Riots at Hong Kong Disneyland

by Kelly K. | More from this Blogger

04 Feb 2006 07:42 PM

Disneyland Hong Kong, the newly opened theme park by Disney in Hong Kong, is being dubbed by some visitors and journalists as the "angriest place on Earth."

The Hong Kong theme park held record attendance, filling up to capacity causing many ticket holders to be turned away from the gate. For eight days straight, Disneyland Hong Kong has had to turn potential visitors away because of a record number of visitors.

On the eighth day, things turned violent as parents began tossing their children over the railing of the park and attempting to crash the gate. Ticket holders who didn't resort to violence said that they were disappointed and angry that they had to disappoint their children by not being able to show them the new Disneyland Park.

Obviously, any parent can understand the frustration that a disappointed child can cause. However, I'm not quite sure what to think of a parent that would toss their child over a wrought iron fence. What will the child do without his or her parent? I would, if I was that child, certainly be terrified.

Unfortunately, when a new theme park opens, it's usually par for the course that the park will either be overcrowded or have to turn people away at the gate. The first year Disney-MGM was open, I recall being turned away for the first two days we were in the resort because the parking lot was full to capacity. Eventually, Disney-MGM's parking lot area was expanded and as far as I know, the problem is no longer, well, a problem.

It's important to note that the advance tickets purchased by those shut out are good for six months from the purchase date. However, many of the visitors that were unable to get in had traveled some distance to see the park.

While I can't understand those who would put their child's life in danger to secure entry into the park, my heart goes out to those who acted responsibly, but were not able to get in.

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Anna Glendenning (4234) 05 Feb 2006 06:00 PM

I was wondering if for example, a family that is staying in the Disneyland or on of the other two Disneyland Park Hotels is automatically counted as a guest for that day? I would think that paying Top Dollar and making specific reservations for passes on the specific days while registered in the hotels should mean a family is a priority guest....??? I sure hope so as the hotel across the street is much less costly and paying to stay at the Disneyland hotel sort of implies a family is planning to go into the parks?

Kelly K. (2277) 08 Feb 2006 12:40 AM

That's a very good question, Anna. I'm sure that in the near future, we'll be hearing more about just what happened with these families.