TR~ Friday, Jan 4th in HKDL *LAST-9/22-Getting Tired*

[BillyBuff]

Nice pictures of Toy Story Land!

When I was at HKDL in mid December, it was really crowded because of the tour groups. Your photos look like it was quite empty! I must have lucked out on our trip. We waited for 30 mins on The Adventures Winnie the Pooh but walked right onto the boats for It's A Small World.

 

[dizneeat]

Yuki, if I had not known you were in Hongkong Disneyland that I would have sworn you had visited DLRP! Apart from a few, very few changes at Toy Story land, it is exactly the same.
Some of your other park pics look terribly familiar as well.

Thanks for posting, I didn't know these two parks had such similarities.

 

[PennyLane1084]

Wow, TSL looks so awesome! That RC Racer ride looks like a lot of fun. I found it sort of interesting that HKDL doesn't really do the whole autograph thing. I wonder if the parks in the states are in the only ones that does autograph collecting.

I also while I was reading that I made the realization that my fascination with autographs may have stemmed from collecting the character autographs at Disney as a kid. When ever I got to Comic conventions I always bring books and stuff for artist/authors/actors to sign.

 

[Cat0727]

Hi Yuki! I just found your newest TR. Going to get caught up now!

 

[elderfam]

On our way to Nepal, I was able to talk my husband into 3 nights at DLHK!! I thought this might be a nice way to get over some jetlag...
Loving your trip report....now even more excited about going!!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Love the pictures and nice to "see" you.

Thanks! I usually take more pics of myself but on this trip, I just wanted to capture as much as I could about this place.

I just loved, loved, LOVED this! We are leaving in about two days, AAAA!!!!

Going to go to all three Asian parks, but our first stop is in Hong Kong. I am a little concerned about personal space, but I don't think I will have quite the same problems with it as you because I will be riding in an electric mobility scooter, due to a pregnancy complication that doesn't allow me to walk for long periods. (Previa.)

Anyway, I am just super stoked, and everything I can learn about these parks I gobble up.

Thanks for posting!

I bet you're having a great time on your trip right now!!! Hope there aren't too many troubles for you.

Nice pictures of Toy Story Land!

When I was at HKDL in mid December, it was really crowded because of the tour groups. Your photos look like it was quite empty! I must have lucked out on our trip. We waited for 30 mins on The Adventures Winnie the Pooh but walked right onto the boats for It's A Small World.

Yeah, we saw 1 or 2 tour groups so it wasn't too bad. I think it was just the weather.

Yuki, if I had not known you were in Hongkong Disneyland that I would have sworn you had visited DLRP! Apart from a few, very few changes at Toy Story land, it is exactly the same.
Some of your other park pics look terribly familiar as well.

Thanks for posting, I didn't know these two parks had such similarities.

Oh really? It's so cool to hear that! I can't wait to visit DLRP to see for myself.

Wow, TSL looks so awesome! That RC Racer ride looks like a lot of fun. I found it sort of interesting that HKDL doesn't really do the whole autograph thing. I wonder if the parks in the states are in the only ones that does autograph collecting.

I also while I was reading that I made the realization that my fascination with autographs may have stemmed from collecting the character autographs at Disney as a kid. When ever I got to Comic conventions I always bring books and stuff for artist/authors/actors to sign.

Yeah, autographs just aren't promoted in HKDL. Which means faster moving line!

Haha, wow I love that connection. For me, pictures are all I need.

Hi Yuki! I just found your newest TR. Going to get caught up now!

Hey Christina! Great to have you here

On our way to Nepal, I was able to talk my husband into 3 nights at DLHK!! I thought this might be a nice way to get over some jetlag...
Loving your trip report....now even more excited about going!!

That sounds great! to your persuasion skills. I'll be posting more up soon.

