DIS Exclusive China 2017

[Cousin Orville]

{Please note this trip report may contain spoilers, especially towards the end of the trip in Shanghai}

I’m going to try to do an edited down “mini” trip report of our recent DIS exclusive China ABD. This was a very special ABD that was custom designed by Kevin Klose at Dreams Unlimited Travel. The idea was to create a unique ABD that focused on Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland. John Magi of Dreams Unlimited also created an organized add-on to Tokyo (although it was not with ABD). We were unable to go to Tokyo due to time limitations and wanting a few extra days in Hong Kong. So, I can’t comment on that portion. Most of our group did go to Tokyo though.



I’ve been on the original China ABD in 2014, so I think I can compare them pretty well. It was a fabulous ABD. Even though most of the days in Hong Kong and Shanghai were customized for this trip, the guides did a great job executing the adventure. You never would have known it wasn’t a routine Adventure.



It was a 12 day Adventure split up evenly between HK, Beijing, and Shanghai. We stayed at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, the Beijing Rosewood, and the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel. For the days dedicated to the parks, we had VIP guided tours, Imagineer tours, and a number of special experiences. There were 4 days that were somewhat similar to my original China ABD trip. The day trip in Hong Kong up Victoria peak, the day trip in Shanghai to the Yu Gardens, the trip to the Great Wall, and the trip to the Forbidden City were similar. But even amongst those days, there were a lot of differences. There really wasn’t much overlap. The rest of the days were unique to this ABD. There was a concern in developing this ABD that there might not be enough “China” in this ABD. Having done both, I disagree. While it omits sites in Chengdu, Xian and Guilin, the extra time spent around the parks and the city of HK/Shanghai allowed for more personal interaction with the people of China. We certainly got an appreciation of the Chinese people at play. Shanghai Disneyland in particular has a tag line of Authentically Disney, Distinctly Chinese for a reason. We saw their love and enthusiasm for all things Disney. We also saw their uniquely competitive spirit and lack of a concern for personal space.



It was a great trip, a great ABD. I loved China the first time, and when I had the opportunity to return with my wife Kate and see Shanghai DL and show her the Great Wall and HK, I knew I wanted to jump at the opportunity. And I’m glad we did. We had a great time. The parks were fabulous. The weather really couldn’t have been better. HK was still hot, but not as brutal as it was when I first went. Autumn brought the changing colors around the Great Wall. It was just a beautiful trip.



I don’t really think I can create another extensive trip report so soon after Africa, but certainly if anyone has any questions let me know. For now I’ll just break it up into Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai rather than individual days.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Hong Kong



We arrived in Hong Kong 2 nights prior to the ABD and stayed at the Peninsula. We organized a pickup from the airport and it was spectacular. The was a rep from the hotel waiting at the jetway to cart us off to passport control, and then baggage, and then to the car. It was wonderful and extremely quick. We got to ride in one of the hotel’s green Rolls Royces. It was about twice the cost of a regular town car service from the airport. I didn’t think that was bad. I’m a James Bond fan, and in the movie Man with the Golden Gun there are some scenes that take place at the Peninsula and their green Rolls Royces. So, I thought that was cool.



When we arrived we were upgraded to a corner suite. It was jaw droppingly awesome. I’ve never gotten an upgrade like this before. I guess because we were only staying 2 nights and maybe booking the car helped.

The Peng Lai suite…. I highly recommend it when you’re in town



Now more my speed, dim sum at Tim Ho Wan. This place is seriously good. We took a taxi here and metro back. It is a Michelin starred hole in the wall. Their baked pork buns had a little granulated sugar on top to give them a sweet taste. Probably the best thing I tasted on the entire trip.



This is glutinous rice - a very stick somewhat sweet rice. It was steamed in a lotus leaf and very good.

Below Kate’s left hand is the glorious baked pork bun. Seriously worth finding this place.

Kind of a goofy picture of me, but here’s the outside of Tim Ho Wan, if you’re looking for it.

We walked around, went shopping, and returned for an early dinner. Believe it or not, we didn’t eat much at Tim Ho Wan for lunch - our entire bill was $14 US. We ate dinner at the Spring Moon (I think that’s the name) - the hotel's Cantonese restaurant. It was a cool restaurant designed to look like a 1920’s tea house. It looked straight out of Kill Bill. Had the Peking Duck. The first of many. A little pretentious as they wrapped each little taco for you, but only one at a time. So, I’d finish mine in 2 bites and then search around for the guy to make me another.

