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Apr 02 2018

Choosing which point option to use for a domestic flight

So I’ve been working on clearing out earned miles and points (my shame list). I’ve got points lying around in all sorts of programs that I’ve decided to prioritize getting rid of. That creates an interesting scenario when you have multiple trips coming up. Do you burn the points you want to get rid of, or do you redeem points for best value? In my case, that question turned what should have been a ten minute booking into a two hour internal debate. Mo Points, Mo Problems as Diddy said.

I thought it might be useful to go through my thought process as I debated which points to use (like I’ve done before). I’ll keep this post focused on only one of the flights I booked, Newark to Charlotte. The other flights I’m booking factored into my decision making but not enough to blab about all of those. I also learned a few things along the way which I’ll share as well. Let’s dive in.

Flight Parameters and Non-negotiables

Before I started looking for airfare, I had to figure out my flight parameters. Since this will be our first flight as a family of five, I wanted:

Nonstop flights
Morning flight times
Everyone on the same itinerary

Also, since I’m trying to ditch miles and points in all the various programs I’ve earned, I had one more parameter: Use up some of these random miles, even if it might not be the best value.

Various Options and Prices

So I had various options to try:

AA award flights via British Airways Avios
UA award flights (out of Newark)
Cash flights booked with Ultimate Rewards
Cash flights booked with Flexperks
Cash flights booked with Merrill Lynch points
Cash flights booked with BofA Premium Rewards points

Here’s what I found and what I felt to be the pros and cons of each.

AA award flights using Avios

As always, I found Avios to not be as useful as advertised (in my personal situation, relax everyone). While there was bountiful award space on AA in economy, at 15,000 Avios round trip per person I didn’t find the redemption to be a great value vs. the $177 cash price. Now, if I had a ton of Avios, I probably would have pulled the trigger since it would have fulfilled my “use random miles” parameter. However, I would have had to transfer from Chase or AMEX – I could do better by either using the 35% rebate on my Business Platinum (AMEX) or booking for 1.5 cents per point (Chase). So, no Avios for me.

The goal should always be to redeem points for your flights. But sometimes, it can be difficult to decide which points to use, so how do we go about doing that? — It did not feel worth it to transfer points over when the cash flight is so cheap

UA award flights out of Newark

The next thing I checked was UA award flights. Saver flights were only available at inopportune times (6 in the morning or 8 at night), so I quickly moved on.

Cash flights booked with Ultimate Rewards

Since I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, I knew I could get 1.5 cents per point if I booked through Ultimate Rewards. Since the cash flight cost around $177, that came out to a favorable number (especially compared to transferring to Avios). The whole itinerary priced out at around 47,000 Ultimate Rewards points, as opposed to 60,000 Avios + $44.80. I put a pin in this one to think about later.

Cash flights booked with Flexperks

Since Flexperks offer the same 1.5 cents per point rate, I knew that it would cost the same number of points as Ultimate Rewards. Pinned this option as well. However, at this point I had been farting around for so long that space had dropped from 4 seats in the fare bucket I needed to 3, so the new cost (in either UR or FP) was around ~50,000. Analysis paralysis! (If I didn’t have the all people on same itinerary parameter, I could have booked two separate itineraries. But 3K points are worth avoiding the hassle for me).

Cash flights booked with Merrill Lynch

The next thing I did was see if I could book business class with Merrill Lynch. The best way to maximize Merrill Lynch is to book flights that cost almost $500, you can get those for 25K Merrill Lynch points. I was trying to see if I could get a couple of one ways in business, but as you can imagine with such a specific parameter, it was too difficult to make the numbers work. Each leg cost around $300 in business, too cheap to book a one way and too expensive to bother booking a round trip. Doing this also would have violated my one itinerary parameter so it ended up being a non starter. Curse you Merrill Lynch points I must be rid of you!

