Universal Studios Beijing to draw eager throngs amid uneasy U.S. - China ties BEIJING Reuters - Universal Studios Beijing resort was set to open its doors to the public on Monday after a two-decade wait, including delays because of COVID - 19.
The highly anticipated opening takes place amid U.S.-China relations that have deeply deteriorated in recent years.
The park will be Universal Pictures III and its fifth in U.S. geography. It's also a first for Beijing, which lacks a big themed park to rival the Disney resorts in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
As expected, it will be the first Universal Park with a section dedicated to the movie Kung Fu Panda and includes an area based on the Harry Potter franchise, which is popular in China.
All 10,000 tickets for the opening sold out according to Trip.com Group in a pre-sale on June 14 in three minutes, according to Trip.com Group.
However, many on social media have complained about ticket costs, which range from 418 yuan $64.76 in the low season to 748 yuan during peak periods.
This is the first time in a long time when an America-themed topic attracted such evident and widespread praise in China, was the Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid which has been published by the ruling Communist Party People's Daily last week.
The resort was proposed 20 years ago by the Beijing Tourism Group, according to the official China Daily, and is 30% owned by Comcast Corp's Universal Parks Resorts and 70% owned by state-owned Beijing Shouhuan Cultural Tourism Investment.
The new Chinese ambassador to Washington, Qin Gang, likened his roller coaster ride to ties between the two countries.
After all the tumbling and shakings the roller coaster came to a soft landing in the end, tweeted on Tuesday.
Universal Studios announced development of the resort in 2014, saying at the time it would cost $3.3 billion. com index.cfm? The park could provide $1 billion of operating cash flow per year if it was opened.