New and improved Hello Kitty theme park opens in China

A newly refurbished Hello Kitty theme park has officially opened in China.

View of the Hello Kitty theme park in Anji county, Huzhou city, east China's Zhejiang province, 1 July 2015. (Ni yanqiang/AAP)

View of the Hello Kitty theme park in Anji county, Huzhou city, east China's Zhejiang province, 1 July 2015. (Ni yanqiang/AAP)

The new park, which cost £210m, was built to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the cartoon character, which took place last year.

Japanese company Sanrio, who created Hello Kitty in 1974, have joined with entertainment design firm Hettema Group from California, to bring their new park to life in China, where the character is extremely popular.

The 9.5 hectare park soft opened last November, and only 65 per cent of its activities and rides were operational.

Apart from exhilarating, a ferries wheel and regular performances, the park also includes a castle-style hotel with 343 luxury guestrooms.

However, the ambitious amusement park was subjected to a barrage of abuse from critics, who were unimpressed with its design and layout.

Now organisers are determined that the park will be bigger and better now it has opened officially, and officials anticipate they will receive around one million visitors every year.


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Source: AAP


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