IASW to open April 28

Originally Posted By Loomis

In a colorful presentation reminiscent of childhood days, Hong Kong Disneyland announced the countdown to the launch of the “it’s a small world†attraction today, an exciting milestone in the Resort’s history. The attraction will be officially open to the public on April 28, 2008 and is part of the all-new immersive and exciting experiences the Park will offer in 2008.

<a href="http://news.hkdlsource.com/story/286" target="_blank">http://news.hkdlsource.com/sto
ry/286</a>

 

Originally Posted By Malin

Thanks for the link Loomis I'm really looking forward to the opening of this attraction. And I never throught I would say that about a IASW attraction. The characters, new scenes and a change in music should make this a must see experience for guest visiting HKDL. I only hope more will come and visit.

I will be out in May to experience this attraction and the park for the first time and look forward to it.

 

Originally Posted By Witches of Morva

ORDDU: From the look of things, the Disney character dolls blend right in with the regular Small World dolls. It's because they all have the same sort of faces and bodies. Only their costmes have a unique, more outstanding look.

ORWEN: Oh! And I see our friend, Malin, has made a transition to the Laughing Place Pond!!! Welcome to you, sweetie pie!! We're so glad to see you around!!

ORGOCH: Got smiles?

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

Hmmm. That's interesting. The Hong Kong scene that they show looks very flat, but I really like the water effects. One of my favorite things about DL's iasw is all the fake water effects that they do next to the channel. This one is pretty fun. I just have to question why it is so modern. The rest of the ride (at least in other versions) stick to pretty traditional aspects of the cultures (I think the most recent thing is the Eiffel Tower in the France scene, but I'm not familiar with US scene in DLP), so I'm not sure how that will blend with everything else.

The outside looks like an interesting take on the other versions. It's clearly inspired by the others (is it the same design?), but it just looks a little different because of being made of concrete and the colors on it. It looks like it has more weight to it, which is just a little weird to me, but I like the mountain behind it. It makes it look more like it's a tiny world!

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

Also, I'm not a huge fan of Stitch or Lilo, but I think Lilo would look a lot better if she wasn't smiling so much. I don't think any other dolls in the attraction are nearly that happy, or even have teeth for that matter. She just looks like she broke into her sister's Prozac.

 

Originally Posted By Witches of Morva

ORGOCH: Give the little gal some time, Ferret, ducklin'. After bein' kept pris'ner inside that place fer 'bout a week, she'll be gittin' a glazed look in her beedy eyes--just like the rest of 'em. That's when she'll be totally possessed by the Chucky Demon that takes over ev'ry one of 'em!!

 

Originally Posted By davewasbaloo

The Asia section looks a lot like the US section at DLP, the HSBC tower from Hong kong is the exact same style as the skyscrapers (including the Twin Towers) in the US section at DLP

 

Originally Posted By Bob Paris

Do they still have the twin towers in DLP's version?

 

Originally Posted By leemac

^^ Yup - and the Chrysler and Empire State Building.

 

Originally Posted By Malin

Why thank you Witches but I have been posting on and off on here for years. Just been hiding from you!

 

Originally Posted By Mr X

I like how they managed to fit the building into the overall "look" of Hong Kong Disneyland (which, for anyone who hasn't been there...is much more "cartoonish" than any other magic kingdom overall, and particularly in Fantasyland), while still keeping the original look basically intact.

That, to me, is impressive.

In fact, when I first heard about Small World getting added (a dumb addition imho), the first thing I wondered about was how they would fit that facade into the cartoonish look of HKDL.

They managed to do a great job on that, so kudos!

 

Originally Posted By WorldDisney

Have to admit, it looks good! I don't like IASW and agree with Mr. X, it was a stupid addition when there about 100 other things they should've added in first. If anything, this should've been there on first day anyway, it just shows how bad this park is.

With that said though, it does look like it will be a nice addition and excited to know they included so many Disney characters to it. Makes sense here since HKDL don't have many attractions with cartoon characters. Ironic since it is the most cartoon looking park out of all of them.

 

Originally Posted By Mr X

I'm glad at least ONE other person sees the cartoon zone the way I do!

It's kinda cool, in its own way...but it really feels more like a CARICATURE of a Magic Kingdom rather than anything authentic.

Almost like they made up a real life "Itchy and Scratchy Land" version if Disneyland.

All the other Magic Kingdoms have the "real feel" in places like Adventureland, and Frontierland etc...not so with HKDL.

It's ALL cartoon, ALL the time. Which, interestingly, makes the "look" of their Fantasyland probably the most cool and "authentic", as far as being cartoony. It's too bad they didn't stop there, though, and instead made an animation zone out of the whole park.

Yuck!

 

Originally Posted By davewasbaloo

Oh dear, if that is the case, this park sounds worrisome. god knows the toonization of the parks ticks me off big time!

 

Originally Posted By Mr X

Dave, to me the entirety of HKDL felt like one gigantic toontown frankly, with the exception of Main Street and the Castle which are copies of California to the brick.

That did lend a sort of cohesion to the place, but to me it felt somehow "off". But at the same time, it worked VERY well for Fantasyland imo. Hong Kong has the coolest looking Fantasyland as far as the toon vibe goes.

But for Tomorrowland and Frontierland, it was just "off".

The other lands were loads better though.

 

Originally Posted By WorldDisney

Uh, remember HKDL doesn't have a Frontierland lol. I think you meant Adventureland.

And yes, besides Main Street the others feel very cartoony. Adventureland certainly not as heavy as TL and FL though, a little more 'real' certainly, but then of course you got Tarzan's tree house and The Lion King show and you are back to cartoonland.

But, maybe if they had more than four lands.....

 

Originally Posted By Mr X

Well, it's hard to tell Frontier from Adventure when it's all "cartoon central".

 

Originally Posted By Malin

In defense of HKDL is it not the parks purpose to educate Guest on Disney's Animated past. From my view point none of the HKDL attractions seem to be original, and it looks like Imagineers just took a load of blue prints of already built attractions and placed them in the park. Hopely Its a Small World will be the start of a series of brand new unique attractions that will turn public opinion around.

 

Originally Posted By plpeters70

I guess I'm the only one to say this, but I really don't like the look of this new small world. They seem to be copying the style of the DL version too much -- the weakest version in my opinion. I prefer the WDW Small World myself - with the flooded show building and scenes all around you. This one just looks flat.

And the characters just don't add one thing IMO - what was the point of having them here?

 

Originally Posted By plpeters70

Oh, but the facade does look nice.

But seriously, once again, they're just copying the original. Can't they come up with something new here? Maybe add some new modern effects to the clock parade or something. It just seems lazy to me to keep copying the original over and over again.

(And adding cartoons does not equal adding modern effects!)