HKDL gets new castle, frozen land and marvel land.

616.1314

616.1314

Well-Known Member
Some personal thoughts on the new castle after seeing it in real person

1. I LOVE all the fine details done to represent each and every Disney Princess/Queen - turrets, stained glass window and flower carvings on the stone - WDI made it clear that this castle is a representation of all Disney Princesses, cf. Enchanted Storybook Castle lack such elements

2. I am okay with the increased height and I do not think that it destroys the forced perspective of the Main Street - I mean, the original SBC has always been dwarfed by the mountains behind, so the forced perspective in Anaheim NEVER existed in Hong Kong

3. I am still 50/50 about the colour scheme - sometimes I think it's fine, sometimes I think there are too many colours - seems like the original concept art released back in 2016 was better

4. Things I look forward to:
- Given that guests can still pass through the castle to enter Fantasyland, I am expecting that there will be more detailed representation of the Princesses and Queens on ground level, e.g. mosaic drawings in Shanghai
- Walkthrough attraction inside the castle PLEASE
- The Partners Statue PLEASE
 
IMDREW

IMDREW

Well-Known Member
EjU9a8aUcAMPtZM-2.jpeg
 
IMDREW

IMDREW

Well-Known Member
Some thoughts of myself about the new castle;

- They should have replaced the middle windows of the old castle to connect with the middle windows of the new castle. That would've made it more like one structure and made more sense.
- Idk why they decided to trim the lowest new turrets white while the original same turrets have cobble stone tops.
- The red/pink and yellow castle is a too big of a contrast. They should've gone with a yellow castle or a pink one, I don't think using both is the best.

For me these are minor things, and I love it overal. Made a very quick edit of the things I pointed out.
EjU9a8aUcAMPtZM-2.jpg
 
XtianP

XtianP

New Member
castillohongkong.png
I think it looks fine but not great and we still have to see the uncovered back of the castle but for what we have seen it seems the back is a complete mess.

My opinion is that lowering the total height of the castle just a bit, a blue toned roof on the main tower and a more traditional main tower spire would have improved the overall design a lot and made a more coherent design without taking off the grandeur of it.

However I think designers went for tall just for the sake of it and that's what they got.

My opinion, again, is that a smaller castle would have not taken the awe from the front and would have been easier to integrate in the back; would have been similarly beautiful (if not more) and would have been more respectful with the bottom remains of Sleeping Beauty castle's.

castillohongkong.gif
 
Disneylover152

Disneylover152

Well-Known Member
XtianP said:
View attachment 503050I think it looks fine but not great and we still have to see the uncovered back of the castle but for what we have seen it seems the back is a complete mess.

My opinion is that lowering the total height of the castle just a bit, a blue toned roof on the main tower and a more traditional main tower spire would have improved the overall design a lot and made a more coherent design without taking off the grandeur of it.

However I think designers went for tall just for the sake of it and that's what they got.

My opinion, again, is that a smaller castle would have not taken the awe from the front and would have been easier to integrate in the back; would have been similarly beautiful (if not more) and would have been more respectful with the bottom remains of Sleeping Beauty castle's.

View attachment 503045
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The lower height would make it look a lot better, but I understand why they built tall- projections. My biggest issue is just the amount of color, there's not a consistent color scheme it's kinda all over the place.

I don't know if anyone saw an up-close view of the turrets but they are beautiful! I love the Moana one! I just wonder what's gonna happen when princess number 14 comes along. Do they add turrets?
 
XtianP

XtianP

New Member
Disneylover152 said:
The lower height would make it look a lot better, but I understand why they built tall- projections. My biggest issue is just the amount of color, there's not a consistent color scheme it's kinda all over the place.

I don't know if anyone saw an up-close view of the turrets but they are beautiful! I love the Moana one! I just wonder what's gonna happen when princess number 14 comes along. Do they add turrets?
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My guess is they won't add more turrets unless there's a new Frozen like success. Then, probably, one of the less popular princesses might have to say goodbye to her place and welcome the new owner of her turret.

I think the colour palette is fine, specially when seen from Main Street USA:
1. The contrast with Main Street. Although being very similar in design to Anaheim's, the colour palette of MSUSA in Hong Kong seems darker and paler than its Californian pair. The background mountains also add to this feeling. Having a very fantasy design works, in my opinion, as a good contrast with MSUSA.
2. The castle's orientation. Unlike most of the others but Tokyo, the castle faces north-east and not south which makes it a little bit darker, specially in the evenings, as the sun is less direct on it. That's why I think having a lighter and more colourful castle may work for this park.

Regarding the height you are probably right but it is a pity they see the castle just as a projection screen.

