(From AFP)

Entertainment giant Disney opened a massive theme park in Shanghai on Thursday, hoping to win over communist-ruled China’s growing middle class with the ultimate American cultural export.

Disney opens first theme park in mainland China Visitors enter the Shanghai Disney theme park after the opening ceremony on June 16, 201
Visitors enter the Shanghai Disney theme park after the opening ceremony in Shanghai

Thousands waited in long lines in the rain-drenched park, hoping to be among the first to ride attractions such as a futuristic roller-coaster based on the “Tron” science fiction films.

The opening comes after tragedy struck Disney’s resort in the US state of Florida, where an alligator killed a two-year-old child at the shore of a lake in the massive complex.

Walt Disney World said it had shut down all of its Florida resort beaches and marinas as a precaution after the incident.

The Shanghai resort is the US company’s sixth in the world and the first in mainland China — there is already one in Hong Kong. Read More

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