Today’s Chronicles can be found here.
My wife and I have fond memories of our visit to Tokyo Disney in 2010. You can call it kitschy, but I find it deeply intriguing to see how other cultures reinterpret and reimagine what was once a mostly-American experience.
In Tokyo Disney, that meant that tower of terror was subject to the curse of an ancient idol – and not the Twilight Zone – and that curried popcorn was served to businessmen wearing immaculate suits and Mickey ears, with grimly determined faces that broadcast their intent to ride those rides to the very best of their businessmanly abilities.
We wonder – what will it mean in Hong Kong Disneyland?
But to find out, we will first need to get off the ship – and that has proven difficult in recent ports.
Early signs are promising, though. We are located at Ocean Terminal and port staff have helpfully shown us how to follow the in-transit line so that we don’t have to present our passports to immigration staff. We move past the phalanx of placard holding guides and are outside – but with no idea where one might catch an Uber. We start walking, but are promptly informed that we’re poised to enter a secure area.
Excursions to the rescue – Iliana very kindly talks to one of the local guides, and directs us on how to get out of the secure cruise terminal and out onto a public street. He specifically recommends the Marco Polo Hotel as a place to catch an Uber.
And – success. We walk through the mall adjoining the cruise terminal, past the Estee Lauder pickleball court and turn onto Canton Road – the same road as the Marco Polo Hotel. We attempt to page an Uber when we’re roughly 3 minutes out – and oops, the Uber is actually right in front of the hotel so we scramble to catch up.
Success! We are in our Uber and on our way.
Depending on traffic, the drive out to Hong Kong Disney can take 25 to 40 minutes – or more than an hour, at times – but we luck out this morning and it’s closer to 25 minutes. The cab ride costs CAD$40, tip included. Not bad at all.
It’s roughly a 20 minute walk from the drop-off point to the front gate. We’re there roughly 30 minutes before official open, but that just gives us time to clear security, use bathrooms and join a line for perhaps 5 minutes before they start letting guests in.
We bought tickets online roughly a week earlier, and have no issues pulling up our QR codes. They also want to take our pictures – but thankfully the process goes quickly. We enter the park just in time for the 10:30 am open. (This can vary from day to day, so it’s worth checking the Hong Kong Disneyland Website – Google isn’t always right.)
Earlier, we asked the kids to pick out their top rides – they agree that their top priorities are Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs, Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, Ant-Man and the Wasp Nano Battle, and Iron Man Experience, as well as the Lion King show. Sadly, both the Mystic Manor (Haunted Mansion but apparently ghost-free as it isn’t culturally approporiate) and Hyperspace Mountain are closed for maintenance.
Based on the kids’ choices, we picked up a three-pack of fast passes at the same time as our tickets a week ago that would work for Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Iron Man Experience at a cost of roughly US$30 each.
Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs is the one “big” ride which is not covered by the fast passes – so that’s where we head first, passing the Castle of Magical Dreams along the way:
Oaken’s sleighs lists the wait time as 10 minutes, but the lines are so long and winding that we manage to essentially walk-on.
It’s a short ride, lasting less than a minute. We do it again – once more walking on. And that’s enough for us. Glad we did it, but it wasn’t terribly memorable. Though I did enjoy hearing Olaf speak Cantonese!
We then move on to Frozen Ever After, which is essentially a re-badged version of the Norwegian Ride “Maelstrom” at EPCOT. We think having only ever done “Maelstrom” pre-Frozen. There are definite similarities.
As a scene-based boat ride, it reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean – though with fewer large-scale open areas.
There is a backwards drop, however, and a few other smaller boat drops. We’re sitting right in the front row and only get mildly wet.
We then head to Tomorrowland to take advantage of a shortish line for Orbitron – except the line has grown. So instead we walk on to the Iron Man Experience – similar to Star Tours, but with a Marvel adventure set in Hong Kong in which Hydra robots are attempting to steal a massive arc reactor powering a new skyscraper.
As always, we enjoy all the little details along the way
It’s perhaps the best-done of any of the Star Tours-type rides that we’ve visited, but once is enough for us. Although we debate whether there are multiple endings like there are for Star Tours Paris none of us are interested in finding out.
That’s one fast pass we won’t have to use. We try for another, also walking on to Ant Man and Wasp. This is a shoot-’em-up game with real-life objects – as opposed to it being entirely screen based, as is the case for Spiderman Web Slingers in Paris Disney. Support is provided by the Cantonese-speaking character Leslie Lam, and both Ant Man and Wasp also speak Cantonese during the ride. The ride stops occasionally, which helps contribute to some record scores on our part.
It’s almost lunch time, so we break early to visit the Tomorrowland Cafeteria before the rush. Three of us order the fried chicken:
While our son gets the strangely-shaped Iron Man Burger:
Is that an Iron Man robot face or a grumpy frog? Yes!
