Article begins after this quick word about where to buy Hong Kong Disneyland tickets…

Where to buy Hong Kong Disneyland tickets

There are often problems using international credit cards to pay for theme park tickets overseas. The way around this for most Australians and other international tourists is by using third party sellers. I partner with Klook who are official Hong Kong Disneyland ticket sellers.

Buy your Hong Kong Disneyland tickets online at Klook here

You can also get up to 10% off many Hong Kong attractions on Klook by using my exclusive discount code at checkout:

LETSGOMUMKLOOK at Klook 

Klook conditions: $50 min spend, $50 max discount, 5 times use. Klook new customers can get 10% off and existing customers get 3% off. Klook exclusions list here. 

This page may contain affiliate links. If you book a stay or an attraction through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for your support!

Hong Kong Disneyland two day visit

Hi everyone! We just had two amazing days at HK Disney (May 2024). I learned so much from this group for planning etc I thought I would share my experiences travelling with our 4 year old and me, 5 months pregnant. Obviously we couldn’t do a lot of the “thrill” rides but we still had heaps to do and a great time!

Hong Kong Disneyland Day 1 Itinerary

As I was travelling to HK for work reasons (not solely for Disney) we only had two full days to visit, Saturday the day we arrived and a Tuesday. Regarding booking tickets check the website for deals! After I booked our two day pass I saw a deal which was two day pass for 30% off for tourists entry before July 24 – doh! So sometimes it pays not to book so in advance too. Also if you login to my Disney Hk before booking tickets you can get a few extra things like a free gift (we got Mickey Mouse ears) and discount vouchers you can use on food and merchandise.

Hong Kong Disneyland Early Entry

We had early entry for the Saturday but our flight was delayed and so we got only an extra half hour. But it was still worth it and we walked straight in to the park past all the queues and then the people waiting at Main Street to get in to the other lands. Also we got photos in front on the castle and in Frozen world with no one else in them! We did Pooh’s honeypot ride and husband and daughter did frozen ever after in this time.

Frozen Ever After ride spoiler!

Btw if you’re pregnant you sadly can’t ride frozen ever after. Also there’s a part where marshmallow jumps out and this did scare my daughter who is a bit sensitive but she eventually got over this because she went back and rode it again!

Things to do during rainy weather

The first day the weather was sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy and absolutely pouring at others and quite humid. If it’s forecast to rain make sure you come prepared. Bring spare socks if you can if you don’t have gumboots or some other rain cover for your feet! Little portable fans are good too. We used umbrellas and raincoats and benefit was also that we didn’t have to wait long for anything as even on a Saturday it wasn’t that busy! When it was pouring we did the indoor shows like Mickey’s wondrous book (this is so good! We loved it so much we watched it twice! Sit on the right hand side of the stage for the English subtitles), Playhouse in the woods (also great, a really intimate experience – if you have a die hard frozen fan they will love it) and Mickey’s philharmagic (a 3D movie experience).

Reserving Playhouse In The Woods

With Playhouse in the Woods I had no trouble reserving standby passes for this on both days we went (yes we went twice as well ). When you enter the park there is a countdown of 30mins that tells you when you can reserve them. Don’t need to purchase in advance. If you are doing it on your phone make sure someone else has a copy of the QR codes of your tickets to scan them otherwise you can enter the ticket numbers manually or via copy and paste, which is a pain but doable. When I was booking there were 400 other people also trying to book but I could still get in to book within 5minutes. I think there are heaps of shows because it runs all day until 7.30pm every 15minutes!

Hiring a stroller at Hong Kong Disneyland

On the first day we covered mostly fantasyland, Toy Story land and frozen world. We took our time as my daughter walks very slowly lol. We hired a pram for her with a rain cover from the fire station which is on the left hand side just after you enter. The $200hkd for the deposit is the only thing we needed cash for in the whole park. You can pay for everything else with credit card. You have to pay extra for the rain cover ($150hkd I think). We definitely needed the pram as we walked 20,000 steps a full day at Disney! There is designated stroller parking at each attraction. It reclines but not fully but my daughter could still nap in it. The shade cover doesn’t go all the way down though so if your little one needs dark to sleep bring a muslin cloth or something to go on top.

We couldn’t last till Momentous for the first day as my daughter was so tired so we left the park around 5pm.

