Hong Kong Phooey
Meanwhile, WDI has also been busy coming up with other exciting new E Ticket attractions that are fresh takes on old concepts. But these new rides won't be coming to this continent. Rather, they are being planned for the ambitious Phase Two for Hong Kong (HK) Disneyland.
As you may remember, HK Disneyland was conceived and planned directly under Paul Pressler's stewardship in 1999 to 2002, and it should come as no surprise to anyone that this will be an alarmingly underwhelming new "Disneyland' when it opens in late 2005. It's a park that only Pressler could love, with very few rides and attractions, a couple of theater venues, plenty of fancy restaurants run by Maxim's of Paris, and stores and shops everywhere else. (Check out the last update to see just how underwhelming this project is.)
Hong Kong visitors on Disneyland's opening day will have just one E Ticket and a small handful of D Tickets to experience. Once visitors have been on Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, the undernourished Anaheim version of Winnie The Pooh, and the Mandarin Chinese version of the Jungle Cruise, there won't be much left to do except for a few Fantasyland spinner rides and sitting on the curb for the pathetic Parade of the Stars that is being shipped over from Anaheim. (No joke, they really are going to crate up those floats and costumes and reuse them for at least the first few years of Hong Kong's operation as their only parade.)
But, assuming that the attendance isn't a complete disaster, there is an aggressive Phase Two for Hong Kong that is having its final planning touches applied now up in Glendale. New versions of it's a small world and the Haunted Mansion could be added quickly to Hong Kong, and would help soak up the crowds with their huge hourly capacities. But what has everyone the most excited is the amazing new version of Pirates of the Caribbean that Hong Kong planners are designing.
That new ride would be a cross between the classic Pirates, with updated animatronics a la' the Paris version, and a thrill factor that would rival Splash Mountain. The model currently being proposed has one of the rides signature drops taking place outdoors, as the big boats plunge 50 feet down a jungle mountain and through the jaws of an iconic Skull Rock. Much like visitors see logs plummeting down Chickapin Hill and into the Briar Patch, this new Pirates would send its riders screaming down massive drops and water coaster sections in-between run-ins with singing robots. There's even a pirate stuck in the famous jail scene who bears a striking resemblance to Johnny Depp, and Hong Kong visitors would likely have the huge global profits from that movie to thank for getting what will likely be the best Pirates of the Caribbean ever built.
This Phase Two for Hong Kong is being readied for installation by the end of this decade, and it will all depend on if the reaction to the tiny new park is simply tepid instead of utterly disastrous as some Disney insiders think it might be. What is scaring a lot of people isn't just the very short list of rides for this theme park, but the eerily similar buzz words and spin that Disney's marketing departments are coming up with as excuses why this new park hardly has any rides, and only one or two really good one's at that. Much like back in the year 2000 when TDA's marketing department tried to boost morale by explaining that DCA would be "about placemaking and not storytelling", and that the park's vibe would be "hip and edgy instead of sweet and sappy", Hong Kong's marketing team is already in damage control overdrive when it comes to their explanations of the new park.
The Marketing folks are insisting, with a straight face no less, that people in southern Asia really like to take pictures and stroll through gardens and flowers more than they like to ride E Ticket attractions. And that is why there won't be any of Disney's famous big rides except for Space Mountain. Instead, Hong Kong Disneyland will offer plenty of themed gazebo's and garden terraces where they can take photo's of each other posing with rubberhead Disney Characters. Believe it or not, the lessons they learned from DCA's opening day failure in the marketplace have yet to be learned by the Marketing department, and they honestly think these hollow words will somehow make up for the fact that there aren't nearly enough rides and attractions. Luckily, the executives that took over for Pressler quietly realize the massive mistakes made with DCA, and see some of them having been purposely planned into the new Hong Kong park. In the meantime that ambitious Phase Two for Hong Kong with three big new E Tickets continues to be polished and fine tuned.
Meanwhile, WDI has also been busy coming up with other exciting new E Ticket attractions that are fresh takes on old concepts. But these new rides won't be coming to this continent. Rather, they are being planned for the ambitious Phase Two for Hong Kong (HK) Disneyland.
As you may remember, HK Disneyland was conceived and planned directly under Paul Pressler's stewardship in 1999 to 2002, and it should come as no surprise to anyone that this will be an alarmingly underwhelming new "Disneyland' when it opens in late 2005. It's a park that only Pressler could love, with very few rides and attractions, a couple of theater venues, plenty of fancy restaurants run by Maxim's of Paris, and stores and shops everywhere else. (Check out the last update to see just how underwhelming this project is.)
Hong Kong visitors on Disneyland's opening day will have just one E Ticket and a small handful of D Tickets to experience. Once visitors have been on Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, the undernourished Anaheim version of Winnie The Pooh, and the Mandarin Chinese version of the Jungle Cruise, there won't be much left to do except for a few Fantasyland spinner rides and sitting on the curb for the pathetic Parade of the Stars that is being shipped over from Anaheim. (No joke, they really are going to crate up those floats and costumes and reuse them for at least the first few years of Hong Kong's operation as their only parade.)
But, assuming that the attendance isn't a complete disaster, there is an aggressive Phase Two for Hong Kong that is having its final planning touches applied now up in Glendale. New versions of it's a small world and the Haunted Mansion could be added quickly to Hong Kong, and would help soak up the crowds with their huge hourly capacities. But what has everyone the most excited is the amazing new version of Pirates of the Caribbean that Hong Kong planners are designing.
That new ride would be a cross between the classic Pirates, with updated animatronics a la' the Paris version, and a thrill factor that would rival Splash Mountain. The model currently being proposed has one of the rides signature drops taking place outdoors, as the big boats plunge 50 feet down a jungle mountain and through the jaws of an iconic Skull Rock. Much like visitors see logs plummeting down Chickapin Hill and into the Briar Patch, this new Pirates would send its riders screaming down massive drops and water coaster sections in-between run-ins with singing robots. There's even a pirate stuck in the famous jail scene who bears a striking resemblance to Johnny Depp, and Hong Kong visitors would likely have the huge global profits from that movie to thank for getting what will likely be the best Pirates of the Caribbean ever built.
This Phase Two for Hong Kong is being readied for installation by the end of this decade, and it will all depend on if the reaction to the tiny new park is simply tepid instead of utterly disastrous as some Disney insiders think it might be. What is scaring a lot of people isn't just the very short list of rides for this theme park, but the eerily similar buzz words and spin that Disney's marketing departments are coming up with as excuses why this new park hardly has any rides, and only one or two really good one's at that. Much like back in the year 2000 when TDA's marketing department tried to boost morale by explaining that DCA would be "about placemaking and not storytelling", and that the park's vibe would be "hip and edgy instead of sweet and sappy", Hong Kong's marketing team is already in damage control overdrive when it comes to their explanations of the new park.
The Marketing folks are insisting, with a straight face no less, that people in southern Asia really like to take pictures and stroll through gardens and flowers more than they like to ride E Ticket attractions. And that is why there won't be any of Disney's famous big rides except for Space Mountain. Instead, Hong Kong Disneyland will offer plenty of themed gazebo's and garden terraces where they can take photo's of each other posing with rubberhead Disney Characters. Believe it or not, the lessons they learned from DCA's opening day failure in the marketplace have yet to be learned by the Marketing department, and they honestly think these hollow words will somehow make up for the fact that there aren't nearly enough rides and attractions. Luckily, the executives that took over for Pressler quietly realize the massive mistakes made with DCA, and see some of them having been purposely planned into the new Hong Kong park. In the meantime that ambitious Phase Two for Hong Kong with three big new E Tickets continues to be polished and fine tuned.
