First timer thoughts from Hong Kong Disneyland

WoundedDreamer

Well-Known Member
I can’t help thinking the addition of the Avengers E and a (Pirates) flume would elevate it far above Shanghai (which we’ve yet to try). As it is it has to be close - 4 unique rides and variations on a theme elsewhere.
This is something I've thought about. One of the biggest differences between the two resorts is gigantism. In short, Shanghai is designed to be enormous. Everything is huge and impressive. I think people tend to either love it or hate it. It is very very very different from Disneyland in Anaheim. Even Magic Kingdom feels quaint in comparison to that leviathan. It's definitely not the small and relaxed place that Hong Kong Disneyland is. I think that's one of the reasons the Hong Kong city officials who visited Shanghai freaked out. Their park is not a monument. It's not epic. It's small and won't leave you stunned. The only solution was to rebuild the castle and take other actions to add massive rides like Shanghai has.

Of course, most of the people on this board love Hong Kong Disneyland because it is not Shanghai Disneyland. They don't want sprawling landscapes and enormous show buildings. They prefer the slower pace and more intimate environment.

It's actually a little amazing to think they're both "Disneyland." They are so different that the only real similarity is there's a castle in the middle. Besides that... Nothing much else. Hong Kong Disneyland has the most direct continuity with the past. So if only one can be "Disneyland" it has to be Hong Kong. Shanghai is one weird place. Not a bad place mind you. I enjoyed my time there. It's just unlike any of the 9 other Disney parks I've been to. It still feels unreal.
 

Robbiem

Well-Known Member
This is something I've thought about. One of the biggest differences between the two resorts is gigantism. In short, Shanghai is designed to be enormous. Everything is huge and impressive. I think people tend to either love it or hate it. It is very very very different from Disneyland in Anaheim. Even Magic Kingdom feels quaint in comparison to that leviathan. It's definitely not the small and relaxed place that Hong Kong Disneyland is. I think that's one of the reasons the Hong Kong city officials who visited Shanghai freaked out. Their park is not a monument. It's not epic. It's small and won't leave you stunned. The only solution was to rebuild the castle and take other actions to add massive rides like Shanghai has.

Of course, most of the people on this board love Hong Kong Disneyland because it is not Shanghai Disneyland. They don't want sprawling landscapes and enormous show buildings. They prefer the slower pace and more intimate environment.

It's actually a little amazing to think they're both "Disneyland." They are so different that the only real similarity is there's a castle in the middle. Besides that... Nothing much else. Hong Kong Disneyland has the most direct continuity with the past. So if only one can be "Disneyland" it has to be Hong Kong. Shanghai is one weird place. Not a bad place mind you. I enjoyed my time there. It's just unlike any of the 9 other Disney parks I've been to. It still feels unreal.

Hong Kong definitely has the original Disneyland scale charm that only DLP really comes close to matching. Its the only resort where the setting is as beautiful as the park with the mountains and ocean front hotels.

I’ve not been to Shanghai but from what I’ve seen I agree that it is very large and very different to the other castle parks, it was defined designed to be bigger but that doesn’t necessarily make it better than underrated Hong Kong
 

UpAllNight

Well-Known Member
I’ve been to California , Florida & Paris (Both many times). Of the 3 resorts I’ve yet to visit, HK has always been the most appealing to me.

I fully expect Tokyo to be the best Disney resort as an overall, but I also think it’s a lot busier than they report. Anecdotally, I feel there’s some misreporting of attendance, possibly for marketing reason that encourages Disney to report MK as “the most visited park in the world”. Tokyo LOOKS hectic me. The resort, especially Disneysea looks visually fantastic however…but also like my idea of hell due to the crowds.



Hong Kong has always just looked cute and chill to me. The least impressive of the resorts, on paper, but also just..fun, and easy, and chill.
 
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Bullseye1967

Is that who I am?
Premium Member
We didn’t get in Dragon Wind due to the fire alarm evacuation but did eat at the quicker serve Chart Room Cafe which was perfectly fine. Full English and coffee. We did note it got busier as the time passed (we got food about 8am) - and again this is only our experience.

The Explorers semi buffet was amazing. Buffet starters and desserts and one choice of a main. Rack of lamb I think we had. Plus of course a wristband for the front enclosure of Momentous. We took the 615pm sitting for the 830 show, but I’d say get to the castle at 8pm at the latest since it does get busy. Not rammed but the earlier the better. It’s bookable on the website, we booked the week before we flew to check the weather shouldn’t be an issue and there was plenty of availability. Ensure you choose the meal plus fireworks option. The menu was changing slightly the week we left but the new one should still be on the website.

