The HKDL Source : This Week in Hong Kong Disneyland

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We are laying down the gauntlet this week - see the gauntlet just there to your left? - and challenging Hong Kong Disneyland to declare their undying love for us and a commitment for the future. Yes, we no longer want sugar daddies, we want a stable relationship and someone to snuggle us at night. We also hear a bit of news about the Year of the Rat; get a report from our Chief Spy and continue to count down our Top Things. To think - they call this a "slow" week in Hong Kong Disneyland!

Update for October 15 to October 21 - News and Commentary

Skip To: Current Closures, Refurbishment and Construction | Events & Important Dates | Current Discounts/Promotions | Park Hours/Schedule/Annual Pass Blockout Days | Make a Comment

News This Week: Laying Down the Gauntlet | Chief Spy Trip Report | Year of the Rat 2008 Parade Planned | Top Things

Oh god, it's column time again and I haven't even got my pants on yet! We had an unprecedented response to last week's column, which was based largely on me being catty about various subjects. Guess I've found our target audience! My head is a bit muddled this week, as I begin a new job today and it's all a bit overwhelming. Still, the week in Hong Kong Disneyland marches on and just so nobody forgets about the place, we are going to keep on posting until the cows come home. Speaking of which, if anybody has spotted my cows, please let me know. I miss them.

Laying Down the Gauntlet

Like VHS and Beta, HD-DVD and Blu-ray or just plain ol' Good and Evil, the rivalry between Hong Kong's Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland is something that the newspapers like to play up a bit. The last few seasons, especially the current Halloween, has been a veritable battleground for the public's attention, and it seems that things about about to get hotter. The Philippines What's On & Expat Ezine speaks of the coming expansion of the Ocean Park grounds:

Even with the recent completion of Disneyland Hong Kong, Ocean Park did not get lost in oblivion. It is full steam ahead with its USD800 million Master Redevelopment Plan, a renovation and improvement project which is set to be completed over eight phases by 2012. It is expected to double the present number of attractions in the park. At present, Ocean Park is still the wonderful education, conservation and entertainment-themed place that has been delighting generations of tourists from all over the globe.

Think about it. That's only a tiny bit shy of what Disney are injecting into Disney's California Adventure (DCA) in their Anaheim resort, and that appears to be buying a complete makeover. We can only imagine what kind of commitment would mean to our darling Hong Kong facility. The simple fact of the matter is that Ocean Park already easily outnumbers the number of attractions in Hong Kong Disneyland, and to double them within the next 5 years could be disastrous for HKDL. Aside from the one attraction we know is coming early next year - namely it's a small world in April - we only have rumours of attractions.

Maybe they should just arm wrestle?

This is not to count Disney out of the mix, as I am sure they have some plans for the next few years. Those Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and Downtown Disney rumours just refuse to go away; and we are pretty sure there is more than a grain of truth in them. However, the big challenge for the park in the next few years is all about changing perception. The park needs bodies through the gate now in order to justify the further expansion of place. Like Ocean Park, they should put their cards on the table now. DCA has done it, and suddenly the Internet is alive with speculation and armchair opinions about the future of the place. More people suddenly have an invested interest in its future. Likewise, Ocean Park is looking like a place that is investing in a long future in Hong Kong, with the financial heft to back it up. They have a target, a date and a declared amount they are investing. Hong Kong Disneyland, on the other hand, has rumour and speculation. While that is fun for us week-in and week-out to chat about, I hearby challenge Disney to lay down the gauntlet with Ocean Park and declare their own plans. We want to see a public mud-slinging match, with each party out-doing the other in terms of hype. Oh, doubling your attractions? Here take a bit of this Splash Mountain and Star Tours. SLAM. You've got pandas? We've got bears. Country bears. They are having a jamboree. Ow! Take that Ocean Parkers. The possibilities will be endless, and I predict people will start picking sides and waging war in the streets before too long. There could be tears.

Chief Spy Report - 8 October 2007

Apologies for the lateness of this post, both to our readers and our Chief Spy, but it literally came in as I was posting last week's column and it's been a busy week since. I know - excuses, excuses....

So please enjoy. Better late than never!

Wow, what a day! NOT! I was miserable sick, but promised the LIttle One we'd go. Stitch was something to report on. When he asked for someone to name a planet he chose a Japanese lady. I was really impressed. She gave her name, and Stitch started speaking to her in Japanese. The magic of Disney came through. The Little One was so shocked/stunned to think that Stitch could speak Japanese too. She said he was 4-lingual (like her). Cantonese, Mandarin, English, AND Japanese! It is heartwarming to see that as she gets older and starts to understand more of the realities of the world, Disney is still a place where magic happens.

