Similar entrance here at Hong Kong to Disneyland but the park is much smaller.
If you'd asked me three years ago if I thought I'd ever be going to Hong Kong Disney I would have thought you were crazy, but then again, I would have thought you were crazy if you'd said we'd be on a world cruise in 2024.
We spent the day with Laura and Bob and enjoyed it as always. There were plenty of other world cruisers at the park that day as well that we ran into.
This cool fountain was just before the actual entrance gate, lots of Disney characters around it and Mickey went up and down on Monstro's spout depending on the water pressure.
Taking a look at the sign we knew we weren't in Kansas anymore!
This little cutie and her sister were in line next to us as we waited to go in. I didn't get much of a smile from her but she was adorable.
Okay, I'm putting two photos of the same thing in here just to show that my editing skills are getting better.
This shot had the same people in it as the one above but thanks to the magic of an app called Retouch I can make them disappear. LeaAnn has been teaching me how to use it.
I saw lots of princesses throughout the day but this was the only Olaf.
One of the things that people in Asia will wait hours to do is to have their photo taken with one of the Disney characters. I'm okay with just saying, "Oh look, I saw Donald!"
As you can see it wasn't too crowded and the morning was overcast so the temperature was perfect.
A photo of all of us at the end of Main Street as we began our adventure.
No idea if our Jungle Cruise driver was making the same corny jokes in Chinese as you get at home!
Parts of the Jungle Cruise were the same but the end was really different.
Rather than seeing the back side of water you go through an area with flames that looks volcanic.
You even get some fire on the water that looks like it may be headed towards your boat until a torrent comes rushing out of this cave to put it out. We liked this ride so much we went twice, even if we couldn't understand the jokes.
Just one of the obligatory selfies there in Adventureland. No Indiana Jones here, or Tiki Hut, so no Dole Whip.
We enjoyed the Grizzly Gulch roller coaster as well, part of the time it went backwards.
Mystic Manor is a ride that's original to Hong Kong Disney and the only place it's found. It's a bit of a cross between Haunted Mansion and the Ratatouille ride at Disney World.
The premise is that within the home is the collection of an explorer named Sir Henry Mystic, The mansion is full artifacts and souvenirs from around the world. Incredible attention to detail on this ride as Disney always does.
He has a mischievous monkey partner named Albert who pops up throughout the ride after he opens up a music box whose magic brings the mansion's collection to life.
Here's Sir Henry.
It's all really colorful and fun as you ride through the different rooms.
Until at the end Albert is able to get the magic back into the box and all the artifacts return to normal. It was unique and probably my favorite ride of the day.
A shot of Toy Story Land, the rides here were a parachute drop with the toy soldiers, a slinky dog ride, and pc racers.
Karl saw this Korean BBQ Squid and decided he needed to try some. He liked it, I thought it was okay, it tasted like fishy beef jerky. One small shred was enough for me.
They do a Moana show that is in Chinese and English. Moana herself was a native English speaker.
It was a fun show to watch with great props, retelling the story of the movie without the singing.
Another shot of the castle. You couldn't walk through this one, inside of it was the place to meet princesses.
Here are Karl and Bob heading for Tomorrowland.
Cotton candy machines were automated, which I thought was interesting.
Tomorrowland has an Ant Man and the Wasp ride that was lots of fun. It's similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disney CA.
You ride through it on these cars and use your blaster to hit targets to keep S.H.I.E.L.D.'s classified info from falling into the hands of Hydra. That will make no sense if you aren't familiar with Marvel comics. And just for the record, I had the best score out of the four of us.
It was then on to the Ironman ride, lots of fun imagineering as you're waiting in line here, like glass that cracks and then automatically repairs itself.
The ride itself is 3D, hence the glasses.
This one is a lot like Star Tours, only we're with Iron Man saving Hong Kong from some big mechanical creature. Good times!
It was fun to watch these girls posing with the balloons, probably for their Instagram accounts.
Tomorrowland selfie.
You cannot go to Disneyland and not go to Small World!
Looked pretty much the same to me. It was kind of fun to go through it and think, "Oh, I've been there now! Oh, I'm going there soon!"
This adorable princess was waiting in line at Small World.
A little piece of the U.S.A. with the Statue of Liberty.
Frozen was a new area of the park.
It was a fun replica of Arendelle.
One of my favorite spots here was the fountain.
Unfortunately we didn't do any of the rides in this area, lines were super long and we didn't feel like waiting in them. I hadn't realized this area was so new or my Disney parks strategy would have kicked in and we would have gone their first.
You knew there'd be a flower photo!
Like the Small World clock, this one has Anna and Elsa come out on the hour and half hour.
We had heard that we should get tickets for the "Playhouse in the Woods" show and after a bit a playing around on the app I finally figured out how to do it. There really wasn't much to the show except Anna and Elsa coming out and being near the audience.
Plus we learned that Olaf can speak Chinese! Who knew?!
Along with Rafiki we headed to the Lion King show.
This show was pure Disney magic! It was a Reader's Digest condensed version of the Lion King musical with lots of costuming, music, and fun performances. Definitely the best show of the day.
On our second ride on the Jungle Cruise this group posed for me at my request.
I had to walk quickly to catch this shot of these two with their bags covered with characters. It was great people watching all day.
After riding through the Mystic Manor a final time we were ready to call it a day, glad we could get a glimpse of the castle at night.
It had been a terrific Disney day and we were so glad we'd come.
Main Street at night and its shops were as crowded as it got. Nary a Christmas ornament to be found anywhere though, but I guess after all, it was Hong Kong.
Apparently these characters are a favorite in Asia, Duffy and friends. Originally from Tokyo Disney Sea, it's a franchise we don't see in the U.S., too bad because they are cute.
Worn out and ready to find a taxi back to the ship we were still sad to see the day end, it had been magical. It took us a few minutes to figure out if we needed a red, green or blue taxi, finally deciding on red. Then we weren't sure whether we were going to have enough Hong Kong dollars between all of us to pay the fare, but all's well that ends well and we were back at port before we knew it with a little money to spare. It was a day where we were in a place that was familiar, and at the same time, very different, a great excursion choice for our first day in Hong Kong.
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