China’s Hello Kitty Park Gets Bleak Reviews

Cutest place on Earth?
by WindowSeat.ph | June 01, 2015

[article_carousel images=”http://windowseat.ph/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Hello-Kitty.jpg”]

An teaser for the Hello Kitty Amusement Park in China published last November 2014 gave the world high hopes.

The promotion said that the $215 million project amusement park in Anji, Zhejiang will have 11 facilities including a luxury resort, shops, catering services, Hello Kitty-decorated Ferris Wheel, a mah jong room, and a whole lot of bows, pink furniture, and everything pink. The place was dubbed as the “Cutest Place on Earth.” 

After opening its doors, however, a number of visitors expressed disappointment.

Ian Louisell of Smart Shanghai went in January and found that a lot were still missing. There were a lot of attractions, but many were not open yet. While the parades were quite nice, Louisell said that the food was “worse than any train food you’ll find in China, but five times as expensive.”

Louisell added: “We finally arrived, only to learn that the park is in “soft-opening” mode, meaning none of the good rides are open yet. Soft-opening??? This is a 350 million USD theme park, not some tapas bar in Jing’an. Damn. This was like that time when Clark Griswold got to Walley World only to discover that the f**king place was under renovation…”

Historian Brian DeMare, who shared Louisell’s blog post on Facebook, tweeted: “A report on the new Hello Kitty park outside of Shanghai. In short, don’t go.”

Another review expressed dismay on the transportation: “Visitors using public transportation are possibly in for an even more arduous trek. The official site says that a shuttle bus will run from the Anji County Bus Terminal to the park, but even getting to the bus terminal is problematic in itself.”

Well, if this theme park remains in soft-opening mode forever, maybe visitors can explore other options? In Japan, there are currently two Hello Kitty theme parks: the Puroland located outside of Tokyo, and the Harmonyland in the Kyushu prefecture.

 

Would you give this place a chance? or have you visited the theme park? Share your thoughts in the comments!