Hong Kong Disneyland (HKDL) Discussion Thread

[Nrthwnd]

Recent construction photo of Arendelle: World of Frozen ......

Thanks to whoever took this overhead photo!

[Nrthwnd]

A few great new shots of the ongoing creation of Arendelle: World of Frozen.

And THANKS to HKDL~Fantasy for the excellent photos, here.

[jedimaster1227]

Hong Kong Disneyland has announced the return of "A Disney Christmas" featuring special experiences for the holidays throughout the resort!

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2022/06/a-disney-christmas-returns-to-hong-kong-disneyland-resort/

As we celebrate all things merry and bright during Halfway to the Holidays, we’re thrilled to share that “A Disney Christmas” returns to Hong Kong Disneyland Resort from Nov. 2022 to early Jan. 2023.

We can’t wait to deck the halls at Hong Kong Disneyland with Disney characters, magical snowfall, and festive experiences. Duffy & Friends are ready to welcome guests to their all-new snow-filled paradise “Duffy & Friends Winter Wonderland” at Fantasy Garden! We hear they’ve been wishing for snow and it may just come true. This wonderland will also serve as the perfect opportunity to grab holiday gifts and festive snacks.

Processionals are, of course, part of the festivities with “A Holiday Gift of Cheer with Duffy and Friends” and “Mickey and Friends Christmastime Ball” bringing jolly music, singing, and dancing to the Castle of Magical Dreams.

As the sun sets on the winter days, Hong Kong Disneyland will transform with sparkling lights and snow falling from the sky. Santa Goofy will even be there with his Disney friends in the stage show “Santa Goofy’s Magical Snowfall.”

And to top off the night, catch the spectacular “A Holiday Wish-Come-True Tree Lighting Ceremony” returning to Main Street, U.S.A., or the all-new nighttime show “Momentous” under the seasonal décor — it’s sure to be pure magic!

[Garet]

Hong Kong's new night time show:

 

[Nrthwnd]

Found this on the net. And the caption goes....

"Quite the contrast of a highly themed and joyous theme park destination, across from a government quarantine centre for a deadly pandemic"

Overhead photo taken by Jack Sin. Thanks!

[KBrylczyk]

^ At first glance I thought it was a solar farm.  Yikes.

[SharkTums]

Wow, quite the dichotomy there. 

[tinaalsgirl]

Strange, but it makes sense in terms of there having been a nice swath of open land right there; gotta put it somewhere. Also, I looked up the place and honestly, I'd be willing to stay there if it meant being in Hong Kong! But then, I'm a homebody, so being stuck in a small bedroom for up to a week or more (depending on exposure or lack thereof) wouldn't be much different from my life right now, lol. And I'd have Disneyland to look forward to!

[KBrylczyk]

^

[Nrthwnd]

18 hours ago, KBrylczyk said:

^ At first glance I thought it was a solar farm.  Yikes.

Before I saw the caption, I actually thought it was improved parking with those overhead solar panels, like Disney Paris had? Has? My mistake.

[Nrthwnd]

Disney Imagineering released photos of the ongoing construction of Arendelle: Land of Frozen.

Love the mossy rock work, up to the left of the castle.

A little closer, on the Castle.

[KBrylczyk]

Looks a bit more detailed than the one in Storybook Land Canals.

[Nrthwnd]

Now, I am in the right thread...... I hope. Anyway...

Recently posted "Behind-the-Scenery" (literally) photos from Disneyficated.

 Thanks to him/her/them/whoever this is, over there. Much appreciated.

And below is my fave of the bunch.

It looks like a good chunk of the coaster is going to be enclosed  ...... Awesome!

 

[Nrthwnd]

New photos have been released by Disney, in celebration of the company's DISNEY100 year(s).

It's photos of a wonderful model of (Frozen)Arendelle, and the Slidin' Sleighs coaster. And as well a couple of art concepts, one of which hasn't been seen before, to the best of my knowledge. I have no idea where this display is located. Maybe in one of the Main Street 'shops' as a Preview Center? Dunno.

