Sneak peek at HKDL expansion with new Imagineering video !

Hong Kong Disneyland just released an "Imagineering" video about Hong Kong Disneyland expansion. Short but very interesting, almost all the Imagineering scenes were filmed at Glendale, close-up on the three new lands models, etc...



Although HKDL Toy Story Land will be slightly different than the WDS version opening later this year, DLP fans will be very interested by this video showing more of the Toy Story (Play)Land model, whether it's the "Slinky Dog Zig-Zag Spin" ride...



...the giant Rex figure...



...or the "RC Racer" half-pipe coaster.



Also, more pictures of the Toy Story Playland model HERE!

Don't miss this great video!




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All my thanks to Bennett for the Youtube link!

Video: copyright Disney

Hong Kong Disneyland on its way to celebrate the " Year of the Tiger "

Here is a Hong Kong Disneyland update where we'll have a look not only to what happened the last three weeks but also to the upcoming Chinese New Year event.

On January 3rd HKDL Christmas Season ended and so did the new "Lights of Winter" on Main Street where Christmas lights came alive with giant snowflakes carried by performers in alluring winter spirit costumes sparkled all the way to the Sleeping Beauty Castle.



On December 12, to celebrate a significant step in the expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at Hong Kong Disneyland. John Tsang, Financial Secretary of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, and Jay Rasulo - who was still Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts - officiated the ceremony with representatives from the Government, The Walt Disney Company and the Hong Kong community in attendance.



With the announcement of Shanghaî Disneyland seen by some as a threat for HKDL future no need to say that they did a lot of publicity on this groundbreaking ceremony. They announced that the ceremony represented "a major milestone in the Resort’s expansion plan that will create not only new attractions but also 3,700 jobs during the construction phase and 600 new full-time jobs after expansion". Rasulo, in one of his last speech as chairman of WDPR said “Today marks the beginning of another exciting phase for Hong Kong Disneyland. The new themed areas will showcase the best in creativity, technology and story-telling. The planned attractions and rides will position our youngest Disney theme park for future growth and success.”

On his own, John Tsang said that a larger park with more attractions "will continue to draw the crowds and provide even more fun and excitement for visitors". Let's hope that everything will work as they wish, they have five more years before SDL opening to prove it.

Good news is that expansion work will begin immediately on the primary infrastructure and road work that will support the construction of the three themed areas. Two of the three themed areas, “Grizzly Gulch” and “Mystic Point” will be exclusive to HKDL for the first five years after their respective openings in 2012 and 2013. And the third, “Toy Story Land” opening in 2011 will also be exclusive but only within Asia as we know the same land open this year at the WDS.



But one of the most important event of the year in China will take place soon as the "Year of the Tiger" is expected to begin on Februray 14th. The Chinese New Year is an incredible event not only in China but all around Asia and it's hard for occidental people to imagine how important that date is. In fact, the Chinese new year marks the beginning of the "energetic year" with the very beginning of the "energy of the spring". In the Chinese tradition, the spring don't begin on March 20th but on the second new moon of the year. It's the time - and they are right - where what is called the "energy of the spring" - linked to the "wood" element begin, the end of the "winter energy", and the real date of the re-birth of a new year. This is not very known in Occident and this is why i give you this little explanation.

To come back to HKDL, the marketing office released the program of the event and here it is:

From February 5 to 28, Mickey, Minnie and other Disney Characters will put on their new festive costumes to wish Guests the best of luck in the New Year. The Park will delight Guests with the all-new Disney’s Jumping Jam and the popular Celebration in the Street on Main Street U.S.A. As they visit the different themed lands in the Park, Guests will discover the all-new Lucky Trail, and find festive Chinese New Year merchandize as well as all kinds of delicious cuisine.

Reach new heights with Disney’s Jumping Jam!
The all-new Disney’s Jumping Jam will take Guests to new heights every day as they enjoy this breathtaking, highly interactive drum and acrobat show at the castle hub (picture on the top). Mickey will lead drummers and acrobats in festive costume to drum and jump to high energy music on a spectacular 360 degree circular stage in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle. Mickey will also invite Guests to clap along with the performers, while Tigger will make an appearance at the end of the show to ‘jump-start’ the Year of the Tiger with everyone!

