In yesterday's article i was asking the question "Will Hong Kong Ocean Park "Polar Adventure" be a serious competitor for HKDL Grizzly Trail ?". Well, although the artwork from the Bezark company looked nice i'm sorry to say that, finally, the answer to the question is: NO. Definitely NO!
Many of my readers - whom i thanks a lot - sent me links to pictures showing the works on this "Polar Adventure" and you'll judge by yourself with the pics below but personally i strongly doubt that the final reality will be anything close to the renderings you saw yesterday. And it's certainly not going to be close to Disney standards. It's not the fault of the Bezark company, it's just that Ocean World is more an amusement park than a real theme park. Also, apparently there is not anymore the “bobsled” coaster that you saw on the Bezark artwork but only a Mack Powered Coaster called the "Arctic Blast" coaster as revealed by Screamscape today.
So, definitely, Hong Kong Disneyland don't have any reason to worry, this Polar Adventure - if it's even still its name - won't take the spotlight away from HKDL Grizzly Trail. However this "Polar Adventure" already hurt HKDL on another project as you have to keep in mind that Disney Imagineers "Glacier Bay" project for HKDL was sacrificed because of this rather looking cheap Polar Adventure. What a shame. But i suppose that it was all about Hong Kong politics, and generally there is nothing we can do when it reach this level.
Okay, here are the pics of the real thing!
Two additional new pics kindly sent to me by Brian, a D&M reader!
Pictures: copyright Ocean Park, Brian Lockhart
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4 comments:
Hahaha, yesterday I thought (seeing the concept art) waw, that looks amazingly good. But seeing the real thing, my God, even the thought that this might hurt HKDL and Grizzly Gulch is an insult :)
Yes it's not as nice compared to the artwork, but it is actually pretty neat in person! Ocean Park is not Disney quality theming, it's more akin to a zoo/theme park.
What it is though I think it does pretty well. From a sheer attraction and attendance standpoint it IS a very serious competitor. It's annual attendance is higher than HK Disney and has skyrocketed with everything they've opened recently.
It seems to me that the Chinese do not embrace Disney with the same passion as Americans and the Japanese...which is understandable given their history...I don't feel like they admire the perfection that Disney strives for in every detail of there Parks. I feel like something is just lost in translation from our culture to theirs if that makes any sense. Like the fantasy of escapism and happiness just isn't the same there. In my opinion its a mistake and miscalculation of Disney to build 2 resorts in China. I'm willing to bet that no matter how great the Chinese Parks are, as it seems like Disney is going all out with Shanghai, they will never match the success of the us and Japanese Parks, although I hope I'm wrong.
The major difference between this park and HK Disney is that this is actually profitable. They do substancially more business on a smaller budget. Very impressive.
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