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Published: October 14th 2012
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Oct. 13 Hong Kong Disneyland!! Those who know us will not be surprised that we succumbed to the lure of Disneyland on our free day, being frequent visitors to Disney World and California Disneyland, as well as one-time EuroDisney visitors. The opportunity to compare was just too enticing to pass up. Warning: if you are not Disney fans, this will probably not interest you!
The metro ride from our hotel in the center of Hong Kong Island to the gate took about one and a quarter hours but was very easy to navigate using the station maps. This was a Saturday, so we expected crowds but were pleasantly surprised to walk right up to a ticket window with no line. The daily pass cost about $50 US.
Opening time was late, 10:30, so we were there at the very start, which turned out to be very helpful. Where is everyone? We first walked over to the Jungle Cruise but chose not to get on immediately, because we would have been the only passengers, and that seemed a little boring (or even embarrassing), so we continued on to Toy Story Land, which I believe is unique to Hong Kong Disneyland,
or at least new to us. Best was the Toy Soldier Parachute Drop which gave a good view of the park and a fairly tame "free-fall" feeling. We noticed the rides were mostly of a very short duration, a couple of spins on the Slinky Dog, and about four back-and-forth passes on the U-shaped RC Racers track, but that's OK, one can walk right back on for more! That is in fact exactly what we did on Buzz Lightyear, going for about four rounds of shooting at Emperor Zorg, and not even feeling too upset when we got a "dud" ray gun on one pass. Even Space Mountain was a walk on, at least until about 1 p.m., unheard of in Florida!! Everything was so relaxed that people actually stopped to take pictures of displays in the entrances to the rides instead of racing past Buzz and the whirling planets to get to the front of the line before the competition.
Hint: the only rides that allowed fast passes were Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain, and Winnie the Pooh. We used a Winnie pass later in the day but did not need the others. If you are there at opening
time and wonder how to use your advantage most effectively, go right to Dumbo or Autopia (racing cars) if anyone in your party is interested in those. They were the only rides with lines before mid-afternoon.
When we did go back to Jungle Cruise to find a few people waiting, it was amusing to have to choose an English, Mandarin, or Cantonese boat. We were prepared to hear all the usual bad puns like "He's willing to trade two of his heads - for one of yours!" or "I'm sure he'll get the point - in the end!" However, these lines apparently missed the boat to Hong Kong, so to speak, because our captain's monologue was more like, "Wow, look! An elephant!" and "Oh dear, a cobra!" and "Wave bye bye now, thank you." We found this quite hysterical, and probably puzzled our fellow passengers with our amusement.
The park was super clean with wonderful restrooms (with toilet paper!) and No Smoking. Ahhh. Food was great, too, although at somewhat hyped prices. There were several noodle restaurants, a burger place, hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy,... Having a big free breakfast at our hotel and a
farewell dinner to follow, we went light and shared a vegetarian Indian platter at the Tahitian Terrace in Adventureland. Wonderful! With two drinks and a fruit cup the bill was about $20.
Perhaps the best thing about our day was the people-watching. Of course, kids were everywhere, and many of them dressed in costume. I'll include a photo of my favorites. I also liked seeing elderly ladies and gentlemen solemnly riding in honey pots and flying elephants. All-in-all a very enjoyable day. I'm so glad we decided to try Hong Kong Disneyland!
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