Amusement Parks
As Hong Kong Disneyland celebrates its 10th anniversary, at least 3 new attractions are set to open. A gala celebration was held on 11 September to commemorate the auspicious milestone in the theme park’s history.
Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005. As the amusement park celebrates its 10th anniversary, it announces plans to launch at least 3 new attractions before year’s end.
Two new attractions will be launched at Hong Kong Disneyland in November. Disney in the Stars will be a spectacular after dark show combining fireworks with a video projection on the exterior of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Mickey and the Wondrous Book will be a 25 minute show at the park’s Storybook Theatre.
Fairy Tale Forest will create “whimsical passages” through scenes from Disney cartoons through the use of “creative landscaping”. It will open in December.
Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005 to much fanfare. The park, however, was initially panned by the media, which criticized the park’s long lines and its small scale in relation to other Disney theme parks.
I will agree that the park is a bit small. If Hong Kong Disneyland is the smallest park in the lineup, however, it does have the most spectacular setting – sitting amid the verdant emerald hilly landscape of Lantau Island.
Regarding lines, I must say that anyone that thinks the lines at Hong Kong Disneyland are long has obviously never been to one of the parks in the United States.
The difference, of course, is the behaviour of the people waiting in those lines. Fair goers in the U.S. tend to be far more patient.
Shanghai Disneyland
A much larger Disney theme park will open near Shanghai in spring 2016 – 3 times as large as Hong Kong Disneyland, in fact.
Shanghai Disneyland will feature 6 themed zones: Adventure Island, Fantasyland, Gardens of Imagination, Mickey Avenue, Tomorrowland, and Treasure Cove.
Unlike Hong Kong Disneyland, which is, essentially, a scaled down version of the original park in Anaheim, California – everything is smaller and there is less of it – Shanghai Disneyland will feature many unique elements, making it truly unique.
The castle, for example, will be the world’s largest, and it will pay tribute to all Disney princesses, and not just Sleeping Beauty.
The Shanghai theme park will be the first Disneyland not to have a Main Street USA. In its place will be Mickey Avenue.
There will also be far fewer rides at Shanghai Disneyland than at other Disney amusement parks and far more photo opps.
The experience Disney gained in Hong Kong is that Chinese park attendees are far more fond of taking photos than visitors at other parks. For many Chinese visitors, photo opps seem to be the park’s key attraction.