About 10 foreign national pavilions could remain in Shanghai, said Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng. However, he did not specify which pavilions were on the list. All the foreign pavilions should be dismantled after each World Expo, according to stipulation of the International Exposition Bureau, but Yu said the city could make exceptions. The Hamburg Pavilion is to remain in Shanghai after the German city presented the building to the Shanghai government and will be incorporated into the post-Expo development of the site. Italy is in discussions with organizers on keeping its structure on site and may sign a contract this week. France expressed its wish as early as 2007 to have its pavilion remain in China. But the U.S. Pavilion is unlikely to stay, according to the U.S. Commissioner General to the Expo Jose Villarreal, who cited the rules of organizers.

Chinese visitors voted the USA Pavilion as the most disappointing foreign pavilion at the World Expo 2010, according to a survey released by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The survey was in sharp contrast to one by Millward Brown-ACSR and Ogilvy in January, which found the USA Pavilion was chosen as the venue Chinese people most wanted to see. In the new study, the Pavilion was  seen as having weak high-tech exhibits and eco-friendly concepts. A U.S. media report called the Pavilion “an epic failure of planning” in a report at the beginning of the Expo in May. “More than 70% of respondents said they got more favorable impressions of countries after visiting their national pavilions, but the United States seemed to be an exception. The United Arab Emirates Pavilion was chosen as the favorite foreign pavilion, followed by the Germany and Russia pavilions, according to the survey.

Less than a week after the Shanghai 2010 World Expo closed, the Walt Disney Co signed an agreement with the Shanghai Shendi Group Co to build a Disneyland theme park in the city, officially launching the much-awaited project. Disneyland is regarded as a new engine to power Shanghai’s economy following the World Expo. It is expected that the Disneyland theme park will cost CNY25 billion for the first phase, and start operation in five years. Shanghai Shendi Group Co, a state-owned company registered in August and inaugurated on November 5, will work in a joint venture with Disney to develop the theme park. With registered capital of CNY300 million, Shanghai Shendi has three major shareholders: Shanghai Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone Development Co, Jin Jiang International (Group) Co and Shanghai Broadcasting, Film and Television Development Co. The joint venture still requires final approval from the central government. The Shanghai government established an administrative committee to oversee the 20-square-kilometer site — known as Shanghai International Tourism Resort — which will have Disneyland as a core part. The resort joins Hongqiao Business Park and the World Expo site as the three key areas for development in the city’s 12th Five Year Plan, starting next year. The Shanghai government has already relocated 99% of residents living in Chuansha Town, the planned location for Disneyland. A branch route of Metro Line 11, still under construction, will link to Disneyland from Longyang Road Station, which is also the terminus of the Maglev from Pudong International Airport.

The Shanghai World Expo 2010 closed on October 31 after 184 days. More than 73 million people visited the Expo – a historical record. The Expo also set a record for the largest daily attendance, when more than 1.03 million visitors flocked to the site on October 16. Premier Wen Jiabao declared the Expo formally closed before an audience of 8,000 at the Culture Center. Jean-Pierre Lafon, President of the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE), said the Shanghai World Expo was an “astounding success.” The BIE flag was lowered and handed over by Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng and Hong Hao, Director General of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination to Letizia Moratti, Mayor of Milan,  and Giuseppe Sala, CEO of the Milan Expo 2015. Work is now ongoing to dismantle more than 200 foreign and corporate pavilions. Five structures will remain: the China Pavilion, the Culture Center, the Expo Center, the Theme Pavilions and Expo Boulevard. The United Kingdom Pavilion, the Saudi Arabian Pavilion and the German Pavilion were given the top three golden awards by the Expo Shanghai organizer and BIE. The Belgian Pavilion was sold on the last day of the Expo to a company in Qingdao, which aims to turn it into a window on Belgium. It realized a turnover of about €10 million – from the sales of Belgian beers, chocolate and diamonds – and a profit of €3 million.

More than a million people visited the Expo site on October 16, pushing the total number of Expo visitors to over 64.6 million and shattering the records for daily attendance and the total number of visitors to a single World Expo. Both records were set at the World Expo Osaka in 1970 which had 64.22 million visitors in total and 844,000 on a single day. The Oil Pavilion began asking visitors to stop waiting at 10:30 am on October 16 because waiting times had been estimated at over 12 hours. The waiting time was over 7 hours at the Saudi Arabia, Japan and Germany pavilions in the morning. An official at Pudong International Airport said there had been a marked increase in the number of foreign visitors over the past two weeks. Flights to Shanghai and hotel rooms are almost fully booked as the World Expo prepares to close on October 31 and many people still want to grab the last chance to visit. Expo organizers are expecting the daily attendance to stay above 400,000 visitors until the event ends.