July 26, 2017

Art for Hong Kong Disneyland Brings Questions Then Answers

Long, long, ago, I was "gifted" with this piece of concept art for an attraction at the soon to open Hong Kong Disneyland. It never materialized as was the case with major portions of the park.

With it came the questions. What exactly it was for? Was it intended for a hybrid of a couple of attractions that never made it past the drawing boards of the Imagineers? To my eyes, it seemed to be Raging Spirits from Tokyo DisneySea - which in itself is a remix on the Indiana Jones coaster at Disneyland Paris - meets the infamous ferocious Carnatour from Countdown to Extinction/ Dinosaur from Disney's Animal Kingdom?


More questions. Was the attraction scheduled to go into the lush, dense outdoor jungles of Adventureland or was it meant for an indoor weather-proofed warehouse a la Indiana Jones? Maybe a combination like what was originally proposed for the dinosaur area at Animal Kingdom? (Found in my "Disney's Animal Kingdom: A True Life Adventure" series.)


Then reader Randy Savage had an answer. It was part of the original plan for Hong Kong Disneyland in an Adventureland that contained an outdoor attraction with Audio-Animatronic dinosaurs. It is found on the concept art map for the park in the book "More Making the Magic Real". 


(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

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