Hong Kong Disneyland Halloween Season Starting Oct 4 - Media Event Tomorrow !

Hong Kong Disneyland Halloween Media Event will happen tomorrow Sept 12 but officially the Halloween season starts on October 4. Annual Pass Holder and media will be able to enjoy all the Halloween elements, the rest of September will be Halloween private parties, with the official Halloween kick off on Oct 4. 

In terms of special Halloween theming, Demon Jungle is gone to History since 2010 and has been replaced by The Revenge of the Headless Horseman since 2011. Haunted Hotel was also replaced by Graves Academy in 2012. No new haunted maze will be added this year BUT the street atmosphere and "the dark force" is going to expand to Toy Story Land and Grizzly Gulch, with for instance new photo ops like this picture above of Toy Story's Babyface placed in Toy Story Land!  More pics of HKDL Halloween coming soon!

Shanghaî Disneyland Update

Interesting news from Shanghaî Disneyland today with this model picture posted on ShanghaiNews.net of one of Shanghaî Disneyland hotels. Actually, this one will be the Toy Story themed hotel, supposedly located outside the park, behind Toy Story Land which might be a good idea as the hotel will have the Toy Story Land in the background. The model picture below should help you to locate where this Toy Story themed hotel will be. It's the "hotel 2" , the "hotel 1" being the Shanghaî Disneyland 5 stars hotel.

It was rumored that this hotel would have a Toy Story theme, but now we can be sure of it thanks to some deco elements that can be seen on the model picture ( the one at the top ). First, as you can see, there is this orange structure located at the hotel entrance which looks clearly like if it was a RC Racer track put horizontally. Then you have the clouds painted on the exterior building walls, who looks like the ones in the movie on Andy's bedroom walls. 

The hotel also have this shape which looks like an "8", a lucky number in China meaning prosperity, wealth and success,  and God knows - or in this case Confucius! - how important the symbolism of numbers can be for Chinese people. That said, the hotel will also have two patios gardens, supposedly having two different designs  paying tribute to the Yin and Yang symbols. On the others pictures below - posted by Shanghai Environment Online and showing the different walls of the hotel - the purple and green rectangles are supposed to be glass panels, and the green ones are supposed to "open" so it might be the guest rooms windows...

As i told you, this SDL Toy Story hotel - which, by the way, looks very much like a "budget" category hotel - should be located in an area outside the park behind Toy Story Land. If this is the case it would be a smart idea as hotel guests would probably have TSL in the background with at least the RC Racer track visible from the hotel. And why not the parachutes of the Parachute Drop attraction, you ask? Good question, as the height of the Parachute Drop structure would surely  be high enough to be visible in the background. Except that SDL Toy Story Land will NOT have the "Parachute Drop" ride. Why? It took me a while to understood why and the first reason could have been for a question of visual intrusion, but in fact it's probably not this one, and my future SDL update will explain you more about all this.  

Let's end with another fresh - and interesting - news about Shanghaî Disneyland released today by China Daily: "Shanghaî Disneyland will feature a production center, which will showcase some of the technical and creative wizardry, which will be used at the site, the company said on Friday. The first of its type in Asia, and scheduled to be open by the second quarter of 2013, the center will become the "heart" of show production for Shanghai Disneyland, the company said, highlighting the park's most complex technology before it is permanently installed within the theme park, the company said".

Looks like to me that it could be a kind of "preview center", certainly different than the one they did for Disneyland Paris before DLP opening but it might be a kind of Blue Sky Cellar like at DCA. This will be definitely interesting to follow. 

Picture: copyright Shendi - Disney

All my thanks to Luke from Luke and the Temple of Fun!

Have a little walk through HKDL Mystic Point Path

Disney fans are awaiting the opening of the great Mystic Manor attraction scheduled for an opening at Hong Kong Disneyland Spring 2013 but in the meantime i invite you to have a little walkthrough in the path going through Mystic Point from Grizzly Trail to Toy Story Land.

The path was created to avoid two dead ends and although HKDL guests are walking between two walls of fences you see a bit in the background the works on the future new land. On this video filmed by Hong Kong Main Street Gazette you'll go from Grizzly Trail to Toy Story Land and come back. While i was watching it i was thinking that Mystic point and Toy Story Land are a bit too close together as it is such two different "worlds" but i'm afraid it's too late to change this.




Also filmed by Hong Kong Main Street Gazette the summer Mickey's Waterworks Parade in its 2012 edition and as you will see "you may get wet!"




See you soon for more news of HKDL, and in the meantime, don't miss the great HKDL Wallpapers HD App for iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch!
Direct iTunes link HERE!



Videos: copyright Hong Kong Main Street Gazette

What If Pixar Made The Expendables 2?

Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables 2 was released 10 days ago and is doing pretty well at the box office, but the guys a IGN asked the question " What if Pixar made The Expendables 2 " and did a fake trailer using Pixar Toy Story scenes with sound and voices coming from The Expendables 2! Have a look!




