DISNEYLAND Hong Kong said Thursday (Sep 8th) it won't cut its daily maximum capacity of 30,000 people despite complaints of large crowds and long queues from visitors during rehearsal days.

Many of the 29,000 visitors who visited Disneyland Hong Kong for a charity day last weekend complained of excessively long queues to enter the park and get on rides, and critics have urged Disney to reduce its maximum daily capacity, local newspapers reported.

But a Disney spokeswoman, Esther Wong, said the company is "confident we can manage peak day attendance in the future and have designed our marketing and sales plan to manage attendance at Disneyland Hong Kong throughout the year."

Earlier, Disney said it was considering extending opening hours and adding more shows at the park - due to open Monday - as Hong Kong's financial chief expressed concern about the large crowds when the park is operating at its capacity.

The park, a joint venture between Hong Kong and the Walt Disney Co., is expected to draw 5.6 million people in its first year of operation, with mainland Chinese tourists accounting for about one third of that number.

But mainland travel agents said ticket sales for Disneyland Hong Kong were as poor as the long queues and expensive hotel rates were driving mainland tourists away, the South China Morning Post reported.

A survey released Wednesday by the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong showed that about three out of 10 people who had visited Disneyland Hong Kong said they wouldn't go back.

Editor: Wing