I did some research on the inclusion of the Kingdom Hearts Series in Disney Parks and media.
(Besides the thousands of cosplayers and kids playing with their KH action figures in the Parks, hehe)
Feel free to read, correct and/or extend my short list if you would like or just skip to the actual topic below.
The list is based on what I found online, some friends told me (because they actually were there) or on actual pictures.
JAPAN:
- Apparently, Sory Donald and Goofy (in KH duds) are available at the Japanese Disneyland as rare character encounters since the release of the game. (Japan has more of the "rare" encounters like Scrooge McDuck or Mowgli)
- Special Release or promotion events are held constantly at Disneyland areas (smaller ones according to what I found online)
- At the Re:coded relase party, a huge Kingdom Hearts statue of the main characters was placed at a public Disneyland area (not sure if it is still there but you can find pictures of the great sculpture in the archives of this site)
- Basically all Kingdom Hearts merchandise is available at nearly all Disneyland shops.
- Sea Salt ice cream is sold at Disney Tokyo Sea Park (Mr Nomura's original reference for the game) though not associated with KH in a specific way (?)
NORTH AMERICA:
- In the United States, Sora appeared in his KH I attire at some "Not so scary" Halloween parades and events in Disneyland and Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World around the first NA release of KH 1.
- The Japanese themed corner at Epcot sells Japanese import merchandise such as Play and static arts and soundtracks.
- The Original Soundtracks and Piano Collections are available at Disney Parks and recreation area gift shops
- Some shops started selling the official KH plushies (currently Meow-Wow and Shadow, maybe Dusk and Flood in the future?)
- DisneyStore sells the actual games.
-The NA pre-release Event for HD1.5 ReMIX was held at Downtown Disney, CA.
-KH collective Pins - rare but they exist
EUROPE:
- A friend of mine found a heart cut in the bark of a palm tree near the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyland Paris that said "Sora + Kairi" [Although this might be the work of an obsessed fan?]
- The KH-styled Heart and Crown styled pattern appears repeatedly in both EuroDisney parks.
- In the Walt Disney Studios Park, posters of KH 1, KH 2 and KH DDD have been seen.
That's all the references I could find, if you encountered anything KH at the parks, please add.
As KHIII is getting bigger and coming closer, do you think Disney will actually include more of KH in their park. Now that NA teams are more and more involved in the project andpromotion, I wouldn't be surprised if they in fact started selling KH shaped Sea salt ice cream.
Although we won't see an actual Kingdom Hearts Ride, I've nevertheless come up with a small list of (possible) things I'd love to see at Disney parks:
- Character meet and greets (Vanitas would be awesome!!!)
- KH music and Art gallery (not very possible but I would like a KH gallery similar to the Art galleries at Disney Village, Paris
- More merchandise being sold
- More KH Pins
- Organization coats available for sale next to Peter Pan and Princess costumes
- Keyblades available for purchase
- Aqua's (Eraqus') Keyblade lying at a tropical beach themed area (KHIII Trailer reference, I'm sure many would notice that)
- heartless, nobody, dusk characters as suited characters and figurined across the parks around halloween
- some of the many signposts pointing towards KH destinations
- wayfinders and lucky charms as well as paopu fruits as "Hidden KH" eastereggs, mostly in tropical or grass areas
- more KH sculptures like to one in Japan. They would fit perfectly in the many hotels, shops, restaurants.
and at last two ideas I recently had, although I bet they won't ever become reality:
- KH Gummi Ship ride: "Hop into a gummi ship and let chip and dale guide you through the lanes between the many worlds of the KH universe. Hold on tight for a super-sonic ride and whitness the ancient keyblade war reawakened as brave Keyblade wielders clash with (bad-ass) threatening villains." <- mock descrition I would love to read in a Park map. - Seeing all the characters as animatronics would be so great, I would be scared of Xehanort in real life, though...
- Destiny Islands "Secret Place Restaurant": Opening at sunset , this beautiful and luxurious restaurand offers tropical cuisine with a broad range of caribbean fish dishes and seafood to exotic desserts and coctails. Relax at a memorable dinner with your whole family while listening to the waves rolling in in this beach themed restaurand or book a special table for two for the ultimate sun-down to moonlight experience in the exclusive 'Secret Place' Suite or Pier Diné Table."
Sound cheesy but I had the idea of a restaurand opening near the Little mermaid Attraction in New Fantasyland. Extending the tropical beach area of the Little Mermaid you enter the restaurant (a stone builing half covered by plans, palm trees and sand) through a shack door and you fin yourself entering a high-priced luxurious restaurant. The tables are on smaller islands connected by bridges and jetties and real water is coming in from the Little Mermaid area. a second floor offers a quiet view over the beach area and can be booked a s an exclusive event area. The walls feature KH oil paintings and the exclusive area has the stone paitings of the secret place.
The lighting is pretty much daylight or artificial moonlight after iot gets dark.
A second entry is through the basement through the secret door eith the keywhole and is connected to an undersea Aquarium. You pass though the aquarium and you can see up through the beach of the little mermaid basins and you can exit towards the snow white attraction and beasts castle or go directly to the little marmaid landing area.
And of course they offer lobster, clams, all sorts of fish, mushroomy meals, and the paopu cocktail for two.
Hey guys.
I did some research on the inclusion of the Kingdom Hearts Series in Disney Parks and media.
(Besides the thousands of cosplayers and kids playing with their KH action figures in the Parks, hehe)
Feel free to read, correct and/or extend my short list if you would like or just skip to the actual topic below.
