Marvel, Frozen, and Castle Expansion at Hong Kong Disneyland
Disney just confirmed that Hong Kong Disneyland is slated to receive a massive, multi-year expansion between now and 2023, which will include the replacement of Sleeping Beauty Castle, plus a Frozen land and Marvel land and is projected to cost $1.4 billion. (May 4, 2017 UPDATE: Hong Kong’s government has approved funding for the proposal, and the project should begin in early 2018.)
Most of what follows in this section is mostly mindless copy and paste action from the Hong Kong Disneyland press release, so skip down to “My Reaction” if you’ve already read the details…and actually care what I have to say on the matter. First up is the centerpiece of the park and the gateway to Fantasyland, Sleeping Beauty Castle, which will be transformed into something larger, creating a better backdrop for mixed media daytime and nighttime spectaculars.
Next is that a fully-fledged Marvel Universe will be built around Iron Man Experience (which opens in early 2017). Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters will be reimagined into a Marvel Universe shooter attraction. Additionally, another thrill ride attraction dedicated to one of the most popular Marvel franchises will be added; this land will be built in phases.
A new “Frozen” themed area where the kingdom of Arendelle will come to life. Guests will enjoy two new attractions and be immersed in Arendelle with uniquely themed dining, shopping, and entertainment. This area will include multiple facades and backdrops, and looks a lot like the Arendelle port previously announced for Tokyo DisneySea.
Adventureland Show Place will invite guests to “Moana’s Village Festival” through a series of daytime entertainment offerings anchored around a lively stage show in a new interactive entertainment environment. Moana will also be meeting in Adventureland.
Hong Kong Disneyland’s two shareholders – The Walt Disney Company and the Hong Kong SAR Government – have agreed on the development plans, subject to funding approval by the TWDC’s Board of Directors and HKSAR’s Legislative Council for their respective share of investment.
My Reaction
Let’s start with the conversion of Sleeping Beauty Castle. And, based on the concept art, this is very much a conversion of the existing castle (the base looks the same) and not a complete replacement.
My thoughts on this are mixed. For purely selfish reasons, I would have liked Sleeping Beauty Castle to stay. While I think it was a poor idea to clone so much of Disneyland when constructing HKDL in the first place, the park has since come into its own with recent additions, and now held its place as the “quaint park” that was almost more Disneyland than Walt Disney’s original. I liked that about Hong Kong Disneyland.
On the other hand, Hong Kong Disneyland has lost guests, particularly the lucrative demographic of nouveau riche mainland Chinese, to Shanghai Disneyland. Enchanted Storybook Castle is a reflection of Chinese predilections as much as it is a design of Imagineering, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if guest surveys have revealed that Hong Kong Disneyland could perform better with a more ostentatious castle.
Beyond that, this new castle would serve a functional purpose in terms of being a canvas for nighttime (and, apparently, daytime?) spectaculars that are heavy on projections. The other parks with larger castles have demonstrated how this can be done, and it certainly makes sense to bring such highly popular nighttime entertainment to Hong Kong.
In terms of design, the style looks like a bit of a hodgepodge to me, but that’s probably the natural consequence of building a new castle on an existing one. I do wish a singular, cohesive style were chosen instead of having this be another “every story’s castle” but who knows, maybe the finished product will look better than the concept art? I’m willing to take a ‘wait and see’ approach on this one.
Next up is Marvel Land. The original ‘Sci-Fi City’ style of Tomorrowland was pretty cool, but that was too light on attractions. Star Wars and Marvel haven’t been perfect fits in that, but the looser concept has made them acceptable. This Marvel area looks sort of space port-ish, so I suppose that could work. I do think it’s good to have a vision for this area, as otherwise I suspect Tomorrowland would’ve been slowly absorbed, piecemeal by disparate science fiction franchises.
If ride footage is any indication, Iron Man Experience looks fairly awful. Hopefully the rest of this land deviates from that in quality. From what I understand, the new thrill ride here will be a lavish E-Ticket, which certainly has potential. I view the conversion from Buzz Lightyear’s blaster game to a Marvel blaster game to be a lateral one at worst. This attraction has somehow found itself cloned virtually everywhere, as if it’s some Pirates of the Caribbean caliber masterpiece (it actually exists in more places than POTC and Haunted Mansion).
Finally, we have the Arendelle/Frozen expansion. This one looks like the true gem of the expansion, with beautiful environments to explore, and an actual mountain that could look beautiful against the backdrop of real mountains (albeit subtropical ones).
My biggest question here is whether this means the similar port for Tokyo DisneySea has been permanently shelved? It was already delayed once due to rising construction costs associated with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but OLC reps went on record to say it was still going forward.
