Ashlee's Asian Adventure - United Arab Emirates/Hong Kong/Japan September 2016

[Rose Of Dawn]

Yesterday afternoon, I got back from what's quite possibly the biggest trip of my life.

I've done trips to several parks across Europe, and as a teenager I had several holidays to the USA, but last year I really got an urge to go somewhere completely different.

For the past few years, I'd become obsessed with Hong Kong, so I started arranging what would've been just a week long trip to the city. I then thought about adding Japan to the trip as well, as it's a place I'd wanted to visit since a child. When looking at flights, I saw that flying with Etihad would give me a stopover in Abu Dhabi, so I added a few days in the UAE to go to Ferrari World and visit the Burj Khalifa.

During this trip, I went to nine different parks: IMG Worlds of Adventure, SEGA Republic, Ferrari World, Hong Kong Disneyland, Ocean Park, Tokyo Disney Sea, Tokyo Dome City Attractions, Fuji-Q Highland and Tokyo Disneyland.

Before going on this trip, I hadn't been away for more than a few days since a trip to Florida back in 2007. To say I was excited would be an understatement!

Monday 12 September

Accommodation: Yotel Heathrow

My first flight (of many) was from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi. To give myself a stress-free start, I wanted to stay over as close to the airport as possible, so I opted to stay over in the terminal itself, at Yotel Heathrow.

Yotel is designed for very short stays - essentially for people that have early flights, or just to get a few hours rest when they arrive. It's located in Heathrow Terminal 4, although it's hidden away somewhat. Rather than paying per night, you actually choose how many hours you wish to stay and they give you a price. It cost me around £72 for less than 12 hours.

I arrived with the onset of a cold coming, so wanted to crash as quickly as possible. Check-in was painless, and the guy behind the desk helped me to my room.

The rooms at Yotel are very compact. It's essentially a bed and a tiny bathroom, with a television located above your bed. It's very much no-frills. Despite this, I felt the room was quite nice! The bed was very comfy, the bathroom was decent, and there were plenty of amenities in the room. For a short stay, there wasn't much more I could ask for.

Not wanting to faff around with food too much, I decided to try the food available from Yotel themselves. I wasn't sure how to use the phone in the room to order it so I went to the front desk to request it. For £4.95, I got a ham and cheese panini, a packet of crisps and a bottle of root beer. Quite good value for money, considering the location! After this, I just crashed, using the alarm that came with the room to get up early the next day for my flight.

Despite being small, I'd recommend Yotel Heathrow for anyone with an early flight. It means less stress with arranging transport early in the morning, and the room is comfy enough for a few hours rest.

Tuesday 12 September

Airline: Etihad Airways

Accommodation: Royal Rose Hotel, Abu Dhabi

Getting through security at Heathrow was very smooth, especially taking into consideration the horror stories I'd heard in the past. There wasn't much to do in the terminal, so we boarded the flight as soon as we could.

Etihad are a fantastic airline. The food was probably the best I've had on a flight, and there was a great choice of in-flight entertainment. Onboard wifi is also an option, although I decided not to get it as I can live without internet access for a few hours. As I was sitting by the window, I got lots of great views of various mountains and desert terrain. The flight itself was less than seven hours.

Before stepping foot in Abu Dhabi, I'll admit I was worried. A month before travelling, I'd read about a trans woman who was denied entry to the UAE on the grounds of her gender identity. As the UAE is a conservative Muslim country, they come down very hard on LGBT people, where people do risk getting in trouble with the law simply for their sexuality or gender identity. I almost cancelled my stay in the country, and spoke at length with Etihad about it. They assured me that provided my travel documents match my gender, I'll experience no problems. I took their word for it, and I'm very glad to say they were right. There were no issues with passing customs, and I actually found everyone I spoke with to be very friendly.

After a short taxi ride, we arrived at our hotel. The Royal Rose is located in central Abu Dhabi, with close access to Abu Dhabi bus terminal and a number of shopping malls. It's a 5* hotel (the first I've ever stayed in), yet it was only £75 per night. This was probably the cheapest hotel of all in the trip, and it was by far the best.

The room was nothing short of spectacular. It came with a huge bed and massive bathroom. The view was fairly non-existent, but as I wouldn't be spending much time here it didn't bother me. I was very tired at this point, so I ordered some room service. I got an amazing chicken curry delivered to me in a very fancy way (with one of those metal things on top of the plate), ran a bubble bath and went straight to sleep. I'd be up early the next morning to have a day in Dubai, visiting the newly opened IMG Worlds of Adventure and going up the Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building!