Enjoy...

Love how they've lit this model. Very curious how it's night lighting will be, when it all opens.

Different angle shot. Note how the Sleighs coaster "mountain" is made up. Looks like the "outdoor" overhead

sections of the mountain, are where the track travels? Maybe? Maybe not. From above, looks like a cinnamon roll.... or a pretzel, lol.

Cast members' costumes, and the artwork on the right, we've seen before. But - not the one on the left. Could be a variation of the end scene of  Frozen/Norway in EPCOT? It could still be the end scene again for the new flume ride, or this scene could be located prior to the lift hill, with "Sven and Olaf helping you up the hill" (quote from Disney). And to finish it all, small models of both ride vehicles for both attractions. Awesome! Thanks for all this info, Disney!

[Nrthwnd]

As I am always interested in the foods and beverages Disney comes up with, for events, seasons, celebrations, etc. And I always find the Asian parks' offerings, the most interesting ones to check up on.

So when HKDL was announcing their Lunar New year celebration (Jan.13-Feb.12, roughly) they also, naturally, included a nice list (w/pix) of New Year's Foods available through the park.

But this one.... uh .....caught my attention.

"Outdoor Food Carts (Available Jan. 13 through Feb. 12)

Golden Salted Eggs Flavored Popcorn (New)"

...... Yum? Also, that popcorn 'bucket' looks interesting.

[Nrthwnd]

A new video has been posted by Disney and it is a simulated look at "Arendelle: World of Frozen" including, at the 47 second mark, Oaken's Sliding Sleighs "in action". It's a quick simulation, but it gives you a bit of an idea of it's run. And this is an overhead shot of (mainly) the Castle, but you can see Arendelle in back. And on the left of it, there is still space to put something else! Between Arendelle and Toy Story land. Perfect!

Thanks to Alex2077 for this great shot.

And in the "LOOK WHAT I FOUND" Dept. - I took another look at the video, and two spots in it, caught my curious attention. At 00:27 there is a "door" with Frozen-like design around it. Then at 01:17  one sees the door frame lit up, bottom right corner of the screen. Could this be the (official) entry for the Slidin' Sleighs' Coaster attraction? And the building in front (to it's left) is obviously Oaken's Shop, which will be the exit way of the attraction (the Gift Shop). Looks like it, to me.

[Nrthwnd]

"In the World of FROZEN...."

Disney has now released a new video 'tour', with a drone circulating through (most of) Arendelle, still in construction. It doesn't show much of the Sliding Sleighs coaster, but the close up on Elsa's ice castle is really cool.

Oops. Forgot to add this second video, of an AA Elsa singing those immortal lyrics.

Looks like there will no face 'mapping' on this one, lol.

Enjoy them both.

[Nrthwnd]

Found a couple of new photos posted, about the Arendelle Slidin' Sleighs Coaster. (Thanks to whoever took these shots)

The first photo show AAs (I think?) of Sven and Olaf, and what is probably how you get up the Lift Hill. They help pull you up.

Second shot is off the track itself, winding in and out of a very real looking bunch of rock and greenery, heh.

This is the (literal) carrot Sven needs to pull us up that hill. Hopefully, Olaf gets his nose back.

'Round and 'round the sleighs go. Everything is looking great, there. I love Disney Imagineers' Landscaping!

[Nrthwnd]

An opening date (of sorts) has been announced for the World of Frozen...

[Nrthwnd]

Disney has just released some beautiful new concept artwork for pretty much everything in Arendelle: World of Frozen.

Except the sweets/candy shop, "Northern Delights." Here it all is....

Along the way, in the "Frozen Ever After" water ride. Great total theming surrounding riders.

This looks like the ending of the ride, like at EPCOT, but more enhanced and enlarged in design. Nice.

Wandering Oaken's Sliding Sleighs' Loading Station. It might be the Unload one, too.