Rides I could do pregnant at Hong Kong Disney

Here are the rides I could do pregnant:

-pooh bear honeypot (we ended up doing this 3 times as my daughter loves pooh!)

– dumbo

– cinderellas carousel

– small world

– jungle river cruise

– mystic manor

– ant man and the wasp

– slinky dog spin

– Orbitron

Hong Kong Disneyland ride waiting times

With the times that we did these the most we waited was around 10mins and some we just walked on to. Dumbo, frozen and Toy Story rides got busier later in the day, up to 30mins.

Disneyland rides I couldn’t do whilst pregnant

Unfortunately in addition to the roller coasters I also couldn’t do the iron man experience. The app details the ride restrictions as well.

Hong Kong Disneyland Day 2 Itinerary

The second day we covered Tomorrowland, mystic point and Adventureland. As well as back to all my daughter’s favourites from the first day.

Fairy tale forest is a cute garden walk through with all the princesses in miniature forms in interactive dioramas. Also there is a cute photo opportunity in the pixie flower garden in there.

We also saw the parade which is fun but super short. I wouldn’t stake out a spot in advance we could still see everything rocking up just on 5.30pm when it started. We also managed to get to Mickey and wondrous book at 5.45pm which gives you an idea how short it is (basically all the characters are on a single train).

No need to reserve the VIP area for the Duffy Show

There was a Duffy show in front of the castle. Definitely do not need to reserve the vip area as there were plenty of spots to sit and watch. Also my daughter doesn’t really know the characters although they are cute. The longest wait times we saw was for meet and greet Duffy characters (up to 90mins!). Fortunately we could skip those.

Hong Kong Momentous night show tips

The second day there was no rain! Yay! We also stayed until momentous which was definitely a high light and my daughter is still talking about it. We didn’t reserve any spots and still had a great view further back from the castle. Everyone was sitting down about 30mins before and then stood up just before it started. You have to return the pram before 9pm though so be aware of this! My daughter sat on hubby’s shoulders and could see everything.

Character meet and greets

Mickey, Pluto & Chip and Dale meet and greets

– when you first walk in you can line up to see Mickey at the pavilion before Main Street. This was quite busy though so we skipped this.

– there is another meet and greet stop around the corner at the end of Main Street. It’s a bit tucked out of the way and no queue! We met Pluto and Chip and Dale there.

Princess meet and greets

– my daughter is a huge princess fan so we queued at the castle for the meet and greet. This was probably the longest thing we waited for on day one (just over 30mins). We met Cinderella day one and Snow White day two. The princess’s change over at random. We also saw Ariel and Pocahontas there leaving and entering at the changeover.

If you don’t want to queue too long I suggest you go at 10.30am. This was a lovely experience for my daughter as the princesses were really in character and took the time to have a chat and interact rather than just a quick snap and go.

Hong Kong Disneyland photography

The cast members will take your phone and take pictures for you and there’s also a professional photographer and they give you a card with a QR code if you want to purchase photos.

Jessie and Buzz Lightyear meet and greet

– in toy story land there is a blue barrel where you can take pictures with characters. We saw Jessie and Buzz lightyear.

Antman and Iron Man meet and greets

– in Tomorrowland some characters come up on stage that you can line up to meet, we saw Antman. There was an iron man meet and greet from 3.30-5pm. Queue was too long and daughter not a huge marvel fan (although hubby is!) so we skipped.

We watched the marvel super hero show and at the end the characters walk off the stage through the crowd to the right. My daughter was in front and got to high five Ironman and Thor so good enough I think

Anna and Elsa at Frozen World meet and greet

– in Frozen world we had the good luck to meet Anna on day one and Elsa on day two! Definitely a highlight for my daughter. I think this is just a random time they come out and walk around. We also saw musicians and magicians perform at Frozen world which adds to the lovely ambience.

The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is expensive

Just a note on bibbidi bobbidi boutique – I was really considering this as my daughter would love it but in the end I couldn’t justify the expense (and the time). So in the end I just brought two of her princess dresses from home. Same effect I think without the hair and make up and we still got cute photos.

Hong Kong Disneyland Food

– quite expensive for what it was but to be expected I guess

– we enjoyed the iron man burger and fried chicken at the diner in Tomorrowland

– the Olaf snow cone was cute in frozen world

– we had no problem bringing in snacks, they checked my daughters lunchbox at the entrance (I had to open it up). I packed fruit, crackers, biscuits, onigiri and drinks.

