Hong Kong and HK DL advice

[Meemoo]

The smell was at Hollywood Hotel not HK Disneyland Hotel, I am funny with smells though so perhaps take no notice We had a room on a higher floor when we did Hollywood Hotel and I highly recommend that because we could watch the fireworks easily and they had a channel to tune into on the tv with the music that matches the fireworks, my kids really enjoyed that. So for a fun atmosphere go for Hollywood Hotel, and for a luxurious stay go to HK Disneyland Hotel. As Zanibar mentioned you are free to roam the grounds of both hotels at no expense. I think you will be happy no matter which hotel you pick, they are both pretty fantastic in my opinion

 

[zanzibar138]

I am a Virgo myself, so it's no surprise that I agree with your Virgo side lol!

DH and I were talking this morning after my last post and have decided that we will probably skip HKDL on this trip. Between accommodation and park tickets, it's just too expensive to justify for 2 hours in the park (as much as I'm desperate to ride Mystic Manor!). We'll be looking at cheaper accommodation in the city conveniently located to an airport train station.

I actually did a major no-no on the way back from Africa, and packed my laptop in my suitcase. The thought of lugging it around for 3 flights and HOURS of milling around at airports when I was so exhausted was just too much for me, and I wasn't that concerned about it being stolen because I had been backing up our photos every night on a portable hard drive. We checked our suitcases at Victoria Falls Airport, had that flight back down to Joburg, hung around at that airport for 7 hours or something ridiculous, had an overnight flight to Perth, took our suitcases through customs, then checked them back in, spent the day with my parents, got another overnight flight to Melbourne, had MIL meet us at the airport and drive us home, then went straight to bed and I didn't even look at my bags until that evening. Because it could have happened at any time during the trip, no airline would take responsibility. We were very lucky that our travel insurer paid us out a small amount for it, even though we had broken the rules by packing it in the suitcase.

When I saw the laptop was missing, I was ok, because I thought we still had all the photos. Once I plugged in my portable hard drive and got a corrupted message, and realised that I had lost everything... that was when I got upset! I now back up to the cloud, and NEVER EVER pack valuables in my suitcase lol!

Did you have another look at my Europe TR too, to compare the Disneyland and Hollywood hotels?

 

[zanzibar138]

The smell was at Hollywood Hotel not HK Disneyland Hotel, I am funny with smells though so perhaps take no notice We had a room on a higher floor when we did Hollywood Hotel and I highly recommend that because we could watch the fireworks easily and they had a channel to tune into on the tv with the music that matches the fireworks, my kids really enjoyed that. So for a fun atmosphere go for Hollywood Hotel, and for a luxurious stay go to HK Disneyland Hotel. As Zanibar mentioned you are free to roam the grounds of both hotels at no expense. I think you will be happy no matter which hotel you pick, they are both pretty fantastic in my opinion

FWIW, we stayed at the Hollywood Hotel in winter too, and didn't notice any funny smells. I'm generally not hugely sensitive to smells though.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Hi Zanzibar. I have read your European TR but not recently - must revisit to read the comparison. Yes I would have been upset but also not too worried about the laptop until the portable hard drive issue. We also back up to one of those when travelling so it is a salutary warning though DH usually has his camera and SD cards with him on the plane too. Occasionally I roll my eye at his security paranoia but I really shouldn't. So the next trip will you get a chance to explore HK city for a bit? I can't remember how long your stopover was for.

Memoo you have convinced me that if I do settle for the Hollywood I pay a little extra for a Deluxe room!

I have booked today a little apartment for our HK city bit - in the end we went for one in Yau Ma Tei- up among the markets, rather than on HK Island. I had a couple shortlisted. The ones on HK Island were mostly a little more up market with what looked like somewhat more comfy furnishings and decor and one I particularly liked had an attractive looking outdoor balcony area (sitting there with air quality not sure though?) (and of course dearer too), but in the end we liked the location of Yau Ma Tai better for the things we like doing. The HK island ones were in Wan Chai half way between Central and Causeway Bay. Since we aren't into roaming upmarket shopping centres, we thought the more traditional markety area of Yau Ma Tai would be fun and it's very, very close to the MRT so easy to get anywhere whereas the others were more like a 15 min walk to one. The owner sounds great from all the reviews, meeting you and giving you a map with all the best eateries locally to go to (including a place that sells apparently great Portuguese tarts-PIO will be interested to hear!) and sights etc. 5 mins of booking and he has already sent me links to videos and info on what to do and see in HK. We will just have to get used to the small beds - all the apartments are the same - double beds and apparently quite short. DH and I will have to get cosy. Different to our weekend away down the coast recently when it was a King bed and we felt like we were in separate beds all night-we lost each other.

