Parades, Shows, and Stretching Out My Day
They say there are two all-star E-tickets in Hong Kong Disneyland: Big Grizzly Mountain and Mystic Manor. There are actually four. The other two, surprisingly to me, are both live stage shows: “Mickey and the Wondrous Book” and “Festival of the Lion King.”
As I learned from the Imagineers that morning, Disneyland locals don’t like shows. Guilty as charged! Shows lack replay value, and that matters when you visit multiple times a year. Plus, show times are tricky to plan FastPasses around. More infrequent Disney World visitors get more from shows. When you’re vacationing, touring from morning to night, shows help break up a busy day and let you sit and relax productively. Plus there’s that escape from the humidity.
This is my first time as a Disney Park
tourist, rather than daytripper, and suddenly shows sound. The timing is perfect to begin with “Mickey and the Wondrous Book” in Fantasyland’s Storybook Theater. This recently replaced a “Golden Mickeys” show, and by all accounts the new production is superior.
On paper, it’s nothing amazing. Mickey gets magically sucked into a gigantic book, while Olaf of all freaking characters is spat out. (Cantonese Olaf is shockingly tolerable.) The book pages turn and reveal new worlds, with projection animation akin to “Mickey and the Magic Map.” It’s then another “greatest hits” attraction, just a semi-random assortment of song & dance numbers from assorted Disney movies. What sets this apart and makes it exceptional are those ineffable qualities I can’t name, that infectious performance energy and spirit which is intrinsic to live theater. The songs are all staged in a Bollywood manner, which doubtlessly caters to Southeast Asian tastes. The Bollywood stylings really make it distinctive! There’s mesmerizing lighting and engaged dancing. I can’t decide in the end if I prefer the raucous King Louie number or the sultry Genie routine the best.
Following the show, there’s half an hour until the midday Flights of Fantasy parade. Grabbing a chilled mango drink along the way, I join others in the hub. Guests are lightly scattered, as my pics have shown, and there’s the unique spectacle of seeing parade crowds fight for
shade instead of for sightlines. It really is ludicrously muggy outside. I feel tremendous sympathy for those poor cast members in the full-body character suits! Slowing down after the morning rush, I examine the hub and its pleasures.
Now, just like a Disneylander, I’ve totally forgot to mention Hong Kong’s castle this whole time. That’s the first thing Disney Worlders glom onto! Yeah, it’s simply Disneyland’s castle. It’s small. I like the small castle. I grew up with it. Disneyland is a perfect theme park anyway. The castle fits Disneyland's scale, while Hong Kong's somewhat wider walkways reduce its appeal. Plus the castle feels like the copy it is. The castles shouldn’t be copied! (That goes for you
too, Tokyo Disneyland!) But since this castle is getting completely redesigned into an original creation, there’s no need to kvetch further about what’s there now.
That mountain range behind it is HKDL’s coolest feature.
Also, I think Space Mountain might actually be closer to the hub, roughly in the Matterhorn location. That makes things feel cramped.
Flights of Fantasy emerges. It sloooowly oozes down Main Street from the north. The big gimmick here is hot air balloon floats, with different balloon designs befitting the assortment of franchises they’ve selected this time. It’s a pretty neat parade. Honestly, I’m more focused on the air conditioning, for though I’m standing outside in scattered shade, I can feel refreshing cool air flowing from the Plaza Inn restaurant some 30 feet away. That’s some
powerful AC right there! And considering all I’ve eaten since breakfast is squid meat, it’s high time for a high tea.
Hong Kong’s Plaza Inn is actually a sit-down dim sum palace, decorated like a vintage Hong Kong Victorian tea house, which is an inviting look. Sitting down again I realize how dehydrated I’m getting, so the first thing I order is the menu’s most ridiculous-looking drink. And juuuuuust as it’s arriving, dizziness kicks in -
Actually, the reason for that weird blurry photo is because I’d just been dive-bombed by a parakeet! Seriously.
