Shanghai Disneyland 'may open by 2012'

SHANGHAI: Mickey Mouse and his friends could be welcoming visitors to the city's own Disneyland as early as 2012, a Hong Kong newspaper reported over the weekend.

The theme park, with an estimated cost of 40 billion yuan ($5.8 billion), will be located on the east bank of Shanghai's Huangpu River, bordering Pudong district's Chuansha town and Nanhui district, Wen Wei Po quoted an unnamed source close to Shanghai government as saying.

Shanghai Disneyland, 20 minutes' drive from Pudong International Airport, will be eight times larger than the one in Hong Kong - the first in China.