I don’t really tend to do reports from places that have had quite a few done in the past, which is becoming increasingly true of Hong Kong Disneyland, but I don’t think anyone has done one since the newest ride and area opened a few months ago, so here goes.
I may have mentioned once or twice that I’ve recently moved to Hong Kong. I had about a week free before I was due to start work. By work, I mean sitting in a week of endless, inefficient and pointless meetings in Cantonese before the kids actually started school, but anyway.
I woke up stupidly early one morning, couldn’t get back to sleep, and even though it was still the summer holidays, I decided to just head to Disneyland for the day. It only took about 40 minutes on the MTR, which is pretty decent.
See?
The train started to get increasingly crowded the closer we got to the park, which was annoying but understandable. Getting out of the station was a bit of a faff because people are just generally **** ing idiots. Anyway, have a few pictures to break up the writing that you’ve likely been scrolling through anyway.
One of the buildings at the entrance end of Main Street USA had been turned into some kind of Monsters University thing.
I didn’t bother with it as I haven’t seen either of the films and it basically just seemed like a massive advert for the new movie, rather than an actual attraction. Instead, I headed straight to Tomorrowland.
Space Mountain had a 10 minute queue at this point, or walk on for single rider, so that was an obvious choice. I’ve just realised I didn’t take any pictures of it until after it got dark, so here are some old ones that I took last time I went.
Obviously it’s not Ghost Galaxy at the moment. Thinking about it, it will be soon though, and Hong Kong Disney makes a pretty huge deal out of Halloween, so a return trip is on the cards in the next few weeks. Anyway, I still love this ride. I think the layout of this version (same as California’s and Tokyo’s as far as I know) is infinitely better than the piece of crap in Paris. I want to say I prefer it to Florida’s as well, but it’s honestly been too long to make a fair comparison.
Since it was walk-on, I had a quick go on Buzz Lightyear.
It was pretty much as I remembered it: a decent enough shooter – probably one of the better ones – but ultimately a bit dull. I decided to give Stich Encounter a miss as I didn’t really think all that much to it last time. Actually, I suppose it’s pretty decent, but I got picked on last time, what with being an ethnic minority, and I **** ing hate audience participation. I skipped Autopia as well. Instead I headed over to Adventure Land for the Jungle Cruise.
I still think is the best of the Jungle Cruise rides. Sure, it’s a bit shorter, but I love how it’s got a completely different atmosphere to the other, more traditional versions. It’s a got a few nods to the older rides though, which I like, such as the rhino horn up the arse scene, but the ending of Hong Kong’s version makes it so much better overall.
Next up was Grizzly Gulch, which opened last year and was completely new to me. It’s basically Hong Kong’s take on the Frontierland areas of the other parks, but, again, with a unique attraction: Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, a very different take on the usual Runaway Mine Train coasters, but again familiar enough to be very “Disney”.
The park was starting to fill up by this point. Plus, I think people had headed over to these new areas first. It still wasn’t bad – the main queue at this point was around 20 minutes, but again the single rider line meant it was a walk on. Ok, so opinions on the ride. First off, it’s a real shame that you can see one of the big “surprises” immediately – the backwards drop. I kind of understand it; it’s Disney and not supposed to be too scary I guess, but I still didn’t really like that it was so obvious.
Apart from that though, I thought it was great. It’s not forceful at all, apart from perhaps the last of the three sections, but it’s perfect for Disney, and a lot more interesting than the run-of-the-mill Runaway Mine Trains that we’re used to. It’s really well-paced as well, in that each section gets gradually more “scary”, which is probably a great way to build up a family coaster. Have some more pictures.
After grabbing a quick reride via the now slightly longer single rider queue, I moved into the next new area, new for this year in fact, and right next to Grizzly Gulch: Mystic Point.
Like Grizzly Gulch, there’s only one ride here, but it’s one of the best – if not the THE best – dark rides I’ve ever been on. Mystic Manor is INCREDIBLE.
Again, Disney fans will recognise it as a “Haunted Mansion” kind of attraction from the outside, but the area, and especially the ride itself, are completely different to any other Disney park. It was quite a lot busier at this point. There was no queue outside, but the indoor queue was basically full, meaning a waiting time of around 30 minutes. Still not bad for a brand new attraction. Later it would be a lot busier though. Anyway, I loved it. The trackless cars weren’t quite as fast as the ones on Tokyo’s Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, but as far as visual effects go, I can’t think of any other overall ride that comes close to Mystic Manor at the moment. The music by Danny Elfman is also brilliant, instantly becoming one of my favourite ride tunes.
Next to Mystic Point was the third new area, well technically first new area since it opened the year before Grizzly Gulch, but the third new area for me because of the way I’d gone around the park.
