06/05/2020
- Most rides and attractions will be back in action from Monday, but social distancing means there’ll be no night-time parades or selfies with the cartoon stars
- Disney CEO says visitor numbers will initially be kept below the 30 per cent cap set by China’s central government
Disneyland Shanghai is reopening but not all of the magic will be back immediately. Photo: DPA
Shanghai Disneyland has announced it will reopen on Monday, but with some adjustments to its usual operations as China continues its re-emergence from the
health crisis.
While most of the park’s rides and attractions, including all of its shops, cafes and restaurants, will be open, several theatre shows and children’s play areas will remain closed, the company said.
To prevent large groups gathering, parades and night-time “spectaculars” will also remain on hold for the time being, and visitors will be prohibited from engaging in close interaction, including, taking selfies with the cartoon characters, it said.
China’s central government ruled earlier that tourist attractions can reopen but only if they cap visitor numbers at 30 per cent of their capacity.
Walt Disney’s new chief executive Bob Chapek told investors in the United States on Tuesday that the park had capacity for 80,000 visitors a day, which meant it would be restricted to 24,000 under Beijing’s rules.
However, the park would initially allow even fewer people through its gates, and only slowly build up to the cap, he said.
All guests will be required to wear face masks for the duration of their stay, except when dining, the company said.
Public areas will be cleaned more regularly than normal and hand sanitiser will be provided throughout the park, it said.
Tickets will be available online only from Friday, and all customers are required to submit their personal information when making a purchase.
Disneyland Shanghai has been closed since January 25. Photo: Xinhua
Disneyland Shanghai closed its doors on January 25 as the Covid-19 epidemic was reaching its peak in China. The decision to reopen came after the successful relaunch in March of the company’s Disneytown commercial zone, Wishing Star Park and Shanghai Disneyland Hotel, all of which neighbour the park.
Shanghai will be the first of six Disneylands to reopen since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has so far sickened close to 3.7 million people around the world and killed more than 256,000. Mainland China reported two new infections on Wednesday, both of which were imported.
The park opened in June 2016 and received more than 13 million visitors in its first 14 months of operation.
Hong Kong Disneyland has been closed since January 26, while the operators of Tokyo Disneyland said a decision on when it might reopen would be taken in the middle of May.
On Tuesday, Disney reported a US$1.4 billion cut in profits for the latest quarter, mainly due to disruptions to its theme parks caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
During the Labour Day holiday in mainland China, which fell on the first five days of May, more than 115 million trips were made in the country, down from 195 million a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Source: SCMP
Posted in cartoon stars, Central government, coronavirus, Hong Kong Disneyland, Labour Day holiday, Mainland China, Mickey Mouse, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Monday, night-time parades, reopen, selfies, Shanghai, Shanghai Disneyland, Social distancing, Uncategorized, Wednesday |
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02/05/2019
- Major highways gridlocked for hours at start of four-day break
- Chaos at railway stations as ticket-holding passengers turned away
Holiday crowds pack the promenade on the Bund along the Huangpu River in Shanghai on the first day of China’s May break. Photo: AFP
China’s Labour Day holiday started on Wednesday with gridlocked roads and chaos at railway stations as millions of people took advantage of this year’s unusually long break.
Motorists reported being stuck in traffic jams which did not move for hours, while ticket-holding passengers were turned away from some trains due to severe overcrowding on the first day of the holiday.
Travel agency Ctrip estimated that around 160 million domestic tourists would be travelling over the four-day break, according to data from travel booking platforms.
Forty major highways recorded a 75 per cent spike in traffic on Wednesday, according to Xinhua, as toll fares for cars were suspended for the holiday.
Tourists enjoy the first day of China’s four-day May holiday on a beach in Haikou, Hainan province, southern China. Photo: Xinhua
Monitoring stations on major routes – including the Beijing-Tibet Expressway, the Shanghai-Shaanxi Expressway, Shanghai’s Humin Elevated Road and the Beijing section of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway – recorded a 200 per cent increase in traffic from Tuesday onwards, Xinhua said.
The Ministry of Public Security’s traffic management bureau has warned holiday motorists to drive safely, especially on winding mountainside routes.
Online news portal The Paper reported on Thursday that traffic jams on some major routes were so severe that the drive from Shanghai to Hangzhou, capital of neighbouring Zhejiang province, took some travellers seven hours instead of the usual two.
Passengers board the train at Chongqing North Railway Station in southwest China on Tuesday, hoping to beat the May holiday travel rush. Photo: Xinhua
Meanwhile, more than 54,000 tourists visited the popular Badaling section of the Great Wall on Wednesday, according to Beijing Youth Daily. The attraction’s management team had increased the number of volunteers, parking spaces and shuttle buses to prepare for the influx, the report said.
More than 53,000 tourists had visited the Shanghai International Tourism Resort and Shanghai Disneyland by 4pm on Wednesday, according to data from the Shanghai municipal government’s real-time visitor tracker. The Shanghai Zoo attracted more than 24,000 people, and more than 9,200 visited the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum.
Despite the crowds, no records were broken at the Shanghai attractions, which reached about 70 per cent of their maximum visitor numbers recorded, The Paper reported.
At railway stations, ticket-holding passengers were stopped from boarding trains between Nanjing and the city of Zibo in Shandong province, eastern China, due to severe overcrowding, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Wednesday.
Station staff promised full refunds to customers with pre-booked tickets who were refused entry.
Source: SCMP
Posted in Badaling section, Beijing Youth Daily, Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway, Beijing-Tibet Expressway, Chaos, China alert, Chongqing North Railway Station, Gao, Great Wall, gridlocked, Haikou, Hainan, Huangpu River, Humin Elevated Road, influx, Labour Day holiday, Major highways, Ministry of Public Security, Nanjing, parking spaces, railway stations, roads jammed, shandong province, Shanghai, Shanghai Disneyland, Shanghai International Tourism Resort, Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, Shanghai to Hangzhou, Shanghai Zoo, Shanghai-Shaanxi Expressway, shuttle buses, The Bund, The Paper, traffic management bureau, Travel agency Ctrip, travel booking platforms, Uncategorized, volunteers, Xinhua, zhejiang province, Zibo |
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