Wanda opens indoor theme park in Chinese city of Nanjing

China’s Dalian Wanda group has opened a massive indoor theme park in the city of Nanjing as an entertainment hub at the heart of a new mixed-use development.

The attraction is latest collaboration between Wanda, China’s largest real estate and cultural development corporation, and KCC Entertainment Design and marks a revival for Wanda after it had to sell many of its theme parks last year to slash spiraling debts.

Also comprising a shopping mall, hotel, restaurant and residential accommodation, Wanda Nanjing Indoor Theme Park is the first of eight ‘wonderful entertainment worlds’ designed by Belgium-based KCC Entertainment Design which are set to open their doors in 2018. The company is currently involved with two more projects in China and five in the Middle-East.

KCC Entertainment Chief Executive Yannick Maes explains “the Wanda Nanjing Indoor Theme Park has an incredible footprint of 34.000 metre² and is, with over 22 attractions, the centre of fun experiences of the mall.

“Upon entering, the visitor is immediately blown away by a never seen before combination of two thrill rides within a structure referencing a weaving machine (Nanjing has a great textile history).

“And, this is just the beginning of a great family fun time in the park where the mix of rides have themed decoration based on the rich Nanjing culture and history.”

Having sold a significant part of its entertainment and theme parks division in 2017, Wanda is looking to revives its plans to develop integrated resorts and cultural tourism theme parks across China.

With cultural tourism projects underway in cities including Wuhan, Nanchang, Hefei and Harbin it says it expects to have 18 mega projects by 2021.

Andrew Kam, Senior Vice-President of Wanda Travel Culture Innovation Group and President of Beijing Wanda Themed Entertainment, explains “we hope to create a one-stop shop resort for mainland Chinese. They will be able to enjoy leisure and entertainment culture without going overseas.”

Kam points out that opportunities have risen as China started to promote short holidays, rather than the traditional week-long ‘golden weeks’, adding “this opens up opportunities for domestic travellers to venture into close-by areas for holidays.”

These developments come against a backdrop of the Chinese Government looking to slow the pace of theme park development with more than 60 theme parks under development across the nation, fearing a development boom that could see unpayable debts and low grade or copycat developments.

Wanda’s Wanda Sports Group is also a major sponsor and commercial partner for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Images: The Wanda Nanjing Indoor Theme Park.

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