The list is based on what I found online, some friends told me (because they actually were there) or on actual pictures.
JAPAN:
- Apparently, Sory Donald and Goofy (in KH duds) are available at the Japanese Disneyland as rare character encounters since the release of the game. (Japan has more of the "rare" encounters like Scrooge McDuck or Mowgli)
- Special Release or promotion events are held constantly at Disneyland areas (smaller ones according to what I found online)
- At the Re:coded relase party, a huge Kingdom Hearts statue of the main characters was placed at a public Disneyland area (not sure if it is still there but you can find pictures of the great sculpture in the archives of this site)
- Basically all Kingdom Hearts merchandise is available at nearly all Disneyland shops.
- Sea Salt ice cream is sold at Disney Tokyo Sea Park (Mr Nomura's original reference for the game) though not associated with KH in a specific way (?)
NORTH AMERICA:
- In the United States, Sora appeared in his KH I attire at some "Not so scary" Halloween parades and events in Disneyland and Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World around the first NA release of KH 1.
- The Japanese themed corner at Epcot sells Japanese import merchandise such as Play and static arts and soundtracks.
- The Original Soundtracks and Piano Collections are available at Disney Parks and recreation area gift shops
- Some shops started selling the official KH plushies (currently Meow-Wow and Shadow, maybe Dusk and Flood in the future?)
- DisneyStore sells the actual games.
-The NA pre-release Event for HD1.5 ReMIX was held at Downtown Disney, CA.
-KH collective Pins - rare but they exist
EUROPE:
- A friend of mine found a heart cut in the bark of a palm tree near the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyland Paris that said "Sora + Kairi" [Although this might be the work of an obsessed fan?]
- The KH-styled Heart and Crown styled pattern appears repeatedly in both EuroDisney parks.
- In the Walt Disney Studios Park, posters of KH 1, KH 2 and KH DDD have been seen.
That's all the references I could find, if you encountered anything KH at the parks, please add.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Anyway, back to the real topic:
As KHIII is getting bigger and coming closer, do you think Disney will actually include more of KH in their park. Now that NA teams are more and more involved in the project andpromotion, I wouldn't be surprised if they in fact started selling KH shaped Sea salt ice cream.
Although we won't see an actual Kingdom Hearts Ride, I've nevertheless come up with a small list of (possible) things I'd love to see at Disney parks:
- Character meet and greets (Vanitas would be awesome!!!)
- KH music and Art gallery (not very possible but I would like a KH gallery similar to the Art galleries at Disney Village, Paris
- More merchandise being sold
- More KH Pins
- Organization coats available for sale next to Peter Pan and Princess costumes
- Keyblades available for purchase
- Aqua's (Eraqus') Keyblade lying at a tropical beach themed area (KHIII Trailer reference, I'm sure many would notice that)
- heartless, nobody, dusk characters as suited characters and figurined across the parks around halloween
- some of the many signposts pointing towards KH destinations
- wayfinders and lucky charms as well as paopu fruits as "Hidden KH" eastereggs, mostly in tropical or grass areas
- more KH sculptures like to one in Japan. They would fit perfectly in the many hotels, shops, restaurants.
- atl least small KH themed spots
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ______ ___ ___
and at last two ideas I recently had, although I bet they won't ever become reality:
- KH Gummi Ship ride: "Hop into a gummi ship and let chip and dale guide you through the lanes between the many worlds of the KH universe. Hold on tight for a super-sonic ride and whitness the ancient keyblade war reawakened as brave Keyblade wielders clash with (bad-ass) threatening villains." <- mock descrition I would love to read in a Park map. - Seeing all the characters as animatronics would be so great, I would be scared of Xehanort in real life, though...
- Destiny Islands "Secret Place Restaurant": Opening at sunset , this beautiful and luxurious restaurand offers tropical cuisine with a broad range of caribbean fish dishes and seafood to exotic desserts and coctails. Relax at a memorable dinner with your whole family while listening to the waves rolling in in this beach themed restaurand or book a special table for two for the ultimate sun-down to moonlight experience in the exclusive 'Secret Place' Suite or Pier Diné Table."
Sound cheesy but I had the idea of a restaurand opening near the Little mermaid Attraction in New Fantasyland. Extending the tropical beach area of the Little Mermaid you enter the restaurant (a stone builing half covered by plans, palm trees and sand) through a shack door and you fin yourself entering a high-priced luxurious restaurant. The tables are on smaller islands connected by bridges and jetties and real water is coming in from the Little Mermaid area. a second floor offers a quiet view over the beach area and can be booked a s an exclusive event area. The walls feature KH oil paintings and the exclusive area has the stone paitings of the secret place.
The lighting is pretty much daylight or artificial moonlight after iot gets dark.
A second entry is through the basement through the secret door eith the keywhole and is connected to an undersea Aquarium. You pass though the aquarium and you can see up through the beach of the little mermaid basins and you can exit towards the snow white attraction and beasts castle or go directly to the little marmaid landing area.
And of course they offer lobster, clams, all sorts of fish, mushroomy meals, and the paopu cocktail for two.
Just an idea...
___________________________________________________________________________________
Finally at the end of my novel, thanks for reading if you made it this far.
I'll include a picture of Sora at Disneyland which actually is a great and detailed costume and I definitely could see more KH at the parks.
Feel free to post your own Ideas!
© Disney / Square Enix , No infringement intedned in any way.
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