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Thousands troop in to check out Disney's new Shanghai theme park

The biggest park-operated Disney store in Asia, restaurants opened on Saturday to long lines

Published Mon, May 9, 2016 · 09:50 PM

Shanghai

STILL a month away from its official opening, Walt Disney Co's latest theme park resort in Shanghai is already a popular destination attracting thousands of Chinese.

A Disney store - the biggest park-operated retail shop in Asia - and restaurants in a public, commercial strip of the Shanghai Disney Resort opened on Saturday to long lines. Locals flocked to the area to stroll around its artificial lake and snap pictures with a fountain sculpture of Mickey Mouse on a steamboat. Disney also began trial operations for the park - its sixth worldwide and first in mainland China - over the weekend.

Since the metro station for the Disney grounds opened two weeks ago in Shanghai's Pudong district, the area has become a popular destination ahead of the resort's June 16 debut. The world's largest entertainment company is banking on 330 million Chinese living within three hours of the site to pay for visits to the US$5.5 billion resort, famous for its iconic castle and themed rides. China's government, in turn, is rely…

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