Picture and video: copyright Pixar, editing by IGN

New Toy Story Toon "Partysaurus Rex"

A new Toy Story Toon is coming, it's called "Partysaurus Rex" and you'll be able to see it with the new release of Finding Nemo 3D next month! Pixar has released a 30 sec sneak peek that you can watch right now down here!




Picture and video: copyright Disney-Pixar

HKDL Update : " Andy's Toy Box " Coming at Toy Story Land !

Hong Kong faced this week-end the powerful typhoon Vicente, but at HKDL apparently only some trees fell down in the park. Typhoon Vicente caused the city to raise its strongest typhoon warning for the first time in 13 years but because Disney has taken the typhoon wind speed into consideration when they've built the park every building in the resort can apparently face a typhoon without ( too much ) damages.

Now, let's talk about the latest news as there is something new coming at HKDL. And no, it's not located in the upcoming Mystic Point opening in Spring 2013, but in Toy Story Land! So far, the park did not communicate on it and apparently what they are building is a new shop which will be called Andy's Toy Box. It may looks strange, specially considering the merchandise potential of Toy Story toys, but so far there was no merchandise shop built inside Toy Story Land - only a big themed cart. Apparently HKDL execs changed their mind, thanks to the success of the new land.

As you will see on the pics below fences have been placed all around an area near the blue barrel of fun with posters of Toy Story characters looking like "children drawings".

























Pictures: copyright Disney and more

Don't miss the new HKDL Wallpapers HD App for iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch!
Direct iTunes link HERE!

Four Hundred Minutes Wait for Tokyo Disney Sea Toy Story Mania !

Four hundred minutes! That was the waiting time a few days ago for Toy Story Mania recently opened at Tokyo Disney Sea! I think that the previous record for Cars Land opening last month is probably beaten...

That said, we are at TDS and even when it's not opening days the wait times are incredibly high. I remind you that you can find the link to the great reports that i've posted recently on this new DisneySea addition in the right column, and be back tomorrow as i will introduce you to something else, also great, about Tokyo Disney Sea!

Tokyo Disney Sea Toy Story Mania - New Videos !

The new Toy Ville Trolley Park area including Toy Story Mania is now open at Tokyo Disney Sea and plenty of videos have been uploaded on Youtube. Here is a selection of interesting ones and this first video filmed by JSAKE70 is great as it shows Toy Ville Trolley Park at night with its beautiful lighting.




This next video by JiJi will show you the queue decor and the ride itself as well as the unique little games located out of the ride.




This other video by bigsnowdome will show you in details the queue decor of Toy Story Mania.




Another one filmed by DonadonaSea2012 showing a long traveling in the queue decor and also Mr Potato Head outside.




Here is another one by mikko20101109 showing the whole new area, thanks to an almost "flying" camera!




And, because we can't live without these unique japanese TV reports here is one about TDS toy story Mania!




Videos: copyright JSAKE70, JiJi, bigsnowdome, DonadonaSea2012, mikko20101109, torasanduck

HKDL Toy Story Land : The "Perfect" Shots

We're back at HKDL Toy Story Land today with a new series of official pictures recently released, and if i call them "the perfect shots" it's because some of them are not only beautiful pictures of the new land but also were shot on amazing angles that only HKDL can do, like having a camera at the top of R.C Racer half pipe coaster. Those shot with a wide angle lens are also pretty useful to locate where is what at TSL.

Pictures are listed below in order of appearance of each thing/ride when you enter the land. Don't hesitate to click on each to see them in larger size, and enjoy the tour!








































Don't miss the new HKDL Wallpapers HD App for iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch!
Direct iTunes link HERE!




Toy Story Land Pictures: copyright Disney - HKDL

HKDL Update : Toy Story Land Grand Opening !

Toy Story Land had its official Grand Opening in HKDL two days ago. D&M was there and i have for you exclusive pics as well as official pics and also videos.

The opening ceremony was staged at the entrance of the land in front of the 6-meter tall giant Woody and with the RC Racer structure in the background. The opening show began with the green army soldiers.







Then arrived Woody and Jessie...



...Followed by HKDL execs and WDI Imagineers to declare officially open Toy Story Land.



From right to left on the picture below: Andrew Kam, Managing Director of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort; the Honorable Gregory So, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Mr. Shao Qi Wei, Chairman of the National Tourism Administration of the People’s Republic of China; the Honorable John Tsang, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Bill Ernest, President and Managing Director, Asia Walt Disney Parks and Resorts; Mr. Philip Yung, Commissioner for Tourism of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Joe Lanzisero, Creative Senior Vice President, Walt Disney Imagineering.










Now, as you may like to see a video of this TSL opening, here is a short one from ITN News.




The always good michael20183 uploaded yesterday this good TSL walk-through video and it will help you to see precisely where-is-what.




And now, what's next for Hong Kong Disneyland after Toy Story Land, you ask? Well Grizzly Gulch is planned for next year and Mystic Point for 2013 and this new video uploaded yesterday also by michael20183 will show you at what point are the works on the two upcoming lands.




See you soon for a new HKDL update and if you didn't download yet the HKDL Wallpapers HD App for iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch
- the direct iTunes link is HERE - it's not too late to do it!



Pictures: copyright Disney or Disney and more