A Week Around the Small World! Paris to Hong Kong to Shanghai to Tokyo TR!

[Majide]

Great report so far! Looking forward to the rest- we are doing HK and SH later this year so eagerly awaiting your thoughts!

Thanks! Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions

 

[Majide]

Sunday, March 31 Cont. - Hello Hong Kong!
And we are back to the Disney content!

According to my research, the best/easy way to get to the Disney resorts is by taking a Taxi. A super important thing to note is that they take cash only. Immediately as we exited immigration, there was a money exchange and a Citibank ATM, so we used the ATM to get out the lowest amount, 500 HK$. Then we followed signs to the Taxi area. The taxis are actually separated by the destination area and are different colors based on their area. We went to the taxi line for Lantau Island and waited about 10 minutes for a Taxi.


I pulled up our destination on Google Maps and showed it to the driver, and off we went! The taxi ride took about 20 minutes and was 172 HK$ which works out to about $22 USD.


Something I don't think I mentioned yet is that we have GoogleFi as our cell phone provider. If you are a big traveler, I can 100% recommend them. You get cell service and data included free for over 200 international destinations. This meant that all we had to do for phone connectivity was switch our phones off of airplane mode once we landed. We were able to then use our phones as normal in every country we visited, no e-sim needed. It really was nice to have one less thing to plan for on this trip.

Soon enough, we were pulling into the Explorers Lodge! This is the one Disney hotel we decided to stay at this trip. The way the island is layed out, the next best non-Disney hotel option I was considering would have been 20 minutes away and only a minor cost savings. Plus, everyone I have seen visit HKDL has raved about this hotel, and with good reason!


I booked the cheapest room, for $236 a night. This was the most expensive hotel we stayed at on the trip, but it was definitely worth it, especially compared to WDW pricing. Out of curiosity, I just checked Wilderness Lodge (which I've stayed at before and this hotel was reminiscent of), and for the same dates we stayed but next year, the cheapest room is $665 a night! Wow, I never stay on property since I'm from Orlando so I had no clue prices were so crazy!


The room itself was really nice and had an awesome shower. But the best part was...


H20 Shower Products! I had no clue they had these here and I was so excited for this soap haha. We are big Disney Cruise fans, so when I smell these I instantly think of Disney vacations.


Rather than having water bottles in the room, they had this purified water machine, which I really liked. I hope more hotels start getting these. We also had a Nespresso, which my DH appreciated.


We got literally the perfect location, a room on the second floor just a few doors down from all of the restaurants. We just had a simple garden view, but we loved how quick it was to walk to the restaurants and the lobby, and that we didn't need to take any elevators.

My nap planning for the flight worked out, and we were feeling slightly hungry and a bit tired. It was 7pm local time, so we decide to check out the Chart Room Café for dinner.


My DH got the Braised Short Ribs, which he enjoyed.


I got the Shake Shake Snack Platter, which was so big, we honestly could have just shared that. I really liked the variety on it.


And with that, we were ready to sleep in a real bed again, so falling asleep was easy!

 

[Majide]

Monday, April 1 - Dragon Wind Breakfast and Early Entry
I had a horrible habit on this trip of waking up at 4 or 5 am before our park days because I was so excited. At the same time, at least it meant I was always ready to get an early start! We went to Dragon Wind for breakfast right as they opened at 7:30 am. I booked our hotel rate without breakfast included, just so we would have some flexibility, but decided to get a nice big meal in before our park day. The cost was 328 HK$/$42 USD and it was definitely worth it this day!

I could fill up an entire post with just breakfast pictures, but I will try to just show the highlights The buffet starts with a bunch of fresh dim sum, we are in Hong Kong after all!


They they had a live station where you could customize noodle soup bowls, along with some other various hot Asian dishes. They also had a congee station with 2 base options. OMG I don't know what they put in it here, but the Explorers Lodge has turned me into a Congee lover. Their flavors change daily and my favorite today was a Chicken and Pumpkin one.

