HKDL Suggestions

[mayonegg]

So I'm going to Hong Kong and Tokyo in November with a friend. We're going to be in Hong Kong from Sunday Oct 30 (we land at like 8 at night) until Saturday Nov 5. We have all day on the 5th because we're taking the red-eye to Tokyo that night. I've been trying to figure out when the best time to do HKDL is.

Here's my dilemma. I really want to do HKDL on Halloween because it's Halloween. Plus if we did that, we could stay at HKDL the first couple nights we're in Hong Kong, which is close enough to the airport to justify a taxi and thus avoid figuring out the MTR late at night (not that I'm really worried about having to do this). But I also really want to do the Disney dim sum at the Crysal Lotus, which has to be ordered at least 48 hours in advance. I think the dim sum lunch is only available on the weekends, but the website is kind of ambiguous about it, I think because recently they were offering a set dim sum menu every day of the week (which seems to be gone). Anyway, from what I've heard, calling to make a reservation is doable, but can be difficult due to language barriers, which are exacerbated by the phone. So what I was thinking was we'd stay at HKDL Sunday and Monday night, do the park on Monday and make Crystal Lotus reservations for Saturday while we're there. And then on Saturday we can come spend either the whole day or half the day at HKDL, leave our luggage in lockers, and head to the airport from there. Is this plan absolutely ridiculous? I feel like it seems kind of absurd, but in my head it makes sense. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

 

[Agent 86]

So, you'd go to HKDL for two days (Sunday and Monday), then do other stuff in Hong Kong for four days (Tuesday to Friday) and then return to HKDL on the next day (Saturday)? That's fine, if it's what you'd like to do. I would have thought that you could book Crystal Lotus for a time on the Sunday or Monday, especially if you're staying on-site.

I'm not aware of any blogs on HKDL, but I found this recent trip report:

http://tdrexplorer.com/hong-kong-disneyland-trip-report-part-one/

http://tdrexplorer.com/hong-kong-disneyland-trip-report-part-two/

If you contact the blogger, who I'm pretty sure is a member of these boards, he may be able to help with a suggestion for booking Crystal Lotus. Otherwise, I would also just try sending Disney an email: https://www.hongkongdisneyland.com/help/phone/

I'm pretty sure that someone will respond to you promptly.

Good luck.

 

[zanzibar138]

If you want to do all your Disney-ing at once, it's really not so bad to call for reservations on the phone. I've always had good experiences with CMs who speak great English and haven't had any problem getting my point across. Of course, if you'd like an extra day at DL on your way back to the airport, it's the perfect excuse ;-) Do be aware that luggage storage at the park is pretty expensive. I'm not sure if there are lockers available and what size they are, but we've always used the checked luggage service, which charges per item no matter what size it is. I would recommend being sneaky and packing smaller bags into bigger bags if you can!

 

[AngelDisney]

If you are staying onsite, you can email reservations with your hotel confirmation number and make a reservation. You can inquire via email about the Dim Sum lunch. I think you have to pre-order your dim sum 48 hours prior if you want to visit on weekdays or 24 hours prior for weekend reservations. If you don't pre-order, they will not be available on weekdays. I am visiting on a Tuesday in July and I will call to pre-order in advance. I will be staying at Hollywood Hotel and I can make my reservation 42 days prior via email. I think it's 120 days prior for Disneyland Hotel.

Have fun planning!

 

[AngelDisney]

The dim sum lunch special is back! It seems that it was just removed from the website to update the menu items. The deal actually starts on April 1, 2016, right after the end of the previous special.
https://www.hongkongdisneyland.com/offers-discounts/?type=offer-type-dining

 

[taiko225]

The Halloween event in HKDL has been cut down dramatically last year (2015). There used to be 4 different themed "ghost house" that we could wander into and being "scared" by the ghost. Those are really long queues too roughly 60-120mins each and they only starts 4pm. And there was a Halloween special parade.

Those are all gone, last year we only have a special version of Jungle cruise where they turned off all the lights and put in extra props. It really depends on the skipper to deliver the mysterious story instead of anything you gonna see. And the other one are some white face ghosts dressed in white wandering around outside of mystic manor at a designated time allowing guests to take photos with. Parade is still the paint the night parade.

So if you really wants the Crystal Lotus dim sum... I would recommend you go for that instead.