Disneyland Hong Kong

Last February, when we knew with some degree of certainty that we were moving to Hong Kong, we decided to take the kids to Disneyland while visiting my family in California. It seemed like an appropriate Americana type gesture. My brother kindly contacted his friend, who contacted his brother, a Disneyland employee, who got us all into Disneyland for free. While we were explaining our motives for the trip, my brother’s friend’s brother told us that Disneyland had opened in Hong Kong a few months ago. This new Disneyland quickly became the central aspect of our marketing campaign aimed at convincing three little people that Hong Kong was where they wanted to be.

It worked and along the way we became convinced too. So convinced that we are all now Disneyland Hong Kong annual pass members and starting to get familiar with the shows and the character breakfasts. Recently, we all went together, the first time all five of us were there in mass and the rightness of the annual pass became clear. We had a wonderful day with warm weather, no wait longer than 10 minutes and no concession food tempting us to spend extra money. (All food is Asian, roasted spring chickens and pigs.)

Disneyland Hong Kong is smaller in size than the LA one, with just adventure land, fantasy land and tomorrow land, but much more do-able for the younger set. Everything is brand- new and spotless and high on the technology end. We watched a great 3D animated show with visuals, sound, smells and even water splashed on the audience. Disneyland Hong Kong has the Fast Pass system but working somewhat haphazardly. The longest wait in a regular line is about 10 minutes and maybe a minute or two less with the Fast Pass.

Throughout the day we got a lot of attention for the twins and blonde hair from other park go-ers but also from the staff. At one point, we nixed standing in a line to take a picture with Buzz Lightyear. As Buzz Lightyear went on his break, he came over to our kids, whispered something to Adam, kissed Roycie and patted Tori’s hair. The princesses, all imported from the West, made eye contact or small talk with us whenever possible. Beyond all the attention they were showering on us, the characters were rather charming. Oddly, it did sort of take the edge off being far away from home over the holidays to see familiar Cinderella, Snow White and Belle. The fact that the princesses were speaking in Chinese just made them seem smarter and more cosmopolitan than ever before.