DIS Walt Disney Co

By Ben Fritz 

SHANGHAI -- Walt Disney Co. on Thursday opened the gates to its first resort in mainland China under rainy skies, after years of planning and costs of more than $5.5 billion.

As Chinese dancers and costumed characters filled a stage in front of the Shanghai Disney Resort's massive Enchanted Storybook Castle, announcers declared the park officially open at 11:01 a.m. and fireworks went off above the castle.

Thirty minutes later, hundreds of employees lined the sides of the main avenue of the park as the first visitors ran in. Employees warned visitors to walk slowly as the ground was wet from the rain.

Worried about overcrowding, particularly around the theme park's entrance, Disney cautiously allowed access to the first ticket holders only after the morning ceremonies were completed. Hours after the gates officially opened, thousands of ticket holders stood under umbrellas outside the park hoping to enter. Few complained of the long wait.

Inside the park, university students Liu Zenyu and Zhang Shiming from nearby Jiangsu province said they were surprised by how big the park was and how many people it could hold. The 18-year-olds waited more than half an hour for the Tron Lightcycle Power Run roller coaster but said it was well worth it. "It was so fast," said Mr. Zhang with a grin.

By late afternoon, the rain gathered strength. Messrs. Liu and Zhang said they were still excited to join the 40-minute line for the park's flagship attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure, a ride based on the movie series starring Johnny Depp.

Mark Jochens and his wife, Nicole, traveled from Maastricht in the Netherlands to experience opening day. Wearing an Epcot Center shirt, Mr. Jochens said he had been to every Disney park and was surprised at the wide walkways in the Shanghai park, which he said took away "a bit of the atmosphere" but made it easier to deal with the crowds.

The couple had already been on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride twice by midafternoon.

The carefully orchestrated opening of the immense Shanghai Disney Resort capped months of anticipation. But tragic events on the other side of the world, starting with Sunday's mass shooting at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub, threatened to overshadow what was supposed to be a week of unalloyed triumph for the world's largest entertainment company.

On Tuesday, a 2-year-old boy was killed when an alligator dragged him into a lake at Florida's Walt Disney World Resort. The boy's body was recovered Wednesday.

Disney Chief Executive and Chairman Robert Iger called the family from Shanghai and George Kalogridis, president of the Walt Disney World Resort, left China for Orlando immediately after news of the alligator attack.

At the opening ceremony in Shanghai, Mr. Iger read aloud a letter from U.S. President Barack Obama that said the resort captured the spirit of the two countries' relationship and underlined "the importance of China continuing to make itself attractive to investment from around the world."

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang, who read a letter from President Xi Jinping, made light of the weather: "I told Chairman Iger rain is a sign of good fortune," he said. "I like to call this a rain of U.S. dollars and RMB" -- another name for China's currency, the yuan.

There was no mention of the Orlando tragedies at the opening events in Shanghai.

The park opens at a time when China's economic growth is the slowest in decades. In a reference to global economic headwinds, Mr. Wang said foreign investment into the country rose in the first part of this year, "pointing to the attractiveness of China to the global investment community."

After Disney opened a theme park in Hong Kong in 2005, attendance was initially lower than expected in part because of a lack of appealing attractions, though the company has steadily added more.

Shanghai authorities have given Disney broad scope to manage security inside the park. On Thursday, the area of the opening ceremony in front of the castle was surrounded by metal detectors and hundreds of security guards. All guests for the opening ceremony were given blue-and-gold mouse-ears hats to wear and asked to keep them on.

Government officials were escorted on golf carts by Disney executives including the theme park's general director, Philippe Gas. Before the opening ceremony, the officials stopped by the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

A combination of careful crowd control and the rain meant that most lines weren't excessive by Disney theme-park standards. Most waits were under an hour, though at one point the wait for the Roaring Rapids water ride was two hours.

Only those with tickets bought in advance were allowed entry Thursday. People arriving at the park's subway station were met by Disney staff handing out information brochures, telling them there wouldn't be any admission tickets on sale that day.

"The sight of the long lines makes me feel dizzy," said Zhen Shuangqi, a 24-year-old student from Nanjing. He didn't have a ticket and contented himself with browsing the Disney store outside the park.

Disney tweaked its attractions during a month of testing ahead of the opening, operating the park at up to two-thirds of its capacity. After the opening, attendance could exceed 60,000 visitors daily, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. More than 10 million people are expected at the park in the first year.

Disney owns 43% of Shanghai Disney Resort, with the majority controlled by the local government's Shanghai Shendi Group Co.

--Yang Jie and Erich Schwartzel contributed to this article.

Write to Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 16, 2016 08:24 ET (12:24 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.