possibly going to HK Disney in July-October

[disney*mom*82]

Im so glad I found this thread! We are Disney lovers and I am excited that we may have the chance to go to HKD.

We are adopting a little boy from Shanghai and will be able to go get him sometime between July and October. We plan to bring our other 3 children along with us too. We are going to fly out of Hong Kong to come back home, so I decided that it would be awesome to stop at HKD for a day or two. It really depends on when we get to go to China, we are both teachers and hate to use up extra time in China, but know for sure we will atlease spend one day there.

Ive looked around and like others have said, there really isnt a site that has much detail about HKD. Im wondering if there are ever any discounts? Im all about saving some money! Also wondering about the currency conversion...does it show HK currency on their site? Im thinking we can go there fairly cheap, atleast a lot cheaper than our WDW trips.

Our children are 15, 13, 5, and our new son will be 4. Tell me some things they will love, attractions, restaurants, etc. Im also a vegetarian, are they as accomodating as they are in WDW or will I have a hard time eating?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Firstly, congratulations on the new addition to your family. I hope that your family circle is complete sooner rather than later!

I went to HKDL in March 2012 and found that the Hong Kong Disneyland website does occassionally put out discounts; but they are no where near the discounts that WDW have issued. From memory, the website shows prices in HK dollars. I haven't really looked at the website since February; so I don't know if there are any discounts for June - October.

I ended up getting an annual pass instead in order to get a room discount. But this will depend on where you plan to stay. You could stay in Hong Kong and travel out to the HKDL as an alternative, if you found a decent hotel rate in the city.

The park is a lot smaller than the Disney parks in the US. So, if it is a quiet day, you could probably do all the attractions in one day. It really is smaller.

My DH is also vegetarian, although he eats seafood. I affectionately call him the pesky-vegetarian. We had no problems finding pure vegetarian meals at the park. It was mostly Asian noodles and the like; not much by the way of Western food. I did write a TR on this section of the board of my time in HK, including pictures of food if you wanted to get an idea of the vegetarian meals served there. The link is at the bottom of my siggie and there will be a quick links in the second post. The Disney component is the first 2 days of the TR.

There are a couple of other Dis-sers that have also been to HKDL and I'm hoping that they are still checking this section of the boards and provide their opinions as well.

Hope this helps.

 

[zanzibar138]

There are a couple of other Dis-sers that have also been to HKDL and I'm hoping that they are still checking this section of the boards and provide their opinions as well.

I'm still here

I'd like to add my congratulations to your family

I was at HKDL just before PIO in March on our honeymoon. Although I also had APs for us, we booked our room at the Disneyland Hotel on Expedia for 4 nights for the price of 3. I'd say this hotel is deluxe level, and on par price-wise with the cheaper deluxes at WDW. The Hollywood Hotel is more a moderate and priced accordingly. It's not WAY cheaper than WDW If you only plan to do DL in HK you're probably better off staying onsite if possible. It's close to the airport, but a decent train ride away from everything else. The prices on the official website are in HK dollars. I use xe.com for conversion. But if you book through Expedia or something like that it would be in US dollars. I'm afraid I can't really tell you about the exchange rate for US dollars.

You've probably found out it's just the one park, and no entertainment district either (ie Downtown Disney). Definitely do-able in one day, but more enjoyable over two. It's hard to say what your kids would enjoy without knowing what they're into. I would concentrate on the attractions that are a bit different to the US parks. The runaway mine car ride at Grizzly Gulch would no doubt appeal to your older two, and is completely unique to HK. Other attractions that are 'the same but different' are Tarzan's Treehouse (on its own island that you get to by raft), Jungle Cruise (has added fire and water effects at the end - this bit could be scary for your youngest kids), Festival of the Lion King, The Golden Mickeys (I believe this is an abbreviated version from the cruise ship), Autopia (has electric cars and pretty cool spacey scenery - your younger kids might enjoy this). I would also highly recommend the parade, and the fireworks were short but good.

As PIO said, there's not much in the way of western cuisine (and what was there wasn't that great). But I'm guessing if you're coming from China that won't be a problem. I would highly recommend the strawberry and mango flavoured Minnie ice-cream bars And they also have very cool shortbread biscuit tin souvenirs which are also tasty!

Also I know you won't necessarily have much decision in what time of year you go, but I thought I should point out that it does get very hot and sticky in HK in summer, so make sure you're prepared for it if you end up going on the earlier side.

If you have any specific questions let me know as I'm going again in a few weeks and am happy to do some research over there (I know how hard it is to find decent information!)

 

[disney*mom*82]

Thank you for both the responses! Im so excited about going to HK WDW, although the excitement is not as much since Im super excited about getting our son first!

I love to hear about the HK only attractions. We have been to WDW many times, never to DL though.

I will keep an eye out for discounts and possibly looking into booking through Expedia. I would like to stay atleast 1 night, 2 if possible. But, it all depends on our timing. And we defiently want to stay on property as there is nothing else we care to do in Hong Kong.

Anything else anyone wants to add is greatly appreciated.

I will be checking out the links and pictures now!

 

[zanzibar138]

I forgot to mention Toy Story Land It wasn't really a stand-out for me, but your kids might enjoy it. There's a thrill ride, a kiddie type ride, and a drop ride all Toy Story themed. It's a bit of fun to wander around anyway, and a bit different to the US parks.

 

[YukiPhnx]

By the time you visit at the end of this year, Mystic Point will probably be open too! I hear they will have Mystic Manor, which is going to be like the Haunted Mansion in WDW.

I also recommend doing HKDL in 2 days. Sure, it's a small park and isn't busy on a non-holiday and/or weekday, but it'll allow you to take it real slow. I recently spent 1 full day there with 3 young children and didn't get to do everything.

Even though I didn't do it, the Disney dim sum at one of the hotels (Disneyland Hotel I think?) sounds very cute and is definitely unique to HKDL.

Congrats on your new family member!