They also had some great fresh fruits, an array of salads, western dishes, cereal, a carving station, and an omelet bar. The breads and pastry station included the obligatory Mickey Waffles, along with some Mickey muffins.


When you sit down at breakfast, they give you a card with your arrival time as there is a 1 hour limit on the buffet. You also get a card for the character meeting, which is once per table. The character meeting on a given day is random, so we were super excited to see Goofy come out at 8am! He is my DH's favorite, so we were lucky. They had an official photopass photographer there, but also a cast member who did a great job taking pictures on our phone for us.


We then headed out to the park for Early Entry. HKDL didn't officially open until 10 am the day we visited, so we decided to pay for Early Entry, which I think was about $20ish pp. The Explorer's Lodge has buses to the park, but since we weren't in a rush, we decided to walk to the park. There is a promenade along the water, along with a sidewalk along the street, and we went with the sidewalk since it is a bit faster. They really do a great job maintaining the grounds in Hong Kong, and it was a really peaceful walk. We didn't see anyone else walking to the park, I think most people took the buses. According to our photos, it was about a 20 minute leisurely walk.

We made it to the park entrance about 10 minutes before Early Entry, and at 9:05 am we were walking into the park. It was a bit of a surprise to see Duffy as the flower mural, but it was just a small hint at how big Duffy and Friends are here!


Crowds were definetly light for Early Entry, and we followed everyone back to the World of Frozen. For Early Entry, just the Frozen themed land and a few things in Fantasyland were open. On the way we snapped some castle pictures. I love seeing the mountains behind a Disney Castle!




Everyone was going towards the main ride, so we went to Oaken's Sliding Sleighs first. It was a walk on and we got the front row! As everyone has said it is a short ride, but it is good as a kids coaster. I don't think I would want to wait very long in line to ride it personally though.


Frozen Ever After was just like the Epcot version, but with much better animatronics. We waited about 10 minutes in line. I'm glad we went on it second, because once we got off Oaken's sleighs were at a 20 minute wait. We gave the land a quick look around, but then we headed out and went on the Pooh ride, another walk on and we got our own Honey Pot. This one is a nostalgic favorite from Magic Kingdom for both of us. If I'm not mistaken it was pretty much an exact copy.


And with that, it was 10 minutes until official park open. Like I mentioned before, I like to plan, so before our trip, I researched into Duffy and Friends. I knew a base line amount about them, especially since Duffy came to Epcot for a little bit. However, I wanted to know about each character and their personalities before we visited the Asian parks. This really came in handy, especially in Hong Kong. The level of popularity of these character that are basically unknown in the US is really hard to describe without experiencing it. Honestly, I think they get more love than the Fab 5 does in America.

With all that said, since we had a few minutes before the park opened, we decided to head over to the Duffy and Friends Playhouse to meet one of the characters. There are 3 meeting on any given day, and I am not sure if it is random or if there is a schedule I don't know about. On our day, it was LinaBell, StellaLou, and CookieAnn. There is a line out front of the Playhouse and then are walk through AR photo spots. Then, you get to pick one of the three characters to stand in line to meet. From my research, I was really liking LinaBell, so that's who we decided to meet. They let us into the Playhouse at park open, and we were 3rd in line for LinaBell. Then, at 10:15am the characters started meeting. The lines were building up behind us, so if you really want to meet one of these characters, the Early Entry really helps. The guided us into a separate room and we got to meet LinaBelle!


I almost never meet with characters in the US, but we had a great interaction with her. Like at breakfast, they had the official Photopass Photographer and someone to take pictures on your personal phone. Since we had such a great time, I was considering getting in line for StellaLou, but it was already at 45 minutes long. And LinaBell's line was already at 120 minutes at 10:30am! The lowest I saw it go all day was 90 minutes long which really shocked us.