Bring home the best of luck for the New Year
The popular Lucky Trail will bring even more good luck with its brand new look this year. Eight Disney Characters figurines will be featured in gorgeous floral settings symbolizing Happiness, Wealth, Longevity, Romance, Success in Studies, Family Harmony, Achievement, and Prosperity. Before embarking on the journey along the lucky trail, Guests can pick up a Lucky Trail Sticker Card at the Sticker Card Collection Counter. Guests can collect special edition stickers for luck as they take pictures with the Disney Characters.

Greetings from Disney Characters in new Chinese New Year costumes
Throughout the Park, Disney Characters will be proudly wearing their brand new Chinese New Year costumes and wishing everyone a lucky Year of the Tiger! Mickey and Minnie will capture the spotlight with their stylish Chinese New Year outfits, specially designed by superstar Kelly Chen, thanks to her inspiring taste in fashion.



Celebration in the Street brings festive fun to everyone!
A high spirited start to the Chinese New Year will begin with the Celebration in the Street on Main Street U.S.A., where Mickey will lead Chinese Drummers in an energetic drum routine to welcome the New Year. This colorful procession also features a magnificent golden dragon along with an elaborate display of giant puppets, fantastic costumes, and more. Guests will get into the New Year spirit as Minnie presents a beautiful fan dance and Goofy dresses up as Disney’s God of Fortune!

Main Street U.S.A. will also be filled with other live entertainment throughout the day, with traditional and modern Chinese New Year-themed performers including Drummers and Lion Dancers spreading joy and happiness everywhere.

Hong Kong Disneyland will be decked out with traditional Chinese New Year decorations in festive colors to welcome the Year of the Tiger. When strolling around the Park, Guests may run into the Gods of Longevity, Happiness and Prosperity, or become the lucky recipients of Chocolate Laisee!



Exquisite Chinese New Year cuisine and merchandise for additional luck!
Hong Kong Disneyland will offer a complete Chinese New Year celebration experience with delicious specialty food items from traditional Chinese snacks to the most elaborate sit-down dinner, available throughout the Park and at the two Disney-themed hotels. Guests can bring home the best of luck with Chinese New Year merchandise including toys, clothing, sweets and accessories, and Year of the Tiger souvenirs. Guests should look out for limited edition merchandise including clothing and accessories especially designed by super star Kelly Chen! (end of the press release)

If you're planning to attend the Chinese New Year event at HKDL it's of course a very good idea as the happening and fireworks should be pretty spectacular. No doubt that the park will release new pictures of the New Year's event in February and i'll be pleased to post them as soon as available.

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All pictures: copyright Disney - Hong Kong Disneyland

D23 EXPO Special Report : Hong Kong Disneyland Mystic Point Artwork

If you are a Disney and more fan reader you know how much i love artwork. in fact you can find on Disney and more and on Disney and more Artwork what is probably the biggest collection of Theme Park artwork - mostly Disney theme parks - on the web.

So, when i saw last friday all these beautiful Hong Kong Disneyland artwork that were display at the D23 Expo, and as photographers were allowed in the Disney Parks and Resorts pavilion, i asked Andy Castro if he could go back and shoot again pictures of the renderings in the best possible photo quality.

Andy did a great job, i enhanced them a bit to have them even more perfect, and here they are. We will begin by Mystic Point and Mystic Manor, a brand new ride - which looks very promising. I've also included new pictures of the models and my own comments on the renderings.

Soooo, Mystic Point will be one of the three new lands of HKDL and when Mystic Manor will open it will be probably an "instant classic" attraction. Before i go further i want to warn you that there will be major spoilers all along the article. If you don't want to know anything about the storyline, this is definitely not the right article! Also, click on each pictures to see them in big and explore details.

In the story line that WDI Imagineers imagined, the Manor owner is an explorer called Lord Henry Mystic, a member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers. If you remember well, Harrison Hightower III, the owner of the Hightower building at Tokyo Disney Sea - i.e the Tower of Terror - was also part of the same society. At HKDL action is supposed to be in 1908 and Lord Mystic is still alive and exploring the world. He is inviting us to this remote outpost in the Jungle. Mystic has a friendly companion, a monkey called Albert.



In the first scene above Henry Mystic will appear and warn us that a new artifact - a box - that he just bring back from one of his expeditions is supposedly enchanted and must be open very carefully.

We will then enter the loading room and board in the attraction vehicles which, let's remember it, are not omnimovers like in the Haunted Mansion and will be able to move in any directions or even spin.



