Planning First Trip to Hong Kong Disney-Any Tips

BLTtinkerbell

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 15, 2009
We are hoping to plan a trip to Hong Kong Disney & are looking for any tips. Where to begin? Best hotel options? Dining?
 
We just got back from our trip to HKDL and Shanghai Disney Resort. We really enjoyed HKDL. It has a mellow charm that is unique among Disney parks. The warmth and humidity reminded us a lot of WDW.

We stayed at Disney Explorers Lodge and we LOVED it! It is similar in style to Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge with an incredible setting along the water. With our Sea View room we received nine Priority Admission Passes that are good at a number of attractions and not just the ones that already offer FastPass. What really blew our minds was that each of the nine passes was good for our entire party, so we effectively had nine free FPs to use throughout our stay along with whatever FPs we picked up inside the park.

That said, one of the nicest things about HKDL is that you really don't have to knock yourself in terms of touring plans. The park certainly gets busy but nowhere near what you can encounter state-side.

In terms of dining we mostly stuck with the counter-service options. The hotels tend to have the more elaborate table-service choices. Crystal Lotus at Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel is perhaps one of the more special restaurants with a popular dim sum experience.

Let me know if you have any other questions about HKDL and I'll do my best to answer them!
 
@Timchat2, Thank you! This is very helpful! We are in the beginning stages of planning. Trying to read as much info as we can.

How far in advance should we book? Do you think we could plan a trip for this summer or is that not enough time? We are traveling from the US.
 
We book Explorers Lodge about two months before our trip. I don't really have a frame of reference for how much things get booked up across the year but I would imagine as long as you avoid a major holiday (like Chinese New Year) there should be rooms available. Again, HKDL seems to be pretty mellow on that front. As long as your travel arrangements (flights, ground transportation, etc.) are in order things can fall into place quickly enough. Other than being in another country visiting HKDL does not require anywhere near the planning that trips to WDW or even DL can call for much of the time.
 


We also recently stayed 4 nights at the Explorers Lodge, and visited the park 2 days. We booked in mid-March for a mid-May stay. Explorers Lodge was FANTASTIC! And the price worked out to only about $200 a night for a Sea View room, with the extra Fastpasses Timchat2 mentioned. Good luck trying to find that anywhere in the US deluxe resorts. Well worth the splurge. The Disneyland Hotel is in the process of being renovated. It's similar to the Grand Floridian, but not as big. Hollywood Hotel looks nice, but the rooms are more moderate/value priced.

We reserved the Disney Dim Sum at Crystal Lotus in advance, as well as making a breakfast reservation at the Enchanted Garden which is also at the Disneyland Hotel. Honestly, the dim sum was only okay. It looked cute, and it was fun to do, but it wasn't THAT big of a deal. We also were there on Mother's Day, so the restaurant was busier than normal, so we were seated in a back room, and not near the windows, the service wasn't as attentive as I expected. I chalk it up to the crowds. Enchanted Garden had fabulous character interaction, but the food was surprisingly typical for Disney buffets. A little bland, not always fresh, although there are way more choices. The restaurant did get pretty full, so we were happy we had a reservation, but I don't know how necessary it was. We also did the character breakfast at Dragon Wind in the Explorer's Lodge. At that one you line up for photos with Mickey & Minnie, they don't visit the table. But we enjoyed the food a lot better. We also ate dinners, twice, at the Chart Room Cafe in the Explorer's Lodge, and the bar at the Hollywood Hotel. Both were tasty, but portions are small. Be warned, though, food prices at Hong Kong Disneyland are the one thing that are higher than DL/WDW. Hotel was cheaper, park tickets were cheaper, souvenirs were about the same, but food...$$$.

If you visit the TDRexplorer.com website, they recommend using Klook to purchase meal vouchers for dining inside the park, as well as park tickets. The website also had a small discount code. We purchased both of these through the website (we had to call the CC company in advance to accept the transaction). You can then either use the app or print out the voucher at the turnstyles to exchange for real ticket. In the past, you had to go to the Guest Services window to pick up the meal voucher, but it must have recently changed. Now, the instructions say you can also exchange for the meal vouchers at the gate. And I noticed a pickup location, all the way to the right hand side as we entered through the Resort entrance.

As for the park, it reminded me a lot of the way Disney used to be. Pick a direction, and work your way through the park. No running around getting or using FP, or having to be in a certain spot by X time otherwise your wait will be horrendous. The longest line we saw was 40 min for the Parachute Drop ride, but we used one of our Fastpass vouchers for this. The longest line we waited in was about 30 min for the English Jungle Cruise line. Everything else was no more than 15 min, or we used one of our FP vouchers. The only real FP we got, was for Hyperspace Mountain and that was for a souvenir! You can get an excellent spot for the daytime parade (both of them!) about 20 minutes in advance, and even if you waited until about 5 minutes before, you could find spots in the 2nd row. Paint the Night, and the projection show on Main Street did fill in quicker.