More of the Sleighs' queue. The left photo, I believe, shows that sauna room of Oaken's. And his family, too.

"Tick Tock Toys & Collectibles" I'm wondering if that staircase at the back, goes anywhere.

"Golden Crocus Inn" Restaurant. Named after the national symbol of Arendelle.

And a scene from "Playhouse In The Woods" (an interactive play experience).

[Nrthwnd]

This just posted on other sites! And the photo of everything in and around Arendelle looks gorgeous!

....With just a bit of a glimpse of Oaken's Slidin' Sleighs' track, at the right, there. It all looks wonderful!

[Garet]

We're thinking of hitting HKDL for our son's first-ever Disney. He loves Nintendo and Minions so we'd originally budgeted for USJ and then were going to head down to TDL but with DK coaster delayed and vacation looking like around Halloween, we think the crowds and lines and having to arrive so early would just be overwhelming for him. It's not a big deal because being in Korea, Japan is a very short flight, so we can wait until opening excitement/standby passes wear off and do 2 separate long weekends in the future instead of a main vacation.

However, his biggest thing is he is really into getting photos with characters (see my Legoland TR's) and he goes to the soccer stadium every home game to collect signatures. He's found out that Disney does both those things in one and really wants that so that's what we are planning the trip around. Rides aren't an issue, HKDL lines rarely go over 30-45 minutes and even if they do almost every ride in the park now offers purchasable one-time skip-the-lines (even the ones not in the bundles).

Nothing is ever perfect and if we aim for that we will fail but we want to treat the first time as special so we just asked what would be his target for the trip. Being an 8-year-old boy he's not so interested in the permanent meets (sorry Duffy friends) but is after superheroes specifically Spider-Man. We know Iron-Man is permanent but heard he doesn't sign autographs so I think that is why he's aiming for Spider-Man. So not sure if this is a HKDL question or a question for all Disney apps? How accurate are they when it comes to character greets? It's our first post-COVID trip so not sure how the entertainment looks these days.

 

As an example. This was the app on different days for Chip and Dale. We kind of assumed the no-times meant they wouldn't appear that day.

But other characters told you no showtimes/closed.

My wife and I have done multiple HKDL and find the park is super-strict due to heat with these times and characters leave exactly on finishing time. So if this was accurate and there is only one single showing maybe only 10-20 families would meet Pocahontas on that day, from our previous trips quite often in HKDL if you see a character already at the photo zone chances are you missed your opportunity and the experience is closed.

I have money set away from almost a decade ago when the weather caused me to miss out on the Macau Bungee Jump. Maybe I'm just old or really became a family man but now that time has come but having done much cheaper jumps in Asia, I can't just the price-tag for a 5-minute experience just to show off I did the biggest one when it can go into a nicer vacation (e.g. instead of Hong Kong's busy water park we are thinking Macau's new one has a better line up/queue times) and invest it into Disney. We are looking into two options so just hoping I can get some advice...

 

Option 1: Treat the kid to a stay at the Disney hotel. There's a package deal that is 2 nights at hotel, plus park entry, some meal vouchers and photo pass plus along with 2 days breakfast and character dining, and a fast pass for the Frozen rides. That way he'd get some guaranteed meets for him at breakfast but we heard the characters don't sign because of time constraints and the photos taken there are considered a separate photo pass plus from the one given in the bundle. We'd also be locked into those dates on visiting the park at the start (weekend in park) or end of the vacation (Thur-Fri in park) regardless of who is showing on app or weather.

 

Option 2: Buy a 2-day pass and use the hotel money for perks such as early entry or more premier access tickets. Early entry would get us into the park an hour early before hotel guests for Frozen Land and Fantasy Land but it would also mean a more flexible ticket in that we can use the 2nd day anytime in the week. HKDL isn't a park you need to rope-drop so we could check times for characters and see who is appearing before going out.