Cash flights booked with BofA Premium Rewards points

At this point I wanted to look at BofA Premium Rewards, one of those cards that I just got for the sign up bonus because of the hype. Guess what I learned that I probably should have already known? Points can be redeemed for 1 cent per point for travel (no uplift) or for straight cash, homey. Since my goal was to get rid of miscellaneous points if possible, I immediately redeemed my Premium Rewards points for cash and kicked myself for not doing it three months ago.

Choosing what miles and points to redeem

In the end, I decided to go with Flexperks. I figure Chase Ultimate Rewards points are more flexible (I can even use them to buy Disney tickets), and Flexperks offered the best combination of value and “random points I want to get rid of” status. Better yet, I was able to charge the ticket to my US Bank Altitude and test out mobile rewards redemption. It’s pretty nice to just redeem points with a text! Which gave me an idea for a #veryshortblogpost which you’ll see if you follow me on Twitter.

Final Thoughts

I find it useful to go through various miles and points options when booking tickets. Honestly, it’s a little annoying to have so many options but I guess that’s #firstworldproblems. Make sure you go through all your options to find the best value for yourself and your situation, and redeem according to your parameters! In the end I was happy to be rid of a bunch of Flexperks and to save my Ultimate Rewards. Now to get rid of those Merrill Lynch points…

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Mar 28 2018

Quick Hits: How to use Disney Mobile Ordering for food and beverage

Walt Disney World introduced Disney mobile ordering for food and beverages and it is wonderful. You have to wait in plenty of lines at Disney World – don’t wait in line for your food and drink. Here’s a simple guide for how to use mobile ordering. I used a dole whip at Aloha Isle in Adventureland as an example – something EVERYONE should do! 🙂

Note: If you have any discounts like an annual pass discount, you still have to stand in line and go to the counter to order if you want to use it. Sadface.

1. Download the My Disney Experience app

You probably downloaded the My Disney Experience app from Google Play or the app store already, but if you haven’t, do so.

2. Choose a restaurant that supports mobile ordering

You can find a list of participating restaurants here, or check out my screenshot below:

3. Click “Order Food” in the My Disney Experience app and build your order

Open up the My Disney Experience app and you should see a link to “Order Food”. From there, you will see a list of restaurants to choose from. Click through and you will see a menu, order what you would like. You can see the restaurant hours in the app so you know if something is closed.

4. Note the time you can pick up your food

The restaurant won’t actually start preparing your order until you arrive, so note the timeframe for picking up your order.

5. Order your food!

The My Disney Experience app will automatically default to the card associated with your account but you can also add a new card. You can also use Disney Dining Plan allotments via the app. (Related: How to save money with the Disney Dining Plan).

Disney mobile ordering is simple, easy to use, and will save you lots of time in the parks. Here's how to use Disney mobile ordering to save time and stress at Disney World! — You can use your Disney Dining Plan to pay for your mobile order

6. When you arrive at the restaurant, click “I’m here!” in the app

If you have location services on, I think the app actually detects when you’re near your restaurant and sends you a push notification. Either way, when you arrive at your restaurant, just click “I’m here” and they’ll start getting your food ready. You have to be nearby so it’s not like you can do this from the other side of the park.

7. Find the mobile ordering line, pick up your food, and enjoy!

The reason I love mobile ordering is I don’t have to wait in line. I ordered my Dole Whip while I was buckling my seatbelt on Magic Carpets of Aladdin and said “I’m here” while I was in the air. We got off the ride, I walked right to the mobile ordering line, and we enjoyed our Dole Whip right then and there. Brilliant.

Final Thoughts

I think mobile ordering is pretty intuitive, but hopefully this post gives you a good refresher before you head to the parks. I can’t stress this enough, download the My Disney Experience app. It’s greatly improved, and very useful for all sorts of things like mobile ordering and Fastpass monitoring.

Have you used mobile ordering yet? Do you feel it’s as life changing as I did? Let me know in the comments.

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Mar 26 2018

Four Reasons to consider passing on the Chase Iberia Credit Card

Like I wrote about last week, at one point in my miles and points career I applied for cards I didn’t need. That was all well and good when we didn’t have kids and could fly off to Europe for the weekend. It’s less ideal now that our time is limited. One thing I wish I had seen during my “Phase 3” heyday were more reasons not to apply for the shiniest new credit cards out there. So I’ve written this post about reasons to avoid the Chase Iberia credit card with that in mind. If you’re looking for reasons to talk yourself out of this card, this post is for you!

