A (2019) HalloXmas trip to Asia - Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo! - COMPLETED 5/1!!!

[vamassey1]

On my way back through Grizzly Gulch I stopped to take some more photos.

This whole area is very well done. I'm guessing the Eastern part of the World is fascinated with our Wild Wild West?

Very cute show and I love their costumes.

And near the end I noticed Chip and Dale also watching, so of course they had to join in! Which was the cutest thing ever!

What a great bonus!

Part 6 – Journey to Halloweentown

This is soooooo coooool. My kids would love this.

Various props in the walk-up to the “house”

I was thinking, "so many great photo ops".

The end hallway where I definitely jumped and screamed when someone popped open a hatch in the wall to surprise me! I actually heard the CM sort of giggling behind the wall afterwards!

I would have been jumping the whole way through. It doesn't take much to make me jump.

And HKDL does something super cool with 3 different languages! English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. When I was there the longest line was always for English, but by long line, I mean they filled up the boat, rather than others which would run with only a couple groups!

Very interesting. I'm looking forward to your pictures when you post them.

 

[KEK1]

Love your updates. HKDL looks amazing with no crowds.. what a difference! WDW last time for me was spoilt by crowds so I can't wait to go there and hopefully experience the same.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

That Grizzly Gulch Welcome Wagon reminds me a lot of what Hoop-Dee-Doo is in WDW. Haven't seen either in person, but they give me similar vibes and costumes. I love how Chip & Dale get involved.

Omg, I was wondering if you got to do one of their house walkthroughs. I watched the one they did with Alice in Wonderland and Pinocchio, it looked so cool. I wish the US parks did this, but that would put them in even deeper competition with Universal and Knott's. This was neat though and it's cool it was more self-guided and allowed you to take photos inside. I feel it's something like this they should do at DCA though.

Omg I had no idea they offered various options for their Jungle Cruise. I always thought it was just in Mandarin. Love it. So many cool offerings at HKDL.

 

[KathyM2]

Their version of JC looked amazing...I would love to ride different parks versions of this...a ride that is familiar but different at the same time! So fun.

 

[Lesley Wake]

This whole area is very well done. I'm guessing the Eastern part of the World is fascinated with our Wild Wild West?

Yeah I think so. But also I think some really talented imagineers were given free reign with this area (maybe Joe Rhode had some part in it?)

I was thinking, "so many great photo ops".

Haha, yeah!

I would have been jumping the whole way through. It doesn't take much to make me jump.

Me neither! Thankfully since I was lagging behind most of the group I entered with, I could hear when there was a big scream ahead!

Love your updates. HKDL looks amazing with no crowds.. what a difference! WDW last time for me was spoilt by crowds so I can't wait to go there and hopefully experience the same.

I know - low crowds really spoil me!

That Grizzly Gulch Welcome Wagon reminds me a lot of what Hoop-Dee-Doo is in WDW. Haven't seen either in person, but they give me similar vibes and costumes. I love how Chip & Dale get involved.

Omg, I was wondering if you got to do one of their house walkthroughs. I watched the one they did with Alice in Wonderland and Pinocchio, it looked so cool. I wish the US parks did this, but that would put them in even deeper competition with Universal and Knott's. This was neat though and it's cool it was more self-guided and allowed you to take photos inside. I feel it's something like this they should do at DCA though.

Omg I had no idea they offered various options for their Jungle Cruise. I always thought it was just in Mandarin. Love it. So many cool offerings at HKDL.

Yeah, I could understand the similarities to HDDR. Who knows, maybe some of the performers have done both?

The walkthrough was fun! Probably not on the level of HHN, but a cool change from other Disney offerings. I wish they still had the really twisted Disney version, not just Nightmare, but I'll take what I can get! DCA could be fun, but I think they usually don't need to worry about attracting people anyways! They tried doing a bit of it with the Oogie Boogie Bash last year, which I was really looking forward to this year, but I guess I'll just have to wait a year!

I had heard about the different options for JC but didn't realize how popular the English one would be! I wish Tokyo would have something like that, but they have fewer non-Japanese visitors, so don't need to bother.

Their version of JC looked amazing...I would love to ride different parks versions of this...a ride that is familiar but different at the same time! So fun.

Yeah exactly! I'm looking forward to posting the photos - just know there is fire involved in their finale!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Part 7 – Flights of Fantasy Parade

At this time it was almost parade time. And due to crowding, I had to fight to find a bench spot with no one around me… yeah it was that type of a day! And if it’s not clear I’m being extremely sarcastic – I literally walked down the parade route and ended up finding a spot on a bench relatively near the start of the route about 15 minutes before parade time and no one ended crowding me, so I was able to get photos while seated and no one in the way! Only negative was it ended up being in sun, which made it so hot my camera tried overheating!