Check the park map for attraction hours. We knew the Grizzly Gulch / Mystic Point / Toy Story Land areas opened and closed later, but what we didn't know was that some of the garden trails and the Railroad closed early as well. So riding the train was the one thing we didn't do. Plus, with all the construction they were having everyone get off at Main Street, so it wasn't as convenient as transportation, unless you were leaving the park.

Dining at the park, we ate at the Explorer's Club (the masks in the entryway may look familiar, if you were a fan of the Adventurer's Club) and the Royal Banquet Hall. These are supposedly the "better" options for food at the park, but I found both only barely edible. I suppose it's what you order. At the Royal Banquet Hall, they had a very good looking dish that I wanted to try but found out inside that it is only served from the Guangdong Window which is rarely open.

Merchandise, is very, very, very heavily Duffy & Friends, Tsum Tsum and Ufufy and very cutesy. Mystic Manor was the only place with attraction themed merchandise. So other than pins (I am a pin collector), we didn't buy that much.

If you are traveling this summer, be very careful with the heat and humidity. I am used to Florida summers, but this was another level. We took an insulated Kleen Kanteen bottle and would buy bottled water and put it in the insulated bottle. This was the only way to keep things cold for drinking. Also, bring a washcloth, or small towel. You will be dripping with sweat. Lots of people use umbrellas to block the sun, not for rain. There is AC in the buildings, but there aren't always a lot of places to sit down and rest, so with being constantly on the move...just very sweaty.

One last thing, Festival of the Lion King is an even more amazing thing that the WDW version. I completely wasn't expecting it to be that different, so don't skip it just because you think you saw it in Florida.
 
The relatively short operating hours are one aspect to be mindful of when planning your day. The time does go by quickly when you take into account Flights of Fantasy and Paint the Night along with the major shows like Festival of the Lion King and Mickey and the Wondrous Book.

Our longest wait was also for the English-language Jungle Cruise. Since it was not included on the list of Priority Admission Passes we just kind of had to roll with the 30 minute wait. It's possible that getting there early might help but they didn't seem to have many boats operating for the first hour or so. Otherwise posted waits were mostly under 30 minutes with the exception of Winnie the Pooh and occasionally the Toy Story Land attractions.

The heat and humidity were intense for us as well. It helps that the park is relatively mellow so you can for the most part take it easy and not overexert yourself.
 
We just returned from our second visit to Hong Kong. We went over Spring Break and I could not believe how EMPTY Hong Kong Disneyland was.

We had been in 2007, shortly after it opened. At the time we were not impressed with Hong Kong Disneyland. It felt like a small, sad clone of Disneyland - a true half-day park. We really weren't expecting much, but our kids had never been. It ended up being one of our best theme park visits ever. In the decade since HKDL opened, they have added a lot. And what they added has substance. The addition of Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Manor and It's a Small World really improved the park. We had an absolute blast the 2 days we spent there over Spring Break.

We never waited more than 10 minutes for anything (didn't need or use Fastpass at all). We rode everything at least twice. Saw all the shows. There's nothing like walking up as the music is starting for Paint the Night and getting a front row seat on Main Street. It was refreshing not to have to plan out our day.

We found it difficult to find reasonably priced hotels in the city that would comfortably sleep a family of 4. It ended up being the same price to stay at the Explorer's Lodge than to stay at a lesser quality hotel in the city.

While we were there, I kept thinking how crazy it was that HKDL was SO empty, while WDW was bursting at the seams. We live in Southern California, and for us it was actually cheaper to fly to Hong Kong during our Spring Break than it was to fly to Orlando. We paid $380 for our airfare. Round trip. Non-stop Including taxes.

If you love travel and you love Disney, go to Hong Kong. It is so easy to get around. English is written and spoken everywhere. Everyone we encountered was friendly and helpful. The city itself is incredible and HKDL was the icing on the cake for us.
 

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Thank you all for your comments. This is very helpful.

Any thoughts on flights?
We are considering booking flights on Air Canada, Boston to Hong Kong, with a stop in Toronto.
 
Thank you all for your comments. This is very helpful.

Any thoughts on flights?
We are considering booking flights on Air Canada, Boston to Hong Kong, with a stop in Toronto.

All other factors being equal, if you can find an airline where you can upgrade to "premium economy" or "economy plus" or whatever the equivalent is, by all means do. It's a long flight, especially from the eastern part of the US, and that leg room can really help things not feel so cramped and exhausting.