Now let me get this out up front: this is a perfectly good card and will fit a lot of people’s situations. However, every single review you read of a new credit card spends 90% or more of its time talking about what’s good about the card. This post will spend 90% of the time highlighting what’s not so good about the card, but let me get the other 10% out of the way. 50,000 Avios can be very useful to families who live in cities that have good AA space, transferring to British Airways is useful if not cumbersome, and the card not being subject to 5/24 is great.

Alright, let’s get to the reasons why I’m avoiding the Chase Iberia credit card. You can also consider these reasons to be wary of the hype.

1. It’s not really a 75,000 Avios sign up bonus

The first thing I think consumers should be aware of is the advertisement of the sign up bonus being 75,000 Avios rings a bit false to me. You earn 50,000 Avios after $3K in spending, and the other 25,000 after $7K in spending. If you have reliable MS or reselling methods, that 75K might be worth it. But if you’re a bit more average, like myself, 25K for 7K of spending isn’t amazing. I’d rather do 7K spending with my Chase Ink at office supply stores and earn 35K Ultimate Rewards.

Here’s the tricky thing that I need to remind myself. Even though I know I probably wouldn’t earn the 75K total if I applied for this card, just seeing it advertised as 75K has a subtle effect on how I view the card. I know better, but advertisements, which I’d is how I’d characterize 80% of the Chase Iberia credit card posts out there, have one job, and that’s to psychologically fool people into buying products. So I personally need to mentally adjust when I’m reading the hype, and I think others should do the same.

Just remember the opportunity cost of spending an extra $7000 to earn that extra 25K Iberia Avios. It definitely will be worth it to some, but not all. But it’s really a 50K sign up bonus with a 25K spending bonus. At least that’s how I identify it.

2. Avios (both Iberia and British Airways iterations) can be difficult to use in your situation

I used to love British Airways Avios. Even post devaluation, I found being able to take AA flights for slightly cheaper to be invaluable. Then a funny thing happened, AA tightened up all their award space and I had a bunch of kids. Now all of a sudden I’m searching for four tickets during peak school vacation times. Finding nonstop flights that fit those criteria can be very difficult.

One highly touted usage of British Airways Avios is the ability to redeem for flights from the West Coast to Hawaii for 12,500 per segment. That is indeed a great deal! Except:

They say Avios are great for the West Coast to Hawaii, but that’s contingent on award space

Things get better in September but your kids are probably back in school.

Update : counterpoint from @lsjbrooks

That space does my family very little good but hopefully it helps yours

Looks like you cherry-picked that LAX-Hawaii space. It looks decent in late July and most of August, especially non-HNL. Only east-coast Hawaii casuals go to Oahu 😜
— Tim (@ljsbrooks) March 26, 2018

Anyway, sometimes Avios can be super useful, but I generally haven’t found them to be as useful as the internet says they are. You have to get pretty creative, and if you don’t have a lot of time to do your research, you may just be chasing a shiny new sign up bonus that you don’t have the time to put the work into to use properly. Also, if you’re busy, you might not want to go through the hassle of transferring from Iberia to British Airways. It’s only like, two steps, but there’s the 90 day waiting period yada yada yada…I have found as my time has become more precious these small nuisances add up.

In terms of using the Avios for Iberia flights, I’ve had my eye on BOS-MAD on Iberia in the summer (it’s seasonal) for years now, but have never found enough seats for my family. We’d love to go back to Madrid, and you’d think the Iberia credit card could get us there, but in reality…probably not.

3. It’s another card to keep track of in your sock drawer

The earn potential on the card out of the sign up bonus isn’t very exciting. Most people don’t fly Iberia regularly so it won’t be worth it to spend $30K to get a $1000 voucher. (Though at 3.3% back, it’s not bad if you do I guess). But most people aren’t going to be spending on Iberia or British Airways flights regularly, so this card will only earn you 1 Avios per dollar. Obviously you can do better just by using any Sapphire Card which will earn you a minimum of 1 Ultimate Reward point per dollar which you can of course transfer to Avios.