Typically, there are regional exclusivity agreements in place among the Asia parks with high profile expansion that specify a term of years (say, 5) before a clone or near-clone can open elsewhere. If this Frozen land opens in 2020, that means Tokyo DisneySea would likely be waiting until at least 2025 to open theirs. That is, unless the OLC and HKSAR have waived exclusivity requirements. (And they very well might–Tokyo and Hong Kong are largely drawing from different pools of guests.)
One of the attractions for this is a Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree clone, except with sleds instead of Maters (here’s hoping Santa Mater at least makes in an appearance in the queue–THEME BE DAMNED). People like this attraction at DCA and it’s a cheap build–I’m okay with it if it means more money is allocated towards an E-Ticket.
That’s the big question mark about the Frozen land at Hong Kong Disneyland. Will the other attraction be a lavish E-Ticket? A trackless dark ride was one of the concepts rumored for the Tokyo DisneySea version of this land, and I hope it has found its way to this expansion. Hong Kong Disneyland could definitely use more in the way of Fantasyland-style attractions.
It is interesting that this is all being announced before the funding approval has been granted by the Board of Directors and Hong Kong government. Both parties have, recently, been very hands-on with park additions, and I could see these plans being altered significantly before getting the financial greenlight. (It’s almost as if one wanted to force the other’s hand by releasing the info to the public now…)
Overall, I guess you could say I’m cautiously optimistic about these plans. While I would love to see Hong Kong Disneyland remain the quaint, peaceful park, that’s completely unrealistic. The concept art for the castle does have me worried a bit, but the rest of the plans hold a good deal of promise. The park has been hemorrhaging guests this year, and staying on the current trajectory–particularly while nearly doubling their room inventory–was simply not viable. This plan is demonstrative of TWDC’s and HKSAR’s dedication to the park as a going concern. It’s definitely good to see that Hong Kong Disneyland hasn’t simply been forgotten now that Shanghai Disneyland is open. Based on these plans, it also seems likely that Disney will expand both HKDL and SDL in ways that keep each park distinct, so regional guests feel compelled to visit both. While we are certainly not the target audience for these parks, we are unintended beneficiaries of this philosophy. Even if you don’t have any interest in the Asia parks, this also might function as a window into what Disneyland Resort will build in the decade after Star Wars Land. What do you think?
Any chance you’ll bring reviewing Moana like you did with Pete’s Dragon?
Unfortunately, we haven’t had a chance to see it yet!
I don’t honestly have many complaints about this. The idea of changing the castle is a bit odd to me, but I don’t hate the look of it. The park could certainly benefit from more attractions.
Buzz is not a big loss, but I am a bit disappointed about the apparent removal of Autopia. While I don’t think that any of the various car rides are imagineering masterpieces, I did think that Hong Kong had arguably the best version of the ride with an appealing aesthetic. Oh well.
I applaud their decision to fill up the park a bit more before soldiering on with a second gate. Hopefully these additions will land with the public and HKDL can have a fighting chance.
Liked reading your reactions to this :). I think HKDL is my favorite park to actually spend time in, but i guess you are right that though ‘quaint’ is good for regular guests, it’s not great for business.
I quite like the idea of the redesigned castle. The current one is cute, but not at all ambitious – so a pretty good indicator for all of HKDL really!
The Frozen land excites me the most, I think Mystic Point showcased that HKDL imagineering can make really excellent unique lands, so looking forward to seeing how that goes!
I am ok with these additions, I was there last when Toy Story land opened, so I have yet to experience the other lands, but its nice to see they are adding more.
I wish that as part of this expansion, they added more to do around the resort itself, sure the new hotel will have places to eat and such, but would it be too hard to place a mini disney springs / disney village / Ikspiari / downtown disney, there is plenty of space there.
I mean, imagine a coffee house on your right as you approach from the train station, perhaps a giant world of disney across from it. The other corners can offer up restaurants and other activities, giving people more access to keep them there longer. They have the space on the walk way, so why not use it
I agree wholeheartedly. HKDL is masterplanned with space for a lot of things (including a second gate), so it’d be nice to see the resort district built up a bit, making it more than a 1-day destination.
Can’t complain too much about them adding onto the first gate before building a second half-day park, though…
I’m actually really happy that they decided to replace the castle.
I understand your concern about them building the new castle on top of the existing one, but I think they could make this work. Remember: many real-life European castles have had awkward additions over many generations, giving them an eclectic and charming character. In fact, Disneyland Paris’ own castle looks like it had multiple unplanned additions over the centuries.