Still, I'm worried about how they will integrate the back of the castle with Fantasyland:
  1. The new façades are just too close to the Pooh Corner and StoryBook Shoppe buildings
  2. The pictures I've seen from Fantasyland look more like a villains castle than a princesses castle to me. Its height compared to the rest of Fantasyland really frightens me...
  3. The rose window seems out of place at the part of the building is on. Either the rose window is too small or that part of the building is too big.
  4. The top gazebo (I don't know how to call that) of that part of the building does not even make sense
  5. The flat top of the windows at the back is horrible (although I still have hope they are not finished yet and will add some kind of top decoration to them)
In general, I have the opposite view, this castle seems like a hodgepodge of good ideas that only work when seen as an ensemble and not paying much attention to them. When you try to go to the detail they start not making sense and contradict each other.
 
HKDLer

HKDLer

Well-Known Member
IMDREW said:
- They should have replaced the middle windows of the old castle to connect with the middle windows of the new castle. That would've made it more like one structure and made more sense.
Click to expand...
XtianP said:
  1. The flat top of the windows at the back is horrible (although I still have hope they are not finished yet and will add some kind of top decoration to them)
In general, I have the opposite view, this castle seems like a hodgepodge of good ideas that only work when seen as an ensemble and not paying much attention to them. When you try to go to the detail they start not making sense and contradict each other.
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I agree. Although the castle is growing on me, one thing that still bothers me is the windows at the back. I was hoping for the lancet windows shown in the D23 model. It seems like they're trying to add as much as they can in this transformation after being criticised for the unoriginality. They are jamming in many different architectural features that are purely decorative and mostly don't look well with each other, unfortunately. To me, the castle looks beautiful but strange.

Here's some photos taken last week. Only the backside is filtered.
F109B50A-7A85-4D0F-8AC5-90D4EE01B8CB.jpeg

E97CF458-2991-4F2A-84F1-E8D3C5A76173.jpeg

5505CCF7-F628-480C-BDFC-CE0133A3FE97.png

3B25B58A-19E6-4650-9FB9-F3EF76DADD41.png


I actually think the structure complements the cheap carnival tents. Gives me a Hunchback of Notre Dame vibe in parts of Fantasyland.


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montydysquith-navarro

montydysquith-navarro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
IMDREW said:
View attachment 503031
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I'm really struggling to like this castle, but the bizarre design language is really throwing me off. It feels like there were too many cooks making the soup, so to speak. I would really like to see their design inspiration boards for this castle if there is one...

I like that Hong Kong is finally getting a unique castle that would complement the mountain backdrop better than the original Sleeping Beauty Castle did. But, really, this is the best design Imagineers could come up with? I'd rather they teared down the original castle and built another one from scratch, one that would: 1) complement the mountain backdrop (which this castle achieves well); 2) complement both the front AND the back (CMD hits one with Main Street, U.S.A. but not so much with Fantasyland, which brings me to the last point), and; 3) not dwarf Fantasyland by pushing out the castle a bit more near the hub and eliminating the stage entirely. Paris and Tokyo already showed that a Central Plaza show doesn't necessarily need a permanent stage anyway.

I do appreciate their attempt at a new castle color scheme with this Mediterreanean-inspired one though, but the yellow is... a choice, especially in sunny Hong Kong where the light could really hit the castle hard (we've seen photos of it happening I believe). The whitish-grey color shown in the first concept art would've been a better choice IMHO.
 
IMDREW

IMDREW

Well-Known Member
One thing I also still cant wrap my head around is why they did not make the original castle's highest turret the sleeping beauty one. Now its the only turret without a princess theme and it would have been perfect as sleeping beauty obviously! It would've paid homage to the original sleeping beauty castle and fix the one, smack in the front, not to miss, big princesses-less turret we ended up with.
 
XtianP

XtianP

New Member
IMDREW said:
One thing I also still cant wrap my head around is why they did not make the original castle's highest turret the sleeping beauty one. Now its the only turret without a princess theme and it would have been perfect as sleeping beauty obviously! It would've paid homage to the original sleeping beauty castle and fix the one, smack in the front, not to miss, big princesses-less turret we ended up with.
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I think it is implicit that original sleeping beauty castle's highest tower is Sleeping Beauty's turret but who knows...
 
montydysquith-navarro

montydysquith-navarro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
616.1314 said:
I love this stained glass window, but it's a bit too small comparing to the size of the back of the castle...
Click to expand...
I feel like they wanted to try a new type of stained glass window (the rose window type), seeing as both Cinderella Castle in Florida and Tokyo and Sleeping Beauty Castle in Paris used double/triple lancet windows already, but they ran out of money hence the size.
 

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