HKDL next Fall, plenty of questions!

[RotorBeav15]

Greetings Fellow Disney Fans,

My wife and I are looking to visit HKDL sometime in the fall along with our son (who will be 18 months at that point). At this point we are planning at least 3 days at the hotels as well as 3 days or so at the parks. We will also combine this trip with a few nights in HK or Kowloon so we can take full advantage of the trip. Since we've started planning, I've come up with a few questions that I think those of you who have visited the park already may be able to help with. Please add an other tips and tricks that have helped along the way (especially those with young kids).

1. We are planning on going off peak season (Sept-early Oct), if that is the case, is the lower annual pass more worthwhile? I realize I'd be limited to using it during the week, but a lot of the discounts on food, merchandise, and the hotel made it seem very worth while. In any case, it seems like the ticket prices are a steal compared to Florida!

2. We are planning on the Hollywood Hotel since we'll have an 18 month old. I figured the atmosphere will be more in line with what he'd like to see as well as more compatible with families. Is there a way to request or book a room with a park view for fireworks? The options on the resort sight only suggest an upgrade for a sea view. I'd gladly look for and upgrade where I can see the fireworks when my son is too tired to make it that long! Is the Disneyland hotel a better option for this? Also, has anyone tried any of these rooms with a crib for a baby? Just curious about how much room you actually have to work with.

3. What methods have you used to get back and forth between the hotel and the airport? The travel guides I have read suggest that the MTR is pretty solid, but I'm open to any suggestions to make it easier on a family with a toddler.

4. Have any of you tried combining your trip with a visit to HK itself? We are in the beginning stages of researching that side. My only requirements for that so far are kid/baby friendly, then I'll work from there. If you have any hotels that were family friendly, I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[SSOASS]

I have not been there myself, but am going in April. But from my research

If you do not want to take a train, a cab might be a good option. The trick seems to be to look for blue cabs as the cabs are color coded for which islands/locations they service.

3 days at the park (there is only one park) might be overkill. As an adult, I think 1 day seems plenty to do everything, I can see adding an extra day at toddler speed, though even that should be plenty when you factor out the rides they cannot go on. As a reference, when my kids were that age, we covered Disneyland (California) well in 2 days and there is a lot more there. Though at the time, we lived in San Diego, so it was not a big deal to go back if we wanted. An extra day might be better spent taking a boat ride around Hong Kong, kids love boats!

If no one answers before then, I am planning on staying at the Hollywood Hotel and can get you info about the crib and fireworks views, though my guess is garden view would be your best option as the park is in that direction. But the hotel seems to be a decent distance from the park, so I am not sure what kind of view you could have.

 

[zanzibar138]

How exciting!

Hong Kong gets very hot and humid in summer (much like Florida), but by late September/early October it should be starting to cool off a bit. I would definitely go with APs if you'll have a couple of nights there. Unless you specifically need to visit on a weekend day, there's no reason why you wouldn't just stick to week days to minimise crowds even further. Hopefully it will be nice and quiet for you. The opening of Shanghai Disneyland might help to draw a few more mainlanders away too!

The Hollywood Hotel and the HKDL Hotel are both very nice, and family friendly. The HKDL Hotel is an easy 10 minute stroll from the park through a Disney-fied pathway, very pleasant and probably much easier than taking the shuttle bus with your little one. From the Hollywood, it's more like a 20 minute walk, and the first 10 minutes is just along the road until you get to the HKDL Hotel. Theming wise, only you know what you'll enjoy most as a family, but both hotels are magical in their own ways. Last time we stayed at the Hollywood, we had a fantastic view of the fireworks. I booked a park view room - it was the most expensive room type. I imagine garden view refers to the rooms that are too low down to have much of a view at all. At the HKDL Hotel we did have a partial view of the fireworks, but it was blocked by trees. We hadn't booked any particular room type though, so for us this was a bonus! Also, don't forget to specify that you want a non-smoking room. Both hotels have very good sized rooms and I don't imagine a crib would be too much of a problem. Feel free to browse my HKDL TRs for pictures and descriptions of the hotels and their rooms.

We have taken the train from the airport, but I would probably recommend a taxi for a family trying to juggle luggage and strollers and small children. The train is easy, but you do need to transfer twice on the way through. We haven't actually taken a taxi yet, as the train is easy enough for a couple to manage with small suitcases.

We haven't done much of HK itself yet - we haven't had enough time in the city yet to do both. However, I suggest you take a look at TRs by PrincessInOz and AussieWendy - they've both had great trips to HK incorporating HKDL. The two main things I'm interested in are the Peak and the cable car on Lantau Island. I imagine both of these would be suitable for small children.

Regarding the length of your stay, I would suggest that if you really likes to take in all the little details rather than just tick off all the rides, you will easily be able to spend 3 days there (especially having a toddler). The newer lands especially are very well themed, and it is really a beautiful park. Flights of Fantasy remains my favourite Disney parade - I would quite happily see it every day of my visit. Plus the two hotels are worth exploring too. If you're more about the attractions then yes, it is more of a 1 or 2 day park at the most.

We'll be there again in a couple of weeks (YAY!!!). We only have one day, and aren't staying onsite, but if you have anything specific you want photos of/information on, then let me know and I'll do my best to get it for you.

 

[netimka]

Happy planning!!!

I would also recommend to get Magic Access Passes if you are planing to spend 2+ days in park, it will work out cheaper and you will have some discounts as well... if possible try to be visit park during week days as it will be less busy but generally HKDL is ok and not a lot of waiting anyway...

last year we have stayed at Disneyland Hotel and this year we are off to Hollywood Hotel and as far as I understand you can only watch fireworks from here and as mention above it cannot be a sea view room as park is on the other site of the hotel...

from airport with a child I would just took a taxi, we did it last year and outside there were some taxi/airport staff helping witch one to take deepens where you off to so no problem with taking a wrong one...

also last year we spend 4 nights at DLH then we moved for 4 nights to Royal Plaza Hotel and we will be staying there again, I would really recommend this as a family hotel as room sizes are good, its above shopping mall so you can get some essential if needed, there is a food corner and outside playground in the shopping mall site as well..I didnt so a trip report but we did Big Buddha (we went on the bus as I'm scare of highs), Ocean Park, 1/2 day at the Repulse Bay Beach, the Peak with Tram, Chi Lin Nunnery and the Nan Lian Garden , Avenue of Stars

this year we are staying at Hollywood Hotel, Royal Plaza Hotel and for the last day/night we are moving onto Novotel Citygate and plaing on visiting Tai O village/beach and Upper Cheung Sha Beach both on Lantau Island ...also wants to see Man Fat Sze - 10,000 Buddha Monastery, probbaly visit Ocean Park again - our son loves pandas and wants to go back so thinking about 1/2 day there and Stanley...

any question just let us know and we will try to help