Originally Posted By dagobert User HongKongDisneyland over at MiceChat.com posted, that Disney proposed a Marvel Land to the Hong Kong Government. It could debut before 2017. <a href="http://micechat.com/forums/hong-kong-disneyland-resort/178831-%5Bmarvel-land%5D-might-debut-before-2017-a.html" target="_blank">http://micechat.com/forums/hon...7-a.html</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Interesting, but I'd rather see them fill out the lands they have now. It seems that each one only has a couple attractions in it. While it might be easier to market a whole new land, I think that having more to do in the existing lands would create much better word of mouth, since the park would feel less disjointed. HKDL already has (or will later this year) the same number of lands as the original DL, yet it has fewer than half the number of attractions. To for me, I'd rather see them finish what they started than begin a new area.
Originally Posted By dagobert According to user HongKongDisneyland over at Micechat, HKDL made for the first time in seven years a profit of HK$ 109 million. <a href="http://micechat.com/forums/hong-kong-disneyland-resort/178951-hkdl-reports-hk%24109-million-profit-1st-time-7-years-annual-attendance-6-7mil.html" target="_blank">http://micechat.com/forums/hon...mil.html</a>
Originally Posted By TDLFAN BRAVO! ^^^ The little park that could. I love HKDL, quaint, lovely and gorgeous settings.. I hope this is the beginning of great new adventures to come. But please, NO MARVEL.
Originally Posted By dagobert According to the WSJ, HKDL will get a Marvel-Land. <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/02/27/hong-kongs-disneyland-to-get-marvel-superheroes/?mod=chinablog" target="_blank">http://blogs.wsj.com/chinareal...hinablog</a> >>>Famed Marvel Comics superheroes like Spider-Man, X-Men and the Fantastic Four will soon call a part of Hong Kong Disneyland home, when the theme park opens an area dedicated to the comic-book stars. On Wednesday, Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang said the theme park, which is 52%-owned by the city’s government, will add an area featuring “Marvel heroes” as part of the resort’s expansion program. Hong Kong Disneyland, the smallest of Walt Disney Co.'s parks worldwide, last week reported its first annual profit since its 2005 opening. The park has struggled over the years to boost attendance from its key target demographic—tourists from mainland China—many who aren’t enamored enough of Disney characters to make a special trip to the park. The park has also been competing with Ocean Park, a Sea World-type marine park in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Disneyland has added several new themed “lands” over the last few years to boost its size and attractiveness. The addition of Marvel in Hong Kong will be the first of its kind of any Disney resort, and could be a big draw for mainland Chinese tourists after the success of several Hollywood smash-hits that featured Marvel characters. Marvel superheroes could also attract older and more affluent visitors, as opposed to the younger audiences that the traditional Disney characters target. The Marvel addition is the latest move by Disney aimed at reaping the benefits of its $4 billion acquisition in 2009 of Marvel Entertainment. In May, “The Avengers”, the first Marvel film to be released by Disney since its Marvel purchase, shattered box-office records. Earlier, Disney said it would prioritize plans to introduce theme-park rides based on Marvel superheroes.<<<
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper Very exciting to hear about Marvel. Hong Kong is becoming such a terrific park, aside from the mistake of Toy Story Playland.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>Very exciting to hear about Marvel. Hong Kong is becoming such a terrific park, aside from the mistake of Toy Story Playland.<<< Besides Dinoland USA, TSPL is the worst land ever added to any Disney park. It's a shame that this beautiful park got TSPL.
