HKDL Booked - Now a PTR!!

[ehsmum]

that food tour sounds great! Unfortunately for us, our kids are picky eaters so we didn't get to sample too much of the local cuisine so I'll look forward to living vicariously through you!

 

[Princess_Melanie]

YUM!!! I'll want food porn.

sounds like a great deal.

We are total food addicts so there will be plenty of food porn lol - DBF is used to me going "NO! Don't eat it yet" and me taking a dozen pictures

Sounds like a great idea to get an idea about the food for the rest of your stay!

Absolutely - we both love chinese food but we thought it would be a great way of expanding our choices and learning about the food, culture and people at the same time.

that food tour sounds great! Unfortunately for us, our kids are picky eaters so we didn't get to sample too much of the local cuisine so I'll look forward to living vicariously through you!

I promise to make a full report I was a little worried as I don't eat seafood or shellfish - I try every so often to eat some but it still makes me gag shame as we have some wonderful fish restaurants and sushi restaurants here in London and all over the UK. Hong Kong Foodie Tour replied to my query right away and said it was no problem at all as all the food for our little group is prepared fresh for us - they would simply switch out the fish element for me and put in pork/beef/chicken instead - really helpful and really super nice about it too.

Hong Kong Foodie Tours even emailed me after I'd booked (they use an a booking agent for tickets) and reassured me that the dietary request was noted for me. A+ for effort already!!

 

[Princess_Melanie]

Okay!!

Having just passed the 99 day mark and not even started a planning schedule or spreadsheet I'm in a slightly panicked mood!!

Usually by ths point for a WDW vacation, the excel spreadsheet is updated for park hours and fireworks, anything and everythng is printed and the suitcases are dusted off ready to pack..not this time!! We've been a bit pre-occupied by life instead....

Our lovely little house has kept us heavily occupied but that is FINALLY finished now, and my stepfather is recovering from his stroke well and is in a fantastic rehab center, so all smiles there. My best friends' baby girl is still fighting a huge tumor like a trooper and isn't doing too well so a lot of my time and energy is with my bestie

BUT we will be flying out in just under 3 weeks so I'd better get my butt in gear and get organised!!! I think a lot hinges on how the weather is on "the day" we decide to do some things so it'll no doubt freak me out and I'll worry about forgetting something....lol!!

So, my apologies for the delay in updates - I'm trying and more will come soon!!

 

[Princess_Melanie]

Still not much happening on the planning front, we've started to dig out clothes to think about packing but we're still not sure on how the weather will be really...

We have booked ourselves onto a VIP tour in DLHK though....on Halloween!!!

We talked it over and decided to take the plunge and book the Halloween Dark Elite tour for just the 2 of us. They even called us this morning to confirm the tour details and to list anything we wanted to do in particular (we said the haunted houses, toy story land and grizzly gulch coasters, the space mountain halloween style and definately the parades and fireworks). The CM we spoke to was lovely and will confirm the time of our private meet and greet with characters nearer the date.

VERY excited!! It was a little expensive, but we figured on one of the busiest nights for Halloween it was worth it to skip the lines and get great viewing spots

 

[zanzibar138]

That sounds awesome! Sometimes it's worth splurging a little

 

[PrincessInOz]

That's a great plan. And what a good way to dodge the lines.


Looking forward to your views of how the tour goes.

 

[ky71]

Just wanted to add my two cents...
We visited HKDL during the halloween season in 2010. I tried very hard to find out about it from the website - I didn't realise until close to departure that halloween was not a hard ticketed event like at WDW and that alot of the activites were dorment during the day (like Main St Haunted Hotel and Demon forest). Also we went prepared with costumes and very very few children were dressed up and ZERO adults!

We stayed at HH too and tried from the first day to get a reservation at the DLH's Enchanted Garden character meal - it was sold out solid for 8 days! If you stay at the DLH you are hosted at breakfast with characters daily (no other guests can book at breakfast) I will remember that for next time.

