Scott Barronton (00:00)
Welcome back to the Sunshine Travelers podcast, where we help you travel more and better. Today, we're focusing on a place that's been on Melissa's wish list for years, and that's Hong Kong Disneyland. We're going to walk through the top questions travelers search for when planning a visit, and Melissa is going to help answer them from the perspective of someone who has just recently been inside this park. And when I say recently, I mean very recently.
Speaker 2 (00:34)
We're Scott and Melissa, The Sunshine Travelers.
Speaker 1 (00:37)
We're all about exploring the world and sharing the journey with you. Whether you're a seasoned traveler, dreaming of your next adventure, or just here for the stories.
Speaker 2 (00:44)
No matter where you are on your travel journey, we've got first-hand experiences, tips, and plenty of inspiration from some of the most amazing places on Earth.
Speaker 1 (00:53)
So buckle up and get ready to travel with us.
Scott Barronton (01:01)
So Melissa, let's start with what did you do today? I went to Hong Kong Disneyland or Disneyland Hong Kong, guess is how they say it. Yeah, today. Yeah. And so this was one of the things that we said that we wanted to do with one of our days that we're here in Hong Kong. And matter of fact, we even extended our trip by a day to make sure that we could do this.
Yeah, I'm super glad we did. can't imagine flying in like yesterday and then trying to leave today. that wouldn't have been enough time and make it worth it. Because when you fly and then have to get to the hotel and all that kind of stuff, it ended up actually taking us quite a while to get to the hotel last night. And we did get out and do some things. But yeah, this was our big thing for today. And we actually stayed there, I think a little bit longer I didn't want to monopolize the day on this. But there were
there were still more things that we wanted to see and do. And it was a great call because you said, let's wait and also see it once it gets dark, which it completely changes, any park like that. So we definitely enjoyed our time there. And I will say the great thing about Hong Kong is things are open late, transportation is open late. And so it is a city where you can still do some things later in the evening. Now a lot of the shops might be closed.
but it does give you that flexibility. So let's start out with the most simple of questions. Would you say that Hong Kong Disneyland is actually worth visiting? absolutely. Absolutely. Even it's completely different, I would say. I think just because like the culture is different. I mean, it does it does feel familiar, right? So if you've been to the parks in Orlando, California,
There is a familiarity to it when you walk down Main Street and you see the castle and there's a Starbucks on the right and it just has some of those familiar things. But then when you start, doing some of the things, they are very different. And a lot of it is because the park is, what did we say? 20 years. Actually, that just celebrated the 20th anniversary.
It was in November and they're having a big celebration right now. And so even a lot of your classic things are a lot more updated, I would say, than in the other parks. So it gives you a completely different experience. But for a Disney person, it does feel familiar. Yeah. And that actually helped us to kind of date the last time that I was in Hong Kong because Disneyland had just opened.
So 20 years ago and didn't go to Disneyland then. I think we've told the story before where people told us that parents were throwing their kids over the fence to get in because it was completely sold out and you couldn't get in at that time.
Now we couldn't find anybody to corroborate that story. Yeah, you talked to this really young kid and he was like, yeah, he might have been one of people that thrown over the fence. So first thing I guess that people are looking for is they're planning their time and they want to know how much time should they give themselves for Disneyland to make it worthwhile.
Yeah, I mean, I would say that you need the majority of a day. It's definitely not a half day park. And that is what I had read as well. They don't open until 10am. They do have like our early entry process that is completely paid. if you're familiar with the other parks. Sometimes that early entry has to do with what hotel you're staying at and things like that. This is a you can get an hour early. It's paid and only some of the lands are open.
but I would say that you need at least three quarters of a day. So like I was saying, it opens at 10. They do have nighttime entertainment and that kind of thing. If you don't want to stay with that, think you could, I mean, if you don't want to take up more than that, I mean, you could probably be finished by, five or six or something like that. But I would say you're probably going to Hong Kong Disneyland because you really enjoy Disney.
and you're familiar with other parks and that kind of thing. So I would say at least give yourself one day. If you have more time, could definitely stretch it into two days to do everything. We still didn't do everything.
And so when we got there, there was a lot of crowds outside the gates. And I think it was foreshadowing what the day was gonna be like. So talk a little bit about that and what were these people doing gathered around outside the gates when we got there? Yeah, and I really couldn't tell. mean, like I mentioned, we were getting there right as it opened.
