Hong Kong/Shanghai Disneyland Recap

[mrsslocombe]

My sister and I recently did a trip to Hong Kong and Shanghai Disneyland. I could write a dissertation on the two parks, so I'll try to summarize, but if anyone has any questions I am happy to answer! We did a VIP tour at both parks, which are significantly cheaper than in the US. 

HK
-We stayed at Explorer's Lodge, which is the nicest Disney hotel I have every stayed at. The room was massive, and the service was top notch. If you mention at the time of booking that you are celebrating a birthday, they decorate the room for free. It was so special. 
-We walked to the park (15 minutes) though they do have a free shuttle. The walk actually takes you to a different entrance that very few people use, so you get some peace and quiet, as well as empty photos at the entrance gate.

Pros:
-The park is very small (we walked about 15k steps, vs 35k in WDW), but really nicely designed, lots of open space, landscaping, etc. Crowds were moderate, but there's so much space that it never felt super crowded.
-There's a number of rides unique to the park, and they are excellent. Mystic Manor, which is a trackless ride, is a little bit like Haunted Mansion, but a completely original design. Grizzly Gulch is a little bit Big Thunder Mountain, a little bit Everest, very very fun. 
-The new Frozen land is very cute, though small. Their version of Frozen Ever After has a few upgrades from the Epcot version and was a nice surprise. The other Frozen Attarction, Oaken's Sleds is extremely short and kind of disappointing. Would not wait more than 30 minutes for it, and definitely would not pay for premiere access. 
-There aren't a huge number of places to eat, but all the food we had was good, better than FL or CA. We actually ordered the kids meals a few times, because they include fruit/vegetable/drink and were large portions. I actually don't know what kid could eat all that food, 2-3 small kids could probably split one meal. Also nice-all their quick serve use real plates/utensils.
-They had a good number of characters out, and our interactions were all great. The face characters are all American which is a bit jarring haha. 
-our VIP tour was amazing. Not only did we get to skip all the lines and choose our seats on every ride, but we also got to skip the lines at some characters. Then, for fireworks, you get your own roped off area right at the front of the castle, I have never felt so bougie in the my life. 
-Tickets are dirt cheap compared to the US parks
-Food/merch was slightly cheaper than the US parks. Not a whole lot, but a little bit.
-Rides are in a mix of English/Mandarin/Cantonese. All cast members have to speak all three languages. We didn't have any issues with communication. 
-We definitely felt the "magic" that seems to have dimmed in the US Parks. You get to have those little moments of something special. Also, they offer coupons/merch discounts, and also every shop has items that are on sale. 
-Nighttime show was pretty good. Limited fireworks, but the projects, water/fire elements, and music were all great. 


CONS
-Park hours are very limited, 10:30am-8:30pm. It was enough time, but we're used to longer hours. 
-Also many rides, food options, and characters have very limited hours. You have to plan carefully for dinner, as a lot of places close at 6pm.
-Ride load times are very, very slow compared to US Parks. They definitely don't have the efficiency we are used to. 
-Character lines look short but guests take an absurd number of photos/videos with each character. It's nice that they don't rush you when it's your turn, but some people are doing all out modeling shoots, especially with the Duffy & Friends characters. 
-Rides are more tame than the US versions-Space Mountain in particular. Definitely not a "thrill' park. 
-Merch was a bit limited, we didn't buy as much as we thought we would. 
-The parade is really just a character cavalcade. It's literally just one float. It's kind of sad really. 
-They don't play Disney music in the park! It's just classical music. It's so weird walking down Main Street to Mozart. 

Shanghai
-We stayed at the Toy Story Hotel. It's similar to a moderate or value resort in FL. Rooms are definitely on the small side, it's a bit nosier, more families, etc. The theming is very cute. 
-As a hotel guest you get an hour early admission to the parks, but you HAVE to take the resort shuttle. For a 7:30am opening the shuttles start at 7:05, by 6:45am the line was 4 buses+ long. So you need to line up really early. It's about a 15 minute walk to the park, we walked home every night vs dealing with the shuttle.
-All signage and recorded announcements are in Mandarin and English. Pretty much all cast members we encountered spoke a limited amount of English, enough to communicate basic things. We got by fine, but they are definitely not catering to an English-speaking audience. All the rides are only in Mandarin. 

