Hello Kitty gets its own theme park in Shanghai. Apparently, the beloved kitten also has a loyal and diehard following outside its native Japan. In fact, the character is so loved in China that investors have decided to turn the fanfare into a wide scale theme park complete with rides and attractions. The park is expected to open its doors this New Year’s and will draw an estimated one million annual visitors worldwide.
The grand opening also coincides with Hello Kitty’s 40th birthday. An inauguration ceremony was recently held at the park and featured mascots of the famed kitten as well as other notable side characters from the franchise.
The Hello Kitty theme park is located in Anji, about a three hour’s drive from Shanghai and reportedly cost $215 million to build. This also makes the park the first of its kind outside of Japan. There are currently two other existing Hello Kitty parks, both located in the land of the rising sun.
China's first Hello Kitty theme park completed in eastern Zhejiang Province http://ift.tt/1FJZudv
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) November 28, 2014
China's biggest Hello Kitty theme park to open in Jan http://t.co/PszDahlUSi cc @sophia_yan @stegersaurus @joannachiu http://ift.tt/12itWxg
— Agnès Bun 黃瑩燕 (@AgnesBun) November 20, 2014
The park already has its own website up and running. An English version of the site currently isn’t available, though it provides a thorough walkthrough of the park, which is divided into six quadrants, each with 10 attractions that include a mix of rides and live shows. Each section also has its own theme based on a famous character from the franchise, such as Monkichi, Badtz-Maru, Keroppi, and of course, Hello Kitty.
The park will also include a luxury hotel where guests will spend the night in a room clad with pink furniture and bedspread. Since this is in China, the hotel will also feature a mahjong room, and yes, this room will also be decorated with a Hello Kitty-inspired theme.
Unfortunately, the park will not be without stiff competition. There are currently plans under way for a Disney Resort in China. In fact, construction is already ongoing and is expected to open sometime in 2016.
You know a franchise such as Hello Kitty is big when it gets its own theme park. Just think about Lego Land in the U.S. Another mega popular franchise is the Hunger Games, and there are plans for a Hunger Games theme park as well. Heck, Hello Kitty is so popular that it even has its own song, sung by none other than Canadian Punk Princess Avril Lavigne herself.
The song was slammed by critics and even called racist by some hyper-sensitive liberals, though it was well received by Lavigne’s Japanese fan base. The song was actually a homage to Japanese Kawaii culture, which is similar to Lolita and cosplay fashion. Kawaii involves an overly “cutesy” style of dressing, and clothing and accessories often involve Hello Kitty to some extent.
Believe it or not, the original Hello Kitty from 1974 was actually not a kitten but rather a young girl that personifies the image of a cat. This explains why she is always depicted as bipedal and never on all fours.
Regardless of what you make of the lovable Japanese feline, the Hello Kitty theme park is expected to be a massive hit and bring smiles to little girls (and boys) from all corners of the globe.
[photo credit: Nawal Al-Mashouq]
Hello Kitty Theme Park Making Its Grand Opening In China
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