Hong Kong Disneyland continues to expand with the theme park inaugurating last Saturday its latest –and largest- themed area, named Grizzly Gulch, a glimpse of adventure on Wild West…
HONG KONG- Hong Kong Disneyland opened last Saturday its newest theme park named Grizzly Gulch. This is the largest themed area in Disneyland’s expansion drive in Hong Kong and follows the opening of Toy Story Land last night. This, Grizzly Gulch gives a sense of adventure in the Wild West to visitors with a setting of bustling western Golden Rush town. The new attraction is similar in style to the already well-known attraction Frontierland at other Disney parks. However, Grizzly Gulch adds a new dimension to the storyline. Set in a Gold Rush-era California town, it tells also the story of grizzly bears looking for gold.
Riders on Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars (which has previously been dubbed simply “Big Grizzly Mountain Coaster”) will board mine-train themed cars, which will race around a series of twists and turns on the mountain in a more intense way than at Disney’s other mine train coasters, and mix elements from Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Animatronic grizzly bears menace guests as they plummet through the opening section.
Hong Kong Disneyland plans to open a further attraction in 2013 with the launching of Mystic Point which will feature a new dark ride known as Mystic Manor. The three themed areas will then “increase the size of the park by more than 25 %,” declared Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, during the opening ceremony of Grizzly Gulch.
Hong Kong Disneyland opened in September 2005, having received more than 31 million tourists from around the world. It launched the three-phase expansion in order to boost the number of visitors.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
