Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: Us cauldron girls were just wondering what the general consensus is regarding Hong Kong Disneyland, now that the latest expansion project is finished. Is it considered to be a full day park by now? I mean, if you tried to do all the attractions in one day, would it be possible? It seems like we keep reading that the park is getting more guests all the time and that it's finally making a profit. When they add the night time parade that's being proposed for 2014, won't that make it full day park if it's not a full day park by now? Thank you for all your insights, ducklings!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I think it's safe to say that it's a full day park. When I last visited in 2010 (before the Toy Story Playland, Grizzly Gulch, and Mystic Point areas opened), it was a moderately busy day and we were able to see all the shows and go on all the attractions. It took a pretty well-crafted plan of attack, and some knowledge of how the park works (grab FP for Pooh, skip it for Space Mountain, etc), but was done with reasonable ease. With the new areas, and presumably larger crowds, I think it would be quite possible to have a full day doing everything that you really wanted to do, rather than trying to squeeze in everything in the entire park. There's still plenty of work to be done before it's a fully finished experience (I'm glad that there hasn't been any real discussion of the 2nd gate yet), but at this point it seems to have nearly the same number of attractions as MK (which I've always considered somewhat underwhelming, having a DL background), which seems to mean the park should be able to stand on its own now
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: Thank you, Ferret, duckling. Did you mean to say that HKDL has the same number of attractions, now, that the Magic Kingdom had on its opening day? Because right now the Magic Kingdom has more attractions that HKDL.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Right now MK has more than HKDL, but I think they're more-or-less in the same general ballpark. Neither is quite up to DL's attraction count (though very few parks are), but I think it's safe to say that the general public would consider them to be a full day's worth of entertainment
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I think ALL Disney Parks are full-day parks... even Disney Studios, the AK and DCA when they first opened. Of course I can spend a large amount of time just sitting around and soaking in the atmosphere.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>I think ALL Disney Parks are full-day parks... even Disney Studios, the AK and DCA when they first opened. Of course I can spend a large amount of time just sitting around and soaking in the atmosphere.<<< Disney Studios in Paris isn't a full day park. Although it improved over the last years, but there is still not that much atmosphere to enjoy. However I have to admit that I like spending time in that park, but not a whole day.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN The only ones who have criticized HKDL for being a "half day park" are those who will NOT: -Ride spinners, or anything between A and C ticket rides. -check out the live entertainment, such as parades, fireworks, or special event offerings. -enjoy the theming -shop -Experience the few sit down options. The D and E ride commandos have given HKDL a bad reputation for not being a full day park, which now with the new areas opened, it really is a full day park. I very easily spend the whole day there, doing what I enjoy doing. As an added incentive, this park has a very nice polished atmosphere, comparable to the new Fantasyland at the MK park. Whereas the MK bores me with the poor operation and theming, HKDL offers little touches and entertainment that are a cut above the 41 yr old albatross in the Florida swamps.
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle >>I think ALL Disney Parks are full-day parks... even Disney Studios, the AK and DCA when they first opened. Of course I can spend a large amount of time just sitting around and soaking in the atmosphere.<< I agree with this, I can spend a day at any Disney park but I do enjoy taking my time at places and just sitting around people watching and "being there". I actually spent a full day at the Studios in Paris too, although I left and had dinner at DTD if we're being real sticklers for the full-day rule! I spent 3 days at HKDL at the start of the year - I had my 4-year-old niece with me and it was her first ever Disney park so we took it fairly slow and she wanted to go on everything about 6 times. They weren't 3 full days, but would have been equivalent to at least 2 full days, probably more. We weren't bored at all and in fact when we left for a few nights in Hong Kong city both my sister and niece just wanted to go back to HKDL!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>The D and E ride commandos have given HKDL a bad reputation for not being a full day park...<< I completely agree with this. However, a park should be designed that you don't have to do everything in it to feel like you've gotten a full day out of it; there should always be a handful of things left over to entice you to come back. When HKDL first opened, it simply didn't have enough to do that. When I went in June 2006, we did every single attraction (some multiple times), all the major entertainment, wandered around and enjoyed the theming and shopping, and still had enough time to go walk the grounds at the two hotels. I really enjoyed that day a lot, but I really can't say that the park was a full day experience at that point. However, now that it has added a lot of new attractions, it certainly meets that requirement, with more than enough things to fill up a day
Originally Posted By friarthe I second all FerretAfros' comments above, especially the first post, which sums the place up nicely. That being said, the wife and I usually only manage about 1/2 a day due to a lack of interest in, yes, sit-down entertainment (except Philharmagic) or character meet-n-greets. We try to make up for it by long, luxurious lunches at Walt's, but we're usually done by 4. This was NOT the case at Halloween, where we felt like one day for special events, parades, and rides was just barely enough.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>We try to make up for it by long, luxurious lunches at Walt's, but we're usually done by 4.<<< There's a Walt's Restaurant at HKDL as well. I didn't know that. Is it comparable with the one in Paris?
