Disney Gets a Second Chance in China

There were signs aplenty that the Apr. 8 groundbreaking for the $4.4 billion Shanghai Disney Resort wasn't aimed at the typical Orlando vacationer. Shanghai school children sang —in Mandarin. Mickey Mouse showed up clad not in his signature duds but in traditional red Chinese garb to symbolize good fortune. Everything was customized to suit the tastes of the world's most populous nation.

Walt Disney (DIS) has good reason to sweat the details at its first theme park on the mainland. When it opened Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005, it underestimated how many visitors would show up and how long they would linger. The result: too few rides, inadequate seating and food supplies at restaurants, and angry crowds that had to be turned away. Although the 47 percent Disney-owned Hong Kong park is expanding, it still lost $92.3 million in the year ended last October, while attendance rose 13 percent. "We learned a lot from Hong Kong," says Disney Chief Executive Officer Robert A. Iger. "In Shanghai, we're within a three hour's drive of 300 million people. That's a huge opportunity, and we have to be careful about how many will come and their visitation patterns."