Abacus | If Disneyland dies and Hong Kong’s port shrivels, an alternative ‘Lantau Tomorrow Vision’ could emerge

Taking the ferry back and forth between Lantau and Central these days is pretty boring. But when I first moved out there seven years ago, the voyage wasn’t quite so uneventful.

Slowing down for a container ship coming into port was a common occurrence, the ferry swerving astern of the larger vessel to bounce over its wake and slop my coffee. I have numerous pictures of the backs of container ships as a result, but these days it’s a rare experience. Then there was the ride home, settled on a bollard on the lower deck with a beer, watching the Disneyland fireworks displays. That doesn’t happen at all these days, as my friends in Discovery Bay will testify: a view of the fireworks is no longer a selling point.

The absence of these views – the backs of container ships and fireworks going off – are not directly linked, of course. But as the port and Disneyland are adjacent and both businesses are suffering, I wonder if we shouldn’t be looking at what else they could offer.

LET IT GO

Lantau’s Disneyland has been a tough business to run. In fact, since opening in 2005 it has been profitable for just three years, and in the past five resumed spraying red ink. It is majority owned by the Hong Kong government, and with 20/20 hindsight we can conclude it was a poor investment. Our resort looks particularly pale compared with what’s on offer at the far larger Disney parks in Shanghai and Tokyo.

With animosity towards mainlanders rising in recent years, and the troubled times in Hong Kong putting tourists off, the park has had to rely on local visitors to make ends meet. If it continues to drain taxpayer money – now expanding with a Frozen attraction almost eight years after the original film – the outlook must be pretty bleak. At some point even the government will turn away and slam the door.