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Thursday 16 June 2016

Shanghai Disney Resort

Shanghai Disney Resort is a themed resort in Pudong, Shanghai, China. It is the
first Disney park resort in mainland China and the second in Greater China, after the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. The resort opened on June 16, 2016.

The resort features Shanghai Disneyland Park, an entertainment district, two themed hotels, recreational facilities, a lake and associated parking and transportation hubs. Additional phases will see the development of two additional theme parks at the resort. The site will cover 390 hectares (963 acres) in Pudong, or approximately three times the size of Hong Kong Disneyland, at a cost of CN¥ 24,500,000,000 (US$3,700,000,000) for the new theme park and an additional CN¥ 4,500,000,000 (US$700,000,000) to build other aspects of the resort, totaling CN¥ 34,000,000,000 (US$5,500,000,000). Forty-three percent of the resort is owned by The Walt Disney Company and the remaining 57 percent by Shanghai Shendi Group, a joint venture of three companies owned by the Shanghai government. The resort was approved by the Chinese government on November 4, 2009.

Negotiation for Shanghai Disney Resort began around 2001, and the park was first envisaged in the early 2000s. However, in order to help Hong Kong Disneyland grow, the Chinese national government deliberately slowed down the development of Shanghai Disney. The Hong Kong resort opened in 2005, two years after the SARS epidemic devastated Hong Kong's economy, and it was hoped that Hong Kong Disneyland would help the city's tourism industry recover.

On November 4, 2009, the Shanghai Municipal Government announced that the Shanghai Disney project had been approved by the national government, with an estimated total investment of CN¥ 24,400,000,000. Land near the proposed production site increased in value dramatically after the announcement was made. In January 2011, a government official confirmed that Shanghai Disneyland would be 2–3 times the size of Hong Kong Disneyland and would eventually contain three theme parks.

On 7 April 2011, groundbreaking began at the Shanghai Disneyland Resort site.

On 28 April 2014, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced an extra US$800,000,000 investment to add additional rides and entertainment by opening day, bringing the total budget to US$5,500,000,000.

In February 2016, it was rumored that the resort was still behind schedule and over budget, causing the United States-based resorts (Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort) to make budget cuts. That same month, Disney announced that Hong Kong Disneyland Resort reported its first loss in four years, losing HK$148,000,000, and falling 9.3% in annual attendance, to 6.8 million visitors. Analysts attributed this to fewer mainland Chinese tourists visit, hurt by a combination of China’s slowdown, political unrest, and a weak yuan relative to the Hong Kong dollar, as well as the upcoming opening of the Shanghai Resort.

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