DisneySea and Hong Kong Report (Long)

[el_tigre]

This may be more of a trip report than about news and rumors, but I guess this is the best place to post this. I just returned yesterday from a trip to Hong Kong and Tokyo and thought I'd jot down a few thoughts. I apologize in advance for the length.

DisneySea: My time in Tokyo was extremely tight, but I still found enough time to visit DisneySea Friday night. I really only had four hours, so I didn't get to explore the park as well as I'd like. I made a point to explore each land but I rode only four attractions - Aquatopia, Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sean and Indy.

The park looks every bit as wonderful as it does in pictures, if not better. The architecture is as good as any Disney park, especially Mediterranean Harbor and Arabian Coast. I did feel the park was darker at night than most of the other Disney parks, so it made it a little harder to see some of the detail, which was extensive, until I got up close.

As I mentioned in another post, they had an interesting ticket option. For about $35, I purchase an after 5 p.m. ticket that included a meal voucher to use at one of six restaurants. Consequentally, the park was quite busy and I'd say at least 95% of the guests were couples. Makes you wonder if something like that could improve California Adventure's attendance. My gut says no, but an interesting concept nonetheless.

The layout to DisneySea is the antithesis of Animal Kingdom. There's not really a central hub and there are so many different pathways between the lands, I don't think they have the huge bottlenecks, even when crowds are huge. That said, the front and middle sections of the park were definitely the busiest. While I had to wait a half hour for Journey to the Center of the Earth in Mysterious Island (in the center of the park), Lost River Delta, located at the back, seemed practically deserted and Indy was a walk-on. And I thought Indy was easily the better of the two rides. I feel another E-Ticket back there would solve that problem, and they probably have the room for it.

If you can swing it, this is a great time to visit Japan. While a trip there is never cheap, their economy is so bad, your dollar will go a lot further than in years past. Right now, you can get 125 yen to the dollar and many analysts predict it will be 150 before too long.

Hong Kong: I had always felt that if Disney were to build a successful park that did little to effect attendance at the other resorts, Hong Kong would be the best bet. But after reading the thread started by AV about a month ago, I was thinking things may have changed. While it had been two years since my last visit, I wondered if it was a dying city. That is far from the case.

Hong Kong has a big advantage over the rest of China (and all of Asia for that matter). Some of its main industries, like banking and technology, are nearly impossible to duplicate elsewhere without prior experience. Certainly Shanghai and Beijing are growing very rapidly, but they simply do not have the resources or personnel to come close to what is being done in Hong Kong. So despite the recession, it is still the economic powerhouse of Asia.

Therefore, it is a big mistake to think of Hong Kong in the same light as China. It is much more like New York than China. In fact, except for cultural background, I think it's more like New York than any other city in the world.

The citizens of Hong Kong, a city of seven million people, have disposable income that is on par with Europeans and probably ahead of Japan right now. And we all know Japan is not having any problems supporting two parks right now.

While the economy has definitely seen better days, I wonder where some of you got the idea that restrictions imposed by mainland China were a major reason for their recession. After talking with a number of business associates, restrictions were not mentioned one time for an excuse for their problems (and their economy was a big topic of conversation). I don't think restrictions would even rank as a top five reason for their economic woes.

And it is very misleading to say China is diverting money away from Hong Kong to Southern China. In fact, it would be more accurate to say China is sending money to southern China because of Hong Kong. Take the city of Shenzhen for example. Little more than a small village right on the border of Hong Kong 20 years ago, it is now a city of about four million people (that brings the population in the immediate area to 11 million btw). It has basically turned into the industrial center of southern China, where hundreds of thousands migrate each year for better paying jobs and a higher standard of living. This was done because Hong Kong companies moved their factories there, and over 85% of factories in Shenzhen are operated by Hong Kong based businesses. So in a way, China sending money to southern China really supports Hong Kong.

Also keep in mind that the fast growing and most profitable industry currently in Hong Kong is tourism. This is credited completely with an increase in visiters from mainland China, and it's not just business men and solo travelers that is responsible for this boom either.

Now, to one associate, I brought up the rumored plans of making Hong Kong Disneyland a big shopping district with no Pirates, Mansion, Thunder, etc. He was disappointed and said if that was indeed the plan, it would be a gigantic failure.

You see, Hong Kong is a lot like New York in that it feels it's very stylish and hip and believes it deserves the very best. Give them anything less, and it will be tossed aside like yesterday's garbage. If the cookie cutter park is indeed the plan, Disney would be much better off scrapping HK and building in Shanghai, where they are only now coming into their own.

And BTW, Hong Kong already has a successful amusement center called Ocean Park. With a couple roller coasters and a huge aquarium, it is currently a profitable venture. While many factors make it different than what Disney is trying to do, it should at least be an indication that if done correctly, Disney should be optimistic that a Magic Kingdom can be successful there too.

So for those advocating a waiting game to see if China can catch up economically, with Hong Kong, that is a silly concern. You only need to worry about Disney offering a quality product. And given Disney's recent history, that is a legitimate concern.

 

[Micca]

Terrific analysis el Tigre. I would be interested in more details on the DisneySea attractions.

