Disneyland in China Is Next for Consideration

Mao Tse Mouse? Deng Pao Duck?

The Chinese and Walt Disney Co. are considering construction of a Disneyland park in the land of the Great Wall.

And after that, Disneylands could spring up almost anywhere in the world. Disney has received “at least one or two” overtures from every country in Western Europe, plus India, Australia, Korea and China”--in addition to many states in this country, according to a Disney official.

The company that runs Anaheim’s Magic Kingdom has even gotten an inquiry “through unofficial sources,” suggesting that it consider the Soviet Union as a site for a park, according to James B. Cora, executive vice president for the Euro Disneyland project near Paris and vice president for Disneyland International.

Once the French project is completed in 1992, Cora said, he probably will “get ready for China. We’ll probably start working on it as soon as I can free up my team from France.”

He later stressed that while the company has “done some research” into China as a possible site, “there’s no commitment to look at China. . . . It’s seven years away and mostly depends on the success” of Euro Disneyland, 20 miles outside of Paris.

The potential problem in China is simple economics: The per capita income in China is about $700 annually, said John C. Myers III, marketing director for Disneyland International. So a Disney park--which typically has an admission price of about $20 per person--”would somehow have to be subsidized by the government,” Myers said.