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Could we all be wrong about Hong Kong?

Jim Hill

“It’s too small.”

Photo by Seth Kubersky

Ask any Disney dweeb about what they think of the soon-to-be-opening Hong Kong Disneyland. And I can virtually guarantee you that the very first thing out of their mouths will be a complaint about the size of that theme park. They’ll moan about how the Walt Disney Company is reportedly building the place on the cheap. Which is why is HKDL is supposedly so tiny.

Well, if you want to see something that’s really tiny, something that’s completely under-funded, then please allow me to introduce you to … Disneyland, as it actually looked when that theme park first opened on July 17, 1955.

Photo by Jeff Lange

This is a model that’s currently on display in the pre-show area of “Disneyland — The First 50 Magical Years” (I.E. The exhibit that replaced “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” for the 18-month-long run of the “Happiest Homecoming on Earth” celebration). Which authentically recreates the meager assortment of rides, shows and attractions that the Anaheim theme park had to offer its guests back on opening day.

“Just how meager was that assortment?,” you ask. Well, let’s take a look, shall we?

Disneyland
Opening Day rides, shows & attractions

  • Adventureland
    • Jungle Cruise
  • Frontierland
    • The Golden Horseshoe Revue
    • Mark Twain Riverboat
    • Mule Pack
    • Stage Coaches
      Photo by Jeff Lange

  • Fantasyland
    • Canal Boats of the World
    • King Arthur Carrousel
    • Mad Tea Party
    • Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
    • Snow White’s Scary Adventure

  • Tomorrowland
    • Autopia
    • Circarama
    • Space Station X-1

    • For a total of 19 rides, shows & attractions. Which sounds kind of impressive. Until you realize how many of Disneyland’s opening day “rides” weren’t actually rides at all. But were — rather — just transportation vehicles.

    So — were you to pull all of the fire wagons, street cars, surreys and stage coaches out of Disneyland’s opening day line-up — now the park’s pickings start to get slim. And — were you to follow that up by removing any & all attractions that used highly themed transportation vehicles (I.E. The Mark Twain Riverboat, the Canal Boats of the World, the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad and the Autopia) to move guests through what-were-then very lightly themed environments … Well, the pickings get even slimmer.

    Photo by Jeff Lange

    Then — if you were cull out the nostalgic novelty items that had very limited appeal to Disneyland guests (I.E. Main Street’s Cinema & Penny Arcade) as well as that futuristic place holder, Space Station X-1 — you know how many really-for-real rides you’d have left? Just six.

    Only six actual rides … Which were then supposed to entertain the more-than-28,000 people who had pushed their way into Disneyland on opening day.

    Soooo … Is it any wonder that “The Happiest Place on Earth” had such a lousy reputation during its first few months of operation? There just wasn’t enough to do at Disneyland. At least not at first.

    Photo by Jeff Lange

    Which is why Walt had to rush to get those rides that weren’t ready for opening day (I.E. Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Casey Jr. Circus Train as well as the “20,000 Leagues” walk-through exhibit) finally up & running. Not to mention adding some desperately needed theming to sparsely decorated areas like the Rivers of America and the Canal Boats of the World.

    But Walt kept “plussing” Disneyland, adding new rides, shows & attractions until the place did finally offer a full day’s worth of entertainment, had just the right mix of elements to appeal to all members of the family. Mind you, it took a number of years — and a lot of trial & error (I.E. The Phantom Boats, the Mickey Mouse Club Circus) as well as a lot of reinvesting for “The Happiest Place on Earth” to reach this point … But it did finally happen.

    So now let’s contrast Disneyland’s opening day line-up with that of Hong Kong Disneyland:

    Hong Kong Disneyland
    Opening Day rides, shows and attractions

    Photo by Jeff Lange

     

  • Fantasyland
    • Cinderella Carousel
    • Dumbo the Flying Elephant
    • Fantasia Gardens
    • The Mad Hatter Tea Cups
    • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
    • Mickey’s Philharmagic

    •  

  • Tomorrowland
    • Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster
    • Orbitron
    • Space Mountain

    • On opening day, Hong Kong Disneyland is slated to have 16 rides, shows and attractions. Which is (admittedly) three fewer than Disneyland had back on July 17, 1955.

    Photo by Jeff Lange

    But once you cull out all of the the HKDL transportation vehicles that are masquerading as rides … Something interesting happens.

    Hong King Disneyland actually winds up with 12 rides, shows and attractions. Which is twice as many as the original Disneyland had on its opening day.

    Then — when you factor in that HKDL’s version of “Autopia” has supposedly been greenlit, that the expansion pads for “Peter Pan Flight” & “it’s a small world” are reportedly already in place and development work on Hong Kong’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” & “Haunted Mansion” is allegedly well underway– it’s now kind of hard for me to buy into the whole Hong-Kong-Disneyland-is-being-built-on-the-cheap-and-it’s-far-too-small scenario.

    So I’ll ask the question again: Could we all be wrong about Hong Kong? Could it be that this new Disney theme park will actually turn out to be a lot better than any of us ever expected it to be?

    Your thoughts?

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