Coming up, lots of snacks, rides, and a special Pin Trading Carnival!

 

[Disneyhanna]

Wow, what a dream trip! Looking forward to seeing more! Love all the food pictures! LinaBell is so cute, I don't know why we hardly get any of that crew in the US Parks!

 

[zanzibar138]

Wow so interesting reading your HKDL update - so much has changed since my last trip (2019)! Characters, particularly Duffy and friends, have always been super popular over there with longer lines than most rides! Gelatoni is my favourite.

Looking forward to reading about your pin trading experience. Last time I was there coincided with a pin trading carnival too and the lines for that were insane! I got my giant gold LE Duffy pin though so worth it

 

[Majide]

Wow, what a dream trip! Looking forward to seeing more! Love all the food pictures! LinaBell is so cute, I don't know why we hardly get any of that crew in the US Parks!

Can't wait to share more! Yeah I really wish they would try to bring Duffy and Friends over to the US , even if they were just at one park. I feel like people are crazier for merch than ever, and I think everyone would fall in love with them. Maybe they could have a special event or festival with them for a limited time to build hype, wouldn't that be fun?

Wow so interesting reading your HKDL update - so much has changed since my last trip (2019)! Characters, particularly Duffy and friends, have always been super popular over there with longer lines than most rides! Gelatoni is my favourite.

Looking forward to reading about your pin trading experience. Last time I was there coincided with a pin trading carnival too and the lines for that were insane! I got my giant gold LE Duffy pin though so worth it

Gelatoni is super cute! Yes the pin trading carnival was busy but lots of fun!

 

[Majide]

Monday, April 1 Cont.- Pin Trading Carnival
Now that the park was officially open, we decided to explore Main Street, especially the shops. I knew the merch in the Asian parks is normally considered superior, and Hong Kong did not disappoint! One part of the shop had sections for each of Duffy's friends, which I though was cute.


Looking back at my pictures kind of makes me wish I bought more, but I was restricting myself since we had more parks to go. However as soon as I saw this, I had to get it! As silly as it sounds, this is a Sakura Stitch Tissue Box Cover. I had seen an announcement in January about this Sleepy Sakura collection in Japan, and had assumed that it would be sold out by the time I made it to Tokyo. I was shocked to see it in Hong Kong, and it is the only place on the trip I saw it. There was a few other Sleepy Sakura stuff here and in Shanghai, but none in Tokyo. I immediately bought him and just like in the US, they have a service where they can send your park purchasing back to your Disney hotel. I was able to pick him up at the Explorers Lodge bellhop desk at 8pm. He now lives on my desk and was my favorite souvenir from the trip!


We then headed over to the Main Street Bakery. I loved the variety of snacks they have here, and we got brown sugar boba milk tea!


Next we decided to start in Adventure Land. I heard great thing about the Jungle Cruise, so I knew I wanted to ride it. Everyone online had said there was a separate line for English and a separate line for Cantonese, but on our day there was just a single line. I'm not sure if this is a permanent change, or maybe they only have separate lines on busy days. Our skipper mainly spoke in Cantonese, but every once and a while she would say a line or two in English. I think we would have enjoyed it a bit more if it was all in English, but the end of the ride was a surprise and very exciting, to say the least.


A few weeks before our visit, I was poking around the HKDL website and saw that there would be a Pin Trading Carnival during our trip. There wasn't much information online about it, but I did find one YouTube Video of someone visiting before. I'm glad I knew about it in advance, so I was prepared with a lanyard with some good pins. It took place in the Pavilion, which is between Adventureland and Grizzly Gulch.


Now, I think it works slightly differently every year, and it was a little confusing to us, but here is how we understood it. There was an initial line to get in, and at the end of this line was booths to buy pin and card mystery packs. You could buy 5 blind packs per person, and you were allowed to get back in this line 3 total times a day. Each transaction you were allowed to buy the special ticket only once. We decided to buy 6 total packs and one of the special ticket pin.