 

[YukiPhnx]

Getting Adventurous

While in TSL, I heard the drumming of the Jungle Cruise right beyond the wall next to the giant Rex, so thats where we headed to next! On our way there, Tink was out for pictures! So we quickly jumped in line. You may have noticed that I was carrying a teddy bear. Hes McDuff, my Duffy the Disney Bear. I bring him everywhere because hes a travelling bear! I think I expected to see him more in HKDL, because hes so popular in TDL. Unfortunately, I was the only one.

Fortunately, Tink recognized him! I love interacting with the face characters and always come up with something to say to them. Tink is my FAVOURITE fairy so I of course had to tell her that. The cutest thing was watching her when she was in-between groups of people. She was acting so cute and in-character even when shes not in front of a camera. We just loved that!

When you approach the Jungle Cruise, there are 3 lines for you to choose. English, Mandarin, and Cantonese. As we were all English speakers, we decided to get into the English line. The wait times for all 3 lines were the same, even if 1 line looked shorter than the other. The reason is because the line with more people in it will have more boats service them than the shorter lines. When we were in line, we noticed the Mandarin line was the shortest. Why is that? Well, I noticed that you could pretty much split all HKDL visitors into 3 groups. The locals from Hong Kong that speak Cantonese. The visitors from Mainland China and Taiwan that speak Mandarin. And EVERYBODY ELSE. Which also explains why the Mandarin line was the shortest because there were very few mainlanders in the park.

But even though the line was much shorter, their wait time was comparable to ours. For some reason though, about 5 minutes in, the CMs had some trouble with the boats so our 15min wait was turning into 20mins. That was also about the time our 2-yr old started saying he need to GO. Which lead to a chorus of all 3 kids announcing they REALLY needed to go. We quickly considered whether they could hold it until the end of the ride but decided they couldnt. I mean, Jungle Cruise isnt supposed to get you wet!

The line for JC was very short so we didnt worry too much. We back tracked all the way to the TSL entrance where the washrooms are. While there, his sister let us know she wanted to eat the Toy story food for lunch. I thought she was talking about the snack stand in TSL but she pointed them out of me in the brochure. She was talking about the Disney Dim Sum! Unfortunately, I told her that we needed to make a reservation for that and wont really have time to go all the way to the hotels and back. Next time for sure!

Everybody was really hungry after the washroom break, so I suggested we beat the lunch crowds and eat at the Riverview Terrace right across from JC. What I love about a lot of restaurants in Asia is that they have a display outside with models of the food they serve. This is an open air restaurant so it gets pretty chilly in the Winter months. As we were looking through the menu, I was surprised to find that a glass of water wouldnt be free and neither would tea. Good thing we brought bottles of water.

Another thing to know is that restaurants that serve Chinese food are almost always family style. Each entrée can serve about 4 people. With our group of 4 adults and 3 children, we ordered fried rice, a plate of noodles, sweet and sour pork, and an egg dish. They were surprisingly very good! Definitely not what you would expect to be served in a theme park. We all enjoyed the food very much. His sisters family enjoyed it even more because they dont usually eat Cantonese food since theyre from Taiwan. The prices were pretty reasonable and not too expensive. If youre not sure how much youll eat, start with 2-3 entrees and go from there.

After our wonderful lunch, we got back in line for JC and was on a boat in no time. We stayed in the English line but I think it wouldve been better to be in the Mandarin line. We couldnt understand ANY OF THE JOKES our skipper made. His effort was valiant but no cigar. Fortunately, the ride itself was a lot of fun! You pass by Tarzans treehouse and theres a lot to see and take pictures of. So dont go on JC expecting a funny ride but youll definitely have a fun one.

































Up next: Getting Grizzly

 

[Hong Kong Disney Rob]

Very cool Trip Report, I'm glad you guys had loads of fun, come back soon!

