By Sun Zhe

A Happy Valley theme park was opened in Shanghai's Songjiang district yesterday even as many people wait to see whether Disneyland's planned park will get government approval in the same city.

Happy Valley would not pose any real competition to Disneyland which is awaiting approval from Beijing before work begins, a Beijing-based tourism analyst said.

Happy Valley's most loyal customers are young people between 13 and 25, while Disneyland is more child-oriented, the analyst said.

It is the first theme park operated by OCT Enterprises Co (OCT) in the city. The company opertates Happy Valley parks in Shenzhen, Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai.

OCT, which opened its first theme park in Shenzhen in 1992, is China’s No. 1 theme park operator in terms of visitor numbers. The OCT parks in total received 132 million visitors by the end of 2008.

There are some 2,500 theme parks in China, only 10 percent of which are making money, while 70 percent are losing money, according to China Economic Times.

"Other theme parks may remain the same over three years, while Happy Valley is always seeking change, that's why OCT is opening new parks when others are closing down," the analyst said.

Revenues for the first half of 2009 was 1.3 billion yuan ($190.3 million), up 67 percent year-on-year.