Using Octopus MTR

We stayed in Tsim sha tsui as this was organised by my work. We used octopus to get around on the mtr it was so easy. We had to change to three trains but it took about 30mins. It was busy exiting after momentous but it went smoothly and everyone was very polite. My daughter and I were offered seats on the train even though they were packed.

Anyway this has turned out to be so long, but hopefully useful info! We really had a great time, compared to my previous Disney experiences in the US and Japan. It might be the magic of seeing things through my child’s eyes for the first time or the fact that we didn’t spend half the day queuing for things. Hope you all have wonderful trips!

Written and photos supplied by Hong Kong Disneyland holiday planning group member Joy Tu

For more information on Hong Kong Disneyland you can go to the official website here.

The post Hong Kong Disneyland rides I rode while pregnant appeared first on Holidayplanning.com.au.

Article begins after this quick word about where to buy Hong Kong Disneyland tickets…

Where to buy Hong Kong Disneyland tickets

There are often problems using international credit cards to pay for theme park tickets overseas. The way around this for most Australians and other international tourists is by using third party sellers. I partner with Klook who are official Hong Kong Disneyland ticket sellers.

Buy your Hong Kong Disneyland tickets online at Klook here

You can also get up to 10% off many Hong Kong attractions on Klook by using my exclusive discount code at checkout:

LETSGOMUMKLOOK at Klook 

Klook conditions: $50 min spend, $50 max discount, 5 times use. Klook new customers can get 10% off and existing customers get 3% off. Klook exclusions list here. 

This page may contain affiliate links. If you book a stay or an attraction through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for your support!

I just came back from Hong Kong. Since this group helped me a lot, I wanted to share a few things in return. I’m happy to answer questions if you have any. FYI, I stayed at Hong Kong Disneyland from Friday to Sunday.

Can I get Gluten Free food at Hong Kong Disney?

Yes. I’m allergic to wheat, but all the cast members I talked to didn’t know about wheat allergies, so I just had to say gluten-free. Crystal Lotus (a restaurant at the Disneyland Hotel where they serve character dim sum) has gluten-free items. One page of the menu listed all gluten-free foods.

Our server, Eric, from Enchanted Garden (character dining at the Disneyland Hotel), was amazing! While he suggested that the chef would cook fried rice for me, I wanted to stick with the buffet if that was possible (I’m fine as long as I don’t take wheat itself). He and the chef patiently let me know each item that was safe for me. There were a good number of options. They also brought grilled wagyu and lamb. I brought gluten-free soy sauce with me, so I ate sashimi as well. They don’t have many options for gluten-free desserts, but I had fruit and soft-served ice cream.

Hong Kong Disneyland Corner Cafe:

I was able to order steak, but they offered rice instead of fries because of the cross-contamination. I can usually handle the shared fryer as long as the fries themselves are not coated with wheat, so I asked for the fries. The regular (non-GF) salad had Mickey’s hand-shaped bread, but they gave me Mickey-shaped some kind of veggie instead. It was really lovely for the chef to do so, as us Gluten Free folks usually don’t get any cute character-shaped stuff. Servers here kept checking if I was doing okay, and they were very flexible!

Extra HK Disneyland tips:

Package express:

Whenever you buy something at the park, if you don’t wish to keep carrying it around, you can tell the cashier that you want to use package express. If you stay at a Disney resort, they can bring the items you purchased to the information desk at the hotel where you are staying, and you can receive them after 8 p.m. If you don’t stay on the Disney property, it seems like you can still get the items later around the gate so that you don’t have to keep charring stuff. This was the best service we used!

Tai Chi:

Hong Kong Disneyland has a character Tai Chi thing in the morning. On weekends, they have it twice, from 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. (same character per day), but I believe they only have it once on weekdays. Only the first 20 groups who queued can join Tai Chi and take pictures with the character. Those who couldn’t be in line can still see the event but cannot take pictures with the character. The cast member told me that I should be fine if I am in the queue at around 8:45 a.m. for the 9 a.m. one. But I really didn’t want to miss it, so I went there at 8 a.m., and I was the third group in the line. If this is important to you, going there at 8:45 a.m. is risky.