I doubt it’s still running after next week but the halloween Nightmare Before Dinner show was stunning. If you do see something similar come back to me (again bookabke in advance)

Honoury mention to the Tomorrowland Star Liner burger and fries. The red burger not the green one (!) was one of the best fast foods we’ve had in a park.

Royal Banquet Hall in Fantasyland is a huge, crazy food court. Busy at peak times and an experience with its self serve food tray trolleys. But what a choice. Several different types of food from different windows and all paid for at the end till. First QSR I’ve seen with a mixed grill with real crockery and cutlery.

Starbucks on main street is the only place with “real” coffee and very popular. Say hi to Annie the greeter !

And special mention to the Market Corner Cafe on Main Street. Lunch and dinner sittings are the same food, dinner is a bit more expensive but only since the soft drink is included (took a while for us to figure that one out). It’s a TSR that yoy can get same day for; even when closed at 1030am the cast member stood at the door with an iPad will give you a “ticket” (ask for that) for your chosen time. When the iPad doesn’t take a foreign phone number all you need is to take a photo of the screen with the ressie number (our CM actually put her own mobile onto it to make it work - again great customer service). Ask to sit in the orangery room for wonderful ambiance particularly at dusk. The ceasar salad was tasty and the steak was to die for.

Ink and Plate at Hollywood Hotel does a wonderful buffet breakfast in a lovely bright environment and is worth trying (and it’s next door to you) plus where else do you see western, continental, Indian and Chinese breakfast options?! And typically I’ve probably got photos of every meal if you like 😂

Shanghai will be next time when we return to HK. This trip was testing the water of the Asian resorts and HK was the easiest for us as the first one. We’ll be looking at the 144 visa for SHDL but that will dictate our travel plans too.

Do ask anything else. I’ll help if I can. Oh, Main Street opens about 15 minutes early with castle rope drop at the posted time. Mystic grizzly and TSL opened at 11. Make sure you find the hotel guest security and entrance queue too. Overhead signs and cast with placards show the way.
Would love to see some pics of the food!
 

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
*Why did you guys decide not to check out Shanghai given its proximity to HKDL? Asking because we're currently having that dilemma, with the ability to see Zootopia if we do decide to go to SDR after.

It's so funny the things that are normalized because you've already travelled. It's like asking someone who went on a trip to New York City why they didn't bother checking out Magic Kingdom, since it was so close, while they were there. But the Aussie's might think that.

I do get if it's a 'once in a lifetime trip'. The two parks are very complimentary and different though. So I do understand they pair well together. I'd do them in separate trips though and spend more time in Hong Kong and Shanghai / area respectively.
 

TimeDuck

Active Member
We didn’t get in Dragon Wind due to the fire alarm evacuation but did eat at the quicker serve Chart Room Cafe which was perfectly fine. Full English and coffee. We did note it got busier as the time passed (we got food about 8am) - and again this is only our experience.

The Explorers semi buffet was amazing. Buffet starters and desserts and one choice of a main. Rack of lamb I think we had. Plus of course a wristband for the front enclosure of Momentous. We took the 615pm sitting for the 830 show, but I’d say get to the castle at 8pm at the latest since it does get busy. Not rammed but the earlier the better. It’s bookable on the website, we booked the week before we flew to check the weather shouldn’t be an issue and there was plenty of availability. Ensure you choose the meal plus fireworks option. The menu was changing slightly the week we left but the new one should still be on the website.

I doubt it’s still running after next week but the halloween Nightmare Before Dinner show was stunning. If you do see something similar come back to me (again bookabke in advance)

Honoury mention to the Tomorrowland Star Liner burger and fries. The red burger not the green one (!) was one of the best fast foods we’ve had in a park.

Royal Banquet Hall in Fantasyland is a huge, crazy food court. Busy at peak times and an experience with its self serve food tray trolleys. But what a choice. Several different types of food from different windows and all paid for at the end till. First QSR I’ve seen with a mixed grill with real crockery and cutlery.

Starbucks on main street is the only place with “real” coffee and very popular. Say hi to Annie the greeter !

