Hong Kong Archives - asthejoeflies

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!

Never miss a post! Subscribe below and receive an e-mail once a day for new posts from asthejoeflies. Also, follow our family adventures on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Can’t get enough Disney? Check out our Disney planning podcast, Disney Deciphered (latest episode embedded below)!

Subscribe to asthejoeflies

Jun 15 2017

Hong Kong Revisited: Hong Kong Hello Kitty Dim Sum Review

One of the things we definitely wanted to try this visit to Hong Kong was Hello Kitty Dim Sum. Despite bending parenting rules and dealing with jet lag, ultimately we needed to take this trip to the restaurant for the kids. (Is what I tell myself). I cannot tell you why this restaurant exists, but I can tell you a little bit about it. So let’s take a quick look at the Hello Kitty Dim Sum restaurant. I’ll also toss in a bit about the pop up Hello Kitty supermarket at the end as a bonus!

Location and Ambience

If you’re coming via MTR, either take the West Rail (purple) to Austin or the Tsuen Wan line (red) to Jordan. We actually hung out at Ocean Terminal and Harbour City beforehand, so we just walked up Canton Road. It’s possible to walk a long portion of this inside the Harbour City mall, so if you’re prone to overheating it might be worth budgeting a little extra time to navigate that maze.

Did you know there is a Hello Kitty dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong? And the food is pretty good! Learn about what to order and more in this review. — If you’re staying where in Tsim Sha Tsui you can probably walk to the restaurant

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t really blown away by the decor and ambience of the restaurant. I found it…fine? I don’t know what I expected I guess! More pink, maybe? The tables and chairs have nice Hello Kitty decorations and the restaurant features a couple big Hello Kitties but nothing wowed me. Just don’t expect to be taken to a dreamworld of magic or anything like that and it will be fine, haha.

Food and Price

Simply put, the Hello Kitty dim sum restaurant offers good (but not great) food at a bit of an upcharge. I didn’t find the prices exorbitant, maybe $1-$2 USD more per dish.

What really impressed me was the presentation. I expected the dishes to be cute and the definitely were. But everything is just done so clean and neatly – it really is amazing to see. Obviously the steamed pork buns (char siu bao) stand out the most but everything looks pretty. And even though I prefer fried turnip cake (lo bak goh), I can’t say I minded the gigantic Hello Kitty shaped one. Those two dishes plus shrimp dumplings (har gao) I would recommend everyone try. Other than that, order what you might normally get at dim sum.

My dad also ordered this like ground meat thing that was shaped like a Hello Kitty bow. It tasted fine but um…let’s just say ground meat is better off misshapen. It looked weird!

Anyway, I definitely enjoyed the food, flavor did not take a back seat to presentation. You can get better dim sum, for sure, but you’ll probably need a Michelin starred dim sum restaurant to surpass this by a large margin. If you’re into Hello Kitty or quirky food, the food quality and presentation definitely justify the upcharge.

Hello Kitty Pop Up Supermarket

Very quickly, currently Hong Kong features a pop up Hello Kitty supermarket at YATA. It’s right outside of the Hong Kong University MTR station on the newly expanded Island line (light blue). You can buy regular groceries but you’re probably there for the specialty Hello Kitty items. You can buy cookie cutters, molds, lunch boxes, Hello Kitty Pocky-like snacks, ET CETERA. Honestly, it’s pretty awesome. Check it out before it pops…down?

Final Thoughts

One thing I love about Asia is you get these crazy things that are tough to find in the U.S. (though there was a pop up Hello Kitty food truck by my house a few months ago!). If you or your kids enjoy Hello Kitty stuff, do yourself a favor and go check out the dim sum and the pop up supermarket. Like everything in Hong Kong, they’re easy to get to. Unlike everything in Hong Kong, neither was super crowded! The products sold at both are good quality and worth checking out. Enjoy!

Never miss a post! Subscribe and receive an e-mail for new posts from asthejoeflies. Also, follow our family adventures on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

May 28 2017

Hong Kong Revisited: Breaking all the parenting rules in Hong Kong

Raising kids in America means being subjected to a large set of rules about what’s safe and best for your children. I semi-religiously adhere to these rules – car seat height and weight limitations, proper etiquette, acceptable tactics for disciplining your children, etc. etc. Most of these “rules” probably reduce statistical probabilities from like 0.5% to 0.4%, but I try not to deviate too much from the norm. Traveling internationally, however, generally requires breaking parenting rules. Or at least bending them. Even if the international standard of the country we visit matches the US, sometimes practically it’s impossible to follow all the rules.

