In this first article about HKDL new land Grizzly Gulch, we're going to have a look only at the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars ride, from the entrance to the whole queue theming, as well as the bears audio-animatronics scenes. I tried to put the pictures that were sent to me in the right order but it's always difficult when you're far away and never done the ride yourself. Anyway, i did my best and also, some of the pictures are night pictures. All the pictures were shot by either Marco or Keith, whom i thanks again a lot.
There we go, and we begin with the ride building entrance, the one of Big Grizzly Mountain mine company.
The height and health requirement infos at the entrance of Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars.
All the pictures below show the queue decor with antique mine props. Again, i might be wrong in the order of the scenes. According to Marco and Keith the queue is full of great props and details and you can see through a hole the train track under, and hear people on the train screaming as well as bears roarings each time the mine cars are passing underground.
The boarding room, all aboard the mine cars!
The train departure, when it goes out of the mine company building.
Direction: Big Grizzly Mountain mine, and the first scene with the Audio-Animatronics bears.
Moving outside again, with pictures of the train in the lift where a cable is supposed to broke, sending the mine cars backward at high speed.
The train track with some of the little geysers, when the mine cars go backward.
The dynamite boxes that you can see before entering another tunnel with the second scene with the Audio-Animatronics bears.
The second scene with the Audio-Animatronics bears. Note the baby bear who is involuntarily pushing on the dynamite detonator while his mother is trying to catch the fishes.
The catapult launch, thanks to the "dynamite blast"...and a little bit of modern technology.
More track outside before going back to unload in the mine building...
...and the last scene with the Audio-Animatronics bears who finally succeeded to catch the fishes.
If you've missed the POV Video posted yesterday, here it is again. My feeling about this ride is that it will be extremely successful and it was done in a very smart way. You have a bit of Big Thunder for the mine theming, some charming audio-animatronics bears, a bit of Expedition Everest for the backward sequence, and even a bit of Rock and Roller Coaster for the catapult launch. It's just like if WDI Imagineers took the best parts of each ride to create a new one with the addition of the Audio-Animatronics scenes. Keith told me that the ride itself was over his expectations and that the bears are lovely! He liked the look WDI gave to the bears, something between reality and cute plush. Anyway, i think this ride is a major addition for HKDL and will be tremendously successful! Very good job from the Imagineers!
One more thing to end this article, with one of the poster that you can see on the walls of Grizzly Gulch near the Big Grizzly Mountain mine. The poster is here in big size, so click on it to get it in larger scale!
Thanks again a lot to Marco and Keith for their great pictures and in my next article we will explore the town of Grizzly Gulch as there is much more than the ride to enjoy in this land!
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I think the whole attraction is kind of odd.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it looks really good, the ride seems pretty slow moving and short.
The theming details look curiously neat and brand new, especially the paintings and graphic designs. I mean like it's "too clean" to make believe this is an actual mine.
Great ride!
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is a bit short though, Disney should make longer E-Ticket rides, like the original Pirates.
The AA's are nice, a little similar to the country bears without the clothes.
I just didn't like much the symbol of the land from the first picture, it's a bit silly.
The props on the queue are very nice!
Thanks for the great review Alain!
Marco and Parc-O-rama, the ride is not short, it's a 3 minutes + coaster ride and it's probably as long as Big Thunder Mountain or others Disney coasters ride. It's a coaster, it's normal that it last not more than 3 and a half minutes, you can't expect more on this kind of ride.
ReplyDeleteI think that the ride looks amazing and it incorporates a lot of different elements which makes it a really diverse ride, especially because of the elaborate animatronic scenes.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if there will be some kind of soft opening before the 14th?
I agree with you about roller coasters Alain, but it could be something like a roller coaster + dark ride (it has AA's) and be a little longer, but on second thought, I think that in this case it's a normal roller coaster lenght as you said.
ReplyDeleteAnyway I think that all E-Tickets should have at least five minutes; for me the lenght is the only thing that keeps Radiator Springs Racer from being a perfect attraction.
Another great creation from the imagneers. My interest in hong kong Disney just went from zero to moderate. If the phantom manor is as good as this or cars...then hong kong is going to be a very interesting and unique Disney park finally!
ReplyDelete