Against a majestic backdrop of Lantau Island's mountains, the waters of Penny's Bay, and a facade of soon-to-be-built Sleeping Beauty Castle, The Honourable Tung Chee Hwa, Chief Executive, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, Michael D. Eisner, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and Robert A. Iger, President of The Walt Disney Company, addressed an audience of more than 400 guests.

Hong Kong Disneyland will sit on a spectacular 126-hectare (310-acres) site on North Lantau Island and will include a Disney theme park and two hotels and retail, dining and entertainment experiences -- all designed to delight the millions of families who will visit each year.

"This is a historic day for both The Walt Disney Company and Hong Kong," said Eisner. "As we stand on this spectacular site, the promise of our partnership with the Hong Kong Government to bring a world-class Disney theme park resort destination to the people of Hong Kong has never been more clear. This project represents another important step forward as the company brings our classic Disney stories and characters to the most populous nation in the world."

Over the past 18 months, the Hong Kong Government has been completing land reclamation and building the preliminary infrastructure and road work that will support the entire Hong Kong Disneyland resort. Walt Disney Imagineers have been working on the theme park for the past two years with preliminary designs taking place at Imagineering's headquarters in California. The design work has been supported by local Hong Kong architectural firms and has recently been transferred to Hong Kong in preparation for the construction.

The size and remote location of the project add to the complexity of the construction process as Disney and the Hong Kong Government must create new infrastructure, roads and support systems at the early stages of construction to accommodate the thousands of workers and activity taking place on site. To create the theme park resort project, the site will have 57 kilometers (35 miles) of pipeline, 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) of cable, 1,000 manholes, and 2 million cubic meters (2.5 million cubic yards) of topsoil created solely to support the extensive landscaping on the site.

In addition to preparing for the initial phases of theme park construction, the Hong Kong Disneyland's operation team is actively hiring locally for key management positions over the next six months to build the organization that will run the theme park resort. Additional hiring of Cast Members (Disney's term for employees), will take place throughout the next few years, with the vast majority of hiring up to 5,000 Cast Members taking place by the end of 2004.

"We have never been more confident in Hong Kong or the potential success of Hong Kong Disneyland," said Iger. "Hong Kong is an even stronger tourism market than it was back in 1999, when we first announced this project, and its potential for growth is outstanding. We are thrilled to be a part of Hong Kong's future as we begin to bring to life Disney's first theme park in China at this one-of-a-kind setting on Lantau Island."

The groundbreaking ceremony began with a fanfare of trumpeters announcing the appearance of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Goofy on stage from within the Sleeping Beauty Castle. The show proceeded with a traditional Chinese Eye-Dotting, Lion Dance with famed action star and Hong Kong Tourism Ambassador, Jackie Chan cheerfully leading the spectacle. The traditional shovels in the ground kicked-off the beginning of the Grand Finale with dancers, singers, and a special appearance by Jiminy Cricket -- accompanied by streaming fireworks and starburst banners falling from the castle towers. The ceremony culminated with 34 classic Disney characters marching out onto the stage -- delighting the audience -- and singing Mickey's Magical Land ... "A wish that holds dreams untold for all who stand in Mickey's magic land ... "

Walt Disney Imagineering is the master planning, creative development, design, engineering, production, project management and research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company. Its talented corps of Imagineers is responsible for the creation -- from concept initiation through installation -- of all Disney resorts, theme parks and attractions, real estate developments and regional entertainment venues. It is headquartered in Glendale, California.

The Hong Kong Disneyland project was announced in November 1999 as a venture between The Walt Disney Company and the Hong Kong Government. With the completion of reclamation for Hong Kong Disneyland Phase I by the Hong Kong Government in December 2002, Disney will begin construction in January 2003 with the project scheduled to open in 2005/06. 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 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.