travelbug25
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2014
Hi All,
We're back from our first trip to HKDL. Thanks everyone for your advise while I was planning. I had read so many reviews about how small the park was and how it could be done in half a day but for our family (3yr and 5yr) it was perfect. We spent two days there from 10 - 6 each day and it was fantastic. I'm a big Disney fan and have been to all the parks multiple times but have put off going to HK due to all the negative reviews about the size and the queue cutting.
We caught a cab in from Causeway Bay at 8.30 and got to the Hollywood Hotel by 9.15. Check-in took a little while but they had a little section right next to the check in area with little couches and a TV with Disney cartoons on so the kids waited patiently there. We had booked a standard room but they said for an extra 250HKD they had a SeaView room ready right then so we decided to upgrade and got a chance to get our bags delivered before we left for the park. We took the shuttle in which got us to the gates just after 10.
The park wasn't really crowded at all which was my main concern. We were at the California resort the second week of Jan and it was packed. We started off at Tomorrow Land and walked onto Buzz AstroBlaster 3 times.
The Orbitron and Autopia had pretty long queues by the time we finished so we found out the English language showtimes for Stitch Encounter and went to Space Mountain. My husband and I took turn going in the Single Rider lane which again was walk on, did some quick shopping and pin trading and headed to Fantasy Land. As advised by others on the board, they were lots of cast members wearing lanyards and the kids had a great time looking at everyone's pins and came back with some really special HK Disney ones. Little Sister's favourite was a sparkly Jessie Pin that she traded for and Big Brother's favourite was a Mickey Jedi Pin. Even I got into the action and managed to trade for a really nice 8th Anniversary sparkly pin. We only got into pin trading this year and the pins here are definitely much nicer than in California.
I was prepared this time and made pinbags. We lost quite a few pins before when they were on lanyards so no tears this time around
We went on Its a Small World twice (walk on) and then picked up a Fastpass for Winnie the Pooh for after lunch. We ate at the Royal Banquet Hall. The food was nothing to write home about and service was really disappointing.There were really only 2-3 people in each queue but it was really slow moving. We ate at the Explorer's Club the next day which was much better both food quality and service.
After lunch it was time to get to Winnie the Pooh for our FastPass window. We waited about 10 mins but its a much nicer ride than Disney California, not as good as Tokyo but still a beautiful ride. The Golden Mickey show was closed unfortunately so we headed back to Tomorrow Land to catch the Stitch Encounter Show. The kids really enjoyed it although Little Sister was really disappointed that Stitch didn't see or comment on her t-shirt
We got out just in time to catch the parade that had just started and even though the first float was just passing where we were, we managed to get front row seats by just walking forward about 50m. None of the hassle of having to stake out a good spot hours in advance. Amazing!!
We headed to Adventure Land next and got on the Jungle Cruise. That was probably our longest wait for the day but still probably only 15 mins as they had different queues for different languages and the English boat had just left. The little twist at the end made this a unique HK experience and both my husband and I agreed that it was really well executed.
Next was Mystic Point but the wait time for Mystic Manor was 15 mins so we decided we would try again the next day and made our way to Grizzly Gulch. The Minecar ride was walk on and SUPER. My husband and I took turns taking Big Brother on and he loved it. He went on the ride 5 times over both days and it was his favourite.
It was around 6 by that time and the kids were pretty tired so we decided to head back to the hotel. We had dinner at Chef Mickey's which was pretty good and crashed.
Day Two started with a morning call at 7 since we had breakfast booked at the Enchanted Garden but by the time we got everyone ready, it was close to 8.15 and they told us they wouldn't let us stay past 9 as they would need to setup for the next breakfast session so we decided to cancel and eat at the park.
We got to the gates by 9.35 as I though MainStreet would open 30min before but were informed that MainStreet opened at the same time as the rest of the park at 10am.
Once we got in, we headed to Autopia and walked on. We went to Buzz AstroBlaster, Orbitron, Winnie the Pooh (FastPass), Mystic Manor twice, and Grizzly Gulch again that day and it was all walk on except for Winnie the Pooh.
We also caught the start of the parade while we were on the teacups ride (which we walked onto 3 times) and then when we finished the ride, ran over to the parade just as Stitch's float was passing by. We were really lucky as they stopped just then and we found a spot right up front again. (Both Little Sister and Big Brother adore Stitch). Just then, they invited Children to participate in the Dancing which is an Amazing! touch. The kids loved being part of the parade. The Stitch Float had hula dancers who did the Limbo with the kids. The Princess Float and Tink's float had the children out doing a Maypole dance I think? The last float was the Toy Story float and then they had CMs dressed up as Woody and Jessie holding a long gold rope where they invited little kids to hold onto and walk behind the last float. Little Sister ran to grab onto it as soon as it got to us and dragged Big Brother along. She had the biggest grin on her face the whole way and kept turning back to me to exclaim loudly "Mommy! We're IN the PARADE!!" Made their day!
Overall, it was a really nice experience and we decided to upgrade to the Magic Access membership and try and head back again in October. I'm really happy we made the trip and that I can now say I've been to every park and love them all!
