Disney In Chiang Mai?

[cm-happy]

have heard from several different sources, mostly Uni students studying tourism in CM that Disney(mickey Mouse fame) is considering purchasing land and opening a theme part in CM, to be tied in with the Night safari (ugh) and the zoo. Anyone know if this?? Or was this just another Taksin initiative.

If true, then time to move on if Disney comes.

[jumnien]

There have been many rumors of Disney moving to Hua Hin and Pattaya as well. I would think that if Disney were moving to Thailand they would be close to Bangkok.

[chanchao]

> If true, then time to move on if Disney comes.

Why's that?

[meadish_sweetball]

> If true, then time to move on if Disney comes.

Why's that?

Because Goofy bogarts all the nice chicks and Uncle McScrooge will bribe officials to reduce the minimum wage.

[chanchao]

> Because Goofy bogarts all the nice chicks and Uncle

> McScrooge will bribe officials to reduce the minimum wage.

Why's that bad?

[Gonzo the Face]

Disney wouldn't be considering Thailand for a Disney Theme Park...

Not enough population base nor enough tourist draw..... nor infrastructure,,,,, nor stable political climate.....nor,,,, nor .... nor.... etc..... It would take more than the 40 some odd years that it took to build the new Bkk Aprt.

Somebody's feel good BS

Southern California [Anaheim]

Orlando

Hong Kong

Paris

Tokoyo

Chiang Mai...... ????? Does anyone really thing CM fits the mold???

To quote dear Mr TA22 Wahahaha

Please guys, lets keep our maybe wants and reality separated....

[Physherman]

have heard from several different sources, mostly Uni students studying tourism in CM that Disney(mickey Mouse fame) is considering purchasing land and opening a theme part in CM, to be tied in with the Night safari (ugh) and the zoo. Anyone know if this?? Or was this just another Taksin initiative.

If true, then time to move on if Disney comes.

If true, then there would be some logic involved with the latest rush to put up a half dozen expensive hotels in the Chiang Mai area. The initial thinking was that they were going up for the International Flower Festival, but many haven't even finished construction. The finished ones are at 25%-30% occupancy, which is just half of what's needed to simply break even. All are opperating at a loss at the moment.

If a Disney park opened here, that would completely change the tourist industry for Chiang Mai and give it the shot in the arm that it so badly needs, and has needed since the SARS scare. It would offer hundreds of jobs for locals and expats, and boost property values.

Of course, along with such positive growth comes the negative side too. Increase in crime, increase in public utility demands (which Chiang Mai is struggling with even now,) increase in traffic problems, etc.

It would turn Chiang Mai into a mini Bangkok, and be time for me and mine to look for quieter pastures.

The Fly Fisherman

Edited December 8, 2006 by Physherman

[miltonbentley]

Utter claptrap.

[Rasseru]

Utter claptrap.

Long-winded, but well said.

[Florin]

No way...it's far too easy for people to get to HK if they want to get to the ###### theme park and the Euro experience has proved that an incorrect location can cause mountains of losses.

That being said, it doesn't necessarily have to be a Disney theme park...it could simply be a different brand/type that's causing the rumor mill to come alive.

Edit: is d-a-m-n-e-d such a dirty word that the board has to censor it??

Edited December 8, 2006 by Florin

[Physherman]

Utter claptrap.

Long-winded, but well said.

I can understand you both not believing such a rumour. I also find it difficult to believe. But I wonder.....

What, in your opinions, would be the reason for so many very high priced hotels being built during this past year or so, while the occupancy has been low in all hotels for the past several years? This is something I've been pondering for quite some time. There must be some reasoning behind all this growth; something that's coming but not here yet that would spur so many different resort consortiums to invest this kind of money. It's certainly not a lack of available rooms at the moment.

These days, the majority of tourists visiting Chiang Mai are Asian, and the largest percentage of them, Thai. They aren't staying at the Four Seasons or the Cheddi. So why are the big hotel chains spending millions of baht building more hotels?

The Fly Fisherman

[Cyberstar]

Chinese & SE-Asian Tour Buses?

[miltonbentley]

Occupancy rates for all hotels and guesthouses in CM in 2005 were 47% which ain't great but how the 5 star operations perform within that is something I don't think the hotels would be keen to advertise. I suspect better than the average.

What, in your opinions, would be the reason for so many very high priced hotels being built during this past year or so, while the occupancy has been low in all hotels for the past several years?

The big hotel groups like all successful businesses are looking to expand and have clearly identified Chiang Mai as a growth area. It helps that land and labour are cheap and that means an opportunity for profit.

A few years ago the best place in town was the Sheraton but several hotels now surpass it for quality and the Sheraton has responded by improving the quality of its operation. In general over the last few years there has been an increase in choice and standards in the city. Not just hotels have been affected the improvement can be seen in restaurants, bars, shops and services right across the board.