 

[Rose Of Dawn]

Wednesday 13 September

Attractions: IMG Worlds of Adventure/Burj Khalifa SKY/SEGA Republic

The next morning, we got a coach to Dubai. This was fairly painless; a short taxi journey to the bus station, then a ticket costing AED25. The journey took less than two hours. There weren't much in the way of sights (the UAE is mostly desert, after all), although there was the occasional mosque we drove past that looked really nice. Thankfully the bus had great air conditioning, because it was 42 degrees outside!

Another thing to note about buses in the UAE is that they are segregated. The front of the buses are reserved for women and couples. The back of the bus is where men sit, and they don't leave the bus until the women have got off first.

We split up when we arrived as my friended needed to get some food, so I took a taxi to IMG. The park takes about half an hour to get to from Dubai (despite being right next to the city), because the road layout to get there is simply awful. You spend around 15 minutes just driving around the building to just to get there!

IMG Worlds of Adventure

IMG Worlds of Adventure is Dubai's newest theme park. In fact, right now it's Dubai's only park that isn't located in a shopping mall. Dubai Resort isn't opening until October, so as it stands IMG is essentially leading the way in showing that Dubai has what it takes to become the no.1 thrill spot, stealing Orlando's crown.

A little background: IMG was announced more than four years ago; having got themselves the licence for Marvel and Cartoon Network, the park's owners did what no other Dubai park had done before - it got built!

It's the worlds largest indoor theme park. The building itself is impressive, and certainly doesn't have the warehouse feel of Toverland. It looks nice on the inside, although parts of the exterior have clearly been battered by the elements.

It actually opened two weeks before my visit. So naturally there were teething problems like any new park; rides out of operation, mishandling of queues, the usual spiel. It also didn't help them that they opened just before Eid, which is a very busy time in the UAE. A combination of high crowds and lack of experience showed the park in a very poor light - I only got on two rides during my time there! They'd massively oversold fast track, to the point where the main queue actually felt like a single rider queue anywhere else in the world.

I could easily forgive all these opening problems, though, if the park was actually any good.

Sadly, it's kinda crap.

Avengers: Battle of Ultron

Marvel has a track record of quality. Whether it's the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Superhero Island at Universal, or even just the comics they're famous for, you'd expect a pretty good product considering the brand.

I did one ride in this area - Avengers: Battle of Ultron. Having given it some thought, I believe this is actually the worst IP branded ride I've ever been on. Ever.

Firstly, the queue. It's mostly nothing more than Avengers-y type things which have clearly been made on the cheap - lumps of plastic are supposed to be guns, the costumes look like they're from a charity shop, and it randomly has an Avengers sign up as if to just remind you that yes, this is an officially licensed ride and not a knock-off.

The queue felt like a worse version of Ben 10. Seriously, it wouldn't go amiss in Drayton Manor. Being at a brand new park, and thinking about DRAYTON of all places, is not a good sign.

After a very long wait (they were batching fast track over the main queue at a rate of 2:1), I saw the pre-show. It was introduced to us by a ride host saying "Look at that screen and you'll see the pre-show". It was completely dull, simply "Nick Fury" telling you to deliver a weapon to the Avengers, with pictures of Black Widow and Hawkeye thrown in for no reason.

Then you get to the ride itself. Before riding it all I'd heard was its like Transformers at Universal. As I haven't been on that, I feel I can only compare it to Spider-Man at Islands of Adventure (fitting, as they're both Marvel rides).

The CGI is cheap, there are no practical effects, you can regularly see screens in places you shouldn't (which ruins any chance of immersion) and it's just dull. Really dull.

The story is that Ultron is doing stuff, and you need to bring the Avengers a weapon to take him down. Ultron has little robot buddies attack you constantly, which are never explained. It actually feels a lot like the preview video for Iron Man at Hong Kong Disneyland, only nowhere near as good.

The Avengers themselves lack personality, and there's no consistency in how they're portrayed. Nick Fury is shown as a drawing, whereas Black Widow and Hawkeyes are shown in one static picture throughout the ride. It comes across as incredibly lazy.

The whole ride is a shambles. There's no way that Marvel have any kind of quality control over this, as if they did it simply wouldn't open. It's a cheap cash grab to tie in with the Avengers movies, and it really shows. Simply awful.

Predator

Lost Kingdom - their dinosaur area - looks great for the most park. The animatronics are really impressive and the whole place looks pretty. A lot of it has been put together in a rather sloppy way though (a tile on the queue fence actually fell off and hit a woman), but on the whole it's clearly the better area of the park.