So, most people will just get this card for the sign up bonus and sock drawer it – that’s not going to be worth the hassle for a lot of people.

4. Is the card worth going past 5/24?

A lot has been made about the fact that the Iberia card isn’t subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule. For some people, that’s great because if you’re “LOL/24” you have no chance to ever get back under so any hit of that sweet, sweet Chase is worth it. However, 24 months isn’t that long in the game – I’ve been dropping closer to 5/24 over the past 12 months. We’ve kept my wife permanently below 5/24. So is this card really worth adding to your 5/24 total or putting you over?

Ultimately, the miles and points game is a long game – so make sure you keep that in mind as you make your decisions.

Final Thoughts

If I’m being perfectly honest, I thought there’d be more compelling reasons to avoid the new Chase Iberia card. Turns out, the reasons are mostly subtle, meaning it’s likely a pretty good card! I thought I’d try a new angle while analyzing the credit card, so I don’t know if I’ll do another post like this in the future. In the end, I think my post has at least convinced me that I’m personally going to pass. Because the fact of the matter is, there aren’t many compelling reasons to get this card either. These days I like to keep my credit card applications to the ones I really want, and I’ll stick with that for now. If you’re looking for a more traditional review, DoC’s got you covered.

How about you, does the Chase Iberia card have a new space in your wallet? For the next month or so at least? Let me know in the comments!

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Mar 21 2018

Summer Suggestions: Madrid

Welcome back to the series Summer Suggestions, where I recommend places for you to visit this summer because we can’t! While I’ll offer some ideas about how to get there, what to do, this series isn’t meant to be comprehensive. I just want to write about fun destinations and put some ideas out there for people to get in their heads. For the second in this series, I’ll be discussing one of my favorite cities in Europe: Madrid. Be sure to check out my thoughts on the Amalfi Coast from the first post as well!

Spain is at the forefront of many travel hacking enthusiasts minds at the moment thanks to the new Chase Iberia card. And while I’d caution against signing up for every shiny new card out there, the buzz has me reminiscing about one of my favorite cities in all of Europe, Madrid. Spain is a great place to visit, especially if you’re traveling from the East Coast where it takes only a little bit longer than a flight to California. And while I’d give Barcelona a slight edge food wise, overall I think Madrid is my favorite city in Spain.

You can enjoy great food, museums, and architecture in Madrid. Plus, everybody goes to bed late in Spain so you don’t even have to jet lag adjust your kids as much! Let’s take a closer look at Spain’s central capital.

Madrid is one of the best cities in Europe to visit. Check out our guide on how to get there, what to see, what to eat, and where to stay! — Retiro Park is a great place for a stroll in Madrid

How to get to Madrid

Many airlines fly directly to Madrid. Now if you’re like me and have a family, you probably prefer a direct flight off the bat. What I’d advise doing for Madrid (or anywhere, really), is search for Madrid’s airport in Wikipedia. (Related: Using Wikipedia to search airline routes). The IATA code is MAD. You want the Barajas airport (incidentally, the airport is beautiful). Then, search for your home city and see if anyone flies directly to Madrid. If any of those airlines belong to a major alliance, you can search for award space.

Once you know your options, you can start looking for flights. If you’re looking to save money while booking with cash, I still like to use Kayak although it’s interface is starting to get annoying. If you prefer an alternative use Google Flights instead.

In terms of award flights, you’ll find the many major carriers fly directly to North America. Below is a list and where I’d recommend checking for award space (in parentheses).

Air Canada (united.com)
Air Europa (Expertflyer or airfrance.us)
American Airlines (alaskaair.com or aa.com)
Delta Airlines (Expertflyer or delta.com)
Iberia (aa.com or britishairways.com)
United (united.com)

Miles and Points Availability to Madrid

Like I did with Amalfi, I searched a few award routes for award space for a family of four (man, my third child will be a killer one day when we need to buy her a ticket!). Remember even if you don’t live in the cities I’ve searched for, if you can find transatlantic space you can always book a positioning flight.

