As i've told you, i was at Hong Kong Disneyland last week, and i have plenty of pictures for you showing the park at "present" time. But in this first update i will talk about HKDL future and thanks to a great video of michael20183 you will even see how the works are going on on the three awaited attractions.
But before i tell you the latest news, here are some pictures shot inside the "Magic Continues Preview Gallery". Note that it's pretty dark in there and not so easy to shoot good pictures without a tripod, but i did my best... The first picture above show the Opera House building in which are The Art of Animation and the Preview Gallery. Below, the model of the three new areas, which was shown previously at the former D23 Expo.
The two next pictures show renderings for the Grizzly Mountain coaster in Grizzly Gulch, but on the second picture, the last rendering on the bottom right was not shown at D23 (if i'm right).
Another picture showing interesting renderings for Grizzly Gulch.
One of the other new areas will be Mystic Point but the first to open will be Toy Story Land, and the next two pictures show the model of TSL and renderings. These are interesting as they show decor elements that were not in the first Toy Story Land which opened at the WDS last year. Which mean that, although the three main rides will be identical, not everything will be the same between the HKDL version and the WDS one.
In Fantasyland, near Adventureland entrance, HKDL guests can't miss this Toy Story Land announcement located where will be the future access to Toy Story Land.
So, "the toys are coming" for sure but when exactly will be Toy Story Land opening, you ask? Well, from what i've been told Toy Story Land is almost ready to open, the testing of rides are now in progress and hopefully TSL will be on schedule. Apparently HKDL wants to join Christmas event with the grand opening of Toy Story Land, making the "toys" the christmas gift to HKDL. A bit like what they did with the celebration of HKDL 5th anniversary and Chinese New Year events together early this year.
The "Sparkling Christmas" will kick off on November 17 and the official opening of TSL might be at that time although i won't be surprised if there was some soft openings before that date. Talking about Christmas, as the floats of Disney on Parade are retired a new not-full-length Christmas parade will be performed on Main Street this year.
Grizzly Gulch will be the next to open next year (with Mystic Point opening in 2013), and the news i have is that the opening date would be in the first half of 2012. More details about this soon.
Other news about HKDL with the upcoming Halloween season, always one of the best Halloween theming in a Disney Park. This year, in "Haunted Halloween", HKDL will have a new host, or we might call him "intruder": the dark knight Headless Horseman. A new haunted house featuring the Headless Horseman will replace Demon Jungle in Adventureland. The backstory of this new haunted maze is about an entrepreneur and his world-travelling circus who came to a village of Adventurers. To boost the attendance, the entrepreneur claims he found the head of the world famous Headless horseman, causing the revenge of the real dark knight. The story takes place in a circus, so guests will go through the backstage like dressing room, the stage and of course, the forest. This haunted maze will also pay tribute to Haunted Mansion's Madame Leota with projecting heads inside crystal balls. The Headless Horseman and his horse will also join the Pre-Parade of Glow in HKDL Halloween Parade this year. Finally, the Haunted Hotel and Space Mountain "Ghost Galaxy" will also stay in the new Halloween season. Haunted Halloween should begin September 15 but it may be postpone a week depending because of the works on the new haunted house. The last news i had seems to confirm that Haunted Halloween will begin on September 22.
And now, here is the promised video showing the works on the three new areas, filmed by michael20183 who is always doing a great job! Many thanks to him!
See you soon for a new HKDL pictorial update!
Pictures: copyright Disney and more
Video: copyright michael20183
Artwork: copyright Disney
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The Halloween there is probably the best in any Disney theme park, they should do the same in Paris and in the USA.
ReplyDeleteNice to hear that they are bringing the Headless Horseman, as The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is one of my favorites Disney animation films.
great update of hk disneyland it going to become better and better every year after the expansions i hope it will get better in the future with more rides. I am so excited about grizzy grutch and mystic manor they both look like e tickets areas even toy story land is not horrible we just need more d tickets attraction around the park but i love this little park and hope it can get better and better!! :)
ReplyDeleteI will book my trip once Mystic Manor opens.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I was a little excited and unnerved at the prospect of a new HKDL Christmas parade. The usual one is not terribly good. So I welcome a new Christmas parade. However, will this come at the cost of the brilliant, Flights of Fantasy? Hopefully, I'll get to see both this year.
ReplyDelete