Though Hong Kong Disneyland is a lot smaller than the ones in California and Florida, attraction-wise, most of the classic and fun attractions have now been replicated. Arednelle: The World of Frozen is also scheduled to become available in November. It has improved exponentially since it's initially opening and is finally starting to feel like Disney. Most of the attractions also now have English versions with Chinese subtitles, unlike in the beginning, when everything was only in Cantonese. The deepest impression I had from my previous visit was Stitch's horrifying Cantonese standup comedy show.
Hong Kong Disneyland—fast pass
For both California Disneyland and Florida Walt Disney World, the price of fast pass was included in every ticket, and you had to go to the fast past kiosks in the parks to get them. You could also add USD$20 for the option of having it done in the Disney app. Now, they've switched to the Genie+ service starting at USD$25 for fast passes and other app functions.
Hong Kong Disneyland fast passes are strictly for sale. For HKD$179, you can choose 3 out of the 5 designated attractions, and enjoy fast pass once for each. Or, for HKD$369 you can get 1 fast pass for each of the 8 designated attractions. But I honestly find that it is not worth the money.
Hong Kong Disneyland is realy small. You can walk through the whole park back and forth in about 10 thousand steps, plus, there is a visitor limit. All tickets have to be ordered and paid for online in advance. Since there aren't a lot of attractions, you also don't have to worry about not being able to go on every ride. We went during summer vacation and the longest waiting time we saw on the app was 75–90 minutes, and in actuality, none of the lines lasted more than an hour. It's not like the 2 to 3-hour long lines in California and Florida.
We didn't enter the park until 13:20, and we walked at a slow and leisure pace, taking photos along the way. We went on every ride without fast pass and watched the closing fireworks. So... I personally don't think you should spend money on fast pass. We chatted and used the free wifi in the park to scroll through our phones during the lines and arrived at the front in no time.
If you made it so far in this post and still want to acquire fast pass, the designated attractions for the HKD$179 plan includes: Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Nano Battle, Mystic Manor, Iron Man Experience, and It's A Small World. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars and Mystic Manor are the two rides that consistently have longer lines, so I would suggest that you should include these 2 in your 3 choices. Below, I will provide more details about the rides.
Hong Kong Disneyland—Map
There aren't printed maps available in Hong Kong Disneyland, you have to download their app. Search "Hong Kong Disneyland" in either iOS App Store or Google Play. The in-app map also shows real-time wait estimations. If you allow the app to receive your location, it will also show you your current location.
I followed the blue route I drew on the map below. This way, you don't have to go in circles and will also be able to start with the two rides that have longer waiting times.
HongKong Disneyland—Attractions: Quick Look
Name | U.S. (CA/FL) Equivalent |
Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars | Expedition Everest |
Hyperspace Mountain | Space Mountain |
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle | Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters |
It's A Small World | It's A Small World |
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh | The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh |
Mystic Manor | Haunted Mansion |
Iron Man Experience | Star Tours® The Adventure Continues |
HongKong Disneyland—Attractions: Roller Coasters
Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars
Height restriction: 112cm
This ride is what we spent the longest time waiting in line for, and it's also one of the rides that consistently have longer lines in Hong Kong Disneyland. But I think it's quite worth the wait. It's not one of those roller coasters that is over in the bling of an eye, it's quite a long ride. During the ride, we thought it was over twice before it actually ended. There was also a part where we stopped half way 'uphill' then came rushing back down backwards, which is what helped me realize that the entire ride mimics Expedition Everest. Even the setting is similar, except one is in a snowy mountain with Yetis and this is a mine with bears.
For people who love roller coasters, this should be the first ride that you rush to.
Hyperspace Mountain
Height restriction: 102cm
This ride is exactly the same as Space Mountain in California Disneyland. It's a fast ride that does not have a lot of huge drops, and the entire ride is in a dark space with some "stars." Hyperspace Mountain in Hong Kong Disneyland is Star Wars themed, with Star Wars characters relaying a mission in the lining area. They also play the Star Wars theme song and Imperial March during the ride. By the way, my dream is to play Imperial March as the groom enters at my wedding. (???)
HongKong Disneyland—Attractions: Adventures
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle
The story is that we are joining Ant-Man and the Wasp in a battle. Each cart seats 2 people, and there is a laser gun in front of each person. Along the ride, there are items with targets on them, and you get points for hitting the target.
The line isn't long. It was within 45 minutes the entire day. If you've been to Disney in the US, both California Disneyland and Florida Walt Disney World have similar rides that are Toy Story themed, and they always have 70-minute plus lines.