We made it up in time to watch the laser show from our room. Killer view!

 

[OKW Lover]

Looking forward to following your report Kevin!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Looking forward to following your report Kevin!

Thanks!

 

[Cousin Orville]

The next morning we took the crystal bottom gondola up to the Big Buddha. This was impressive to see, but the slightly cooler weather in the morning helped. Otherwise, the sun could get oppressive. Go first thing in the morning and prebook your tickets if possible. The lines can get really long.

The Buddha is a part of the Po Lin Monastery.

We got back in time for lunch. Since we had such a scenic suite, Kate suggested we order dim sum room service. It was very tasty.



]

We rested, and later that night we had a Night Tour of Hong Kong booked. It took us around the grittier side of HK. They discussed organized crime in HK and adult entertainment which apparently is illegal but prevalent. The websites that direct customers is said to be bigger than eBay in HK. I can’t strongly recommend this tour, but it was interesting. The next day we booked a food tour through the same company, Hello Hong Kong. I would strongly recommend the food tour. It was a lot of fun and we had great Hong Kong foods at multiple restaurants. For now the night tour…



HK has some pretty cool metro stations and tile work… time for silly posed photos.

We went by the Gold Fish Market… there was also an area for pet stores selling dogs… then cats… then rabbits…

Tea with our guide behind Kate.

It was a fun tour. I think I just liked the food tour better.

 

[Cousin Orville]

The next morning we relaxed a bit in the morning. I watched Father of the Bride on Hong Kong TCM. Spence is getting the final numbers for the reception.

We said goodbye to the beautiful Peninsula and went out on our food tour.

Took the Star Ferry to HK Island.

HK Island is even more dense than the Kowloon side.

We started out with Dim Sum.

Wonton soup was next. Great soup with shrimp wontons in it. Kate had the beef soup. So good..

An iced milk tea for a snack…

And roast pork at an incredibly small and ridiculously popular restaurant. No room for food pics, but it was great.

The famous HK egg tart for dessert.

After the food tour we searched out the longest outdoor escalator in the world. It’s really more of a moving walkway. I wanted to ride the entire way uphill, but in their brilliance, they elected not to design a walkway coming back down. Yes, it only goes one way. So, I rode a small segment and called it a day.

From here we headed down to HKDL where I met up with the rest of the group from Tokyo. I’ll break here for now.

 

[distravel]

Thanks for taking the time to do this trip report. We considered going on this version of the ABD China trip but decided to go with the standard ABD because we didn't want to miss Xian, Chengdu and Guilin as this was probably going to be our only trip to China. I look forward to seeing the differences with your trip. It sounds like great fun with all the VIP Disney theme park time. Congratulations on your spacious room upgrade.

 

[CaliKris]

We loved the HK Peninsula! That view is spectacular and how fun to get to ride in one of their Rolls. Hong Kong is really beautiful with the contrast between the green lush mountains, blue sea and skyscrapers. Your food tour and dinner at Tim Ho Wan look amazingly delicious. I don't think I could ever get tired of dumplings. Looks like you had great weather at the Big Buddha and it looks much less crowded than when we were there in June.

Thanks for writing yet another trip report so soon after South Africa. I am interested to read the different between the DIS trip and the regular ABD.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Welcome back! Thank you so much for taking the time to do a follow up mini report. I've been really anxious to hear about this trip and how it compared to your original trip (and the one we just did). That room is incredible, and what a fun way to start the trip with a green rolls Royce limo ride a la James Bond-- wish I thought of that!

 

[CaptainCook]

Thanks so much for writing this - we are taking a family trip to China and Hong Kong (independently - not through a tour operator) next year, with time at each of the Disney Parks - so I appreciate the info you've shared so far and am also looking forward to hearing more about your park experiences.

(I've enjoyed reading several of your past trip reports over the last few weeks, too.)

 

[Cousin Orville]

Thanks for taking the time to do this trip report. We considered going on this version of the ABD China trip but decided to go with the standard ABD because we didn't want to miss Xian, Chengdu and Guilin as this was probably going to be our only trip to China. I look forward to seeing the differences with your trip. It sounds like great fun with all the VIP Disney theme park time. Congratulations on your spacious room upgrade.

I loved Guilin. Still one of my favorite parts of China. For me and Kate, that was the biggest compromise for more time in Shanghai and HK. But yes, the VIP treatment in the Parks was a lot of fun and very helpful.

