Arts & Entertainment

World’s fifth Universal Studios park opens in Beijing

Beijing, Sep 20 (EFE).- A Universal Studios park was inaugurated Monday in Beijing after 19 days of test operations.

It is the world’s fifth Universal Studios brand park, together with those it manages in the United States (California and Florida), Japan and Singapore.

The compound, in Beijing’s outskirts, is owned by the capital’s municipality and Comcast NBC Universal, and its construction cost 50,000 million yuan ($ 7,7 billion).

The complex has two hotels and seven themed areas that include those dedicated to the Harry Potter, Kung Fu Panda, Jurassic World and Transformers sagas.

“The decoration and setting of the streets and buildings is very impressive and puts you in the scene,” said Edgar Alvarez, who visited the park during its trial period.

According to the Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post, 10,000 residents had to be evicted and relocated for the construction of the project, which has an area of ??53 hectares.

Ticket prices range from 418 yuan in low season to 748 yuan in high season.

Some Chinese internet users protested the high price of tickets on Weibo.

“Working people are not welcome in this park,” a user on China’s Weibo microblogging site wrote.

Despite controversy over the price, tickets for the park’s first day of official operation were sold out within 30 minutes of going on sale a week ago.

Alvarez said the park can be successful.

“It will be almost obligatory to take the children there and there is a lot of expectation,” although he said it may be due “only to the novelty, it will be necessary to see if it will later be maintained.”

The park’s opening conicides with China’s Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, during which people take a three-day long weekend.

However, the park has had to limit visitors due to the recent outbreak of coronavirus in Fujian province, in China.

This may avoid queues, one of Alvarez’s greatest fears.

“I am afraid of the endless lines that could form” on the busiest days, when the park “expects groups of up to 55,000 people,” he said

For now, it is mandatory to wear masks and scan a QR code to confirm the visitor has not recently passed through any area considered at risk.

According to local newspaper China Daily, the park will create 40,000 jobs in Beijing, many of which have undergone training. EFE

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