Within the hospitality industry there is a feeling that CM is ripe for development as a higher end tourist destination based among other things on climate, the prevous governments support, history, heritage, spas and nature. There is a determination in certain quarters to make Chiang Mai the Spa Capital of Asia. The days of being a hip backpacker hang out are over. The city wants tourists and business conference trade that bring the serious money and the big hotel groups all want a piece of the action. Much of this trade will probably be Asian tourists rather than Farang particularly the rapidly expanding market of wealthy Chinese.

I think and hope the next 5/10 years will see a CM economic boom and that is why the investment is flowing in now. The theory that it has anything whatsoever to do with Disney is (if you will forgive a poor pun) Mickey Mouse.

Sorry Rasseru that really is long winded and almost certainly less effective than my previous comment

[PeaceBlondie]

When Disney decided to build a park in Florida, they had their agents anonymously buy land, or options to buy land, on MANY THOUSANDS OF ACRES. We're talking a quantity of free land that doesn't exist in most places, with water resources of 89 gigatrillion liters of water per second, a new power plant producing 879 megawatts, tertiary waste water treatment, and thousands and thousands of local employees who never come to work late, never make mistakes, and are fully fluent in 3 languages. An infrastructure is required to deliver millions of fast food, boxes, etc., every day on time, without fail. In Thailand? Hah!

Oh, and the Disney corporation probably doesn't invest trillions of satang in property it doesn't own with a perfectly clear title.

Does anybody here even know of a rumour of somebody who says their brother went to the Night Safari? And how close to Disney standards was that experience?

[Physherman]

Occupancy rates for all hotels and guesthouses in CM in 2005 were 47% which ain't great but how the 5 star operations perform within that is something I don't think the hotels would be keen to advertise. I suspect better than the average.

The 'break even point' for the resort industry is 60% But they are in business to turn a profit, not just break even. I spend a good deal of time working with the tourist industry. While TAT may wish to report a 47% occupancy rate, I don't think you will find too many hotels and guest houses reporting that. But assuming for a moment that 47% is the mean, that indicates that 50% of all the hotels and guest houses fell below that figure. If we allow that some 25% went above 60%, that still leaves 75% of the hospitality industry failing to break even for the year.

The big hotel groups like all successful businesses are looking to expand and have clearly identified Chiang Mai as a growth area. It helps that land and labour are cheap and that means an opportunity for profit.

Obviously. That is why they are building so many hotels. My question is WHY do they think that it will be a growth area?

A few years ago the best place in town was the Sheraton

And a year before that it was called the Westin Riverside, and over the Christmas Holidays of their final year they had less than 10% occupancy. They had to close down two of their three restaurants. Both the Chinese and Italian restaurants were shut down until the Sheraton people took over.

The city wants tourists and business conference trade that bring the serious money and the big hotel groups all want a piece of the action.

I would think that having a business or conference trade center might improve the chances of that happening.

The fact that the government has been talking about building one for the past several years is a step in the right direction. If they build it as quickly as they are fixing the super highway, our grandchildren may get to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony.

But the package tourist money doesn't go to the very big hotels. They stay at the Amora or the Orchid. Even the Phucome get's its share, especially of the Asian trade. I don't think you'll see too many tour busses coming into the Oriental or the Cheddi. Of course, if you go into the Cheddi you don't see too many of anyone...

I think and hope the next 5/10 years will see a CM economic boom and that is why the investment is flowing in now. The theory that it has anything whatsoever to do with Disney is (if you will forgive a poor pun) Mickey Mouse.

Quote appreciated. I too would love to see a nice economic boom. It usually follows an improvement in the infrastructure of an area, and I'm all for that. Upon what do you base your prediction?

(Eventually I'll figure out how to make this 'quote' thing work. Maybe.)

The Fly Fisherman

Edited December 8, 2006 by Physherman

[miltonbentley]

Upon what do you base your prediction?

Conversations with peoople in the industry, observation and a healthy dollop of optimism.

[Physherman]

Upon what do you base your prediction?

Conversations with peoople in the industry, observation and a healthy dollop of optimism.

Wow! That IS optimistic!! You must think that yesterday can get better!!

Well, let's hope that you're correct. Chiang Mai does need the business.

The Fly Fisherman

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

have heard from several different sources, mostly Uni students studying tourism in CM that Disney(mickey Mouse fame) is considering purchasing land and opening a theme part in CM, to be tied in with the Night safari (ugh) and the zoo. Anyone know if this?? Or was this just another Taksin initiative.

If true, then time to move on if Disney comes.

Dream on. Disney come to CM before they have built one in Sydney or near Singapore, Melborne Shianghai or many other major cities in China. You have got to be kidding. Even KL Malaysia or India would win hands down in demographics.

Even if Thailand gave them the land and tax avoidance deals they would not come here.

Good for a laugh though and perhaps some inflated property prices.

This from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_P...ther_Properties

Future properties

Disney has made no announcements regarding plans for another American theme park and CEO Robert Iger frequently has cited international expansion as one of the company's three strategic priorities.