This is where I did my only coaster during my visit. All IMG's coasters are clones most members will have already been on (Velociraptor is a clone of Blue Fire, and Spider-Man is a mirrored Dwervelwind), so I went on the only one I've technically not done yet - Predator (a clone of Rage at Southend on sea). It's the smoothest Gerstlauer I've been on (and it should be - it's brand new!) and was relatively fun. The throughputs, however, were awful - at most it was putting through 400 people per hour.

One hilarious aspect of this ride is the on-ride photos. IMG haven't installed any photo sections on their rides, so to get round this on Predator they have a guy with a camera take a picture of the train when it starts moving. When the train returned to the station, he would hand a slip to one person on the train to take to guest services to see the photo. Truly cutting edge.

One area I didn't have time to check out was Cartoon Network. From what I saw, though, it was very colourful. Perhaps it's an improvement over Marvel, who knows.

Would I recommend IMG to anyone? Absolutely not, and simply for the Marvel area alone. The park is expensive enough to visit (pricier than Ferrari World, in fact), but the quality isn't there. Places like Universal and Disney are expensive but you at least feel the money went somewhere. I can forgive poor operations, overcrowding and the odd ride being down (even Velociraptor was down, and that's a Mack), but it feels like it was designed purely as a quick cash-in. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the place closes in a year or two. It also shows Dubai has a long way to go before it can challenge Orlando's title of theme park capital of the world.

I came there hoping for Toverland-meets-Islands of Adventure. I left with a newfound respect for Drayton Manor. Enough said.

Burj Khalifa SKY

Because the queue for Predator took so long, we needed to rush to the Burj Khalifa to get our slot. When booking a ticket, you select a timeslot for your visit. We opted for 6PM as my friend really wanted to see the sun set. Thankfully, we got there just in time.

There are two different tickets for the Burj Khalifa. The first, and cheaper, takes you to the 124th floor. The second, much more expensive, takes you all the way to floor 148 - the highest public viewing space in the world. It was pricey, but to see Dubai from that high up is certainly worth the admission.

SEGA Republic

It was getting late, so before heading back to Abu Dhabi I wanted to get on the Mall of Dubai's coaster - Spin Gear. It can be found in SEGA Republic, an amusement arcade found on the 4th floor. It's mostly arcade games, but there are a few small rides - Spin Gear being one of them. Before riding, I was told by a ride host there was a long queue. However, this 'long queue' was five minutes at most.

This Gerstlauer spinning coaster is themed to Sonic the Hedgehog (the second Sonic-themed spinner I've been on). The theming is nice, although as it's more Dr Eggman-themed it looks more industrial than the bright colours you'd associate with the earlier Sonic games. It's nothing particularly amazing, but it was rather fun. There's a nice section with a lot of neon signs. That's all I can say about it, really.

I didn't spend much time in SEGA Republic after this. It's not the kind of place to go out of your way to visit, but if you find yourself in the Mall of Dubai, it's worth popping in for a quick visit.

After this, it was time to head back to Abu Dhabi. When I got the bus this time, I noticed there were two queues for tickets; one for men, and one for women. Naturally, I used the women's queue, and it was like using a fast track - even though there was only one person at the booth, and the men's queue was quite long, I was seen to first - and this was accepted by all the men there.

Another two hours later, I was back in Abu Dhabi to spend one last night in my gorgeous hotel. The next day, it would be time for Ferrari World, and a night flight to Hong Kong!

 

[Rose Of Dawn]

Thursday 15 September

Attraction: Ferrari World
Airline: Etihad Airways

I'd set my alarm to go off at 7:30 that morning, as I'd wanted a quick swim in the pool before leaving the hotel. However, the alarm on my phone didn't make a sound (thanks, Apple), meaning I slept in until 11 in the morning! In a rush, I packed all my things and checked out of the hotel to make my way to Ferrari World as soon as I could.

On the way, I took a taxi to Abu Dhabi airport's city check-in centre. This isn't something I'd come across before, but it was really handy. Located near a shopping mall, the city check in allows you to get checked in and leave your luggage with the right people without having to go all the way to the airport. I did everything I needed and left my suitcase with them, then made my way to Ferrari World.

Ferrari World

Ferrari World was one of the many parks on my trip that I'd always wanted to visit, but thought would never happen. It was the main reason why I'd stopped over in the UAE in the first place - it's located very close to Abu Dhabi airport. Because I'd have to have a stopover here anyway, and it cost no extra for my flights, I felt it would be stupid not to check this place out.

I purchased my ticket online. There are three passes available for Ferrari World; the Bronze pass gains you entry to the park, the Silver pass gives you three free fast track uses, and the Gold pass gives you unlimited fast track as well as priority seating. I opted for the Gold, as I really wanted to make the most of my visit.