The food is pretty good – which it should be, considering it costs us roughly US$80 for the four of us.
The line for Obitron has slackened, so my wife and daughter head there while our son and I revisit Ant Man and Wasp. Our scores remain consistent despite the ride stopping considerably less often.
We reconvene and then head to Adventureland, where we board the Jungle Cruise – always good for some nostalgic fun. Here you have the option of either an English or Cantonese-speaking guide.
We opt for English, though we’re not able to hear much as we are located directly overtop the engine.
One line that stands out, however, is as we approach the crocodiles – “Something danger on the bank, E-I-E-I-O.”
Something danger, indeed. We particularly enjoy the scene where a geyser erupts and we are forced to divert into the path of an active volcano:
This is the longest wait of the park visit at a mere 15 minutes – and the ride is well worth it.
From here we then head to Frontierland, passing Mystic Manor along the way:
It’s a shame it’s closed, but at least we got to see our other top choices
We use the first of our fast passes to board Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars – which is easily the best of all the rides we’ve done thus far.
We then proceed to run that same ride three more times – twice more with our fast passes, and once just waiting in line.
I’m about ridden out at this point. Time to head to Fantasyland to pick up some Mickey Ears ice cream, and then join the wait for the Lion King show.
The line quickly builds – glad we got here almost 30 minutes in advance. The doors open roughly 15 minutes out, and we are able to get seats close to the front. Seating extends in 360 degrees around the stage, so there’s no real “front”. I do wish I’d brought my good camera, however. Ah, well – maybe next time.
It’s a great show, and distinct from that of Paris Disney – and Florida Disney, according to my wife.
It’s mostly a series of excerpts from the top songs, though portions of the plot are explained in English and Cantonese.
The two standout scenes are the wire acrobatics:
And the fire dancing:
The shorter performance and lack of proper stage leave it in second place relative to Paris Disney, but Festival of the Lion King is still very much worth seeing:
We’re just about ready to call it a day, but our daughter wants one more ride on the Disney carousel – so we head there and she once more walks on to a ride which might be a 20 to 30 minute wait at other Disney parks.
We even manage to take in a portion of the “Friendtastic!” parade on the way back to the parking lot:
While the main parking lot opens up to ride share services later in the evening, it’s only 4 pm – so we need to head back to the same spot where we were dropped off. Our step counts each clock in at roughly 17,000 steps apiece – a solid day of walking, even by our standards.
And the final verdict? We really enjoyed Hong Kong Disneyland, though I think our lack of prior experience with Hong Kong culture frustrated our efforts to dive into the intersection between Disney and Hong Kong. That said – from Cantonese-speaking Olaf to a Tony Stark-owned Hong Kong skyscraper – there was plenty of cultural crossover. We missed out on a fair bit of that due to the shorter lines, but if there’s anything I won’t complain about it’s short lines.
Something my wife particularly noticed was that each ride seemed to have a demo car that you could sit in if you wanted to have your photo taken, or if you wanted to pretend you were on the ride. It’s a nice nod to those who maybe aren’t able to ride certain rides, or for whom the lines are too long. And considering the number of selfie-takers we were selfishly glad they seemed content with the Dumbo or whichever other cart outside the ride rather than holding everything up.
Bottom line, we’ll need to spend more time in Hong Kong itself before we re-attempt Disney – whenever that might be.
Traffic again works in our favour, and we disembark in front of the Marco Polo Hotel some 25 minutes after we set off from Disney. We retrace our steps, noticing for the first time that there is also a ball pit in the front of the Estee Lauder pickleball court:
And there are people playing pickleball, too. So that must mean that the ball pit is up for grabs, right?
Sadly, no. Despite the lack of signage stating otherwise – and the presence of steps leading into the ball pit – our children are soon ejected from the ball pit. Oops.
Back aboard the ship, which is as easy as scanning our bags and presenting our key cards. We are once more welcomed back warmly.
Off to Panorama for a few pre-sailaway photos:
It’s a beautiful city. We really have to spend more time here.
My wife and I each enjoy a Singapore sling, and I get a bit more writing done. Bit by bit, I’m catching up to where I’m supposed to be – a mere day behind our actual adventures.
I snap a few sunset shots:
And then it’s time to head for dinner at Atlantide.
Tonight’s menu:
I start with the shrimp tempura:
And then move on to the beef rendang (not pictured as we’ve had it before), and finishing with the hazelnut castel:
The kids get profiteroles – which they have had before, but these deserve their own photo:
It’s all very good. The spices in the rendang are particularly memorable, and the hazelnut castel feels like a near-cousin of our other favourite, the peanut bar.
We later return to SALT Bar where I almost get my sought-after SloMo Selene shot:
Guess we’ll just need to order one more!
(But not tonight, because it is time for bed.)