Hong Kong Disneyland's opening has been put in the spotlight. The scene of exciting crowds jostling into the park on its first official operation day has shown Disney's appeal for locals and tourists.

In face of the "Disney effect", how the Ocean Park, another world-class theme park in Hong Kong which has a history of 28 years, are taking measures to upgrade it have become a hot topic in the city.

"Disney is all about castles, fantasy, cartoons, while we are showing the nature, sea-world, animals, ecology and education. We have real animals and people can touch and feel them," Allan Zeman, chairman of the Hong Kong Ocean Park introduced the differences between the two theme parks at an interview with Xinhua recently.

Zeman has said at more than one occasion that Ocean Park and Disneyland are not competitors but complements to each other. Since the two parks are of different styles, providing visitors with different kinds of fun, there is little conflict to have both exist in Hong Kong.

"We are not to fight with Disneyland but we are going to do is to upgrade and redo the park," Zeman said, "We hope when people think of sea-world park, their will first think of Hong Kong Ocean Park."

In March this year, Hong Kong Ocean Park announced a 5.5 billion HK dollars master plan for the redevelopment of the park into the world's best marine-based theme park.

As introduced, the redevelopment is targeted to commence in 2006 and to be completed in 2010. The new Ocean Park will be divided into two major areas including The Waterfront and The Summit, which altogether will feature more than 70 distinctive attractions.

The new plan will transform the existing park into a spectacular, marine-based theme park with an amazing 33 new species of animals, connecting people with nature and offering a plethora of breathtaking attractions unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

Zeman believed by extending and revamping the park, it could further show the world that Hong Kong people are capable of doing a world-class theme park.

Many expected that Disneyland might pull visitors away from Ocean Park. When asked whether Ocean Park worried about this, Zeman said they do care much about the number of visitors even if there were no Disneyland.

Apart from the redevelopment plan, the park was also thinking of reinforcing promotion strategies to attract mainland visitors as by opening offices in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai.

According to sources from the park, number of visitors exceeded four million last year in which more than 50 percent were from the mainland. The chairman emphasized that Chinese mainland is a very important market for the park.

Halloween, Christmas, Chinese New Year...the park's calendar has already been filled with a string of festive events.

"We are having new attractions every one another month. If the wind changes, we can blow with the wind," said Zeman, being proud of the park's flexibility in presenting various fun and attractions.

Source: Xinhua