Chef Mickeys restaurant does NOT have any character meals (DLP, WDW and TDR all have characters at Chef Mickeys...) Tick Tock diner is VERY tiny but has a good selection of western style light meals. Be sure to explore the DLH maze garden - it's so pretty.

There was no photopass CD but plenty of professional photographers and good value/quality packages to purchase.

With your Octopus card don't forget to get your leftover amount refunded at the end of your trip. We thought that was lost money but were surprised to have found out differently by accident after our last journey.

 

[Princess_Melanie]

Just wanted to add my two cents...
We visited HKDL during the halloween season in 2010. I tried very hard to find out about it from the website - I didn't realise until close to departure that halloween was not a hard ticketed event like at WDW and that alot of the activites were dorment during the day (like Main St Haunted Hotel and Demon forest). Also we went prepared with costumes and very very few children were dressed up and ZERO adults!

We stayed at HH too and tried from the first day to get a reservation at the DLH's Enchanted Garden character meal - it was sold out solid for 8 days! If you stay at the DLH you are hosted at breakfast with characters daily (no other guests can book at breakfast) I will remember that for next time.

Chef Mickeys restaurant does NOT have any character meals (DLP, WDW and TDR all have characters at Chef Mickeys...) Tick Tock diner is VERY tiny but has a good selection of western style light meals. Be sure to explore the DLH maze garden - it's so pretty.

There was no photopass CD but plenty of professional photographers and good value/quality packages to purchase.

With your Octopus card don't forget to get your leftover amount refunded at the end of your trip. We thought that was lost money but were surprised to have found out differently by accident after our last journey.

Thank you for all the tips everything is appreciated!!

We have been told that we can book reservations in the DLH from 21 fays before arrive, waiting eagerly to book in for Disney Dim Sum!!

We did have a lovely call from tour services confirming our private tour booking and noting all the attractions we specifically wanted to do. The times for the private meet and greet have not been released yet, but they will contact us to discuss that. We were also offered the option of them booking in any dining reservations for before the tour, declined as we have plans for the 1st part of the day, but thought that was a nice touch. They are lookng after us well already!!

DBF is all clued up on the Octopus card bless him - he's an accountant at Transport for London and it turns out the Octopus system was based on our own Oyster card system here in London Will remember to check out any balance left on card at the end of our trip.

Now our only decision at the moment is wether or not to hire a mobile phone....free calls in HK, free landline calls home, free access to internet and aps and emails.....will save us a fortune our UK mobiles that are expensive to use abroad outside the EU....but could be useful for maps etc around HK as well a my addiction to social networking sites!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thank you for all the tips everything is appreciated!!

We have been told that we can book reservations in the DLH from 21 fays before arrive, waiting eagerly to book in for Disney Dim Sum!!

We did have a lovely call from tour services confirming our private tour booking and noting all the attractions we specifically wanted to do. The times for the private meet and greet have not been released yet, but they will contact us to discuss that. We were also offered the option of them booking in any dining reservations for before the tour, declined as we have plans for the 1st part of the day, but thought that was a nice touch. They are lookng after us well already!!

DBF is all clued up on the Octopus card bless him - he's an accountant at Transport for London and it turns out the Octopus system was based on our own Oyster card system here in London Will remember to check out any balance left on card at the end of our trip.

Now our only decision at the moment is wether or not to hire a mobile phone....free calls in HK, free landline calls home, free access to internet and aps and emails.....will save us a fortune our UK mobiles that are expensive to use abroad outside the EU....but could be useful for maps etc around HK as well a my addiction to social networking sites!!

I'm sure I got reservations for the restaurant at least 4 months out.


We got local prepaid SIM cards for HK and just popped them in our (unlocked) phones. Worked great!

 

[Princess_Melanie]

I'm sure I got reservations for the restaurant at least 4 months out.


We got local prepaid SIM cards for HK and just popped them in our (unlocked) phones. Worked great!

