Considering how mainland tourists are a lifeline for Disneyland, ending their ticket discounts is really biting the hand that feeds it. Mainland and overseas tourists visiting the attractions on their own now have to pay HK$55 more than local residents on weekdays. Unsurprisingly, tourists and operators across the border have cried foul and called it discrimination.

So Disney's public relations minders scrambled to put a positive spin on the new charges and contacted the mass-circulation Guangzhou newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily to make their case. The Disney spokeswoman said it just looked like discrimination but it really was not. Tourists from the mainland or overseas used to pay HK$295 instead of HK$350 on weekdays. But since most mainland visitors come on weekends, Sundays and holidays, most paid the full price anyway.

Sometimes you really have to feel for those PR people who have to square circles on their bosses' behalf.