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HKDL gets new castle, frozen land and marvel land.
- Thread starter Kiwiduck
- Start date
RandySavage
Well-Known Member
With this project I've moved in the opposite direction as many here. I was rah-rah in the beginning, but I'm astounded [not really, anymore, actually] that Disney with its supposedly best theme-park designers in the world ended up with this final structure that looks like a ginormous Barbie playset.
I like its tall, slender massing, but it has such poorly-proportioned and -scaled individual elements (tacked-on ice-cream cone towers with no logical purpose or feasible accessibility), and bizarrely-invented or anachronistic features (the squared off Art Deco windows in the back). The total lack of connective tissue between old and new castles will befuddle me to the end. Surfaces look plastic in many intances (onion domes). The color scheme is the worst offender, IMO - with the most attractive pics being the ones at dusk or when the colors are muted. Overall, a very amateurish/McMansionish job by this WDI team. Shanghai's castle, even with its boxy massing, is better.
I'm glad HK now has a unique castle, but it ended up (via photos) well-below my hopes & expectations (par for the course these days at Disney - from what I've seen online of Tokyo's B&B area, it appears to be a disappointment, as well).
I like its tall, slender massing, but it has such poorly-proportioned and -scaled individual elements (tacked-on ice-cream cone towers with no logical purpose or feasible accessibility), and bizarrely-invented or anachronistic features (the squared off Art Deco windows in the back). The total lack of connective tissue between old and new castles will befuddle me to the end. Surfaces look plastic in many intances (onion domes). The color scheme is the worst offender, IMO - with the most attractive pics being the ones at dusk or when the colors are muted. Overall, a very amateurish/McMansionish job by this WDI team. Shanghai's castle, even with its boxy massing, is better.
I'm glad HK now has a unique castle, but it ended up (via photos) well-below my hopes & expectations (par for the course these days at Disney - from what I've seen online of Tokyo's B&B area, it appears to be a disappointment, as well).
kb paris
Active Member
Disagree
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Care to elaborate?
EPCOTCenterLover
Well-Known Member
I have to see that even with some shortcomings, it is a gorgeous castle!
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
I think it looks wonderful! And honestly the back looks better in reality then it did on the model.
RandySavage
Well-Known Member
Further to my post above, I don't despise this castle at all. I still prefer it to the original, squat clone. My opinion tends to vary widely depending on the pic (and not seeing it in person).
From the front, I think a persistent issue is the desire to have each new turret look distinct - and the resulting clashing styles of each give the castle a haphazard, schizophrenic look, versus all the other park centerpieces having a singular effect.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
What is significantly different?
RandySavage
Well-Known Member
^In the model, the long slender rear windows had a gothic treatment. Keeping that would have been much better in terms of believability.
RandySavage
Well-Known Member
This is what I've been looking for:
Hopefully someone can share some close-up pics of the Exhibit images that show the earliest concepts for the new castle. I'd like to understand their design process/evolution. Until now, the first concept art ever released showed, in essence, what they built.
Hopefully someone can share some close-up pics of the Exhibit images that show the earliest concepts for the new castle. I'd like to understand their design process/evolution. Until now, the first concept art ever released showed, in essence, what they built.
IMDREW
Well-Known Member
Apparently it was supposed to be Rapunzels castle at first, but then they decided to go with all the princesses. Makes sense, since you can see hints of Rapunzels design in the completed version. I think I would've preferred this much more tbh. I'm not that into "all princesses" castles Shanghai and Hong Kong have. Imagine having Snow Whites castle in Shanghai and Rapuzels in Hong Kong..
Here's a look at the back in the model version.
RandySavage
Well-Known Member
^ THank you! Hopefully large versions of the other early castle concepts on that exhibit wall will soon be posted.
el_super
Well-Known Member
I absolutely would have preferred it more, had they just stuck to one central design. Shanghai's castle is dedicated to all the princesses, but it still maintains a uniformity in the look that this castle in Hong Kong lacks. It doesn't help that their primary design goal was to just make it the tallest castle, and no effort was made to justify that design.
EPCOTCenterLover
Well-Known Member
I love the diversity on these boards! I find Shanghai's castle very ugly. A mega mess designed to show China's (supposed) superiority. Boxy, bland, and overblown.
el_super
Well-Known Member
It's big to be sure, but it benefits from being designed as a whole cohesive structure. The exteriors are detailed and laid out correctly and the interiors are lavish. Literally spared no expense in building it. And it looks the same all the way around.
Even if I could get over the towers being different designs, and the colors changing so dramatically halfway up, the bare stucco walls on the back and side of the Hong Kong castle are dealbreakers for me.
I know it wasn't a popular choice to go with cloning Anaheim's castle, but once the choice was made, there didn't seem to be much reason to change it. Sleeping Beauty Castle has a quiet dignity to it, and this new castle is exactly the opposite.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
Interesting that all these variations show they intended to keep as much of the original castle as possible.
Looks like tearing the whole thing down and starting with a clean slate was never seriously considered, which is a shame as it would have yielded a much better result.