I think it's the cross-hotel rule, because we're at the Hollywood it's a 21 day out rule. We were told if we were staying at the Disneyland, we'd have an earlier window....

Our phones are locked so the sim wouldn't work in our phones. We work out it'll be about £80 or so for the full trip, when we were in New England for christmas and new year in 2010, we turned data off on my phone for most of the trip, I used it a little for a few emails, updating FB and we called home on christmas day for a few short calls and my bill was about £60 higher than usual....we are thinking about the phone hire as it would mean having an internet connection for most of the day....handy for maps and apps.....as well as calling home and my brother on his wedding day (he's getting married while we're away....)

HKDL posted up the sneak peaks for merchandise and food for halloween and I'm seriously excited lol!!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

I think it's the cross-hotel rule, because we're at the Hollywood it's a 21 day out rule. We were told if we were staying at the Disneyland, we'd have an earlier window....

Our phones are locked so the sim wouldn't work in our phones. We work out it'll be about £80 or so for the full trip, when we were in New England for christmas and new year in 2010, we turned data off on my phone for most of the trip, I used it a little for a few emails, updating FB and we called home on christmas day for a few short calls and my bill was about £60 higher than usual....we are thinking about the phone hire as it would mean having an internet connection for most of the day....handy for maps and apps.....as well as calling home and my brother on his wedding day (he's getting married while we're away....)

HKDL posted up the sneak peaks for merchandise and food for halloween and I'm seriously excited lol!!!

Will your service provider let you unlock your phones? It may come down to a fee. But in the long run, it may be worth it.


I'm refusing to look at the merchandise on line. No point torturing myself.

 

[Princess_Melanie]

The merchandise pics are a little small, but the sample on display looked neat, excited to see some of the pins....

I may look into unlocking, but I don't think it's something our provider offers....how much was the pre-paid sim? The reason I like the look of the hire of a smart phone is that the daily cost is fixed and includes all calls to the UK (landlines), all HK numbers and unlimited data.....so we'd know exactly how much we're spending. They also let you tether it to a laptop so that will be useful in the hotel room, no internet charge or having to sit in the lobby for free wi-fi

 

[PrincessInOz]

The merchandise pics are a little small, but the sample on display looked neat, excited to see some of the pins....

I may look into unlocking, but I don't think it's something our provider offers....how much was the pre-paid sim? The reason I like the look of the hire of a smart phone is that the daily cost is fixed and includes all calls to the UK (landlines), all HK numbers and unlimited data.....so we'd know exactly how much we're spending. They also let you tether it to a laptop so that will be useful in the hotel room, no internet charge or having to sit in the lobby for free wi-fi

Melanie - The prepaid sim was a "gift" from the nephew of our TA friend. I suspect that it wasn't more than $40 Aussie; which is about GBP 20-30. DH and I had a phone and the sim card each. He used a lot more data than me and probably topped up with another Aussie$15. The included call allowance on my card lasted practically the whole trip.


I don't know if the Dis will allow this link to Whirlpool...I googled "3 prepaid sim Hong Kong"...

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1341981


The advice on here seems to be to purchase the SIM card at the airport.

 

[Princess_Melanie]

Thank You the linked worked and I had a quick read, given both options to DBF to have a look at too, the price for hiring a phone has now gone down to HK$68 per day which is excellent, so it's all up to DBF now....

 

[jenshell75]

lurking and learing. We just booked HKDL for 3 nights December 2013 23rd, 24th and 25th December. It's our Christmas treat

We hope to spend 10 -12 days in HK

I can't wait to hear all your plans and see all your photos

Jen
Sydney Australia

 

[PrincessInOz]

lurking and learing. We just booked HKDL for 3 nights December 2013 23rd, 24th and 25th December. It's our Christmas treat

We hope to spend 10 -12 days in HK

I can't wait to hear all your plans and see all your photos

Jen
Sydney Australia

Congrats Jenshell! Sounds like a wonderful way to spend Christmas!