The brilliant old school excellence of Mystic Manor. The Newfangled blend of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Expedition Everest found in Hong Kong Disneyland's recent Grizzly Gulch's Runaway Mine Cars. The upcoming Iron Man attraction. A new evening show, "Disney Paint the Night", with shades of California Adventure's incredible World of Color. What will be next for Hong Kong Disneyland?
How about something old? Something discarded? Something that was planned once upon a time by the Imagineers and cut due to budget restraints of the budgeteers. Let's call it "Glacier Bay", an icy wonderland perfectly designed to cut through the heat of Asia.
Far beyond the ordinary fairground mentality of the bland Toy Story Playland, the beautiful Glacier Bay would be home to a roller coaster, jet skiing, and more.
Is it my imagination or does Glacier Bay remind you of Tokyo DisneySea's futuristic Port Discovery? Regardless, all this work was done for a proposed but abandoned part of the Hong Kong park done by Favilli Studios, one of the relatively new players in the theme park business.
With nearby Ocean Park ramping up the competition for tourist dollars and Shanghai Disneyland within a couple of years of opening, the suits in Hong Kong are looking for ways to keep the guests coming in. Be it the inevitable second park or a Downtown Disney buildout, my bet is that they look backwards to what was once planned- and give their guests a wintery excuse to get away from it all.
(Art copyright Favilli Studios.)
8 comments:
I hope Glacier Bay will finally get built at HKDL along with the lost Pirate land and Fantasyland rides. With the addition of the third hotel, the resort would really become a genuine multi-day destination.
I hope Glacier Bay will finally get build at HKDL along with the lost Pirate land and Fantasyland rides. With the addition of the third hotel the resort would really become a genuine multi-day destination.
What were those lost Fantasyland attractions? I'm not aware of those, Terry.
They're Peter Pan's Flight and a Little Mermaid ride which were mentioned in the park announcement in 1999
Oh, thanks- that makes sense.
Interestingly enough, Glacier Bay was also proposed for Tokyo DisneySea, during the initial planning phases.
For what it's worth, Glacier Bay was also on the drawing board for Tokyo DisneySea, during the initial Blue Sky concept phase. Maybe it'll turn up somewhere one day!
I think I'd like to see it turn up, Peter! It's a concept that hasn't been used before or even in a slightly altered form.
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