Slowly it dawns on me, with pizzicatto strings playing on the soundtrack, that the Plaza Inn is absolutely
swarming with parakeets. They’re in the rafters, on the red lanterns, camouflaged in the patterned carpet, and everywhere devouring dim sum debris. Everyone else takes them in stride, guests and servers both. Chinese restaurants often feature birds in cages, so I wonder if they’re
encouraging the parakeets to swarm. Ultimately it’s a charming wrinkle to an otherwise-standard dim sum a-la cart meal (good quality for in-park grub, still incomparable to the Hong Kong street food).
This meal is perfectly timed, and I reach Adventureland’s Theater in the Wild just in time to be seated for “Festival of the Lion King.” This is a theater-in-the-round pageant retelling of
The Lion King, contextualized as a celebration in King Simba’s honor. They’re retelling him his own life story! (And really badmouthing his uncle.) All the animal costumes and props are imaginative and technically astounding, which is a common thread with all live
Lion King productions, from Broadway on down. I think Animal Kingdom has this same show.
As with “Wondrous Book,” what makes this bog-standard movie recap feel exciting and alive are those undefinable live performance tics. It’s the pulse from the audience, the joy of the players, and altogether it makes for a rousing and glorious show. Even the bilingual caveat, where Cantonese monkeys translate the English dialogue, barely slows it down. A majorly wonderful surprise, one of this park’s best offerings!
Afterwards, I’m pretty well recovered. Ready to tackle rides once again, I have two options: I can do all the assorted spinners and clones which already exist in Disneyland CA, for completionism’s sake, or I can just keep on riding Big Grizzly and Mystic Manor. I choose to just keep on riding Big Grizzly and Mystic Manor.
Wholly accurate model of Mystic Point in the queue
That actually sums up my final few hours in the park. Two rides on Mystic Manor, one on Big Grizzly, repeat
ad nauseum. Lines hovered at 5 minutes throughout, making this a cinch. No regrets! They’re the parks best, most unique rides, and the point of a visit. Mystic Manor especially grows on repeats, helped by different trackless routes for each car. My goodness, what a warmhearted and exceptional ride that one is!
So here at the end, how is Hong Kong Disneyland altogether? Does it exceed its reputation?
Yeah, sure. At least, it’s getting there. Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point are exceptional unique creations, and better still they exude a distinct personality (quaint, lighthearted, cartoonish) which I suspect will become Hong Kong Disneyland’s defining attribute as it evolves. It needs more stuff at that level, and one hopes that new mini-lands for
Frozen and Marvel, plus a rebuilt castle, will be just that. The live entertainment, which doesn’t rely upon scale or layout, is truly exceptional, a great way for tiny HKDL to earn its keep. Many of Hong Kong’s shows and parades have already migrated to Anaheim, to rapturous applause, so that’s a big point in this small park’s favor.
The opening day stuff pales in comparison. Main Street, Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland all need more content and distinct identities. I’ll leave it at that. The city of Hong Kong is great, if you’re nearby it’s absolutely worth seeing this park. It’s fun, it’s evolving, it’s ludicrously easy to tour.
It’s still light out once I find myself headed down Main Street for the exit. I’m slightly tempted to do a circle tour on the railroad, but choose against it. (A YouTube video watched that night confirms there’s little to it but a neat
Toy Story Martian gag.) I’d’ve stuck around had they been running the Paint the Night parade that evening – to date my favorite Disney parade ever. I eagerly anticipate its transfer to DCA. They weren’t though. The fireworks alone weren’t enough to keep me inside, since again I watched them from the hotel room. Besides, I gotta be up well before dawn tomorrow because the next destination is
TOKYO DISNEYSEA!!!
Up next: Day 6 – Park-Hopping from Hong Kong to Tokyo
– full of photographs, park observations, and hopefully advice for anyone who’s ever considered a trip to the other East Coast. It’ll be fun! 
