Hong Kong Disneyland expansion 2018-2023

[peep]

So it's been unveiled that Hong Kong Disneyland will be getting a rather large expansion in the near future...

2018 - Stage in Adventureland for Moana show and Marvel attraction next to Iron man (Ant-Man interactive ride?)
2019 - Castle is getting a massive upgrade
2020 - Frozen themed area at the back of Fantasyland
2023 - Massive Avengers ride next to Iron man where Autopia currently sits

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/800984370991468544

 

[gavin]

I remember reading some rumour about the castle and thinking it must be bollocks.

Wow.

The Autopia space is huge, as is the undeveloped area behind Fantasyland. Easily space for a major attraction in each.

 

[spicy]

I really wish Paris would release a long term plan like this! This picture shows it well:

Apparently costing 10 Billion HK Dollars. Good article here: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/...el-attractions-planned-hk10-billion-hong-kong

Personally I really don't like Marvel going into the 'Disneyland' parks though. I know Hong Kong doesn't have a second gate but I just feel Marvel is so Un-Disney to be in Disneyland. I guess I just associate it with IoA. Still excited to see what they do with it.

I'm shocked they are rebuilding the castle, some serious Shanghai castle envy going on there I think. I have always liked that they recreated Walt's original Cali castle which was a brave move that has clearly back fired if they are demolishing it 12 years on.

 

[gavin]

^ Yeah, it's clearly a reaction to Shanghai's, but at the same time, it's always looked a bit daft. Even though it's the same size as California's, it looks quite a bit smaller because of the mountains behind it. The moutain backdrop is amazing, but it works against the castle at the same time. They have projection mapping with the fireworks, but a lot of it can be difficult to see when it's busy since the castle isn't very tall.

Looking at the map, the 2018 Marvel attraction will be a retheme of Buzz Lightyear. Not sure if this picture is showing that or not, but the fact that it's a shooter suggests it probably is:

That and the new show in Adventureland in the same year seems like a good start.

The new castle, clearly showing some kind of show out front. It looks amazing to be fair.

I think another reason to make the castle bigger could be to hide the Frozen area directly behind it. If the concept art is accurate, and I don't see why it wouldn't be, there'll be a mountain and another castle.

The ride looks like a version of Aquatopia to me, but will obviously run on "ice" instead of water:

I get what you mean with the Marvel stuff going into the main park, but I think putting it all together in Tomorrowland actually works. Iron Man doesn't look out of place at all and has really enhanced the whole feel of the area. I'm also pleased that they've closed Autopia for it, and kept the area next to Grizzly Gulch free for something else in the future. Whatever the 2023 ride is, it's going to be f**king massive. The whole area is going to look amazing.

The whole thing has been budgeted at just under HK$11 billion, which is around US$1.5 billion or £1.14 billion.

 

[peep]

Someone on Twitter pointed out it looks like the current castle is staying and the rest will be like a ridiculous thing built at the back of it like a giant extension, rather than starting from scratch.

There were rumours of a Captain America rollercoaster going into California Adventure, maybe this huge Avengers building is hiding another coaster?

It just looks fab though, I was thinking about going next year but if the castle re-do is for 2018 it's going to look like a mess, might just hold off another year.

 

[gavin]

Yeah, I don't think they'd start from scratch with the castle. It looks tall and thin, which suggests they'll keep the same basic footprint.

 

[Lofty]

I love it, they're all really solid additions to the park?

 

[TheCoasterCruiser]

Wow, that is some pretty ****ing good news!

 

[nadroJ]

This is absolutely obscene! The castle pics are making me salivate I love it all.


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[Ben]

This news is so good yay.

HK is already one of my favourite Disney parks in terms of how 'quality' everything is, but does lack rides still a bit. This is so exciting yay.

Can't until 2023 yay. I'll only be 33 when it's all finished yay...

 

[gavin]

^ Yeah, it does all seem rather far off when you put it like that. I wonder if they've actually finalised what that massive Marvel attraction will be. A lot can change in 6-7 years, not only in terms of ride tech, but also in terms of popularity of characters etc.

Not that Disney don't know what they're doing, but closing Autopia already seems a little premature. As far as I'm aware, it was reliable and was always extremely popular. I guess there's always a chance that there's something going on that we don't know about. It always used a lot of staff to run, so maybe that's something to do with it. A lot of work will need to be done in flattening the whole thing I guess, but 6-7 years still seems excessive.

I'm also wondering if they'll do something with Space Mountain. There's no sign yet of when (if) it'll revert back from Star Wars, but either way, it'll be a bit out of place once all the Marvel stuff is there.

The whole thing also means that the second gate is even further away as well.

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Can't believe I'm saying this but I'm actually a little excited about a Disney expansion for once!

Expanding the castle is an excellent move. As Gavin says, it's really hard to see the projection mapping on the castle when it's that small and the current castle is dwarfed by the surrounding mountains.

Don't really give two hoots about the Marvel stuff. I don't really think they have any place in a Disney park and tomorrowland is already a huge mix what with the Star Wars stuff, Iron Man, Toy Story and a tiny scraping of the traditional theme all competing in a small area (at least they got rid of Stitch or it would have been a nightmare in there). Guess more Marvel will bring in the cash though so they can do more fab things elsewhere.