So it's very interesting because you do walk down regardless of how you come. You can get there by train, you can be dropped off by car, the hotel shuttles are also they're kind of like all in the same place. So you walked on this long walkway and kind of turn the corner to get to the park. So there's lots of people with luggage and all kinds of things, but like so many people take in pictures, right? Because you have the sign and then there's a fountain and then there's and just pictures, pictures, pictures and
you're kind of wondering are all these people going to the park? So they're kind of doing like you they're so excited and then they're starting to take pictures. But yes, it is a very selfie and picture heavy culture. And so that of course, like you said, foreshadowing what the day would be like, because it's also interesting because I think you commented later on, well, the lines probably won't be long because people are here to take pictures.
So like if there were character meet and greets, it had a long line, but some of the rides we walked right onto them, right? I talked about the outside of the park because like I said, it was foreshadowing of the day and literally you would see, and it was mostly lots of girls in their late teens to maybe late twenties.
in that range and they had their selfie sticks that were tripods and they had their cameras on there and sometimes they had two phones we saw and they were speaking into one phone and maybe reading something from another phone.
These were very much, I would say, the influencer crowd, right? They wanna be there, they wanna get their stuff onto TikTok or YouTube, and we obviously wanted to do some of that as well so that we can share it with our audience, but that's why they were there. I don't think they were there for the rides. Yeah, and it very well could be that they,
what they call the magic pass or whatever, like the season pass type thing. They definitely bring lots of different ears, hats, maybe changes of clothes, mean, like, know, bags of things and their friends too. I mean, you mentioned the tripods, but they're friends and taking turns, taking pictures. So there is a lot of that. Yeah. So make sure to be patient because they...
take lots of pictures and in between they've got to check and make sure that they're perfect, their Instagram perfect. And so you may be waiting for a while and I'm just going to tell you, be aware this culture, they don't care if you're taking a picture, they will walk up and stand right in front of you. I would say it's mostly the visitors who would wait.
if you're taking a picture everybody else if that's where they want to be and they see you taking a picture they're gonna get in front of you so they can get their picture or just walk right in front I would say that's really been not just here I think it was in Singapore too and just not really aware of other people taking pictures and stuff like that so just patience for that well
One of the questions that people ask is, what should I not miss? What are the standout attractions there at Hong Kong Disneyland? So I actually, I did some research, right? So I feel like you definitely should just do some research before you go to any Disney park and read, whether it's blogs or look at things to see, okay, what are the things that I would be interested in? And so I would say,
prioritize the things that are different from what you can do at the other parks if you have been to some of the other parks. Otherwise, I would say do everything and then in that case you might need more than one day and I do want to mention that, that like if you wanted to add a second ticket day, it's actually very inexpensive to like add a second day as well. But so I would say that some of the things to prioritize is the Mystic Manor.
Yeah, we both love that. Yeah, it's fantastic. It's sort of has a Haunted Mansion feel, but not really, but it's the new, they call it the dark ride sequencing. So if you're familiar with Mickey and Minnie and Remy's Ratatouille, it's that kind of ride sequence and it has some elements of both of those things in there. So that was fantastic.
we actually rode that twice in a row. That was kind of recommended to kind of take all that in. So that is one that you don't want to miss because you can't do that anywhere else. That is strictly here at this park. The other one is Big Grizzlies Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. It is a roller coaster ride. It is like Big Thunder Mountain at Disney World, but it does have some twist.
And I thought it was fantastic. Yeah. It's like Big Thunder Mountain meets Everest. Yeah. And so Melissa didn't want me to share too much about this because she's saying that you just got to go ride it. But it was a fast roller coaster. Yeah. And so don't miss it. It was really good. I don't think I could ride it two times back to back.
It was definitely one of those roller coasters, but it was so much fun and we loved it. So what else? so they have a frozen land. It's the first part to have a frozen land. I think that's coming to some other parks. The theming of it is spectacular. For us, we did do the rides.