Albert the monkey is intrigued by the box and will try to open it. And when he does, just like the box of "Pandora", the forces inside the box will be unleashed. A mysterious smoke will get out of it and will start to take over the different rooms. All the artifacts that guests will see in all the rooms will suddenly and magically come to life.



Inside the next room - the Music room - music instruments will start to come to life. I won't be surprised if we find in this room some Haunted Mansion effects - remember the piano who play by itself in the doors corridor?



The Greco-Roman Mediterranean room will be the next one, and statues or paintings will suddenly be alive. Here too, Imagineers can use improved Haunted Mansion effects, and we should probably have audio-animatronics for the "live" statues.



In the next room, the "Nordic Chamber" , expect a cold temperature when the Vikings will come alive!



Scene seven, "The Armory", should be more frightening with suits of armors coming alive - hi again to another Haunted Mansion effect - arms trying to chop towards us and even canons will blast at us, allowing the Imagineers to take advantage of the spin motion of the ride vehicle that will spin away like if we've been hit for real. When i look at the blast effect in the rendering it reminds me the "ring of smoke" effect used in the Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull attraction at Tokyo Disney Sea, and i won't be surprised if they use the same effect for the canon blast.



Egyptian Mummy lovers should be delight with the next room - the Egyptian room - where we can expect mummies coming alive and interesting special effects on the Egyptians bas-reliefs.



The next scene is called "The Tribal Room" and there is two renderings for it. The first one below is not only a dramatic scene with the "lava" statue but is also interesting on other points. If you look at the left of the artwork you will see a Tiki room tribute with not only Tikis masks but also a Tiki drummer , exactly the same one that we can see in the Disneyland beloved attraction. If you look at the right part of the artwork you'll see other tribal masks who obviously are throwing darts. i bet you that Imagineers will use the same effect used in Indiana Jones Adventure when you go through the "dart" room, just before the scene with the huge rolling ball.



The second rendering seems to confirm what i've just said - but Albert the monkey have more difficulties to escape the darts and arrows...



In scene 10 - the Chinese room - a monkey king statue which stands in its center will come alive and create a turbulent vortex, like a tornado. Four vehicles will join together and, due to the tornado wind effect, will begin to spin in an amazing choreography. At this point Albert the monkey understand that if he doesn't stop all this hell he will be in trouble forever...



In the final scene Albert will try desperately to close the enchanted box. Of course, at the last second he will succeed and bring everything back down to normal. Right after that, Lord Henry Mystic will pop up and say "Hi everybody, i hope you enjoyed your trip, i'm sure there was no problem with any of the artifacts and that everything is fine. Please come back and visit again when you're in the neighborhood!".



Looks like an instant classic attraction, doesn't it? Personally, i can't wait for its opening which unfortunately seems to be schedule for 2013.



Let's have a look at other Mystic Manor artwork and model pictures beginning by the ride vehicle design researchs.









































Let's end with two more pictures with the "big" model of Mystic Manor.





The story line of the attraction as described above is coming from an Imagineer video interview that you can see on Youtube HERE. The technical aspects are my own speculations.

All artwork: copyright Disney - Disney Enterprises.

Important Note: Due to the quality of the pictures above, i want to remind you as it is written on the "terms of use" page that, in the event you download any material from The Disney and more blog, the download of the material, including any files or images must be for your personal, non-commercial home use only. You may not and cannot sell, print or reproduce in any way any material downloaded from The Disney and more blog, and specifically any material copyright Disney , Walt Disney company or any other companies.


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Hong Kong legislative council approved Hong Kong Disneyland expansion plan

Hong Kong legislative council approved today the Hong Kong Disneyland expansion plan...but the government insists to build Toy Story land, and claims that the concept art disclosed last month were not the final version.

Right now the president, Mr. Kam, is doing his press conference, and i will let you know about it later as soon as infos will be available.

Edited 5.05 PM Paris Time: According to my D&M Correspondant in Hong Kong "In his press conference, Andrew Kam welcomed the result of the council's approval. The content of the press conference was "really crap", but they hang behind him new concept arts of the three lands.

It seems that Mr. Kam did not really know the timeline of the opening of the new attractions, he just said the design is still in progress. When asked when the first new land will open, Andrew Kam answered it would be 2 and 1/2 year from now, while claimed the construction work will begin later this year.

So strange that they are not going to build TSL as soon as possible to fill the gap without new addition of rides in 3 and 1/2 years."

So, it seems that NEW renderings were shown this morning. I'll try to check this and if i can find images to post them here.

