No Mickey Mouse operation

BRC has its future mapped out in China after a decade spent working on such projects as the Discovery World Theme Park in Taichung and the redevelopment of the Badaling section of the Great Wall prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"Most of our projects here have involved working with regional governments trying to promote themselves and compete for the domestic tourism market, which is a very exciting trend happening now in China," says Lachel. "What we do is try to build a multi-sensory experience around the cultural assets they have to offer.

"The China Aerospace theme park in Hainan is particularly exciting because they want to create a compelling attraction to celebrate their space program, and the (4th national) manned space launch center they are building down there," he says.

The theme park is tentatively scheduled to be finished in 2013-2014, putting it in competition with a new Disneyland resort that will open around the same time in Shanghai.

"I don't believe they will be in direct competition. I believe they will help each other as the Chinese start to see location-based entertainment as a good thing," says Rogers, who graduated from the University of Disneyland. He subsequently won one of two Oscar nominations for a live-action short called Ballet Robotique that he created for a pavilion inside the Epcot center in 1982.

"Everybody in this industry owes a huge debt to the Walt Disney Company," he says.

"Every pavilion at this Expo is better today than its equivalent 50 years ago, and that is because of the influence of Disney. When Disneyland first opened in 1955, it completely redefined what was possible at a public attraction site. Before that, museums were really dull. Las Vegas was just a floorshow."

Rogers says his design team, which is based in Hollywood but opened an office in Shanghai last year, is looking forward to being a part of "the largest entertainment attraction on earth" this spring in Shanghai.

"Expo 2010 is going to redefine how China sees itself. It is a platform for China to re-brand China to itself, and for the US to re-brand itself to China," he said. "The Beijing Olympics was essentially a televised event. It was China re-branding itself to the world.

"On the other hand, 90-95 percent of attendance at the Shanghai Expo will be Chinese. They will see the rest of the world united around China, and the respect and recognition that the country has earned.

"The Chinese authorities and people are going to look at scenic areas, corporate visitor centers and museums after this - and they are going to be building a lot of museums, believe me - and they are going to say, 'Wow, the Expo did this, why can't you do this?' Everyone will step up a level.

"But this is China. This is a time of new beginnings, and BRC is really happy to be a part of it."

A still from the USA pavilion's cinematic centerpiece, "Act 2: The Garden."

(China Daily March 8, 2010)