This article has been updated as of 1.30pm, 17 Nov 2022.
Could this be true? Is the most magical place on planet Earth (aka Disneyland) coming to Malaysia? In a press conference on 15 Nov 2022, Datuk Muhammad Jailani, a Malacca state executive council member announced that the state will have Southeast Asia’s first Disney theme park by 2027. Disney fans, put your hands up!
The construction is estimated to cost about RM2 billion, according to Melaka Hari Ini. It will be the first Disneyland in Southeast Asia, meaning people in the region need not travel to Japan, China or the United States to see everyone’s favourite Mickey Mouse and his friends.
“Disneyland has been in the planning, and we are looking into the possibility of it being in the district of Jasin. We cannot reveal the exact location just yet, but the size of the project, the theme park is expected to be between 150 and 200 acres (6.7 to 80.9ha),” Jailani explained.
In comparison, the biggest Disney Park, Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, is 25,000 acres in size, while Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu, Chiba, is 115 acres in size. At present, only China, Hong Kong, Paris, and Japan have their own Disneyland’s outside of the United States.
However, there is something strange to this piece of news— at the press conference for the announcement of these projects, no Disney representative was present. So could Malaysia’s Disneyland really be happening?
Update: Disney officials have confirmed today that there are no such plans to build a Disneyland in Malacca. Heather Chen, a reporter for CNN Southeast Asia, verified the news with a Disney official, who dismissed such reports. In a tweet, Chen quoted the Disney official she spoke to as saying: “Not true. It’s fake news and purely speculative”.
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