Gardens and Landscaping at Hong Kong Disneyland |
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Growing Facts
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort is situated on 250 hectares of land, 200 hectares of which had been reclaimed from the sea by filling sand behind a seawall up to 30 meters.
Nine-meter-high berms were erected and planted with a colorful collection of trees and shrubs to provide a background for the buildings and recreation areas. They are used to screen out service areas and a large electric power plant.
Amazing Numbers*
- 18,305 trees in theme park, immediate environs and hotels.
- 1,011,305 shrubs in theme park, immediate environs and hotels.
*Does not include Government's works, MTR station, roads, etc.
Hong Kong Disneyland is Vast Botanical Garden
Hong Kong Disneyland is a treasure of nature, a vast botanical garden rich in its variety of rare shrubs, trees and flowering plants.
In the Hong Kong Disneyland Park, landscaping is a vital part of the "stage set" where dramatic Disney stories are told.
In many cases, roots were pressure cleaned and then replanted in sterile plant mix to guard against any transmission of soil or plant diseases. Government rules and regulations were closely followed.
Plants are used to add richness and complement the architectural beauty and storytelling of the park. A number of the trees are flowering varieties never before seen in the area. And for the first time, Disney's landscape designers have used species known primarily for their fragrance.
Because Hong Kong residents traditionally have a strong interest in horticulture, Disney designers made a great effort to appeal to this love of growing things.
Hong Kong Disneyland is the first Disney park with a spectacular, natural backdrop of lush mountains.
Carefully designed landscaping helps create not only beauty, but the illusion of transporting guests to other places and times -- everything from lightly shaded Victorian paths to impenetrable jungle trails nearly devoid of light, or fantasy gardens where shrubs and trees take the shapes of dancing elephants or circus animals.
Searching the World
Horticulture teams of Walt Disney Imagineering spent three years researching and locating suitable trees, shrubs and flowers to withstand changing weather conditions while creating the desired look.
At the same time, team members were busy finding just the right location for each specimen transported to the site.
Disney experts have developed ways to keep the plants alive during extended journeys in distance and time.
Flowerbeds, filled with colorful blooms for the opening, will be replanted frequently to maintain a colorful backdrop. Many of the plants are natives of southern China (such as the Chinese banyan tree), while others come from Africa, India or Australia and New Zealand.
Dense Jungles and Fanciful Topiaries
In the tangled jungles of Adventureland, for instance, guests will discover elephant-eared tropical shrubs in shades of bright green, and giant trees whose limbs create canopies over the jungle river.
Among the biggest challenges was Tomorrowland, where imaginative designers created an intergalactic landscape. They chose bizarre species with strange appearances like the bottle tree from northern Australia with a bulbous, jar-shaped trunk that stores water for the dry season.
A dozen of the weird-looking bottle trees now grow in Tomorrowland. Nearby, tropical almond trees are being trimmed to an unusual flat-top design to look like flying saucers, spreading straight out with multiple branches from a single level at the top of the trunk.
Leaves of metallic, gray, silver and gold appear to spell out "secret signals" for visitors landing from outer space. New Zealand cannonball trees with giant hanging pods are another botanical surprise.
Just as bottle trees are prized by Australian aborigines, many other varieties are sacred trees in their homelands. In Thailand, yellow flowers from the buttercup tree provide saffron-colored dye for the robes of Buddhist monks. The flowers are often called the "tears of Buddha."
Among other treasured trees are Pohutukawa trees used by the Maoris in New Zealand as a place to lay the ashes of a departed loved one. Maoris believe the deceased one's soul rises through the bright red blossom to the afterlife. A Pohutukawa is planted in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Plants Become Animals
Especially appealing to younger guests are the topiary gardens of Fantasyland, where leafy and flowering shrubs are shaped into dancing hippos, Alice's White Rabbit and Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. At least 27 topiaries are in Fantasy Gardens, plus seven others with circus themes near Dumbo the Flying Elephant in front of the Fantasyland Train Station. In all more than 50 topiaries were designed for the park.
Tiny-leafed trees and intricately manicured hedges in multiple shades create a dream-like environment for the storybook area, many with flowers in tones of red, pink and ivory. A graceful bridge crosses a "stream" of multi-colored flowers.
Along Main Street, U.S.A. are carefully tended trees in footpath planters trimmed to maintain the surrounding scale. Around the Plaza and Town Square, plantings are reminiscent of municipal parks typical of small towns in America at the turn of the century.
Hotel Gardens Stand Out
The two Hong Kong Disneyland Resort hotels also have extensive botanical gardens. Disneyland Hotel features a "historic Victorian" collector's garden with a magical Mickey Mouse Maze. Boxwood-type bushes are trimmed just tall enough to let children lose themselves in the winding pathways that form the shape of Mickey Mouse.
Disney's Hollywood Hotel has an even larger garden complex with paths representing such Los Angeles thoroughfares as Sunset Boulevard, the Hollywood Freeway and Mulholland Drive. The landscape recalls forms, colors and textures of the 1930s and '40s, Hollywood's golden era.
