When we were planning to visit Hong Kong again, we decided not to visit the same tourist attractions we visited when we first went there nine years ago – with the exception of one, Hong Kong Disneyland.
During our first Hong Kong Disneyland visit, our Neo was almost 2 years old only. He entered the park free, yey! And since he was so young, he was only allowed to ride attractions that were not extreme. As far as my memory can remember, we were able to ride: It’s a Small World, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey’s Philhar Magic, Mad Hatter Tea Cups. Also, since he was so young, we left the park early so we can rest early at the hotel and thus, we were not able to see the fireworks.
Fast forward today, nine years after, our Hong Kong Disneyland experience is 180-degrees different. Our no-longer-little boy is now allowed to ride all park attractions! And guess what we did? We rode all the extreme rides he wants to try. We rode the Iron Man Experience, Antman and the Wasps: Nano Battle, Hyperspace Mountain, RC Racer, and Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. We also rode the not so extreme rides like Mickeys’ Philhar Magic, Jungle River Cruise, and Mystic Manor. We also got to watch the Street Celebration parade, Follow Your Dreams show, and the Festival of the Lion King (which is a must to watch!).
Some tips:
- We bought our tickets from KKDay and registered it at the Hong Kong Disneyland We bought park tickets with meal inclusions (3-in-1 meal includes HKD 140 meal voucher for lunch, HKD 140 meal voucher for dinner, and a snack of choice, either ice lollipop or popcorn). The total cost of our tickets and the meals we consumed would have been HKD 2397 however, since we bought the meal vouchers we only paid HKD 2056.
- You can bring snacks inside Hong Kong Disneyland, but I still suggest for you to buy meal vouchers to save money. All the walking and enjoyment will make you hungry and thus, eating inside park restaurants will be unavoidable especially if you visit one from 1030am (opening time) until 9pm (closing time).
- Be early so I will have time to take wonderful photos of the Hong Kong Disneyland ark before entering the park.
- There are a lot of 50% – 70% merchandise items inside the park. Look for them and once you see them, buy them ASAP. We were not able to buy those items as we were actually waiting for last minute to check on all the shops first – unfortunately, the park is so huge that we missed out buying those items.
- Watch the shows. We suggest to watch Follow Your Dreams, Festival of the Lion King, and Momentous. Some people suggest you secure your seats as early as possible for the Momentous show, but by experience, I think anywhere in front of the castle is okay.
- Download the Hong Kong Disneyland app. It shows the map of Hong Kong Disneyland as well the as wait time for each attraction. This way, you can strategically plan which attraction to ride and which show to watch base on the wait time.
- Bring water tumblers. Water fountains are everywhere in the park. Better stay hydrated.
If you ask me, what’s the best age to bring your child to Hong Kong Disneyland? There is no best age, but there is a best time. NOW.
Our Hong Kong Disneyland experience last 2014 was so different from this year. Both experience was memorable but is unique in each way. So for parents who are thinking they want to visit Disneyland once their kids are older so they will remember, please just visit any time! The memories you create with your children are different at every stage. So, we might visit Hong Kong Disneyland again, after another nine years to see. 😉