We loved the HK Peninsula! That view is spectacular and how fun to get to ride in one of their Rolls. Hong Kong is really beautiful with the contrast between the green lush mountains, blue sea and skyscrapers. Your food tour and dinner at Tim Ho Wan look amazingly delicious. I don't think I could ever get tired of dumplings. Looks like you had great weather at the Big Buddha and it looks much less crowded than when we were there in June.

Thanks for writing yet another trip report so soon after South Africa. I am interested to read the different between the DIS trip and the regular ABD.

Hong Kong really is special. I'm thankful we had more time this trip. I feel we got to see a lot of the city. It's been a bucket list item to stay at the Peninsula, not knowing when I'd ever be back I figured might as well go all out with the Rolls. I really glad we did, because I don't think we would have been chosen for the upgrade otherwise. Just a gut feeling.

Welcome back! Thank you so much for taking the time to do a follow up mini report. I've been really anxious to hear about this trip and how it compared to your original trip (and the one we just did). That room is incredible, and what a fun way to start the trip with a green rolls Royce limo ride a la James Bond-- wish I thought of that!

.

Thanks! Yes, I still miss kicking back and watching TCM in that suite. It was like my own little HK apartment.

And here's a picture of the car. It was a fun treat.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Thanks so much for writing this - we are taking a family trip to China and Hong Kong (independently - not through a tour operator) next year, with time at each of the Disney Parks - so I appreciate the info you've shared so far and am also looking forward to hearing more about your park experiences.

(I've enjoyed reading several of your past trip reports over the last few weeks, too.)

Cool! I know you'll have a wonderful time. Certainly if you have any questions about the parks or anything feel free to ask.

 

[Cousin Orville]

A few more nighttime HK pics:

 

[EllinK]

I have been checking back to see if you would post about this trip so soon after doing a report about Africa. Thanks for taking it on. This is so exciting for us home gamers! I love your photos from the Peninsula. We honeymooned there and had a very nice room but your's was amazing!

 

[Sarabi's Cubs]

Wow! That suite is amazing! The Big Buddha is one of the things I regret not making time for in Hong Kong.

Laurie

 

[Cousin Orville]

At HKDL we met up with our guides Christian and Daisy. Christian actually guided me and my son on our 2014 China ABD. He was a wonderful guide then, and it was like catching up with an old friend. Daisy, I had heard a lot about, and she too was fabulous. Mama Tiger and Papa Panda as they became known. We also met some of our fellow guests. Some of which I knew from previous trips and many who were new to Kate and me. We quickly formed a great ABD family.



Daisy and Kate

After dinner we joined up with our new ABD family for drinks in the lobby. No lounges or bars to be found at the HKDL Hotel, but we made our own. Thankfully Walt’s Cafe next to the lobby started serving drinks a couple of weeks prior to the trip. Love the little Mickey touches…

The next morning at breakfast we got some bad news. HKDL was closed due to an incoming Cat 8 Typhoon. This was very surprising as the weather outside looked great. In fact it never got worse than a strong breeze, but apparently it was much worse in other parts of Hong Kong. As all the cast members commute from the city, the Park had to close down. Understandable. It actually ended up being a fun relaxing day.



We watched Goofy do his morning Tai Chi class in the Lobby. Then a group of us went over to tour the other hotels. The newest is the Disney Explorer’s Lodge. Very similar to Animal Kingdom Lodge on a smaller scale with a little bit of Aulani thrown in. Next door to that was the Hollywood Hotel with its art deco style. The Explorer’s Lodge was actually my favorite of the 3 hotels at least in terms of the lobby and overall theme.

Because of the Typhoon, ABD provided us lunch at Walt’s Cafe and later dinner at the Crystal Lotus, both in the HKDL Hotel. Lunch was good. Crystal Lotus for dinner was just ok in terms of Cantonese food. But one thing they are famous for was their Disney dim sum shaped like characters. Just about our entire group had a reservation (not through ABD) for lunch tomorrow to have dim sum. Unfortunately with our day cut short, we all decided to cancel that reservation. Daisy and Christian were aware of this and went above and beyond and persuaded the Crystal Lotus to serve our dim sum for dinner. They normally do NOT serve dim sum for dinner. I had originally made the reservation for ~30 people. So, I was somewhat aware of the incredible hoops the guides had to jump through to persuade the Crystal Lotus to offer the dim sum as an additional course for dinner that night. We all really appreciated it. And while the dim sum was not the tastiest (too much breading and not enough filler) it was SUPER cute and honestly was the best thing we had for dinner that night.


