ORGOCH: Looks like they went an' planted more trees so's folks cain't see Grizzly Gulch as well as they used ta. Oh, well, Timmy, ducklin', yer gonna' be 'round ta visit the park in person an' put up yer own pics from the other side a all them dang trees. Bet yer savin' up fer trip there even right here an' now! Thanks fer showin' us the latest.
It looks like it will be ready to open any time nowOriginally Posted by Witches of Morva
!
The world according me: http://www.youtube.com/user/TimmyME
It will open to the general public in July.
Thanks for the update. Judging from the videos, the two lands look really wonderful. Mystic Point and Grizzly Gulch are currently the most interesting WDI projects for me.
Guests walk through these wonderfully themed lands and suddenly they are in TSPL. It's a bit of a cultural shock. Unlike WDSP, HKDL is a very beautiful park and even in Paris it's a terrible addition, but at least there it adds some greenery to the park. HKDL should have used the land for something greater.
Grizzly Gulch or whatever it will be called is not as small as it might seme. These pics show that there is more to it than just a mini land. The sad thing is the one ride factor.
For more the latest attractions in Hong Kong check out the great blog: http://disneyandmore.blogspot.se/
The world according me: http://www.youtube.com/user/TimmyME
The Grizzly Gulch area is enormous, and the coaster goes all over it from one end to the other.
Born in a shoebox and making the most of it.
I wish they used the space better and would put in a second attraction from start. The play area is not a real attraction.
The world according me: http://www.youtube.com/user/TimmyME
ORDDU: My sisters and I agree with you, Timmy, dear. It's almost as if they went out of their way to make it difficult to add another attraction to this area. But, then, the whole park was poorly planned from the start. The train tracks should have been built much further out to encompass any future expansions that would be added.
I don't agree that a land is necessarily a disappointment just because it only has one ride. So long as the ride is a great addition to the park, what does it matter? There's plenty of precedent for Disney lands opening with only one "ride," or even with only one attraction of any type. I think Bear Country premiered in DL with the Country Bear Jamboree as its only attraction. And even today, the only attraction in TDL's Critter Country besides Splash Mountain is the Beaver Brothers Explorer Canoes -- certainly not something that's on most guests' to-do lists, and not substantially more exciting than a water play area. (Going even further back, DL opened New Orleans Square without a single attraction -- unless you count a stop of the DL railroad. PotC and the HM had staggered openings two years apart, such that NOS was pretty skimpy on real rides for quite a while after it debuted.) Water play areas don't excite most visitors, but at least the one in Grizzly Gulch seems to be elaborate, extensive, and well-themed -- considerably more than just a couple of water-squriting tikis.
I like the fact that HKDL is adding two big E-ticket attractions, both of which are unique, and one of which (Mystic Manor) has the potential to be something special among Disney attractions worldwide. One could argue that Disney missed an opportunity by opening two separate lands, each including only one "real" ride. Why not consolidate Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point into one land, and thereby open a new land that includes two great rides? I guess they could have done that, but I appreciate the opportunity to have a bit more diversity in theming among HKDL's areas.
If they'd gone the "one big land with multiple rides" route, they would have had to make Mystic Manor more "Western," or the grizzly coaster something that would fit in with the Mystic Point theme (or come up with a third theme that's different entirely). The latter probably could have worked well enough, but I'm glad to see a Frontierland-type area in HKDL, complete with supporting structures and theming. Correspondingly, I like the fact that we'll get what seems to be a pretty big venue in the Adventurers Club in Mystic Point -- a location that resonates perfectly with the tenor of Mystic Point, but whose appeal would be lost considerably if it had to be adapted to a Western (or other) theme.
Of course, I'd be happier if Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point added more attractions -- something that could happen in the future. And I wouldn't want HKDL (or other Disney parks) to go crazy with "one-ride lands" -- overdoing it could definitely lead to a feeling of "Balkanization" and over-specialization. But, for now, on the whole I'm happy with how Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point are turning out.
As for the HKDL railroad, I actually like the idea of the train being entirely inside the park (with guest areas and attractions existing on the outside of the loop) and not defining its outer boundary. I think we're so used to Disney parks being circumscribed by train tracks that anything else seems odd or wrong. With guest areas on both sides of the track, the railroad has the potential to feel more like an internal transportation system, providing vistas on both sides of the vehicle -- consider the PeopleMover, the monorail at Disneyland, the TDS Electric Railway, or the Skyway that previously existed at multiple parks.
