Grizzly Gulch Opens at Hong Kong Disneyland
Page 1 of 1
For pictures and videos of the additions, click for:
- Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars: Includes pictures of the queue and rea, and two videos including a complete POV (Point of View)
- Grizzly Gulch: More than 100 pictures of the new land and a video walk-through plus merchandise pictures.
- Mystic Point: Pictures of the ongoing construction at the next new area, Mystic Point.
The first of two highly-anticipated expansion lands at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort opened on Saturday, July 14. Grizzly Gulch fills the long-overdue need for a “wild west” themed area at the park, and does it with gallons of style.
Winding around a side-path out of Adventureland, guests first see Big Grizzly Mountain with the town of Grizzly Gulch in the distance. The landscaping is reminiscent of Arches National Park in Utah, more arid than the woodsy Frontierlands of other Disneylands, but not a quite a desert like Big Thunder Mountain. Paw prints along the path – a big bear and a baby bear – lead towards the town, foreshadowing the characters we’ll later meet inside the mines.
Disney has outdone themselves with the level of detail in Grizzly Gulch. The town is packed full of gags. The “Dry Goods” store (part of a water play area) has been renamed the “Wet Goods” store. The town’s biggest gold nugget is so heavy it has titled the entire Assay Office to one side. A poster declares that the local stage has never been held up – well, only once. The Lucky Nugget Saloon sells “Jailhouse Fries,” cross-cut to resemble prison bars. A local dynamite company is named “Lytem & Hyde”.
The details are what really make Grizzly Gulch great, though. Baby stroller parking, for example, is located at the hitching post, where hoofprints can be seen when no strollers are there. The steps of a mysterious felon lead out of the jailhouse through its crumbling back wall. “Doc Curem” has stocked the Dry Goods store with bottles of “miracle elixir”. The queue for the land’s one ride leads through a saw mill, an assay office, and the office of the mine’s foreman, all stocked with countless props that bring the ghost town to life. Even the ride vehicle outside the Mine Car attraction–the one you can test your fitness to ride in—has a backstory. It’s the mine car that was used to drag the Lucky Nugget out of Big Grizzly Mountain, a chunk of gold so huge it ruined the mine car’s wheels.
One of the nicest touches is a poster that challenges guests to find gold nuggets that have been hidden by “Lucky”, the dog who discovered that giant-sized gold nugget. The nuggets, some as big as 30 centimeters across, are scattered throughout Grizzly Gulch. One that can be spotted on a distant ridge has a three-circled shape familiar to Disney park enthusiasts…
The new land’s centerpiece, of course, is the Hong Kong exclusive “Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars”, a new thrill ride themed in the grand Disney manner. Thrills are promised and delivered. Everything builds to a complex climactic scene that I am honestly praying never goes the way of the Yeti.
Mine trains resembling those on Expedition Everest take passengers into “Big Grizzly Mountain,” a peak that looks like a rambling version of Grizzly Peak from Disney California Adventure. No sooner do we enter the mines, though, than a massive grizzly accidentally switches the train onto the wrong track for a high-speed trip around Grizzly Gulch. Whizzing past geysers, gold nuggets, and the unfriendly eyes of the local bears, the ride finally slows on its second lift hill…(Spoilers!) whose cable snaps, sending the train through the valley again, backwards this time! At last, the train settles down inside a cavern. Over our heads, a mama bear and her adorable cub strain to lay their paws on a string of fish caught by the local miners. The baby bear accidentally hits the detonator on the miners’ blasting materials, and with a bang, the train is shot forward through Grizzly Gulch for one last time. Finally, we coast into the station, passing the mama and baby bear again, this time delightfully covered in all the fish a bear can eat.
The ride is thrilling, if not scary, and the animatronics are some of the most charming work Disney has done in decades. I went expecting some “jump-out-and-boo!” moments, and found myself hankering for a plush toy instead.…which was convenient, because Grizzly Gulch is smothered in plush toys and other merchandise. In addition to cuddly mama and baby bear plushes, there are pins, t-shirts, notepads, envelopes, you name it. A fair amount of merchandise focuses on Lucky the Dog, which is intriguing, since the character only appears in a drawing on one wall.
Overall, Disney is to be congratulated on Grizzly Gulch. Speaking for myself, this was the land that seemed the least promising of the three expansion areas in Hong Kong, and it has by far outshown Toy Story Land in terms of fun, level of detail, and originality. The only things missing from making Grizzly Gulch a completely immersive land would be an indoor shop (though the covered wagon that sells plush toys and nick-knacks does fine) and a sit-down restaurant, but neither are really necessary. For those who haven’t yet made the trip to Hong Kong, these new additions are making a strong argument for making the trip. It’s an exciting time to watch this little park grow.
Related Links
- Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars: Includes pictures of the queue and rea, and two videos including a complete POV (Point of View)
- Grizzly Gulch: More than 100 pictures of the new land and a video walk-through plus merchandise pictures.
- Mystic Point: Pictures of the ongoing construction at the next new area, Mystic Point.
Discuss it
-- Posted July 17, 2012
-- Text, Pictures and Video by Paul Thomas