Hong Kong Disneyland Early Entry:

As everyone says, if you have this, you can finish the frozen area before it gets crowded. Be aware that only a few areas are open during this time. However, if you get closer to the ride or area you want to be just before the park opens to the public, you get to line up a lot earlier than most people.

Disney Premier Access – “Momentous”, 8 Attractions and 2 Shows:

This was the best thing we decided to have! You don’t really need a fast pass for rides, but priority entry for “Mickey and the Wondrous Book” and “Momentous” castle show with designated viewing area were amazing! It seems like you can start queueing for “Mickey and the Wondrous Book” 50 minutes before the show starts, and that’s when I queued. I was the third group in the line, but I was still able to see the show in the front row seats in the middle! I queued for the Momentous 1 hour before, and I was also able to see this show at the front row seats in the middle, and it was insanely good!

I hope this is helpful!

Written and photos supplied by Hong Kong Disneyland holiday planning group member Rina Okada

For more information on Hong Kong Disneyland you can go to the official website here.

The post Hong Kong Disneyland Gluten Free & Momentous tips appeared first on Holidayplanning.com.au.

Article begins after this quick word about where to buy Hong Kong Disneyland tickets…

Where to buy Hong Kong Disneyland tickets

There are often problems using international credit cards to pay for theme park tickets overseas. The way around this for most Australians and other international tourists is by using third party sellers. I partner with Klook who are official Hong Kong Disneyland ticket sellers.

Buy your Hong Kong Disneyland tickets online at Klook here

You can also get up to 10% off many Hong Kong attractions on Klook by using my exclusive discount code at checkout:

LETSGOMUMKLOOK at Klook 

Klook conditions: $50 min spend, $50 max discount, 5 times use. Klook new customers can get 10% off and existing customers get 3% off. Klook exclusions list here. 

This page may contain affiliate links. If you book a stay or an attraction through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for your support!

Hello! Mum and son from Australia I posted in the Shanghai Facebook Group too, as we are here at the moment. We also did Hong Kong Disney earlier in the week

What is Disney’s Explorers Lodge hotel like?

1. We stayed at Disney’s Explorers Lodge. We have been there before and loved it. The aircon and scent is Divine! The shuttle bus is so good and the restaurants were fabulous! Highly recommend

How do I get to Hong Kong Disneyland from the Airport?

2. We booked a shuttle from the airport to Explorers through Klook for $50 aud , but I cancelled the return and just got a cab for $25 aud! The cab was easy and took 20 min to the airport.

Does Hong Kong Disneyland have Early Entry?

3. We got the early entry which was good for Frozen, as you could explore with limited people. Frozen is stunning and make sure you save time to just absorb!

4. We did 3 days in the park and walked about 17km a day!

What is the weather like in April (Spring) at Hong Kong Disneyland?

5. It was so hot and humid – be prepared to buy a lot of drinks

Do people speak English at Hong Kong Disneyland?

6. Most people spoke English and they used Apple Pay with no issues (they don’t use it here in China)

Do you need cash in Hong Kong?

7. We only needed cash for taxis

What are good Hong Kong Disneyland restaurants?

8. Walt’s cafe in the Disney hotel was our fav restaurant but we ate in World Of Colour both nights after being at the park – yep, ate dinner at 930pm with many others!

Is there a swimming pool at Disney’s Explorers Lodge?

9. The pool was amazing and we enjoyed relaxing our muscles after dinner

10. We didn’t need a fast pass as lines were very short

Which are the best days of the week to visit Hong Kong Disneyland?

11. Strangely enough, Sunday was almost empty compared to Monday and Tuesday! Lines went up to 20 and 30 min compared to walk on, on the weekend!

Is Dole Whip sold at HK Disneyland?

12. Dole whip is sold in Toy Story and is amazing

Does Hong Kong Disney have a Disability Pass (DAS)?

13. My son applied for DAS as he has brain cancer but we didn’t use it due to the lines being so short – but was very easy through guest services. You get return times without lining up.

How long are ride queues at Hong Kong Disneyland?

14. We loved waiting the 10 min in lines as most were air conditioned and we needed to cool down 15. You can ask for front row seats and they make you stand to the side – definitely worth waiting the minute

Is Hong Kong Disneyland big?