Another story to illustrate this: We were looking at a picture of a girl watering a flower, I was explaining Passive voice to her (I know, what a sick mother!) anyway, I gave her two sentences: "The girl has watered the flowers", and "The flowers have watered the girl". Of course I was looking for the lack of reality in the second sentence, but she told me that "Flowers do water girls. It's called the MAGICAL WORLD OF DISNEY". During the Parade yesterday, she was ecstatic to show me the Alice in Wonderland float where the flowers watered the girl (me), and that is just one more reason for me to love the place! Reality disappears when you walk through the gate!

Queues were very short yesterday. Almost everything was a walk-on. We did have to wait 20 minutes for Autopia once, and 10 minutes the second time. I was in line next to a family from Sydney the first time, and the mother was complaining about the wait time for the rides. She expected to be able to just jump on to everything. Her comment was that she wouldn't come back next year because they had to wait 10 minutes to Ride Pooh and that was too long! UGH!!! I wanted to slap her. [Not everybody from Sydney is that bad. Alex and Richard are both Sydneysiders - Ed] But talking to the children, they both said they enjoyed the day and couldn't wait to come back. [See! - Ed]

We had Pizza for lunch again, and I found the Candy Apples! HK$20 for a red one, and HK$15 for the green. It really was candy. Dipped in chocolate, about 1/4 inch thick, then covered with sprinkles. They were hidden in a cart by the Fantasyland Train Station. In Adventureland, we had an "eyeball soda"! It was grenadine, guava juice, 7 Up and a lichee with blueberries in the middle! $25 for a kiddy cocktail. But the Little One loved it. She did recognize it as being her "special drink" though.

We took a train ride all around the park, and you can really see the facade on Small World now. The entrance is right under the train, next to the walk to the Golden Mickeys. I think they are separate paths though. Of course, my husband took the camera with him yesterday, and I still had a dead battery on the old camera at 12:00 so I didn't have a camera at all yesterday. In the Parade, Cruella shouted her line about the puppies, and Katherine said she saw one. Priceless - Cruella started shouting at her to give it back. Katherine cheekily refused because she said it was mean of Cruella to use it for a coat. (See, more magic). I let her walk at the end of the parade again, and one of the ghouls (?) on the rope was walking near her. She wasn't frightened of him, but I was. My goodness, the make up was amazing. His eyes were so bloodshot, and the makeup made the red along the rims stand out. His teeth were terribly frightening, and I won't even begin to talk about what he did with his tongue. It reminded me of Gene Simmons from KISS. (Oops, I've just dated myself)

I didn't think the park was that busy yesterday. When we went into the park, Main Street was almost like a ghost town. All the princesses were out in Fantasyland by the Castle entrance which was something new. We saw 6 of them over there at one time. Bell, Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella, Mulan, and Alice. I'm sure the tourists loved it. They had Jafar and Cruella in Adventureland, Jack and the Pumpkin heads on Main Street, and Astronaut Mickey in Tomorrowland. Dinner was tempura in the Castle, and a garden salad for mom. It's about time they got some salads in there. The only restaurants open in the castle though were the Japanese place, and the Grill. They've started with the sticker collecting in the park, but we had to go to city hall to get the card. They didn't hand them out at the gate. Worse still, they would only give one to the Little One, and I didn't get one so no stickers for me. Nothing overly exciting today. Nothing abnormal happening.

Just another magical day at Disney.

Year of the Rat 2008 Parade Planned

A forum poster on Mice Chat has reported that: "According to the Orisun News, a graduate from HKAPA (Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts) who is now working at HKDL has revealed that a large-scale New Parade with Mouse Theme is under planning to be introduced next year in celebration for the Chinese Year of the Rat (2008 is year of Earth Rat)".

Given that 2008 is also the 80th anniversary of Mickey Mouse, not to mention the year that Ratatouille will be released on DVD/Blu-ray in Hong Kong, there will no doubt be one or two possible cross-promotions possible.

Top Things

The latest and greatest of the Top Things in the park! Counting down because we can't, we don't and we won't stop! This week, we are looking to the future and counting down the confirmed new attractions that will be opening in the next twelve months:

it's a small world

Thank you. We hope you can join us again next week for a list of top rides.

