HIGH-TECH ADVENTURE: Fantawild's first high-tech theme park in Wuhu, Anhui Province, offers thrill rides incorporating its expertise on special films and 4D theaters (COURTESY OF FANTAWILD)

Spirits were high in Wuhu, an old industrial city in east China's Anhui Province, as fun-seeking crowds descended on Fantawild Adventure Theme Park during the National Day holiday. More than 165,100 visitors—a record for the park and a 25-percent year-on-year increase—rode thrill rides, ate fun foods and enjoyed interactive games and stage performances.

Fantawild fills its theme parks—four are operational and five will launch soon in China—with independently developed content and technology. From its cartoons, animated films and digital games to its 3-D imaging technologies, all are on display at Fantawild's fun themed centers.

Fantawild's success has to do with its ubiquitous presence throughout the entire entertainment industrial chain. It operates a program network for its cartoon serials, cooperating with more than 50 TV channels; it produces special-effect films for its 3-D or 4-D cinemas and theme parks. And these cinemas and theme parks, in turn, serve as advertising platforms for its content.

Now a heavyweight in applying hi-tech solutions to the entertainment industry, Fantawild Holding has exported more than 20 special films and 10,000 minutes worth of animated content, and built more than 70 4-D theaters with cylindrical screens in European and Asian markets, in addition to its flagship theme park operations.

In 2009, Fantawild's combined contributions made up 46 percent of its parent conglomerate's total profit (Fantawild is owned by Huaqiang Holdings), although its revenue was less than 10 percent of the total.

The company also has namesake theme parks in Iran, Ukraine and South Africa.

4G theme park network

Like Disney and Universal Studios parks, Fantawild is a fourth-generation theme park focusing on visitor participation, interaction and overall experience, said Shang Linlin, Vice President of Fantawild.

"The experience is more like an adventure, which tickles all your senses," she said. "The Fantawild Adventure Theme Park—the company's first try at a theme park—has brought the company and the city of Wuhu win-win results."

The Shenzhen-based Overseas Chinese Town Holdings invested in three theme parks—Window of the World, Splendid China and Happy Valley—but these consist of only equipment-based thrill rides and less intricate landscapes. Fantawild's theme parks, enriched by the company's animated content, are more like Disney parks.

Fantawild's technology is "as good as Disney's, if not better," said Shang.

"It is the company's ultimate goal to match and surpass Disney in every facet imaginable," said Liang Guangwei, President of Huaqiang Holdings.

Launched in October 2007, the park of 1.25 million square meters has turned Wuhu, a small city with less than 700,000 residents, into a tourist magnet, drawing in about 2 million tourists every year. And the city, a 90-minute ride from both Jiangsu's provincial capital Nanjing and Anhui's provincial capital Hefei, now vividly displays Fantawild's technological strength and marketing expertise in theme park operation and derivative product development.

And more tourists will be attracted to the city as Fantawild's latest theme park, Dream Kingdom, will be launched soon. With an area of 700,000 square meters, the new park is expected to have 2.5 million visitors annually. Compared with Fantawild Adventure, the new park is smaller and more animated, focusing more on the interactive experience.

Fantawild's numbers are especially impressive, since it exists in an industry in which 70 percent of China's 2,500 theme parks are now in the red.

"It will boost consumption when visitors from cities three to four hours away stay for a couple of days, dining out and taking advantage of the local shopping scene," Shang said.

The new park is part of Fantawild's ambitious industrial park project in Wuhu. Fantawild will spend 2.5 billion yuan ($373 million) on four production bases for digital films, digital animation, gaming software and cultural derivatives, in addition to the theme park.

The Wuhu industrial park is expected to have the annual research and production capacity to create 20,000 minutes of cartoons and five export-oriented digital films.

For its overseas projects, Fantawild has cooperated with its partners familiar with local cultures, legal and business environments and the managing authorities. As the intellectual copyright holder of core technologies and equipment, Fantawild requires its partners to purchase equipment, just as Disney does. But compared with Disney theme parks, Fantawild's are less expensive. The Johannesburg Fantawild Park in South Africa, which is 770,000 square meters, will cost $250 million and take three years to complete. The Disney project in Shanghai, which is still being discussed, is reportedly worth 40 billion yuan ($6 billion).

"There are only a few cities outside the United States, such as Tokyo, Paris and Shanghai, that can afford a Disney or Universal Studio's park," Shang said.

China became the second country after the United States capable of exporting an entire theme park operation when Fantawild's Iran project, worth about $111 million, was inked in 2007.