On a side note, I have been a Hong Kong Permanent resident Of Hong Kong China for 27 years, I'm equal but I'm not, I'm a Canadian citizen as my mother and father were both born in Canada, locals here in China or Taiwan it is all China (Chinese) say that as my mother and father were not born in China, I'm just foreign scum (rough Chinese translation). Please do not use the word Canada and you in any sentence, the world must understand the Chinese way of thinking, and the way the Chinese slag North American people of any race. We as a very hospitable nation in Canada and America to all, appreciate the Chinese, but a superior race as the Chinese believe they are will never have any integration with us. The total discrimination from the Chinese, of what they believe us as a less superior race, needs to stop at once!

Enjoy & Cheers;

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Yuki! Love seeing all your pics, and it's great to hear about HKDL! Thanks for sharing.

Wow! Your wedding is getting close - how are the plans coming? Oh! Guess I'll check out your PTR!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Hi Yuki! Love seeing all your pics, and it's great to hear about HKDL! Thanks for sharing.

Wow! Your wedding is getting close - how are the plans coming? Oh! Guess I'll check out your PTR!

Tammie!!! Oh, it's so good to see you! Yes, I'm getting married AND moving to China! I will be updating this more now that I've quit my job.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Congrats on your forthcoming nuptials! You're moving to China? WOW!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Congrats on your forthcoming nuptials! You're moving to China? WOW!

Thank you! Yes, my then-husband and I will be moving to Beijing. Since we have a lot of family in Hong Kong, an AP for HKDL is a real possibility!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Getting Grizzly

