20,000 Hongkongers ride Disneyland Resort line as it opens in 2005 – from the SCMP archive
Disney isn't open, but 20,000 pay to ride Mickey's caboose
By Dennis Eng
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Disneyland has yet to open and they could not buy tickets when they got there – but nearly 20,000 people tried out the train service from Sunny Bay to the theme park on Monday (August 1, 2005).
The only glitch came early in the day, when one of the driverless automated trains stopped at the wrong point along the platform of the Disneyland Resort station at 8am, leaving it out of alignment with the platform screen doors and delaying passengers for two minutes.
The MTR's head of operations, Wilfred Lau Cheuk-man, played down the incident, saying that the six weeks left until the park's opening gave time to work out 'a few teething problems'.
Part-time female 'customer service ambassadors' were on hand at both stations to assist passengers and answer any questions.
Children excitedly look through a Mickey Mouse-shaped window on a Disneyland Resort line train on August 1, 2005. Photo: Dustin Shum
By 8pm, 18,500 passengers had used the line, which will be able to carry 10,800 passengers an hour when the park opens on September 12.
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