Bob Weis, the president of Walt Disney Imagineering and creative executive of the Shanghai Disney Resort, has outlined a cooperative rather than competitive view of newcomers to China’s theme park industry.
This came a day before the U.K.’s Merlin Entertainments and China Media Capital announced plans to launch a Legoland Resort by 2023 near Shanghai, encroaching on the local catchment area of Disney’s first mainland park. Universal also has plans to open its biggest park in Beijing in 2021.
Weis reminisced about the process of creating Shanghai Disneyland in a speech at the summit. “Bob Iger told us that China was so important to the future of the Disney company that we should be ambitious. We shouldn’t build something small or easy; we should build something that’s big,” he said.
One challenge of getting the park off the ground was finding the right local staff. Despite all the preparation that goes into a park opening, it’s always hard to predict what will actually strike a chord with visitors.
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