Hong Kong Disneyland Grizzly Trail Making-Of Pictures, and more

More news about Hong Kong Disneyland Grizzly Trail with a series of interesting making-of pictures and a first video from HKDL! You have the video below but before something new about the July 13 opening date as since last monday something happened that may change the game! Hong Kong Ocean Park, HKDL biggest theme park competitor, has announced today that they will open their new area called Polar Adventure on.... July 13, that is to say the same date that HKDL wishes to do the Grizzly Trail grand opening! In two words: it's war between Hong Kong two theme parks and HKDL might eventually change the opening date as the July 13 opening was not announced yet.

Also, it will be interesting to learn more about this Ocean Park "Polar Adventure". Why? Because, if you remember well HKDL had a similar project called Glacier Bay a theme that Hong Kong Government turned down - didn't accepted for HKDL in 2009 when they were choosing the themes for HKDL new lands! As i had written in my July 2009 article about this Glacier Bay project when we learned it was cancelled and replaced by Toy Story Land: "So, what happened to "Glacier Bay"? What would have been its theming and attractions? From what one of my HK correspondent have heard about it, "Glacier Bay theme had something like a scientists base... You would have take a train to go the laboratory, which goes from the outdoor area to an indoor air-controlled area to simulate the north pole. There will even be real snow flake in some scenes when the train pass by. The "U-shape" TSP half-pipe coaster was still there, but with a theming as skiing... The base of the mountain was very huge and it would have been the very first indoor land that Disney has ever built in a Disney theme park. It seems that one of the other reasons why the HK government banned this theme is that Ocean Park - Hong Kong first theme park - will use a similar theme with a roller coaster..."

More news about all this soon - and specially if HKDL changes Grizzly trail opening date because of Ocean Park Polar Adventure opening, but in the meantime, here is the HKDL video, and below the making-of pictures.




First, two interesting renderings with one showing Grizzly Gulch town and the other the Grizzly Trail map - click on it to see it in larger size - that probably will be soon inside HKDL guide maps.





And now, some pics of the Imagineers at work on the new land during the last weeks.











Another series of pictures which were shot by different HK medias during the site visit event, not long time ago.









Grizzly Trail will also have geysers and Imagineers did something pretty smart to make sure that the water at the bottom of the geyser will look like real one. as you will see on the pics below they've painted the rock with different colors so when the water will be inside the holes it will look like it does in old geological geysers sites.








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

Hong Kong Disneyland Grizzly Trail Grand Opening Scheduled for July 13 ! Article now Updated with Grizzly Peak Storyline

It's not officially announced yet, but as usual you'll learn it first on Disney and more: Hong Kong Disneyland Grizzly Trail Grand Opening will happen on July 13. It was previously scheduled for July 20 but apparently HKDL want to open the land as soon as possible, and July 13 is now the Grizzly Trail grand opening date. Can we expect some soft-opening before that date? Mmmh, may be, but probably not before the end of June or the first days of July.

For HKDL fans - and all Disney fans - it's a good news as not only Grizzly Trail will add a brand new land at HKDL - a kind of Frontierland, which was missing until now at HKDL, but also a different one and with a new and unique coater attraction. Can't wait to discover the town of Grizzly Gulch!

So, how will it look? Well, these last months, you've seen plenty of pictures and videos of the works at Grizzly Trail but i thought that it might be the right time to have a look again at the artwork which was unveiled at the D23 Expo in 2009 as WDI renderings are generally very accurate with the final result. So, you'll find below my 2009 previous article with great pictures shot at that time by Andy Castro whom i thanks again!

One more thing: who will be at HKDL for Grizzly Trail Grand Opening on July 13?



Grizzly Trail will be one of the three new lands of HKDL and with the Grizzly Peak attraction and the Grizzly Gulch town it will be an interesting new version of a "Frontierland" theming. Before i go further i want to warn you that there will be major spoilers all along the article. If you don't want to know anything about the storyline, this is definitely not the right article! Also, click on each pictures to see them in big size and explore details.

Here we go for the artwork, and i've also included pictures of the Grizzly Trail model. I've succeeded to have the story line of the Grizzly Peak ride and now the artworks below should be in the right order of the different ride scenes.

This first artwork show the Grizzly Peak entrance. note that the whole area seems to have pine trees all around. When you will enter the entrance of the Grizzly Peak ride, you'll enter the mine company office and the next room will convince you that the mine company is still in operation.



Once you get aboard the mine vehicles, you will first turn underground to explore the mine. Then you're supposed to climb up the Grizzly Mountain through tunnel 8 ( the number means "wealth" in Cantonese ) ...but a bear use the track switch lever to scratch his back, switching the track to lead the mine cars to go to tunnel 4 ( which means "dead" in Cantonese )!



...The tunnel 4 is actually a home of bear family and it seems that you are not welcomed. Before you get attacked, you escape!



More sketches were done for that scene, here they are.









Here is a small maquette of that scene.



Also interesting is the scene small model. Apparently, when the train will turn left in the tunnel 4 it will go down at high speed.



Here is the model of one of the mine vehicles.



Back to the story line: Your journey continue by climbing the Grizzly Mountain. In the pic below you see a steam machine which is pulling the mine cars up to the hill.



...But the wire broken before you reach the peak, so all the mine cars fall backward...



...until you enter a new mine tunnel, which is just ready to explode! Note all the dynamite and "powder" sign at the entrance, it will be important for what will come next...



In this tunnel are a Mother bear and her baby bear trying to steal the fish from the mine workers...and the baby press the TNT detonator accidentally.



The mine cars will then be literally catapulted out of another tunnel thanks to the supposed dynamite blast.



As we will see below there will be lot of little geysers in the Grizzly Trail area, and the cars will go through a geyser area.



Your mine car back to the station, you will see the mother bear and the baby enjoying their dinner. They successfully stole all the fish in the mine. And that's it.



More sketches for the funny "accidental dynamite" sequence. Talking about bears, theese one will be obviously audio-animatronics and i'm curious to know if WDI Imagineers will use the AA skeletons from the former Disneyland Country Bear Jamboree bears...





This next rendering include different elements of the bears scenes all in one artwork.



Next picture shows the Grizzly Peak model with the mine cars going up the first lift.



And this one show - i think - the part of the ride with the two tunnels and dynamite blast.



But there will be more in Grizzly Trail than the Grizzly Peak ride as the small town of Grizzly Gulch will be build. Actually you'll see details of each building and their own stories in the mine town, not only about the Grizzly Mountain mine company itself, but also about the rest of the town. All this will have a Frontierland theming, and for the first time in all Frontierland's history, this one will be full of fun water splash...



...most of them interactive...



...as well as a little geyser area.



Let's end this last HKDL artwork article with more pictures of the model.










For those of you who love WDI artwork i remind you that the Disneyland Paris "From Sketch to Reality book" which will tell you all about the creation of DLP include 250 WDI Artwork (!) and 500 pictures of the park on 320 pages. Have a look at the video below which will show you the whole book!

The book is still available either in its english or french edition and you can still enjoy a 20% discount special offer and the book is now available with an immediate shipping! Reviews from all those who have already received the book are "over the top" so, place your order now for a gorgeous collector's edition copy while the special offer on this wonderful book is still available! To know more about the book and how to order and send your payment please go HERE or use the Paypal one-click purchase button below.

All artwork: copyright Disney - Disney Enterprises.