Originally Posted By dagobert And Dinoland has at least one interesting ride. At least I liked Dinosaur.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Interesting that they seem to be moving forward with Marvel in HKDL. It seems like kind of an odd choice, given how little attention that parks gets from the US, but I guess it makes since as they need the capacity. It will be interesting to see how they fit a modern/contemporary urban environment into a DL-style park, which traditionally has focused on idealized settings from the past. As for Toy Story Play Land, I've only been to the one in WDSP (it hadn't opened yet in HKDL when I was there), but I think it's far worse than Dinorama. I may be biased, since I really don't like the current fixation on theming everything ot a character for no reason, and I've never liked the Toy Story films, but I thought that there was a lot of well thought-out charm in the tackiness of Dinorama; I thought that TSPL was just regular old tacky and cheap.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper I think both are equally tacky and cheap, personally. As for how they can pull it off, I have to imagine it will offshoot from Tomorrowland and have an aesthetic that will at least mesh with that.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>As for how they can pull it off, I have to imagine it will offshoot from Tomorrowland and have an aesthetic that will at least mesh with that.<<< I think that could work. After the expansion, the smallest DL park will have the most lands.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I really think that they need to focus on the lands they have now, rather than adding more. As it is, each one only has a couple attractions, which I think leads to a bad overall experience. I would rather have a handful of really fleshed out lands with a bunch of different things to do in them, than a ton of small ones with one or two noteworthy things each. At the end of your day in the park, I think most guests would feel like they accomplished more if they had lots of nooks and crannies to explore, finding new attractions. Having just a few in each land makes it feel more like a shopping list, where you just go through and check them off, and then you're done. With the new stuff added, it will still be a small park, but I think they could have made it feel a lot bigger if they had planned their expansions more wisely. Having a ton of mini-lands just leads to a schizophrenic experience, which I don't think would lead to as filling of a visit. But maybe that's just me.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt It makes sense that HKDL was chosen for the Marvel additions since that park has the lowest attendance of any DL style park. This will surely send visits through the roof and dispel the notion that the place is mostly for little kids without having to build a more adult park next door.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Having a ton of mini-lands just leads to a schizophrenic experience..." You mean like DCA and DL?
Originally Posted By TDLFAN To each his own. Personally, I feel the entire mini land of Grizzly Gulch is more cohesive and better executed than the MK's Frontierland. But that's just me because I value Show theme.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt I was being snarky. I agree with TDFAN (omg) that it's all about show. In other words, there could be 50 themes in a park, but it could work if done properly.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< This will surely send visits through the roof and dispel the notion that the place is mostly for little kids without having to build a more adult park next door. >>> I think there's a lot wrong with that statement. First of all, unless an adult happens to be into comic books, I would think that most adults would view Marvel characters as being for kids. Second, the "just for kids" viewpoint is the least of HKDL's problems, if you look at it from the current guest demographics - one thing noticeably absent when you go there are the kids. There are only a tiny fraction of the daily guest population, when compared to the US parks.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "First of all, unless an adult happens to be into comic books, I would think that most adults would view Marvel characters as being for kids." Not necessarily. Certainly the Spiderman attraction at USF is more "adult" than pretty much any of the recent additions to WDW's MK. I'm guessing that whatever Disney does with the franchise in its parks will at least have more testosterone than Fantasy Faire or the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. To elaborate, my original comment was mostly about perception. With Mickey, Minnie, and the assortment of princesses that abound in Disney's parks, especially the MK variety, it gives the impression that these places are decidedly geared towards families with children. I'm still living off the fumes of a more balanced experience from back in the day, but the reality is that most people, at least those I know in the US, view Disney parks as places you take your kids to. "Second, the "just for kids" viewpoint is the least of HKDL's problems, if you look at it from the current guest demographics - one thing noticeably absent when you go there are the kids. There are only a tiny fraction of the daily guest population, when compared to the US parks." As you can tell I know nothing about HKDL's demographics, but I would be willing to wager that one of the contributing factors to the park's mediocre attendance is the lack of muscle in the park's offerings. The fact that it's made no dent in Ocean Park's attendance supports this assumption.
Originally Posted By friarthe What brings the local crowds in? Characters, characters, characters. ALWAYS a line for the meet-and-greets, Pooh, and Stitch. Never a line for Grizzly Gulch or Space Mountain, at least not what a native Californian would consider a line. Still, while people loved the Avengers here, there isn't much real attachment to the franchises beyond a "this is cool in the USA right now". Avatar would've done just as well. (As a comic book geek, I'll add that there's no comprehension here of DC vs Marvel at all, just as there's no distinction between Disney and WB.) That's just a mainland perspective, but I'd swear 80% of the crowds are not from HK.
