It was a Friday in March of 08. It was sort of weird... Almost like "bizzaro Disneyland". The people were nice, but some of it didn't translate very well... The Jungle Cruise, for example. Their SM is fine... They have an all electric autopia that was fine. Buzz was Buzz. Fantasyland was beautiful (as was the whole park), they had the Lion King show which was the same. That was really about it for attractions. That's all they've got. There's the train... And Small World wasn't opened yet. I literally had seen the whole place in less than 3 hours. I rode each ride multiple times, and STILL was ready to be done hours before closing... But I had to stick around for the fireworks show.
I think we've had this discussion before and not sure whether I'll be responding as I'm off to WDW shortly but ... I don't see how it was possible to do every attraction multiple times in three hours unless you skipped both shows that are 30 minutes each ... and likely skipped Stitch Encounter as well (just finding a show in English can cause you to spend more time.
I also greatly enjoyed their take on JC, even if my skipper had less than perfect English ... she was cute and very into it. And the new take is certainly enjoyable. Space Mountain is the best version in the world right now because Paris will cause a brain bleed and Anaheim (which has the same track layout) is missing about half the effects. Small World was also terrific despite the characters (I feel they fit in HK a lot more than Anaheim).
And the LK show? I thought it was worlds better than ORlando's tired old DL parade floats and people trying to make the audience a part of the show.
What was "bizzaro" about it?
How small it was. It took less than a minute (EASILY) to walk from one side to the other.
The mountains behind it. It was just different... Kinda cool... But dwarfed the castle even more than it already was. You definitely knew you "weren't in Kansas anymore".
OK, this definitely sounds like a discussion we had. I honestly don't see how you could walk from one side to the park to the other in a minute. The park may be small, but that's just very strange to me. Now, there were a whole lot more people in the park when I was there, so that may play a factor. I'm sure I could walk around the World Showcase Lagoon in a fraction of what I normally do if no one was actually there!
And the mountains were just so beautiful. Pics don't do it justice. It is an incredible lush environment.
The food. Hoo boy. The food. Really not good for a Westerner, that's for sure. They may have loved it, and good for them. But man, it was bad. Comparatively, TDL's food was UNBELIEVEABLE. So it wasn't just the cultural difference that had me not liking it at all. Funny sight: walking up to what you think is a popcorn cart in the hub, but they're really selling pickled squid. :slurp::hurl:
I'm going to disagree with you firmly here (and almost everyone I know who has visited and written about it seems to agree with me).
The food I thought was excellent. And at fair price points. Western food is available at the Corner Cafe on Main Street, one of the T-Land eateries is strictly a burgers and chicken fingers place and the Royal Banquet Hall (where I dined) is basically an international food court. I had pizza and my companion had pasta and we were both very pleased.
I also had dinner at Tahitian Terrace (Chinese cuisine) and it was very good.
Another night we went back to shop and check out the hotels more closely and had the 'Supper Buffet' at Chef Mickey's, which was phenomenal. Mostly Chinese (probably 75/25) cuisine, but all very, very good.
The park/resort may have issues but I don't see food being one of them.
I knew when I was there that it was either going to have to massively expand, or it was in trouble. That's part of why I bought a limited edition gold coin from opening day they had there. Either it would be a success and I'd have an opening day souvenier, or I'd have an opening day souvenier from the first failed Disney park in the world! :lol:
Talking to people there, there was a competing park not far away (can't recall the name) that everyone went to because it was chock full of thrill rides, and didn't cost as much to get in. See, over there, Disney can't rely on nostalgia to bring people in. That's a good thing.
That's Ocean Park you're thinking of. When I go back to HK, if I have time I may check it out. But from what I understand it was largely a dump until Disney announced it was coming and then it expanded greatly (it was always the local park) ... and between more rides, much larger size, pandas and sea life, it's a much fuller experience than Disney right now.
But it's funny your story about the coin. When I went they just had put out the third anniversary merchandise and I stocked up, but I also noticed they still had first anniversary pins and keychains at one of the hotels and I grabbed a bunch of those for friends back home!
