Disneyland Shanghai Sells Out Presale

The park doesn’t open until June 16, but there has been a great deal of anticipation in China. So much anticipation, in fact, that the official website crashed that morning due to an overabundance of traffic. According to a statement released by Shanghai Disney Resort, “Within half an hour, clicks on the website (www.shanghaidisneyresort.com) reached more than 5 million. The massive volume resulted in our ticketing system temporarily malfunctioning.”

Other authorized sites began selling tickets as well later in the day, but according to China Daily the company has not revealed exactly how many tickets have been sold so far. However, the Disney Resort flagship store Alitrip, which is also authorized to sell tickets online, said that it had quickly sold out its allotment of standard admission tickets and two-day tickets that include opening day. In 30 minutes Alitrip had sold 20,000 tickets, and by 4 p.m. it had sold 35,000 one-day tickets and 12,000 two-day passes.

In addition to Alitrip, Shanghai Disney Resorts is also selling tickets through various phone reservation services and an offical account on the app WeChat. In order to prevent scalping buyers are required to register an ID number when they make a purchase. In addition, hotels at the resort have begun taking reservations and Bloomberg reports that all rooms are booked through the first two weeks. Rooms at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel start at 1,650 yuan ($253) and rooms at the Toy Story Hotel start at 850 yuan ($130).

China Daily interviewed one woman who has been to almost every Disney resort in the world. She already has admission tickets for the first three days of Shanghai Disneyland as well as bookings at several of its hotels. She also has a ticket for a performance of “The Lion King.” There are regular tickets for 370 yuan and peak-time tickets for 499 yuan, which covers the initial period of June 16-30, weekends, and all of July and August. In general, ticket prices are about 20 percent less than tickets for Hong Kong Disneyland.

The Shanghai Shendi Group, which formed Shanghai Disney Resort as a joint venture with the Walt Disney Company, estimates that the park will receive more than 10 million visitors a year, or about 27,000 a day. However, some media have said the resort will attract up to 50 million a year. Industry watchers speculate that the company, as a crowd-control measure, may have issued fewer tickets for opening day than it could have.