In Beijing, park upon park but with different themes
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BEIJING -- A highway sign on the route to the Laoshan Cycling Complex made it seem that the Chinese, who worked on ways to control the weather before the Beijing Games, may have taken things too far. The sign pointed to ‘Disaster Prevention Theme Park.’
But it’s not what it seems.
Turns out it is a grass-and-trees area called Shuguang Park, which is about 15 miles north of the city center, and it is no thrill-ride theme park. Scattered around it are billboards designed to educate people how to avoid injuries inside an Olympic venue in case there is an emergency -- hence the highway sign.
For those who are looking for thrill rides, however, they don’t have to look far. Abutting the Laoshan complex -- home to the BMX venue, a new velodrome and the mountain bike course -- is the Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park.
The 22-year-old government-owned park features several giant roller coasters as well as a replica of Sleeping Beauty’s castle and Epcot’s Spaceship Earth.
The park also used to have several costumed Disney characters roaming about as well and just in case anyone missed the connection, the park’s slogan is ‘It is too far to go to Disney. Please come to Shijingshan Amusement Park.’ (A bit wordy, perhaps. But at least its owners never named a hockey team after a kid’s movie.)
When asked if the characters were related to Disney, the park’s general manager, Liu Jingwang, said no, they were based on those from Grimm’s fairy tales. And in response to another question, Liu insisted the Mickey Mouse-like character wasn’t a mouse at all, but rather a ‘big-eared cat.’
None of that amused Disney -- and none of it was authorized by Disney either. So it protested, and the park was eventually forced to take ‘emergency measures’ and that meant removing the characters.
-- Kevin Baxter
A Snow White statue on display in front of Cinderella’s Castle at the Shijingshan Amusement Park in Beijing, April 10, 2007. Photo by Teh Eng Koon, AFP/Getty Images