The HKDL Source

Viewing Tom Pacy's Trip Report

• Trip from: January 18th, 2006 to January 18th, 2006
• Stayed: Offsite
• Accomodation Type: Standard Room, Prudential Hotel, Jordan (Kowloon)
• Ages Represented: Teenagers and Adults
• HKDL Experience: Semi-Regular Disneylander

Trip Report:

News of Hong Kong Disneyland opening in September 2005 had great consequences for those, like myself, that live on the Western side of Australia: every trip to the US or Europe can now involve at least a day at a Disney park, regardless of destination.

Hong Kong is the perfect stopover for us West Aussies travelling the world as it shares our time zone and is only around an 8 hour flight away.  It was during an extended stopover in Hong Kong on my northward journey that I was able toe experience Hong Kong Disneyland for the first time.  Staying at a hotel on the Kowloon peninsula, I was only able to do Hong Kong Disneyland as a day trip but it has concreted my desire to visit the resort
as often as possible; I shall enjoy watching it grow.


My family and I began with a quick breakfast in Kowloon before finally going to see what this newest Disney Resort had to offer day trippers.  We began by heading to Jordan MTR station below our hotel on the Tsuen Wan line to get to Lai King. Here we changed to the Tung Chung line, which took us out over the container yards that we had passed on the way in from the airport, to Lantau Island.  Sunny Bay, the first station on the northern side of the island, was where we changed once more, officially beginning our Hong Kong Disneyland experience.


Down on the Disneyland Resort Line platform we were welcomed by a train with windows in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head, featuring Mickey Mouse hand-grabs, photos of Walt and statues of Disney characters on the interior.
From Sunny Bay we entered a tunnel and emerged on the other side where Penny's Bay used to be; what is now Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.
After taking the time to soak up the atmosphere of the themed resort station we took a short walk to the Park Entrance, marked by the huge water fountain featuring Mickey surfing on water from a whale's blowhole and his friends engaging in various water activities around the base of the whale.
We skipped the queues by purchasing our tickets online; all we had to do was insert my credit card in the "Automagic" machines, which printed off our pre-purchased park tickets in a jiffy.  Tickets in hand, we skipped the long wait to purchase tickets and joined the queue for the bag check and turnstiles into the park.


Once in the park, we walked under the train tracks into Town Square, up Main Street (with full view of the castle) and across to Tomorrowland.
We all boarded our flying saucer to zoom around and up and down to take advantage of this ride whilst the queues were short. We reminisced about the equivalent attraction that we managed to ride so many times when we had visited Disneyland Resort in California 13 years prior, enjoying the fact that the whole family could share the same craft on Hong Kong's version.


From the Orbitron we embarked on a rocket flight on Space Mountain, the only rollercoaster in the park. The visual effects were stunning and the onboard synchronised soundtrack complemented the ride well. We sped past stars, comets, planets, an exploding supernova and other celestial objects as we spun down the mountain with hairpin turns and highly banked corners. Unlike the equivalent ride we enjoyed in Paris last year, this version featured no inversions, but was still really cool and worth several revisits. Marking a "first" for the family, we purchased the on-ride photo; Mum's face is priceless as she looks as though she is on brink of death!
We capped off Tomorrowland with Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, where we helped Star Command save the planet of the Little Green Men by shooting the targets on the Evil Emperor Zurg's minions. My brother obtained a higher score than myself, although we never had a chance to return and see if we could better ourselves.


Next we crossed the hub and entered Adventureland. Our first taste of this land was the Jungle River Cruise. It was the first tour that our guide had done in English, resulting in a hilarious and fresh experience. We cruised around Tarzan's Treehouse and into the jungles of Adventureland, passing elephants, hippos, zebras, giraffes, natives firing darts at us and even surviving a huge finale involving fire, water and a heap of steam fogging up everyone's glasses and camera lenses.
We took a quick break prior to queuing up for the Legend of the Lion King, a unique show based on The Lion King movie, involving a rotating, segmented rising stage and 4 floats that moved in and around the stage area, each featuring animatronic characters that acted dynamically as part of the show.


Following this impressive show we headed across to Tomorrowland once more for lunch at the Starliner Diner. We ate fusion burgers that were made from steamed bread and Chinese-style pork, resulting in an interesting and tasty alternative to an American style burger.


From this pit stop our next step was to grab Fastpass tickets for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, allowing us to return to the attraction via the quicker Fastpass queue line between 1:55pm and 2:55pm. Before the time came around to redeem our Fastpass tickets, we hopped onboard the Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad for a "Grand Circle Tour" of the park. It was disappointing that these "steam engines" were not real, as they are in all the other Disneylands around the world, but were actually shells of steam engines powered by diesel motors in their tenders. Never-the-less, the tour was enjoyable and is a nice way to see the park from a different perspective.


