Wanda parks in the USA?

[ECG]

Not sure if they can pull this off but it would be great to see a new chain of parks open in the USA, especially ones that feature real Chinese culture.

Chinese real estate tycoon Wang Jianlin said on Saturday that his Dalian Wanda Group will compete with Disneyland and probably open theme parks in the United States in the future.
Wang, founder and president of the group, one of China's top property developers, revealed his ambition at the opening ceremony of a movie park in Wuhan City, capital of Hubei Province in central China.
Although real estate contributed the bulk of Wanda's revenue, Wang told Xinhua that the group is seeking more growth engines as rapid expansion in China's property sector is coming to an end.
Wang said Wanda will unveil a transformation plan in January and turn to businesses in culture, tourism, finance and e-commerce for further growth.
In a move toward the transformation, Wanda launched the "cultural tourism city" program to construct building complexes for tourism, entertainment, shopping, dining and other purposes in a number of Chinese cities.
"Our cultural tourism cities will try to rival Disneyland parks in Hong Kong and Shanghai in terms of visitors and revenue. If we do well, Wanda will probably build theme parks in the U.S.," said Wang.
Wanda is confident in promoting Chinese culture to the world, according to the 60-year-old businessman.
The group is actively exploring overseas markets with investment in the U.S., Australia, Britain and Spain.
Wanda aims to raise its business revenue to 600 billion yuan (97 billion U.S. dollars) by 2020, with 30 percent hopefully coming from overseas businesses.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-12/20/c_127321668.htm

 

[Intricks]

I would be totally down for this happening. I think it would stir up the scene in the states.

Something that hasnt happened since, what, Paramount trying to get into the game.

 

[PeskyTrimBrake]

Interesting. Skeptic to how this plays out. I'll second what Intricks said, I'm down with this proposal. I wonder how they'll promote Chinese culture in other countries.

 

[CanobieFan]

It would be interesting to see what they would bring to parks as far as coasters go. Would we see a flood of typical "Chinese Ripoffs" or would such rides not even be allowed to be built here.

Some in Mexico, Cuba, and a few across Central America have popped up but none in the States, yet.

 

[ECG]

^Not sure if that's an issue with Wanda. Don't they already have Vekoma, Intamin and GCI coasters built or under construction? Isn't FantaWild the parks with all the knockoffs?

 

[Gavin]

Fantawild have a mix of real and knockoff. It's generally the smaller, non-chain parks with most of the knockoffs.

I think people are jumping on this a bit too quickly. Wanda haven't even opened their first proper park in China yet. They've made an off-the-cuff remark about wanting to expand into other countries, but it's far from an actual plan.

Yes, they're a massive company worth billions, but they have no theme park experience yet. Rather than start with one park to test the waters, as Happy Valley and Fantawild did, they've thrown **** loads of cash at opening multiple parks at once. There's a very real potential for it to all go horribly wrong.

 

[GuyWithAStick]

Well a few Six Flags parks are planned for China, so I guess this is an alright compromise.

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[Ian]

We shouldn't undere Wanda. Although they are new(ish) to the world of theme parks, they are serious about developing parks. At IAAPA they had a massive stand and sponsored the theatre. That's a good indication of their commitment.

Initially Wanda are starting small by opening a lot of indoor amusement parks. I've been talking to the person in charge of the parks and they have big ambitions and money isn't an object.