16. It’s a small park but so beautiful!

How do I get Hong Kong Disneyland tickets?

17. We got tickets as part of our hotel stay and they gave us the physical tickets when we got there – we didn’t make any booking for dates – you are guaranteed entry with your hotel stay if you selected tickets.

Have a magical day and feel free to ask any questions.

Written and photos supplied by Hong Kong Disneyland holiday planning group member Sam Dow

For more information on Hong Kong Disneyland you can go to the official website here.

The post Hong Kong Disneyland hacks & tips appeared first on Holidayplanning.com.au.

Article begins after this quick word about where to buy Hong Kong Disneyland tickets…

Where to buy Hong Kong Disneyland tickets

There are often problems using international credit cards to pay for theme park tickets overseas. The way around this for most Australians and other international tourists is by using third party sellers. I partner with Klook who are official Hong Kong Disneyland ticket sellers.

Buy your Hong Kong Disneyland tickets online at Klook here

You can also get up to 10% off many Hong Kong attractions on Klook by using my exclusive discount code at checkout:

LETSGOMUMKLOOK at Klook 

Klook conditions: $50 min spend, $50 max discount, 5 times use. Klook new customers can get 10% off and existing customers get 3% off. Klook exclusions list here. 

This page may contain affiliate links. If you book a stay or an attraction through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for your support!

Hello! First time visit to HK and decided to make it a Disneyland trip, so I wanted to share my experience in case it’s helpful for others. FYI – long post with details.

Arrival into HK/pre-disneyland:

We arrived in HK on March 17th around 7:30pm, so we booked a night at the Regala Skycity Hotel by the airport with breakfast the next morning. It was under $150 USD, so cheaper than an extra night at a Disney resort, plus easier to get to after a late evening flight in. They had a free shuttle from the airport, along with a free shuttle to Tung Chung station, so it worked really well for us.

Disney Explorers Lodge Hotel

Park ticket booking, check in, and arrival

Booked 2 nights at Disney Explorers Lodge 3 1/2 weeks before our check in date. Missed out on the cheaper hotel rooms, so had to pay for a premium room. Got breakfast at Dragon Wind for March 20th, the day the park is closed. Also purchased 2 day park tickets for March 18 & 19. I decided on getting tickets later, plus I saw the room prices had dropped a bit, so I contacted customer service for a price adjustment and ticket add-ons.

I had no problem with the initial hotel booking purchase going through, but after adding tickets, I needed to pay a bit more, so I was sent a link after my chat with customer service to make that payment. I ran into issues with the website and ended up having to chat with customer service again, where we were able to arrange for payment at check-in instead.

The 18th was a “take it slow” kind of day for us, so we didn’t get to the park until 1pm, and checked in at the hotel around 1:30pm. What I found interesting here, and my husband found annoying, was that they gave us 1 room key when we were checking in, but wouldn’t tell us our room number, hence not allowing us into a room until the appointed check in time: 3:00pm. We were told we would get an email with our room number after 3pm.

We happened to be waiting around in the lobby after check-in at the perfect time, though. Mickey showed up dressed in his explorer outfit, so we got to line up and meet him. Wonderful surprise!

We also had to do luggage storage at a separate area from the front desk, which was located out the front door and to the side. So all this took a bit of time to get done before we could finally make our way to the park itself. It was a nice day and my baby needed a nap, so we walked to the park entrance, which took a little more than 20 min. We arrived at the “Hong Kong Disneyland Resort” sign at 2pm.

At the entrance there is baggage check and then ticketing. It really wasn’t that busy at that time, so even though we missed the hotel bag check entrance (we weren’t paying attention), there wasn’t much of a line. Ticketing was even quicker with the hotel line plus baby and stroller.

If you stay at the hotel, bring the key and you can go through the kind of express lane for hotel guests. There is one for both bag check and ticketing. They were on the furthest left side, which you would notice when arriving through the hotel park entrance path.

Day 1 Park activities: March 18th, Monday

First ride: Hyperspace Mountain.

10 min wait. Of course, my 1yo couldn’t ride it, so we did rider switch. My husband went first while I waited by the ride, then we switched when he got off. It was easy and quick.

Next ride: Ant-man and the Wasp

5 min wait. All 3 of us were able to go on and sit in one car. It’s a fun shooting game ride! Hard to do well while holding a baby, but I def like it better than other shooting game rides!