PROS
-best food of any Disney park in the world. We had some truly good food there. It's a little bit cheaper than at US parks. They have a lot of snack options. Only thing we had that was bad was the flavored popcorn, it was atrocious.
-Better merch than Hong Kong
-Their version of Pirates of the Caribbean is amazing, the ride has been ruined for life now.
-Again the face characters were all American, and only speak English. We actually got extended interactions with them since they could talk to us, I actually felt kind of bad for all the kids that don't speak any English. A cast member does translate a little but most people just kind of stared as Cinderella talked at them. 
-The crowds are definitely higher, but there's so much open space that it never felt too crowded. The castle is enormous and they built so many walkways and paths that you can get a million different angles of it without people right in your photo. 
-Tickets are cheap
-both parades are great-good music, huge number of characters, and ones we don't see in the US.
-Their stage show "Mickey and Wonderous Story Book" was a lot of fun. It's about 90% Mandarin (Tiana and Rapunzel sing their songs in English) but was very cute. 


CONS
-Least favorite of the Disney Parks. There aren't very many rides at all, and while it's nice to have open space a lot of it just felt like dead space. The lands don't have a lot of cohesive theming. The park is a completely original design, so that is nice. But their "Main Street" is like...1/3 of any other park. We actually laughed because it was so short. 
-There aren't very many unique rides or differences between their version/versions in other parks. Buzz Lightyear does have upgraded tech though that makes it so much better than what we have. But Soarin, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, etc are all just replicas. Wait times were very long, you really have to hit as many as you can early in the day.
-Many character lines are a very long wait, Duffy/Shelly May were over 4 hours! If certain characters are a priority you have to get on line first thing. The nice thing is, they give you a line pass if you want to go to the bathroom, get food, etc. You can leave the line for 20 minutes and won't lose your spot. 
-The nighttime show is just OK. More/bigger fireworks than HK but the music isn't memorable. Both parades had far better music. 
-Our VIP tour was disappointing. They advertise as offering tours in English, Mandarin, or Cantonese but our guide spoke very limited english. She didn't really understand us when we asked questions, she could only communicate the basic things to us (where we were going next, asking whether we wanted to sit in the front/back, etc). So rather than getting inside info on the parks, or a tour, it was just getting to skip the lines/getting preferred seating at shows, etc. The tour was only about $550 per person, so obviously cheap compared to $6k+ in the US. But I didn't think it was worth it. The full Premiere Access package is about $250 per person, you might as well just get that. 

Overall we had a really good time and now I have visited every Disney Park! 

[dcrunnergirl52]

Thank you so much for posting this. We're going to Asia this summer, and going to Disney Tokyo and Disney Hong Kong. This is super helpful.

Did you think the VIP tour was worth it? How much was it, if you don't mind me asking? We've been to WDW, DLP, DL, etc. a bunch of times, so we're mainly doing these two parks to check the boxes on them and see the new and different rides and lands.

[mrsslocombe]

Mar 25, 2024 17:22:14 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

Thank you so much for posting this. We're going to Asia this summer, and going to Disney Tokyo and Disney Hong Kong. This is super helpful.

Did you think the VIP tour was worth it? How much was it, if you don't mind me asking? We've been to WDW, DLP, DL, etc. a bunch of times, so we're mainly doing these two parks to check the boxes on them and see the new and different rides and lands.

HK was about $2300, it’s a flat rate. 5 hours, 12-5pm, which was enough time to ride everything multiple times. You do get preferred seating for shows if you want it, we had already seen them the day before (we went two days).
-you can see 1 Princess, 1 Duffy character, and iron man and skip the line. The other characters you can’t skip the line, but we wanted to meet Pocohantas and when we got on line, the cast member pulled us out and let us skip. So, not guaranteed for others but they were kind enough to do it for her.
-you get the most amazing view for the night time show.
-he handed us a 20% off coupon to use on any merch store.
-we were taken through the exit for all lines, so were immediately placed on the next ride, whatever row we wanted, and often got our own car. We could stay on some rides, others we had to get off and reload.
-I think it was worth it, it felt really special and like a fun luxury.

