I'm glad you enjoyed HKDL! I'm curious to hear how it became your favorite castle park, since that's not something a lot of people say about it. While lacking a shopping district, I agree that the resort area is quite nice and does the best job of making the whole area seem like its own little world. The train ride from Sunny Bay through the mountain probably does the best "reveal" of any Disney resort My visits were prior to the opening of the mini-lands, so I'm sure the atmosphere has changed considerably, but my takeaway was that the park didn't have a ton of offerings but everything that was there was really well done. Unlike DCA and WDSP, it never felt like they cheaped out on the quality of things, only the quantity. Even with the additions, I'm still not sure it's really a full-day park like the other castle parks, but it seems like it's well on its way I completely agree. Even with flights originating in the US, a trip to either DLR or WDW costs about the same as an equal-length trip to Europe. The parks are a lot of fun and all, but they simply cannot compare to the types of vacations you can have elsewhere for the same price. Given that attendance has been slow this summer at both DLR and WDW, perhaps people have finally reached their tipping point
Just to clarify, HKDL didn't become my favourite castle park. Disneyland Park Paris is still on top, but Hong Kong Disneyland managed to surpass all other Disneylands with Tokyo disneyland being my least favourite castle park. There are may reasons why HKDL is among my favourite parks and I think it has something to do with SDL. As you know we visited SDL a week earlier and while I loved the park and had a great time, I left underwhelmed, because the park didn't feel like a Disneyland park, although it looked like one. I really missed Main Street, although I have to admit that Mickey Avenue is a wonderful take on the entrance. Due to the positive reviews on many Disney fansites I had high expectations and those were only partly met. On the contrary, for HKDL I had low expectations due to the size of the park and after SDL I even lowered those expectations. However once we arrived at HKDL I was blown away by the beauty of the location with the mountain range in the background and the lush vegetation. So the location is one huge reason why I like HKDL so much. Another reason is the quality of the park. Yes it's small, but of high quality. Yes it looks a lot like the original Disneyland, but that's not a bad thing. DLP's Main Street is basically a copy of MK and it looks fantastic. There aren't as many attractions as in other parks, but all these attractions are of high quality as well. For example the new Marvel rides are very well done. Mystic Manor might be my all time favourite dark ride. And even Jungle Cruise was good, never liked it at WDW and DL. So quality combined with location and reasonable crowds made HKDL my second favourite castle park.