But for us, I would say if you were short on time or whatever, you probably could skip the rides. The frozen ride is very similar to the frozen ride to Epcot, a little bit different, but I would say very similar. Okay, so I have to say this, I cracked up because we noticed that they were holding these little cards when you get on to show that there is a thing in it, because it is a kid's ride, but the same as Epcot to show that there's like a thing where people go down a hill.
and they have these pictures that they're standing there and then people would, they would show them and some people would turn away. And I laugh so hard because our littlest Rhodes, when he would ride it, when he was little, he would always on the photo pass make the most hilarious scared faces. And so it just reminded me of that. And then there's the second ride there that is,
It's a very short roller coaster that's wandering, oaken, sliding, sleigh. Funny enough, I think that that ended up being the longest wait. We had always heard that frozen ever after would be kind of the longest wait. And I will say that the frozen land, I think is where they say people tend to go right at the beginning. So we opted not to head there first. We did some of the other things first and the other parts were like.
basically empty. could have walked on the Jungle Cruise, we walked on Mystic Manor twice, we basically walked on the Big Grizzly Mountain, and we're going to talk a little bit about timing in just a second, but then the frozen land. So I would say spend some time in there, in some of the shops, there are places to eat, but the theming of that is fantastic.
There's a castle with water in front of it, which I think is just really genius. So excited to see if that frozen land comes to some other parks because I think they hit the nail on the head.
There is a show that you could go to there as well that's a Frozen theme show. And right now you do have to do like almost like it's like a virtual queue type of a thing early in the morning to get a time for that. That is not something that we opted to do, but just know that if that would be something to interest you, just look to see, what the current status of that is and what you have to do to go see that show.
There was one other ride that was like the Buzz Lightyear spin. And we said that is what they need to do at the other parks. Yeah, so it is called Ant Man and the Wasp Nano Battle. And I had it kind of, so I put notes in my phone and I wrote down, OK, based on the things I'd read, here's the things we want to do. And that was on there. But it was like, OK, we do like doing the Buzz Lightyear.
but I'm really glad that we did this because you're right. You can tell when you hit the things, the points go, it just seems a little bit more updated. You get a haptics response in the trigger when you hit the target. So you know you're hitting the target because it gives you feedback. And you can pull the gun or whatever.
Yeah, out of the laser. You have a lot more control than just turning it like you do. Yeah, it's on a cable and so you pull it out and you can point it in whatever direction you want. And you don't have to worry about that little joystick to swivel back and forth. You just use your body and swivel. Yeah, so it's a much updated Buzz Lightyear. So we actually enjoyed that. The other one that a lot of people like to do that was a high on a lot of people's list was
was Iron Man experience, but if you've ever done Star Tours at Hollywood Studios, that is basically what it is, which makes Scott absolutely sick as far as like motion sickness. And so we decided to skip that one, but that might be one that you would wanna do.
And so then we also did hyper space mountain, which is what it's also called at Disneyland Paris. It's the same concept, basically a space mountain, but the ride is different. It is like side by side, not front and back, much newer coaster and it is Star Wars themed.
So if you are a Space Mountain fan, I would definitely say it's worth doing. we basically walked on everything except for the couple that I've mentioned. So if you had to pick one, what would be your favorite?
goodness. Okay, well I'm gonna, goodness. It would either be the Mystic Manor or the big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Minecars. I would say between those two, but those are very completely different. But I would say that those definitely are my top two you don't wanna miss if you I agree, but I do think the Mystic Manor was my favorite. Yeah. Had to pick one favorite. And I think because it's like something that you could not do anywhere else.
So let's talk about when we visited today is Monday. So it's not a weekend. So a weekday. and the crowds were not bad at all. Matter of fact, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. So December 1st, low crowds on a Monday, beautiful blue skies, most of the day, some overcast.
but the temperatures were nice. It was like in the seventies. It wasn't too humid out today. It was a really nice day. Yeah, it was absolutely fantastic. So I had read that, I mean, we're here. We were going to be here the day that we were going to be here. So it wasn't like we were going to pick whether it was a weekend or not a weekend or a school holiday or any of those things. Like we, this is the day we had.
But if you can avoid a weekend, so like if you're gonna be in Hong Kong for several days and you can avoid a weekend, they say the weekends are busy. And even one guy who we talked to that was when we were going to the show, he was like, you picked a great day, the crowds aren't bad. The summer can be really brutally hot. And then also holidays can be busy. And then of course like Chinese New Year and things like that. So if you're gonna plan around that.
definitely look at those things but yeah I mean like I mentioned basically we waited in line if we done jungle cruise earlier we wouldn't have to wait in line at all but we we waited in line maybe for three rides the rest of everything was walk-on and I would like to add to that they do have a premier pass type of a thing where you can pay it's either
her ride for certain rides or you can buy like a package of them, I would say, and do what we would consider like a fast pass or a lightning lane or something like that to, you know, skip the ride, skip the line on those. But we didn't, I mean, we really didn't need that. And then of course, we would have had to plan, you know, times and things like that. So if you are on there on a weekday, not a holiday, I think you could skip that.