On our recent trip to Hong Kong, I was surprised to find it’s become a lot more baby friendly than our last visit in 2014. The MTR subway system looks to be adding elevators to every single station unlike some other metropolitan cities (*cough cough* LONDON). It seems like car seats are being used more regularly, though they also seem ridiculously expensive. I saw a lot more strollers, too.

Every parent knows that sometimes you have to break parenting rules, especially on the road. Here are some of the rules we had to bend/break in Hong Kong. — It seems car seats are much more prevalent in Hong Kong now, though still nothing like the US

Still, like I said, practically, we ended up bending and breaking a lot of parenting rules on our trip. To me, it’s something that just happens on vacation and I’m okay with it. But feel free to judge me if you’d like – we all parent in our own ways. I’d also love to hear what family and parenting rules you bend or break when on vacation, overseas or otherwise. So check out my list and let me know in the comments!

Eating – eat whatever you want, whenever you want

I’d say in terms of strictness, I’d rank us above average amongst American families. It definitely helps that my daughter didn’t realize she enjoyed ice cream until she turned 4 (that’s not an exaggeration). She still doesn’t enjoy the taste of chocolate. But my wife makes sure they eat organic things or whatever and I try not to share my chips with them so we both do our part.

With toddler jet lag and the foreign environment, we got very lax about eating. Everything of course started on the 15 hour flight to Hong Kong. When our kids are cranky, the easiest way to placate them is with food and we did that in spades. Noodles on demand (from the airline) and crackers on demand (from us) meant that we fed our kids quite a bit. You have to make compromises to survive a flight like that so we did.

This continued in Hong Kong as we found our son didn’t have much of an appetite while jet lagged. That meant he got a ton of calories from crackers the first couple of days. Not ideal, but we did it to survive. At meals we didn’t make a big deal about “trying everything” until the kids were better adjusted. To be honest, my thinking went something like this: “Should he be eating so many crackers…….oh shoot he’s rolling on the ground better give him a cracker!” For my daughter: “Hmm…if I let her eat this sour patch kid she will let me close my eyes for two minutes.”

So yeah, all of our eating restrictions went out the window and I don’t regret it one bit.

Night time routines – we’ll do whatever it takes

Building on the food thing, general best practice dictates that people not consume food or drink after they brush their teeth. Crazy, I know. Well, one thing I decided after taking my son for a walk at 2 AM through the streets of Causeway Bay was that I’d do whatever it takes to get him to rest. So although I put him to bed at his regular time, I prepared myself for him to wake up in three hours. Same with my daughter.

By hook or by crook, I would get H as much sleep as possible. One night that meant standing up with him in the carrier. It meant co-sleeping with him every night (which I love doing by the way but he will have none of it at home, so haha sucker!). It meant giving him milk at night to calm him down. I may or may not have given him crackers at 3 AM one night, I honestly could not tell you. I definitely showed him a video (La Luna, I think) hoping he would fall asleep watching it (he did not).

A lot of this was because of his jet lag. As he adjusted, I broke the rules less and less. By the end of the trip I only would give him water if he woke up in the middle of the night. So it’s not like if I took a three week vacation I’d let my kids eat cookies in bed, but at least during those first few days of adjusting, I let a lot of the rules go. And that was just fine.

Escalators – that’s not how you’re supposed to ride

Our most egregious rule breaking probably were riding escalators. Yes, Hong Kong has a ton of elevators and the MTR has made big strides. But our home MTR station, Causeway Bay, did not have an operational elevator because the station was under construction (I think to improve handicap access hilariously enough). They posted agents at the escalators telling you to take your kids out of strollers before riding. They also said if you need help you could call a phone number and people would come to carry you up and down (I think this was for wheelchairs).

Anyway:

So our kids rode their strollers up and down escalators quite a bit the week we were in Hong Kong. Am I proud of it? No. Would I do it again? Most probably definitely. If it’s 2 minutes up the escalator versus 12 minutes wandering around trying to find an elevator, I’ll likely take the 2 minutes every time.