Compared to IMG, the park was much more quiet than I'd expected. That doesn't mean everything was walk-on (the big coasters still had queues which got longer as the day went on), but the luxury of not having to wait gave me a very relaxing visit.

After entering the park, I got my Gold wristband and headed straight to my first ride: Formula Rossa

Formula Rossa

There's little doubt that Formula Rossa is Ferrari World's most famous attraction. It's the world's fastest roller coaster, and is the kind of ride you'll see your non-coaster friends sharing on Facebook. I knew this would be fast, but wasn't sure whether that meant it would be a good ride.

Rossa was running one train all day. Despite this, the operations weren't bad, and they tried to get it loaded and sent out as quickly as possible. My first ride was on the back row, because that was the very quickest I could get on the ride. I didn't want to waste any time in getting this done.

The launch on Formula Rossa is unlike anything I've ever experienced. It takes almost five seconds to get to full speed - which sounds long when you compare it to the likes of Dodonpa, but don't let that mislead you into thinking it's weak. It almost feels like there are two parts to the launch - the first few seconds are comparable to Stealth, then out of nowhere another kick seems to send it into overdrive. It's incredible.

The rest of the layout is comparable to Rita, only due to the ridiculous speed it's much more fun. The huge hill at the end of the launch is also a ridiculous amount of fun. It's a very good length, with even a few airtime moments thrown in for good measure.

When I next went on it, I found that the ride hosts put me straight on the front row with no additional waiting involved. This is what Ferrari World mean when they say 'priority seating' - they essentially guarantee Gold users front row all the time. For something like Rossa, it's worth it.

Rossa on front row is probably the best front row experience I've had on a coaster. The force you feel on your face is unbelievable, and was a massive step up from being at the back. This experience actually pushed Formula Rossa to first place on my top ten coaster list (it would remain there for less than two weeks though, and I'll get to why in a later post). Ferrari World's most famous attraction is worth the price of admission alone.

Flying Aces

Opening in February this year, Flying Aces is the first of three new coasters being added to Ferrari World (the others, currently under construction, should be open next year). This was the ride I was admittedly most excited for at the park.

This is another coaster that's ended up high on my top ten. It has lots of great airtime moments, particularly on the back row. The lift hill is pretty quick, you actually get some airtime going up it!

A shoutout also needs to go out for the queue's theming. It's based on a WWI airbase, and it's really top notch.

Other attractions

Ferrari World also features a few dark rides. Made in Maranello is a tour around a Ferrari Factory in Italy. Most of it is screens, and not a lot of actual practical effects, but it's really interesting to go through. Speed of Magic is very similar to The Amazing Spiderman at Islands of Adventure, only this is themed to a fat child entering a video game to win back his dad's Ferrari keys. The screens are really sharp, and whilst there isn't much to see when transitioning between screens it's still a pretty good ride.

Benno's Great Race is Ferrari World's newest attraction, opening just a few weeks after Flying Aces. It's a children's interactive trackless dark ride, full of animatronics and mini games which make you put a car together, snap spiderwebs and put bees into jars. Some of the tasks are more awkward than others, but it's all very enjoyable and a great attraction for kids.

Fiorano GT Challenge is Ferrari World's family coaster. It's kinda cool, in that it has multiple launches and is also dueling. Unfortunately, only one track was open during my visit. It was pretty fun, and definitely good for those too small (or scared) to do Formula Rossa.

The park also has a number of shows, although I didn't watch any of them. One thing I did do, though, was get a selfie taken with a falcon. Falconry is a big part of the culture in the UAE (so much so that Etihad actually has a policy where people can bring their falcons on their flights), so it was great to actually get up close with one of these lovely birds. I was encouraged by its handler to "take a falcon selfie" so I did!

It also needs to be said that the park is gorgeous. Everything is very clean and really feels like a premium product, very much a reflection of the Ferrari brand itself. Unlike the licences at IMG, this certainly didn't feel like a cash grab.

Food

Ferrari World has lots of choices to eat at, to suit any dining budget. I got a big slice of pizza with fries and a drink for not much. It was great, and I highly recommend it.

Overall, I was very impressed with Ferrari World. Whilst it doesn't have lots to do, what they have got is very high quality. It's definitely a park you should all visit, and will only become better when their next two coasters open (which should be within the next year). The service was fantastic throughout, and the atmosphere was really relaxed. I love the park, and wholeheartedly recommend it to you all.

After a last ride on Rossa, we got a taxi to Abu Dhabi International Airport for our night flight to Hong Kong (again with Etihad). This plane wasn't as nice as the one we had from London, but the plane was fairly empty meaning we could get whole rows to ourselves, and have a bit of rest before arriving early in the morning in Hong Kong.