On with the show! Flights of Fantasy Parade. The music was similar to Soundsational, which is now retired at Disneyland, so made me nostalgic!

Opening unit

Winnie the Pooh! Love the cute tigger cheer squad and the flying bees!

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[Lesley Wake]

Princesses together

Jungle Book/Lion King! The acrobatic monkeys were a highlight!

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[Lesley Wake]

Fairies!

Lilo and Stitch! Aloha

And the cutest little parade attendants helping close out the show!

Overall a cute parade. It probably needs a few more parade units to be really great. But it works with the park right now.

Coming up: Fantasyland explorations!​

 

[missangelalexis]

The NBC themed house looked so fun- I would have gone nuts for that!

And the parade looks really cute!

 

[Lesley Wake]

The NBC themed house looked so fun- I would have gone nuts for that!

And the parade looks really cute!

Yeah it was a fun house. I've been to some other Halloween pop-up things around LA that were like that too!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Part 8 – it’s a small world

Since I was right there, after the parade I headed to it’s a small world.

The exterior was sort of an interesting mish mash of Florida and California, with the exterior façade but loading inside. (Oh and the cranes you can see are from construction for the future Frozen Land)

The ride was pretty similar to the other versions.

Though it is always interesting seeing it in different countries as WDI tried to tailor each version based on the location. It also has Disney characters (which for the record, I love! WDW is the only version without characters).

The Arctic

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[Lesley Wake]

Europe

The Middle East. Abu was so cute!

Africa

The Americas

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[Lesley Wake]

Asia

I loved the Hong Kong setup too!

Oceania/Tropics

Finale – another white wonderland!

Always a good ride, no matter where you go! Though WDW is the only one that hasn't added characters yet, but I think it's just a matter of time before that happens!

Coming up - More fantasyland​

 

[PlutosRHM55]

I really hope WDW adds the characters soon. There's really no reason why they shouldn't have added them. It's been a mostly positively received addition so I don't get it. It makes no sense though that WDW is the only one without the extravagant outdoor facade... that will always make her the lesser one for me.

I love how they have a more pastel finale in Japan than the white one we get in most of the other parks. It's really pretty and less morbid-esque like the other finales.

 

[KEK1]

Great pics! Enjoyed the tour through the parade and SW

 

[missangelalexis]

IASW looks super cute! I would love if WDW eventually added the characters in there!

 

[vamassey1]

That's a very colorful parade. Small World is great way to keep the colorful theme going. I really hope they add the characters to Small World in DW in the future.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

That NBC house is amazing

 

[Lesley Wake]

I really hope WDW adds the characters soon. There's really no reason why they shouldn't have added them. It's been a mostly positively received addition so I don't get it. It makes no sense though that WDW is the only one without the extravagant outdoor facade... that will always make her the lesser one for me.

I love how they have a more pastel finale in Japan than the white one we get in most of the other parks. It's really pretty and less morbid-esque like the other finales.

Yeah they definitely should add them! And redo the entrance with a facade!

Great pics! Enjoyed the tour through the parade and SW

Thanks!

IASW looks super cute! I would love if WDW eventually added the characters in there!

Yeah, it's always fun taking a kid on the ride and getting them to identify all the characters!

That's a very colorful parade. Small World is great way to keep the colorful theme going. I really hope they add the characters to Small World in DW in the future.

Yeah me too!

That NBC house is amazing

It was fun!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Part 9 – Explorations around Fantasyland

I had plans to see the stage show, but still had plenty of time, so explored Fantasyland a bit. A similar overall building layout to Disneyland, though fewer people! (Also different rides)

A Tangled themed fire hydrant?

Clopin’s Festival of Foods – a quick service which unfortunately was not open while I was there. Though it wasn’t roped off so I could walk through checking out the theming. I appreciate the ceiling coverings and the confetti on the ground!

Took a visit to Winnie the Pooh (the identical ride to the version in WDW and Shanghai, except it was in English. The one in California is very close but not identical to these ones).

I loved how the fabric awnings looked like honey drips!

This was cool to see in the queue, so you knew when the photo was coming!

The ride itself was pretty basic. Fun but I didn’t bother going on it again! Something funny though – if you remember in Disney World, WtP took over the Mr. Toad spot and on the wall in Owl’s spot it shows Mr Toad handing over the keys to Owl, which is always cute to see. In Shanghai, it did not take over that spot, so there was just a portrait of Owl in that spot. In Hong Kong though, they never had a Mr Toad ride (the park opened 7 yrs after Mr Toad closed in WDW). But they still had the portrait of Owl and Mr Toad up! Sort of made me laugh!​