Glacier Bay Cancelled In Hong Kong Disneyland: The Mysterious Disappearance of Disney's Glacier Bay Part 2
Glacier Bay was too be one of Disney’s first entirely inside theme park lands when it was proposed for Hong Kong Disneyland and was quite an elaborate land. We have already gone over the attractions of the proposed land in part one of this series and today we are exploring why it ended up getting canceled.
If you missed it be sure to check out the first entry in this three-part series here.
This land was fully designed and ready to enter the construction phase at any minute. So what happened?
To answer that we need to explain a little about how Hong Kong Disneyland is different than the other Disney Parks.
Hong Kong Disneyland is a joint venture between Disney and the Hong Kong Government. That means when Disney wants to build something they need approval from the government to get it built as they don't have a controlling stake in the park.
In this case, Disney had decided what they wanted to do with the land, but Hong Kong did not agree. The government also had stakes in other theme parks, significantly Ocean Park which had a very similar section to what Disney was proposing. To prevent increased competition between two parks they owned that were already in direct competition with each other, they essentially vetoed this land, leading to the backup plan being built instead, Toy Story Land. It would take the half-pipe coaster from the Glacier Bay concept, but that’s about it.
It really is a shame that this land got canceled as it would have given Hong Kong three unique extensively themed lands. Instead, it feels off balance with the intensely themed Mystic Point and Grizzly Gulch, alongside a lightly themed Toy Story themed area.
This was the end of the Glacier Bay concept, but Hong Kong turned out to be the second park that Imagineers had planned this particular land for. The story of this land actually began a decade before it was ever proposed for Hong Kong Disneyland in the planning stages for Tokyo DisneySea. To find out more though you will have to come back for the final entry in our Glacier Bay miniseries next week.
In the meantime check out our other series exploring canceled Disney rides like Epcot Center’s Cancelled Attractions and Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s Cancelled Attractions.
Where do you think Disney could still build Glacier Bay today? Let us know in the comments below.
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