Both Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and Disneyland Resort Paris have room for future expansion. Hong Kong Disneyland has announced to reveal the new expansion plan in October, 2006. Scouts are looking for a suitable site for a Disney resort on mainland China in addition to the Disney resort in Hong Kong, possibly near Shanghai. Disney has announced that there will be no new resort on the Chinese mainland before 2010.

There has been plans to build a park in Singapore since the early 1990s, with the government offering a large 300-hectare site south of Lower Seletar Reservoir to Disney for development[1]. The plans fell through when the government was unwilling to sell the land at a marked-down price to Disney, and refused to co-fund the project's development. In September 2006, news reports indicated a resumption of talks, with Disney citing Singapore's use of the English language as its working language, and its central location in Southeast Asia as its strong points to build a park there. The government has reportedly offered a prime site in Marina East for building a park at a scale similar to the one in Tokyo[2]. The company CEO Robert Iger's description of impending "indoor, compact"-styled parks may be a hint in reference to the Singaporean proposal[3].

Disney sent scouts to Australia in January 2005 to survey a new site.[citation needed] A likely site is just outside of Melbourne (rumored to be located on a site near Avalon).

India is another area where Disney may build a new resort. Disney has been expanding a lot of their companies into India by buying TV stations and bringing the brand name to the region.

The only site that is extremely short on land is Disneyland Resort in California. Although the company has acquired enough real estate to build a potential third theme park on a former strawberry farm near the existing resort, the remainder of the original Disneyland parking lot, now behind Disney's California Adventure, more than likely will be demolished eventually to expand the resort. The strawberry fields were purchased in 2004 for 99.9 million dollars with a requirement to harvest them for at least 5 years. It has been said that they will be turned into a water park once the 5 years are up.

While many foreign governments have made statements to the media that they have been in discussions with Disney to open a new resort, Disney frequently responds that the stories are false and talks have not taken place.

[miltonbentley]

Wow! That IS optimistic!! You must think that yesterday can get better!!

I do think yesterday can get better! if yesterday was a bad day it gets better them moment it ends.

A perversion of logic perhaps but keeps me smiling

[Physherman]

Wow! That IS optimistic!! You must think that yesterday can get better!!

I do think yesterday can get better! if yesterday was a bad day it gets better them moment it ends.

A perversion of logic perhaps but keeps me smiling

If not for perverse logic, we'd all be crying all the time. Thank God reality is only a dream!

The Fly Fisherman

[Johpa]

What, in your opinions, would be the reason for so many very high priced hotels being built during this past year or so, while the occupancy has been low in all hotels for the past several years? This is something I've been pondering for quite some time. There must be some reasoning behind all this growth; something that's coming but not here yet that would spur so many different resort consortiums to invest this kind of money. It's certainly not a lack of available rooms at the moment.

These days, the majority of tourists visiting Chiang Mai are Asian, and the largest percentage of them, Thai. They aren't staying at the Four Seasons or the Cheddi. So why are the big hotel chains spending millions of baht building more hotels?

The Fly Fisherman

My guess, and it is entirely speculative, is that the large international hotel chains invested up in Chiang Mai for the same reason their chief Thai representative would but a Thailand Elite card, to get into the good graces of the ex-Prime Minister, who was planning a new large airport up north to serve as the gateway to the expected masses of Chinese tourists.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

I have a friend with family that own land at Niagra Falls and apparantly Disney are falling over themselves to buy it. But I guess that just because they buy land doesn't mean that they are going to put a new Disneyland on it!

[richard10365]

Hey, if Mickey Mouse had a second wife would she be a "minnie noi"?

Edited December 9, 2006 by richard10365

[chuchok]

Disney in CM...Monkeys might fly out my butt!

[john b good]

From PeaceBlondie

"We're talking a quantity of free land that doesn't exist in most places, with water resources of 89 gigatrillion liters of water per second, a new power plant producing 879 megawatts"

Don't know where you got your figures from but that's more water than Chiangmai would use in a day (and you suggest "per second") plus Chiangmai province would not use that amount of electricity.

As for a Disneyland in CM, whoever suggested that is in cuckoo land.

Edited December 10, 2006 by john b good

[SamSipEt]

Hey, if Mickey Mouse had a second wife would she be a "minnie noi"?

[miltonbentley]

Disney in CM...Monkeys might fly out my butt!

and that is a trick in which Disney might be interested. You could make a cool couple of million with that CC

[Cyberstar]

Should I put any credibility to the rumor that Chiang Mai is going to be the host of the Winter Olympics - not the first 2-3, but maybe the fourth? The comittee has realized that Doi Suthep is just perfect with the its flats and slopes of various degrees - it just need some artificial snow. The moats just need to be cooled down a bit to serve as ice-skating race track - the sharp turns at the corners are considered to be an extra advantage, Chiang Mai has compared to the other cities also considered.

[Florin]

Winter Olympics in SE Asia, wouldn't that be hilarious...though as the previous No. 1 rapper & golfer showed, history is no barrier.