How about buying tickets? Do you need to do that ahead of time? You do need to do that ahead of time. They still are using a reservation system. You can either get tickets on their official site, but everywhere that I read said buy them off Kluke, which is, I would say like for Americans, it would be like a newer like ticketing where you could like, if you're familiar with Viator or get your God or something like that, Kluke is kind of a new one.
I think it's been around in Asia and Australia for a while. And get them off Clupe, you downloaded them, then you had the number and you did have to put them in the app and make your reservation. But then what was interesting today, thankfully I had saved them off handy because then like the ticket wasn't in the app, which is a little different from Walt Disney World because once you put that ticket in the app and make your reservation, everything is in the app. And so...
When we got to the front, I said to the girl, it's like, okay, what do I need? And she's like, oh, I need to see like your barcode from your ticket. Where did you buy it? And I told her fluke and she said, yeah, just pull that up, which I had it saved. So, you make sure you have that screenshotted or saved or whatever. I think the prices are the same. And also you had to buy the ticket and then go make the park reservation in the app, which I mean, it was super easy.
but also I don't think that it was like dated pricing or anything like that. And if I remember correctly, it was just under a hundred dollars per person for a one day ticket.
So we've been doing in Hong Kong a little bit of a transportation tour. We wanted to do it kind of all at once, but it's just, it's kind of ended up being too much with my mobility issues. But let's talk about how we got to Disneyland, because we're staying on Hong Kong City, on the Hong Kong Island. And the...
theme park is on a different island. Yeah, it's actually really close to the airport. I think it's called Lantau Island. It's actually really close to the airport. There are Disney hotels. There's an auberges hotel. There's lots of hotels that you could stay at over there if you didn't want to be at the city. Of course, we wanted to be in the city and also do a lot of things in the city, eat and do the transportation and things like that. Super easy to get to Disneyland on the trains.
so if you have a couple of days, think the trains are definitely worth it. We did a little bit of the transportation tour that Scott had planned out for us the night that we arrived yesterday and kind of learned about the trains and looking at the map. We were like, okay, it would be really easy when, you know, one change basically. but we opted to actually just take
an Uber which you could take a taxi from Hong Kong City over to Disneyland. I looked at the difference, it was like 25 minutes and I think it would have taken us closer to an hour. And then also just to not exhaust you before we got to the parks as well. And the Uber was only like 35 bucks so it wasn't super expensive to take either. But there is good public transportation here.
You can also take taxis. Now, we were told that taxis were cash only. And while I believe that they do prefer cash, we've taken two taxis now and both of them would have accepted a card. So just keep that in mind. But the MTR is really nice. It's really clean. Once you get used to it,
It's easy to navigate and use. One thing I would say is that we found on the map, you can look at all the different destinations. So inside the train stations, they have these maps and it's got all of the sightseeing locations, stuff like that on a grid and on a map. And you go down to the grid, you find the number for it and it will tell you
which exit to use. And we didn't know that at first. And we just kind of wandered around and tried to use Google Maps to help us because Central Station is really big. But then we figured that out. And we're like, my god, if we had known this yesterday, would have saved us so much time because you just follow straight to that numbering system that they have and you can get out of there.
The one thing I would say is that use the train to or the MTR as they call it to either go there or come back one or the other. It's literally like you're gonna get to the train station before you get to the taxis or to know buses or any of those things or where you would catch an Uber. And the reason I say that is because the trains on that last little from what they call sunny bay.
where you would change from any of the main lines to the Disneyland Park. It is a Disney themed train car. So Mickey Mouse shaped windows and there's cool things inside. So I think it just is very cool and it adds to that neatness of going to
Let's talk a little bit about the food. So we got there early in the morning, had around 10 o'clock, you know, not too early. We had eaten breakfast at the hotel, so we had the breakfast taken care of. But inside the park, let's talk a little bit about the food options for people. So they have...
quite a few quick serve restaurants. So that would be where you would order and then just get your food right there. And then they have quite a number of sit down places as well. And then of course your typical like all your snack kiosk and things like that. I thought lots of options. So it was so interesting. And I think it's because you do have a lot of different
you know, people with lots of different languages who are visiting and not that that's not in the case in some of the other parks, but I don't know. So you, so you have like menus with not only what it is, but then pictures, but then they also all have a display. The food is plastic, but they have a display of like what it is and what it looks like, which I thought was so interesting. We took pictures of every single one because it was just so interesting.
