Hong Kong - August 2012

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We had 5 days in Hong Kong to meet up with my best friend, do some tourist stuff and importantly, head to Disneyland - wahoo!

We stayed at the Grand Harbour in Kowloon in a suite and it was HUGE! Much better than any other hotel we've ever stayed in in HK with space for the kids to run around and a massive bed for us. The room had amazing views back towards HK Island and was immaculate in all possible ways. On the roof was a roof top pool with glass walls that was also pretty impressive to relax by in the very hot days that the kids loved. Probably the only problem was the hotel wasnt near a train station as such but they did have free shuttle buses to TST every 10 minutes and we also caught cabs a few times and it was pretty cheap. The hotel was also in the middle of the WhomPao district so heaps of residential buildings all around but that also lead to lots of cheap local restaraunts and cafes all within easy walking - great stuff.

At the entrance every evening were ferrarri's, lamboghinis, a rolls and a mazzaratti so one night i had to ask the doorman what was going on and turns out there is a Michelan star restaraunt on the 3rd floor so that is where the richer side were eating 😊 Good to know if we ever book there again (and at least 6 months in advance!).

My mum had come along for the trip and had not been to HK before so it was time to do some tourist activities. We walked around the point of Kowloon and looked at the starwalk but at 33 degrees and 90 percent humidity it was hot hot hot! Mum and I headed out to the Temple markets one evening and there was some great cheap stuff... one of my best friends also lives in HK so came along for some insider information on picking up some 'real' handbags (yet to be proven!).

The kids enjoyed the escalators up the midlevels (dont think thats supposed to be a kids ride though lol) but as always we enjoyed a lovely lunch in soho and caught up with my best friend again. We went up to the Peak one day for a bit of a ride and it is always worth the view but the most enjoyable part was probably the ride up and back on the 45 degree funicular that goes straight up the hill. It freaked the kids and my mum out lol!

Then...the main point of this holiday... we headed to Disneyland! We stayed at the Disneyland Resort and it was wonderful. We stayed in a Kingdom Club room which had exclusive chats/photo's with the characters, free food and alcohol from 6 to 8pm and views of the fireworks at night. It was really really good and worth the money for sure! The swimming pool was very childfriendly too and pretty impressive... both kids loved it and it was nice to relax each afternoon after hours of walking in the theme park. An unexpected thing we did was eat at the Buffet one night and for about AUD$50 it was possibly one of hte best buffets we've ever eaten at. Also, the characters all came in and over about a 1 hour period the kids got heaps and heaps of photos taken with them, and theyd come over to our table and play with the kids over and over again - definitly worth doing.

The kids loved Disneyland. The rides are very much suited to our 4 year old and he could go on everything....and he did! We went on both a Monday and a Tuesday and there was hardly any lines....i think at worst we waited 20 minutes but his favourite ride was the Buzz Lightyear Astro blasters and on Tuesday at 1pm there wasnt a single person on the queue...so he went on it again and again. We also discovered in one of the parks in the middle that the characters all lined up and you could get photos of them - the kids loved this.

I'm not sure Grandma was so keen on disneyland though as this disneyland had a heap of walking to do. I think it was about 2km just to get from where the shuttle bus dropped you off to the ticket section... a long walk when it was so damn hot with zero shade. There was also minimal shade throughout the park - toy story land (which was the midgits main aim) had zero shade so unfortunatly we couldnt stay there too long. I've been to California and Florida Disneylands and this just didnt have the same feel unfortunatly. The US versions ive walked in to and you get flutters...this we were just sick of walking and we hadnt even gotten into the park! The first day we also went left/west and there was lots of space with absolutely nothing to look at for huge distances...it was a bit odd! The second day we went straight through snow whites castle then right/east and that seemed a lot more like the US versions with things to do and purchase pretty much everywhere. I think this is worth a visit if you have very young kids but i probably wouldnt come here a second time or only if i happen to be in HK for another reason.

The kids did have a wonderful time though and the dinner on the last night when they got to play and interact with the characters really topped it off. It is the number 1 thing they will mention if you ask what they did on their holidays.... now off to thailand 😊

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Comments

[Home and Away]

Wow! Talk about doing HK right...
you have redefined flashpacker.

[tamandfamily]

hehe it looks that way but i wasnt driving the ferrarri's or lamboghini's :) This hotel was quite impressive but at the cheaper end of the medium scale as it was sort of out of the way a bit... disneyland resort on the other hand we only had the 1 room for the 4 of us to stay in - no way i could justify that $$$!

[deleted_46288]

Sounds like you had a nice time.....
.....despite all the walking! It makes me laugh that these places never give visitors a place to get out of the sun. It seems like they are actively trying to drive people away. I must do HK myself one day, although some of the prices make me go rather weak at the knees!!!

[tamandfamily]

I think HK is pretty much the same as any big international city - singapore, frankfurt etc. At least food is cheap if youre happy to eat rice or noodles :)

[taracloud]

Minnie and the Little Miss
Hopefully, that enthralled look in her eyes made all the walking worth it. Good for you for continuing to travel even though you've got two in tow. I imagine they open a lot of doors for chats with locals. May the shade follow you the rest of your trip, and you avoid storms like that amazing one approaching in your first photo.