Hong Kong TR

[XxMrYoshixX]

Hi everyone. Currently it is the third term break (yes I'm still in school) and because my dad lives in Hong Kong, I am visiting him for the week then going to Borneo with him for another week then coming home. Yesterday was the beginning of my trip to Hong Kong, with a long and boring 9 hour plane flight. In this trip I will be doing reports for both of the theme parks, Ocean Park and HK Disneyland. I will be going to Ocean Park tomorrow and HK Disneyland on Friday. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Wednesday is a good day for OP - try to get there early... the busloads don't normally arrive until closer to 4pm.

[Zanstabar]

I've heard Hong Kong is a very beautiful place to visit. I look forward to seeing your trip!

[Wil_i_am_not]

Have a awesome time and I hope to see a great trip report!

[iwerks]

Enjoy the coasters at Ocean Park. Don't forget to get a seat at the dolphin show really early (30-45 mins) as it gets full long before show time.

[XxMrYoshixX]

Hi everyone having just got back from Ocean Park I am extremely tired.

 

First off, the day was extremely hot and so I went on the rapids many many times.

Hair Raiser is a great floorless coaster, the layout IMO is the best of any B&M Floorless. Arctic Blast is a good kiddie coaster, IMO SW should have installed this for Nickelodeon Land instead of the piece-of-crap strictly for kids Zamperla coaster. I think that Dragon's days are numbered, despite its appealing layout, it is extremely rough and the line was non-existent. The Mine Train is boring. Just boring. I didnt find it great at all.

For the flats, I thought Flash (an Evolution i think?) was something the GC Parks or AW could install. I honestly think this is better than Claw, but not as good as Freak Out. Abyss is a good drop tower, its very forceful and terrifying, like Hair Raiser at LPS, and I certainly prefer Hair Raiser over GD any day of the week. The rest of the flats are unoriginal boring Music Expresses, Wave Swingers etc (BTW Condors are crap, glad LPS never installed one in '95)

I will be going to Hong Kong Disneyland on Friday, so stay tuned!

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I'm with you on all coaster aspects - total agreeance - except for Mine Train. It has quite a few nice pops, and the location is what really makes that ride.

HKDL is what you wanna look forward to - I enjoyed everything thoroughly, however i feel fantasyland needs more to keep one busy.

Iron Man will be a good addition, but in order - Space Mountain, Mystic Manor, and then Grizzly would have to be my personal favourites.

[XxMrYoshixX]

 

Iron Man will be a good addition, but in order - Space Mountain, Mystic Manor, and then Grizzly would have to be my personal favourites.

I liked Space Mountain and Mystic Manor too last time I went, the soundtrack is really great :).

I'm excited for Iron Man, it seems like it will be a good ride. But it doesn't open for another year.

 

Now for photos:

[Wil_i_am_not]

Sounds like your having a great time! If I'm honest, Disney will make you way more tired than Ocean Park!

[XxMrYoshixX]

Disneyland TR!

 

Space Mountain: Had non-existent lines until 4pm, when half the park was shut due to a private event (Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Point & Toy Story). Space Mountain is a good ride, with a good soundtrack and is rather forceful. 

Mystic Manor: The best ride in the park IMO, had a fairly short line (being a weekday) but shut at 4:30 due to an event, so only got to ride it once.

RC Racer: Boring. And short. Really really short.

Autopia: Really slow, from memory I thought it went faster.

Buzz Lightyear: The ride of the day. Went on it eight times, it did not disappoint after each time.

Big Grizzly Mountain: Cool ride, I thought it was decent. Very fun.

For the shows, Lion King and the 4D movie that I forgot the name of (Mickey's something Magic?) were both good. However much of the Chinese people who go to this park would be annoyed by the fact they have to read the subtitles on the screens because the show is all in English, making it difficult to pay attention to whats going on. I did not like "The Golden Mickeys" for this reason, as it was all in Chinese and I had to pay more attention to the translation on the screen than the actual show.

Iron Man is beginning to take shape, there is a construction fence around the area.

 

My trip to HK ends on Sunday when I fly out to Borneo to stay there for a week, then come back to HK for a night and fly home to Sydney the next day.

[iwerks]

Cool trip report. No Jungle Cruise or Stitch Encounter?  Buzz Lightyear is great. It'd be interesting to see what happens when they start developing the second park.

[DisneyDoll]

 It'd be interesting to see what happens when they start developing the second park.

Second park???...I think they should put a LOT more in this one first. We spent 4 days there & basically saw it all including the shows after two.

[XxMrYoshixX]

Cool trip report. No Jungle Cruise or Stitch Encounter?  Buzz Lightyear is great. It'd be interesting to see what happens when they start developing the second park.

I did the Jungle Cruise, it was pretty good despite having a long line.