Hmmmmmm. I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t quite as hideous as I was expecting. I think it’s safe to say that it’s done wonders for the park though, as along with Fantasyland, this area was consistently the busiest throughout the day. RC Racer was crap though. I just see this coaster as a huge mistake for both parks that have installed it. It’s a capacity nightmare. Even with Disney’s fantastic operations, which are just as noticeable at Hong Kong as all the other parks, this ride will never be able to achieve anywhere near the capacity for a major Disney ride.
At this point, the crowds had really built up to the point of actually being quite unpleasant. It also decided to piss down for about an hour, which didn’t help as people were just cramming to get into any available dry area. I did the same thing and went to see Mickey’s Philharmagic, which I think is one of the best 3D shows out there, despite 3D shows in general becoming generally superfluous given that you can go to any cinema and see a full 3D film these days.
Fantasyland was really busy. The longest queue I waited in throughout the day was for Winnie the Pooh, probably because it was still pissing down and the queue is mostly sheltered. I think I waited a little over an hour.
While it’s not a patch on Pooh’s Hunny Hunt in Tokyo, I still think this is a solid kids’ ride. The raining and “floating” sections are actually really cool. Apparently it’s pretty close to the version at Magic Kingdom, but I haven’t ridden that one to be able to comment.
Next up was It’s a Small World, another new attraction since my last visit. I don’t know if any of the others have since been updated, but Hong Kong’s version was the first one (still the only one?) to incorporate Disney characters into the scenes. I thought this was a great idea as playing “spot the characters” actually turns an annoying, monotonous ride into something a lot more fun.
The crowds at this point were horrendous. The queue moved quickly, and I was on within about 30 minutes, but the people were **** ing dreadful. This is going to sound awful, and I don’t care, but it’s the mainlanders. They have no concept of how to “behave” as a visitor to another country (for all intents and purposes, Hong Kong is not China) and differences between them and the locals are really, really obvious.
The locals will wait in line, be respectful of other people’s space and generally be very polite. The mainlanders do none of these things. They push and shove into any available space, lose each other in the queues and then cause a scene when they get to the front and realise half their group is missing. They ignore signs and instructions. They’re basically **** ing dreadful. It’s not exactly the queue jumping that you might see in, say, Spain, as there the people doing it know exactly what they’re doing and that they shouldn’t be doing it. They just have no concept of how a queue system works.
It’s frustrating because you can see the staff trying to be as polite as possible, but they seem continuously stressed – not the usual happy Disney staff you expect to see. They have to make constant announcements, in multiple languages so there’s no excuse, regarding “waiting your turn”, “staying together with your group” and “respecting the personal space of other guests”. Maybe it will get better as the Chinese get more used to travelling outside their own country – let’s face it, the Americans don’t have quite the same reputation now that they used to - but at the moment it’s awful. I’ve spoken to a lot of people here who simply won’t go to Disneyland anymore because of it. It’s a shame, but I guess it’s also bringing in the cash.
Anyway, rant over. I headed back through Toy Story Land for another ride on Mystic Manor
Which by this point was a lot busier. This time around I waited just under an hour, which is still pretty good considering the queue was full. I decided to put a video together, which is **** – you’ll find better if you search around YouTube – but anyway, here it is:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE7up9SjXeY&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
After this I went to watch Festival of the Lion King, which I actually quite like. If you don’t know the film –let’s face it, who doesn’t – then it’s hard to follow, but it looks really impressive.
Again, stressed staff who had to babysit the audience, who couldn’t understand the concept of turning off their camera flash, not standing on stairways or on chairs to take photos, or trying to walk across the stage as the show was going on because they decided they wanted to leave. I actually felt bad for the poor bastards who clearly have to deal with this on a daily basis, at least during busy periods. It can’t be uncommon as they just seemed so resigned to it.
By this point it was dark, so I did a quick round of the park to attempt to take a few more pictures.
I also managed to catch the last performance of The Golden Mickeys, which again was new for me.
It was f**king s**te!
I’ll finish up with a few more night time pictures.
I left about 15 minutes before the fireworks were about to start. I would’ve liked to have stayed for the show, but with the park being so busy I just didn’t fancy the horrendous crush that would’ve happened to get on trains out of there. I’ll go again at some point, so I’m not too bothered.
So, overall impressions:
I really liked Hong Kong Disney when I first visited back in 2007. I liked the way that they were going in a different direction with most of their attractions and not just, at least for the most part, copying and pasting from other Disney parks. I also loved the location with the mountains surrounding it, and the generally tropical atmosphere. However, as nice at it was, it really wasn’t a full-day park. It is now.
They’ve continued to add unique attractions, or unique versions of existing Disney attractions, to really make this one of the best “Magic Kingdom” parks out there, despite its small size. Ignoring the issues with the majority of the visitors on the day I went, the park is absolutely brilliant.
