Week six - Shanghai Disneyland

Why Shanghai Disneyland's spell is wearing off after six months

High prices and subpar service leave visitors disenchanted

SHANGHAI Half a year after its ballyhooed debut, Shanghai Disneyland is struggling to keep the turnstiles spinning as complaints about high prices and disappointing service spread online.

On a clear morning in early December, lines at the gates were almost nonexistent. Gone were the crowds seen around opening day back in June. In the afternoon, electronic signboards showed only short waits -- five to 50 minutes -- for all but the most popular attractions. Workers killed time chatting at deserted gift shops.

Many of the visitors who did make the trip brought in packed lunches and drinks from convenience stores, including thriving shops inside the nearby subway station. Come lunchtime, patrons spread out on benches to eat.

"I heard everything in the park was expensive, so I bought lunch ahead of time," a college student from Jiangxi Province said, adding that she did not plan to pick up souvenirs or gifts.

High prices were the most common complaint among the visitors. Admission runs 370 yuan ($53.50) on weekdays and 499 yuan on weekends and holidays -- sizable sums given the average monthly wage is just under 6,000 yuan even in Shanghai, where people tend to earn more than in other areas. Tokyo Disneyland, by comparison, charges 7,400 yen ($64.30) for a day's admission.

A 26-year-old Dalian woman visiting with friends said she spent over 2,000 yuan, or half a month's wages, on the two-day trip, including lodging and airfare.

"There are plenty of staff around, but they can't even give clear directions," a college student from Hangzhou said, having asked two separate workers for navigational help, to no avail.

Ongoing expansion projects could burnish the venue's appeal. But large-scale renovations are also in store for Disney parks in Tokyo and Hong Kong, creating more competition. If Shanghai Disneyland cannot solve its customer service problem, cultivating repeat customers will remain challenging, limiting growth in admissions.

ＵＲＬ：http://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/THE-HUNT-FOR-HIDDEN-ASSETS/Business/Why-Shanghai-Disneyland-s-spell-is-wearing-off-after-six-months

ＷＨＯ：Shanghai Disneyland
ＷＨＥＮ：December 22, 2016
ＷＨＡＴ：It leave visitors disenchanted
 ＷＨＹ：High prices and subpar service
ＷＨＥＲＥ：Shanghai
ＨＯＷ：It was worse than opening

ＫＥＹＷＯＲＤＳ：
1 spell : 魅力，風潮
2 subpar : 欠佳
3 disenchant : 使清醒
4 struggling : 奮鬥的
5 turnstile : 旋轉門
6 deserted : 廢棄的
7 patrons : 顧客 
8 Jiangxi Province :  江西省
9 lodge : 住宿
10 airfare : 機票
11 Hangzhou : 杭州

12 navigational : 導航,航
13 avail : 裨益
14 venue : 管轄地
15 cultivate : 培養,培育

Week five - unmanned aerial vehicle

  AeroVironment Launches Quantix Commercial Drone System

Unmanned aircraft systems manufacturer AeroVironment kicked off this year’s Drone World Expo in San Jose, California, by unveiling its new commercial Quantix drone and Decision Support System (DSS). The package includes the Quantix drone—a vertical takeoff and landing multirotor, multi-sensor system—with the company's DSS cloud-based analytics platform.

  Quantix is targeting the agricultural, energy and transportation markets, and AeroVironment is offering the system to customers in versions that include hardware only, hardware plus DSS or flight services that the company can provide for customers who don’t want to operate their own drones.

    “We believe this is the first practical, fully integrated solution for the commercial market,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment's president and CEO. “Customers don’t want to be experts at UAV operations and data analysis,” he added, noting that the Quantix drone is designed for long life, reliability and ease of operation. AeroVironment has manufactured tens of thousands of drones operating globally in harsh environments, he said, and has a track record of 45 years in this industry.

  The Quantix drone is equipped with four rotors, two on the ends of a single wing. A central fuselage is fitted with two cameras, one an RGB color camera for photographic image capture and a multispectral sensor with normalized difference vegetation index (NVDI) capabilities. All data is stored on SD cards, which can be removed post flight for local analysis or uploaded to AeroVironment’s DSS.

  Operation of Quantix is automatic. Users interface with the drone via a customized tablet computer, by drawing the flight parameters on the screen. “It’s one-touch planning,” said Quantix product line manager Tom Stone. “If you can draw a box on a screen and push a button, you can fly Quantix. You don’t have to learn how to fly it, how to land it, and it’ll take off automatically, plan the mission automatically, fly that mission automatically, come back and land, and you can take the data card and put it in this tablet and you can look at the results immediately.”

  Quantix is designed to operate from small spaces, thanks to its vertical takeoff and landing capability. The drone’s four rotors pull it straight up into the air, then it transitions to horizontal flight for mapping operations. Elevons on the wing trailing edge are used to control pitch when in horizontal flight mode. Yaw is controlled by varying the speed of the rotors. Endurance is about one hour, and 45-minute flights are typical. For landing, Quantix reverts to vertical mode and touches down on rugged fixtures built into the aft fuselage and wingtips. When power drops, Quantix will automatically return to the departure spot. If power is lost completely, it can glide and land with minimal damage.

  The DSS is a cloud-based, secure, open-architecture analytics toolbox accessible via the Web, according to Nazlin Kanji, AeroVironment's program director of unmanned aircraft systems. “It supports the needs of multiple customers in multiple industries. Technology changes very quickly, and [DSS] allows us to incorporate new technology quickly and make it available to our customers.”

  AeroVironment is not yet releasing pricing information on Quantix, and this will depend on how the buyer chooses to use the system, either by purchasing the hardware and operating the drone or by selecting AeroVironmnet to operate Quantix. DSS analytics packages are available in various forms, either by annual subscription or smaller chunks. AeroVironment also expects that some buyers will use Quantix drones to provide mapping/sensin business services. Quantix will begin shipping in spring 2017.

URL：http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2016-11-15/aerovironment-launches-quantix-commercial-drone-system

Structure of the Lead：
ＷＨＯ：Unmanned aerial vehicle
ＷＨＥＮ：November 15,2016
ＷＨＡＴ：Unmanned aircraft systems manufacturer AeroVironment kicked off this year’s
ＷＨＹ：It can use on everywhere that we original need to use people to do.
ＷＨＥＲＥ： California
ＨＯＷ：It will begin shipping in the spring of 2017.