For four people, there are some days in July with space on AA economy (30K+$19 flights), but no business award space at quick glance:

For United and Star Alliance, there is a ton of space for four in economy out of New York, and also some in business though most of that is with connections:

And for fun I checked Delta out of Boston. There’s good space in economy for four although no nonstop and some scattered dates in business. Most of the flights go through JFK.

One last word of caution when searching for award flights, cash flights to Europe have been dropping in price overall. That means you should always compare the number of miles you’d pay for an award against how much you’d pay if you used bank points at AMEX, Citi, or Chase Travel since a lot of those cards have an uplift. For example don’t pay 60,000 miles roundtrip for a $600 flight, since even at 1 cent per point you can book through any one of those credit card travel portals and earn mileage credit for your flights (a simple example, but hopefully you get my drift).

Where to stay in Madrid

We’ve never stayed in a chain hotel in Madrid and have been happy with our decision. We really enjoyed Hotel Europa for its location in Puerta del Sol, a huge pedestrian area. At about $125/night even in July (as of publishing) the price is right for us. It’s lovely to walk around during the day and at night, though bear in mind that people go to bed late in Spain. If you don’t want to hear happy youths singing at night, maybe stay a bit further out. But we loved staying in Puerta del Sol, everything is basically walkable and there’s so much to see and do. There are also plenty of hostels in that area if you are looking to save money.

Spoiler alert for things to do, but our stays in Madrid revolve around the Museo Nacional del Prado, my favorite art museum in the entire world. So I personally would prefer to stay within walking distance.

If you’re looking for chains, there is a Hyatt Centric on Gran Via about a mile from the Prado. Cash prices run about 200 Euros in the summer. It’s a category 5 hotel meaning rooms cost 20,000 points/night. That’s a great value but maximum room occupancy is 2 adults, 1 child, so most families will need to book two rooms.

Hilton surprisingly only has a hotel at the airport and a “small, boutique” Doubletree (??) which costs like 102,000 points a night so that’s a non-starter.

While I agree with The Deal Mommy that IHG can be annoying, there’s a centrally located Hotel Indigo on Gran Via for ~125 Euros or 35,000 points/night. I don’t love the Intercontinental Madrid’s location because we like to walk everywhere, but it’s right next to a Metro station and only 40,000 points/night.

Things to do in Madrid

Like I said, we love Madrid and even have gone back for repeat visits (something I love to do but Jess shies away from). It’s high up on my list of places to visit with the kids. For those of you like us who have infants, I wouldn’t be too concerned about traveling to Spain with them, like I said everybody stays up late and they seem to love their babies there! Here are some of my favorite things to do.

1. Museo Nacional del Prado

I’d say I thought art was like “cool” for a time, at least to impress my wife, but the Prado is the museum that made me genuinely love art. The museum is filled with amazing pieces from all over the world, but of course has an emphasis on some Spanish artists. The highlight of the entire museum is Las Meninas, Velazquez’s masterpiece. If you’re touring around Spain, you’ll see just how much this painting influenced Spanish art over the centuries: I especially loved Picasso’s renditions which we saw in Barcelona (I think).

My recommendation: visit the Prado during free admission (after 6 PM most days, 5 PM Sundays and holidays) and swim through crowds to get a general lay of the land. Then, pony up the money for one day of admission and get an audio guide. If you enjoy art (or want to try), it’s a museum that warrants the multiple days.

2. Other museums and sites

Other places I’d recommend visiting (and paying admission to) are the Royal Palace of Madrid and the Sofia Reina Museum (modern art). The Sofia Reina has some great pieces, and I’ve found modern art sometimes appeals to kids more so that’s something to bear in mind. To be honest, I didn’t love the Royal Palace (it was like 100 degrees the day we went). However, when you’re in Europe, you sort of need to go check out these super old palaces and castles, so I’d still keep it on the list. For the record, I fully endorse bringing young kids to art museums (provided they won’t run around screaming).

