Solo Adventures in Asia Nov 2025 - First Timer's Travels to Hong Kong & Shanghai

[clappyclaps]

Hello everyone

I'm just on my way back from a solo trip to Hong Kong and Shanghai. Once I'm home in the next few days, I'll post a full report on my adventures but for now here's a bit about me and my trip in general.

About Me
My name is Sarah and I'm 38 from Greater Manchester in the UK. I'm single and don't have any friends who like Disney parks quite as much as me, hence why I'm travelling solo. This is my second solo Disney trip, after travelling to LA and Anaheim in March this year.

I love rides, I love films and like many my life growing up seemed to revolve around Disney films. I go to Disney mostly for the rides, but also for the general theming and atmosphere. Oh and the food and drink too as I'm a bit of a foodie. I'll admit that I'm not usually one for the parades, meeting characters etc unless I happen to be in the right place at the right time. And I'm not one for posing for photos either as it makes me a bit uncomfortable, so the best I can do is some rubbish selfies - like the one below of me in front of ToT on my last WDW trip:



About my trip
This trip was a split trip between Hong Kong and Shanghai. I flew direct from Manchester, UK to Hong Kong for 4 nights, staying at Disney's Hollywood Hotel. My plan was to spend 2 full days in HKDL and then the 2 other days sightseeing

After this, I flew to Shanghai to spend 4 nights at the Disneyland Toy Story Hotel. The intention was to spend 2 full days at the park, 1 full day sightseeing then the final day before my flight at the park again, however this didn't quite go to plan! (More on that later).

I'm writing this from Shanghai airport, where I'm shortly due to catch my first flight into Dubai, where I'll then get a connecting flight back into Manchester. A total of just over 20 hours travelling...

Watch this space and I'll post full updates on my trip very soon when I get back.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more .

 

[DianaMB333]

Following.. Im on my way to HK!
Will stay first 5d in DL

 

[clappyclaps]

Following.. Im on my way to HK!
Will stay first 5d in DL

Hope you have a fabulous time! Would love to hear how you get on

 

[clappyclaps]

Morning all,

After arriving home at around 1pm yesterday and sleeping for nearly 15 hours (!), I think I've finally recovered enough from my jetlag to post my first update. One final thing to add that I didn't include in my initial post is that I have used AI to enhance some of my photos - to remove people from them as it makes them look so much better! AI isn't something I generally use but I would say the ability to edit photos like this is definitely something I'm down for and a really useful feature, but wanted to be open about it's use. And so, onto my report:

Day 1 - Hong Kong
I flew from Manchester, UK direct to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific. My flight left the UK at 10:25am and was around 12.5 hours, landing in HK just before 7am their time. The flight was uneventful and actually gave me an opportunity to catch up on a few films I hadn't seen at the cinema (Superman, The Naked Gun, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Final Destination: Bloodlines). I usually find long haul flights unbearable, but these films made it fly by!

We landed in HK on time and my luggage arrived surprisingly promptly. The airport was well signposted and I easily found my way to the taxi ranks - there were separate ranks depending on your destination, and the one for Lantau Island and Disneyland was super easy to find. There was no queue and I jumped into the first taxi - I had a pre-printed card with my hotel address in Mandarin, but didn't need it as the driver spoke enough english to understand. After a pleasant 15 minute(ish) ride, we arrived at my home for the next 4 nights, Disney's Hollywood Hotel:






My first impression of this hotel is that it is absoutely stunning, and definitely fits that old school Hollywood theming.

I'd made it to the hotel by around 8am, only around an hour after landing - so efficient! Check in time wasn't until 3pm, however the hotel allows you to 'pre-check in' at any time - they give you your room keys etc, and tell you that they will notify you by email/text when your room is ready so you can head straight there. You can also drop your baggage off and they'll bring it straight to your room once ready.



I'd bought park tickets for today and tomorrow, but hadn't planned any further as I hadn't known for sure exactly what time I'd arrive at the resort. As I was checked in by 8:15am, I decided to purchase the early entry pass (priced at around £20) which would allow me to get into the park an hour earlier at 9:30am rather than the standard opening time of 10:30am.

And seen as the weather in HK was absolutely glorious (sunny and 21 degrees celsius at 8am), I decided to follow the promenade walk that led from the hotel all the way to the park. The promenade walk is located at the back of the hotel on the water, so I made my way through the hotel grounds, obviously taking some photos as I went!



The theming in the hotel grounds is so well done, and the scenery is stunning. And the view from the back of the hotel and the promenad walk is incredible:


The promenade walk takes you behind all 3 hotels, with the Hollywood Hotel being the furthest away, and then up to the park grounds and transportation hub. It really is a beautiful walk, taking around 25 minutes to reach the park itself with some stunning views:


I ambled my way along, until I finally reached the famous HKDL sign:




Next up, I'll go though my first day at HKDL and show you my room at the hotel.