Early Dinner: Tahitian Terrace

4:30pm. 2 lanes to order – Indian or laksa. Ordered the Beef Rendang with Coconut Rice, Seafood Laksa, and the Kids Meal (grilled chicken steak with gravy). All combo meals and got the specialty drink, which was a grape/lemony sparkling juice. These were good, but we would prob not order either the Rendang or Seafood laksa again, rather opting for some of the other options. The laksa was good, but don’t think the seafood was good enough for the extra cost.

Other rides:

– Jungle River Cruise: 10 min wait. We could all ride together.

– The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: 20 min wait. It had been temporarily closed earlier in the afternoon, but we noticed a line up and got on before it got too busy. We could all ride together.

– Mystic Manor: 5 min wait, but felt more like 10 minutes. We could all ride together.

– Frozen Ever After: 30 min wait, but it seemed our actual wait time was shorter than that. We could all ride together, but then we were surprised there was a drop! It was short, but pretty steep! Would not bring a baby on this ride again.

But, Elsa showed up while we were walking through, so that was a fun way to meet her! There wasn’t much time to really stop and get a good photo though. The cast members hurry you along. My baby was very happy having met Elsa, even without knowing who Elsa is!

– Dumbo: 15 min wait. It was getting a bit dark out, so was fun to be on the ride and see the lights! Only 2 people max per car, so I rode with my baby and the husband had his own car.

Ended our night heading over to the front of the castle for Momentous around 7:30. Baby had fallen asleep, so we slowly made our way back to Main Street to see where we could rest and wait for the show. It seemed people were everywhere, especially sitting on the curbs, any benches, and the sidewalks. Lucky for us, the garden space/path in front of Plaza Inn hadn’t filled up yet, and it had a clear view of the castle, so we parked ourselves in that area and waited.

I wanted something to snack on and found Midtown Delights’ special Linabell soft serve ice cream – Hokkaido milk and peach.

Momentous was pretty fun. As others have shared, the castle is big and has a lot of space, so if you can see most of the castle, you can see most of the show. The only annoyance was that almost everyone was also trying to film the whole show with their phones/cameras, so when the show started, practically everyone’s arms were raised to film. When the show ended we walked back to the hotel. It was a nice walk without too much of a crowd. Also was really good for our 1 year old who woke up for the show, but didn’t really wake up until we were leaving, so the walk and little crowd gave baby space and time to expend some energy.

Day 2 Park Activities: March 19th, Tuesday

Invited grandparents to join us and got tickets for them at the front desk during check-in. Really good price for elderly over 65 of HK$100. Also rented a wheelchair from the hotel.

FYI – renting the wheelchair from the hotel is cheaper than at the park. It is HK$60, but for seniors it is HK$30. I believe it was over HK$100 at the park when I checked.

Got to the park after 10:30am using the hotel entrance path and the hotel lanes, which were quick and easy! Made our way to Main Street Bakery for a waffle and they only seemed to have Linabell ones. It was good, so I was satisfied.

Rides:

– Mystic Manor: 15 min wait. Everyone could ride.

– Slinky Dog Spin: 10 min wait. Everyone could ride.

– Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars: 30 min wait. Just my husband and I rode this one.

– The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: 30 min wait. Everyone could ride. We also chose to purchase our photo from here as our Disney souvenir.

– Ant-man and The Wasp: 10 min wait. My husband and the grandparents rode this while I nursed my baby at the baby center near Main Street.

– Ironman Experience: 10min wait. Baby couldn’t ride, so we did rider switch with grandparents going first, then my husband and I afterwards. The ride itself takes some time to start, as they need to make sure everyone and everything is secure, so I’d estimate a bit more time for this ride next time.

– Frozen Ever After: 30 min wait. Felt a bit longer, though. Did not want to take baby again because of the drop, so we did rider switch with grandparents going first.

Lunch: 12:30pm

– Royal Banquet Hall: super crowded. It was a bit difficult to find an open table. I made a round while husband and grandma lined up and luckily a space opened up in the outside dining area. I parked my sleeping baby and grandpa settled in a seat while we waited. There are multiple lanes, but we only had to go to 2 different lanes for what we wanted. One of them was a popular one, so that took time to wait through, plus we were ordering 4 meals, so that also took time to wait for. Food was good, but it felt too crazy. We beat the rush, as there was a long line out the door and off to the side by the time I found our table. And just people everywhere! I don’t think I would choose to eat here again because of the crowd. I would have preferred to go back to Tahitian Terrace, but there wasn’t as many food options.