Starting this update, I'll be posting pictures throughout!
~~~

Before we headed to Grizzly Gulch, we checked the show times for Festival of the Lion King so we could make the next one.


I can't wait to check out Mystic Point when I return in November.


The entrance way

Part of Big Grizzly ride






This place is really well themed! Before going to the parks, I found very little information about the place so I didn't know what all the expect.

Right now, these pictures are from my point of view, walking all the way down Grizzly Gulch.






You can take pictures in the Jail. The writings on the wall inside is SO FUNNY.






The outside queue for the ride. The line was never long enough for this to open. We got here around 1pm.








This was a great ride! I went on it 3 times. 2 times in the stand-by line and once in the single rider's line. There was absolutely no one in the single rider's line. When I got to the loading area, the CM loading guests from the stand-by line had her back to me the whole time, so I politely reminded her that I was there. She snapped back at me saying, "I can see you!". That made me feel pretty bad. I mean, how would I know you knew I was there when you didn't acknowledge my presence the whole time I was there? I found the CMs in HKDL to be not very friendly over all. It's such a difference from the way they are at the American parks.

If you know Walt Disney World, I would say this ride is a combination Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Expedition Everest. I highly recommend it.

Children's wet play area.


Another photo op. I find that HKDL is full of these.








The washrooms. The signs just cracked me up!




We found prospectin' Mickey and Minnie just around the corner on the way to Mystic Point! In fact, we wouldn't have found them if I didn't want to get more shots of the construction.


After our photos, we met up with his parents and we all watched the Festival of the Lion King where most of the kids fell asleep. It was a beautiful show but it's all in English and Cantonese. Definitely much cooler than the show in Animal Kingdom because they have a real stage to work with.

Up next: Getting Pictures! Just more shots of HKDL as we walked around and soaked in the whole park. I'm also running out of clever titles for my segments because we did a lot of trekking to and fro at this point.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Great update. Love the pictures and your insights.


I think that an AP is an excellent idea. Maybe they'll do a double one with Shanghai.

 

[CaliBear]

Thanks for the update! So, a cross between Big Thunder and EE, huh? hmm. My husband loves BTM, but I can't imagine him ever riding EE- WAY too scary for him. I guess we will have to see if he can handle Big Grizzly. I hope so or I may be sneaking into the single rider line when he's not looking!

PiO, what a great idea for a shared AP with Shanghai. That would be fantastic, wouldn't it?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks for the update! So, a cross between Big Thunder and EE, huh? hmm. My husband loves BTM, but I can't imagine him ever riding EE- WAY too scary for him. I guess we will have to see if he can handle Big Grizzly. I hope so or I may be sneaking into the single rider line when he's not looking!

PiO, what a great idea for a shared AP with Shanghai. That would be fantastic, wouldn't it?

Now that I think about it, imagine a shared AP for Asia.....Hong Kong, Japan, Shanghai.

 

[zanzibar138]

Another great update yuki! I loved grizzly gulch, I thought the theming was just incredible! Can't wait to check out mystic point.

My husband thinks you should be able to get a combined ticket for Disney parks worldwide but an 'Asia pass' would really be a great idea all of them being so close.

 

[donkeykong91]

Fantastic trip report. Thanks for all the wonderful pics! We were just there in July. It was MUCH more crowded when we went.

 

[mbfavreau]

Just starting to dig into the HKDL threads here and absolutely loved this trip report. Great pictures and some really interesting details that I hadn't read anywhere else (you can only get a button on your bday, CMs arent very nice etc). The detail you captured in TSL was better than any I've seen.

I think I'm most intrigued by the pushing and shoving thing that I keep reading. I mean, what is this about? Just a general cultural propensity for hustling or a "snooze you lose" thing or what? People have called it rude but it sounds dangerous to me. I find it hard to keep my pixie dust in check when I'm affected by inappropriate behaviors when I'm in WDW. If somebody actually pushed/shoved/cut the the line in front of me, I'm not sure what I'd do. Thoughts on this from anybody who has observed this?

 

[YukiPhnx]

This reply post is long overdue! The wedding and disneymoon are over and we are finally settled down in our new place in Beijing.

Great update. Love the pictures and your insights.


I think that an AP is an excellent idea. Maybe they'll do a double one with Shanghai.

Thanak you very much! It would be so cool if they could double with Shanghai!

Thanks for the update! So, a cross between Big Thunder and EE, huh? hmm. My husband loves BTM, but I can't imagine him ever riding EE- WAY too scary for him. I guess we will have to see if he can handle Big Grizzly. I hope so or I may be sneaking into the single rider line when he's not looking!

PiO, what a great idea for a shared AP with Shanghai. That would be fantastic, wouldn't it?

Haha, maybe he'll think it's like BTM because of the decor? He'll never see the EE part coming!

Now that I think about it, imagine a shared AP for Asia.....Hong Kong, Japan, Shanghai.

And Asia-wide AP? Quick, someone get Disney on the phone!!

Another great update yuki! I loved grizzly gulch, I thought the theming was just incredible! Can't wait to check out mystic point.

My husband thinks you should be able to get a combined ticket for Disney parks worldwide but an 'Asia pass' would really be a great idea all of them being so close.

Thanks a lot! I'm excited to check out Mystic Point in a few months. I would be all over that Asia pass!

Fantastic trip report. Thanks for all the wonderful pics! We were just there in July. It was MUCH more crowded when we went.

Thank you very much! Yeah, I can imagine it being very crowded in July. I was just in Disneyland California and I've never seen a Disney park so packed!

Just starting to dig into the HKDL threads here and absolutely loved this trip report. Great pictures and some really interesting details that I hadn't read anywhere else (you can only get a button on your bday, CMs arent very nice etc). The detail you captured in TSL was better than any I've seen.

I think I'm most intrigued by the pushing and shoving thing that I keep reading. I mean, what is this about? Just a general cultural propensity for hustling or a "snooze you lose" thing or what? People have called it rude but it sounds dangerous to me. I find it hard to keep my pixie dust in check when I'm affected by inappropriate behaviors when I'm in WDW. If somebody actually pushed/shoved/cut the the line in front of me, I'm not sure what I'd do. Thoughts on this from anybody who has observed this?

Thank you very much! I'm so happy that you feel that way about this TR. I just think of the kind of photos I would want to see. There is way too little information about HKDL out there.

I think it's a "snooze you lose" deal due to the sheer amount of people over there. If you don't get there first, someone else will and that's just how people think? That's kind of how my mom tried to bring me up, but I became way too Canadian for that haha.

I think what you should keep in mind is that you're simply in a different place where people act and behave differently.