I may have mentioned once or twice that I’ve recently moved to Hong Kong. I had about a week free before I was due to start work. By work, I mean sitting in a week of endless, inefficient and pointless meetings in Cantonese before the kids actually started school, but anyway.
I woke up stupidly early one morning, couldn’t get back to sleep, and even though it was still the summer holidays, I decided to just head to Disneyland for the day. It only took about 40 minutes on the MTR, which is pretty decent.
See?
The train started to get increasingly crowded the closer we got to the park, which was annoying but understandable. Getting out of the station was a bit of a faff because people are just generally **** ing idiots. Anyway, have a few pictures to break up the writing that you’ve likely been scrolling through anyway.
One of the buildings at the entrance end of Main Street USA had been turned into some kind of Monsters University thing.
I didn’t bother with it as I haven’t seen either of the films and it basically just seemed like a massive advert for the new movie, rather than an actual attraction. Instead, I headed straight to Tomorrowland.
Space Mountain had a 10 minute queue at this point, or walk on for single rider, so that was an obvious choice. I’ve just realised I didn’t take any pictures of it until after it got dark, so here are some old ones that I took last time I went.
Obviously it’s not Ghost Galaxy at the moment. Thinking about it, it will be soon though, and Hong Kong Disney makes a pretty huge deal out of Halloween, so a return trip is on the cards in the next few weeks. Anyway, I still love this ride. I think the layout of this version (same as California’s and Tokyo’s as far as I know) is infinitely better than the piece of crap in Paris. I want to say I prefer it to Florida’s as well, but it’s honestly been too long to make a fair comparison.
Since it was walk-on, I had a quick go on Buzz Lightyear.
It was pretty much as I remembered it: a decent enough shooter – probably one of the better ones – but ultimately a bit dull. I decided to give Stich Encounter a miss as I didn’t really think all that much to it last time. Actually, I suppose it’s pretty decent, but I got picked on last time, what with being an ethnic minority, and I **** ing hate audience participation. I skipped Autopia as well. Instead I headed over to Adventure Land for the Jungle Cruise.
I still think is the best of the Jungle Cruise rides. Sure, it’s a bit shorter, but I love how it’s got a completely different atmosphere to the other, more traditional versions. It’s a got a few nods to the older rides though, which I like, such as the rhino horn up the arse scene, but the ending of Hong Kong’s version makes it so much better overall.
Next up was Grizzly Gulch, which opened last year and was completely new to me. It’s basically Hong Kong’s take on the Frontierland areas of the other parks, but, again, with a unique attraction: Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, a very different take on the usual Runaway Mine Train coasters, but again familiar enough to be very “Disney”.
The park was starting to fill up by this point. Plus, I think people had headed over to these new areas first. It still wasn’t bad – the main queue at this point was around 20 minutes, but again the single rider line meant it was a walk on. Ok, so opinions on the ride. First off, it’s a real shame that you can see one of the big “surprises” immediately – the backwards drop. I kind of understand it; it’s Disney and not supposed to be too scary I guess, but I still didn’t really like that it was so obvious.
Apart from that though, I thought it was great. It’s not forceful at all, apart from perhaps the last of the three sections, but it’s perfect for Disney, and a lot more interesting than the run-of-the-mill Runaway Mine Trains that we’re used to. It’s really well-paced as well, in that each section gets gradually more “scary”, which is probably a great way to build up a family coaster. Have some more pictures.
After grabbing a quick reride via the now slightly longer single rider queue, I moved into the next new area, new for this year in fact, and right next to Grizzly Gulch: Mystic Point.
Like Grizzly Gulch, there’s only one ride here, but it’s one of the best – if not the THE best – dark rides I’ve ever been on. Mystic Manor is INCREDIBLE.
Again, Disney fans will recognise it as a “Haunted Mansion” kind of attraction from the outside, but the area, and especially the ride itself, are completely different to any other Disney park. It was quite a lot busier at this point. There was no queue outside, but the indoor queue was basically full, meaning a waiting time of around 30 minutes. Still not bad for a brand new attraction. Later it would be a lot busier though. Anyway, I loved it. The trackless cars weren’t quite as fast as the ones on Tokyo’s Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, but as far as visual effects go, I can’t think of any other overall ride that comes close to Mystic Manor at the moment. The music by Danny Elfman is also brilliant, instantly becoming one of my favourite ride tunes.
Next to Mystic Point was the third new area, well technically first new area since it opened the year before Grizzly Gulch, but the third new area for me because of the way I’d gone around the park.
