Hong Kong Disneyland Tips

Here we share all our best Hong Kong Disneyland Tips. From how to save money to how to avoid the queues, we’ve got you covered.

One of the best things to do in Hong Kong with kids is taking them to Hong Kong Disneyland.

With a whole host of Disney characters to meet, rides to enjoy, a Lion King show, the “Friendtastic!” Parade and fireworks, you are guaranteed a day of fun and much excitement from the kids.

As with all Disney parks, it can get busy, particularly later on in the day. That being said, it is definitely less busy than a lot of other parks. And during our last visit, we hardly had to queue at all!

Here, we give you loads of insider Hong Kong Disneyland tips based on many, many visits to the park with my kids over several years. My aim is to help you save money on your tickets and avoid the queues as much as possible!

Hong Kong Disneyland Overview

There are seven themed lands to explore at Hong Kong Disneyland:

• Fantasyland
• Toy Story Land
• Adventureland
• Tomorrowland
• Grizzly Gulch
• Mystic Point
• World of Frozen

You’ll also find all your favourite rides such as It’s a Small World, Mad Hatter Tea Cups and HyperSpace Mountain, as well as some that are unique to Disneyland Hong Kong.

The park is small, and easy to navigate, particularly with the use of the Hong Kong Disneyland app. There are plenty of food options, including snack carts, takeaways and dine-in restuarants.

Beyond the theme park, there are also three Disney themed hotels to choose from if you want to make an overnight trip of it.

• Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel
• Disney Explorer’s Lodge
• Disney’s Hollywood Hotel

Is one day enough at Hong Kong Disneyland?

Hong Kong Disneyland is small compared to most other Disney parks around the world and easily doable in a day.

However, this obviously depends on the age of your kids and how much of the park you want to fit in.

When my kids were younger (eg. 6 and 4 years old) we would arrive at 10am, and leave at around 4pm. They had usually had enough by then and would sleep in the car all the way home!

Now that the kids are older, they can handle longer days and also don’t want to miss out on the Momentous nighttime entertainment.

If you are visiting with small kids and don’t want to miss out on the nighttime spectacular, you might want to spread your visit over two days rather than face a really long day.

You could then choose to stay at one of the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotels to complete the experience (more on this below).

Buy your tickets online before you go

Save time queuing for your Disney Hong Kong tickets when you get there and buy online before you go. You can buy these at the Hong Kong Disneyland website, and then collect your tickets from the automated machine on arrival.

However, I really recommend buying them through a reputable online ticket provider such as Klook. I have always bought my tickets through them and have always saved money this way.

I have even bought them through Klook while waiting in the queue to get into the park when I realised I hadn’t bought enough tickets! They came through instantly and it was cheaper than going to the ticket office on site.

You can check the Hong Kong Disneyland ticket price and buy discounted tickets online here.

Choose your ticket type wisely

There are several different types of tickets for Hong Kong Disneyland. These include those for early entry and those with fast-track options, those with meal vouchers and more.

Note that some tickets, such as early entry and those with fast-track options are limited and do sell out, so book early to avoid disappointment.

If you want to visit World of Frozen without the long queues, I recommend getting an Early Entry Pass, or the 8-attraction Premier Access.

Depending on what you want to do during your visit, I think the most useful tickets are the following:

• 1-Day Ticket with Early Entry Pass – this gives you early access to the park and early access to the rides in Fantasyland and World of Frozen.
• 1-Day Ticket plus Disney Premier Access (3 Attractions) – this gives you a one-off fast track pass for 3 out of 5 designated rides: Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, Mystic Manor, Iron Man Experience, Ant Man and the Wasp, It’s a Small World.
• 1-Day Ticket plus Disney Premier Access (8 Attractions) – this gives you a one-off fast track pass to all 8 designated rides: Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, Mystic Manor, Iron Man Experience, Ant Man and the Wasp, It’s a Small World, Hyperspace Mountain, Mickey’s PhilarMagic and Frozen Ever After.

Visit on a Week Day

As I have already said, HK Disneyland can get very busy. If you have the flexibility, the best time to go to this the is during the week and outside of school holidays.

Also try to avoid public holidays in China as a lot of visitors to Disneyland HK come from mainland China. These are typically over Chinese New Year, early May and early October, but check for others too. 

Arrive before opening time

For the best chance of avoiding queuing for rides, the best time to visit Hong Kong Disneyland is at opening time.