3. Take a stroll

I’m pretty sure every single one of my Summer Suggestions will have “take a stroll” as a thing to do. But it’s just a great way to get a feel for a place and just soak in the atmosphere. Like I said before, I love walking around Puerta del Sol – the street musicians there are awesome. You haven’t lived until you’ve heard four Spanish guys singing Hotel California, let me tell you.

Another nice place to take a walk is Retiro Park, which has enough shade that you can even enjoy it during the hot summer. I took a nap there our first afternoon when I was dealing with jet lag. Also be sure to check out the Plaza Mayor, which has some great places to eat. Speaking of which:

4. Eat, eat, eat

It’s tough to give food recommendations for Madrid because I found everything to be mostly amazing. I’d suggest getting a bocadillo (fancy ham sandwich) from Museo del Jamon (there are multiple locations). Really, any cured meat in Spain with a plate of cheese will knock your socks off. Obviously, in Spain you’ll want to eat Tapas, you can do a Tapas bar crawl even with your kids since there’s a lot of outside seating.

If you want a taste of Barcelona, check out Sagardi for pintxos, which I can best describe as tapas on toothpicks. (I love pintxos). And, my favorite tip: ask for tap water. Before we went I was told Madrid is super proud of their tap water and honestly it is great. Ask for “agua de grifo” at every meal.

Oh, and for dessert, dip some churros in chocolate at Chocolateria San Gines or grab some helado (gelato) at Giangrossi.

5. Take a day trip to Toledo

I’d only recommend this if you’re spending a long time in Madrid or on a repeat visit. We took an hour train to Toledo and had a great day trip there. There’s lovely architecture, tons of El Greco paintings to look at, and the city is a bit quieter than Madrid. I think it provides a great change of pace on a longer vacation.

Final Thoughts

Writing this post has just made me sad we haven’t been back to Madrid in six (!?) years. It’s a lovely city and the place where I fell in love with art and Magnum ice cream bars. If you’ve been to Madrid, I’d love to hear your recommendations and what you enjoy for the next time we go back. Hit me up in the comments!

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Mar 20 2018

11 Hong Kong Disneyland Tips and Tricks for 2018

I’ve visited Hong Kong Disneyland three times over two separate trips semi recently (2015 and 2017). The first time I went I hadn’t been to any Disney park in over fifteen years. We had a short and sweet visit with our almost 2 year old daughter. This time we went back with our now 4 year old daughter and almost 2 year old son in tow. Each time I’ve visited I’ve found my friend Leslie’s Hong Kong Disneyland advice to be super helpful.

Let’s take a look at Hong Kong Disneyland in 2018. A few things have changed, mostly for the better. I’ll have my full thoughts on the park later but overall I found the park to be fairly underrated. Yes, it’s smaller than other Disney parks, but I kind of loved that. So let’s take a look at tips and tricks to make the most out of your trip to Hong Kong Disneyland!

1. Now is the perfect time to go

For a number of reasons, now is a great time to visit Hong Kong Disneyland. In the past, the majority of crowds have hailed from mainland China. However, less mainlanders visit Hong Kong these days (for a variety of reasons). On top of that, the opening of Shanghai Disney draws people away from Hong Kong. That means you have fewer crowds to deal with.

On top of all that, Hong Kong Disneyland improved greatly since my visit in 2015. The Ironman Experience, Mickey and the Wondrous Book, and Fairytale Forest have all opened. With lower crowds it’s easier to get your kids into Trials of the Jedi Temple.

Since our visit last year, a lot of new attractions have opened or are set to open in 2018. The new Karibuni Marketplace introduced new characters in the park (in Adventureland), and a new Moana show is slated to open on May 30, 2018!

Oh, and did I mention that a one day ticket only costs ~$75 USD? And due to low attendance, Hong Kong Disneyland seems to run promotions every year. Currently until July 15,2018 you can get a two day ticket with two $15 HKD vouchers (worth about $4 USD) for $689 HKD (~$88 USD).