 

[clappyclaps]

Day 1 - Part 2
On arriving at HKDL, the first thing I see is the Mickey Whale fountain, that really is a beautiful fountain featuring not just Mickey but Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy too:




After snapping some photos, I headed to the early entry access entrance. It was clearly signposted and not particuarly busy, so I walked through security and joined the queues to get into the park around 15 minutes before opening. A few minutes before opening time, they started letting everyone in. Ticketing here is super easy and all based on QR codes held on my phone, so pretty soon I was in the park.

Not everything is open during early access hours - only Main Street, the castle area, Fantasyland and the World of Frozen are open. I knew about this in advance, and as the Fantasyland rides aren't really a priority for me, I used this time to concentrate on Frozen and snapping some photos while the park was quieter:

Then I headed over to Arendelle. I was really looking forward to this being the first Frozen dedicated land, and while it is small, I was really impressed with how it looked and the overall theming:

The land was virtually empty, so I jumped on Wandering Oaken's Sliding Sleighs - I walked on it and I was the only person there, so got an entire coaster entirely to myself! This is similar to Seven Dwarves Mine Train although a lot tamer, and it's a really nice starter coaster. But it was a little short and could do with being a bit longer - especially if you have to queue up for it longer than I did!

After this I went on Frozen Ever After, which is pretty much identical to the one at WDW although you don't get as wet:

After this, I took a bit of a break for a much needed coffee and a muffin (I'd been awake for around 22 hours at this time) and snapped some more photos before the rest of the park opened:

I was hoping to head to Big Grizzly Mountain (the HK version of Big Thunder) however Grizzly Gulch (aka Frontierland), Mystic Point (aka Haunted Mansion) and Toy Story Land didn't open until 11am, half an hour after park opening, so instead I jumped on Jungle Cruise:

Controversially I actually preferred this version as it seemed like it had a bit more going on with some fire and water action, although the jokes didn't quite translate as well.

After this, it was only 10 minutes until Grizzly Gulch was due to open so I joined the people loitering around the entrance and we were soon allowed in. I followed everyone rushing onto Big Grizzly Mountain and virtually walked on to the ride, waiting only a few minutes. Hands down, this is my favourite ride at HKDL. It's a cross between Big Thunder and Everest, and imo a brilliant cross at that as it also features a super fast launch two thirds of the way into the ride. Such a fun ride.

I then headed over to Mystic Point to go on HK's version of Haunted Mansion, called Mystic Manor, and again I walked onto this. Interestingly the pre-ride show room wasn't working this day, but it was on subsequent visits on later days. This is nothing like the original ride, it's something completely different and this gets my vote as my second favourite ride. It isn't scary or creepy in the slightest, but it's so original and fun and I really loved it.

Next up was Toy Story Land:

I headed straight to my favourite ride from DLP, RC Racer, and again walked straight on with no queue - I love this ride so much and just wish it was longer!

After that I hopped on Toy Story Parachute Drop (slight queue on this one but nothing major) and then made my way round to Fantasyland to jump on It's A Small World. Full disclosure, I haven't been on this ride for years (think maybe the DLP version was the last time I'd tried it), but it was entertaining to see the HK version and again, no queue.

I then wandered over to Tomorrowland, where I walked onto Hyperspace Mountain. There was a single rider queue for this (the only one in HKDL) but I didn't bother with this as there was no normal queue. This ride is pretty much identical to the one at DLR, although it felt a little smoother maybe with it being newer. I'm not a fan of this ride, as it usually plays havoc with my motion sickness and this version was no different!

Next up I jumped on Ant-Man and the Wasp: Nano Battle, which is basically an Ant-Man themed version of Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. This was a really fun different take on the ride and like everything else so far, I just walked on.

After this, I was feeling a bit peckish so decided to start to check off some of the food and drinks I had on my list. I opted for the Pineapple Dole Whip with Strawberry Slush Float and the Buzz Lightyear Vanilla Blackcurrant Mousse cake from Jessie's Snack Round-Up. I had wanted the Alien Mango Pistachio Mousse Cake, but they didn't have any so Buzz was my second choice. The mousse cake was really disappointing, it looked great but flavour wise it seemed to be lacking in vanilla or blackcurrant, and just seemed to be the same soft mushy texture throughout. The slush float however was delicious! It was shamefully my first time trying dole whip, and I loved the tartness of it paired with the strawberry slush, it was really nice and refreshing.

By this time it was getting on for early afternoon and I was incredibly tired, having now been up for close to 26 hours. So after taking a few more snaps of Main Street, I decided to make my way back to the hotel to check out my room and have a nap:

Next up, my hotel room!