Check the official park calendar for the current Disneyland Hong Kong opening hours.

The usual opening hours are 10.00am-8.15pm. However, when it says 10am, it means you can access Main Street. They don’t usually let you into the rest of the park until 10.30am, which is when the rides start operating.

So, one of my best tips is to aim to get there before 10am, as there will already be a queue to get through the turnstiles at the entrance.

If you make your way up Main Street and head towards the Sleeping Beauty Castle, you will then be there at ‘rope drop’ and be the first in the doors (and yes, people will actually run to get there ahead of you!).

Download the App

I highly recommend downloading the HK Disneyland app. This has multiple benefits:

• It has an interactive map to help you navigate the park.
• It has lists of restaurants, snack carts etc.
• You can keep an eye on ride times, so you can quickly make your way to a ride when queue times are lower than others.
• You can pre-order food at some restaurants, meaning you can skip the queues (this can be a real time saver at peak lunch times).

Keep an eye on your app throughout your visit. As Hong Kong Disneyland is relatively small, if you are in Fantasyland and see that there is only a 10-minute queue time at the Hyperspace Mountain ride in Tomorrowland, you can get there quickly enough.

Head straight for the Rides (and ignore the characters)

If it’s your first trip to Hong Kong Disneyland, it will be very tempting to hang around Main Street and try to meet the characters, including Mickey and Minnie, who arrive here for photographs as soon as the park opens.

My next Hong Kong Disneyland tip is “don’t do it”. You will queue for at least half an hour here, and will waste valuable riding time.

If you want to have the best chance to ride as many of the rides as possible, you need to head straight to them. You will have about an hour to ride the rides with virtually no queues.

Once that clock hits 11.30am, the queues start to build. So do your research and think about which you really don’t want to miss, and head there first.

As it’s the newest feature of the park, Frozen Land is by far the most popular, so I recommend heading there first.

If you have young kids, another option is FantastyLand, as the Dumbo ride gets busy quickly. With older kids, I would head to TomorrowLand or Toy Story Land first.

Top Tip: For the best opportunity for photos with the characters, I recommend staying overnight in one of the Disneyland hotels and book the breakfast buffet for a chance to meet the characters in a more personal and less hectic environment.

Watch the shows

There are several live shows to choose from at Hong Kong Disneyland.

Definitely do not miss the Festival of the Lion King show. It’s fantastic. This all-singing-all-dancing performance tells the story of the Lion King in a compact 30-minutes of entertainment.

There’s fire dancers, acrobats, giant animals and plenty of dancing – plus of course everyone gets to sing along to ‘Hakuna Matata’.

Another fun show featuring popular Disney characters and songs is Mickey and the Wondrous Book, located in Fantasyland. This 30-minute show runs several times during the day.

These are the show timings at the time of writing. Check the information on the Hong Kong Disneyland website or app for latest timings.

• Disney Friends Live: Party at the Castle! -11:30am, 1:50pm, 3:15pm, 4:30pm, 6:00pm
• Festival of The Lion King – 12:00pm, 1:45pm, 4:45pm, 6:30pm
• Mickey and the Wondrous Book – 11:15am, 12:30pm, 1:45pm, 4:30pm, 5:45pm, 7:00pm
• Moana: A Homecoming Celebration – 12:30pm, 2:15pm, 4:00pm, 6:30pm
• Playhouse in the Woods -11:30am to 7:00pm

Take a lock for your stroller

Ok this is a case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’. I have never locked my stroller during my Hong Kong Disneyland visits, and have never had a problem.

However, I have heard many, many cases of strollers being stolen when people are on the rides or in the Lion King show.

So if you do take your stroller, either lock it with a [easyazon_link keywords=”bicycle lock” locale=”US” tag=”mumonthemov-20″]bicycle lock[/easyazon_link] or do your best to keep an eye on it.

Alternatively you can rent a stroller at Hong Kong Disneyland. 

Where to Eat in Hong Kong Disneyland

I find the food quality to be the most disappointing thing about Hong Kong Disneyland.

You are not allowed to take your own food into the park, and they do check bags on the way in, although you can sometimes get away with homemade sandwiches for younger kids, and they don’t seem to mind snacks in a snack box.

For Western food your best bet for a sit-down fast food meal at Hong Kong Disneyland is the Starliner Diner in Tomorrowland, where you can feast on fried chicken and burgers. It’s also air-conditioned which is important in the summer months.

