Help with attraction/ride game plan for day trip.

[a7xmouse]

Hi, I posted another thread earlier about trying to get tickets online, still no luck, but now I need to create a game plan for what rides I should I go to first and which rides are the best.
This is my first time to HKDL and I’m very excited as this is my last Disney park I’ve yet to visit in the world. I am goin sometime in the first week of April and will only be goin one day so I can explore the rest of Hong Kong. I have visited Disneyland in CA hundreds of times so I know what I’m doin for the most part but I have no idea what rides and attractions I should go to first or which will fill up the fastest.
So my question is what are the most popular rides? What are your can’t miss rides and attractions? I know the ant man ride opens at the end of March so I assumed I would make a bee line for that ride initially but after that I’m not sure what needs to be done. Pretty much I want to make sure I don’t miss out on any of the best rides and attractions the park has to offer. I’m not huge on shows, I’m mostly a ride guy, and it will just be my wife and myself, and we like to get things done with few breaks in between. That being said is there a show or two that are cool I would definitely check them out time permitting. What are the best places to eat? I love all types of food, including dim sum and similar food. Any other tips and suggestions would be appreciated. Also how does fastpass here work? Is it through an app? Do you have to pay for it? Or paper fast passes only? Thanks

 

[indoshakespeare]

Ant-Man and Wasp (rethemed Buzz Lightyear Astroblaster) will be opening March 31st so that will be your number 1 priority. After that it should be Iron Man Experience (rethemed Star Tours). If you have to ride the Toy Story Land rides, ride them immediately after Iron Man. If you don't have too then head over to Mystic Point to ride Mystic Manor and then go to Grizzly Gulch for Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Car(a hybrid Big Thunder Mountain and Expedition Everest). These three expansion areas open 1 hour after the rest of the park open so you essentially have 2 "Rope Drops". (Unless the park opens at 10:30....these area would open at 11).

To summarize:
1. Ant-Man and Wasp
2. Iron Man Experience
2a (optional): Toy Story Land rides: Parachute Drop, RC Racer, Slinky Dog Spin
3. Mystic Manor
4. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Car

The TSL rides fill up faster than Mystic Manor and Big Grizzly Mountain. Sometimes these 2 are still 5-10 minutes wait even at noon.

There are two unique shows to Hong Kong Disneyland. The first is Moana's Homecoming Celebration in Adventureland. This show is bilingual and it's pretty good if you're a Moana fan. Kids seem to like this show. The second one is Mickey and the Wondrous Book. This is a sister show to Mickey and the Magical Map in California (same creator) but features different song line ups. The afternoon parade is Flights of Fantasy which is very similar to Soundsational in California and Festival of Fantasy in Florida. At night, there is a projection show called "We Love Mickey!" in main street and the Paint the Night parade is very similar to the one you used to have in California. The night parade usually starts at closing time (if park closes at 8, it starts at 8. if it closes at 7.30, it starts at 7.30). I have seen it start earlier if the park closing time is later than 8 (for example, if park closed at 8.30 sometimes the parade still starts at 8).

At this moment, I think they are phasing out the old Fastpass system (it is the same system as in California without the Maxpass so paper only). There are only two with FP so far: Hyperspace Mountain and Winnie the Pooh (both are the same as the California version but you can experience Hyperspace layover again if you miss it back home). If Ant-Man doesn't open with a FP, you can assume they're done with it. (Iron Man used to have it but they took it out). They started to sell paid FPs starting this year.

Plaza Inn is a table service restaurant that serves local Hong Kong food including Dim Sum (the name fooled me too, i thought it served Western Food ^^). Main Street Corner Cafe is the only other table service restaurant. This one serves Western food.

The only quick service that serves dedicated Western food is Starliner Diner in Tomorrowland (Lucky Nugget Saloon in Grizzly Gulch is a vendor cart that serves Chicken Nuggets and stuff but sometimes it's not open). The most recommended quick service is Explorer's Club in Mystic Point. There are 2 other quick service in Fantasyland. These 3 serve food from all over Asia.

Explorer's Club (Mystic Point): Indonesia, Japan, Korea, South East Asia (Which is weird because Indonesia is also in South East Asia but it has its own special counter)
Royal Banquet Hall (Fantasyland): Grill, Japan, Guangdong, International (This is the only counter service that serves Dim Sum. The International counter has Pizza and Spaghetti)
Clopin's Festival of Food: Noodles, Guangdong BBQ and Wok (This one is all Chinese)

 

[a7xmouse]

Ant-Man and Wasp (rethemed Buzz Lightyear Astroblaster) will be opening March 31st so that will be your number 1 priority. After that it should be Iron Man Experience (rethemed Star Tours). If you have to ride the Toy Story Land rides, ride them immediately after Iron Man. If you don't have too then head over to Mystic Point to ride Mystic Manor and then go to Grizzly Gulch for Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Car(a hybrid Big Thunder Mountain and Expedition Everest). These three expansion areas open 1 hour after the rest of the park open so you essentially have 2 "Rope Drops". (Unless the park opens at 10:30....these area would open at 11).

To summarize:
1. Ant-Man and Wasp
2. Iron Man Experience
2a (optional): Toy Story Land rides: Parachute Drop, RC Racer, Slinky Dog Spin
3. Mystic Manor
4. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Car

The TSL rides fill up faster than Mystic Manor and Big Grizzly Mountain. Sometimes these 2 are still 5-10 minutes wait even at noon.

