China’s Disney Honeymoon Over?

The park, which opened in June and cost about $5.5 billion to build, was at first welcomed as an innovative, spectacular project, “poised to lure millions.” It had been designed with Chinese people in mind and pointed up the “embarrassment of the lack of domestic creativity.” The honeymoon appears to be over, as mainstream media have harped on public dissatisfaction with “long queues, the sudden closure of some attractions…[and] allegations of poor working conditions at one supplier’s factory,” the BBC reported.

Apparently, five attractions have been closed at the resort “without advance warning.”

Disney itself has blamed “maintenance and operations requirements” for the closures of the Pirates of the Caribbean and Roaring Rapids rides, to name two. Some media have pointed to long lines of “enraged visitors” who have made their displeasure known by demanding refunds. Some social media users think that the maintenance problems were simply an excuse cooked up by management to “reduce the lines of waiting visitors,” though others sincerely wonder about safety standards at the park.

In addition, the South China Morning Post of Hong Kong has reported that a supplier for the park was being investigated for mistreating workers.

A U.S.-based organization, China Labor Watch, found awful conditions at the Guangdong factory, saying that staff were working 66-hour weeks for between $1.30 and $1.50 an hour.

To top it all off, a raft of fake Disney tickets has appeared online that are difficult to tell from the real thing. The BBC report concludes with the observation that while the theme park remains “a significant draw for China’s domestic tourists,” some questioning of its operations and economic vitality “has begun,” which is probably inevitable for such a high-profile project.