Shanghai you paid per person, about $550 with a minimum of 3. It’s 6 hours, you chose the time.
-you get preferred seating for their main parade, but not the seasonal one.
-only characters were Mickey and the Marvel characters, who never had more than a 10 minute wait anyway.
-you use the Premiere Pass entrance, so we often had a 5ish minute wait. Which isn’t long but it did make one think that you should just buy premiere pass.
-you get a nice section for the nighttime show, but the fireworks aren’t programmed to be seen from so close. So great view of the projections but the fireworks are a little off.
-you get 20% off any food or merch you buy when you shop with your guide.
-overall, really the only benefit above premiere pass was that you can ride any ride as many times as you want, vs just one line skip per ride. But the rides (other than Pirates) aren’t that different from the US versions. The Zootopia ride is completely original and pretty fun.
-I was disappointed by how little English our guide spoke, it didn’t really seem fair to advertise it as an English-speaking tour. She wasn’t able to give us park information beyond just asking which rides we wanted to do.

I have a LOT of tips to maximize your time in the parks. I’ll gather them up and PM you.

[dcrunnergirl52]

Mar 25, 2024 18:57:53 GMT -5 mrsslocombe said:

Mar 25, 2024 17:22:14 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

Thank you so much for posting this. We're going to Asia this summer, and going to Disney Tokyo and Disney Hong Kong. This is super helpful.

Did you think the VIP tour was worth it? How much was it, if you don't mind me asking? We've been to WDW, DLP, DL, etc. a bunch of times, so we're mainly doing these two parks to check the boxes on them and see the new and different rides and lands.

HK was about $2300, it’s a flat rate. 5 hours, 12-5pm, which was enough time to ride everything multiple times. You do get preferred seating for shows if you want it, we had already seen them the day before (we went two days).
-you can see 1 Princess, 1 Duffy character, and iron man and skip the line. The other characters you can’t skip the line, but we wanted to meet Pocohantas and when we got on line, the cast member pulled us out and let us skip. So, not guaranteed for others but they were kind enough to do it for her.
-you get the most amazing view for the night time show.
-he handed us a 20% off coupon to use on any merch store.
-we were taken through the exit for all lines, so were immediately placed on the next ride, whatever row we wanted, and often got our own car. We could stay on some rides, others we had to get off and reload.
-I think it was worth it, it felt really special and like a fun luxury.

Shanghai you paid per person, about $550 with a minimum of 3. It’s 6 hours, you chose the time.
-you get preferred seating for their main parade, but not the seasonal one.
-only characters were Mickey and the Marvel characters, who never had more than a 10 minute wait anyway.
-you use the Premiere Pass entrance, so we often had a 5ish minute wait. Which isn’t long but it did make one think that you should just buy premiere pass.
-you get a nice section for the nighttime show, but the fireworks aren’t programmed to be seen from so close. So great view of the projections but the fireworks are a little off.
-you get 20% off any food or merch you buy when you shop with your guide.
-overall, really the only benefit above premiere pass was that you can ride any ride as many times as you want, vs just one line skip per ride. But the rides (other than Pirates) aren’t that different from the US versions. The Zootopia ride is completely original and pretty fun.
-I was disappointed by how little English our guide spoke, it didn’t really seem fair to advertise it as an English-speaking tour. She wasn’t able to give us park information beyond just asking which rides we wanted to do.

I have a LOT of tips to maximize your time in the parks. I’ll gather them up and PM you.

Thanks so much. This is great. Did you book the HK tour on the Disney site?

hongkongdisneylandtickets.disney.go.com/tours/disney-tour-services/

[mrsslocombe]

dcrunnergirl52, my travel agent booked it, but I think she just did it via that website link.