 

[louisaho]

i think that it is very true
i live in Hong Kong, at least for my family and my friends, we would certainly buy an Annual Pass when disneyland HK has launched. Because, for most of HK residents, we are bored at Ocean Park (amusepark), but we would still go there at least once a year, since HK is so small, therefore, it is impossible to find a larger area to gather and have fun.
and since the economy isn't that good, we would prefer to stay in HK instead of going to Japan as usual as in the past.
and all the hk residents are all looking forward for disneyland HK.

i went to Florida (all the disney park, incl animal kingdom) and disney sea in japan
i find the disney sea is more like epcot. there are some attractions which is very good. but the park is too large, like you have to walk a long way to another attraction.
but the product of disney japan is much better than the one in usa because there are a lot of variety.
but i still like more the one in USA, because the cast member in japan cannot speak quite well english, and i often have difficulty to communicate in Japan.

one of the biggest difference in USA and Japan is:
when you see a character in disneyworld, usually there should be a cast member just right besides, and everyone has to line up and wait for taking picture/autograph.
In Japan, it is not like that at all, you have to try to be the first one, there is no line of waiting, when one is done, you really have to run to the character and take picture as quickly as possible.

the fast pass system is as good as the one in USA.

and one really horrible things happened while i was at disneyland Japan, i saw at leat 5 rats!!! they are all hiding under the grass, the park looks very clean, i don't know how come there are rats, i talked to the cast memeber, and they said they can't do anything about it... but they did contact the appropriate department.

but apart from that, if i have more money, i would go to disney florida, because they have more choices. and i enjoy staying at GF and animal kingdom lodge.

if i have enough money, i would go to japan, as we, hk residents, all like to go shopping in japan.

but if hk disneyland has launched, i would go to disneyland hk, so that i can spend more time in shopping in japan

thanks for listening

 

[Jeff in BigD]

There's some really cool things at Tokyo Disney Sea.
Here's a virtual tour of TDS & DLP.
You'll need Quicktime 5 for some of them & Windows Media Player for others:
http://www.barrybedford.com/

 

[el_tigre]

Like I said, I only had time to hit four attractions. Some people might consider these spoilers, so be warned. Here are my thoughts on each of them.

Aquatopia: Your first thought when riding this is that this is a water version of the Autopia where you'd actually drive the boat and bump the others around you. This is not the case. Your boat follows an invisible track around the lagoon. However, you never know when your boat will go forward, backward or spin around the rocks, barely missing streams of water. Kids would particularly like this ride. Also, I would recommend doing something else right after dinner (unless you're the type who likes the tea cups after supper).

Indiana Jones: The California version is my favorite ride in all Disney parks, so I had to ride it here. The queue, while not as long as the Disneyland version, is still a bit of a hike and has just as much detail, if not more (especially with a huge excavation room). The ride itself was almost exactly like the Anaheim version, with very subtle differences (the biggest being that everyone spoke Japanese of course). I'm not sure someone who hasn't ridden it a hundred times would even notice, like initially going through one door instead of a possible three, green lasers coming out of the rock's eye in the main chamber, etc. In short, still the same amazing E-ticket ride.

Journey to the Center of the Earth: The detail here is great. I had to wait 30 minutes for this one, but it was worth doing overall. After winding your way through the queue, you board a rickity old elevator. On the way down, lights Flicker as you get the sense the cable could break at any moment. As the doors open, you enter the boarding area, where you see six person vehicles (which are supposed to have been designed by Captain Nemo himself). I thought the ride itself seemed a bit too short. You see fascinating rock formations and a few monsters living in the inner portions of the planet until you reach the center, where a huge orange/red monster attacks your vehicle. At that moment, your vehicle races at breakneck speed through the planet's core and bursts out the side of the volcano (Mount Prometheus in the center of the park). A good attraction, but I felt it could have been better. I would especially recommend getting Fastpass on this one if available and then riding 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea while waiting for your time.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: The submarine rides in Disneyland and WDW should be changed to this. Each sub in this ride holds six people. Two people get a front view, and the other four get side views The sub itself is dangling from the track above. Never submerged, the glass for each window gives this illusion. There are wonderful audio-animatronics all throughout this ride and I feel it's most comparable to Haunted Mansion and POTC, and done just as well. If only I could speak Japanese. This is not a thrill ride at all, probably never going more than a few miles per hour, but it is classic Disney. This is exactly the type of ride so many of the people on this board having been desiring for both WDW and Disneyland.

The park's other signature ride, Stormrider, was closed. I guess I'll just have to go back.

I think this park is a bit more adult oriented than the neighboring Tokyo Disneyland. There seemed to be a lot more shows (which, unfortunately, I just didn't have time to see) and something like 30 restaurants. And while no attraction had more than a 30 minute wait, the restaurants were especially busy. It seemed that any sit down meal would have at least a 30 minute wait (if not an hour). Better get your priority seating (although I think they use a different system from WDW).

For some reason, none of the rides had Fastpass. They have the rides set up for it, but they were either all handed out for all the attractions or were not running it that night.

And while the park is big, I didn't think it was quite as big as Epcot. Walking from DisneySea's main entrance to Indy seemed much less than walking from Epcot's main gate to the American Pavilion. However, DisneySea doesn't have many direct paths to anything. Because water is such a big part of the theme (obviously), the shortest path to any one place is not a straight line. But as I said before, since there is really no central hub, crowds are much more manageable, especially compared to the Tokyo subways.

My final pieces of advice is to spend at least 8 hours there on your first visit. There is so much to see and do, the four hours I had weren't near enough. It's funny that some think you can adequately see DCA and AK, Disney's other new parks, in that much time. Definitely not the case here. I had wanted to see DisneySea very badly when I originally saw the plans for it at Tokyo Disneyland's World Bazaar back in '99. With my business, I knew it was only a matter of time. But now that I got such a small taste of it, I want to go back even more than before.

 

[Micca]

Thanks for the detailed report. Sounds like the park is a winner.