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Expansion time: The smallest Disney park gets some big time additions. |
When Hong Kong Disneyland opened in September of 2005, it was the smallest Disney park ever built. And as if skimping on attractions wasn't enough, Disney was so unsure of this venture that they only took 43% of the bill, leaving the rest to the Hong Kong government. But now Hong Kong is demanding help as the fledgling park has been faltering due to lack of, well, most everything, and Disney is stepping in in a major way.
The two parties have jointly announced that Disney will pour up to $452 million into the park over the next five years. This will cut Hong Kong's stake in the park from 57% down to 52%.
This is a huge investment for Disney in the future of this park. With the money, Hong Kong Disneyland will debut 3 new themed areas suring the course of the 5 year plan.
The first area will be a Toy Story Land similar to the one currently being built at Walt Disney Studios Paris. The land will feature three flat rides: an RC Racer half-pipe, a Green Army Men parachute drop, and a Slinky Dog music express style ride.
Next up will be a new land, totally unique to Hong Kong Disneyland, called Mystic Point. The main attraction there will be Mystic Manor, a state of the art dark ride that will feature a trackless ride system allowing riders to go wherever they wish. No word has been leaked as to how Disney plans to accomplish this.
Lastly there will be Grizzly Trail, a new take on the Frontier Land concept. The park highlight here will be Hong Kong Disneyland's second roller coaster, Grizzly Mountain Coaster. The ride's theme will be somewhat similar to Thunder Mountain but the ride system is rumored to be more akin to Expedition Everest and feature a reversed track section.
This is certainly the most ambitious expansion plan that Disney has ever implemented in an already existing park. Hopefully it will pay dividends in full when the Far East public get a chance to enjoy a full sized Disney park.