Now I have so many things shortlisted to see in HK and not enough time!! I never dreamed there would be so many interesting sounding things I'd like to check out - in my head it was just a big city with the Peak and DL. Of course, the more I read about it, the more things get added so will then have to prune, and if its torrential weather for 7 days a lot of things get crossed off! Good job airfare is booked or I might have done my "lets add another day so we can fit x and y in" that makes DH cranky as I blow the length of our trips out!

 

[Meemoo]

The Portuguese Tarts they sell fresh from KFC are pretty good too, but Macau has the original and best apparently

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hi Zanzibar. I have read your European TR but not recently - must revisit to read the comparison. Yes I would have been upset but also not too worried about the laptop until the portable hard drive issue. We also back up to one of those when travelling so it is a salutary warning though DH usually has his camera and SD cards with him on the plane too. Occasionally I roll my eye at his security paranoia but I really shouldn't. So the next trip will you get a chance to explore HK city for a bit? I can't remember how long your stopover was for.

Memoo you have convinced me that if I do settle for the Hollywood I pay a little extra for a Deluxe room!

I have booked today a little apartment for our HK city bit - in the end we went for one in Yau Ma Tei- up among the markets, rather than on HK Island. I had a couple shortlisted. The ones on HK Island were mostly a little more up market with what looked like somewhat more comfy furnishings and decor and one I particularly liked had an attractive looking outdoor balcony area (sitting there with air quality not sure though?) (and of course dearer too), but in the end we liked the location of Yau Ma Tai better for the things we like doing. The HK island ones were in Wan Chai half way between Central and Causeway Bay. Since we aren't into roaming upmarket shopping centres, we thought the more traditional markety area of Yau Ma Tai would be fun and it's very, very close to the MRT so easy to get anywhere whereas the others were more like a 15 min walk to one. The owner sounds great from all the reviews, meeting you and giving you a map with all the best eateries locally to go to (including a place that sells apparently great Portuguese tarts-PIO will be interested to hear!) and sights etc. 5 mins of booking and he has already sent me links to videos and info on what to do and see in HK. We will just have to get used to the small beds - all the apartments are the same - double beds and apparently quite short. DH and I will have to get cosy. Different to our weekend away down the coast recently when it was a King bed and we felt like we were in separate beds all night-we lost each other.

Now I have so many things shortlisted to see in HK and not enough time!! I never dreamed there would be so many interesting sounding things I'd like to check out - in my head it was just a big city with the Peak and DL. Of course, the more I read about it, the more things get added so will then have to prune, and if its torrential weather for 7 days a lot of things get crossed off! Good job airfare is booked or I might have done my "lets add another day so we can fit x and y in" that makes DH cranky as I blow the length of our trips out!

YAY for booking an apartment! Yau Ma Tei is a great location to be in as well. You'll have a great time wandering through all the market precincts.

I'll be very interested to find out about the Portuguese tarts. I spent time chasing the Lord Stow and the Koi Kei tarts in Macau and only missed out on finding Margaret's Cafe e Nata because I took a right when I should have gone left!!! It will be interesting to see if this one is an independent or a chain.

 

[zanzibar138]

Hi Zanzibar. I have read your European TR but not recently - must revisit to read the comparison. Yes I would have been upset but also not too worried about the laptop until the portable hard drive issue. We also back up to one of those when travelling so it is a salutary warning though DH usually has his camera and SD cards with him on the plane too. Occasionally I roll my eye at his security paranoia but I really shouldn't. So the next trip will you get a chance to explore HK city for a bit? I can't remember how long your stopover was for.

Memoo you have convinced me that if I do settle for the Hollywood I pay a little extra for a Deluxe room!

I have booked today a little apartment for our HK city bit - in the end we went for one in Yau Ma Tei- up among the markets, rather than on HK Island. I had a couple shortlisted. The ones on HK Island were mostly a little more up market with what looked like somewhat more comfy furnishings and decor and one I particularly liked had an attractive looking outdoor balcony area (sitting there with air quality not sure though?) (and of course dearer too), but in the end we liked the location of Yau Ma Tai better for the things we like doing. The HK island ones were in Wan Chai half way between Central and Causeway Bay. Since we aren't into roaming upmarket shopping centres, we thought the more traditional markety area of Yau Ma Tai would be fun and it's very, very close to the MRT so easy to get anywhere whereas the others were more like a 15 min walk to one. The owner sounds great from all the reviews, meeting you and giving you a map with all the best eateries locally to go to (including a place that sells apparently great Portuguese tarts-PIO will be interested to hear!) and sights etc. 5 mins of booking and he has already sent me links to videos and info on what to do and see in HK. We will just have to get used to the small beds - all the apartments are the same - double beds and apparently quite short. DH and I will have to get cosy. Different to our weekend away down the coast recently when it was a King bed and we felt like we were in separate beds all night-we lost each other.