If you stop in Toronto, do keep in mind that you'll have to go through customs there before your connection, so be sure to leave enough time. At Pearson (where I assume the connection is because Bishop is teensy), there is - or at least there used to be - a special line for customs for people with connecting flights. If you have TSA international precheck (or whatever it's called) you can get through faster because it's automated.
 
Also, keep in mind that the castle is being refurbished, so there is a wall up, and there are no evening fireworks for the time being.
 
We reserved the Disney Dim Sum at Crystal Lotus in advance, as well as making a breakfast reservation at the Enchanted Garden which is also at the Disneyland Hotel. Honestly, the dim sum was only okay. It looked cute, and it was fun to do, but it wasn't THAT big of a deal.

May I ask - were you able to reserve the dim sum online or did you have to call in ahead of time..?

Also, keep in mind that the castle is being refurbished, so there is a wall up, and there are no evening fireworks for the time being.

I knew about the castle, but not about the fireworks! Bummer.. :(
 
May I ask - were you able to reserve the dim sum online or did you have to call in ahead of time..?

You need to call to make the reservation. We used Skype to make the international call, it was a 1 month plan for $1.99. When you make the reservation you need to let them know you want to order the Disney dim sum. It is only available for lunch. They will take your email address, and then send you an email confirming your reservation and an order menu for the dim sum. Select the items you wish to order, and email them back. You must send back the email at least 48 hours in advance for weekday reservations, 24 hours in advance for weekends and public holidays. They will confirm your order with an email reply. We made our reservations about 3 weeks in advance, I sent the dim sum request about 1 week before.

It did say on the reservation confirmation that on weekend and public holidays, limited choices may be available without pre-ordering. But I wouldn't count on getting what you want that way.

In addition to the Disney dim sum, there is a full menu when you arrive. We were a party of 2, we ordered 4 Disney dim sum and 2 additional items from the menu (bbq pork and seafood fried rice). We ate all the dim sum, but did not eat all of the other two. From our table, we could see several other parties of 2 which ordered like 6 different dim sum. So don't worry about going overboard, it's expected.
 
When we went in 2016, there was a special dim sum lunch offer to hotel guests for HK$388/person, minimum order of 2 with 10% service charges included.

Disney Special Dim Sum Lunch Menu
  • Scallops Salad with Pomelo
  • Signature Dim Sum (Little Pig Barbecue Pork Bun Little Green Men Pork and Vegetable Bun Mickey’s Seafood Glutinous Pancake)
  • Braised Crab Meat, Bean Curd and Crab Roe Soup
  • Wok-fried Shrimps and Disney Root Vegetables
  • Crispy Sesame Chicken served with Lemon Juice
  • Abalone Fried Rice
  • Combo of “Duffy” Steamed Red Bean Puree Bun Chilled Dual Mickey’s Puddings
We added an order of the grouper fish dumplings, Minnie shrimp dumplings and Baymax buns each. We finished all the food. We are going again this August and now the special dim sum lunch can be booked online whether you are staying at the hotels or not. The only time available for online booking is 12 noon. You can call after booking to order extra items of Disney dim sum. I have been checking Crystal Lotus’ menu online and this offer is a good deal in terms of value. Most dim sum buns come in 3 or 4 pieces and they fill up the belly sooner than desired. This menu provides portion for one person, so we have room to try other items on the menu besides the Disney dim sums. We were able to switch one Duffy bun to a Shellie May bun at no extra cost.

The website offers 3-in-1 meal vouchers. If you book tickets from the website, you can add the 3-in-1 meal voucher and 2-in-1 meal voucher at $10 off. The 2-in-1 meal voucher is not offered separately without purchasing the tickets online. I am waiting for the ticket special to extend through August so I can order the 2-in-1 meal voucher at $130, hoping this meal voucher is still available for August. We really enjoyed the food offerings at the Explorer’s Club last time and they have a few $149 combos. I think the 2-in-1 meal voucher is a better deal as we prefer to have a meal at one of the hotels each day. It’s too hot in August to stay in the park without a break back to the hotel.

Last time we got one silver magic access and saved money on food and store purchases. This time we are going during the silver blockout period, so we are not getting the magic access. Originally we were not planning to visit HKDL but we changed our mind after learning about the priority admission passes. Otherwise, I would not have planned to visit during the silver blockout period and would definitely get the silver magic access for the discount perks since DD can get the student rate. You may want to consider getting the silver magic access if you are visiting the park more than twice.
 
I'm about to book flights (from the UK) for our first visit in February 2019 so I've found all of these responses super helpful, too. Thanks, everyone!
 
Hello everybody!...just signed up to be able to join in the discussion =)...@BLTtinkerbell ...planning on our first trip to Hong Kong Disneyland as well...this will be our FIRST Disneyland visit EVER!...our first and probably last big family trip...Mommy...Daddy...Me and my daughter...my brother...his wife and child...my sister...her husband and 2 kids...(with my sister and her family working in Canada and my niece starting school next year...we might not have the chance to have a vacation with everybody present)...so...we will be 2 seniors...5 adults and 4 children....