 

[Rose Of Dawn]

Friday 16 September

Accommodation: Rosedale Hotel Kowloon

The night flight from Abu Dhabi didn't take as long as we expected, and we landed in Hong Kong around ten in the morning.

Hong Kong International Airport is quite interesting because it has its own internal metro service between the different terminals, meaning the first thing you do after getting off the plane is follow the crowd onto a train. This isn't something I'd ever seen before, or even heard about, but it was a nice introduction to what has to be one of the most unique cities in the world.

Customs was painless, moving fairly quickly. As Hong Kong was a British territory until 20 years ago, you don't need a visa to visit, but they do give you a small slip of paper that you need to keep with your passport at all times.

We decided the most hassle-free way of getting to our hotel would be to take a taxi from the airport straight to Kowloon. Our suitcases didn't fit into the boot perfectly, so the driver secured them with bungee cords. My friend was pretty concerned about this to say the least, but thankfully they were safe throughout the entire journey.

The taxi gave us some great views as we drove from Lantau island to Kowloon, from peaceful greenery straight into the high rise buildings and skyscrapers that Hong Kong is famous for. Being a (honorary) Londoner, I've become accustomed to big buildings, but the flats we drove past made Canary Wharf feel tiny by comparison. The journey took around half an hour door to door, and cost $230 between us - which I found to be really reasonable.

Rosedale Kowloon is located within a ten minute walk of the Olympic City shopping centre and MTR station, in an area that is unmistakably Hong Kong. The hotel was stylishly modern, albeit fairly minimalistic at times - a huge contrast to the outside world.

The rooms were fairly small, or at least felt so after the giant room I stayed at in Abu Dhabi. The bathroom was probably the coolest part of the room; it was all glass, and had a switch to turn the frosting on and off. The television would only receive cantonese channels, although I did find one channel that would play Hollywood films in english (albeit with cantonese subtitles).

One handy feature that came with the room, though, was a free smartphone to use during my stay. It provided unlimited 4G as well as free calls and texts. I've noticed that more and more hotels are including free phones for their guests - it's a great trend that I hope catches on elsewhere in the world!

After showering, I only had food on my mind. I didn't want to settle for a McDonald's or anything like that, so I went looking for the first restaurant on my to-do list - Tim Ho Wan.

Hong Kong is known for its world-class food, with many Michelin-star restaurants. Tim Ho Wan is one such place, serving award-winning dim sum at a price cheaper than your average Burger King! It took me a while to actually find it (it's located at Olympic City, but to get there you need to go through some passages that look like they're meant for staff), and there was a rather big queue outside so I knew I was in the right place!

I ordered three dishes - rice with a steamed beef patty and fried egg, rice vermicelli stuffed with pork, and BBQ pork buns. The beef was very interesting, I'd never had anything like it. I had to mash it up along with the egg, and scoop it all up with a spoon (I was taught how to do this by the Chinese family sitting next to me). The vermicelli was lovely, although it had quite a lot of coriander.

The pork buns are Tim Ho Wan's signature dish - $20 for three - and after one bite it's really hard not to see why. The bun itself was deliciously sweet, and the pork was delicious. One of the nicest things I've ever eaten - and it was so cheap!

After finishing my meal, I went for a walk around Kowloon, although I felt my energy beginning to flag. I walked past a few local markets, all the way to near the bay that separates Kowloon from Hong Kong Island. I was able to get some great views of the skyline, before calling it a day and called a taxi to take me back to the hotel. The next day, I'd be doing some real exploring of what Hong Kong has to offer

Saturday 17 September

Attractions: The Peak/Mong Kok Markets

I woke up feeling fairly rested - and very hungry. I decided to waste no time in heading straight into Hong Kong island, so I headed straight to Olympic City to pick up an Octopus card and take the MTR to Hong Kong.

An Octopus card is very similar to London's Oyster, as it's the main form of payment when using Hong Kong's public transport. You simply top up your card then scan in and out when needed. What makes the Octopus card stand out, though, is that it can be used to pay for more than just transport. It's an accepted form of payment in many shops, and you can even use it to get into Ocean Park. The Octopus should be one of the first things anyone should pick up when visiting.

When I arrived at Hong Kong island, I headed straight to a restaurant I'd always wanted to try out - Yat Lok. Like Tim Ho Wan the day before, Yat Lok is a very affordable Michelin star restaurant. They specialise in one of my favourite foods - roast goose. $55 got me some goose, BBQ pork and rice.