That’s a fair point, and I hope they’re able to pull off the eclectic visual style. Clearly, it can work…
I, too, am consciously optimistic overall about the changes and, as you mentioned on Twitter, I cannot help but enjoy the political implications of it all. I’ll see if I can keep my thoughts cogent:
1. The castle – I think the quaint castle in the mountains make for a great photo, but its underwhelming in person, and MSUSA (a concept I love) looks out of place among more jungle-y HK. I haven’t been to TDL or DLP, so I can’t speak to how MS has translated there, but I think Mickey Ave in Shanghai was a smart change because of what I saw in HK. I agree the design looks very piecemeal, but I am cautiously optimistic. I am willing to go on record and say, for all the crap I gave Enchanted Storybook Castle, it looks better in person. But I do think it will also be a catch-all castle because of Shanghai.
2. Marvel land – I continue to be unable to muster any sort of enthusiasm for Marvel in the parks. I feel the same way about Star Wars, and SW is something I absolutely love. I was less enthused by HK’s Tomorrowland than you were, Tom, so I hope these changes add life and visual interest to that side of the park, but I also worry that is a fate that could befall other Tomorrowlands around the world.
3. Frozenland – I agree this will be the gem of the expansion, but I also want Disney to turn out another huge hit so we can collectively shift our obsession somewhere else. While I think this sort of mini-expansion should have been put into WDW’s MK instead of replacing Maelstrom, (insert diatribe about franchises and such).
4. Exclusivity – you raise a very interesting point, and I hope this means that TDS Frozen land is delayed long enough that people second-guess whether it should be built or not. And so too is the issue of funding. I wouldn’t be surprised if the news is being used to curry favor with those making the financial decisions. The more cynical side of me also wonders if this is nice, fluffy, mass-appeal news that will fill air time during a period of political unrest. We can’t be too sure.
And this is absolutely envy of Shanghai, as well as issues of tourism caused by the mainland Chinese government. In that way the castle choice is interesting. By going for what Shanghai has, they are going for a more “Chinese” style. But HK really needs to be courting other populations, particularly SE Asians, to go to HKDL and other tourist destinations. The Chinese government is proving it is willing to play with tourist dollars to punish Hong Kong when it acts up (China does the exact same thing to Taiwan). HK needs to capitalize on the fact that it allows much more travel freedom than does China/Shanghai in order to attract more people from outside Greater China to go to HKDL. Will HKDL be more successful in that being a unique park, or becoming Shanghai-lite with fewer visa requirements?
Solid points, all around.
One thing: Tokyo DisneySea’s port was to be Scandinavia with a strong emphasis on Frozen. I had heard some (unannounced) details about this port, and based on that, I was/am very much on board with it. Now, a lot can change between the time the concepts are approved and built, and the scales could have shifted towards a more character-centric port, but the approved plans sounded absolutely fantastic to me.
To your final point, it’s interesting that they are choosing to add on to this park rather than building a second gate and turning it into a ‘weekend getaway’ for Hong Kongers. They are adding a *lot* of rooms to the hotel inventory, and they need guests who will stay in them. Other Asian countries is one option, but that’s difficult and still going to be ~25-35% of their demo, at most. They need to give locals a reason to book a hotel stay, and a second gate would be that “reason.”
Personally, I’d rather have the first gate fully fleshed out before starting a second, but I find it interesting that’s the route they are choosing to go. I know there were plans for a second gate as recently as last year. Perhaps the estimated cost was significantly higher than $1.4 billion and the stakeholders couldn’t justify it?
I personally love the sense of perspective created by the combination of the mountains in the background and the smaller castle – and of course you get that somewhat unique effect of the fireworks appearing above the castle but not in the sky (as per the HKDL logo).
If I had my way, I’d have loved to see HKDL take its Tomorrowland concept further. There are some really great ideas there, and I love the land entrance sign – in some ways it had potential to be the best Tomorrowland in a Disney park. But it looked a little less wonderful this year, partly viewed in the light of SDL’s more sophisticated Tomorrowland, so I guess this is a logical response.
But I think the best news is the suggestion that DisneySea’s Frozen plans might be on hold 😉 – and I think putting it in Fantasyland is more thematically acceptable.
Exciting news! We just visited HKDL for the first time and used your website extensively for research. Sooo helpful – thank you!! Can’t wait to visit again once this expansion is complete.
Allow me: “Frozen!?!? Marvel?!??! What on earth do they have to do with Disney??!??!! The HORROR!!!!!!!!”
In all seriousness, awesome news. Just made my first trip to HKDL. Loved the park, but agree it is relatively small and could use more – and these changes and additions sound great!
This is exciting news for HKDL, but does this mean no second gate? Each park should really have its own original castle – not just a clone of another one. Or is this Shanghai castle envy? Thanks for always keeping us updated on the international parks! How is it that they can announce this before they have funding and all we get is crickets regarding Rivers of Light?
When we were at DCA in June I saw a large group of predominantly Asian executive-types closely examining the Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree ride vehicles and watching the guests experience the ride. I had assumed they were from Shanghai, but it all makes sense now!