Been reading...trying to get as much information as I can but as HKD hasn't released their promos and packages yet...I can't make any finalization...current promos and packages only run till September of this year....

Planned on checking in at the Explorer's Lodge but read about the Kingdom Club and thought for a one time BIG family Disney trip...we might as well go to Disneyland Hotel but of course, I still need to keep the cost to the lowest possible one...but the Explorer's Lodge is still an option if the budget can't be stretched to the Kingdom Club LOL!!!....

Anyway...thought of getting Platinum Magic access for my Mommy, Daddy and daughter (we might be able to go to HKD again next year just the two of us)...that we can get the MAP discounts for the room (although 2 days we're out there will be block out dates...we still have 2 more nights to use them for)...the problem is...if I buy now I would need to claim them before a certain date in September...planned on claiming there when we get there in December...so I can't but yet...thus I can't see what special hotel offers are for MAP member =(....

Called HKD and they said I could reserve now and then cancel and change to whatever promo we want...do you guys think it's best to do this?...or should I wait for the promotions to come out which will be in October....
 
Hello everybody!...just signed up to be able to join in the discussion =)...@BLTtinkerbell ...planning on our first trip to Hong Kong Disneyland as well...this will be our FIRST Disneyland visit EVER!...our first and probably last big family trip...Mommy...Daddy...Me and my daughter...my brother...his wife and child...my sister...her husband and 2 kids...(with my sister and her family working in Canada and my niece starting school next year...we might not have the chance to have a vacation with everybody present)...so...we will be 2 seniors...5 adults and 4 children....

Been reading...trying to get as much information as I can but as HKD hasn't released their promos and packages yet...I can't make any finalization...current promos and packages only run till September of this year....

Planned on checking in at the Explorer's Lodge but read about the Kingdom Club and thought for a one time BIG family Disney trip...we might as well go to Disneyland Hotel but of course, I still need to keep the cost to the lowest possible one...but the Explorer's Lodge is still an option if the budget can't be stretched to the Kingdom Club LOL!!!....

Anyway...thought of getting Platinum Magic access for my Mommy, Daddy and daughter (we might be able to go to HKD again next year just the two of us)...that we can get the MAP discounts for the room (although 2 days we're out there will be block out dates...we still have 2 more nights to use them for)...the problem is...if I buy now I would need to claim them before a certain date in September...planned on claiming there when we get there in December...so I can't but yet...thus I can't see what special hotel offers are for MAP member =(....

Called HKD and they said I could reserve now and then cancel and change to whatever promo we want...do you guys think it's best to do this?...or should I wait for the promotions to come out which will be in October....

:welcome:

If you are not going during Chinese New Year or other holiday seasons, you can wait for special offers to come out. Room availability can be limited during these times especially when you have a family group to accommodate. When I went in 2016, I had the Silver magic access but they had a better hotel deal and I didn’t book with the magic access discount. I also booked, cancelled and re-booked for a better deal with room upgrade. It really depends on how much discount is applicable during the time you visit. Read the fine prints to make sure your booking is cancellable and refundable if you plan to re-book with a better offer later.

You cannot plan too far ahead for HKDL as the way you plan for WDW. I am going in August and reservation has just opened up to book the Disney dim sum lunch at Crystal Lotus, and I am still waiting for ticket offers to open up until July 16.

Have fun planning!
 
:welcome:

If you are not going during Chinese New Year or other holiday seasons, you can wait for special offers to come out. Room availability can be limited during these times especially when you have a family group to accommodate. When I went in 2016, I had the Silver magic access but they had a better hotel deal and I didn’t book with the magic access discount. I also booked, cancelled and re-booked for a better deal with room upgrade. It really depends on how much discount is applicable during the time you visit. Read the fine prints to make sure your booking is cancellable and refundable if you plan to re-book with a better offer later.

You cannot plan too far ahead for HKDL as the way you plan for WDW. I am going in August and reservation has just opened up to book the Disney dim sum lunch at Crystal Lotus, and I am still waiting for ticket offers to open up until July 16.

Have fun planning!

thank you AngelDisney!...We're going on the 31st of December...so it's a holiday...we'll be staying for 4 nights so that's 2 days of blocked dates (Dec 31-Jan 1)...haven't purchased a MAP yet as the website says they are to be claimed by October 3 and we won't be there til December =(...still don't know when I'll be booking....
 
The Main Street Bakery is now under new management (Maxim’s Group) offering local goodies with a Disney touch. I can’t wait to try. (I don’t think Google Translate has done a good job translating the names of the pastries).

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