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Thousands line up for Disney’s opening day
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THE queues began to form at 4:30am. Some visitors carried suitcases, having come straight from the airport. At least one fan flew in from the United States just to be there. And one romantic man made it an extra special day by proposing in front of the iconic castle.
It was Shanghai Disneyland’s official opening day and cast members, as Disney calls its staff, were out in force to greet the thousands queuing to get in despite the drizzle.
Because of the rain, the theme park opened its gates around 11:30am, half an hour earlier than scheduled.
Long queues had formed from around 9am.
A woman from Shanghai’s suburban Jinshan District said she had waited for at least an hour at the entrance to go through the security check, but found she had to join another queue to get the ticket she’d booked online and then waited at another entrance with her ticket in hand.
People had to wait for at least an hour on average to enter the park after it opened, though all 32 entrances were in use.
When they did get in, many rushed to attractions that had proved most popular during trial operations, such as “Soaring Over The Horizon” at Adventure Isle.
Others posed for pictures in front of the castle while one man even produced an engagement ring, to the delight of his girlfriend who quickly said “yes.”
Shawn Ryan Holt, who had flown in from the United States, was wearing a hat with Mickey Mouse ears and was holding a Mickey Mouse doll as he entered the park.
“I used to study at a college in Orlando and became a big Disney fan. So I flew to Shanghai and waited in front of the gate at 9am today,” he said.
Shanghai resident Lu Chengfeng, 22, said: “I came here just to experience the ‘Tron Lightcycle Power Run’ that is said to be the most thrilling event at the park.”
A member of the security staff said visitors had begun arriving as early as 4:30am.
Not far behind them were a group of tourists from Japan who had their luggage with them.
They had touched down at Pudong International Airport at 5am and decided to head straight for the park.
Inside, waiting time for most attractions was under an hour, in marked contrast to lengthy delays during the monthlong trial operation. The “Soaring Over The Horizon” attraction, an aerial tour of the world, had a waiting time of just 20 minutes.
Other crowd favorites included “Roaring Rapids,” where guests ride on a raft propelled by gravity and water through Adventure Isle, and a pirate-themed show called “Eye Of The Storm” at Treasure Cove.
The park has a designed capacity of 40,000 visitors.
The park stayed opened until 10pm and the day wrapped up with a light show around the Enchanted Storybook Castle, the world’s largest and tallest Disney castle.
Analysts expect Shanghai Disneyland to become the world’s most-visited theme park, attracting at least 15 million and as many as 50 million guests a year. By contrast, Walt Disney World in Florida drew 19.3 million people in 2014, according to The Associated Press.
YouGov, a market research firm, said 44 percent of people it surveyed in China in May plan to visit Shanghai Disneyland within a year.
When Shanghai’s media went crazy for Mickey
AN exhibition at Shanghai Library shows that Disney was popular in the city as far back as the 1930s and 1940s.
As Disney films were delighting audiences around the world, Shanghai residents were getting to know Mickey Mouse and Snow White via numerous local newspapers, magazines and books.
The Young Companion magazine was the first to publish a feature story about Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse in January 1932. It even carried a cartoon depicting Mickey and Goofy reading the magazine.
Another exhibit is a newspaper article written by the then 17-year-old Zhang Ailing, who went on to become, as Eileen Chang, one of the famous modern Chinese writers.
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