Now, with the blind pack cards, there was a game you would play. It was like a 30 minute line to wait in to play, but it was the first day of the event. Below are the rules. I think to be good at it, the idea would be for you to buy as many as was allowed and then trade with others to get the best possible combinations. My DH just worked with what we had and lost haha that's okay though, they let you spin a wheel anyway and we then were allowed to trade one of our pins for the pin the wheel landed on.


Here are some of our pins and cards.


Then there was the "Special Ticket" Pin. We weren't originally going to get it, but the cashier said it let you play a special game. So basically, there was another line to stand in, though this one was much faster, and having the ticket let you play the game once. You put a pin to trade into one of 4 boxes, and then they turned it around and you got whatever the pin was in the box. I think the idea was you could win something really rare if you were lucky, but I honestly don't even remember what we won. Here is the Pin that came with the special ticket.


Then, there was a huge hall with pin traders. It was fun looking through people's collections, and I made a few great trades. I honestly could have spent an hour in here just looking around, but my DH was getting kind of over it haha Overall, we spent a little over an hour at the Carnival, so I can definitely recommend checking it out if its happening when you visit!


Now it was time for a well deserved snack. My DH loves squid jerky, so he enjoyed the Korean Squid from the snack stall. That's not my thing at all, so I had some corn instead.

 

[Majide]

Monday, April 1 Cont.
Then, we made it to Grizzly Gulch. I had heard that Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars was their version of Thunder Mountain, but it was so much more than that. We waited about 15 minutes to ride. I somehow didn't notice the cars going backwards at all, so that was a fun surprise for me on the ride. I also loved all of the bear animatronics on this!


I loved how themed Grizzly Gulch was, so many cute details.



Then we went on Mystic Manor. This is another top attraction at the park. Often described as "their version of Haunted Mansion" but again, this was so much more than just that! This was another 15 minute wait.


We then did a walk through of Toy Story Land. It's funny how many of these parks actually have a Toy Story Land. We never went on any Toy Story rides this trip, but it was interesting to walk through them and see so many of the same things copy and pasted over.


Then we walked toward Tomorrowland for Hyper Space Mountain. We were a little nervous after the ride we had in Paris, but this one was much better for us. More of the "traditional" space mountain but with Star Wars added in. I really liked the X-Wing they had parked in the queue.


Now, I was on a quest to try all of the Mickey Mouse bars on this trip, but I couldn't resist the LinaBell Ice Cream! My DH got the Mickey bar so I could still try it. It was probably the closet to the US parks of all of the ones on the trip, which places it in the middle of my rankings. The LinaBell bar was interesting. Not bad, but for sure looked better than it tasted.



Something to note is that at this part of the day, the humidity was really starting to get to us. Now, we are Florida natives so we know what bad humidity is like and this was definitely it. The high was only 78 this day, but I could not imagine how awful it must feel in the summer here. We would love to visit again, but we will avoid the summer at all costs! We packed shorts just for this park, and that was the right move.

With all that said, we decided to take advantage of our onsite hotel and head back there for a break. On the way out, we stopped at the Main Street Bakery again. It was almost 3pm at this point, so we just continued snacking since we never had an actual lunch. DH got a mint soda and I got a fruit tea, which was really refreshing. I often joke that mint flavored thing are "toothpaste" flavor whenever my DH orders them, but this mint soda turned that into the truth. It was like drinking mouthwash. Now, I'm sure this is how mint soda is supposed to taste, but it wasn't what my DH was expecting, so just a warning on that.


For snacks, we got a waffle and a ham and cheese bun. The waffle wasn't made to be warm and fresh, but it was really yummy. I really enjoyed the ham and cheese bun, it was the perfect filling savory snack. Overall, the Main Street Bakery was one of our favorite spots of the entire trip!



