Trip Report Want a stress free Disney vacation? Go to Hong Kong! (completed)

In June 2016 I went with my father to Hong Kong Disneyland for two days/three nights following my brother’s wedding in Koh Samui,Thailand. I thought I would put a trip report here in case people were tossing up making a trip and were wanting some information, or even for those who are just interested in hearing about the non-American parks. I found the whole experience to be fun and so much easier than either Disneyland or Disneyworld and I would recommend any Disney parks fans who are travelling to Asia to pay a visit. We spoke to a few Australians who were breaking up the long-haul to and from UK/Europe with a quick stopover in Hong Kong Disneyland, so for people from my part of the world it is an especially convenient option.


Arrival Day 22nd of June 2016

On this day we flew from Koh Samui to Hong Kong via Bangkok. Here is a gratuitous shot of the wedding venue which was stunning. My brother and his new wife were blessed with the only dry, blue sky day we had while there.

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We arrived in Hong Kong at around 6pm and took a quick and cheap taxi ride from the airport to the resort. It was extra cheap for me as Dad paid for it as I had no Hong Kong money yet!

We were staying at the Hollywood Hotel, Hong Kong’s 2nd tier hotel (there are only two, soon to be three). The cost of the room fell somewhere between a moderate and a low level deluxe resort at WDW and I thought it was beautiful and great value. There were lots of Disneyfied art deco details around the property and rooms.

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The wifi was good, the beds were comfortable and the room was quiet. I didn’t take any photos of the room as I didn’t want Dad to think I was a weirdo! It included 4 bottles of water a day and 4 pairs of slippers as well as nice soaps and shampoos. There were also these lovely cup sets which included three cups and well as a variety of toiletries. These got squirrelled away in the suitcase and replaced each day.

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The only area in which the hotel fell down was the availability of food options. The “quick-service” style place was closed at night so there was only a full service expensive lounge and the buffet restaurant. We waited in the lounge to be served for such a long time that we actually just got up and left.

We had a quick look around the grounds. It was shockingly hot and humid despite the late hour and we were tired from travelling so we didn’t wander too far. We ended up watching the fireworks display from the carpark. I bought some hugely overpriced ($25 NZ/$18 US) seven dwarves tsum tsum style hair bands in the little shop in the hotel as I was still in the mentality of thinking in Thai Bhat which is 25.5 to 1 NZ$ rather the Hong Kong dollar which is 5.5 to 1 NZ$. They are a cute way to tie up your hair in the parks but definitely not worth $25.

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Kiwiduck

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
That is a beautiful view of the castle. I am amazed that there seems to be so few people there!
Thank you, its very difficult to ever get an unobstructed castle picture at Disneyland or Magic Kingdom isn't it! I was surprised at the lack of crowds too, it was mid-week but I thought it was school holidays so I was expecting more people.
 

Kiwiduck

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thank you for sharing HKDL with us. I would love to be able to visit ALL of the parks one day. I have WDW, DLR, and DLP under my belt so far...I just have to travel East next time. :D
Thank you. I have the same life goal as you! I want to do all the Asian parks in one mega trip next year but DLP (and Europe in general) is so far away. Almost 24 hours of solid flying not to mention all the airport time! One day :)
 

Kiwiduck

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Kiwi
I went back and checked your arrival date and it looks like your park days were mid week
Does HK have the same pattern as TDL - less busy mid week and packed on the weekend?

Max
Yes, it was mid-week and I have read that the park is busier in the weekend.I was expecting it to be busier due to school holidays but there were school groups in the parks so I was probably wrong about that.
 

amjt660

Premium Member
Thank you. I have the same life goal as you! I want to do all the Asian parks in one mega trip next year but DLP (and Europe in general) is so far away. Almost 24 hours of solid flying not to mention all the airport time! One day :)
Come on kiwi
If you are that close to the prize 24 hours of flights will not slow you down
Go for it and get all 6 resorts!!!

Max
 

Kiwiduck

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Toy Story Land (cont)
Dad was keen to do the parachute man ride but this had the first queue we saw of the day (around 40 minutes) and there wasn’t much shade so I told Dad that what he actually wanted was to ride this some other time. He agreed that was in fact what he wanted and so we moved on.
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I thought the scrabble tile entrance to these toilets was cute!
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There was a meet-and-greet happening with Lotso who I love and wanted to meet, but again the heat and the lack of shade in the area put me off waiting. I just took a photo of him with some random child instead.
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The toy soldiers put on a good show and added some nice energy to the area.
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Hopefully DHS’s Slinky Dog ride is more exciting than this one.
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We saw a few young guys clowning around in an exaggerated fashion and filming each other surrounded by other guys with big professional looking camera equipment and Disney minders. We asked the minder what was happening and he said they were filming for a very popular TV show in China.
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After this we were hungry and overheated so backtracked again towards the Explorers Club, the restaurant in Mystic Point which was number one on my list of places to eat. There were a lot of different types of Asian food: Chinese, South-East Asian, Korean, Japanese etc. This ugly photo was my very tasty lunch, the Hainanese Chicken Rice. The drink was an amazing combination of blueberries/blueberry syrup/and sprite with some cream on top with a light up cube. It was one of my favourite things about HKDL. Dad had some nice beef noodles and watermelon juice.
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This marks the end of where I wrote notes at the time, so the rest of the report will be from memory using the picture order as a guide.
 

