SHANGHAI (BLOOMBERG) - Shanghai Disneyland sold out of tickets for its May 11 reopening after a four-month shutdown, a sign that consumers in China are prepared to spend as the nation recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
The theme park is implementing safety measures, including limiting visitors to one-third of the normal capacity of 80,000. Shanghai Disneyland was the first of Walt Disney's parks to close on Jan 25 as the coronavirus began to spread from Wuhan, 840km west of the country's business capital.
The US$5.5 billion (S$7.7 billion) park's reopening marks a tentative step toward Disney's recovery from a global health crisis it blamed for lopping US$1.4 billion off profit last quarter, largely by forcing it to shut resorts around the world. While Disney is keeping its US, Hong Kong and Paris parks closed, it said on Thursday (May 7) it will open a limited number of shops and restaurants in its Disney Springs mall outside its resorts in Orlando, Florida, on May 20.
The sell-out was confirmed on the Shanghai Disney Resort website within minutes after bookings started 8am Friday local time. Safety measures at the reopening of the park include "social distancing in queues, restaurants, ride vehicles and other facilities throughout the park, and implementing increased frequency of sanitisation and disinfection", the company said on its website. Some areas and shows will remain closed.
Tickets during the initial reopening phase are 399 yuan (S$80) for regular days and 499 yuan for weekends.