Edited 3.10 PM Paris Time: Reuters press agency confirms that HK lawmakers approved the $468 mln Disneyland expansion. Here is Reuters text:

HONG KONG, July 10 (Reuters) - Hong Kong lawmakers approved a government plan on Friday to spend HK$3.63 billion ($468 million) expanding the city's Disneyland theme park with Walt Disney (DIS.N), boosting the smallest of Disney's five resorts.

With attendance falling short of targets, the government has been seeking ways to boost the number of visitors in the long term, given the threat from a rival Disney theme park planned for Shanghai.

Hong Kong will convert a significant amount of its HK$6.89 billion outstanding loan to the park into equity, while Walt Disney will invest HK$3.5 billion to help finance the construction cost and also convert its outstanding HK$2.76 billion loan to the theme park into equity. [ID:nHKG53329]

After Disney's new investment and Hong Kong's debt-to-equity swap, Hong Kong's stake in the park will fall to 52 percent from 57 percent. (Reporting by Nerilyn Tenorio and Alison Leung; Editing by Dan Lalor) ($1 = HK$7.75) (End of Reuters text)

Edited 4.47 Pm Paris Time: here is the new Hong Kong Disneyland official announcement:

The Hong Kong SAR Government and The Walt Disney Company Applaud The Legislative Council’s Approval of the Hong Kong Disneyland Expansion Plan

The Hong Kong SAR Government and The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) today applaud the Legislative Council’s approval of the financial arrangement relating to the Hong Kong Disneyland (HKDL) expansion plan. Three new themed areas will be added to HKDL, bringing the total number of attractions, entertainment, and interactive experiences at the resort to over 100 by 2014 and further establishing Hong Kong as one of the world’s premier international family tourist destinations.

Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang commented that, "HKDL, as an important tourism infrastructure, has brought substantial economic benefits to Hong Kong. With the proposed expansion and realignment of the financial arrangements, we believe that HKDL would rise up to the keen competition in the region on the tourism front, attracting more family visitors from round the world. This will generate streams of benefits to our tourism and related sectors, further reinforcing the tourism industry’s contribution as a major pillar of Hong Kong’s economy."

"We are pleased that the financial agreement relating to the HKDL expansion has been approved and we are eager to begin work on this exciting new chapter for Hong Kong Disneyland," said Jay Rasulo, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. "This substantial investment represents our continued commitment to and confidence in Hong Kong Disneyland and solidifies our partnership with the Hong Kong government helping assure the resort’s long-term success."

He continued, "This expansion will further enhance HKDL’s position as a world-class family tourist destination, provide immediate and long-lasting benefits to Hong Kong and add unique and thrilling new experiences for our Guests."

The new offerings, designed to significantly add to the overall Guest experience at HKDL, are expected to open in phases over a five year period. Work is expected to commence later this year, spurring the local Hong Kong economy by creating more than 3,700 jobs in terms of man-years in Hong Kong from 2009 to 2014, including 850 expected within the first year of construction. After the completion of the expansion, the project will continue to serve as a major economic driver with HKDL adding approximately 600 new positions, and bringing the total number of HKDL Cast Members to more than 5,500.

Two of the three new themed areas, "Grizzly Trail" and "Mystic Point," will be exclusive to HKDL for the first five years after their respective openings. The third, "Toy Story Land," will be exclusive within Asia for the first five years after opening.

Under the approved plan and current business projections, TWDC would contribute approximately HK$6.25 billion in new capital and debt conversion and the Hong Kong Government would convert a like amount in debt principal and interest. The Hong Kong Government would retain the majority ownership of 52 percent in the joint venture and TWDC would own the other 48 percent.

(End of HKDL text)

Also, you may remember that in the "Glacier Bay" case - see previous article - the proposed land was banned by Hong Kong officials because of the similar "Polar Adventure" land currently being built at Ocean Park, Hong Kong other theme park, partly owned by....hong Kong Government.

No Glacier Bay artwork is available, but i found for you some concept-arts of this future Ocean World's Polar Adventure, so at least we can have a look to the rival project. Click on the image below to see it in big size.



Picture: copyright Ocean World

Text: Copyright Reuters.com

Hong Kong Disneyland Expansion Plan: What happened to "Glacier Bay" ?

