Ant-Man has arrived in Hong Kong and is prepared to make as much of an impact on Marvel theme park attractions as Hong Kong’s famous food has had on the movie’s star Paul Rudd. “Have you had the milk tea yet? It’s life changing. Wait till you get an egg tart in you!” It's good he loves the food because Marvel's smallest Avenger will stay in Hong Kong as part of Disneyland's newest attraction Ant-Man and the Wasp: Nano Battle! This experience is an interactive shooting gallery where you aim at Arnim Zola’s army of swarm bots while traveling along slow moving D/AGR vehicles. All audiences will love this super hero adventure and the integrated Marvel attractions hub makes Hong Kong Disneyland a must visit destination for Marvel fans in Asia.
The mission to defeat Zola’s swarm bots itself is an engaging game experience with attention to quality design. The design details start with an entertaining queue trough the S.H.I.E.L.D. Science and Technology Pavilion featuring several Marvel easter eggs. The fundamental ride system used is the same as Shanghai's Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue since both use the same highly accurate targeting system, but this attraction is without the ability to control vehicle spin. The removal of the spin joystick allows the experience to be directed in a way that feels much more cinematic. The cinematic approach emphasizes video content which the film’s director Peyton Reed collaborated on the attraction featuring the original film stars Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly. The writing of these scenes capture the humor of the film and even occasionally references Hong Kong’s famous egg tarts. Unfortunately the result of the emphasis on media content also means that there is less movement in the dimensional sets and all targets are stationary. Although there are no moving targets, the environments are fully immersive and absolutely packed with bots to shoot at. Triangle targets are worth the most, but hitting special sequences of low value targets can activate a purple bonus target. The game’s advanced technology is fully responsive to your action and some targets will set off a lighting chase reaction. This super hero adventure is presented in a cinematic style paired with an advanced game system.
The attention to quality behind the success of this attraction extends to the entire land. The attraction exits through Pavilion Gifts where you can find attraction exclusive merchandise, Marvel LEGOs, customizable toys, and hundreds of other Marvel products. The Starliner Diner offers a themed BATTLE Burger Combo paired with a miniature ant sized onion burger. This makes a nice photo opportunity, but is rather messy to eat. The truly exciting potential for Hong Kong is that Disneyland is committed to developing Asia’s ultimate Marvel hub with the addition of a third Marvel-themed attraction where according to Disney’s press release,”Avengers assemble in 2023”.
(Chinese version available here)
© 2020