Hmmmmmm. I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t quite as hideous as I was expecting. I think it’s safe to say that it’s done wonders for the park though, as along with Fantasyland, this area was consistently the busiest throughout the day. RC Racer was crap though. I just see this coaster as a huge mistake for both parks that have installed it. It’s a capacity nightmare. Even with Disney’s fantastic operations, which are just as noticeable at Hong Kong as all the other parks, this ride will never be able to achieve anywhere near the capacity for a major Disney ride.
At this point, the crowds had really built up to the point of actually being quite unpleasant. It also decided to piss down for about an hour, which didn’t help as people were just cramming to get into any available dry area. I did the same thing and went to see Mickey’s Philharmagic, which I think is one of the best 3D shows out there, despite 3D shows in general becoming generally superfluous given that you can go to any cinema and see a full 3D film these days.
Fantasyland was really busy. The longest queue I waited in throughout the day was for Winnie the Pooh, probably because it was still pissing down and the queue is mostly sheltered. I think I waited a little over an hour.
While it’s not a patch on Pooh’s Hunny Hunt in Tokyo, I still think this is a solid kids’ ride. The raining and “floating” sections are actually really cool. Apparently it’s pretty close to the version at Magic Kingdom, but I haven’t ridden that one to be able to comment.
Next up was It’s a Small World, another new attraction since my last visit. I don’t know if any of the others have since been updated, but Hong Kong’s version was the first one (still the only one?) to incorporate Disney characters into the scenes. I thought this was a great idea as playing “spot the characters” actually turns an annoying, monotonous ride into something a lot more fun.
The crowds at this point were horrendous. The queue moved quickly, and I was on within about 30 minutes, but the people were **** ing dreadful. This is going to sound awful, and I don’t care, but it’s the mainlanders. They have no concept of how to “behave” as a visitor to another country (for all intents and purposes, Hong Kong is not China) and differences between them and the locals are really, really obvious.
The locals will wait in line, be respectful of other people’s space and generally be very polite. The mainlanders do none of these things. They push and shove into any available space, lose each other in the queues and then cause a scene when they get to the front and realise half their group is missing. They ignore signs and instructions. They’re basically **** ing dreadful. It’s not exactly the queue jumping that you might see in, say, Spain, as there the people doing it know exactly what they’re doing and that they shouldn’t be doing it. They just have no concept of how a queue system works.
It’s frustrating because you can see the staff trying to be as polite as possible, but they seem continuously stressed – not the usual happy Disney staff you expect to see. They have to make constant announcements, in multiple languages so there’s no excuse, regarding “waiting your turn”, “staying together with your group” and “respecting the personal space of other guests”. Maybe it will get better as the Chinese get more used to travelling outside their own country – let’s face it, the Americans don’t have quite the same reputation now that they used to - but at the moment it’s awful. I’ve spoken to a lot of people here who simply won’t go to Disneyland anymore because of it. It’s a shame, but I guess it’s also bringing in the cash.
Anyway, rant over. I headed back through Toy Story Land for another ride on Mystic Manor
Which by this point was a lot busier. This time around I waited just under an hour, which is still pretty good considering the queue was full. I decided to put a video together, which is **** – you’ll find better if you search around YouTube – but anyway, here it is:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE7up9SjXeY&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
After this I went to watch Festival of the Lion King, which I actually quite like. If you don’t know the film –let’s face it, who doesn’t – then it’s hard to follow, but it looks really impressive.
Again, stressed staff who had to babysit the audience, who couldn’t understand the concept of turning off their camera flash, not standing on stairways or on chairs to take photos, or trying to walk across the stage as the show was going on because they decided they wanted to leave. I actually felt bad for the poor bastards who clearly have to deal with this on a daily basis, at least during busy periods. It can’t be uncommon as they just seemed so resigned to it.
By this point it was dark, so I did a quick round of the park to attempt to take a few more pictures.
I also managed to catch the last performance of The Golden Mickeys, which again was new for me.
It was f**king s**te!
I’ll finish up with a few more night time pictures.
I left about 15 minutes before the fireworks were about to start. I would’ve liked to have stayed for the show, but with the park being so busy I just didn’t fancy the horrendous crush that would’ve happened to get on trains out of there. I’ll go again at some point, so I’m not too bothered.
So, overall impressions:
I really liked Hong Kong Disney when I first visited back in 2007. I liked the way that they were going in a different direction with most of their attractions and not just, at least for the most part, copying and pasting from other Disney parks. I also loved the location with the mountains surrounding it, and the generally tropical atmosphere. However, as nice at it was, it really wasn’t a full-day park. It is now.
They’ve continued to add unique attractions, or unique versions of existing Disney attractions, to really make this one of the best “Magic Kingdom” parks out there, despite its small size. Ignoring the issues with the majority of the visitors on the day I went, the park is absolutely brilliant.
