D&M readers know well Michael20183 as he is the one who have provided to the world all last year great monthly video updates of the construction of Grizzly Gulch. Now that Grizzly Gulch is open for real Michael is back with a new video of a walk-through in the new land and i include as well as a new POV video of Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars filmed by bblamlam1997331! Don't miss them!
Videos: copyright michael20183, bblamlam1997331
Friday, July 6, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
Hong Kong Disneyland Grizzly Gulch Artwork and Model
Now that you've seen all this week pictures of the real thing, i thought it might be interesting to have a look back at Grizzly Gulch original artwork as it was unveiled some years ago at the D23 Expo
For HKDL fans - and all Disney fans - the opening of Grizzly Gulch on July 14 is a good news as not only it will add a brand new land at HKDL - a kind of Frontierland, which was missing until now at HKDL, but also a different one and with a new and unique coaster attraction. Can't wait to discover the town of Grizzly Gulch!
So, how will it look? Well, these last months, you've seen plenty of pictures and videos of the works at Grizzly Trail but i thought that it might be the right time to have a look again at the artwork which was unveiled at the D23 Expo in 2009 as WDI renderings are generally very accurate with the final result. So, you'll find below my 2009 previous article with great pictures shot at that time by Andy Castro whom i thanks again!
One more thing: who will be at HKDL for Grizzly Trail Grand Opening on July 13?
Grizzly Trail will be one of the three new lands of HKDL and with the Grizzly Peak attraction and the Grizzly Gulch town it will be an interesting new version of a "Frontierland" theming. 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 size and explore details.
Here we go for the artwork, and i've also included pictures of the Grizzly Trail model. I've succeeded to have the story line of the Grizzly Peak ride and now the artworks below should be in the right order of the different ride scenes.
This first artwork show the Grizzly Peak entrance. note that the whole area seems to have pine trees all around. When you will enter the entrance of the Grizzly Peak ride, you'll enter the mine company office and the next room will convince you that the mine company is still in operation.
Once you get aboard the mine vehicles, you will first turn underground to explore the mine. Then you're supposed to climb up the Grizzly Mountain through tunnel 8 ( the number means "wealth" in Cantonese ) ...but a bear use the track switch lever to scratch his back, switching the track to lead the mine cars to go to tunnel 4 ( which means "dead" in Cantonese )!
...The tunnel 4 is actually a home of bear family and it seems that you are not welcomed. Before you get attacked, you escape!
More sketches were done for that scene, here they are.
Here is a small maquette of that scene.
Also interesting is the scene small model. Apparently, when the train will turn left in the tunnel 4 it will go down at high speed.
Here is the model of one of the mine vehicles.
Back to the story line: Your journey continue by climbing the Grizzly Mountain. In the pic below you see a steam machine which is pulling the mine cars up to the hill.
...But the wire broken before you reach the peak, so all the mine cars fall backward...
...until you enter a new mine tunnel, which is just ready to explode! Note all the dynamite and "powder" sign at the entrance, it will be important for what will come next...
In this tunnel are a Mother bear and her baby bear trying to steal the fish from the mine workers...and the baby press the TNT detonator accidentally.
The mine cars will then be literally catapulted out of another tunnel thanks to the supposed dynamite blast.
As we will see below there will be lot of little geysers in the Grizzly Trail area, and the cars will go through a geyser area.
Your mine car back to the station, you will see the mother bear and the baby enjoying their dinner. They successfully stole all the fish in the mine. And that's it!
More sketches for the funny "accidental dynamite" sequence. Talking about bears, theese one will be obviously audio-animatronics and i'm curious to know if WDI Imagineers will use the AA skeletons from the former Disneyland Country Bear Jamboree bears...
This next rendering include different elements of the bears scenes all in one artwork.
Next picture shows the Grizzly Peak model with the mine cars going up the first lift.
And this one show - i think - the part of the ride with the two tunnels and dynamite blast.
