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Come 2016, visitors to Shijingshan Amusement Park in China will find themselves in a supersized version of what they remember. The amusement park, which has been in operation for 25 years in the capital city, is due to begin expansion construction in 2012. At the end of the four-year development, the park will be seven times bigger in the completed area, occupying a site of 700,000 square meters (49.4 acres).
The amusement park is located in the Shijingshan district in eastern Beijing, which was also home to the venues for the cycling events of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. After the Games, the district government proposed building up its cultural and leisure facilities, incorporating the  existing venues with the amusement park at its core. It was a perfect opportunity for further development by Shijingshan Amusement Park, which had been faced with the obstacles of growing visitor numbers and inadequate land.
The expansion will incorporate natural terrain features, such as an unused sand pit and hills, as well as the disused Games venues. It will also add a waterpark, a circus arena, a large indoor amusement center, an indoor ski slope, a tourist monorail system, and a 500-room hotel.
Full use of underground space is part of the expansion plans. With the incorporation of greenery in the new layout, Shijingshan Amusement Park is also looking to add to the overall area of green space in Beijing.
 Dream World Indoor Amusement Center
To be located south of the main entrance, the Dream World Indoor Amusement Center sprawls over 134,000 square meters (33.1 acres) and is comprised of two subterranean levels and four additional areas aboveground. There will be 26 attractions in the center.
“The attractions are all part of a story with a plotline— various high-tech techniques such as animatronics and animation will be employed to simulate a realistic setting based on the theme of the ‘50 must-see places in a lifetime,’” says Liu Jingwang, general manager of the Shijingshan Amusement Park. “There will be urban scenes such as New York; the wild outdoors such as the Amazon and the Greek islands; as well as re-creations of historical and cultural landmarks from across the five continents. The experience will be akin to going through the past, present, and future and around the world.”
In addition, there will be 10 themed restaurants, 10 themed retailers, and two performance venues. The center is set to be the largest facility of its kind in the region.
Circus World
Park expansion plans will also take in the Laoshan Velodrome and the BMX venue, both used for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The Velodrome will be refurbished and adapted for use as an arena suitable for large-scale circus-type performances with a seating capacity of 3,000.
 Meanwhile, the BMX ramps and track will become part of a waterpark that will feature both indoor and outdoor rides and attractions.
To the east of the site, an existing hill will be transformed into Beijing’s first indoor ski slope (located within the city), which will occupy a total of 60,000 square meters (16 acres), including a 600-meter (2,000-foot) ski run.
Water World
Shijingshan is set to add what will be Beijing’s largest water theme park, incorporating a large unused sand pit of about 50 square meters (540 square feet).
The first of two main zones is an ocean-themed area with both indoor and outdoor pools, waterslides, rides, a wave pool, and a floating pool. The facility will have a daily capacity of 10,000 visitors. The second zone is a low-carbon ecopark containing a man-made lake (originally the sand pit). The lake will also serve as a water catchment area and can be converted into an ice-skating rink when winter arrives.
“Water attractions are very popular in the north [of China] because of the general shortage of water in this part of the country,” says Liu. “But water attractions are only operational from April to October in Beijing because of the climate; with this lake we can adapt the attraction for the cold season too.”
 Shijingshan Park has undergone several refurbishments in the past, although none are even close to the scale of the upcoming expansion. Some 700 square meters (7,500 square feet) were added to the park in a two-year expansion that was carried out in 2007 and 2008. Rides and attractions, such as the roller coaster, were upgraded and refurbished.
“The park has changed a lot along with its visitors,” says Liu. Before 2000—the year Liu took over the helm of Shijingshan Amusement Park—there were only 40 attractions; that number now stands at 106.
Over the years, the company has also invested in brand building through organizing events and festivals to attract visitors and introducing park mascots such as Happy Rabbit and Big Eared Cat.
Asked about competition from other parks in the region, Liu is clear about his park’s positioning: “We have a broad appeal as we are targeting the mass market, not just the high end. Seventy percent of our attractions are family oriented; we cater to all age groups.”
Forty percent of Shijingshan’s visitors are from within Beijing, while the others are from surrounding regions. The park’s target market includes the provinces of Heilongjiang in the north, Henan in the south, Inner Mongolia in the west, and Shandong in the east. Beijing itself has a population of 20 million people, and the total regional market is close to 300 million people. All of this is located in an area of more than 800 square kilometers (300 square miles).
“The market is large enough for all of us. There are currently only two large parks in Beijing and the surrounding region— Happy Valley Beijing opened in 2006. But with an admission fee of RMB 160 (US$25), they are targeting a higher-end market.”
Shijingshan Amusement Park has a different operation model: Admission is just RMB 10 (US$1.60)—separate tickets are required for some individual rides, although a packaged admission is also available (RMB 130/ US$20 for adults). This increases visitor capacity and reduces queues. Due to the high number of attractions, the crowd is spread out through the park. According to Liu, the only time there are long queues is during the national holidays. The ticketing model also makes for a more broadbased appeal.
Liu says he expects visitor numbers to further increase after the extensive expansion. The park currently draws an average of 50,000 visitors per year. Looking ahead to 2016, he says the park is expecting an average of 15,000 visitors each day and 7.5 million per year.
As for competition from the upcoming amusement parks like Disney that have been announced in and around Shanghai, Liu says he does not foresee any impact as the target market— in terms of both socio-economic and geographic demographics—is very different from that of Shijingshan Amusement Park. “We see competitors as partners to learn from and develop alongside,” he says. “Shijingshan Amusement Park has been around a long time, so there is higher brand recognition.”
Lim Hui Sin is a writer and translator based in China. Originally from Singapore, she has been living in Shanghai for 10 years. She can be reached at sinify@gmail.com.
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