Car seats – we don’t need no stinkin car seats

OK, that’s not really true. I would have loved to have a car seat. But since we planned on taking the MTR for most of the trip, we did not bring one. We brought a mifold (portable booster) for M but knew that H would mostly be going without. Now I’d probably never ride without a car seat in the States. If I’m being honest, it’s more because I don’t want to get a ticket. Which is probably why they give tickets!

But sometimes taking a taxi was the only option and so we rode with H in our laps. And, oops, sometimes we forgot or didn’t use the mifold too, so M was without a safety mechanism as well. It’s not something we enjoyed doing, but it’s something we did to make the trip smoother. I understand that some parents would never ever do that and I totally respect that. I’m certainly not recommending you forego car seats just because you’re traveling, but just being honest in admitting that we did.

Why I’m comfortable breaking parenting rules and why I consider you to at least consider bending them

“Rules are meant to be broken.” While I don’t necessarily believe that 100%, I do sort of operate that way in my normal life. Heck, isn’t that what travel hacking is all about? But I’ve learned a lot while parenting, and one thing I’ve realized is my ultimate lack of control over my children and their futures. When Jess was pregnant with our first, I was nervous all the time. What if something went wrong, what if I am a bad father, what if what if what if? Now that H and M are running around in this world, I have the illusion that I have a greater measure of control than I did when they were in the womb.

But really, we don’t. Parenting rules? They are ways to decrease the statistical probabilities of something bad happening, but nothing can bring those probabilities to 0. Parenting in general? Parenting is a way to increase the statistical probability your child will be a positively contributing, functional member of society, but nothing we do can make that probability 100.

So I’m comfortable breaking parenting rules because sometimes that’s the best option. Everything in life is a give and take. Walk 20 extra minutes to find the elevator but maybe your son will be so overtired they won’t eat and that’s bad for their nutrition. Milk might hurt their teeth at night, but lack of sleep might hurt them more. We can’t control everything. So I’m comfortable when I need to bend or break the rules because I know I’m just doing my best to put my children in the best situation possible for them. And yes, I am well aware that traveling internationally with these little kids comes with a bunch of cons – but I believe the pros outweigh them.

Anyway, bottom line is, we can only control so much and sometime we need to make compromises. That’s something I encourage all parents to do whether they are traveling or not. Parenting means meeting our kids where they are, and sometimes that means bending hard and set parenting rules at the very least.

Final Thoughts

Like I said, I’m not telling you to break the rules all the time. I’m just sharing that sometimes when we are on the road we let some of the rules go by the wayside, and I’m okay with that. I don’t think that makes me any worse of a parent (though I’m sure some others might think that!). I’d love to hear people’s thoughts in the comments. Are there rules you break with your kids when you travel? Or when you’re at home? Let me know, and let’s have a mature discussion about it.

May 11 2017

Hong Kong Revisited: Toddler jet lag, our experience, and some ideas for how to deal with it

Jet lag hits almost every human hard, but in my experience, toddler jet lag is the worst. 18 months – 3 year old kids possess the wonderful qualities of knowing what they want but not adequately expressing those needs. They also begin to assert their independence with little to no concept of what that actually entails. So toddler jet lag can be pretty brutal, especially when doing a 12 hour time change for 7 short days!

At this point in our family travel careers, we’ve handled toddler jet lag 5 or 6 times (2x to Asia, 4x to Europe or so, I lose track). I thought I’d share our latest experience in Hong Kong along with some thoughts on how to minimize jet lag’s deleterious effects on toddlers.

Both times we've taken our kid(s) to Asia, we've had to deal with some severe toddler jet lag. Here are some ideas for how to minimize the negative effects. — After London we prepared ourselves for some rough jet lag in Hong Kong

For the record, M (4 years old), absolutely killed it jet lag wise (unlike in London, above). She adjusted better than everyone in our family including her grandparents. I only have one personal datapoint, but from what I hear from my friends who take their kids back to Asia, post toddler stage they can handle it pretty well!

Disclosure: Links in this post may earn me a small commission on Amazon if you buy through the links. I only link products that we personally use, appreciate the support!

Our experience in Hong Kong

Like I said at the top, Hong Kong and Boston have a time difference of 12 hours. That means 6:00 PM = 6:00 AM, up is down, down is up! We compounded our jet lag issues with a flight that left Boston at 1:45 AM, an adventure unto itself.

