HKDL gets new castle, frozen land and marvel land.

Sir_Cliff

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
Supersnow84 said:
For example in my time as a travel agent in Australia and who was the regional specialist in high end trips involving disney parks it wasn’t “well I’m going to Japan anyway so I guess it’s Tokyo Disney” it was “Tokyo Disney is better than Hong Kong Disney so that encouraging me to go to Japan over Hong Kong”
Click to expand...
That's quite interesting to me as someone from Australia as my impression was always that very few people even knew there was a Disneyland in Tokyo. There was certainly no advertising for it that I ever saw, and the only Australians I've met that have been there were people who had been in Japan for other reasons.

Hong Kong Disneyland, on the other hand, was advertised to some extent when it first opened. I haven't lived in Australia for about a decade now, so I'm not sure what the status is at present. However, my experience was that they stopped pushing HKDL pretty quickly after it opened and advertising shifted very much toward Disneyland in California. The latter is actually something that's noticeable to me when I go back every year as it now doesn't seem that uncommon to see billboards for Disneyland when, in the past, that was not the case. This makes me think Disney has decided that at least the East Coast of Australia is a market for Disneyland, California rather than the Asian parks.

All that is to say that, at least when it comes to Australian visitors, my impression is that there won't be much confusion between Fantasy Springs and Frozen as I doubt anyone beyond hardcore Disney/theme park fans are planning Japan vacations around Tokyo Disneyland. The comparison that HKDL has to struggle against for Australian visitors would be more Disneyland, California.
 
616.1314

616.1314

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
IMDREW said:
So after seeing the videos I'm afraid people are gonna tear down these rides online. They both look beautiful imo and I can't wait to ride them, but one did turn out te be almost an exact copy of a reskin (no new tricks or surprises) and the other "original" is less than 1 minute long. Yikes.

I still see the land as a great success to my love for the park personally, but I'm really scared how this will be perceived.

FEA looks alot better than Epcot imo. It feels better paced (do the boats move slower?) and just way better executed. Except the opening with Olaf. I love how the boats go around him in Epcot and he moves with them. Thats kinda lost here. But the beautiful animatronics and fleshed out empty walls make the ride a definite good ride I think. It feels complete and worth it.

WOSS has some beautiful views and looks top notch. But it's just so darn short. I'd had that lift hill move slower, but then there's not much to look at in that hallway. It feels less than the first part of Expedition Everest and thats the part BEFORE the true ride begins! And how disappointing Seven Dwarfs is to many, this is half of that. A bit style over substance, but I am a sucker for design and this coaster is so beautiful. From the mountain to the trains themselves to the views of Arendelle. Very mixed on it.

As a land it's a beautiful addition to the park with quite a few offerings, but if it will move the needle for foreigners to visit? We'll see I guess. I do wish them the best of luck! And congrats on one of the most beautiful new lands!

*edited to say it does look like the banks on the coaster are far better than SDMT and without those useless swinging cars it should pack more of a punch!
Click to expand...
Already seeing locals criticising the roller coaster being too short online :((
They really shouldn't have marketed it as the world's first Frozen-themed coaster

On the other hand, I am confident that people will not blame FEA
I don't think that many HK-ers have rode FEA before
And even if it's a clone, a 7-minute long dark ride is still pretty decent
 
Supersnow84

Supersnow84

Well-Known Member
IMDREW said:
Cant remember if this photo was already posted here, but man does this park look magical.

View attachment 748684
Click to expand...
One thing I think that was missed back when everyone was bashing the COMD is that it fits HK’s more “plasticy” (for want of a better word) Main Street leading to images like this that make both halves pop

HK’s Main Street didn’t match Disneyland’s castle nor do I think that Disneyland’s Main Street would match the COMD
 
Supersnow84

Supersnow84

Well-Known Member
Sir_Cliff said:
That's quite interesting to me as someone from Australia as my impression was always that very few people even knew there was a Disneyland in Tokyo. There was certainly no advertising for it that I ever saw, and the only Australians I've met that have been there were people who had been in Japan for other reasons.

Hong Kong Disneyland, on the other hand, was advertised to some extent when it first opened. I haven't lived in Australia for about a decade now, so I'm not sure what the status is at present. However, my experience was that they stopped pushing HKDL pretty quickly after it opened and advertising shifted very much toward Disneyland in California. The latter is actually something that's noticeable to me when I go back every year as it now doesn't seem that uncommon to see billboards for Disneyland when, in the past, that was not the case. This makes me think Disney has decided that at least the East Coast of Australia is a market for Disneyland, California rather than the Asian parks.

All that is to say that, at least when it comes to Australian visitors, my impression is that there won't be much confusion between Fantasy Springs and Frozen as I doubt anyone beyond hardcore Disney/theme park fans are planning Japan vacations around Tokyo Disneyland. The comparison that HKDL has to struggle against for Australian visitors would be more Disneyland, California.
Click to expand...
Disneyland is still the Central Park for advertising for Australians but HK and Tokyo are miles ahead of WDW, Paris and Shanghai, the first two that suffer from the immense distance from either side of Australia, the latter suffers from Australia’s complex relationship with mainland China

The knowledges of the distribution of parks worldwide has been massively improved in the last 5-10 years, HK has a “budget Disneyland” is a common trip for people who want more than Bali but can’t afford (or don’t want to go to) mainland USA, and I haven’t booked a non ski Japan trip in years that they didn’t want at least a day at Disney if not asking for my recommendation on which city to visit based on its park
 
BrianLo

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
Supersnow84 said:
True but it does leave this 7 year expansion without a headliner and mystic manor still struggling to fill the shoes of being really the only absolutely stellar unique attraction to the park
Click to expand...