There are two unique shows to Hong Kong Disneyland. The first is Moana's Homecoming Celebration in Adventureland. This show is bilingual and it's pretty good if you're a Moana fan. Kids seem to like this show. The second one is Mickey and the Wondrous Book. This is a sister show to Mickey and the Magical Map in California (same creator) but features different song line ups. The afternoon parade is Flights of Fantasy which is very similar to Soundsational in California and Festival of Fantasy in Florida. At night, there is a projection show called "We Love Mickey!" in main street and the Paint the Night parade is very similar to the one you used to have in California. The night parade usually starts at closing time (if park closes at 8, it starts at 8. if it closes at 7.30, it starts at 7.30). I have seen it start earlier if the park closing time is later than 8 (for example, if park closed at 8.30 sometimes the parade still starts at 8).

At this moment, I think they are phasing out the old Fastpass system (it is the same system as in California without the Maxpass so paper only). There are only two with FP so far: Hyperspace Mountain and Winnie the Pooh (both are the same as the California version but you can experience Hyperspace layover again if you miss it back home). If Ant-Man doesn't open with a FP, you can assume they're done with it. (Iron Man used to have it but they took it out). They started to sell paid FPs starting this year.

Plaza Inn is a table service restaurant that serves local Hong Kong food including Dim Sum (the name fooled me too, i thought it served Western Food ^^). Main Street Corner Cafe is the only other table service restaurant. This one serves Western food.

The only quick service that serves dedicated Western food is Starliner Diner in Tomorrowland (Lucky Nugget Saloon in Grizzly Gulch is a vendor cart that serves Chicken Nuggets and stuff but sometimes it's not open). The most recommended quick service is Explorer's Club in Mystic Point. There are 2 other quick service in Fantasyland. These 3 serve food from all over Asia.

Explorer's Club (Mystic Point): Indonesia, Japan, Korea, South East Asia (Which is weird because Indonesia is also in South East Asia but it has its own special counter)
Royal Banquet Hall (Fantasyland): Grill, Japan, Guangdong, International (This is the only counter service that serves Dim Sum. The International counter has Pizza and Spaghetti)
Clopin's Festival of Food: Noodles, Guangdong BBQ and Wok (This one is all Chinese)

Thanks for all the awesome information, very helpful!

 

[indoshakespeare]

There's also the Fairy Tale Forest in Fantasyland which has interactive displays of many popular scenes in Princess movies. It's like Storybook Canal Boat but walkthrough and interactive. It's also where Tinker Bell has her meet and greet

In Adventureland, there is the Karibuni marketplace with carnival games (similar to the ones in Paradise Pier / Pixar Pier).

 

[OldSchoolReasons]

Here's my plan of action, it's very similar to the one above!

Ant Man & The Wasp, Iron Man Experience and Hyperspace Mountain via standby.


11am Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Trains and Mystic Manor


Toy Story rides


Parade


Winnie the Pooh via fastpass

‘it’s a small world’, Fairytale Forest


Jungle Cruise

Hyperspace Mountain via fastpass

Paint the Night

 

[Zemba]

Here's my plan of action, it's very similar to the one above!

Ant Man & The Wasp, Iron Man Experience and Hyperspace Mountain via standby.


11am Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Trains and Mystic Manor


Toy Story rides


Parade
w


Winnie the Pooh via fastpass

‘it’s a small world’, Fairytale Forest


Jungle Cruise

Hyperspace Mountain via fastpass

Paint the Night

Just so you’re prepared, you aren’t able to choose the time for your fast passes. You swipe your ticket, and the system will automatically print out a fast pass for the next available time slot. There have been times where I’ve had to decide between using my fast pass and seeing a parade/show etc.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Winnie the Pooh is a copy of the Florida version but sufficiently different from the California version to warrant a ride if you don't go to Florida often. Jungle Cruise also has a different ending that is best viewed from the right side of the boat. I usually recommend doing Iron Man in the afternoon and Fantasyland rides first because Fantasyland lines can get long while Iron Man rarely gets long. If you go to California but not Florida, you would do Winnie the Pooh, Philharmagic and It's a Small World (skippable if you don't care to "spot the differences"). You could probably skip the rafts to Tarzan's Treehouse.

There's going to be a new show for Spring this year instead of the parade but we won't know if its worth watching until it debuts on Thursday. Moana is a unique show but I don't know a single person who likes it more than Lion King or Magical Book. I think Lion King is worse than the Florida version but could be worth seeing if you haven't been to Florida recently. I think the plot and effects for Magical Book are better than Magical Map in California so it's worth watching but the language mixing kinda kills the show. There's English translations on the large book to the upper right if you need them. Flight of Fantasy also has a parade stop so watch from Main Street if you want to see this. Since rides will be closed by the time Paint the Night happens, there's no reason to not watch it unless you wanted to leave early.

These days, frequent visitors prefer eating at Explorer's Club unless they want the better lighting and air conditioning of Royal Banquet Hall. Tahitian Terrace is also not bad if it's open the day you go.

I think most other things have been covered already.

 

[OldSchoolReasons]

Just so you’re prepared, you aren’t able to choose the time for your fast passes. You swipe your ticket, and the system will automatically print out a fast pass for the next available time slot. There have been times where I’ve had to decide between using my fast pass and seeing a parade/show etc.

That's fine, I'm used to that system from Disneyland Paris.

 

[gelatoni fan]

So the Springtime Celebration show is only about 5 minutes long. It's unique but the Lunar New Year show in DCA is better. It rained yesterday so it's possible there's a better version of the show but knowing HKDL, they're probably trying to cut costs at the expense of guest experiences (last year's parade would definitely be more expensive than this show).

 

[a7xmouse]

Thanks for all the info.