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: Thank you for all your replies, ducklings! I have no doubt that I would love HKDL if I could ever fly my broomstick over there. It really is a beautiful park. I would imagine there will come a time in the future when nobody remembers any of the negative stuff that people used to talk about in regard to HKDL. It'll shine like a jewel.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>There's a Walt's Restaurant at HKDL as well. I didn't know that. Is it comparable with the one in Paris?<< There is no Walt's restaurant at HKDL. I think the other poster was referring to DLP instead by mistake.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Or maybe he was referring to Walt's Cafe in the HKDL HOTEL???? Probably so but I would not count what's found at the hotels in relation to the park being a full day experience. >>>I completely agree with this. However, a park should be designed that you don't have to do everything in it to feel like you've gotten a full day out of it; there should always be a handful of things left over to entice you to come back. <<< Honestly? when I visit HKDL, I don't do everything and still manage to enjoy some of the attractions, the shopping, some of the entertainment and take in the theming and environments. Compared this to the Magic Kingdom which by many's measuring stick is a more fully realized park, yet I look forward to visiting HKDL with more anticipation than I do the MK park. Maybe because HKDL shares a bit of the charm found at DL in CA, which the MK totally lacks.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>I would imagine there will come a time in the future when nobody remembers any of the negative stuff that people used to talk about in regard to HKDL. It'll shine like a jewel.<< I'm sure this will be the case. Even in the park's early days when it was severely under programmed, people had very few negative comments. It was usually summed up by saying "what's there is nice and well done, they just need more of it", which is hardly a hardline criticism.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>There is no Walt's restaurant at HKDL. I think the other poster was referring to DLP instead by mistake.<<< >>>Or maybe he was referring to Walt's Cafe in the HKDL HOTEL???? Probably so but I would not count what's found at the hotels in relation to the park being a full day experience.<<< Thanks for the info. If I'm not mistaken, a few years ago you and I already had a conversation about a Viennoise Coffee House on HKDL's Main Street. I think I read about that in one of the Imagineering books. However that conversation was on Micechat.
Originally Posted By believe We went Xmas time 2012. It was festively busy. Definitely not packed. Saw all shows and attractions except the spinners(tea cup, dumbo, carousel) green army parachute, and Art of Animation, Got there at opening and stayed till closing 9pm. We rode Grizzly, RC Racer, and SM 3 times each. We also missed 3 of the 4 tracks of Autopia, and the Cantonese and Mandarin version of Jungle Cruise. We ate mostly at tomorrowland. Definitely a full day experience given that it's only open 10 or 11 hours.
Originally Posted By friarthe >>There is no Walt's restaurant at HKDL. I think the other poster was referring to DLP instead by mistake.<< Yeah, I did mean Walt's at the hotel. Living over the border in Guangzhou (where genuine western food is scarce) the appetizers/cheese selection is a highlight of any Hong Kong trip. Maybe it was a little off-topic, though.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: You're not off topic, friarthe, duckling. It's still all related to HKDL so feel free to say anything you want. You have my permission since I created the topic. I'd actually be interested to know what all the restaurants are like at HKDL.
Originally Posted By Brad "The only ones who have criticized HKDL for being a "half day park" are those who will NOT: -Ride spinners, or anything between A and C ticket rides. -check out the live entertainment, such as parades, fireworks, or special event offerings. -enjoy the theming -shop -Experience the few sit down options." Then there are the special rides on Space Mountain that just cap off a day perfectly! ; )