We're back from our first trip to HKDL. Thanks everyone for your advise while I was planning. I had read so many reviews about how small the park was and how it could be done in half a day but for our family (3yr and 5yr) it was perfect. We spent two days there from 10 - 6 each day and it was fantastic. I'm a big Disney fan and have been to all the parks multiple times but have put off going to HK due to all the negative reviews about the size and the queue cutting.
We caught a cab in from Causeway Bay at 8.30 and got to the Hollywood Hotel by 9.15. Check-in took a little while but they had a little section right next to the check in area with little couches and a TV with Disney cartoons on so the kids waited patiently there. We had booked a standard room but they said for an extra 250HKD they had a SeaView room ready right then so we decided to upgrade and got a chance to get our bags delivered before we left for the park. We took the shuttle in which got us to the gates just after 10.
The park wasn't really crowded at all which was my main concern. We were at the California resort the second week of Jan and it was packed. We started off at Tomorrow Land and walked onto Buzz AstroBlaster 3 times.
The Orbitron and Autopia had pretty long queues by the time we finished so we found out the English language showtimes for Stitch Encounter and went to Space Mountain. My husband and I took turn going in the Single Rider lane which again was walk on, did some quick shopping and pin trading and headed to Fantasy Land. As advised by others on the board, they were lots of cast members wearing lanyards and the kids had a great time looking at everyone's pins and came back with some really special HK Disney ones. Little Sister's favourite was a sparkly Jessie Pin that she traded for and Big Brother's favourite was a Mickey Jedi Pin. Even I got into the action and managed to trade for a really nice 8th Anniversary sparkly pin. We only got into pin trading this year and the pins here are definitely much nicer than in California.
I was prepared this time and made pinbags. We lost quite a few pins before when they were on lanyards so no tears this time around
We went on Its a Small World twice (walk on) and then picked up a Fastpass for Winnie the Pooh for after lunch. We ate at the Royal Banquet Hall. The food was nothing to write home about and service was really disappointing.There were really only 2-3 people in each queue but it was really slow moving. We ate at the Explorer's Club the next day which was much better both food quality and service.
After lunch it was time to get to Winnie the Pooh for our FastPass window. We waited about 10 mins but its a much nicer ride than Disney California, not as good as Tokyo but still a beautiful ride. The Golden Mickey show was closed unfortunately so we headed back to Tomorrow Land to catch the Stitch Encounter Show. The kids really enjoyed it although Little Sister was really disappointed that Stitch didn't see or comment on her t-shirt
We got out just in time to catch the parade that had just started and even though the first float was just passing where we were, we managed to get front row seats by just walking forward about 50m. None of the hassle of having to stake out a good spot hours in advance. Amazing!!
We headed to Adventure Land next and got on the Jungle Cruise. That was probably our longest wait for the day but still probably only 15 mins as they had different queues for different languages and the English boat had just left. The little twist at the end made this a unique HK experience and both my husband and I agreed that it was really well executed.
Next was Mystic Point but the wait time for Mystic Manor was 15 mins so we decided we would try again the next day and made our way to Grizzly Gulch. The Minecar ride was walk on and SUPER. My husband and I took turns taking Big Brother on and he loved it. He went on the ride 5 times over both days and it was his favourite.
It was around 6 by that time and the kids were pretty tired so we decided to head back to the hotel. We had dinner at Chef Mickey's which was pretty good and crashed.
Day Two started with a morning call at 7 since we had breakfast booked at the Enchanted Garden but by the time we got everyone ready, it was close to 8.15 and they told us they wouldn't let us stay past 9 as they would need to setup for the next breakfast session so we decided to cancel and eat at the park.
We got to the gates by 9.35 as I though MainStreet would open 30min before but were informed that MainStreet opened at the same time as the rest of the park at 10am.
Once we got in, we headed to Autopia and walked on. We went to Buzz AstroBlaster, Orbitron, Winnie the Pooh (FastPass), Mystic Manor twice, and Grizzly Gulch again that day and it was all walk on except for Winnie the Pooh.
We also caught the start of the parade while we were on the teacups ride (which we walked onto 3 times) and then when we finished the ride, ran over to the parade just as Stitch's float was passing by. We were really lucky as they stopped just then and we found a spot right up front again. (Both Little Sister and Big Brother adore Stitch). Just then, they invited Children to participate in the Dancing which is an Amazing! touch. The kids loved being part of the parade. The Stitch Float had hula dancers who did the Limbo with the kids. The Princess Float and Tink's float had the children out doing a Maypole dance I think? The last float was the Toy Story float and then they had CMs dressed up as Woody and Jessie holding a long gold rope where they invited little kids to hold onto and walk behind the last float. Little Sister ran to grab onto it as soon as it got to us and dragged Big Brother along. She had the biggest grin on her face the whole way and kept turning back to me to exclaim loudly "Mommy! We're IN the PARADE!!" Made their day!
Overall, it was a really nice experience and we decided to upgrade to the Magic Access membership and try and head back again in October. I'm really happy we made the trip and that I can now say I've been to every park and love them all!