Last Tuesday the WDC announced officially the awaited expansion plan for Hong Kong Disneyland. The least i can say is that the announcement provoked mixed reactions. Most of you think that Grizzly Trail and Mystic Manor looks "interesting" but it seems that almost everybody - including me - think that Toy Story Playland doesn't have its place in a Magic Kingdom.

Now, let's think about all this objectively. As Honor Hunter of Blue Sky Disney explained it wisely yesterday we should not make our opinion only from the TSP rendering. I can admit that if we look at the rendering it may look not-that-great but i also trust WDI imagineers ability to create a good theming.

For me, and even if i think that Toy Story Playland will fit well at Paris WDS but that it's a mistake for HK Magic KIngdom, the problem was also somewhere else. When i looked at the expansion map, i could not stop thinking: "How the hell are they going to do the transition between the Toy Story Playland theme and Mystic point, the next land?". Imagineers can do miracles, okay, but in this case, frankly, i don't know how they will achieve a smooth, logical transition... And the more i was thinking about this, the more i had the feeling that something went wrong somewhere .

And it's at that point that i've received the email below from a HKDL super fan and Disney and more reader:

"Dear Alain,

it's never too late to save the HKDL's expansion project.

From today's HK newspaper, it tells that during the negotiation process, WDC required the HK Government to share all the costs of designing and planning, which includes the WDI's brainstorming for the rides and attractions. And HK Government refused to pay for that cost until finalized. From the same source, the abandon plan Glacier Bay was mentioned. The Government met Jay Rasulo in April, 2009, a month after HKDL fired WDI (if you remember those news), which means there is no one worked for the expansion plan at that time.

EDIT 7/3: In fact Disney NEVER intended to reduce production cost, they just wanted that the HKG could share the design cost! But HKG refused, and it seems that at that time Disney had already proposed 8 or 10 ideas to HKG. So Disney proposed the existing TSL plan after HKG banned Glacier Bay for the last time.

"Because the HK government did not willing to pay the designing cost and WDC needed to save those costs, WDS’s finished plan, the Toy Story Playland was given to the government when they asked WDC to give more ideas other than Glacier Bay.

More than that, according to the document of the plan, point 25 at page 5 (http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr08-09/engl...1-2090-1-e.pdf) it says that WDC will finalize the designing work for the expansion project after the agreement is approved by Legislative Council of Hong Kong at 8:30am 10th July 2009. (You may find that no timeline was given, because the deal has not made at this moment.) This means the designing work hasn't been finished yet. Everything still can be changed. Well, Even they won't cancel that Toy Story Land, at least, they can put more rides or a Toy Story Mania in that land.

So, buddy! Hong Kong Disneyland needs your help now! You can pass your idea to the following e-mail. That person below is responsible for the expansion project. More opinions they get, the higher possibility they will alter their plan. Please....HKDL needs your help! Toy Story land cannot locate in Magic Kingdom Style Park!! And we don’t want any more clones here!

BC Lo
Hong Kong Disneyland
B.C.Lo@disney.com

Tasia Filippatos
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Tasia.Filippatos@disney.com

Thanks!"

At first i thought: "Damn, the resistance is getting organized over there!" And then i saw these words: "Glacier Bay".

Glacier Bay? What is this? Was it this "snow-covered mountain" that rumors were talking about before the official announcement? So i asked this dear reader if he could send to me this HK newspaper article, just to try to understand what happened.

May be i'm not right in what will follow, so don't take my words for the truth, but here is my vision of this incredibly complicated HKDL case: The first thing we must keep in mind is that the Shanghaî Disneyland project is without any doubt the top priority project for the WDC. Alas, there is already a Disney theme park in China, and one which is not doing very well. Hong Kong do have a special status in China, but even if HK have its own government, it's part of China anyway and controlled by Beijing Central Government. The same Central Government who must give its final approval for Shanghaî Disneyland.

Also, there is no doubt that the opening of a huge Shanghaî Disneyland would be a problem for HKDL if nothing was done to improve the park. Everybody is aware of that, including the WDC and may be they had the feeling that the two cases were linked, in two words that they had to resolve the HKDL problem to help the SDL project to get its final approval. May be. Not sure, but i wouldn't be surprised if it happened like this, Chinese officials can be pretty good chess players...

Then, two years ago, the negotiation began, each camp trying to get the best deal. As i've said previously, Chinese can be incredibly tough negotiators and, although many different projects were proposed to them by the WDC, what happened finally is that the Chinese never give up. May be because they thought that HKDL problem was not their fault and they didn't have to pay for mistakes originally created by the WDC when Michael Eisner was still CEO...or more simply because they didn't want to put any more money.