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Current and Forthcoming Closures, Refurbishments and Construction

Space Mountain - Ghost Galaxy (NOW) and its Halloween features replaces the regular Space Mountain until October 31.
Taihitian Terrace (Adventureland) restaurant CLOSED October 16 through October 18 (THIS WEEK)
Fantasyland: No closures in Fantasyland, but there is constant construction going on ‘beyond the berm’ for the forthcoming it’s a small world attraction (Coming April 2008).
Land appears to be cleared and built upon behind Adventureland and the Promenade for as-yet-undisclosed project. While some contend that this land has always been in this state, we have reports that some construction was seen to be going on in this area. Others still say that this is prep-work for a Downtown Disney style area and the Pirates extension to Adventureland. The HK Building Department reports this as a 'Dangerous Goods Storage Area'. We now have an indication that a hotel will be going up in the area. Time will tell.
Construction work is being carried out near the main gates, allegedly for some new toilets and Cast Member break room.

Events & Important Dates

If you know of any events that should be listed here, please let us know.

October

Halloween: (September 25 to October 31) Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialise all through September and October, as Hong Kong Disneyland celebrates its second official Halloween. Look for the decorations to go up late September, and then segue into the Christmas/New Year celebrations in November. This year will see the debut of a Haunted Hotel on Main Street; Space Mountain - Ghost Galaxy; a glow-in-the-dark parade and a host of other spooky surprises. You can read about the full line-up here.

November/December

Christmas: From 23 November until New Year's Eve (December 31), Hong Kong Disneyland's Main Street will become a Winter Wonderland, with a tree lighting ceremony; musical events; special meals and the big man himself, Santa. A new parade is in the works as well, we're told.
Magical New Year and Countdown: Concluding the Christmas festivities, this big event will be a dance party for some; some old-school shindigging for others and an excuse to have fun for all. Count down to midnight in the park, and then go back and drain the hotels of all alcohol.

January 2008

High School Musical: A hybrid version of the bafflingly popular US TV hit will come to HKDL in January 2008.

April 2008

it’s a small world (April 2008): RTHK News reports that the attraction is set to open in April 2008, which is consistent with Disney’s official line of ‘early 2008’. You can follow the progress in our Construction Photo Gallery .

May 2008

Richard visits Hong Kong Disneyland late in the month. Prepare the fortifications!

Current Discounts/Promotions

Annual Passholders: September to December Passholder deals can be found here. Discounts for early renewals are also available.
Bring a Friend Free: Annual Passholders can bring a friend to the park for free between September 1 and September 23! Details can be found here.
Interest Free Installment when Purchasing Annual Passes: Purchase Annual Pass now with a Standard Chartered VISA Card or MANHATTAN VISA Card to enjoy a 12-month interest free installment. Offer Period: 1 December, 2006 – 31 December, 2007. See here for details.
Stay and Play for 2 Days: Book a hotel stay and enjoy an extra day at Hong Kong Disneyland when you purchase a one-day ticket! The offer has been extended until September 2008!
Dining Deal: Book breakfast in advance and receive 30% off. Conditions apply.

Halloween Events/Park Hours/Schedule/Annual Pass Block-out Days

Day	Main Street Haunted Hotel	Glow-in-the-Dark Parade
Monday 15 October to Thursday 18 & Sunday 21	1:00 PM - 8:00PM	7:00 PM
Friday 19 to Saturday 20	2:00 PM - 11:00 PM	7:30 PM

Note that these don't in any way replace the existing parades and fireworks. Our beloved Disney on Parade returns to the park daily from 3:30 PM. The Fireworks will be on at 8:00 PM most nights, except the Friday and Saturday which will see them launch off at 9:00 PM.

Park hours will remain ar 10:00 to 8:00pm all throughout October, except on weekends when park hours will extend to 11:00 PM. October 31 will also extend to the later time, as it is Halloween Night (and the conclusion of the Halloween festivities). All weekends will be Peak Ticket days, as well as Friday October 5 and Friday October 19 (Chung Yeung Festival), and the ticket prices will be reflected accordingly.

Value Annual Passholders will have all weekends blocked to them during October, as well as October 19. Deluxe and Premium Annual Passholders get to go crazy, as no dates are blocked to them.

Posted By Richard Gray on October 14th, 2007 at 2:50 pm | Viewed 954 Time(s)

Comments

Bloody Sydneysiders! People from Perth would never be so stupid...

Posted By: Tom Pacy on October 15th, 2007 at 5:07 am
IASW... the power attraction that will save HKDL... not.

Posted By: Tannerman on October 15th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Hmmm, but IASW is the top of the confirmed new attractions that will be opening in the next twelve months list! :P

Posted By: Tom Pacy on October 16th, 2007 at 5:12 am

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This Week in Hong Kong Disneyland