and but they felt like more meal type things like every Basically everyone, you know unless it was like the turkey leg stand or some of the other they did have Korean squid and they had some African hot dogs and You know some just different interesting like little one-off things but all of the restaurant looking You know the restaurant places it was like almost like a set meal I think they call it some kind of meal combo or
meal set or something like that but you could you could tell exactly what you were getting because they had you know not only pictures but like what you could see but it was like a wide variety of things we actually ended up we snacked throughout the day on some of the different you know ice cream treats and of course pop I don't think you can go to Disney without popcorn but it was caramel popcorn and you know different things like that but we actually ended up eating in one of the quick serve and the way finders table
And I felt like it it rivaled some of the best quick serve at Disney, which is one of the ones in Animal Kingdom at Pandora and one of the one at Hollywood Studios in Star Wars land, but it was like a full meal. So I had a falafel. They were almost like meatballs. It was like a like an Indian dish.
rock and Indian dish, I guess it was kind of a combo between, cause it did have like the yogurt sauce and, and then we both had rice and with a curry sauce and you had chicken. but it was like a complete meal. I thought it was, I thought it was fantastic. Yeah. chicken with the rice. and then some bok choy, was, it was really good. Tasted wonderful.
I wanted to talk just a little bit about the snacks because the snacks aren't the same as what you would find at Disney World in Orlando. They were a little more themed to the people here in Hong Kong. Yeah. So what did you see that was interesting or that stood out to you? Well, I think definitely the ice creams were like different flavors that we might not put together.
in the US and they were shaped, like the different characters. And you even mentioned that like it had chocolate just on one side rather than a chocolate shell all the way around it, which always just ends up making a mess. Yeah, because they but they had that when they had like the traditional Mickey ice cream bar. But then this one was more Minnie Mouse shaped.
but then the flavors, the color of it was the flavors of the two different ice creams with, like you said, the chocolate on the back, but then they had one that looked like Sully from Monsters Inc. that I'm sure that was those flavors. So they had like a lot more options. And then I would say a lot more beverage options, tea, like different teas. Of course you could get sodas and fantas and...
things like that. Yeah even saw one stand where you had a choice you could get an iced tea or you could get a hot tea. Yes. and then some of the other different lands so of course in Adventureland they had churros with ice cream so of course they eat a lot of shrimp here and so it was like
fried shrimp with some kind of like french fries in addition to I think they had like chicken nugget type things and only one place had like hamburgers and that was in Tomorrowland of course but so yeah so I would just definitely say like be prepared to like look at the different snacks and you know see what you might be interested in trying because that that's the big thing here I don't think quite as much variety or things as
Tokyo Disneyland, because that's what they are really known for, but quite a variety of things. And I also think pop in some of the places like the confectionary, and then they also had like a treat place back in the frozen land also.
One of the questions that people search for and want to know is does Hong Kong have fireworks or a nighttime show? So they do. Unfortunately, they had a a horrible fire, I think last week in an apartment building and a lot of people unfortunately were killed. And so they have put a pause on that show, I think through
tonight. They have drones and fireworks and different things like that. They just said out of respect. And what was interesting is you can actually use your ticket to go back another day within six months because of that, which I thought was great. but they do. And I think that was like at eight something or supposed to be like at 820 or something like that. But they do have a nighttime spectacular show. While we were there. They also did a Christmas tree lighting.
They did some projections on Main Street. They did have a Christmas themed drone show that was kind of wouldn't have been over the castle, but it would have been like out front of the park where the Christmas tree would be. So they had a couple of things going on, but not the momentous. So you definitely could spend the whole day I did feel like that the park started to feel a little bit more crowded.
later in the afternoon, maybe as people got off work or whatever.
I feel like even though that they weren't having that momentous and they were telling us when we were coming in they would they were kind of pointing to a thing and Saying, know make sure people understood the show is not happening tonight She would have like she kept crossing her arms like an ex like it's it's canceled too
What about adults traveling without kids? Is this still a good fit for them? Yeah, I actually feel like there was probably more adults without kids. I mean, there were a lot of children there today. Lots of adorable kids in their, princess outfits or prince costumes or, all that kind of stuff, just like you would see. But I honestly felt like there were probably more people without children, especially in the age group that you mentioned.