Green Aliens - vegetable and pork.

3 Little Pigs- barbecue pork

Jack Skellington - shrimp dumplings

The next morning we started off by entering the park an hour early. Always a blast to do that with ABD! We were taken around pretty much the entire park by an imagineer who is responsible for maintaining quality and the original intent of the imagineers. It was fascinating. We were given a few hours of OYO time for lunch and more of the attractions. In the afternoon we had a VIP tour of the park and were walked onto everything. Favorites included Mystic Manor, the recently opened Iron Man experience (a Star Tours like simulator attraction), and the show Mickey and the Wondrous Book. At the end of the VIP tour we were taken on a pop-up attraction just open for Halloween. I forget the exact name of it, but basically it's a walk through haunted house-like experience with familiar Disney stories turned into nightmares. It was the oddest thing I’ve ever seen in a park. Zero chance of ever seeing anything like it in the domestic parks. And it was extremely popular with the locals. Easily the longest lines in the Park.

The Iron Man Experience is cool, because the storyline has you being a guest at HKDL and it takes off from the park and eventually returns to the park. At one point Iron Man needs to come in and save the day… Where is he? In a meet and greet of course. So, you see his meet and greet get interrupted as he takes off from HKDL as well. Very well themed.

Here’s the pop up attraction:

You really need 1-1.5 days to appreciate this park. The one downside to the regular China ABD is very limited time in HKDL. I’ve mentioned it in my previous review. There’s really nothing ABD can do because it’s already such a busy trip. My recommendation is add 1-2 days extra for HK. 1 day for the park and if possible 1 day for the city.



HKDL often gets dismissed as being the smallest of the Magic Kingdoms parks or not having enough detail. I really think it’s a lovely Park. It doesn’t require the amount of time or energy that Shanghai does. But it’s honestly a more relaxing park. Lines are never long. It has 2 of the greatest attractions in any Park - Mystic Manor and Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. The biggest downside is the heat. Even in October it was hot. Apparently the Typhoon cooled the area down some, but it was still hot in the middle of the day. I think this park would be best visited in the winter.

 

[tink1970]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up, especially on the heels of your S. Africa trip report.
The suite at the Peninsula and Rolls Royce look awesome

 

[Cousin Orville]

Our last full day in HK was similar to the regular ABD. Even the step on guide, Bruce, was the same from my previous trip. We went to Stanley Market. It’s ok. I’m not a huge fan of Asian markets, but this is better than many. We opted to walk by the waterfront over to a nearby temple which was nice. Then Kate and I walked around the market a bit.

Afterwards is the trip up to Victoria Peak. We were at a different overlook due to construction, so that was nice, but the view was just as beautiful and not as hot. Lunch was the same. I even had the same dish which I enjoyed a lot. We took the Ferry back over and this time took some pictures by Victoria Harbor on the Kowloon Side. That as cool. We didn’t do that last time. It was either too hot last time, or maybe it’s a recent addition. It was nice enjoy the waterfront.

Christian on the tram ride down the mountain giving his best Matrix impression.

We headed back on the bus to HKDL. Originally many of us were going to go back into HK that night, but because of the Typhoon knocking out of day at the park, everyone decided to head back into HKDL. The weather was cooler that evening which helped. We watched the Halloween Parade which had great floats but there were only 3 of them. It was a very short parade!

Afterwards we took the bus to the Adventurer’s Lodge for dinner at World of Color Cafe. It wasn’t as colorful as one might think, but the pizzas and beer were very good.

We stopped by a bakery at Adventurer’s Lodge which made the most amazing desserts. By the time they made it back to the room they weren’t quite as impressive, but still cool.

 

[RebelHawk]

Thanks for taking the time to post this TR. My wife and I actually were able to book this trip through Kevin when it was announced but our friends we were going with weren't quick enough. They ended up as number 19 on the waiting list so my wife and I gave up our spots. Just curious if anyone mentioned getting booked from being on the waiting list as they got our two spots. =)

 

[Cousin Orville]

Thanks for taking the time to post this TR. My wife and I actually were able to book this trip through Kevin when it was announced but our friends we were going with weren't quick enough. They ended up as number 19 on the waiting list so my wife and I gave up our spots. Just curious if anyone mentioned getting booked from being on the waiting list as they got our two spots. =)

Interesting. I don't recall who that might have been. I'm sure they were excited though!