Tip: You can use your HK Disneyland app to pre-order food here and skip the queue.

For something lighter, check out Market House Bakery on Main Street for takeaway sandwiches, pizzas, pastries and cakes.

There are plenty of Chinese/Asian options – including noodles and Guangdong BBQ at Clopin’s Festival of Foods in Fantasyland, and Comet Café in Tomorrowland, or you could opt for Indian specialties at the Tahitian Terrace in Adventureland.

Most importantly, the best ice-cream stop is at Small World Ice Cream, in Fantasyland outside “it’s a small world”.

Meet the Characters

I have already advised against queuing to see the characters as soon as you enter Hong Kong Disneyland, but there are plenty of other opportunities to meet some of the characters.

If you want to have your photo taken with Mickey or Minnie, be prepared to queue for at least 30 minutes.

And don’t overlook all the other Disney characters you can meet at various locations around the park, including Disney princesses, Winnie the Pooh, Goofy, Donald, Buzz Lightyear and Woody.

Look out for the character-meeting symbol on your Hong Kong Disneyland map. Better yet, stay the night at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel and you can meet all the characters over breakfast, with no queues at all! See below for more information.

Watch the Parade

The parades are fun for everyone, and a chance to get a good look at all the characters and get caught up in the feel-good Disney vibe, as everyone smiles and waves and dances their way past you.

Our favourite is the “Friendtastic!” Parade , which takes place at 1.00pm and 5.15pm every day along Main Street. (Check the Hong Kong Disneyland website to confirm up-to-date timings)

The parade starts at Castle Hub and continues around the big roundabout, all the way down Main Street.

Get there early to get yourself a good spot at the front.

If you can last till evening, the “Momentous: Party in the Night Sky” Nighttime Spectacular is at 8.30pm or 9pm, depneding on the time of year.

It features a plethora of multimedia elements, including large-scale 3D projection mapping, drones, illuminated water projections, choreographed water fountains, flames, lasers, theatrical lighting, and pyrotechnic effects!

Don’t forget to wear your own Minnie Glow Bow!

Check the website for the latest Hong Kong Disneyland parade schedule.

Hong Kong Disneyland Hotels

To complete your Hong Kong Disneyland experience, you can choose to stay at one of the three Hong Kong Disneyland hotels.

If you visiting with young kids, this gives you the option of easily breaking up your day – heading back to the hotel for a rest or a nap, then returning to the park when everyone is ready.

The biggest bonus of staying at one of the Disney hotels is the opportunity to meet the characters in the restaurants. This saves you having to queue for photos in the park and means you get to meet several characters in a relaxed, more intimate atmosphere.

There are three Hong Kong Disney hotels to choose from:

Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel

The more upmarket (ie expensive) of the three hotels near Disneyland Hong Kong is the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. This beautiful faux Victorian hotel has large grounds, comfortable bedrooms and a choice of restaurants.

It is also in walking distance of the Hong Kong Disneyland park.

As you would expect, there are plenty of family friendly facilities and activities on offer. There are two swimming pools – both indoor and outdoor, including a 40m waterslide in the outdoor pool. There is also an outdoor playground and an indoor kids playroom.

Check here for the latest prices for the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel.

Disney Hollywood Hotel Hong Kong

Disney’s Hollywood Hotel is another option, with fun Disney themed rooms and restaurants and a free shuttle to the park.

It also has a fun grand piano-shaped outdoor swimming pool with a waterslide, and Malibu Games, filled with arcade games for the kids.

Check here for the latest prices for Disney’s Hollywood Hotel.

Disney Explorer’s Lodge Hong Kong

Disney Explorer’s Lodge is the final option. Divided into four tropical themed zones: Asia, Oceania, South America and Africa, rooms furnished accordingly and there are four corresponding themed gardens to explore.

There are fun games and activities organised every afternoon at the outdoor pool.

Check here for the latest prices for Disney Explorer’s Lodge.

Getting to Hong Kong Disneyland

The best way to get to Hong Kong Disneyland is either by MTR or by taxi. A taxi from Central will take around 30-minutes, if you don’t get stuck in traffic.

To go by MTR, take the Tung Chung line from Hong Kong Station or Kowloon to Sunny Bay and switch to the Disneyland Resort line. It will also take around 30 minutes.

Getting from Hong Kong airport to Disneyland is easy. A taxi will only take around 15 minutes and there are also direct coach services available.

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