I really like HK. With the exception of Disney Sea (obviously) which stands alone, HK is my favourite of the Disney parks I've done so far as it has a real distinct character. Mystic Manor and Grizzly Gulch are both amaze and even with burdens Star Wars it's still my fav. Space Mountain. The park just needs a bit more content. I'm very excited about what they can do with the Frozen area. Can't wait to see that IRL.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

So glad this is happening over a second gate. I'd like this park to be a bit fuller before they think about a second one. The castle is probably my favourite addition as the previous pone was so reductive. So happy it will be a completely different park to what it was in 2005. Also rejoicing at the potential of Frozen, visually it will be magical and it joins Star Wars with the only 'inevitable IPs' that could be amazing for Disney parks.

 

[gavin]

Nothing really worth reporting - and certainly not worthy of a new topic - but just thought I'd shove it in anyway.


Ferry

The ferry pier at HKDL is finally getting used now. It was built years ago, but wasn't operational. I'm guessing it's to coincide with the new hotel that's opening next month. There was no fanfare about getting it up and running; I just noticed a couple of posters at the ferry terminal near my place (the Star Ferry at Tsim Sha Tsui for anyone familiar).

I have to say it seems very pointless though. It only runs twice a day in each direction (11am and 5pm from the city - 12pm and 6pm from Disney), is further away from the park entrance than the Metro station, takes a bit longer than the Metro from the same location, and costs around £18 for a return ticket where the Metro would cost around £2 each way. You'd never be able to stay for the night parade and fireworks and use the ferry to get back. I'm assuming that it's aimed at hotel guests who have at least a two day ticket for the park.

Platinum Magic Access Benefits

When I was at the park a couple of months ago, they were doing surveys of platinum pass holders, basically asking about renewals etc. A couple of years ago, they quietly scaled back the discounts for the platinum pass (originally 20% on food and merch) and brought them in line with the poor people passes (10%).

I'm assuming that people haven't been renewing the passes, or have been downgrading, since they've now increased the discounts for platinum passes to 25% for food and back to 20% for merchandise.

They've also added a priority area (advanced booking) for the fireworks to the already existing priority access to Mickey and the Wondrous Book and Festival of the Lion King.

As you were.

 

[davidm]

Some politics happening at the moment related to this all;

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/...n-proposed-struggling-hong-kong-disneyland-us

HK$350 million proposed for struggling Hong Kong Disneyland by US parent company
Lawmakers across the political spectrum are still wary as funding vote for park expansion nears

 

[gavin]

Just a quick update with regards to the above post.

The funding has now been approved, so everything is definitely going ahead. I can't be arsed to cut and paste various news articles that people aren't bothered about, but here's a quick recap for anyone that's interested.

Since the Hong Kong Government own more than half of the park, then they have to pay around HK$5.5 Billion (£545 Million / US$706 Million) towards the cost of the project, which obviously some people weren't happy with since it's essentially taxpayers' money. It's been going back and forth at LEGCO (HK Parliament) for a few weeks - "the money could be spent on public housing, social inequality, education, health, the environment yadda yadda yadda" - but that's not much of an argument when Hong Kong is sitting on HK$860 Billion (£85 Billion / US$110 Billion) in cash reserves which aren't being used to fix any of those problems.

Anyway, they recognised that the park has to expand to stay relevant and the spending has now been approved, so everything should be on track.

Also, I have it on (relatively) good authority that between the Frozen land opening in 2020, and the Marvel attraction in 2023, something else will be getting a retheme. Total word-of-mouth, pinch-of-salt thing rather than concrete news obviously. I have no idea what, realistically, it could be if it is true. Tarzan's Treehouse maybe? That's always seemed a bit crap. A permanent Space Mountain retheme to something Marvel-based since literally everything else in Tomorrowland will be Marvel? The only other thing I think it could be would be a new show in the Lion King theatre since it's been there since the park opened, but it's still massively popular and, unlike the old Golden Mickeys show which was replaced with Wondrous Book, isn't in the slightest bit outdated.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Could it be a Hyperspace mountain?

 

[gavin]

^ They have that now. Been here about 6 months already.

I'd forgotten about Philharmagic. That's incredibly dated now, but not sure it fits the retheme rumour. Better to rip it out, but if that was happening, it would be part of the expansion plans.

If it's happening, my money's still on a Marvel retheme of Space Mountain, turning the whole land into a Marvel area.

 

[gavin]

Quick update:

Buzz Lightyear has been closed for a few months now. There's a fairly big chunk all fenced off - more than just the building - so it seems there'll be some extensive outdoor retheming as well.

Another chunk of Adventureland is fenced off, so the Moana thing should be getting sorted behind that I guess.

January 1st is the last day of the fireworks before they start on the castle. I thought they would've tried to keep something rather than scrap it completely for around a year.

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[HeartlineCoaster]

So no fireworks in 2018?
That makes me feel better for not being able to stay til the end of the day next visit.