hong Kong a tough sell because of the high expectations of local residents, particularly teenagers.

Tom Morris, the park’s head of creative development, said his team struggled with how to push the edge of Tomorrowland in a city that already looks futuristic, with its high-rises, elevated walkways and touch-screen buildings. The result is a Tomorrowland that looks like no other. It has no square shapes and features the Orbitron flying saucer ride and Space Mountain, the park’s top thrill attraction.

“It’s really cool,” said 10-year-old Charlie Kwok. “You can’t see the rollercoaster tracks, you don’t know where you’re going. It seems like you’re in space.”

Some older kids were less enthusiastic.

“It’s OK, but it wasn’t as good as I expected,” said Pak Hei, 14, who liked Space Mountain but wasn’t sure he’d be back anytime soon. “I expected more.”

Still, media analysts and theme park consultants say the new park has much going for it, including a deal giving Disney a 43% equity stake for its relatively small $314-million investment. Its partner, the Hong Kong government, is putting $2.9 billion into the park and surrounding infrastructure.

Attendance for the first year is projected at 5.6 million, with one-third each expected from Hong Kong, mainland China and foreign countries. Admission on weekends, holidays and during the summer is $45 for adults and $32 for children ages 3 to 11. The park’s only sold-out date so far is opening day.

Analysts are generally optimistic about Disney’s Hong Kong prospects, but say it’s difficult to predict how much money the park will make over time.

“Obviously, it depends on whether it turns out to be another Tokyo or another Paris,” McAlpine said, referring to two earlier Disney theme park projects, the first of which has fared much better than the second.

Analysts say Disney also will benefit from Chinese families’ increasing levels of disposable income for such things as entertainment, clothing and other goods.

Lowell Singer, media analyst with S.G. Cowen & Co. said the park stood to gain from being in the geographic heart of Asia.

“To some extent, it’s sort of ‘location, location, location,’ ” Singer said. “I think there is an enormous demand from the locals, and from visitors from mainland China, to come to the park. They are not as reliant on foreigners to come to the park.”

Singer said Disney also was limiting its risk by not trying to do too much, too fast. Euro Disney opened in 1992 with more than 5,000 hotel rooms. Hong Kong Disneyland has 1,000, with room to expand.

“They are trying to find the optimal place where they don’t over-invest upfront and can keep enough powder dry so they can come back and refresh the park with new attractions in ensuing years, so people will want to come back again,” he said.

Rasulo, Disney’s theme parks chief, said his newest one would grow over the next five years, beginning with an updated version of the classic Autopia car ride in July 2006.

“The only thing I can be 100% sure about is that some of it will be right and we will evolve it over time,” he said.

He’s apparently already got some of the bugs worked out -- at least from the furniture.

A local newspaper reported in July that beetles had invaded more than 100 Disney hotel rooms, munching their way through television cabinets and coffee tables. Disney executives said the infestation was limited to only a few pieces of furniture, which have been tossed.

Lee reported from Hong Kong and Christensen from Los Angeles.

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New mouse in the house

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Hong Kong Disneyland

Opening: Monday

Resort size: 310 acres

Employees: 5,000

Projected first year attendance: 5.6 million

Hotels: Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Hollywood Hotel

Facilities: 9 shops, 8 restaurants, 23 rides and attractions

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Anaheim Disneyland

Opened: 1955 (Disneyland); 2001 (California Adventure, Downtown Disney)

Resort size: Approx. 500 acres

Employees: 20,000

2004 attendance: Disneyland--13.4 million; California Adventure--5.6 million

Hotels: Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel

Facilities:

Disneyland: 51 shops, 23 restaurants, 59 rides and attractions

California Adventure: 16 shops, 22 restaurants, 33 rides and attractions

Downtown Disney District: 20 shops, 10 restaurants, 4 attractions

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Source: Walt Disney Co.