2. Avoid Chinese holidays and weekends, don’t worry so much about Hong Kong holidays

Despite the decrease in mainland Chinese tourists, they still compose a large portion of Hong Kong Disneyland visitors. So you want to avoid visiting on mainland China holidays (here’s a 2018 calendar). In 2015 I visited the day after New Year’s and the park felt completely packed. This year I went on Easter Monday (a public Hong Kong holiday, but not a mainland China one) and experienced a very small crowd. The longest I had to wait for any ride was 20 minutes and that was by choice due to the kids’ schedules.

Native Hong Kong residents like to get out of Hong Kong during the holidays, another reason not to worry too much about Hong Kong holidays. On the other hand, mainland Chinese like to visit on weekends so you want to avoid those.

3. Use the differences between HK and US time schedules to your advantage

Hong Kong people operate about an hour or two later than your average American. That means they wake up later, eat lunch and dinner at 1:00 and 7:00 PM respectively, and stores stay open much later.

That means if you get to Hong Kong Disneyland at park open (rope drop) you see even shorter lines than you would at the Disney parks in America. And park open in Hong Kong (10:00 AM) is pretty late to begin with. 9:45 AM is around when they start letting people into the park. If you eat lunch at 11:30 or noon and dinner at 6:00 PM you’ll avoid large lines. Then go ride when the majority of people in the park eat meals!

Visiting Hong Kong? Disney fan? Here are 11 Hong Kong Disneyland tips and tricks to help you make the most of your HK Disney visit! — The Mickey MTR is cute, but it takes awhile to get there

4. Budget in and be prepared for the long travel time to get to the park

It takes quite a bit of time to get to the park from the city. So if you’re not staying in a Hong Kong Disneyland hotel, make sure to budget an hour or more for travel. You often are traveling in the thick of rush hour (which starts later than in the US, see above). Be aware that the long travel time might make you want to just do the park for one day. While I think the park can justify two days (we did it), traveling 2+ hours to get to and from the park might make a second day not worth it for your family.

5. Most visitors go to Fantasyland or Tomorrowland first

Fantasyland and Tomorrowland have the largest concentration of attractions. They also are the most iconic parts of Hong Kong Disneyland so most visitors go to those lands first. I visited Toy Story Land at 11:00 AM and all three rides had a wait time of 10 minutes (both days).

So you can adopt two strategies. Strategy 1: Visit the other lands first. If you choose this tactic I recommend you make the Toy Story Parachute Drop your first ride of the day, it has the slowest load times in the entire park (36 people every 5 minutes, compared to Ironman which at capacity can accommodate over 200 visitors every 5 minutes).You can hit all of Toy Story Land in the first hour and then visit Mystic Manor and Grizzly Gulch Mine Cars. Then hit up Fantasyland and Tomorrowland later.

Strategy 2: Rope drop and get all of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland done before the park fills in. Just be aware that Toy Story Land gets super crowded in the mid afternoon, so make that your third stop. Definitely use Strategy 2 if your kids want to participate in Trials of the Jedi Temple. Either way, download the Hong Kong Disneyland app and keep an eye on wait times, just in case the park gets busy.

6. Use Fastpass for rides in this order: Ironman Experience, Winnie the Pooh, Space Mountain

Hong Kong Disneyland operates on a paper Fastpass system like Disneyland. You take your ticket to kiosks, scan it, and receive a paper Fastpass with a return time. You should be able to use Fastpass at all three rides it’s available for in a single day: Ironman Experience, Winnie the Pooh, and Hyperspace Mountain.

If you want to ride all three rides, I suggest you Fastpass them in that order unless you have young kids (in that case prioritize Winnie the Pooh). You could probably ride some of these rides multiple times on most days, since like I said before, park crowds generally are low.

As an aside, the Ironman Experience rules. Think a little bit of Soarin mixed in with a lot of Star Tours but Ironman flavored. Fun moments, exciting action, a little bit of humor – this ride is unique to Hong Kong Disneyland and definitely warrants your time.

