On This Day | Hong Kong welcomes Mickey Mouse as city’s Disneyland opens in 2005 – from the SCMP archive

This story was first published on September 13, 2005.

Dazzling start to Disney carnival

By Dennis Eng and Ambrose Leung

Hailed as an “everlasting carnival” and a multibillion-dollar “strategic investment”, Hong Kong Disneyland was finally inaugurated on Monday (September 12, 2005) with few of the problems and complaints that plagued it during a month of teething troubles.

Amid the highest pollution levels of the year, dignitaries including Vice-President Zeng Qinghong and Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen gathered in front of the pink Sleeping Beauty Castle as lion dancers gave the occasion a local flavour before the familiar Disney characters poured out for a grand parade.

“The joyous Disneyland will become an everlasting carnival for the Hong Kong people,” Mr Zeng said.

“It has been said Hong Kong is a playground for entrepreneurs and a shopper’s paradise. I hope that, with the establishment of Hong Kong Disneyland and other cultural and entertainment facilities, Hong Kong will further become a major tourist destination.”

Mr Tsang, who marked the occasion by wearing a Donald Duck bow tie, said the government’s much-criticised HK$23 billion injection into the park was a “strategic investment” that would enable the city to “capitalise on the drawing power of the Disney brand to complement our renowned strengths in dining and shopping, and as a city that perfectly blends east and west”.

Chinese Vice-President Zeng Qinghong poses with Mickey Mouse at the grand opening ceremony of Hong Kong Disneyland. File photo: Xinhua via AP
Chinese Vice-President Zeng Qinghong poses with Mickey Mouse at the grand opening ceremony of Hong Kong Disneyland. File photo: Xinhua via AP

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