Saudi Prince drops $20 million at Disneyland

Thursday, 13 Jun, 2013 0

Higher entrance fees may make some guests hesitate, but Saudi Prince Fahd al-Saud is clearly unfazed. The BBC reports that the prince and his friends dropped $20 million in three days at Disneyland Paris.

The prince reserved parts of the park for his group of 60, and hosted a number of unique special events.

Disney set a record on Monday by raising its ticket prices to over $95 plus tax, the highest of any theme park, just 10 days after Universal Studios Florida raised its price to $92.

Meanwhile, Disney chairman and CEO Robert Iger revealed details about the Shanghai Disney Resort at the Fortune Global Forum in Chengdu, China.

He said the Shanghai development "can’t be the Disneyland that Walt built in 1955 for all kinds of reasons….It has to look, feel, resemble China’s Disneyland. And that has taken a lot of thought, a lot of work."

Iger said the theme park will include the iconic castle, but also elements "that don’t exist in any of the parks that we have."

Every culture has its own customs. Hong Kong customers, for example, spend twice as much time eating as park-goers in Florida or Paris, Iger said.

Shanghai Disney Resort, scheduled to open in 2015, will include two hotels, 495,000 square feet of retail space, a dining and entertainment venue, and a lake.

And if you are thinking that Disney may no longer be hip, forget it. Teen heartthrob and pop music star Justin Bieber brought his own party of friends and crew to Disneyland California after spending some time with Miley Cyrus last weekend, local papers report.

His group rode on the rides and apparently had fun, though the tab was considerably lower than the Prince’s.

By Cheryl Rosen

Cheryl

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