Of course, maximizing the potential of such a transportation system is dependent on having guests seated in such a way that they can have views on multiple sides of the direction of travel -- as well as providing things to see on all sides. At least for Grizzly Gulch, there's already plenty of interest on the left side of the train -- the coaster tracks run quite close to the train tracks. However, if the HKDL railroad continues to force guests to face one side of the train, then the potential for the existing train layout would be pretty much wasted.
ORDDU: Well, just because there have been previous established precedents for opening one attraction in one land doesn't mean that it was a GOOD precedent. Disney has, indeed, done this often enough and this coven of witches haven't always approved. Due to the fact that HKDL is already short on attractions, it's a particularly bad idea to repeat this trend.
I'm not saying that it's necessarily good per se to open a new land with only one attraction -- just that it's not bad per se.
The idea of pointing to what's been done before was, in part, to acknowledge that sometimes (most of the time?) budget constraints and the realities of expansion only allow lands to open piecemeal, with fewer things to see/do than one would like at the outset.
Really, though, the root of the problem with HKDL, as you noted, is the fact that it opened with too few attractions. However, the fact that two of its new lands are opening with only one attraction apiece (if you don't count water play areas or Mystic Point's Garden of Wonders as legitimate attractions) is not in itself the problem, at least not in the abstract -- which is why I was citing prior examples to address the more general argument that a land opening with a single attraction is somehow deficient per se.
Rather, the problem here is tied directly to the shortage of existing attractions. For example, if Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point had been designed to be a single land comprising both Mystic Manor and the new coaster (presumably with a different theme), the current expansion would be opening with a land that has two great E-tickets -- and I don't think there would be the complaints about "opening a new land with only one ride." But that alone wouldn't solve the "too few attractions overall" issue, as the total number of new rides added would be the same.
The argument here is really that both Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point should have included all that they currently have, as well as other rides, maybe some B- or C-tickets. Of course any such additions would have been great, but at the moment I'm hard-pressed to think of anything realistically feasible that would really make me much happier.
The cheapest solution would have been to throw in a spinner -- but I personally am not that enamored of multiple spinners in one park, and would rather have nothing than have an unsightly "Mystic Point Magic Carpets" put in front of the Adventurers Club. Or they could have added something of a similar scope, like the Slinky Dog, or the two smaller attractions that are going into Carsland (the floating tires and junkyard jamboree). I don't think any of those types of rides would fit thematically within Mystic Point, no matter how well they're designed -- it would be like adding something along those lines to New Orleans Square or Liberty Square.
Such a ride could possibly work in Grizzly Gulch, but for now I'd rather HKDL save their money and add something truly worthwhile a few years down the road, rather than put in additional, off-the-shelf B-tickets just so they can say that their new lands opened with "multiple rides." All of HKDL's future attractions should be of high quality -- I'm thinking of a Western-themed Splash Mountain-type attraction for Grizzly Gulch, or maybe a show on the order of The Hall of Presidents for Mystic Manor.
Don't forget the mm and gg are super E ticket, if they re well designed , I don't think they re not attractive for fans or guests. And it's mini land means land not for many attractions, we do want bigger land and more attractions , but don't forget the hk government don't want invest more. So it's not the problem of WDI or hkdl , it's the problem of wdc and hk government. I truly believe the new lands will be very unique and well designed , don't worry or argue about mini or not, just have fun!
ORDDU: I've thought about that, too, Keithlee, duckling, and it's a good point. The Walt Disney Company can't be blamed for everything that's wrong with HKDL. The local government needs to be held responsible. At least HKDL is fortunate enough to add two more attractions that might just make this little park a full day experience for everyone over there.
We were sent over there with the message that only we would defend Disney quality.. We learnt quickly that the Japanese culture speaks to a level of quality that is hard to comprehend. They were all unbelievably skilled and willing to do the right thing.Bringing the Love since January 10, 2011
Craig Russell -Walt Disney Imagineering
Wow, the grizzly coaster tracks come really close to the HKDL railroad tracks! It would be a missed opportunity if the design of the train cars isn't changed to afford passengers views of both sides of the train. (How odd would it be to be sitting in the train as it's currently configured, facing toward the right of the tracks, and keep hearing the sound of a coaster rushing by behind your head somewhere?)
And Mystic Point doesn't quite look finished enough to open up a pathway between Grizzly Gulch and Toy Story Land... but maybe they'll pull it off by next month.
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