Alain Littaye of the Disney And More blog shares more photos of Hong Kong Disneyland’s new land, Grizzly Gulch. Expensive new lands in Disney parks are becoming a trend. It looks like a lot of time and money went into this newest Disney western town.
–Rick
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In part two of our Hong Kong Disneyland Grizzly Gulch report, we’ll have a look at the whole land, and especially the new little western town. This is the first new “Frontierland” built by WDI Imagineers in 20 years. The last one was in Disneyland Paris. This one is a totally different, a new kind of Frontierland, never built before at any Disney theme park.
As you will see, although the buildings have a western style, the town itself is very different from what we’ve come to expect. When I saw the photos, it reminded me of the kind of western town that could have been built at Knott’s Berry Farm. In terms of storyline, this new town was not “in the old west” like Thunder Mesa at DLP Frontierland. It looks more like a small town which was built probably after the mine was discovered.
The only thing which I don’t like too much is that it seems they didn’t do much aging on the buildings. All this looks a little bit too fresh and new. I know that it IS new, and maybe HKDL Imagineers did it consciously, knowing that Hong Kong weather will do the “aging” job. If I meet them one day, I will ask them why they haven’t done more “aging” as I’m curious to know the answer.
You can access Grizzly Gulch either from Adventureland or Toy Story Land as a path has been created through Mystic Point which will open next year. In this report, we access it through Adventureland and below is the entrance to Grizzly Gulch…
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…where guests can find welcome signs like the one above and below.
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On your way to the town you can watch the HKDL railroad passing by – no Grizzly Gulch train station, though.
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Walking toward the town, on the left you’ll see Big Grizzly Mountain as the town and geysers begin to appear.
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Note the metallic bridge over the tracks of the BGM runaway mine cars ride…
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Let’s discover the town!
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Restaurant food.
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Not far from the restaurant above, there is a jail…and guests can take pictures of themselves as outlaws placing their head at the right place on the “wanted” posters.
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Right in front of it – and it’s done on purpose with humor by the imagineers – is displayed a huge gold nugget. No doubt that the thieves in jail had enjoyed the view!
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This BIG golden nugget will be a popular photo location!
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More photos of other buildings in town, beginning at the Big Grizzly Mountain Mine Company, which is the entrance to the ride…`
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Near the entrance of the BGMC ride, guests can find a wagon selling plenty of merchandise – and, of course, plush bears.
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On the walls of the town, some posters relate to the mine.
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There is much more to see in Grizzly Gulch! Don’t miss the next article in which we will discover the “geological” part of the town, its geysers, the water battle, splash areas, and more!
Photos courtesy of Marco or Keith Lee.
Don’t forget to check out the more coverage from Hong Kong and the Weekend Update Crew HERE
Visit Alain’s fantastic Disney blog at Disneyandmore.blogspot.com.