Wouldn't you say Absolutely, and I just want to go back to the the costumes and stuff I told Melissa said next time we come back. We got to bring a costume bag so that we can do costume changes throughout the day because Literally, I saw these people that were changing their kids costumes between lands and They were really into this and definitely some of those girls
They, we saw them by the end of the night, they had on these wigs. Melissa said, is that George Washington? Martha Washington, but yeah. had on these look like powdered wigs, really fancy dresses. And so, there's definitely a theme going on right now in the way that they dress. But,
Yeah, but I will say, so there is also a whole fantasy land, with Dumbo and the carousel and Winnie the Pooh and I think there was what, Philhar Magic and Mad the Tea Cups. So we didn't spend a lot of time there. We did walk through there a couple of times. So obviously that's probably where most of the kids, there is a Toy Story land too. I will say the two Toy Story, well, it's really three Toy Story rides.
They are actually geared probably towards smaller children. There's a slinky dog, it's more, I would say that land is really geared towards smaller kids. And then finally, where should they stay if they want to go to Disneyland? Should they stay out close to Disneyland or stay in the city? Which one would you recommend? Yeah, and I think that really just depends on how much time that you want to spend at Disneyland.
and what your other plans are.
So I had read some different people's advice that were like, do everything you want to do in Hong Kong, head out and stay in like a Disneyland hotel, just because then it's kind of on your way back and then it's closer to get back to the airport. So it's probably literally 10 or 15 minutes from the airport, from Disneyland. I will also say it probably is, and this might depend on when you're traveling, but the hotel prices for the hotels at Disneyland.
were actually cheaper than in the city. So that might inform your decision. And if you just love Disney and would love to check out the hotels, that might be a great option. But if you are limited on time, and obviously we're not, here two nights, we weren't gonna swap hotels, but it was actually easier, I felt like, than what I thought it was gonna be and pretty quick to get back into the city. So if you wanted to, you know, do stuff and then...
finish up at Disneyland and be back into Hong Kong, I'd say it's really not a big deal. It was very easy and quick to get back into the city. Our Uber this morning was 20 minutes from the city to Disneyland. And that was a Monday morning. because I will say you are going in the opposite direction. You're going toward the airport and there was traffic coming into the city. So if you're in the city, it wouldn't be a big deal. But if you love Disney and would love to check out some of the hotels and like I said, I felt like
at least when we were visiting the price point was very reasonable. think there's three of them, you know, right now, then I think that is a great option, but don't feel like it, you have to do that because it's super close. And you even mentioned on our previous episode about Hong Kong and we're planning is that you could even think of those Disney hotels as like an airport hotel.
That is absolutely what I had read too is because they are so close. So if you like Disney and even if you're not going to the parks, but you want to be close to the airport to get back that they say they're so close that that would be a great option too. to do the, like you said, you're going to do the park. You could go back to the hotel and grab your stuff and then go to the airport. If you had like a later in the day, you know, flight or something like that.
I just want to add for anybody that's thinking of visiting and you have mobility issues or someone in your party has mobility issues, they were so accommodating. I rented a wheelchair and made Melissa push me around today. Still trying to, nurse that foot to help and not supposed to be on it too much until I go back to the doctor. And so
I use that as an excuse to get her to push me, but, you know, they would ask, are you okay with taking a few steps, you know, to get onto and transfer onto the ride? Which of course I was. And, you could go through the regular line. You didn't have to worry about, some kind of disability access or anything like that. you just went through the regular line with the rest of your party.
And then when you got up to the front, they would, help you out with your wheelchair. then, when you got off the ride, they had the wheelchair there ready for you and helped you back into it. So very accommodating, and very nice. And I just liked it because you didn't have to go through special processes. it's like they set up the whole theme part.
with this in mind. And so if you're dealing with those mobility issues, don't let this be a reason not to come. Now we'll say I saw maybe two or three electric scooters, that's it. But I think that was where people who would have brought their own, they do not rent them. They only rent wheelchairs. The wheelchair rental was actually really inexpensive. What did we say? Maybe $11? Yeah, $60 Hong Kong dollars.
which is less than 10 bucks. Yeah. So I do think this people who had the scooters brought them, we saw a couple of other wheelchairs. I would like to add though that if you cannot transfer, like Scott mentioned, to take in a couple of steps, I don't think they have any setup where you would be able to do anything unless you can transfer. And by what I mean is get out of the wheelchair. Did you see any of those? They didn't mention that there were a few rides.
