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Hong Kong Disneyland: A Disney Parks Review

by Petra Neuhauser, PassPorter Guest Contributor
Last modified 05-22-2014

Most of our vacations we spend in the US, so from Germany, we always headed west. Now it was time to go in the other direction to Hong Kong!

Since Hong Kong is said to be a cosmopolitan city and is also home to a Disney Park, this seemed to be a very interesting destination for us. In April 2014 we started our 9-day Hong Kong trip by visiting Hong Kong Disneyland.

After spending the night in the wonderful Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, we entered to the park as it opened at 10:00 am. We went to guest services in order to get our "1st visit" buttons. They didn't have any buttons, but we got some small stickers instead.

After a little breakfast at Market House Bakery, we went to the park's newest attraction, Mystic Manor at Mystic Point. Mystic Manor is a different kind of Haunted Mansion, without ghosts. The story is that explorer and adventurer Lord Mystic has a big collection of fine art and antiques in this house. And he has a little companion Albert, a monkey. Lord Mystic told him not to play with the enchanted music box, but Albert did not listen and so the collection comes to life. The ride features new technology - the vehicles seem to float--we didn’t see any tracks. What a fantastic ride with great effects, we loved it!

Next Stop: Toy Story Land. The attractions here are all outdoors. The familiar Pixar characters are placed in giant size. Since I’m afraid of heights, I hesitated to ride the Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop. But hubby convinced me that we would have a great view. After some moments of shock while dropping down and up, I was able to enjoy the view, especially of the castle and the mountains in the background. We also enjoyed Slinky Dog Spin, a Caterpillar-style ride. However, the ride of the RC Racer I left to my hubby. He enjoyed to be moved forwards and backwards in a giant "U."

Next Stop: Fantasy Garden. Here we met our personal favorites; Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Daisy Duck. Daisy was wearing a unique, Chinese-style outfit, which looked especially nice.

For lunch we went to a counter service restaurant in Fantasyland called Clopin's Festival of Foods. There we enjoyed some Chinese-style dishes, which were very delicious; of course they came along with chop sticks.

Next should have started the Flights of Fantasy Parade, but due to heavy rain, it had to be canceled. What a pity. But instead a short Rainy Day Express came along. There were only a few characters, but to see Mickey and his pals in special rain gear was very cute. Afterwards we warmed up with some coffee and sweets, again in the Market House Bakery.

Then we went to Adventureland for the Jungle River Cruise. Compared with the ride in Walt Disney World, this one had some pretty good special effects like fire and rapid waters. Afterwards we went to Grizzly Gulch, a Wild West-themed area, home of the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. This attraction reminds of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but it is racier and it also turns backwards. We both loved this ride very much and also the way this area was constructed. It looked like a typical California Gold Rush town.

Slowly it turned dark as we went back to Fantasyland for some well-known classic rides like "it's a small world," Mad Hatter Tea Cups, and the Cinderella Carousel, which are also found in the park.

After astro-blasting with Buzz Lightyear and a little dinner in Tomorrowland, it was time for “Disney in the Stars” fireworks. We hoped so much that this event would actually take place in spite of the weather! And yes, this time we were lucky and enjoyed a fantastic Disney-style fireworks display. The music also included a part of the “Mulan” soundtrack; this was of course very suitable for this location.

At about 8:30 pm our magical day in the park came to an end. From our point of view it is a magical park, the way a Disney park should be. I allowed only one day for the park since I read from different sources that this park is the smallest of all Disney parks and all attractions would be easy to complete within a day, but the time passed so quickly. Although we almost didn’t need to wait in line for a ride and some attractions were closed due to maintenance, we were not able to do every attraction or show. If you plan to go to Disneyland Hong Kong and you are a Disney park lover, I recommend planning at least one-and-a-half days for the park visit.

Even though he's in faraway country with such a different culture, Mickey brings the same smile to peoples faces as he does in his own country. That's magic.

About the Author: Petra lives in Germany. She and her husband love to travel. They‘ve been to numerous states of the US and other destinations in North America. With their first Disney cruise in 2006, they became addicted. Currently they are looking forward to cruise #8 and #9 back to back in September, the westbound transatlantic and the southern Caribbean.

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Updated 05-22-2014

Check for a more updated version at http://www.passporter.com/articles/hong-kong-disneyland-park-review.html