It was announced this week that Disney has cleared plans for a park in Shanghai with a Chinese government group.
While Disney already has a park in Hong Kong and now is the time when many parks are closing for financial reasons, here is Disney opening another Chinese theme park.
Actually, while the park won't be cheap (expected cost is $3.585 billion), the Chinese government will pay some of it so that they may make profits on it as well. It will be in the Pudong area, covering 8 square miles, by the site of the planned Olympic Park. Also, despite current financial situations, starting planning now means the park won't open until 2014, when things may be a lot different.
Disney may own more parks as they are potential bidders for SeaWorld and Busch Gardens. It's unclear whether Disney is serious about obtaining these parks, though they are the ones with the means to do so, or if they're just inflating the price. Six Flags and the European park company Parques Reunidos are also in the running.
With so many parks on their own brand name, and the possibility of gobbling up others, it is very possible that soon Disney will have a monopoly on theme parks.
Maybe someday all parks be be symbolized by Mickey heads and feature standardized, family friendly content. Anheuser Busch (previously bought by Belgian beer company InBev) already announced they would cease their tradition of serving free beer in their parks, so when a buyer makes the change they wouldn't have to face the bad P.R.
This also means the huge Disney conglomerate will own even more real estate, along with theme parks, media, retail stores, TV networks, movie and animation studios etc...
I hope the lack of competition won't hike already pricey ticket rates.
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