[iwerks]

Second park???...I think they should put a LOT more in this one first. We spent 4 days there & basically saw it all including the shows after two.

I went to HK Disneyland just after it opened and literally did everything in one day. It has improved since then. There is space for a second park across the walkway. It would certainly help make the resort a destination worth staying at.

I did the Jungle Cruise, it was pretty good despite having a long line.

Often the Chinese language queues are worse. I found the boat captains' English a little inconsistent.

[DisneyDoll]

I went to HK Disneyland just after it opened and literally did everything in one day. It has improved since then.

I waited till they opened Mystic Manor, Toy Story Land & Big Grizzly Mountain as I'd heard the original park's line up of rides was sparse. Even with these additions, it still just took two days to see everything including all the shows as I mentioned. This is exactly why I feel they need to add some more attractions to the park before building a new one. That's just my opinion but I've been to most Disney Parks around the world & this one is lacking in rides even though it is has beautiful gardens, they are no match for the likes of Pirates, Splash Mtn, Indiana Jones etc. They could also do with some more dark rides in Fanatasyland, again...just my opinion. 

[XxMrYoshixX]

I went to HK Disneyland just after it opened and literally did everything in one day. It has improved since then. There is space for a second park across the walkway. It would certainly help make the resort a destination worth staying at.

Often the Chinese language queues are worse. I found the boat captains' English a little inconsistent.

When I was there the English queues were the longest.

I waited till they opened Mystic Manor, Toy Story Land & Big Grizzly Mountain as I'd heard the original park's line up of rides was sparse. Even with these additions, it still just took two days to see everything including all the shows as I mentioned. This is exactly why I feel they need to add some more attractions to the park before building a new one. That's just my opinion but I've been to most Disney Parks around the world & this one is lacking in rides even though it is has beautiful gardens, they are no match for the likes of Pirates, Splash Mtn, Indiana Jones etc. They could also do with some more dark rides in Fanatasyland, again...just my opinion. 

I waited till they opened Mystic Manor, Toy Story Land & Big Grizzly Mountain as I'd heard the original park's line up of rides was sparse. Even with these additions, it still just took two days to see everything including all the shows as I mentioned. This is exactly why I feel they need to add some more attractions to the park before building a new one. That's just my opinion but I've been to most Disney Parks around the world & this one is lacking in rides even though it is has beautiful gardens, they are no match for the likes of Pirates, Splash Mtn, Indiana Jones etc. They could also do with some more dark rides in Fanatasyland, again...just my opinion. 

Well the resort is only 10 years old, and they are adding Iron Man. But in future perhaps they could add a Frozen attraction to Fantasyland or a Seven Dwarfs Mine Train?

[DisneyDoll]

Regardless HOW old it is, the park still needs more rides in my opinion.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I hear you DD - but HKDL was never designed to be like the others - look like them yes, but the designers did their research, and determined that the locals didn't want big thrills - they wanted photo opportunities - hence why such a large chunk of fantasyland is dedicated to the character photos. 

When i first went to HKDL, Space Mountain was the only 'real' thrill in the park - and it was a ghost town. They have cast members out the front just to make sure you know it's a roller coaster before you go inside as most locals avoid them.

Trouble was - after all their design work - the locals don't visit as much as internationals do, and the lack of big E tickets was noticed very quickly. The expansion to include Grizzly, Mystic and Toy Story was meant to address that, at least in part - more kids rides in Toy Story to make up for the lacking in fantasyland, Mystic to bring out the adventure sector, and Grizzly for the big thrills.

There is a development and expansion plan for HKDL, but chalk it up to 'the designers got it wrong in the beginning' as the reason for it lacking.

Lastly - considering MW can be done in half a day, Sea World the same if you skip the animal shows, Dreamworld, WetNWild and WWW all in a day - i think a park 8 hours away that can keep me captive for 2 days is just fine. (Well - for me it would keep me for at least 3)

[iwerks]

Yeah, it is what it is. I don't mind a park that's a mixture of rides and shows. I did get the feeling that a lot of mainland Chinese visit the parks in HK and that business is going to suffer in the future.

[iwerks]

I just got back from TDL and there's something to be said about HK's pretty little park. It's certainly less crowded.

Edited September 30, 2015 by iwerks

[DisneyDoll]

I just got back from TDL and there's something to be said about HK's pretty little park. It's certainly less crowded.

I couldn't agree more, it is a lovely park to look at. The gardens are very spectacular & it has a wonderful relaxed atmosphere. The food there was also top notch not only at the park but at the Disneyland Hotel where we stayed.  When I visited there were many people from the mainland over that four day period, I'm guessing this is the norm. I fear that if they don't add more rides quickly, they will lose these visitors after the park in Shanghai opens because by all I've seen & heard at the D23 Expo, it will be one amazing park.