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Hong Kong Disneyland showcases the magic behind its food

Celebrates move of kitchen with sneak peek at Park menu

HONG KONG (August 10, 2004) - The Hong Kong Disneyland Food & Beverage Team marked a major milestone today - the completion of Park menu testing. Having realized its mission, the kitchen will now move from the Chinese Cuisine Training Institute in Pokfulam to the Hong Kong Disneyland site in Penny's Bay on Lantau Island.

Showcasing today's menu are Executive Chef Rudolph Muller and Executive Sous Chef Tony Leung. The menu features a range of dishes from across Hong Kong Disneyland's uniquely diverse food offering, including Dan Dan Noodles, cooked in the style of Southwest Mainland China's Sichuan province, assorted Sushi, prepared in Japanese style, Wonton Noodle Soup, served in authentic Guangdong style and Kashmiri Chicken Curry, cooked in traditional Kashmiri style.

"Dining at Hong Kong Disneyland will be a magical experience, part of the new worlds of fun, fantasy and adventure in our Park," commented Hong Kong Disneyland Group Managing Director Don Robinson. "Inside our restaurants, the food will definitely be the main attraction. Our unrivalled expertise in offering fine food in a fun-filled, family environment will be combined with the unparalleled experience and immense creativity of our Food & Beverage team to develop exciting new menus of diverse foods that are sure to be a hit."

Every day the Hong Kong Disneyland Food & Beverage team will serve meals to tens of thousands of kids and families, primarily within a two-hour mealtime. The food philosophy of the Park is to offer "good food, served fast" and the ability to deliver on this philosophy is part of what makes Disneyland parks the Happiest Places on Earth.

A special feature at Hong Kong Disneyland will be the Children's Menu, specially designed to create a happy atmosphere for younger guests to enjoy their meals. Food on the Children's Menu will be presented in an imaginative manner to create a memorable experience for guests.

"Hong Kong Disneyland's food will do more than bring people together; it will bring whole cultures together," said Klaus Mager, Hong Kong Disneyland Director Food & Beverage. "The Park's menu will feature a unique combination of Western, Chinese and Asian cuisines that will be an integral part of the magical experiences enjoyed by Park guests."

Hong Kong Disneyland's food offering will be a pleasant surprise for local and Asian guests. The Food & Beverage team has carefully designed the Park's menus to feature popular dishes from different parts of Asia - from the Northwest, the Jiangnan region and Guangdong province in Mainland China, to Southeast Asia and Japan. Different kitchens in the Park's various restaurants will feature different styles of cooking, such as Steam Kitchens, which will serve dim sum and steamed dishes, Wok Kitchens, which will serve stir fries, Curry Kitchens, which will serve curry dishes, Noodle Kitchens, which will serve many different kinds of noodles, and BBQ Kitchens, which will serve barbeque dishes like Hong Kong Char Siew Pork and roast pork.

Hong Kong Disneyland's diverse food menus will be offered at eight Park restaurants, three of which will be table service restaurants and five of which will be self-service eateries, totaling 2,900 seats. Each restaurant will be themed to match the unique, immersive atmosphere of its land, behind Hong Kong Disneyland's belief that food is part of the guest experience and of the "magic at work" inside the Park.

Test Kitchen
The test kitchen was set up in October 2003, in cooperation with the Chinese Cuisine Training Institute, to develop Hong Kong Disneyland's menus. The Chinese Cuisine Training Institute provided the facilities for Hong Kong Disneyland's test kitchen and its staff and trainees helped test Hong Kong Disneyland's menu while gaining hands-on experience as junior chefs.

"We'd like to give our special thanks to the Chinese Cuisine Training Institute, which has given us tremendous support by providing consultancy and facilities for our test kitchen," said Robinson. "We were very impressed with the trainees' application of the Disney magic in the kitchen -- creativity and imagination combined with our legendary guest service and attention to detail. We hope that some of them will join the Hong Kong Disneyland family in the future and help us deliver this magic to the people of Hong Kong and Asia."

"We are very happy for the opportunity to participate in the menu planning and test kitchen project of the Hong Kong Disneyland. Our trainees eagerly look forward to being part of the Disney magic when they graduate in the future," said Mr. Lawrence Wong, Director of the Chinese Cuisine Training Institute.

About Hong Kong Disneyland
The Hong Kong Disneyland project was announced in November 1999 as a venture between The Walt Disney Company and the Hong Kong SAR Government. With the completion of reclamation for Hong Kong Disneyland Phase I by the Hong Kong SAR Government, Disney began construction in January 2003 with the project scheduled to open in late 2005/ early 2006. The opening day program for Hong Kong Disneyland will include a Disneyland-style theme park and two hotels. The Phase I build-out includes a projected 10 million annual visitor Disneyland-style theme park, 2,100 hotel rooms, and an area for retail, dining and entertainment. The project is estimated to create 18,000 new jobs at opening (both Disney and other employment) growing to 36,000 once the first park reaches build-out. The Hong Kong SAR Government estimated that the first phase of the project will generate a present economic value of HK$148 billion (US$19 billion) in benefits to Hong Kong over a 40-year period.