Originally Posted By SMCD Okay, here’s a little trip report from my stay at the Hong Kong Disney Resort. We left our base in the fabulous city of Hong Kong the morning of June 13th to head for the Hollywood Hotel. This was my first ever stay at a Disney hotel, so I was quite psyched. The trip got off to a good start with the easy transportation out to the resort. The Disney Resort Line looked a lot like the Tokyo monorail with Mickey windows and statues of Disney characters inside. Our final station, Sunny Bay, was well done. Disney themed, but not over the top. We jumped on the shuttle bus to our hotel, and got checked in fast. We were upgraded to a park view room, but the distance to the park only allowed us to see Space Mountain. The room was surprisingly large, featuring two double beds, a sitting group, a flat screen TV, lots of hidden Mickey’s, and a large artwork of Mickey and Minnie over the beds. The rest of the hotel was also very nice. The garden with a swimming pool, the shops, and the lobby were all great. We also loved the Chef Mickey restaurant. After checking out the hotel, we went over to the park. The promenade to the gates was real nice, and I loved the large fountain in the end featuring Mickey surfing on a whale. Despite all this I had quite low expectations for the park itself entering it. Visiting the Tokyo Resort in all its glory for the first time only few months earlier, and hearing all the criticism on the HK park, I had down played my expectations long before traveling. We started of in Main street off course, and it looked real nice. We checked out “The Disneyland Storyâ€, before strolling down to the castle. It was quite small, but it looked good and I think it fitted the rest of the park. The Snow White fountain beside the castle was a nice touch. We continued to Tomorrowland, and I got some mixed thoughts about the theming. The entrance sign and Orbitron looked good, and the Starliner diner was quite cool, but the land as a whole gave me a different vibe then the other Tomorrowlands I have visited. The retro future feel was gone, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing that they went for something new with the land in this park. However, I have to say the UFO zone seemed too prominent, and gave the land a childish feel in my opinion. We decided it was time for an attraction, and started of with Buzz. It was the usual deal as far as I can tell, and still quite fun. We were surprised of the fact that we could walk on to the attraction, a treat we soon discovered were usual in this park. The weird thing was that Main Street was usually packed for the parade and fireworks, and we even had to wait a little to get a table at the Corner Café, but people seemed to be avoiding rides. Anyways, we continued with Space Mountain, also a walk on, and we had fun although I would like it to be a little more thrilling (speed, loop). The effects looked good, and the music was brilliant. Stitch Encounter was a new experience, and it seemed like a hit. The sound and animation was smooth, and Stitch was quite funny. We continued to Fantasyland. This tends to be my least favorite of the lands, but I did like this one for some reason. Fantasia gardens was a nice tribute to the films. Took the Pooh ride, which was okay, and then the 3D show Mickey’s Philarmagic. Okay, I watched it a couple of years back at Magic Kingdom, and remembered it as a good show, but it really was outstanding. The animation, music, and effects – all top notch. We did also enjoy The Golden Mickeys show. After that we entered Pirateland as it’s now called. It seamed like the whole pirate thing was a success as the place was clearly the busiest in the park. Pirates were lurking around, and a Jack Sparrow look-a-like was doing some kind of a street show. The land was also the most special in the park in my opinion. The greenery, torches, and attention to detail were great. Jungle cruise was good and featured some nice effects, a lot better then the one at Magic Kingdom. The festival of the Lion King was among the best I have seen of a Disney stage show, with great performers, lighting, and effects. Lastly I loved Tarzans tree house - beautiful, detailed, and with a spectacular view of the park. Standing at the top at night, overlooking Pirateland, our hotel, the castle, and Space Mountain, gave me one of the Disney Magic moments. Generally the park looked beautiful after dark. At the end of the day we watched the fireworks, and I enjoyed it very much. The castle projections and the fire effects contributed to the experience. As we got a two-day ticket for the price of one, we spent the better part of our second day at the resort at the park too, and it was too much for the park’s own good. In my opinion you can quite easily fill a day a HKDL and have fun if you take it in slowly, but two days was show casing the flaw of the park – it’s lacking attractions (as you all know), and it needs at least one spectacular E-ticket in my opinion. Apart from the Lion King show and Philarmagic, I missed a top notch Disney attraction to show my friend (who visited a Disney park for the first time) what the Imagineers can cook together when given the money. Anyways, we did have fun, and I did occasionally get that special Disney feeling that I cant get anywhere else (but at DisneySea I felt it constantly . Okay, guest behavior - I saw one mother letting her son pee in a plastic bag in the Jungle Cruise queue line, and another one letting her sons pee in the Lion King queue (they got stopped half way by a CM). Some also seemed to think it was natural to walk through a queue for no apparent reason. Other than that people were nice, including CM´s. I will publish some pictures soon.