NEW YORK – The Hong Kong Disneyland theme park on Thursday opened Toy Story Land, a new attraction based on the movie trilogy, Reuters reported.
It marks the first phase of a three-step expansion that will cost $468 million and expand the park by 23 percent by 2013 and boost the number of attractions and shows to more than 100, it said. The hope is that the expansion will boost business at the park, which has underperformed expectations since its opening in 2005.
“We believe it will be a strong boost in terms of business,” Reuters quoted Andrew Kam, Disneyland managing director, as saying about the expansion. “I’m really happy about that too, because not only does it bring business to Hong Kong Disneyland, it actually creates demand for tourism to Hong Kong.”
Toy Story Land is situated in a space that makes guests feel as if they have been shrunk to the size of a toy, Reuters reported. Among its attractions is an 80-foot “Toy Soldier Parachute Drop.”
Over the next two years, the park will add “Grizzly Gulch” and “Mystic Point” theme areas, according to the report.
The theme park’s performance has been difficult to gauge given Disney owns a minority stake, while Hong Kong owns a 52 percent stake. But last year, the park was reported to have made a loss of $169.4 million in 2009, while attracting 4.6 million visitors. The Hong Kong government expressed disappointment, calling for improvement, Reuters said.
Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com
Twitter: @georgszalai