And that will wrap it up for today! Up next, our dinner at Dragon Wind and our evening in the park. Thanks to everyone reading along

 

[KEK1]

What fabulous updates! Do you not get early entry for staying at a Disney hotel then? What about fast passes or are they all paid now? Thanks!

 

[zanzibar138]

Loved reading about your pin trading adventures! Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Manor are definitely 2 of my faves too. I've been lucky enough to visit before when it's been super quiet and have ridden Grizzly Gulch about 4 times in a row lol! It's great to do later in the evenings.

We then did a walk through of Toy Story Land. It's funny how many of these parks actually have a Toy Story Land. We never went on any Toy Story rides this trip, but it was interesting to walk through them and see so many of the same things copy and pasted over.

I don't really care much for Toy Story Land to be honest, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the Toy Soldiers parachute ride. Got great views from up there!

Now, I was on a quest to try all of the Mickey Mouse bars on this trip, but I couldn't resist the LinaBell Ice Cream! My DH got the Mickey bar so I could still try it. It was probably the closet to the US parks of all of the ones on the trip, which places it in the middle of my rankings. The LinaBell bar was interesting. Not bad, but for sure looked better than it tasted.

I used to love the Minnie ice-cream bar at HKDL, not sure if they still have it. It was mango and strawberry flavoured ice-cream.

I often joke that mint flavored thing are "toothpaste" flavor whenever my DH orders them, but this mint soda turned that into the truth. It was like drinking mouthwash. Now, I'm sure this is how mint soda is supposed to taste, but it wasn't what my DH was expecting, so just a warning on that.

Haha my partner mocks my love of mint flavoured things too. I think I would draw the line at soda though

 

[Majide]

What fabulous updates! Do you not get early entry for staying at a Disney hotel then? What about fast passes or are they all paid now? Thanks!

Nope, no early entry for hotel guests. They only have the paid option at the moment unfortunately. And yes, sadly fast passes are only paid now. That's been a change across all of the parks worldwide The only place on our trip that had any version of a free fast pass was in Tokyo, where they had a few rides available under their 40th Anniversary Pass.

 

[Majide]

I used to love the Minnie ice-cream bar at HKDL, not sure if they still have it. It was mango and strawberry flavoured ice-cream.

Yes they still have it! Wow that sounds good, definitely will have to try it next trip.

Haha my partner mocks my love of mint flavoured things too. I think I would draw the line at soda though

Haha yeah definitely not something I would recommend

 

[Majide]

Monday, April 1 Cont. - Dinner at Dragon Wind
Hi everyone! I took over 200 photos this day in Hong Kong, but I'm going to try and wrap up our day with this update.

Instead of walking along the road, we decided to walk along the official resort boardwalk. This was a really pretty walk, but definitely felt longer than going along the road.


We enjoyed a nice break in our hotel room, and then thought about our plans for dinner. We had just had a snacking lunch, so we decided to have an actual meal for dinner. Our breakfast at Dragon Wind was so good, we thought we might as well try it for dinner. At the host stand, they warned us "This restaurant only serves Chinese food, is that okay?" Haha, they were definitely making sure in a friendly way, since the menu is authentic Chinese, not westernized Chinese. It is a really big menu and it had lots of things we had never heard of before, but our thinking was when in Rome! I was just planning on getting fried rice, but my DH is much more adventurous and convinced me to try the Vibrance Dinner Set, since it had the fried rice I wanted plus a bunch of things he had wanted to try.


Soup of the Day, I don't remember what it was exactly, but it had a light broth with some pieces of beef in it.


Marinated Cuttlefish and the chef's special anchovy chili sauce.


Shrimp with Vegetables


Mickey Shaped Tofu with Sweet and Sour Sauce


Lotus Steamed Chicken


Mixed Vegetables


Beef Fried Rice


Mickey and Minnie Custard Bun


My favorite was the fried rice I was planning on getting, while DH liked the cuttlefish best. It ended up being a really good mix of flavors that we are used to in the US and more authentic preparations. They brought out the dishes as they were ready and the service was very friendly and attentive. Overall, it was a great meal!