To call this 'delicious' is putting it lightly. The skin on the goose was really crispy, and the meat was as succulent as I've ever tasted. The pork was also fantastic. It was very filling, and the price is unbeatable. It's probably my most recommended restaurant of all in Hong Kong. London needs goose like this! (London needs goose in general, to be honest).

The Peak

I then decided to take in some more sights, and found myself near the clifftop railway to the top of Victoria Peak. As one of Hong Kong's biggest attractions, the queue was fairly long, although it moved quite quickly. There were many options in which ticket to get, but I opted for the basic peak ticket as the other attractions up there didn't interest me so much.

The ride didn't take too long (and strangely has several stops, although not a single person used them), and before I knew it I was at The Peak.

The Peak has lots of shops and various tourist trap-like places, including Madame Tussaud's - Merlin's only foothold in Hong Kong. Naturally, I avoided it. There was a huge variety of shops on offer, from fashion boutiques to a supermarket. Shopping is a big deal in Hong Kong, and it can't be avoided even at the island's highest peak.

The tram ticket also included a chance to go up to a special viewing platform to see the city, so I managed to take in some of the breathtaking views on offer. They also had an audio guide, although I couldn't figure out how to turn it on. I spent almost two hours at The Peak overall - its certainly a must-do experience when you're here.

Afterwards, I tried to do some more sightseeing, but the humidity got a bit too intense. I headed back to my hotel room to rest for a little bit, and when I felt more rested I decided to head off to the markets of Mong Kok.

Mong Kok Markets

Mong Kok could easily be described as 'the real Hong Kong'. It's the most densely populated place on earth, and it's certainly reflected in the area as a whole. Whilst Hong Kong island is fairly clean and well-kept, Mong Kok is rather gritty. It's not a major touristy area (the only other white people I saw here appeared to be lost), so you get a real authentic feel for the daily life here.

The markets here sell almost everything you could think of. From knock-off toys to power tools, make-up, clothing and second hand sex toys, and even animals. One of the strangest sights I saw was a bucket of toads. I'm assuming they were there to be eaten, but they didn't look phased by their situation. The food markets also sell live fish and poultry, in very small containers, so I would't recommend sight-seeing around food markets for those who care about animal welfare.

Whilst here, I got to try some authentic Hong Kong street food. Finding a seller that looked decent was harder than I anticipated, and by the time I found somewhere I was getting close to dinner time, so I settled on trying one thing. This turned out to be a pig's intestine on a stick. It sounds gross, I know, but in all honesty - it was pretty good! Kinda like pork belly, but on a stick. I'd actually recommend it!.

There was one other restaurant I wanted to try that day, so I headed back to Hong Kong island and went to Soho - what appears to be Hong Kong's 'white people district' - to try out a restaurant with an amazing name: Ho Lee Fook.

Ho Lee Fook was more upmarket than the other restaurants I'd tried (surprising, considering the name), and this was reflected in the price. I had roast goose (my second portion of the day) with some rice. It was lovely, and the service was great. But it was much more expensive than Yat Lok earlier in the day, and that place was nicer. It's worth checking out - especially for the name - but you can get better (and cheaper) goose elsewhere.

I then decided to go to bed (a long day walking around in the ridiculous heat really takes it out of you), as I'd have an early rise the next day. I'd had a fantastic day exploring an incredible city, but it was time to visit my first ever Disney park - Hong Kong Disneyland!

 

[Rose Of Dawn]

*Apologies for the delay in updating, as I've had a lot going on recently*

Sunday 18 September

Attraction: Hong Kong Disneyland

I’ve been a Disney fan for as long as I can remember. I’ve also had a love of theme parks ever since I was a child. And yet, until this year, I’d never visited a Disney park. This is despite two visits to Florida, and one to California. I haven’t even been anywhere near Disneyland Paris. This had to be rectified, and was ultimately what pushed me to go to Hong Kong in the first place.

Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland is probably the smallest Disney park in the world. It didn’t open with much, although new additions have been coming every few years - to the point where its now renowned for some of Disney’s best work.

Getting to the park was very easy. Roads and MTR lines direct to Disneyland are labelled all across Hong Kong (the Tung Chung line is often mentioned in the same sentence as the Disneyland Resort line). I simply took the Tung Chung line from Olympic City to Sunny Bay, where I just crossed the platform to get to Disney’s own MTR line.

The train itself was adorable, with Mickey-shaped windows, Mickey handles and statues of various Disney characters scattered across. The seating layout was unique and quite comfortable. It was just a few minutes to get to the resort itself. As it’s part of the MTR line, you do need to pay to use it, but unlike Tokyo Disney’s monorail it doesn’t require a separate ticket. The cost on my octopus card was no more than HK$30.