After a stop at Main Street we were back in Fantasyland, where we caught a session of Phillarmagic, a cool 4D movie, featuring 3D visuals, water spraying in your face, wind blowing through the auditorium and a screen that grows and changes throughout the film. It was a very immersive experience, made interesting by the screams of excitement from the children whenever something came out from the screen!
By this stage, it was time to redeem our Fastpass tickets at Pooh.  We thought we were avoiding the drawn out standby queue, however the Fastpass line was equally as crammed, meaning that we still had a rather lengthy wait to experience this attraction. The ride itself was nothing wonderful, but the vehicles get points for being able to go up and down and sway to simulate floating down a stream.


After walking through the Castle from Fantasyland back out to the hub, a Cast Member took a photo of the family in front of the Castle for us. We were able to purchase a copy later with Tinkerbell digitally added in so it looked like we were holding her in our hands.  It was a nice kitsch touch that added to the Disney experience.


Another pit stop was required at the Main Street Bakery so that Mum and Dad could get their caffeine hit and we could keep our sugar levels high, after which we made a visit to The Disneyland Story; an exhibit showcasing the history of Disneylands around the globe and the future of this newest resort, only opened in September.


At this point my brother and I split from Mum and Dad, who wanted to browse the Main Street shops. We headed back to Tomorrowland, where we rode Space Mountain again, this time using the Single Riders Line. This allows individuals to go straight to the head of the standby queue (which at this time, 15 minutes prior to the parade, was 25 minutes long), where the single rider can be used to fill up the seats on the train if there is an odd number of passengers (24 passengers per 2-car train). As such, Charles and I got on the ride within a minute as nobody else seemed to be aware of/understand the Single Rider concept. The only catch is that we couldn't ride together, but it was great as I got to ride at the back; generally my preferred seat on roller coasters. Just before our single rider rides we both obtained Fastpasses, allowing us to return and ride together via the priority Fastpass line between 4:15pm and 5:15pm.


Next we walked up to near the entrance of the Storybook Theatre to view the parade, which started at 3:30pm. Mum and Dad later informed us that they saw the parade at the opposite end of its run, from the steps at Main Street Station.  While I'm not a big fan of parades, the music was catchy and everyone else was getting into the spirit so it was hard not to have fun.


Immediately after the parade, we queued up at the theatre for the 4:15pm showing of The Golden Mickeys, a stage show styled as an awards ceremony. All the talking was in Cantonese, but the singing and dancing was in English. It was funny to hear the character names and voices in Cantonese!  In my opinion, this was the best show as the seats had padding and it featured lots of pyrotechnics and they even launched streamers (like oversized party poppers) over the audience at the end!  Add that to the crazy Cantonese host blabbing on about "Mike-ay" and "Mine-ay" and you have a winning combination.


From here we rode Space Mountain again using our Fastpasses, in the back seat at my request. After another thrilling adventure through space we regrouped with our parents for another ride on the Jungle Cruise. This time we had a different skipper, who got us sprayed by the elephants and kept on screaming in terror at the fire at the end; we were rolling in fits of laughter!


Dinner of Roast Duck or noodles followed at the Tahitian Terrace in Adventureland, before Mum and Dad had to run off in order to make it to the 6:15pm last showing of The Golden Mickeys.
My brother and I then took the raft across the Jungle Cruise river to Tarzan's Treehouse for a bit of an explore. The treehouse offers the best vantage point of the park; giving us a good view of the hotels and the space behind Adventureland waiting for future development.


Back across the river on the raft again, we split up. While my brother went shopping on Main Street I couldn't resits one last ride on Space Mountain via the wonderful single rider line. Eventually we regrouped inside the crowded Emporium, where we purchased a Hong Kong Disneyland shot glass. It isn't what we had expected to find available for purchase at a "family friendly" theme park destination, but I'm sure we'll treasure it for a long time all the same.


With our new purchase in hand, we went to the hub to reserve our spots for the "Disney in the Stars" fireworks at 7pm.
The Golden Mickeys finished around 6:50pm, at which time Mum and Dad joined us ready for the show.


We all thoroughly enjoyed the presentation, which began with projections of bits of Disney films on the castle walls.  The music was well done, creating a cohesive, flowing show that is worth seeing twice. The fireworks themselves were accompanied by flame throwers and light beams, lighting up the sky with bright colours and a little pixie dust.  What else does one need for the perfect end to a Disney day?

Our journey back to Hong Kong city on the MTR with the rest of the crowds was spent reflecting on the day, which we were all extremely satisfied with.  We even had talk about cancelling other planned activities on our holiday to spend another day at the park!