Separating out our context as fans, I think FEA is a headliner in terms of HKDL. I think it runs 90 seconds longer than Maelstrom?

Not an F that people travel around the world to see, but functionally it's acting as an E. That 7 minute run time is key. Most of the scenes are bigger and spend more time in them than Maelstrom.

Mystic Manor gets top billing because of how unique it is worldwide, but I don't think within the context of average locals visiting the park will they see FEA much differently in the lineup. It doesn't give off the same, "oh, it's over already?" vibes that a regular C/D ticket can.

I know, I know, Tokyo will get something spectacular and FEA in a lesser form grafted onto the bones of a former C-ticket already exists. But putting those two things aside for this park it functions very, very well.

Unlike say the Junior Coaster. I don't actually have a problem with it per say, but it's going to be problematic if there are any sort of significant wait times for it.

So my long winded way of saying FEA is a D-ticket to Epcot's lineup, an E-ticket in HKDL and whatever exists in Tokyo will be something worth traveling for. Bring on the Marvel E-ticket to HKDL, though!
 
Supersnow84

Supersnow84

Well-Known Member
TimeDuck said:
I actually like FEA in Epcot and think it was a pretty great retrofit all things considered (not sure if this is still an unpopular opinion) but I cannot believe they made absolutely zero improvements to the ride when building it from the ground up. There is so much dead space on that ride that could have been lovingly crafted to make it live up to how gorgeous the new land looks in HKDL, but it was just literally a copy and paste? Remy I understand, that ride is what it is. But essentially spending E-ticket money to build a retrofit from the ground up to anchor a land is really wild to me. When everything is literally being built from scratch, could the cost savings been THAT significant to plus up the empty spaces? The new animatronics were bare minimum imo.

I think a lot of people on these boards that complain have very little appreciation for just how much of a balancing act the current Disney has to strike to continue existing. But this specific kind of penny pinching is truly anathema to the legacy of the brand. Even FEA's most ardent fans (whoever those people are) would agree there is plenty of room for improvement.
Click to expand...
I think to be fair that HK FEA isn’t really out of character for Disney, look at say splash mountain, you could argue 70% of splash mountain (especially before the 3rd drop at DL or 4th at WDW) is dead space as is say any Peter Pan besides SDL

It’s obvious the park had to cut somewhere to get out a redesign of Tomorrowland, a new stage show, a new castle, a new land and a new F ticket with barely a billion USD and this is also accounting for WOSS being massively more expensive than WODS

I think Epcot FEA is perfectly fine to 1 to 1 replicate mostly because FEA isn’t designed to be a park headliner, like I’ve said many times on here FEA’s one mistake is that it is being forced to fill the shoes of the MIA avengers attractions
 
CosmicDuck

CosmicDuck

Well-Known Member
Supersnow84 said:
I think to be fair that HK FEA isn’t really out of character for Disney, look at say splash mountain, you could argue 70% of splash mountain (especially before the 3rd drop at DL or 4th at WDW) is dead space as is say any Peter Pan besides SDL

It’s obvious the park had to cut somewhere to get out a redesign of Tomorrowland, a new stage show, a new castle, a new land and a new F ticket with barely a billion USD and this is also accounting for WOSS being massively more expensive than WODS

I think Epcot FEA is perfectly fine to 1 to 1 replicate mostly because FEA isn’t designed to be a park headliner, like I’ve said many times on here FEA’s one mistake is that it is being forced to fill the shoes of the MIA avengers attractions
Click to expand...
(Ugh, deleted my post by accident)

I think these are all fair points, I was about to amend my post to say that if the trade off was how beautiful the rest of the land turned out to be than I think its a reasonable trade. But I agree, and it's Disney's ongoing modern issue, which is opening lands without headliners create unfavorable expectations for the rides that are ready. In this case, its the E-ticket in another land, but I think the point remains.

But on a conceptual level, in a perfect world that doesn't exist, I think every new land should open with a park headliner. If the primary objective of a new land is to draw in new and returning customers excited to see the land, AND the land opens in a vacuum, the expectation will always be that the biggest ride will be a headliner imo. And not matching those expectations will always do the land a disservice, either fairly or unfairly. Avengers Campus in DCA is the best recent example of this, despite having a land that "feels" much more alive than SWGE.

People still know and like Disney for big, lavish rides. Whether or not something is just there for capacity will never matter to them. So I think those expectations and how to manage them should always warrant the company's consideration.
 
Supersnow84

Supersnow84

Well-Known Member
TimeDuck said:
If you have any tips let us know, heading there in December for the first time. What resort are you guys staying at?
Click to expand...
What makes HK so nice for me is that there isn’t really any tips for it because it’s such an easy park to do in a really chill way, it functionally doesn’t have a FP system and you can’t pick a bad hotel if you try, all three are good

Like you can’t do a day at HK wrong
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom