With Universal Beijing about to open on September 20th, it is fun to think about where the next big theme park resort will spring up! Certainly a lot of individual projects on the Imagineering Forum have been put forward as to what a Disney resort would look like in other countries around the world (e.g. South Korea, Canada, Sweden, etc.). This thread will consider those options (as well as others). Criterion will be established and explained so that an objective-as-possible rating can be determined for each location.
Below are several criteria that will be used in the rankings. Can you think of others? Popularity of IPs in country Whether initial discussions have taken place to build a top-tier resort Population within an hour Land available Travel time to Airport Distance from other top-tier theme park Country’s GDP Willingness of Government to Negotiate Weather Here is the current listing of international Disney and Universal theme parks: Tokyo Disneyland (1983) Disneyland Paris (1992) Universal Studios Japan (March 2001, Osaka) Tokyo DisneySea (September 2001) Walt Disney Studios Paris (2002) Hong Kong Disneyland (2005) Universal Studios Singapore (2008) Shanghai Disneyland (2016) Universal Studios Beijing (September 20, 2021) Although Disney has finished every resort it has started, some of the Opening Days were disastrous (like at Disneyland Paris when Michael Eisner left the stage after being pelted with tomatoes). Universal, on the other hand, seems to be a bit trigger-happy when it comes to building new parks. Still listed on its future theme parks section on Wikipedia is Universal Studios Moscow. Although this indoor park was thought to originally open in 2022, the lack of buzz makes it seem like it might be dead in the water. Universal has green-lit several projects only to cancel them later: Universal Studios Dubailand, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Broke ground 2008, no construction since 2009) Universal Studios Germany, Krefeld (near Cologne), Germany Universal Studios South Korea, Hwaseong (near Seoul), South Korea Universal Studios also bought a park near Barcelona Spain that operated under a name like “Universal’s Port Aventura” from 1999-2004 until it was sold off. Whether initial discussions have taken place to build a top-tier resort Comes from Building Magic: Disney’s Overseas Theme Parks by William Silvester Climate Large Labor Force Strong Tourist Base Willingness of Locals to Negotiate The book “Building Magic: Disney’s Overseas Theme Parks” by William Silvester talks about how the international Disney parks came to fruition. The book also discusses some possible locations for future Disney resorts, especially based on publicity. First I will list here locations that were basically rumors (with year of rumor) and did not have much merit: Philippines (2016)—hoax Brazil (Curitiba, 2010)—rumor Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls)—rumor And now the locations that did receive greater consideration, especially in the research for Euro Disney: Spain (Alicante and Barcelona) Great Britain—biggest plot was 300 acres Italy—mountainous Germany—but Germans prefer to vacation elsewhere Australia (Disney Wharf at Sydney Harbor, 2007) India (2014) South Korea (2005)—mostly leverage for Shanghai and Hong Kong Robert Nyles of “Theme Park Insider” did some research to come up with three possible locations for the next Disney resort—Chongqing (in southwest China), Beijing, and Seoul. Factors that he considered included population data, income data, growth patterns, and the sites of current Disney and competing theme parks. The late Harrison “Buzz” Price used similar criteria to help Walt Disney select Anaheim and Orlando for Disneyland and Walt Disney World. For more information, check out his posts: https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201805/6092/ https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201805/6094/ Having a pleasant climate can be very helpful for the long term success of a theme park. Ideally a theme park would not have many very hot days, cold days, or heavy rain days. The STC Climate Index (see https://globalresidenceindex.com/hnwi-index/climate-index/) gives 190 cities worldwide a score between 1.00 and 0.00 (a score of 1.00 means a very pleasurable climate). The city with the best climate is Dakhla, Morrocco with a score of 0.96. The city with the worst climate is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; it scored 0.02. Listed below are cities either with a top theme park or potentially in consideration for one: Los Angeles—0.93 Mexico City—0.88 Barcelona—0.76 Sydney—0.74 Sao Paulo—0.73 Buenos Aires—0.72 Rome—0.71 Bangalore—0.66 Vienna—0.65 Rio de Janeiro—0.56 Paris—0.55 Dubai—0.54 Geneva—0.54 Beijing—0.53 Amsterdam—0.52 Seoul—0.50 Shanghai—0.49 Hong Kong—0.49 Tokyo—0.48 London—0.48 Chongqing, China—0.48 Toronto—0.46 Berlin—0.46 Taipei—0.45 Stockholm—0.37 Singapore—0.20
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