ASIA Soft opening for Hello Kitty Park
IN time for the celebrated cartoon character’s 40th birthday, Hello Kitty Park has opened its doors for a special inauguration ceremony in China. Japanese company Sanrio, which created Hello Kitty in 1974, has joined
with California-based entertainment design firm Hettema Group to bring the $215m attraction to life. The sprawling park is divided into six zones, each of which features over 10 visitor attractions, including rides and shows. Five of the zones will be ‘hosted’ by a famous Sanrio character. Located in Zhejiang Province, west of Shanghai, Hello Kitty Park is
scheduled to open to the public on New Year’s Day. The China venue is the third Hello Kitty theme park in the world. The two others, Puroland and Harmonyland, are both in Japan and attract millions of people each year. In related news, Shanghai-based Jin Jiang International Hotels has cut
the ribbon on its latest property. Located opposite Hello Kitty Park, the Yin Run Jin Jiang Resort Anji is a luxury, five-star hotel sprawled over 26,000sq.m of land. The hotel’s exterior resembles a grandiose classic European castle and has a man-made river surrounding the main entrance. The hotel includes 43 Hello Kitty-themed guest rooms and suites, with
each room featuring designs of the iconic character. In addition, guests staying in these themed rooms will get to check in at an exclusive reception counter specifically for those staying in the Hello Kitty rooms.
New attractions for Universal
Studios Japan UNIVERSAL Studios Japan has unveiled plans for its new ‘Universal Cool Japan’ attractions that will feature popular anime, manga and other aspects of Japanese pop culture. Details of the new attractions, which will be open from January 23
until May 10, were announced by the Osaka theme park’s operator, USJ Company, on December 8. One of the new attractions will be themed on the top-selling ‘Attack on Titan’ manga series. Visitors will be able to feel as if they are actually in the world of the fantasy manga when they see the 15m-tall humanoids fighting in the streets. An attraction themed on ‘Evangelion’ will be a cinema-like facility where
guests can watch a 3D movie of the robot anime series. The facility will simulate strong winds and its seats will move so that visitors feel they are part of the anime. The remaining two new attractions will be themed on the ‘Biohazard’
and ‘Monster Hunter’ video games. At the Biohazard-themed area, visitors will be able to play a real escape game from a closed facility, while the Monster Hunter section is planned to feature life-size monsters that appear in the video game.
NEWS IN BRIEF Angry Birds attractions
set for China FINNISH software developer Rovio Entertainment has entered into agreement with China’s Guogou Group for the construction and operation of nine Angry Birds family entertainment centres. The first Angry Birds-branded FEC will be developed in the province
of Anhui and the remaining eight venues are earmarked for completion by 2018. “China is an extremely important market for us and we’re constantly
looking for ways to provide innovative fan experiences by bridging the digital with the physical,” said Pekka Rantala, chief commercial officer at Rovio. “Through this partnership, we not only achieve that, but we set a strong foot in one of the world’s fastest growing theme park markets with a key player in the industry.” This strategic partnership
marks the first agreement of its kind to enter into effect for Rovio Entertainment in
the
the Asian market, with attractions
to collectively cover a total building
area 18 InterPark January–February 2015 of
projected tens
thousands of square meters. of
IAAPI EXPO SPACE SELLING OUT INDIA The Indian Association of Amusement Parks and Industries (IAAPI) has announced that just 25 exhibit spaces remain for the 2015 edition of the IAAPI Amusements Expo. The 15th annual edition of India’s premier trade show for the amusement and leisure industry takes place at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai on from February 11 to 13.
LEGOLAND PARK FOR KOREA SOUTH KOREA Merlin Entertainments, the operator of more than 100 visitor attractions worldwide, is to open its first Legoland theme park in South Korea, one of Asia’s biggest markets for Lego toys. The park in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, will cost an estimated KRW300bn ($270m) and is scheduled to open in 2017.
TAKE TO THE SKIES THAILAND Thai Smile Airways is to brand some of its planes with Cartoon Network characters to promote the Cartoon Network Amazone waterpark in Thailand. “The opening of Cartoon Network Amazone this year was already a huge milestone for the Cartoon Network brand,” said Melissa Tinker, vice-president of Cartoon Network Enterprises in the Asia-Pacific region. “Now in 2015, we’re looking forward to taking off with Thai Smile Airways and seeing our iconic characters flying the skies.”
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