We had dinner plans with family in the city, so left the park at 6pm.

Day 3 activities: March 20th, a Wednesday.

Park was closed. Check out day.

Dragon Wind Breakfast Buffet: 7:30-11:00am with last order at 10am.

– Got down to the restaurant around 9am and found that we had to wait for a table. They had an estimated wait time listed for different hours and we found that we were within the 30min wait time. Ended up getting in at 9:15am and found we had 1hr to eat, plus a character meet would happen at 9:30am.

Food was really good, actually. I was impressed with the variety, quantity, and quality. Would recommend based on that.

Disney Character Meet

Character Meet was not impressive. Pretty much only 1 character shows up and everyone has to line up for a chance to meet and take a photo. 1 character every hour, it seems, though also possibly just the same character, although I cannot be certain for all hours of breakfast. We had Goofy at 9:30am and I heard it would be Goofy again at 10:30am. They don’t tell you the end time, but they do cut off the line up at a certain point. I learned all of this only because we were told there were too many people, so we couldn’t line up anymore since Goofy was only there until 10am. Even though we had to finish eating at 10:15am, the cast member just apologized and said the next meet was at 10:30am.

But then I kept seeing them let others in line and sent my husband to ask questions. They then said we could wait for the 10:30am meet. But when they let a couple more families in line again, my husband went to question them about that and they said those families were checking out. When we told them we were also checking out, they finally let us line up. We were the last ones allowed to line up and were hurried through our photo. The experience wasn’t great. I would not do a character breakfast at Dragon Wind again.

Hotel Checkout:

– Easy. Waited at the front desk to check out and practically just handed over the key, which they then deactivate and return to you as a souvenir! Loved this.

Overall/other thoughts and comments:

– HK Disneyland is definitely less crowded with people than Tokyo Disney and Universal Studios Japan. It is also a lot smaller. We really liked these aspects of the park. BUT, even though it is less crowded with people, there seems to be a lot less order/more crowding of people who are there. Chaotic, in a sense.

– Monday ended up being way less crowded than Tuesday for us, which surprised me.

– staying on property was really nice. I would do that again, though I’d plan to check out on a day the park is open with the hope of a less crowded hotel space. Also would look at staying at the Disneyland Hotel for closer proximity to the park entrance and availability of hotel activities.

– really liked our room. The beds were comfy, wardrobe/closet was nice. They have cribs, but we ended up not using it, since our baby would most likely have fallen out of it as the rails were only up to her waist when she stood. Luckily we brought our travel crib in case of this situation. Also, the floors are carpeted, so lugging our 2 heavy suitcases down the hall wasn’t as pleasant an experience.

– HK Disneyland isn’t the most “Disney”-esk experience. The cast members are not that energetic/enthusiastic or “happy” at the parks. Compared to Tokyo, they fall very short in that category. But we really enjoyed that we could relax more at HK without feeling like we needed to rush, or having to wait so long for rides. We did skip the rides with longer than 30 min waits though.

– if you want to purchase anything at the hotel stores, don’t do it on your check out day, mostly when it’s a day the park is closed. The line was super long and took forever to get through. Wish I had just waited until after check out, since there was no longer a line by that time.

– look for clearance items at the hotel stores! Explorer’s lodge seemed to have more clearance items than Disneyland Hotel.

– there is a slight benefit to purchasing tickets and hotel directly with Disney. You get discount “packages” – one for the hotels if you stay at the hotel and one for the park if you buy park tickets. You do have to sign up for a My Disney account online to get this benefit. You also get a free gift for each one, although it was the same free gift for us: a Mickey luggage tag. Hotel stays also gets you 3 HK$10 off coupons for the hotel shop. Not a lot, but if you’re cheap like me and buy the least expensive thing that is also on sale for “buy 2 get 50% off” it seems worth it.

Written and photos supplied by Hong Kong Disneyland holiday planning group member Phoua Vang

The post Hong Kong Disneyland itinerary appeared first on Holidayplanning.com.au.