July 6, 2015

A Dinosaur for Hong Kong Lands in Shanghai

Over four years ago, I was "gifted" with this piece of very rare concept art for Hong Kong Disneyland. The concept was obviously never brought to fruition, as the park opened with no dinosaurs at all. Even the recent and very successful expansion - which brought us Mystic Manor and more- yielded not one single prehistoric creature. Not one. But as you can tell by this post  where I chronologically present all the dinosaurs in Disney theme parks through the years and the wild success of Jurassic World, dinosaurs never go out of style. With kids of all ages.

Was this unbuilt attraction scheduled to go into the outdoor jungles of Adventureland? Was it meant for an indoor weather-proofed warehouse a la Indiana Jones? Or perhaps a roller coaster through the jungle? Maybe even a combination like what was once proposed but abandoned for the dinosaur area at Animal Kingdom?  

This we know- dinosaurs will appear in China. An attraction is built in an entirely different form at Shanghai Disneyland as part of the Roaring Rapids attraction at Adventure Isle. Instead of a train or car, expect to see a creature such as this while plunging down a wild raging river in a rounded craft similar to those found on Grizzly River Run at California Adventure

If you're like me, you cannot wait to see more concept art... or the final result!

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Mark!
This blog and is awesome, and I love your "insights!"

I saw this post and I think I may have an answer on what this was supposed to be. According to poster WDW1974 on WDWMagic there was an RnRC style ride that would've featured Dinosaurs. Do you think there's a connection?

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/a-spirited-perfect-ten.894588/page-582#post-6668496

Unknown said...

Hey Mark,
I love your blog and your awesome "insights!" I saw your awesome concept art, and it reminded me of part of a post by WDW1974 over at WDWMagic. It referenced a RnRC style ride with dinosaurs. Do you think there's a connection?
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/a-spirited-perfect-ten.894588/page-582#post-6668496

Mark said...

Hi David! Thanks for the kind words. I can say this much- if it came from WDW1974, I'm sure there's a connection. But as usual, I don't think any idea every totally goes to waste at Disney Imagineering. I can't wait to see what happens in Shanghai. And Wednesday should mean more concept art- some of my favorite stuff...