7. Don’t miss Mystic Manor

Ghosts occupy a pretty negative place in Chinese culture, so Hong Kong Disneyland went a different direction with their Haunted Mansion equivalent. I totally loved Mystic Manor. It’s got a great storyline and some scary moments. It also is a lot more colorful than the Haunted Mansion which is a welcome change. Like the Ironman Experience, this unique experience qualifies as a must see. I won’t spoil the storyline here, though will do so in a later post.

8. Mickey and the Wondrous Book is a sight to behold – make sure to see it

I wrote awhile back about the impressive Disney Cruise Line entertainment. Mickey and the Wondrous Book, a show unique to Hong Kong Disneyland (sensing a theme?), continues that great tradition. The top notch story follows Mickey as he visits characters from various Disney stories.

Disney presents the show in both Cantonese and English, alternating between the two and using subtitles. The Cantonese => English translation was pretty good, my Chinese isn’t good enough to say anything about the other direction. It’s also pretty hilarious hearing Mickey, Goofy, and Olaf speaking in Cantonese (they get the cadence of these characters down pat).

I also appreciate how the show highlights some lesser heralded Disney properties like The Frog and the Princess (my favorite performance from the show for the record). The music in the show is great, my daughter and I are still singing it five days later. Don’t miss this show and beware of long lines, get there about 15 minutes before showtime to avoid them.

Fun fact: the title song in the show, Happily Ever After, was adapted to make the theme song for the Magic Kingdom’s new fireworks show in Orlando. That fireworks show happens to be my favorite of the nighttime spectaculars.

While you’re at it, Festival of the Lion King is worth your time too, but you can also see that in Florida.

9. Bring cash and try something new to eat

As a miles and points geek I always hope to pay with credit card, but like much of Hong Kong plastic doesn’t go as far in Hong Kong Disneyland. You can use credit card at a lot of stores but places like the eateries don’t take them. You can also use an Octopus card. I highly recommend getting one if you’re spending time in Hong Kong, they make life so easy.

Like much of Hong Kong, you can see 3-D models of a lot of the food. Hong Kong Disneyland food is pretty good and draws from a variety of cultures. Pick something that looks good to you and try it. And remember to eat earlier!

10. Be strategic about visiting characters by using the Hong Kong Disneyland app

All Disney parks post characters at the front of Main Street to cut down on lines. People stop to take these pictures and delay going on rides. Well, in Hong Kong Disneyland, these lines get crazy! Skip those and be smarter about meeting characters.

Download the Hong Kong Disneyland app. It will have a list of all characters that could possibly appear in the parks, but not all characters appear every day. If you don’t see meeting times that character isn’t appearing anymore that day. There are some regulars but others rotate (like Woody was there our first day but Jessie and Buzz took his place the second).

After the park opens, the app populates with the meeting times for each of the characters. Meeting a ton of characters is pretty simple: show up and line up 5 minutes before a character is supposed to appear. You’ll guarantee seeing that character and have a short wait time to boot. My daughter and I spent our second day just meeting characters, and though we missed Mickey and Minnie, we got to see a ton (including the aforementioned Jessie and Buzz). And with the new spot in Adventureland, you’ll have a lot more chances to meet characters!

11. Get stickers, stickers, stickers!

Almost every cast member in the park, from Guest Relations to custodial staff, carry stickers with them. It’s a lot of fun for kids to ask for these stickers and the cast members are super friendly about it. Think pin trading but free.

There are some really cool stickers to collect. If you’re feeling particularly forward, you can even ask cast members to see what stickers they have (they usually have more than one type). Asking for stickers doesn’t get old for kids, or even some adults.

Final Thoughts

Hong Kong Disneyland may be overshadowed by Shanghai at the moment, but you should definitely visit. With the news of Disney investing more money into it, now’s the time to go before it gets too popular. Hopefully these tips can help you maximize your experience.

Have you been to Hong Kong Disneyland? If so, please share some of your experiences and tips in the comments!

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