This type of interactive ride is something that I have not seen in any theme park other than Disney. It's a very fun family activity and introduces some friendly competition. My dad doesn't usually go on rides but he loves those. The first time we went on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters he had a super low score. We looked at the ride photos Disney took, turns out the whole time he was shooting at my sister and I who were sitting in the cart behind him and my mom.
"It's A Small World"
There's usually a long line for "It's A Small World" in the US unless the park is about to close, but seems that people don't quite care about it here in Hong Kong. Actually, "It's A Small World" carries so much of Walt Disney's legacy.
"It's A Small World" was first seen in New York at the 1964 World Fair. At the time, there was one real estate left at the World Fair and Walt Disney came up with the idea for a boat ride. He wanted to create an attraction that was about children all around the world. Through the ride, the dolls would sing the national anthem from every country. But in practice, the national anthem blended into raucous. So Walt said, "I want something simple that can be translated into every language." So came the birth of the song "It's A Small World."
When the costume designer asked him about the budget, he said "I want you to design a costume for each one of these dolls that every woman would love to have from the age of 1 to 100. I have a building over there filled with people that'll find out where to get the money." At the time, the Disney Imagineers spent a short 9 months creating this ride with unimaginable efficiency. This ride that could carry 3,000 people in an hour is something that was completely unheard of. After operating in New York for 2 years, "It's A Small World" found it's permanent home at California Disneyland, which was known as Disneyland US back then. Afterward, it was replicated at every Disney park.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Each cart seat 4–6 people in 2 rows. This ride is almost identical to the one in California. However, there is a significantly shorter line. I feel like I keep saying this, but I guess it's because these are all classic rides that takes hours of waiting in line in the US. But in Hong Kong, all the lines last only for about 30 minutes. I felt like I was there in no time. It's a ride where you sit in a honey pot and are guided through a short story of Winnie the Pooh and his friends.
Mystic Manor
Each cart seats 4–6 people in 2 rows. This ride attempts to mimic the Haunted Mansion ride in California Disneyland; however, aside from how you enter the ride and how the backstory is told, nothing else is quite the same. The story does not involve any classic Disney theme.
The special effects, and the artifacts that "come to life" are pretty fun. Really young children probably would only experience some visual excitement. For adults, how they brought some of the historical artifacts to life is pretty funny. For example, there was a portrait of people drinking, once it was "brought to life", Mount Vesuvius, that was in the background, erupted and swallowed the portrait.
Iron Man Experience
This is almost identical to the earliest Star Wars ride in California, Star Tours. It's a 4D movie, and the chair that you sit in would move to mimic the motion of flying , shaking, and drops. If you're prone to motion sickness, I would suggest that you avoid this, it is a lot worse than boat rides or roller coasters. If you are not a huge fan of Iron Man, I wouldn't recommend this ride. I get sick when I go on these rides, but I would still go on Star Tours in the US because... may the force be with me.
Hong Kong Disneyland—Closing Fireworks
To be honest, Hong Kong Disneyland doesn't have that strong Disney vibe because they don't really play any Disney music. They play some at the entrance but they're all remixes. For example, When You Wish Upon A Star is supposed to be a slow and emotional tune, but they played it at 2 times speed. If you are a Disney lover, you have to at least Visit California Disneyland once. It's "the happiest place on Earth" for a reason. The carefully designed park with music and olfactory stimulations create an immersive Disney experience. But Hong Kong Disneyland still has the iconic closing fireworks and light show.
I honestly think that you can ignore all of the other parades and shows they have here, but you cannot miss out on the 21:00 closing show. Unlike the Cinderella Castle in California and Florida, or the Sleeping Castle in Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland's Castle of Magical Dreams is a combination of both. Before the show starts, they transform the castle into all the different Disney princesses' castles using projections. Once the show starts, the fountain below the castle creates a water curtain and light is projected onto both the water curtain and castle while playing classic Disney songs. Fireworks erupt as the songs reach a climax. It's mesmerizing and is a pretty long show. For Disney babies like me, it's extremely touching, I always have tears in my eyes when I watch these closing shows.
By the way, if you end up enjoying this show, I would highly recommend that you visit Magic Kingdom of Florida Walt Disney World. As The Most Magical Place on Earth, Magic Kingdom even has it's own theme song—Happily Ever After. It's written in very classic Disney style, you can immediately tell that it is Disney music even if you hear it out of context. And they have a real-life Tinker Bell that "flies" down from the castle during the show, sprinkling everyone with pixie dust.
Hong Kong Disneyland—Park Info
Official website: https://www.hongkongdisneyland.com/
Opening hours: 10:00–21:00
Transportation: Take the subway, transfer to Disney Line at Sunny Bay station, get off at Disneyland Resort
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