HKDL gets new castle, frozen land and marvel land.

[Supersnow84]

Is there much overlap between HKDL and TDL visitors?

I would think HKDL is already losing the guests with enough interest to fly to Tokyo to visit the parks as there is already so much more at TDLR. If the market for HKDL is those closer by (either due to where they live or the fact they're visiting Hong Kong), then I would think the impact would be negligible particularly as TDL is not likely to be marketing the new additions in those markets.

I don’t know if there is much overlap (I’d assume there isn’t much with either of the Chinese parks and Tokyo in a normal sense)

But in this case fantasy springs is almost an entirely new gate and it’s offering and alternative (which can be argued is better or worse) to the new land that HK is getting which would create overlap in people who visit for frozen (like the market if I’m excited for the new frozen land which park should I go to)

I don’t think it can just be panned off as a “new land in a park with little overlap” like say HK being unaffected by changes at DCA

 

[momo123]

The market for Tokyo Disneyland is very different to HK Disneys in most scenarios. For one Tokyo is a multi day resort (HKdisney fits into a normal HK holiday) & Tokyo is further away from a lot of hks core markets besides the mainland and Philippines. Finally there is a language barrier when visiting Tokyo Disney.

 

[Mark_E]

99% of visitors to the Tokyo parks seemed to be Japanese with a very small %age of other nationalities. Same for Hong Kong it seemed to be very much a locals park.

 

[Robbiem]

another factor is advertising. Tokyo can’t advertise internationally only in Japan, but being owned by Disney Hong Kong doesn’t have these restrictions


When I visited Hong Kong had more international visitors than Tokyo. There were lots of people from other areas in SE asia, India etc. I assume these were people passing through Hong Kong and tacking on a trip to Disneyland which is advertised across the region.

Tokyo was more domestic tourists with a mix of local day visitors and people having a short break from other areas of Japan. When you travel in Japan you often see ads for TDR &Uni Japan at railway stations etc

 

[Supersnow84]

So I just went to Duffy and friends playhouse for the first time (I’m not a Duffy fan on average I own only one piece of Duffy Merch)

I was actually genuinely impressed by the quality of the attraction, I would not be disappointed if they made a few tweaks (like maybe add ride vehicles) and make it a permanent staple to give another ride to the park

It seems HK absolutely loves Duffy so giving him a ride in an otherwise underused space seems to be a decent choice to me

 

[Supersnow84]

The Hollywood hotel is set to reopen in 9 days and looks fantastic from its updates

 

[Sir_Cliff]

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The Hollywood hotel is set to reopen in 9 days and looks fantastic from its updates

Looks quite nice!

Do we have much of an idea of what occupancy is like at the HKDL hotels? I'm kind of curious how many people are staying out there considering they only have one (fairly small) park. Is it similar to the early WDW in terms of having other recreational activities nearby?

 

[Supersnow84]

Looks quite nice!

Do we have much of an idea of what occupancy is like at the HKDL hotels? I'm kind of curious how many people are staying out there considering they only have one (fairly small) park. Is it similar to the early WDW in terms of having other recreational activities nearby?

HKDL is rather isolated (it’s one of its biggest strengths because it adds to the immersion of the park) and doesn’t have a lot else going for it (there is inspiration lake but I believe that is technically part of the resort)

Occupancy was >90% before the explorers lodge opened and was >70% prior to Covid

During Covid time hen Hollywood was closed I believe occupancy was around the 20% range, I’m not sure what it’s at now but it’s still rather low, the hotels also doubled as airport hotels and with the slow recovery of tourism post Covid it is still primarily staycations which aren’t massively desirable because despite its isolation the park is really easy to get to on the MTR

 

[616.1314]

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The Hollywood hotel is set to reopen in 9 days and looks fantastic from its updates

I must say the new lobby is quite disappointing - yes it does look modern and new, but it just lacks theming and immersiveness, which are supposed to be Disney's strengths. Easily replaceable by nearby options like those in Tung Chung and the airport.

 

[Supersnow84]

I must say the new lobby is quite disappointing - yes it does look modern and new, but it just lacks theming and immersiveness, which are supposed to be Disney's strengths. Easily replaceable by nearby options like those in Tung Chung and the airport.

I think it fits the art deco theming quite well, they aren’t going for art of animation, it’s supposed to be refined 20’s Hollywood

And what’s good about the hotels so they are so cheap for Disney hotels, I never feel incentivised to use the surrounding hotels because they Disney hotels just aren’t that expensive (and you get the large discount on them from the annual passes which cost less than 3 days worth of tickets)

 

[marni1971]

And what’s good about the hotels so they are so cheap for Disney hotels,

Tell me about it !

 

[jaxonp]

In Hong Kong now, haven’t been to the park since 18. I can’t believe how busy the park is! My previous experiences at HKDL were that is was pretty much a ghost town during the week. Not right now! The park is looking pretty good these days. Someone is putting money into it.

 

[Supersnow84]

I’m assuming it’s the summer holidays

But the park on the app has been looking amazing the last few months and my experiences with the park in the last two days are similar to your

I don’t even think it “felt” this busy when the park attendance peaked back in 2015

 

[momo123]

yes I went recently too and for the first time it felt like the other Disney parks in terms of how busy it has been and this now been my experience twice its so refreshing compared to it in the past.

 

[Supersnow84]

The last financial year they did 3.2 million off of 6 months of operation so with arendelle we could be realistically looking at about 7 million

Even with its improved attraction offerings the park is still physically small, 7 million in a park HK’s size will probably make it feel like the other Disney resorts year round

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Very happy to hear that the park seems to be taking off. I do remember when it opened there was a lot of talk about locals preferring Ocean Park, but the tide really seems to have turned in that regard!

 

[momo123]

Very happy to hear that the park seems to be taking off. I do remember when it opened there was a lot of talk about locals preferring Ocean Park, but the tide really seems to have turned in that regard!

yes the tide has definitely turned ocean park was quite empty on my most recent visit. I think this will spur Disney to spend the 5 billion in waiting hopefully. The park so desperately needs more attractions.

 

[Supersnow84]

Very happy to hear that the park seems to be taking off. I do remember when it opened there was a lot of talk about locals preferring Ocean Park, but the tide really seems to have turned in that regard!

Ocean park really killed a lot of the public’s perception when Covid hit and they asked for a loan to stay solvent then still laid off half their staff, meanwhile Disney asked for no assistance, laid off no cast members and also agreed to defer payments for the licensing while the city struggled with Covid

Combine that with the aptly timed castle redesign and increased local marketing campaign that really finally broke the old perception of HKDL being a cheap copy that Disney didn’t care about (bought about by its terrible launch on the back of TDS) and the perception has certainly shifted to Disney being the public darling

 

[Supersnow84]

yes the tide has definitely turned ocean park was quite empty on my most recent visit. I think this will spur Disney to spend the 5 billion in waiting hopefully. The park so desperately needs more attractions.

The park is fine on attractions with arendelle, it just struggles against the 4 old castle parks

It has more attractions than
-SDL
-WDS
-EPCOT
-DAK
-DHS
-DCA

And equals TDS

So that puts it 5th in overall attraction numbers, it just feels Like less because it has so few standout e tickets

 

[jaxonp]

HK needs a showstopper. Frozen looks good from afar but it needs more! Whatever is planned for Tomorrowland can’t come soon enough and it would seem easy for them to expand TSL with the space they have.