So H, our 20 month old, experienced some severe toddler jet lag issues. When we travel we generally co-sleep, for the most part I handled this duty in Hong Kong. Let’s take a look at the play by play of what happened. Note, we couldn’t let him cry it out at any point (which we happily would have done) because my parents and M both were sleeping in (separate) adjacent rooms).

Night 1

We arrived in Hong Kong at 5:00 AM and had a full day. H had only slept about 9-10 hours total between home in Boston and the flight. That night he woke up 3 times, 1-1.5 hours each time. In an incredibly foul mood every time, often full blown crying. Jess ended up having to stay up with him from 4:30-9:30 AM, then H slept for like 3 hours.

Night 2

After a decent day (outside of eating, jet lag sapped my son’s appetite), H went to bed at 8 PM. Promising! But then he woke up at 10 PM for about an hour. After sleeping from 11-1 AM, H woke up AGAIN and at this point I had tired of carrying him around or what not. So I made the decision to take him for a walk in Causeway Bay at around 2 AM.

He seemed to enjoy it, and it was nice walking around the quiet city, but I was pretty exhausted. He also didn’t even bother falling asleep. The two of us crawled back into bed around 4 and slept from 430-630 AM, and then we got up and made our way to Hong Kong Disneyland. I’d definitely say this night hurt the most.

Nights 3 & 4

At this point, H finally started truly adjusting and I also had come up with some more techniques. Night 3 he woke up every 2-3 hours, but instead of holding him I just switched to using our Beco carrier (affiliate link). That saved a lot of frustration because even when he kicked and screamed he had nowhere to go and I had no way to drop him. I also caved and gave him milk, which at that point just had to be done for sanity’s sake.

On night 4 he only woke up twice and only stayed up for an hour each time and I managed to cut out the milk. And with that, he finally beat jet lag! Night 5 he had a regular night of sleep, just in time to go home three days later. 🙂

Tips for beating toddler jet lag

As you can see, toddler jet lag can be pretty brutal. We experienced similar difficulties in London and on our first trip to Taiwan. Some might ask whether it’s worth it to travel with kids that young. Personally, I believe it is. You also sometimes do not have a choice, especially if you need to go overseas to visit family. So here are some ideas based on what I’ve learned about how to deal with toddler jet lag.

Try to create a regular sleep schedule as soon as possible

All kids, but especially toddlers, thrive on routine. Our son likes doing things at home in the same order and same way every day. This comes down even to silly things like he gets frustrated if mom is the one giving him a bath or if dad is the one changing him afterwards (it must be the other way around). Travel helps break kids out of their routines in a good way, but when dealing with toddler jet lag you really want to create your road routine as soon as possible.

Thus, we try to create a regular sleep schedule as soon as we can. That might mean putting the kids down at 8 PM and then taking a relaxing midnight stroll, but it’s the 8 PM part that matters. Dinner, bath, bed: we rinsed and repeated every night, shooting for 8 PM, and that really helped to speed up getting over jet lag.

Be flexible with naptime (or even bedtime) until the child adjusts

While we try to create a solid routine for bedtime and morning, we try to be flexible with naps. Think of it this way: your kid uses naps to catch up on whatever sleep he missed at night. So we made sure that we left plenty of space for naps. Sometimes that would be an extra nap in the morning, delaying our day activities. Other times that meant a long stroller nap while we explored Hong Kong.

But I think the key thing here is don’t sweat it too much if your child misses his “regular” nap time. Jet lag throws everyone for a loop, so just let them sleep when they need to sleep and be flexible until the issue has mostly subsided. Really, you have to be more flexible about naps when on the road in general so this is just an extension of that.

Keep mealtimes regular

Keeping mealtimes regular will help both adults and kids adjust to jet lag faster. In the 80s, someone came up with this crazy fast/feast/eat a big breakfast idea that supposedly helps you beat jet lag (the Argonne anti-jet-lag diet). That’s completely unrealistic for little kids but the fact that your biological clock ties in to your eating habits makes perfect sense.

So I recommend that you try to keep mealtimes as regular as possible once you reach your destination. Snack to supplement as necessary (the kids will be grumpy after all) but try to make a routine out of your meals. This should help your kids to adjust mentally, if not physically. Like I said, H had a horrible appetite those first few days of jet lag, so we went heavy on the milk for calories. Gotta do what you gotta do.

Fill your day with activities, but not too many

I’m often tempted to just spend the entire first day in a new environment hanging out and taking it easy at home. You’d think just getting rest would help with the jet lag but nothing could be further from the truth.