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN That is a very fair trip report you have posted. I agree with your point of view, and now I know I am not crazy for finding this park as lovely and enjoyable as any other DL, albeit the severe lack of rides that we hope, can only be improved with time and money. Of course.. the fact that you experienced TDR months before and still come here to tell us you were satisfied with your experience in HKDLR, is testament to the possibilites that HKDL may have in the future. Thanks for sharing your views and we'll look forward to the photos.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney Nice review SCMD and glad you liked it . Your last paragraph caught my eye the most though and you're right. HKDL is STRICTLY a one day park in every sense of the word: Not only can you easily do everything in one day, you go back a second day and you DO feel bored. This has NEVER happened to me in a MK park before (I can do DL 5 days straight and while maybe a little tired of it lol, never bored) and why I'm more critical of HKDL. The first day, while I liked what was there, it took me no time to see all of it, so I was repeating many things again by maybe the 3rd hour. Me and my partner did most things, not counting shows, at least 2 times that day, all in 5 hours. But, it was okay, not great, but fine. It was the SECOND day, when I went for just a few hours because I knew that's all I needed, but honestly regretted it. I realized outside of SM, Buzz, Philharmagic and maybe a show, there was simply I wanted to do again and this was a few days later, not the next day like you. I just wanted to soak in the magic for the extra day, but I wasn't really feeling it I realized. I did a few rides, got my picture with some characters in FL and was REALLY ready to go. This might've been my 2nd hour and I just planned to do 3 in the first place. So yeah, glad you had a great time and since you just been to TDR a few months before, it was more positive than I thought it would be frankly.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>Me and my partner did most things<< Your "partner"? I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT!!!!
Originally Posted By SMCD >>I agree with your point of view, and now I know I am not crazy for finding this park as lovely and enjoyable as any other DL, albeit the severe lack of rides that we hope, can only be improved with time and money.<< That’s right. What’s there is Disney quality, but it needs more to be a park that can justify a whole resort. >>HKDL is STRICTLY a one day park in every sense of the word: Not only can you easily do everything in one day, you go back a second day and you DO feel bored. This has NEVER happened to me in a MK park before (I can do DL 5 days straight and while maybe a little tired of it lol, never bored) and why I'm more critical of HKDL.<< I agree, and that’s obviously not a good thing for a resorts only park. The whole thing is so small you’ll not only feel you have done all in a day, but that you have seen it all. Adventureland was the only land that gave me some sense of exploration. >>So yeah, glad you had a great time and since you just been to TDR a few months before, it was more positive than I thought it would be frankly<< You must bear in mind that I came with the knowledge of how small it was, but found satisfaction in what was there. If I came with the same expectations I had when visiting TDR however, I would have been disappointed. The nice Hollywood Hotel also added to my positive experience with the resort.
Originally Posted By Mr X >>Adventureland was the only land that gave me some sense of exploration.<< I agree. And that's one thing that disappointed me even MORE than the lack of rides (which obviously, I knew about going in). Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are just totally lacking depth, imo. Also the lack of a Frontierland hurts a lot, because like Adventureland, Frontierland is the kind of place you spend a lot of time "poking around". Thanks for the trip report SM, good read.
Originally Posted By SMCD Okay, here are the photos: <a href="http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=1n0uiypz.5h2jyuiv&Uy=da06ir&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp" target="_blank">http://www.kodakgallery.com/Sl ideshow.jsp?Uc=1n0uiypz.5h2jyuiv&Uy=da06ir&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp</a>%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1
Originally Posted By katsmom It's been too long since I've been to WDW, but I would love to see frontierland at HKDL. I miss a couple of the rides I can't remember the names for. The rollercoaster on the runaway train, and the singing bears show. Why is my brain so addled today?
Originally Posted By SMCD >>It’s been too long since I've been to WDW, but I would love to see frontierland at HKDL. I miss a couple of the rides I can't remember the names for. The rollercoaster on the runaway train, and the singing bears show. Why is my brain so addled today?<< You are talking about Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Country Bear Jamboree. But don’t forget the best ride at Frontierland in Magic Kingdom (at least in my book) - Splash Mountain!
Originally Posted By katsmom That's it! That's it! Where was I yesterday? I remember as kids, my sister and I didn't want to do any of the other rides in the park, we just kept doing those two (I forgot splash mountain until you wrote it) over and over and over. Grama had lots of patience then.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>It's been too long since I've been to WDW, but I would love to see frontierland at HKDL. I miss a couple of the rides I can't remember the names for. The rollercoaster on the runaway train, and the singing bears show.<< Katsmom, no need to go that far. Just a 4 hr flight to Tokyo and you can ride the Big Thunder Mt train and see the Country Bear Jamboree at TDL.