 

[Majide]

Monday, April 1 Cont. - Disneyland at Dark
After our meal, we took the shuttle bus to the park. I love the fountain out front, it is so pretty at night!


At 7pm, the entrance was not too busy at all.


This was the night I wanted to see a castle show, so we just did a few rides. It was fun to go on Small World and see the America Section. It was basically the Statue of Liberty, Pocahontas, and the Hollywood sign haha Though, since we are in Hong Kong there was an expanded Chinese part and that was really cute!



Then we went over to the Antman ride. I was surprised how much I liked it! It is a reskin of the Buzz Lightyear ride, but the updated shooter technology they use really made it fun. I haven't seen any Antman movies so I almost skipped it, but it is definitely worth a ride. I'm never that talented at shooter rides, so my score was pretty bad.


Then we grabbed a drink and some popcorn for the fireworks! The popcorn buckets are super cute.


For Momentous, we got to our spot about 30 min. before the show. We were further back from the castle, but right before the start of main street. It is mainly a castle projection show with a few fireworks, but it was really good! It is so cool how intricate the projection mapping can be.



At the end of the night, we decided to walk back to the hotel and only saw two other families doing the same. I'm not sure how busy the shuttle bus back would have been, but the walk is really not too far at all so we were surprised not many other did it.

 

[Majide]

Monday, April 2 - Crystal Lotus and Travel to Shanghai!
And just like that, our time in Hong Kong was already coming to a close. For breakfast, we decided to start it light at the Chart Room Cafe.


I had some more delious congee


After breakfast, we walked around the gardens at the Explorers Lodge before checking out. I kind of wished I had brought my swim suit, because the pool looked great. I ended up not packing it because this was the only hotel would would have had the chance to swim at, and we were doing this trip with just carry on bags, but we still enjoyed just taking the morning slow.


Then we headed over to the Disneyland Hotel. It really is like a small version of the Grand Floridian.


We were here to try the famous Disney Dim Sum! I made a reservation on the website about a month in advance. Then, a few weeks before I got an email asking me to preorder my selections. We started with the limited time StellaLou Purple Sweet Potato and Green Tea Glutinous Rice Dumpling.


Then was the Fresh Garoupa Fillet and Shrimp Dumplings in Light Broth. I didn't get the best picture, but this is the prettiest dumpling I've ever had and it had a nice light flavor.


Next was the Tigger Pork and Vegetable Bun and the Eeyore Red Bean bun. These came 3 each to an order.


Then we ended with the Duffy and ShellieMay Sweet Buns. Duffy was red bean and ShellieMay was I think green tea.


We thought everything was good and super cute. I don't think it is the best Dim Sum in Hong Kong, but it was worth it for the experience. We were allowed to order more food the day of off of the regular menu, and we would have, but we had a flight to catch. In this end, this was the right call because we had plenty of food at the airport lounges.

It was an easy taxi ride back to the airport and it cost $168 HKD. Check in was fast and we were through security in no time. I still has some Hong Kong Dollars on me, since I had only used cash for Taxis, so we decided to get ahead and exchange the rest for Japanese Yen.

There were lots of food options inside of security. I have an Amex Platinum card, so we had to check out the American Express Centurion Lounge. This was actually the best Amex Lounge I've been to, leagues above the ones in the US. They had so many food and drink options, plus great runway views.


I also have Priority Pass Membership, so we stopped by the Chase Saphire Lounge. This one also had a crazy amount of food options. Definitely worth stopping by if you can!

Soon enough, it was time to board our plane. We flew Cathay Pacific in economy. The flight wasn't very busy and we had a big boeing 777-300 taking us on the 2.5hr flight. We finally got to watch Wish (really didn't like it lol) and we were served a good meal.


Next time - Our start in Shangahi!