And special mention to the Market Corner Cafe on Main Street. Lunch and dinner sittings are the same food, dinner is a bit more expensive but only since the soft drink is included (took a while for us to figure that one out). It’s a TSR that yoy can get same day for; even when closed at 1030am the cast member stood at the door with an iPad will give you a “ticket” (ask for that) for your chosen time. When the iPad doesn’t take a foreign phone number all you need is to take a photo of the screen with the ressie number (our CM actually put her own mobile onto it to make it work - again great customer service). Ask to sit in the orangery room for wonderful ambiance particularly at dusk. The ceasar salad was tasty and the steak was to die for.

Ink and Plate at Hollywood Hotel does a wonderful buffet breakfast in a lovely bright environment and is worth trying (and it’s next door to you) plus where else do you see western, continental, Indian and Chinese breakfast options?! And typically I’ve probably got photos of every meal if you like 😂

Shanghai will be next time when we return to HK. This trip was testing the water of the Asian resorts and HK was the easiest for us as the first one. We’ll be looking at the 144 visa for SHDL but that will dictate our travel plans too.

Do ask anything else. I’ll help if I can. Oh, Main Street opens about 15 minutes early with castle rope drop at the posted time. Mystic grizzly and TSL opened at 11. Make sure you find the hotel guest security and entrance queue too. Overhead signs and cast with placards show the way.
Excellent recommendations, thank you. Would love to see your food pics whenever you're inclined to share.

Will definitely bug you as the date approaches and I think of more questions. Any logistical eccentricities are always great to know or just things we may accidentally overlook. We "only" have two full park days but I'm hoping we'll manage to comb every inch of the park and get the rides done in that time.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Original Poster
Enchanted Garden buffet

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Ink and Plate buffet

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Ink and Plate dim sum

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Royal Banquet mixed grill (QSR!!)

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Chart Room cafe breakfast

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Market Corner prawns starter

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Caesar salad starter

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Steak

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Seafood sandwich

IMG_6784.jpeg


Yep 😁

IMG_6785.jpeg
 

TimeDuck

Active Member
We really enjoyed Shanghai; we made sure to hit both (especially both cities) since we were already traveling from literally across the planet, but absolutely loved it. HKDL’s biggest issue is a lack of headliners and Shanghai has perhaps the greatest in the world, so visiting both back-to-back feels like a more balanced experience.

As always, though, I wouldn’t recommend making the trek unless you want to visit the city itself.

I obviously don’t know your location, but if you’re traveling close to halfway around the world, I’d say, what the hell and go for it. It’ll be a fantastic trip.

Not sure about post-covid Dragon Wind, but if I had a specific food recommendation, it would be allow for a second visit to Dragon Wind in case as you loved it as much as we did when we went.

If you want a HK specific restaurant, strongly strongly recommend “Ho Lee ” https://www.holeefook.com.hk/

Absolutely spectacular meal (hard to get reservations) that we still talk about.

Overall, park-to-park, we preferred the food in Shanghai (and found everything to be more affordable) than Hong Kong, but still loved both.

Club level at the Disneyland Hotel in Shanghai was cheaper than our stay at Explorers Lodge (your mileage may vary), and everything from tickets to food was far cheaper. Overall lovely experience.

When did you guys visit Shanghai when you went? And thank you for the Ho Lee recommendation, I just made a reservation for there given your advice!

It's so funny the things that are normalized because you've already travelled. It's like asking someone who went on a trip to New York City why they didn't bother checking out Magic Kingdom, since it was so close, while they were there. But the Aussie's might think that.

I do get if it's a 'once in a lifetime trip'. The two parks are very complimentary and different though. So I do understand they pair well together. I'd do them in separate trips though and spend more time in Hong Kong and Shanghai / area respectively.

Hah, good point. We travel as frequently as our PTO allows and often find ourselves stuffing as much as we can in. We always figured we would do HKDL and SDR in the same trip, but realistically find ourselves trying to balance a "tourist" vacation with a more "relaxing" one. So have settled on using Japan as our "home base" (which we adore and have visited a few times) and then jumping over to HK for a short stay to see the parks and the city and coming back to spend the rest of our vacation somewhere familiar. Then next year doing the same thing, except with Shanghai.

Trying to do both major cities and then also cram in some relaxing Japan time just seemed like we would be doing a disservice to the surrounding cities (and our feet!).

