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Weekend crowds flock to see duck
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MORE than 130,000 people visited Century Park over the weekend to see the world-famous “Rubber Duck” artwork, park officials said yesterday.
Unveiled on Thursday on the park’s Jingtian Lake, the giant floating installation brought 30,000 visitors to the Pudong New Area park in its first two days.
Then a sunny weekend ensured that the crowds were out in force to see the artwork by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman.
“Some 70,000 people visited the park on Saturday, the highest number in the past two years,” Chen Jie, from the park’s marketing department, told Shanghai Daily.
Officials later gave an update with Sunday’s figures included.
However, the popularity of the 18-meter high bath toy brought its own challenges for the park.
Some visitors complained about long waits in queues to buy tickets and a number turned to scalpers, offering the 10 yuan (US$1.6) tickets for 15 yuan, reported local news website thepaper.cn.
Car parks were soon full, leading some visitors to park their cars on roadsides near park entrances.
Inside the park itself, there were not enough bicycles and sightseeing vehicles. And some visitors who did manage to get a bike or a place on a sightseeing vehicle complained that they ended up moving at a snail’s pace due to the crowds.
For safety concerns, the park slowed down ticket sales after visitor volume exceeded 50,000 and banned bikes and sightseeing vehicles in areas with high numbers of visitors, said Chen.
As visitors all wanted to get close to the rubber duck, a one-way route was set up with multi-layered fencing around the attraction to ensure the crowds kept moving, he said.
The park also employed 60 security guards, added Chen.
Some visitors also complained that the park was short of food and drink, with supplies at stalls sold out by noon. “Even instant noodles are unavailable,” one visitor told thepaper.cn
Park officials said they will liaise with eateries to get more supplies for weekends.
Officials reminded the public that the giant duck will be in residence until November 23, and advised them to avoid peak days such as weekends if they want a less congested visit.
The park had planned to raise its ticket price to 40 yuan but later decided to remain 10 yuan after public complaints.
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