The past and present life of Wardland Amusement Park

Plans to build the largest amusement park in Asia

In 1994, the Nankou Town Government introduced the Wardland project and transferred more than 1,000 acres of land in five villages including Chenzhuang, Xueshan and Hongnigou It was leased to Reignwood Group, which invested in the creation of Wardland Amusement Park. According to the plan at the time, this 123.04-hectare project was positioned as "Asia's largest amusement park" and was once listed as a key project by the National Tourism Administration. .

However, this picture was like a beautiful soap bubble that suddenly disappeared without a trace one day.

In recent years, there have been constant rumors about the "restart" of the Wardland amusement park project. In September 2012, several large steel "skeletons" in the Wardland amusement park began to be dismantled.

It has become famous in the adventure photography circle

Although it failed to become "Asia's largest amusement park", Wardland has a place in the adventure circle, and adventure enthusiasts and photography enthusiasts The former regarded it as one of the 20 most beautiful ruins in the world, while the latter named it "a fairy tale buried in a crop field".

A large shopping mall will be built on the original site

According to reports, the Great Wall International Shopping Center covering an area of ??85,000 square meters includes a large comprehensive shopping mall, leisure plaza, entertainment center, aviation tourism Club, etc., some facilities are expected to be put into use by the end of 2013.

In the southwest of the "Great Wall International Famous Shopping Center", the Changping District Tourism Committee will also build a 55,000-square-meter "Reignwood Peace Palace Project". After completion, it will be integrated with the Palace of Versailles and the National Center for the Performing Arts in France. Together with top cultural institutions at home and abroad, it holds 50 international cultural and artistic activities and 30 performances of various types every year. In addition, in the east of the "Great Wall International Famous Shopping Center", the "Beijing Outlet Happy City" with a total area of ??228,000 square meters will be built, including the construction of an outlet commercial city, a high-tech indoor amusement park and a five-star hot spring resort hotel. . As for whether it is possible to rebuild an amusement park project among these three major projects, it has not yet been determined.

Three major weaknesses created the "castle ruins"

It was abandoned for 14 years and was finally demolished. The sight of Wardland's departure made people sigh. According to Dr. Liu Simin, a well-known tourism sociologist and special researcher at the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Wardland phenomenon should be reflected on from three aspects.

The first is the background of the investor. Liu Simin said that theme parks are highly professional, require huge investments, have relatively high requirements for theme creativity, and require a professional team to operate them. Reignwood Group, the investor in Wardland, is not from the tourism industry, nor does it rely on a professional management brand.

The second is site selection. Liu Simin believes that the Woland Amusement Park was built next to the Beijing-Tibet Expressway, the only road from Beijing to Badaling, and it is obviously an attempt to intercept the large number of tourists going to Badaling. "This is confusing the nature of the two tourists." Liu Simin told reporters that most of the tourists who go to Badaling are "come here for a visit" type of tourists, of which travel agency teams account for a large proportion, and for teams with tight schedules For tourists, even if they go to an amusement park, they are probably just visiting. For these people, the ticket price may be too high. "In theme parks, entertainment for at least two hours is meaningful, but travel agencies only stay at an attraction for 40 minutes, which cannot reflect the participation and experience of theme parks." Liu Simin believes that the choice of Wardland Amusement Park It is a bit taken for granted. The form of the product does not match the consumption needs of tourists and cannot play a diversion role. "It seems that the transportation location is very good, but it is actually unable to connect with this part of the customer base."

Another The first type of tourists is leisure and vacation type, characterized by repeated consumption. This type of tourists mainly comes from the local market. "Such people may go there every weekend or every month. They hope to spend less time and money on the road." Liu Simin analyzed that if the journey takes one and a half hours and the round trip takes three hours, it will Seriously affecting the enthusiasm of local tourists to go there, "Given the location of Wardland, the cost of driving and taking a taxi is relatively high. It is best to build it in a place with public transportation and the driving distance is not too far." ”

It’s time again. It is undeniable that Wardland Paradise has not caught up with the good times. Leisure and vacation tourism has only begun to develop rapidly in the last ten years. In the 1990s when Wardland began construction, it was still the era of sightseeing and tourism.

Although the two types of tourism are now developing in parallel, sightseeing tourism is still the main body, but leisure and vacation tourism accounts for an increasing proportion. Liu Simin said that when Wardland started construction, domestic tourism was still in its infancy, and it was mainly sightseeing, "so the project was a bit ahead of its time."

Liu Simin told reporters that this situation was not common in China. Not uncommon. There was a time when hundreds of Journey to the West palaces appeared across the country, but soon they became deserted and lived behind closed doors. He believes that leisure and vacation theme parks, such as Wardland Amusement Park and later Happy Valley, which are mainly characterized by participation and experience, are highly replicable and must emphasize the repeatability of consumption and focus on the return of tourists. Therefore, their customer sources must be regional and must be considered to be able to generate corresponding and sufficient consumer demand within a certain radius (not too large), and the factor that has the greatest binding force on this is not simply the number of people. (For example, 12 million people), but the social and economic development level of the area centered on this theme park, that is, the recognition and consumption ability of these people for this theme park product (also called theme park).