For starters, you and your kids will go insane staying in the hotel or apartment all day. You need to get outside just to change things up and get them into new environments. Secondly, getting exposed to sunlight helps your body to adjust biologically.

Most importantly, you went to another country for a reason – get out there and go see some of it! I think one or two activities, or even just some scheduled walks, on the first day can really help to kick that jet lag. No need to create an action packed day, but definitely don’t just stay inside “resting” all day either.

Bring equipment to help you out

You know what works best for your kids, so be sure to come prepared. I know a long plane ride seems stressful but you need to be equally prepared for the first day or two of jet lag. Bring favorite toys, favorite stroller, baby carrier like our aforementioned Beco (affiliate link), whatever you need to keep your kids occupied.

For our kids, it’s most important to make sure we have food and snacks. They get extra cranky when tired and hungry, so we made sure to always have milk and crackers on hand. We also brought our last two Go-go Squeez pouches that I got from DisneySMMC, for true emergencies! Easy and mess free is the most stress free.

Meet your children where they are

My last bit of advice relates not only to toddler jet lag but parenting in general. You gotta know when to hold em’, know when to fold em’, as Kenny Rogers says. You can make all the plans, contingency plans, and emergency plans you can think of – sometimes your kids just won’t cooperate.

So even if you have the best plan to help them beat toddler jet lag, you have to meet them where they are. And if that means you have to go home early, you go home early. If that means you wake up late, you wake up late. If that means taking a walk at 2 AM, take a walk at 2 AM.

Meet your children where they are, both physically and emotionally, and that will really help decrease your stress and theirs. In turn, they can better adjust to the mental and physical toll jet lag can take so you can get on with your vacation!

Final Thoughts

Toddler jet lag can be pretty rough, because toddlers are rough! Still, I have loved traveling with my kids even at that age. So I do what I can to minimize the toddler jet lag, and these tips have worked for me.

How do you deal with toddler jet lag or jet lag in general? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Never miss a post! Subscribe and receive and e-mail for new posts from asthejoeflies. Also, follow our family adventures on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

May 08 2017

Hong Kong Revisited: Random things to know about Hong Kong

Hong Kong blends a few unique cultures into a city that feels very accessible for US tourists. A British colony until 1997, Hong Kong residents speak a lot of English and have a lot of Western customs. The confluence of multiple cultures also creates some fascinating situations. As a former resident and semi-regular visitor, I’ve noticed a lot of random quirky things about Hong Kong on my trips. Here are some random Hong Kong travel tips to prepare you for what you might encounter!

These tips of course are borne out of my personal observations. They’re also fairly random, some of them are just idiosyncrasies about Hong Kong that I love (or hate!). Every visitor and/or resident has their own experiences and I’d love to hear yours, so let me know in the comments!

Get an Octopus card

If you do nothing else, please consider this Hong Kong travel tip. If you enjoy convenience, get an Octopus card. Octopus is Hong Kong’s ubiquitous contactless electronic payment system. You can grab one at any MTR station (counter) for a $50 HKD deposit (about $6 USD). It will make your visit to Hong Kong so much easier.

Hong Kong is a wonderful place for visitors but does have its quirks. Here are some random Hong Kong travel tips to prepare you! — Get this.

Many locations don’t accept credit cards or have credit card minimums (even Hong Kong Disneyland). I still find Hong Kong cash ridiculously over complicated and you’re going to end up with a ton of loose change when using cash. Loose change you’ll probably forget to use before you leave!

Almost every single store in Hong Kong has an Octopus card reader and you use it for your public transportation. You can conceivably spend your entire day in Hong Kong without opening your wallet – the tech is good enough to read through your wallet/purse in many cases. Almost all the locals in Hong Kong use their Octopus for almost everything and I’d strongly encourage you to do the same!

Bring an umbrella and watch your head

One of my favorite Hong Kong travel tips? Always carry an umbrella. The main reason to bring an umbrella stems from the hot and humid climate. Thunderstorms pop up frequently in the afternoons and if you’re visiting around typhoon season you can almost set your clock to it. Like many in Asia, you can also use the umbrella to shield yourself from the intense sun.

However you might want to pop an umbrella while walking the streets. Due to space restrictions, many apartments in Hong Kong tend to have individual air conditioning units – often the window variety (but built into the wall). That means condensation on the A/C units drips on your head constantly. It’s something I’ve only experienced in Hong Kong (and Chinatown), though I’m sure it happens elsewhere. So when you’re walking along the street, look up and make sure you don’t get dripped on!

