Talk:Splendid China (Florida)

More information

I have information on Florida Splendid China, especially about the folks that protested at the park. Although the addition of this material will be objectionable to some, it should be allowed to stand according to the groundrules. I just wanted to provide a 'heads-up' Jchurchward (talk) 01:17, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Splendid China's Location

As an individual that travelled to the theme park known as Florida Splendid China on the average of every other month and sent letters regularly to the park's management, the park had a legal mailing address of Kissimmee, Florida. The Florida Department of State's entry for Splendid China was Kissimmee, Florida. All the bylines from newspaper and magazine coverage used 'reporting from Kissimmee, Florida.' Officially, the theme park was in Kissimmee, Florida by every measure, even though it may have been in an unincorporated area close to the city limits of Kissimmee, Florida.Jchurchward (talk) 18:27, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

I can back this up. My home address is, quite literally, less than a mile from the abandoned, overgrown, forested walled enclosure that once held the "Orlando" version of Splendid China. And I live in Kissimmee, folks. Not "Citrus Ridge", whatever that's supposed to be (lived here a while, and never heard that phrase... its called "Four Corners" now in any case). —Preceding unsigned comment added by JackFloridian (talk • contribs) 02:58, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

A visual aid to alleviate some ignorance

Here are the boundaries of Celebration and Kissimmee. Note that Kissimmee lies far to the east of Splendid China, and Celebration is much closer to Splendid China (Florida).

CDP of Celebration, Florida

City of Kissimmee, Florida

Postal addresses are irrelevant. People who live as far as 30 miles from a city use the city's name for their address; i.e. people in Homestead, Kendall and Doral use Miami as their address. This does not mean that a house in Homestead is 'in' Miami. It simply isn't. This is strictly for postal purposes (since Miami-Dade County is on a street grid system) and has nothing to do with factual location. Miamiboyzinhere (talk) 19:41, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

"Artful" youths?

Entry reads "After closing its gates, Splendid China suffered a rash of attacks from thieves and vandals. Usually the work of artful but destructive local area youths, hundreds of items were taken ranging from small miniatures to portions of life-size statues." What, pray tell, is an "artful" youth? The footnoted source never mentions the age or suspected age of the thieves and vandals. Could someone please rewrite this section? Bricology (talk) 16:52, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Allegations that 3.5 million people visited Florida Splendid China in the first year

Attendance figures for the Shenzhen Splendid China could have possibly been 3.5 million, but not the theme park in Florida. According to the Far East Economic Review, "Global Village: Surreal Shenzhen brings the world's wonders to China" January 26, 1995 relates that the Florida version saw maybe 700 to 1000 visitors a day during the peak summer season as compared to Disney with 33,000 a day.

If one were to completely ignore common sense and use the 1,000 visitors per day figure, that would still only be 365,000 people - and that is about 10% of the figure quoted of 3.5 million. Unless someone has reasonable data to prove otherwise, it will be removed. Jchurchward (talk) 06:40, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I was there before it closed. We nearly had the park to ourselves. At the most, there were 100 people in the park that day, and that is optimistic! So your suggested changes are definitely appropriate. Student7 (talk) 19:28, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

References

Allegations that Florida Splendid China recouped their initial investment in the first year

Florida Splendid China did not recoup their losses in the first year. According to the Orlando Sentinel in a February 1996 article entitled "SPLENDID CHINA'S FORTUNE IS BEGINNING TO IMPROVE THEME PARK LEARNING TO BILL ITSELF AS A SECONDARY ATTRACTION"

Tourists routinely describe the place as "peaceful." But for a theme park, that's not necessarily a compliment.

Florida Splendid China hit its second anniversary in December with little to show for its two years in business. While its major rivals began to see an upturn in attendance more than a year ago, Splendid China languished from late 1994 through

much of last year.

In August 1996, it was reported in the Orlando Business Journal that five people were laid off.

The best evidence is in a 1999 article in the Far East Economic Review entitled "Not-So-Splendid-Deal"

One of China's most disastrous overseas investments ever, the Splendid China theme park in Orlando, Florida, is about to

be sold, say business sources in the city. Two investment groups, one American and one from China, are in the final running. The park has bled money ever since it was opened in December 1993 by Hong Kong China Travel Service (Holdings), a Hong Kong company owned by the Office of Overseas Chinese Affairs of the State Council, or chinese cabinet. Boring attractions, poor maintenance and constant protests outside the park about its depiction of china's ethnic minorities have deterred attendance, which the sources say is only a few hundred a day. One local businessman who saw the park's books last year says it loses about $ 9 million a year. Total investment, he says, has been about $ 200 million, more than half of which is still owed in loans to the state-owned Bank of China. Park spokesman Jim Yu says he has heard rumours but cannot confirm that a sale is imminent. He says the park, which employs 160 full-time staff, is currently "very

close to breaking even."

Jchurchward (talk) 06:59, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

References