Credit: DisneyOne Disneyland park has made a major change to its operating schedule and will now be closed for one day each week.
What started as just Disneyland Resort in 1955 has evolved into six global resorts – and 12 individual Disney Parks – over the years. Today, the Walt Disney Company operates theme parks in Florida (Walt Disney World Resort), France (Disneyland Paris), Japan (Tokyo Disney Resort), China (Shanghai Disneyland), and Hong Kong (Hong Kong Disneyland).
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Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom remains the most popular (and most visited) of the bunch. Guests travel from all over the world to experience attractions both old and new, from classics like Space Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean to newer, more ambitious rides like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
While other parks can’t quite match Magic Kingdom’s 17 million visitors a year, every Disney Park draws in huge crowds on a regular basis. As of 2021, all 12 of its theme parks rank in the top 25 most visited in the world.
Down towards the bottom of that list, however, is Hong Kong Disneyland. Disney’s smallest Disneyland Park has famously struggled ever since its opening. The resort has only turned a profit in a handful of years and has seen massive losses ever since the pandemic.
Its fortunes, thankfully, seem to have shifted as of 2022. While it’s still operating at a loss, Hong Kong Disneyland beat its own visitors record last year – despite spending a cumulative six months closed due to local COVID-19 restrictions.
Attendance will inevitably soar as we approach the end of the year. Not only is Hong Kong now accessible to tourists, but the park is set to welcome a huge expansion with the opening of Arendelle: World of Frozen – the world’s first theme park land based on Frozen (2013) – in November.
Located between “it’s a Small World and Toy Story Land, this will add a new family roller coaster to the park in the form of Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs. It will also include a duplicate of Frozen Ever After from EPCOT and an interactive play experience called Playhouse in the Woods, as well as multiple restaurants and shops inspired by the world of Anna and Elsa.
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Despite this, the park has made a big change to its operating schedule as of September 1. Hong Kong Disneyland is now closed every Wednesday with the exception of national holidays, meaning it’s open just six days a week.
The park was previously open seven days a week, as is the case for every other Disney Park, over the summer. For now, there’s no update on when – or if – the park will return to full operation. However, if this is what Hong Kong Disneyland needs to reach profitability, this might be a necessary evil.
Which international Disney Park is at the top of your to-do list? Let us know in the comments!