 

We've been checking to try to get a feel of how often superheroes come out. Some days the app gave only one viewing. We haven't seen a Spider-Man time yet. Our son also showed interest in Ant-Man, probably because the ride is also in the park, but in the 2 weeks my wife has looked we only ever saw one day where they appeared.

 

Sorry this post wasn't supposed to get so lengthy. We just feel that the way our son will have the best day is if we can set his expectations beforehand.

[Nrthwnd]

^ To myself, IMhO, it looks like Option #2 could be your best bet, for fulfilling your son's Disney needs, etc.

You don't have to reserve a lot of stuff, so it's a bit easier for yourself. And helps you enjoy this visit, even more.

[Garet]

^ Yea, we went with option 2. We really wanted to give Disney our money but the your 2 day visit must be in the 3-day hotel stay was the deal breaker (even though 2-day tickets are usually a 7-day window). If it was the other way around and you could pick your first day in the park and then the hotel reservation choice must be in the 7-day window after that we would have been all over it.

I understand why the restrictions are there but staying in the headline hotel is probably a once in a lifetime for us, so we wanted to maximize that time but also not eat into my son's Disney time so ironically if we had more freedom of days we would have spent more time on Disney property not less (2 park weekdays and also 2 hotel weekend vs 2 combined ) especially since my wife was eyeing up the weekend only character Dim Sun she saw in Adam's TR and could have used the late check-out in the bundle to pool it up before the flight home not wasting one of the day tickets for a busy weekend half day in the park. Alas, it was not to be. 

It's a shame everything is tied to the hotel (e.g. have to pick up passes at the check-in/photopass from hotel shop) when as soon as you get them you'll be sticking them straight into the app anyway instead of just being able to go straight to the park. I'd understand if there were benefits (e.g. early access for hotel guests or something like Fantasy Springs access pass) or park tickets were inclusive I'd understand the restrictions on dates but all those are extra charge for hotel and non hotel guests alike so I wish it could just be sent straight to the Disney account to use with the same freedom.

 

We were looking into getting a Marvel room for the vacation and commuting into the city since Hollywood Hotel without breakfast actually is the same price as hotels in the city with but there's no Disney Village equivalent and our search so far has told us there's nowhere nearby to grab a quick cheap bite without trekking into the city. I think we will just use the Disney Hotel money and do a few days stay in Macau instead of a ferry day trip since the Hong Kong Airport now has a new area where your luggage gets transferred to you if you go directly from the plane and take the bus directly to Macao without having to go through Hong Kong customs and immigration.

 

Ironically after waiting 2 weeks before asking for help on this forum, Spider-Man finally appeared on the app one day later. It seems the stage character rotates every few weeks or so but as my wife pointed out, we are visiting around Halloween so chances are it'll be a villain or something during that week so we'll downplay the chances of seeing Spidey to our son. If we see a CM at the character area, we'll politely enquire, out of our son's earshot, if there's a certain time to see him. If he can tell us great, and if not at least we tried.

[Garet]

Well we locked in plans to take our son for his first Disney Halloween. We've downplayed the chances of meeting Spider-Man since they announced a Thor & Loki pairing will be the big Halloween thing but playing up Halloween since he's never been able to Trick-or-treat, Halloween is still mostly taboo here in Korea so he wanted to experience.

Probably a long shot but we saw this on the announcement.

Quote

The Trick-or-Treat Trail is another classic Disney tradition! Guests can buy new candy bags and visit various pumpkin stations at different themed lands, where they can ask cast members for tricks to receive Halloween treats. Join in the trick-or-treating with other partygoers for a fully immersive Disney Halloween experience!

 Does anyone know the price for this or a rough equivalent from the other Disney parks? We searched online but can't find anything about it being a paid extra in previous years, all the previous years said 'grab a bag'. We just want to budget it in since we have no idea what the price-range here could be.

Sorry for another question, we sadly put down the family dog at 15 so our son has been struggling, we are trying to soften the blow by taking a family vacation together and letting him plan out some days and since Spider-Man isn't guaranteed, Trick or treating seems to be high on his wish list.