But there will be more in Grizzly Trail than the Grizzly Peak ride as the small town of Grizzly Gulch will be build. Actually you'll see details of each building and their own stories in the mine town, not only about the Grizzly Mountain mine company itself, but also about the rest of the town. All this will have a Frontierland theming, and for the first time in all Frontierland's history, this one will be full of fun water splash...
...most of them interactive...
...as well as a little geyser area.
Let's end this last HKDL artwork article with more pictures of the model.
For those of you who love WDI artwork i remind you that the Disneyland Paris "From Sketch to Reality book" which will tell you all about the creation of DLP include 250 WDI Artwork (!) and 500 pictures of the park on 320 pages. Have a look at the video below which will show you the whole book!
The book is still available either in its english or french edition and you can still enjoy a 20% discount special offer and the book is now available with an immediate shipping! Reviews from all those who have already received the book are "over the top" so, place your order now for a gorgeous collector's edition copy while the special offer on this wonderful book is still available! To know more about the book and how to order and send your payment please go HERE or use the Paypal one-click purchase button below.
All artwork: copyright Disney - Disney Enterprises.
HKDL Grizzly Gulch Part Three: Geyser Gulch
Grizzly Gulch, Hong Kong Disneyland new land, have an interesting back story: Grizzly Gulch was a newly established western gold town.
In a warm afternoon, a man walked through the forest and saw the bears family, scratching their backs on the rocks. Once the bears were gone, the man found that the rock on which the bears were scratching their backs was shining and shimmering, and that was the first gold found in the gulch. The man develops the site around the mountain into a little town and named it Grizzly Gulch.
Everyone in Grizzly Gulch was thinking that the bears brings luck to them. And they had the rule that nobody could bother the bears. Actually, the bears family is still living in the gulch, which is why you can see them in the ride. You also can see that the town was built from green field within a short period of time, that's why the baby bear is still a baby. May be that's the answer why the buildings in Grizzly Gulch looks so new.
There is a "Welcome Wagon Street" show telling this story and the one of the first man who saw the bears, and below are the videos of it, but before, a Grizzly Gulch walk through video which will show you the whole land.
But Grizzly Gulch is more than a great coaster ride and a mine town, there is also plenty of geysers and we will have a look in this part three on the "water" part of the land. As you can see on the picture above and below, HKDL Imagineers did a great painting job on the geological part of Grizzly Gulch to make sure the colors of the geysers will look like the real one we can find in nature on real and hundred years old geysers.
It looks even more magical and spectacular at night...
Kids will definitely others areas where they'll be able to splash themselves!
One clever idea is the one behind the water battle located inside the town. The water battle is between Blacksmith and Dry Good, and the back story about these buildings is that they were wrongly built on geysers and starts collapsing. To save their business, the owners of these shops pump the underground water and splash each other ( But then, in Geyser Gulch legend, Blacksmith eventually closed his shop and worked for the Big Grizzly Mountain Mining Company).
Here is the Dry Good building, day or night...
And the facade and inside of Blacksmith, facing Dry Good...
As you know Mystic Manor is the next - and highly awaited - attraction to open at HKDL, and it will open next year. It's located next door to Grizzly Gulch and the signs are already in place...
...but the question is: do we see Mystic Manor from Grizzly Gulch? The answer is yes, as you can see on the picture below, and the next one will show you how great is looking the building.
As i told you in the part two a path has been created between Grizzly Gulch and Toy Story Land so the guests can go from one land to another - and this also avoid to have two dead end.
You may have noticed that there is on the fences some posters, all referring to the coming of Mystic Manor next year. I'm sure you would love to see and get these posters in big size, right? Good news, i have them for you and here they are below!
We're not done yet with Grizzly Gulch as the new land is even more magical at night so in the next part we'll have a great report of Grizzly Gulch night pictures! Don't miss it!
AND if you love Disney Parks attraction posters like the ones above i remind you that the fantastic WDI Disney Parks attraction posters book will be released in six weeks or so and that it's still time to pre-order it - and save $15 on the final price - on Amazon.com right HERE.