As it was Sunday, and a very sunny day at that, I arrived quite early expecting huge crowds. However, it was surprisingly relaxed. Whereas Tokyo Disney has crowds at six in the morning, the people of Hong Kong have a much more relaxed attitude, and as a result the park didn’t get busy until later in the day.

The park opened at 10 - with a ceremony involving Mickey, Minnie and a family that may have won some sort of competition. It was all very adorable, and you could tell the kids were loving it! From there, we were allowed onto Main Street. However, the rest of the park itself doesn’t open until 10:30, so I spent the first half hour getting some breakfast, in which I chose a world-famous Mickey waffle. I loved that it came with chocolate and caramel sauces for dipping, it was very tasty!

Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars

My first ride of the day (and also my first Disney ride ever) was Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. I’d heard a lot about this ride, and was very excited to check it out. I entered the single rider queue and got on the first train of the day!

The ride has three sections; a normal coaster track, followed by a backwards section and finally a launch. I felt this kept the ride interesting at all times. The theming throughout was fantastic, especially the animatronic bears (which are now my favourite animatronics of all time, particularly the bears at the launch).

The coaster itself was far from intense (although it definitely picks up during the launch section), but in all honesty I felt it didn’t need to be. Straight away, I understood exactly what makes Disney rides special - they’re for everyone. It’s gentle enough for small children to ride without getting upset, it keeps it interesting by offering different sections, there’s so much to see whilst riding it. I could imagine having my mind blown as a small child by the backwards section alone. It’s the kind of ride the whole family can gush over, and for that reason I love it.

My only negative is that the backwards section does outstay its welcome somewhat - there is a part of the track where you’re doing nothing but rolling backwards in an almost straight line, which is somewhat dull. But it’s forgiven by the following launch, which is pretty strong for a family ride!

Toy Story Land

Following Grizzly Mountain, my next port of call was to be Mystic Manor. Unfortunately, the ride was having issues and wasn’t yet open, so I went to check out Toy Story Land.

Toy Story land was a nice area, although honestly it’s nothing special. RC Racer was fun, but painfully short. I suppose it needs to be that short for throughput reasons, although the park was still quiet at this point so its a shame they didn’t have another cycle for it. The Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop ride was also pretty fun, albeit rather tame.

After checking out this area - and a few re-rides on Grizzly Mountain - Mystic Manor was finally open.

Mystic Manor

Mystic Manor is easily Disney’s most lauded attraction in the past decade. It’s pretty much what put Hong Kong Disneyland on the map, so I did have rather high expectations for it.

The queue line through the house is lovely, as you get to walk past some of Lord Henry Mystic’s collection (as well as concept art and models for the ride). I liked seeing a painting of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, which is a big part to the backstories of quite a few Disney attractions. A particularly nice touch was the inclusion of Harrison Hightower III (of Tokyo’s Tower of Terror fame), holding Shiriki Utundu.

The pre-show introduces the audience to Lord Mystic and his adorable fez-wearing monkey friend Albert, who pops up during a slide show to paw at their latest find, an enchanted music box. Albert is a fantastic new Disney character (and is also voiced by the same guy that does Abu in Aladdin), and you just want to give him a hug when you see him.

Following the presentation, you’re taken to the loading platform where there are four different cars waiting. As it’s a trackless ride, each car gives a slightly different experience. I found car 1 (rows 1 and 2) and car 3 (rows 5 and 6) to be the best.

I don’t want to go too much into the actual experience of the ride to avoid spoilers (and I’m sure many of you reading this have seen videos online). The videos don’t do this justice. This is essentially the perfect dark ride, mixing animatronics, projections, lighting and screens in such a clever way. Nothing is gimmicky in this ride. There’s no pointless 3D or anything of the sort. Everything has a purpose, and is pulled off in the most professional way I’ve ever seen.

The soundtrack (composed by Danny Elfman) is brilliant, and it’s such a shame that it’s not been released separately because I’m still humming the music to myself even now. There’s also quite a few references to other Disney rides from around the world, so it’s essentially a Disney Park fan’s dream.

I lost count of how many times I rode Mystic Manor (I tried each car multiple times), but even that wasn’t enough. Simply put, it’s by far the best dark ride I’ve ever been on, and is reason alone to check out Hong Kong Disneyland. It’s incredible.

I also tried out the Explorer's Club Restaurant, in Mystic Point. It offers a selection of food from around the world (albeit mostly Asian). I went for the Korean short rib, which was reasonably priced, filling and quite lovely! I also have to give credit to the service here, the staff were very friendly - in particular the manager doing hosting duties at the entrance, who loved my new Albert umbrella!

