It had been 5 years since I last visited Hong Kong Disneyland; the last time was just a couple of months after its grand opening. I was looking forward to going again, not only to catch some new attractions, but also because Daniel did some research and noted that the Christmas decorations would be up starting Thanksgiving week. I have a lot of fond memories of visiting the Orlando parks during this time of year, and was looking forward to capturing some of Disney's Christmas spirit.
Daniel's cousin from NYC decided to join us, so we met him at a travel agency where he was picking up a discounted ticket. After a quick Hong Kong-style breakfast, we hopped on the MTR and arrived at the park shortly after its scheduled opening time of 10am. We picked up our entry tickets (Daniel had cashed in some mileage points for them) headed into the park, and stopped at Guest Services to purchase a couple of discounted meal packages.
I won't go into a blow-by-blow description of the day, but I will give my overall impressions. The highlights:
- The park was not at all crowded, and we were able to see almost everything we wanted to. With a 5 minute wait time for most of the day, we rode their Space Mountain twice in a row, and would have ridden again and again except that Daniel's cousin isn't exactly a coaster enthusiast.
- We enjoyed all of the live entertainment in the park, including Festival of the Lion King, The Golden Mickeys, the afternoon Parade (which had been dressed up with a Christmas theme), the tree lighting ceremony (after which they made it snow on Main Street), and the nighttime fireworks show.
- Their relatively new It's A Small World attraction was running a Christmas version, similar to what Anaheim and Tokyo have. This was the first time I got to see the HK version, and for the most part, I liked it (although having Disney characters in there still annoys me). Our boat did stop a couple of times for rather long periods, making the ride last a good 20-25 minutes.
- Although I hated it at the time, the Stitch Encounter turned out to be entertaining, and I was part of it. This is similar to Turtle Talk with Crush at Epcot, but to accommodate the variety of guests, they offer different shows in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. I thought we were attending a Cantonese version, and figured I'd be safe because (1) I don't speak Cantonese, and (2) Crush always interacts with children, and I assumed Stitch would do the same. Once the show started, it quickly became apparent that we were in an English show, and I was the second person that Stitch called on to speak with. He insisted he had seen me somewhere before, and after a few guesses, decided that we spent time in prison together, and even pulled up a mug shot of me, an actual photo that they must have taken earlier in the show. Even after he moved on to others, I was referred to from time to time, almost like being "that guy" from the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor attraction in Orlando. I really dislike being singled out like that in front of strangers and played along just to get through it. Looking back on it now, it did make the show much more memorable for us.
Now for the lowlights:
- Even with the few additional attractions, this park is still rather small. We were done seeing everything we wanted to by early evening, and I think we were starting to get a little bored. They are currently constructing additional attractions, but these new lands will not open until 2011 at the earliest.
- I remember liking the food the first time we went, but this time, the food was mediocre at best. The meal package we had purchased limited us to a few counter service restaurants, and the food choices at these were not exciting at all. We had some ok meat and rice bowls for lunch, but in the evening, we ended up with yawn-inducing fried chicken and french fries. (Interestingly, they include plastic disposable gloves with the fried chicken meals so that you don't get your hands all greasy.)
- I guess they did their best with the Christmas theme, but in the end, I did not come away with that warm holiday feeling. There just didn't seem to be enough of the decorations or the music. (Or it could be that mid-November is just too early for me to get in the Christmas mood.)
- We discovered that rude guests were not limited to the US parks. We experienced a number of line crashers, including those who pretend that family members are up further in line, as well as people who just try to push their way in front of you. And I'm not sure if it is a cultural thing, but it seemed to me like the women were the pushiest; the men in general were content to wait their turn.
- The merchandise during our 2005 visit seemed rather unique and interesting; this time, not so much. The t-shirts were boring, and there are only so many key chains and plushes that one can own. We were all very disappointed with what we saw, and none of us wound up buying any souvenirs.
Daniel's cousin from NYC decided to join us, so we met him at a travel agency where he was picking up a discounted ticket. After a quick Hong Kong-style breakfast, we hopped on the MTR and arrived at the park shortly after its scheduled opening time of 10am. We picked up our entry tickets (Daniel had cashed in some mileage points for them) headed into the park, and stopped at Guest Services to purchase a couple of discounted meal packages.
I won't go into a blow-by-blow description of the day, but I will give my overall impressions. The highlights:
- The park was not at all crowded, and we were able to see almost everything we wanted to. With a 5 minute wait time for most of the day, we rode their Space Mountain twice in a row, and would have ridden again and again except that Daniel's cousin isn't exactly a coaster enthusiast.
- We enjoyed all of the live entertainment in the park, including Festival of the Lion King, The Golden Mickeys, the afternoon Parade (which had been dressed up with a Christmas theme), the tree lighting ceremony (after which they made it snow on Main Street), and the nighttime fireworks show.
- Their relatively new It's A Small World attraction was running a Christmas version, similar to what Anaheim and Tokyo have. This was the first time I got to see the HK version, and for the most part, I liked it (although having Disney characters in there still annoys me). Our boat did stop a couple of times for rather long periods, making the ride last a good 20-25 minutes.
- Although I hated it at the time, the Stitch Encounter turned out to be entertaining, and I was part of it. This is similar to Turtle Talk with Crush at Epcot, but to accommodate the variety of guests, they offer different shows in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. I thought we were attending a Cantonese version, and figured I'd be safe because (1) I don't speak Cantonese, and (2) Crush always interacts with children, and I assumed Stitch would do the same. Once the show started, it quickly became apparent that we were in an English show, and I was the second person that Stitch called on to speak with. He insisted he had seen me somewhere before, and after a few guesses, decided that we spent time in prison together, and even pulled up a mug shot of me, an actual photo that they must have taken earlier in the show. Even after he moved on to others, I was referred to from time to time, almost like being "that guy" from the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor attraction in Orlando. I really dislike being singled out like that in front of strangers and played along just to get through it. Looking back on it now, it did make the show much more memorable for us.
Now for the lowlights:
- Even with the few additional attractions, this park is still rather small. We were done seeing everything we wanted to by early evening, and I think we were starting to get a little bored. They are currently constructing additional attractions, but these new lands will not open until 2011 at the earliest.
- I remember liking the food the first time we went, but this time, the food was mediocre at best. The meal package we had purchased limited us to a few counter service restaurants, and the food choices at these were not exciting at all. We had some ok meat and rice bowls for lunch, but in the evening, we ended up with yawn-inducing fried chicken and french fries. (Interestingly, they include plastic disposable gloves with the fried chicken meals so that you don't get your hands all greasy.)
- I guess they did their best with the Christmas theme, but in the end, I did not come away with that warm holiday feeling. There just didn't seem to be enough of the decorations or the music. (Or it could be that mid-November is just too early for me to get in the Christmas mood.)
- We discovered that rude guests were not limited to the US parks. We experienced a number of line crashers, including those who pretend that family members are up further in line, as well as people who just try to push their way in front of you. And I'm not sure if it is a cultural thing, but it seemed to me like the women were the pushiest; the men in general were content to wait their turn.
- The merchandise during our 2005 visit seemed rather unique and interesting; this time, not so much. The t-shirts were boring, and there are only so many key chains and plushes that one can own. We were all very disappointed with what we saw, and none of us wound up buying any souvenirs.
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