It's definitely weird. It has some design cues harkening to Cinderella's Castle. But it also has some other stuff thrown in. Weird.
It's definitely not a castle though. Castles are inhabitable and useful spaces. This is not an inhabitable or useful building. It's really skinny and designed purely for show. If Cinderella's Castle is the White House, The Castle of Magical Dreams or whatever they call it is the Washington Monument. There isn't even a pretense of it actually being a real castle. There is little to no space to actually inhabit in the building. It's comically skinny. Like if you built a house but forgot the living space and smashed the front and back together. It's a monument, but not a castle:
Thanks
@Disneysea05 for the link! And image credit goes to:
Which might be just fine for Hong Kong Disneyland. People seem to be fine with a castle, which will primarily serve a purpose as a monumental structure, looking like a monumental structure. It ironically does not solve the issue of forced perspective. With odd scaling on the structure itself, it looks freakishly unrealistic. But perhaps it never was about forced perspective as it was about size. Unscientific anecdote time. I visited Hong Kong Disneyland with a friend of mine, and I told him about the castle's impending doom. He had loved Hong Kong Disneyland generally, but he said it was a good thing they were making the castle bigger.
I still have a healthy dose of skepticism that this will work from a scaling and aesthetics standpoint. Apparently size was a problem for some people. But like so many things at Hong Kong Disneyland, they attempt to fix a perceived problem and then end up creating a new one. This gaudy structure will age with the grace of freshly mashed guacamole. Once the newness factor fades its flaws will become ever more apparent. Outside of the castle itself, it will have widespread ramifications throughout all of Hong Kong Disneyland. I'll have to see it in person, but like it or not, the park was designed with a Sleeping Beauty's Castle at its heart. This is fundamental and at the core of the park.
But I also see this as the perfect symbol for everything that is wrong with Hong Kong Disneyland. This is a reactive move to its sister park in Shanghai getting something. It's unrealistic and honestly kind of ugly. Instead of starting fresh with original design, the structure rises from the back of the classic Sleeping Beauty's Castle like an unreal joke. It's as if the Empire State Building got jealous of the Burj Khalifa and they built a new modern tower on top of the classic to keep up. It's cartoonish in what had been one of their more grounded and lifelike areas. It also screams cheap.
Everything done since 2005 have been near misses. With some of the greatest attractions in Disney Parks, the delivery has been lackluster. Unlike Disneyland which has wonderful architectural experiences, the only truly fabulous non natural setting and placemaking at Hong Kong Disneyland is on Main Street USA. It is by far the nicest land at that park. The other lands lack depth or immersive qualities.
Again and again Disney has been satisfied with taking the cheap way out. And this castle isn't enough. Two D Ticket family rides behind Fantasyland is not enough. Throwing an Avengers ride into "Avengers Campus" (opening in 4 years) isn't enough. The placemaking and setting at this park are the worst of a castle park. It needs a consistent vision* for what it's supposed to be and big budget to match. Instead Disney is contented with their 600 Million contribution. That may sound like a lot, but consider this. Depreciating over 40 years, that entire contribution will cost them 15 Million a year. A rounding error.
At best, Disney is likely hoping that performance will improve slightly, and that it will be a one off regional park attracting a nice flow of locals. It will neither be a longterm drag on the company or government, and both parties can quietly try to pretend that Lantau's jobs program doesn't exist.
*Does the WDI that created Tokyo Disney Sea still exist? It seems like WDI is allergic to compelling architecture. In 2001 they made these masterful and amazing spaces that were primarily buildings. While a circle of volcanic rock gets much of the love around here (it is a very cool circle of volcanic rock) Tokyo Disney Sea takes you to Italy, New York, and to Latin America. The Fortress Explorations is incredibly realistic in its own right. I was dumbfounded how on point they made that little Spanish fort. Now we seem to get a series of cartoonish buildings coming out of WDI. I'm honestly trying to think of something they've built in the last 20 years that is architecturally stunning. The Africa expansion at DAK is about it, and that's literally a group of buildings decaying. I also have to give credit to the Himalayan town which is pretty effective too. But Shanghai Disneyland, Galaxy's Edge, New Fantasyland, and Cars Land all have this odd cartoonish vibe to them that Tokyo Disney Sea, World Showcase, or Disneyland don't have. This castle is only the latest in a series of misfires.
Edit: It is a little sad to see Walt's Notre Dame spire rising, knowing that the original is lost. That's one tradition that ought to stick!
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Don't forget that the castle's top will be a bit wider than it is now when they attach those remaining buttresses to the side of the main tower.