Then in March, Jay Rasulo played what was probably his last card: the clash. The WDC announced that all imagineers working on HKDL expansion were removed and asked to come back to the U.S. Of course the Chinese officials didn't like it, and it was time for the WDC to calm down the situation and to do a proposal which will give to the Chinese the feeling that they won the game and even more important in China, that they save the face.

After all, the WDC is okay to create unique attractions for HKDL, to pay for them, and as they say in the very interesting PDF file: "To advance and protect the interest of HKD, Government has sought and secured TWDC’s assurance that “Grizzly Trail” and “Mystic Point” will be exclusive to HKD amongst Disney theme parks worldwide and “Toy Story Land” will be exclusive amongst Disney theme parks within the Asian region at the time of their respective opening."

Unique attractions? Let's have a closer look at that: Big Grizzly Mountain Coaster is a mix of the Expedition Everest track with a shape inspired by the one of Grizzly River Rapids mountain, all this with a Frontierland theme. And Mystic Manor have a DLP Phantom Manor re-designed look mixed apparently with a theme coming from the TDS TOT. But Mystic Manor will also have "a trackless ride system which enables vehicles to move “freely” about the attraction as the story unfolds", and i agree that the use of this technology instead of the usual omni-mover is really exciting. Always at Mystic point, the Adventurer's Club Restaurant where i wouldn't be surprised if we found there many artifacts coming from the beloved and now closed Adventurer's Club in Downtown Disney - a possibility which already infuriates WDW fans...

So, yes, objectively, Big Grizzly Mountain Coaster and Mystic Manor will really be HKDL exclusive attractions, but i can't stop thinking that the WDC has been smart and really well played its game with these two "exclusive" attractions.

And then there is Toy Story Playland. If the HK article is right, it seems that this third land was not part of the expansion project three months ago. Instead, another land called "Glacier Bay" was envisioned. According to the HK newspaper article Glacier Bay was replaced almost at the last minute by TSP when Chinese refused to pay the designing cost, and apparently didn't like too the Glacier Bay concept - the HKG thought it wasn't suitable for Hong Kong or Asia market. So, the WDC introduced Toy Story Playland as a replacement of Glacier Bay - after all TSP cost is around 30M $, a not-too-expensive cost for a new land with three attractions and the release of the three Toy Story movies next year will make a great publicity for the land and the Toy Story characters. Also, they can build TSP very quickly and have it ready for probably next year.

So, what happened to "Glacier Bay"? What would have been its theming and attractions? From what one of my HK correspondent have heard about it, "Glacier Bay theme had something like a scientists base... You would have take a train to go the laboratory, which goes from the outdoor area to an indoor air-controlled area to simulate the north pole. There will even be real snow flake in some scenes when the train pass by. The "U-shape" TSP half-pipe coaster was still there, but with a theming as skiing... The base of the mountain was very huge and it would have been the very first indoor land that Disney has ever built in a Disney theme park. It seems that one of the other reasons why the HK government banned this theme is that Ocean Park - Hong Kong first theme park - will use a similar theme with roller coaster, which was announced a year ago."



Mind you, there is also another HKDL project that HK government supposedly didn't like the theme, and it's the famous Pirates of Caribbean land. There, it's really a pity, as it would have been great. The Pirates of Caribbean attraction would have been more themed on the Jack Sparrow movies, with a kind of "Splash Mountain" fall at the end, simulating the "At World's end" scene when they search Jack Sparrow to the end of the world and drop from the huge waterfall. Also included in that land was a pirate-themed Haunted Mansion, and may be even a Fantasmic! show. No need to say that the cost of this land was of course very high.

Will this POTC land come later at HKDL? I wouldn't count on it. Or may be at Shanghaî Disneyland? When i will have the answer to these questions, i will let you know.

EDIT 7/2: Talking about Shanghaî Disneyland, Laughing Place.com reports that Bob Weis, executive vice president, creative, Walt Disney Imagineering, will be the creative lead for the in-development Shanghai Disneyland Resort, Weis will lead all creative and master planning activities for the Shanghai park, including hotels, retail, dining and entertainment development. Bob Weis is brilliant, so this is an excellent news for SDL.

Picture and Artwork: copyright Disney

Michael Crawford of Progress City USA wrote another interesting article about HKDL, you can read it HERE

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