When in Hong Kong: Disneyland Hacks & Tips

Migo (d’husband) and I have a fascination for everything fun and adventure – that is maybe the reason why when there’s a theme park in our target destination, putting it in our itinerary is a must. Visiting them enables my adrenaline addict self and his thirst for something new. Hong Kong Disneyland was our 2nd theme park experience.

On our first draft of itinerary, we put Disneyland on the last activity day (Monday) but since it was the nearest to the airport, we decided it’s gotta be our first stop. We plan our theme parks to be on a weekday to stay away from the weekend influx of tourists. Disneyland was everything we expected and more. The park was huge, with a lot of things to do. Yet despite the limited time, we were able to maximize our experience.

Here’s how we aced most of our list of magical things to do in Hong Kong Disneyland in 1 day!

1. Be aware of the crowd.
Unlike our Ocean park adventure that has a detailed itinerary of what rides to check, we only have a list of what to try. But the crowd was going in the same direction so we decided to go the opposite way. On arrival, visitors will often head straight through Sleeping Beauty Castle so we started our adventure by riding the Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad from (1) Main Street station to (49) Fantasy Land station.

 

2. Don’t queue more than 15 minutes.
What’s good about queuing in Disneyland is that you can see the estimated time of waiting. Probably our longest time of wait was 30 minutes in (69) Autopia. We slightly regretted it ’cause it wasn’t that fun.

3. Be strategic and have time management.
Go get a map of the entire park and plan your route. If you go around trying and taking pictures of everything, you will end up missing a lot.

4. Stay until the fireworks.
Disneyland has a lot of things to do, by 8 PM, we were literally slump in the sidewalk waiting for the fireworks, too tired to check more spots ’cause our feet already had enough.

While writing this post, I needed a snap of the guide map. I wasn’t able to take a picture of ours. It was too big for scanning so I searched online. I saw a good one but it was slightly different from our guide map. Fantasy Land station is 48 on this map while in our map, it is 49.  Another tip: Before going on an adventure in Disneyland, after having a list of what to visit, it might be good to create a route plan based on this guide map. Make sure it is updated.

(c) http://www.tourismsquare.com/

What To Do?
Enjoy the attractions, watch shows and immersed yourself in a whole new world. 🙂 Right after visiting Ocean Park on our 2nd day, the husband commented that Disneyland and Ocean Park is not in competition at all. Disneyland is very pretty and most of the rides are kid-friendly. The whole park’s details is very notable. Visiting each of the 7 areas is a different visual experience. Photographers will love Disneyland.

We arrived at the park around 10:30 AM and started our adventure by 11:30 AM. When we had lunch around 1:30 PM, we have visited 5 places already: Main Street, Toy Story Land, Mystic Point, Grizzly Gulch and Adventure Land. After lunch we continued with Adventure Land then went across to Tomorrow Land. Fantasy Land was our last stop where most people starts.

Info: It’s good to visit Disneyland first but quite costly to leave your baggage. You will have to pay 40 HKD/item. In our case, my bag was small so we chose to carry it around and only pay for the husband’s bag. It was too big to carry.

Below is the snaps of our Disneyland adventure. 🙂

10:30 ETA Disneyland via S1 bus (3.5HKD) then MTR (Tung Chung->Sunny Way->Disneyland 13.5HKD)
Disneyland:
-> Main Street, U.S.A

01 Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad – Main Street Station

-> Fantasy Land

49 Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad – Fantasy Land Station

-> Toy Story Land

38 Toy Soldier Parachute Drop

-> Mystic Point

34 Garden of Wonders

33 Mystic Manor

-> Grizzly Gulch (All rides are closed)

-> Adventure Land (Festival of the Lion King is closed. Shows on weekend’s only.)

19 Raft to Tarzan’s Treehouse

20 Tarzan’s Treehouse

-> Mystic Point 34 Garden of Wonders

33 Mystic Manor

-> Grizzly Gulch (All rides are closed)

-> Adventure Land (Festival of the Lion King is closed. Shows on weekend’s only.) 19 Raft to Tarzan’s Treehouse, 20 Tarzan’s Treehouse

LUNCH BREAK 24 Tahitian Terrace (Food were around 100 HKD, we saved some money by buying a ticket with food).

LUNCH BREAK

24 Tahitian Terrace

21 Jungle River Cruise

22 Liki Tikis

-> Tomorrow Land 

69 Autopia

66 Stitch Encounter

65 Space Mountain

-> Fantasy Land

52 It’s A Small World

53 Mickey and the Wondrous Book (Show)

51 Mad Hatter Tea Cups

54 The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

45 Mickey’s PhilharMagic

* Missed 46 Fairy Tale Forest

-> Main Street, U.S.A

Waiting for the fireworks and checking the shops

21 Jungle River Cruise and Fantasy Land’s “It’s A Small World”. We weren’t able to take pictures in Tomorrow Land.

Inside “It’s A Small World” cruise!

-> Fantasy Land 53 Mickey and the Wondrous Book (Show)

It’s a small world at night and 51 Mad Hatter Tea Cups

54 The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

45 Mickey’s PhilharMagic (A 4D theather experience)

Waiting for fireworks and home sweet home!

The husband like Mystic Point’s Mystic Manor ride. I love Fantasy Land’s “It’s A Small World” cruise. Both shows were good: Fantasy Land’s “Mickey and the Wondrous Book” and “Mickey’s PhilharMagic”. Tomorrow Land’s “Space Mountain” and “Stitch Encounter” were good too.

What we’ve missed:

1. Because we were busy with the rides, we weren’t able to meet any Disney characters.
2. It was also Disney’s 10th anniversary but we weren’t able to see the special shows.
3. Missed the 3 PM parade at Main Street
4. Fantasy Land’s “Fairy Tale” forest by Pandora.
5. Taking a picture with the fireworks on our camera. I told him to record it. 😀
6. Bringing food. Our ticket has food but we got hungry at dinner. We stayed until almost 9 PM.

Visiting Disneyland in 1 day is possible but just like with our experience, it’s very tiresome. Next time, I’ll still opt for one day but will have to wear a comfortable shoes.

And that’s it with our Disneyland adventure. Now that I’ve written it, I’m quite surprised since it seems we weren’t taking much pictures at all. We even don’t have picture on our cam at the Sleeping Beauty castle. Whoah! I’ll have to check my phone. Huhu!

Have you been to Disneyland Hong Kong? What’s your favorite memory? I’ve read that there are 6 Disney Kingdoms in the world, how many were you able to visit? I wish to visit 3 more. 😀

https://caryandemily.wordpress.com/tag/6-kingdoms/

M&M 1st Int’l Travel HK Macau (1st Wedding Anniversary):
Summary
Hong Kong Disneyland Hacks & Tips
Why Hong Kong Ocean Park Is A Must
Trekking In Hong Kong in 1 Day: Maclehose Trail
Grandiose Macau: Hotel Hopping & More
Touristy Macau: A Cold Welcome
10 Things Why You Should Travel As A Couple