Now I have so many things shortlisted to see in HK and not enough time!! I never dreamed there would be so many interesting sounding things I'd like to check out - in my head it was just a big city with the Peak and DL. Of course, the more I read about it, the more things get added so will then have to prune, and if its torrential weather for 7 days a lot of things get crossed off! Good job airfare is booked or I might have done my "lets add another day so we can fit x and y in" that makes DH cranky as I blow the length of our trips out!

Yay for planning progress! We paid for the park view room at the Hollywood too, and it was totally worth it for us. If you plan on watching the fireworks in the park each night though, probably not so much.

We won't have much time at all, pretty much just one evening. Our flight lands at HK Airport at about 3:30pm, and we leave the next day at lunch time. If we'd had even a full day, we would have stuck with Disneyland lol! I've picked out some centrally located accommodation for us, and we'll probably just go up to the peak for sunset or something, maybe watch the light show at the harbour. The room I've picked out is TEENY TINY but is only $85 for the night, so we'll really want to do as much as possible and only go back to the hotel when we're really tired lol!

I always have my cameras and memory cards with me - as much for taking photos as being security conscious! But I only have one memory card for each camera, so I generally upload them to my laptop each night to make room for more photos the next day.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Great price for a room Zanzibar even if teeny tiny! A trip up to the Peak sounds the thing to do. Yes DH always carries extra SD cards because sometimes its 3 of us taking pictures and I have a feeling one holiday an SD card died so he had to find a spare and now he just carries a couple with us but I think his are pretty large capacity so fit a lot on anyway.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Have just now caught up on your Europe and HKDL trip Zanzibar - I had read it before but forgotten much of it. All that blue sky in HK - wow! Feeling much happier about the Hollywood Hotel booking now and looking forward to checking out DL. Shortlisting where we might like to eat espy since we will hopefully have MAP discount. I miss the dining review dedicated sites that exist for DL and WDW. Will be ringing up this week to book tix and hotel I hope.

 

[zanzibar138]

Great price for a room Zanzibar even if teeny tiny! A trip up to the Peak sounds the thing to do. Yes DH always carries extra SD cards because sometimes its 3 of us taking pictures and I have a feeling one holiday an SD card died so he had to find a spare and now he just carries a couple with us but I think his are pretty large capacity so fit a lot on anyway.

Actually that's not a bad idea. That happened to me the night before the 5k run... went to upload my photos only to find that my card had corrupted. It was panic-stations for a while there (especially since it was already 9:30pm and we all had to be up at 4am lol! Luckily my dad had a spare.

Have just now caught up on your Europe and HKDL trip Zanzibar - I had read it before but forgotten much of it. All that blue sky in HK - wow! Feeling much happier about the Hollywood Hotel booking now and looking forward to checking out DL. Shortlisting where we might like to eat espy since we will hopefully have MAP discount. I miss the dining review dedicated sites that exist for DL and WDW. Will be ringing up this week to book tix and hotel I hope.

We were pretty lucky with the weather in HK on that trip... would have been a perfect time to do the cable car if we'd been able to fit it in! Wherever you decide to eat, I'd recommend mainly sticking the Asian style food rather than Western style for better quality. And make sure you have one of the Minnie ice-cream bars - they have become a must for me on every visit (coming from someone who has never even had a Mickey bar in a US park lol!).

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Minnie Bar added to notes! Yeh we always tend to eat local wherever we are as its always better than trying to find Western. We ate fantastically well and cheaply in Japan because we were happy with the ramen and gyoza's etc.

 

[Meemoo]

If you do feel like a bit of Western when you are there, Spagetti House is fantastic, I also thought Pizza Hut sit in restaurant was really really good too, much better than here!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Thanks Meemoo. In my notes!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Feeling depressed-HK dollars keep getting dearer. No indulgences at DL with main meals eg, starting to edge $50 for the plate so Aus $150 for the 3 of us just to have a main course, no drinks at a sit-down place

it will be local noodle stands all the way for much of the trip.

 

[zanzibar138]

Feeling depressed-HK dollars keep getting dearer. No indulgences at DL with main meals eg, starting to edge $50 for the plate so Aus $150 for the 3 of us just to have a main course, no drinks at a sit-down place

it will be local noodle stands all the way for much of the trip.

I think local noodle stands are better anyway

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I agree really but there will be some tempting extras at DL I'll want to sample!