Star Wars: Tomorrowland Takeover

Following Mystic Manor, I decided to try out Hyperspace Mountain. A seasonal update that was first seen in California, Hyperspace Mountain adds a Star Wars overlay to the traditional Space Mountain coaster. It’s fantastic, although whilst riding I couldn’t help but compare it to Eurosat somewhat(a coaster that I much prefer). Hyperspace Sat would be great!

The Star Wars Tomorrowland Takeover as a whole looked great. From the X-Wing located outside Hyperspace Mountain to the great Star Wars show which saw young wannabe Jedi taking on the likes of Darth Vader, Kylo Ren and the Seventh Sister (an Inquisitor from the Star Wars Rebels TV series), I really hope they leave all this intact after Iron Man opens.

Speaking of Iron Man, the ride wasn’t open during my visit. From what I’ve heard, the Stark Expo shop has only just opened to the public, so I’d expect The Iron Man Experience to be open from November. I was sad to have missed out, but its all the more reason to come back to the park!

I also went on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. I couldn’t help but think of Europa-Park’s Abenteuer Atlantis when riding it, and had the chirpy theme tune from that ride stuck in my head. I’d actually consider Atlantis to be the superior shooter ride!

Other attractions

Hong Kong Disneyland also has some rides that I’d consider ‘dark horses’ - you wouldn’t think they’d offer much, but they really impressed me. Firstly, Hong Kong’s “It's a Small World” - full of bright colours and loads of Disney references, I’d consider it to be the definitive version of the ride (particularly when compared to Tokyo’s rather tired version), and a must do for any Disney fan.

Another ride that impressed me was The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh. As I knew I’d be doing Pooh’s Hunny Hunt a week later, I’ll admit I wasn’t too fussed for it when I got my fast pass ticket. Unlike Hunny Hunt, Hong Kong’s version is a more traditional track-based dark ride. However, it still does some interesting things - it bounces along when Tigger pops up, and even feels like the car is floating like a boat during the 100 Acre Wood flood section. Interestingly, and the first time I’ve seen this on a ride, Winnie the Pooh has a special train which is designed for wheelchair users, in which you can roll your chair into it, it’ll be fastened down and then the car is set off (I believe there’s a chair in the back for friends or carers as well). This car isn’t even brought out especially - it’s actually in normal rotation - so its fantastic for accessibility. Other parks should follow this lead.

Another thing I really enjoyed was Mickey’s PhilharMagic - it’s purely for the fans of classic Disney movies, but it was fun seeing Donald Duck interact with the likes of Ariel, Simba and Aladdin.

Before leaving, I was able to check out Hong Kong’s daytime parade. As it was the start of the Halloween season, it involved lots of autumnal colours, pumpkins and an unseasonably chirpy Halloween song (“We’re singing about Halloween time/Won’t you sing along?”). The parade was very small, with only three floats (one for Mickey, Minnie and Goofy), with Chip & Dale, Pluto, Donald, Daisy, Duffy, Shellie-May and Gelatoni dancing around on the street. A nice touch was to include children who came to the park in fancy dress, giving them the chance to get involved in a real Disney parade and show off their costumes. You could tell they were loving it, so it was very sweet to see.

Hong Kong’s castle is nice, albeit very small. It actually works though - the park is surrounded by hills and mountains, and the castle doesn’t obstruct this view. It fits in with the local area, and wouldn’t be quite as good with a Shanghai-style Disney citadel.

Hong Kong Disneyland is a very small park by Disney standards, with fewer rides than most Disney resorts. This doesn’t stop the park from being any less special, though. What they have is of a very high quality, and with just a few more rides it’ll be easily world-class.

I had another day at Hong Kong Disneyland two days later, so I’ll be writing about the attractions that I missed on my first day in a later post. My next post will be on the locals’ favourite theme park - Ocean Park!

 

[CGM]

Great trip report.

I visited Hong Kong Disneyland a few years ago. It's not as pretty or grand as Paris' Magic Kingdom but the consistent quality of the rides, particularly the newer additions makes up for it. HKDL also has the best staff I've come across at any park. Very friendly, well trained and helpful. They couldn't do enough for us. This is in stark contrast to Paris where you're met with Gallic indifference.

Like you say, it needs a few more attractions to be an international must-visit. We visited in early September. The park was very quiet and almost everything was walk-on. One day was easily enough to get round everything.

I didn't have time to visit both HKDL and Ocean Park when I was in Hong Kong so I'm looking forward to seeing what I missed out on.