where you can take the wheelchair onto the ride. And maybe they kept asking us because then maybe they would have to prep that. Because I know, for example, Small World, and they have to have a special boat. So maybe they would ask us when we first got in the line to say, okay, so if you couldn't transfer, then they would have to put that boat in or get that car prepped or something like that. So that is a good point. So I do not know that.
need to know that information you might have to dig a little bit more or contact them because you did transfer on all of them. And if you're renting a stroller or wheelchair they do require a deposit it was 100 Hong Kong dollars in cash in cash so make sure you have that cash with you you could pay for the rental with the credit card but the deposit had to be in cash
Yeah, but I thought I mean, I thought they did a fantastic job and they were just they were super nice. So it worked out great. They actually allowed you to store your crutches. Because I kind of thought, oh, you'll bring your crutches because obviously need them to get to get there to transfer but it was great for them to store them. So it was just one less thing for us to keep up with. So I thought that was fantastic. So that was easy. You ran it over by
and at the fire station right there on the little main street.
Anything else you'd like to add kind of in closing? Any closing thoughts?
I think it was just, we had a fantastic day. I think just like with any Disney park, kind of have a plan, but know that, weather and things like, that, yes, we, it would have been great to see that momentous nighttime show if we had decided to stay that long, but just kind of know, things happen. We did a few things I would say that we hadn't really planned on doing.
We hadn't necessarily planned to go to the shows because sometimes it's like, the timing, but we went and saw the Mickey and the Wonderful Book. We were like walking by it and the guy said, do you want to come? It's about to start and we did and it was fantastic. I said they need this show at some of the other Disney parks. They need it. It was just, it was, it was a Broadway style, but some of the special effects were fantastic. It was hilarious because it was actually
partly in Chinese and partly in English. The English was more the songs that we're familiar with. They didn't like translate those. But then they would have it, they had the subtitles kind of out to the side. It was a little difficult to watch and do that at the same time, but that was fun. I'm glad that we did that because it was just...
I don't know, was very classic Disney and they did a fantastic job and like I said, they need to bring that show to some other places. Melissa got tickled because in one of the scenes they had Olaf and Goofy out on the stage and Goofy said something in Chinese and then the translation over the side said, I've been chasing his butt all around.
And so, she just got tickled at that. Because he didn't have his head anymore. But it's just as funny because it was like, oh, his butt. OK, so but it was cute. But it was just it was it's fun, I think, to see that, where Mickey and Olaf and, when it's in Chinese and then it would be partly in English. But actually everything else, I guess we should mention that because maybe that is a question that people would ask is, oh, is this all going to be in Chinese? No.
Most everything was in English. The only other thing was Jungle Cruise and you could get in the Chinese line or the English line. Of course, the girl stopped so fast, but it was great. It was still fun. It was very short, I think compared to other Jungle Cruises, but that was good. Everything else was in English, right? I think you could have pulled a skier behind that boat. Yeah, she was moving so fast through there, but everything else was really in English.
They might would say a few other words in Chinese, but I really felt everything was really more geared toward English and then, you know, then some of the signs and different things. But so so that actually, you know, we didn't kind of start with that. But yeah, everything was really in English. Anything else?
Definitely go like if that's what we we met these we met some kids from the UK today and I just had mentioned You know y'all are from the UK. Have you been to Disney World and we? Mentioned. our goal is to do all of the parks Well, they're gonna beat us because they were actually on this trip Doing Hong Kong then going to Shanghai and then going to Tokyo some of them were finishing up and I think one of the girls had not been to Paris they were jealous that we were so close to Orlando, but it was super cute because they were obviously
know, Disney fans. So I'd it's definitely worth a visit to just, check it out while you're in Hong Kong.
Well that's going to wrap up today's episode. I hope walking through these top questions gave you a clearer picture of what Hong Kong Disneyland is really like and how easy it is to add this to your Hong Kong itinerary.
It's one of those places that brings out your inner child, no matter how old you are, and the experience feels lighter, more relaxed, and more personal than larger Disney parks that we're used to. If you're planning a trip to Hong Kong soon, we'd love to hear what you're excited to see,
and to know if Hong Kong Disneyland has now worked its way onto your list. As always, thanks for spending part of your day with Wherever you're headed next, we hope you travel more and travel better. The world is full of sunshine and surprises. Make 2026 the year that you explore beyond the familiar.
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