Truthfully it was just so alluring finding out we could somehow hit the brand new opening of both World of Frozen and Zootopia Land in one trip. And also, by an amazing coincidence, it would mean we would have visited every Disney park in the world in one year. An achievement we definitely would not be in a position replicate, probably ever.
 

Bullseye1967

Is that who I am?
Premium Member
Enchanted Garden buffet

View attachment 750757

Ink and Plate buffet

View attachment 750758

Ink and Plate dim sum

View attachment 750759

Royal Banquet mixed grill (QSR!!)

View attachment 750760

Chart Room cafe breakfast

View attachment 750761

Market Corner prawns starter

View attachment 750762

Caesar salad starter

View attachment 750763

Steak

View attachment 750764

Seafood sandwich

View attachment 750765

Yep 😁

View attachment 750766
Thank you so much Martin! So many great looking dishes with absolutely lovely presentation! I love the hidden Mickey carrot in the Chart Room one.
 

SplashJacket

Well-Known Member
When did you guys visit Shanghai when you went? And thank you for the Ho Lee recommendation, I just made a reservation for there given your advice!



Hah, good point. We travel as frequently as our PTO allows and often find ourselves stuffing as much as we can in. We always figured we would do HKDL and SDR in the same trip, but realistically find ourselves trying to balance a "tourist" vacation with a more "relaxing" one. So have settled on using Japan as our "home base" (which we adore and have visited a few times) and then jumping over to HK for a short stay to see the parks and the city and coming back to spend the rest of our vacation somewhere familiar. Then next year doing the same thing, except with Shanghai.

Trying to do both major cities and then also cram in some relaxing Japan time just seemed like we would be doing a disservice to the surrounding cities (and our feet!).

Truthfully it was just so alluring finding out we could somehow hit the brand new opening of both World of Frozen and Zootopia Land in one trip. And also, by an amazing coincidence, it would mean we would have visited every Disney park in the world in one year. An achievement we definitely would not be in a position replicate, probably ever.
So we did Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and then Hawaii in sequence over 21-days. From Atlanta, quite difficult to get to that side of the world, so we figured we might as well get around as much as possible.

We started in the middle of July and ended in August 2018. Shanghai was being hit by a typhoon when we went (which was actually really nice because the park was a ghost town).

Really excited to hear your thoughts on Ho Lee. We still talk about that dinner, was amazing. Hopefully hasn’t changed much since 2018.
 

JediMasterMatt

Well-Known Member
I fully expect Tokyo to be the best Disney resort as an overall, but I also think it’s a lot busier than they report. Anecdotally, I feel there’s some misreporting of attendance, possibly for marketing reason that encourages Disney to report MK as “the most visited park in the world”. Tokyo LOOKS hectic me. The resort, especially Disneysea looks visually fantastic however…but also like my idea of hell due to the crowds.

I can't imagine why there would be any interest in maintaining the illusion that MK is the leader in attendance? It's not like the entire business model for WDW relies on keeping the resorts near capacity or something.

Makes you wonder. 🤔

*MK isn't even the busiest park in the States. DL has had that honor since just before their 60th anniversary. Creative gate counting there makes sure that DCA gets a portion of what most in California do - think of both parks as one big playground.
 
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BrianLo

Well-Known Member
I know. We rode all the jokes beforehand (what ya doing with the other 5 days) but we never got bored.

I was one, the Halloween stuff probably helped a bit!

You have somewhat convinced me though that I completely ignore the 'resorts' and that would benefit from maybe an additional day to explore. Still wouldn't do 6, too many other things HK offers, but I could certainly see a place for a slow-paced 3. In the past I felt like two 3/4 days for HKDL was 'just right'.

If your one trip warrants an annual pass though, you know you are a 99.999% length of stay visitor. 😂
 

UpAllNight

Well-Known Member
I’m interested to hear more about Hong Kong in general as a destination. As much as I’m a Disney fan, I’m not sure I could justify a trip across the planet for any park on its own merit.

(I say as I plan a trip across the planet for a park on its own merit in Epic Universe in 2025 😂)
 
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marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Original Poster
Not to get too political but the chance of getting caught in China as a war breaks out with Taiwan frightens me.
Truth be told most of the world is more dangerous to visit at this time. Do it whilst you can and if you can. We felt safer from a personal point of view than we would in the US (sadly) - events like last night are always in our mind now. Until it gets far more than tit for tat posturing do it !
 
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