amjt660

Premium Member
Toy Story Land (cont)
Dad was keen to do the parachute man ride but this had the first queue we saw of the day (around 40 minutes) and there wasn’t much shade so I told Dad that what he actually wanted was to ride this some other time. He agreed that was in fact what he wanted and so we moved on.
View attachment 194412
Kiwi - you are a Jedi master!!

Dad - this is not the ride you are looking for - move along......
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Max
 

Kiwiduck

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We headed to the Jungle Cruise. You ride around this lovely Island which has a fort I think you can explore, but I couldn’t handle a trip to the actual jungle in the humidity.
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The Jungle Cruise had three separate lines for English, Mandarin and Cantonese speakers none of which had a line. This was my least favourite ride at the park. There was a fire effect at the end which was cool, but the jungle didn’t seem as dense as in the American versions and the narration fell flat. The skipper was bubbly and tried hard, but good comedic timing is difficult enough for fluent english speakers. The main joke I remember is “oh look – the elephants are bathing……because they are dirty”.

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After this we headed to Fantasyland. I think we saw Mickey’s Philharmagic and then rode Pooh. At some point in the day I had gotten fastpasses for this ride and when we went to use them Dad who has never heard of fastpass was blown away; he said something like “well done – good thinking Renee”. For a brief time I felt like the best theme park tourer in the world!!

I don’t feel like this ride was any different than the American versions.
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After this we looked around Fantasyland some more and headed to Small World.
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To me Disneyland has the best version of this ride, but this one is still cute.
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Kiwiduck

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Small World has a lovely façade like at Disneyland, but more colourful. I think I prefer the white and blue of Disneylands, but this one is very pretty too.
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I wish I had taken a closer photo of the New Zealand montage.
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After this we checked out the parade, flights of fantasy. We watched it from a few locations as we were trying to make our way out of the park for a rest, but we got trapped.
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This next picture shows the scourge of the park – thousands (small exaggeration) of people with shade umbrellas!
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It had wonderful detailed floats and awesome performers.
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Kiwiduck

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
More parade photos.
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After the parade we went back to the hotel to escape the heat for a while. Dad had a swim and I had a shower and enjoyed the air-conditioning for a while.

We went back to the park in the early evening.
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Chip and Dale were preparing to do a meet and greet.
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I think these mountains give this castle has the most stunning backdrop of any Disney castle.
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amjt660

Premium Member
Kiwi
So which is worse - Sun Umbrellas or Kids on Parents Shoulders??

I love the close up shots of the performers walking in the parade

Max
 

Kiwiduck

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
All caught up again! Sorry about the onslaught of "likes"...I couldn't help it because the pics are awesome!
Thank you very much - I don't mind that at all! :)
Kiwi
So which is worse - Sun Umbrellas or Kids on Parents Shoulders??

I love the close up shots of the performers walking in the parade

Max
Thanks! The performers were great - very engaging.
It is hard to say which is worse - kids on shoulders are harder to see past but at least they don't poke you in the face.
 

Kiwiduck

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 1 (cont)
We headed into the Main Street shops to check out the souvenirs. The shops were absolutely jam packed, all the crowds seemed to be either in shops or in Toy Story Land. They had a lot of these small plush/large key ring type things. I bought the Olaf Duffy one and also found a heavily discounted Mystic Manor themed umbrella.
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We looked around the hub for a while as we had raced through it this morning. We made a reservation for the next day at the Plaza Inn.
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There were some decorations around for the parks 10th anniversary.
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After this we headed to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz Lightyear. Dad beat me at this ride despite the fact that he has never ridden before, has a visual field deficit meaning that he missing half the visual field of each eye and also has slow reflexes following a stroke. I chose to believe there must have been something wrong with my gun!
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This is the one and only photo I took of Tomorrowland.
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Kiwiduck

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We wandered around the park for a while heading towards the Explorer’s Club for dinner.
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Dinner was one of my favourite meals that I have ever had in a theme park. It was a drumstick and crumbed chicken breast in a Japanese curry sauce with fried rice. It was amazing and a good price. I had another blueberry mist as well. My meal at Carthay Circle in December was better but cost over $100 US, whereas this was amazing and less than $20 with the drink.
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After dinner of we of course rode Mystic Manor again and then headed back to Main Street to catch Paint the Night and Fireworks. We found a great location and could sit on the curb opposite and Emporium and the fire station.
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As you can see below the fire station looks almost identical to Disneyland’s but of course is missing Walt’s apartment, the thing that makes Disneyland’s one so special.
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Paint the night was just as great as it is at Disneyland.
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