Budget out extra time for riding elevators

A lot of people call Hong Kong home. Hong Kong also hosts what feels like a billion tourists on a daily basis. That means a lot of Hong Kong builds upwards and you visit a number of high rises.

Combining these two facts, Hong Kong elevators work a bit differently than what I’m used to. Separate elevators serve different floors, which in and of itself isn’t unique. What I find unique is that these elevator banks are located all over the place, not in one centralized location.

Thus you often need to take elevator from G to 2F, walk, then find the elevators that go to the floor you want. Or, in some cases, find the elevators that go to the floor with the elevators you want. It’s like the warp pipes in super Mario brothers! The MTR stations also require a bunch of navigation, so be sure to budget in extra time and don’t get too frustrated.

You may think I’m being silly, but it can get stressful when traveling with kids. Your destination on the 10th floor might require two elevator rides and if your kids are whiny and you don’t know which ones to take it can get frustrating. Remember, a lot of people speak English, so ask!

Two Hong Kong tips regarding elevators. It still seems that many Hong Kong residents will hit both the up and down buttons to call the elevator, regardless of their intended travel direction. And something I got a real kick out of: the “door close” button is not a placebo. It works immediately!

Escalators are kind of crazy too

Escalators are one of the most fun parts of Hong Kong for kids. It’s not uncommon to ride a three story escalator from place to place. You can also generally avoid the elevator confusion by taking the escalators (though sometimes those are placed in funny areas too!).

It’s common for escalators to not go to every floor, again for efficiency purposes. But at least you don’t have to wait to call the lift back if you take the wrong one. You still should have a general idea of where you’re going.

One note on travel with strollers: it’s still fairly common for people to take strollers with kids in them up escalators. While I saw this being discouraged at one MTR station, I still saw quite a few families doing it. It’s not ideal, but it saves a lot of time.

Parents, ditch the stroller if you can

Disclosure: Links in this paragraph may earn me a small commission on Amazon if you buy through the links. I only link products that we personally use, appreciate the support!

What IS ideal is ditching your stroller if you can. While Hong Kong seems to be making great strides in terms of increasing accessibility (unlike London), you still might have to take a pretty long detour if you’re confined to elevators. So build up those little kids’ stamina so they can walk to most destinations!

If you have a toddler you might want to consider bringing a baby carrier, even if they’re still too heavy. That way they can walk as much as they can and then you can throw them into the carrier when you need to. It makes a huge difference. If you don’t have a carrier yet or are in the market, we love our Beco Gemini (Amazon affiliate link). But whatever you use, it’ll usually beat dragging a stroller around.

Taxi colors and etiquette

Hong Kong taxis operate under a unique system. The color of the taxi determines what areas of Hong Kong it can serve. Red taxis serve Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, green taxis serve the New Territories, and blue taxis work Lantau Island. With the exceptions of the airport and Hong Kong Disneyland, you generally are restricted to using the correct taxi. If you’re taking the taxi from the airport, save time and make sure you line up for the correct color taxi.

You can hail taxis almost anywhere that doesn’t have double yellow lines by the curb. The easiest thing to do, though, is to find a taxi stand at the nearest hotel/mall/country club to your location. You almost never have to wait for a taxi in Hong Kong during good weather. But if it rains…good luck! Magically, all taxis will suddenly have guests.

Taxis in Hong Kong run much cheaper than in other big cities and can save a lot of time, so don’t ignore them in your travel plans.

Pack napkins and/or tissues

It can be ridiculously difficult to get napkins or tissues in Hong Kong. You usually get one and only one at restaurants – if you’re lucky. You’ll rarely find napkin dispensers like you see in the States (McDonalds being a notable exception). And if you have kids, you’ll have to wipe all sorts of things on your trip.

So buy a six pack of small tissue packets either in Hong Kong or before your trip. While it’s Parenting 101 to carry tissues or napkins around, it’s paramount in Hong Kong. You just can’t guarantee you’ll be able to find some when you need them. Oh, and bathrooms mostly use hand dryers too so you’ll have trouble finding paper towels there! Pack the napkins/tissues.

Be prepared for a late start

My final Hong Kong travel tip deals with Hong Kong residents and their time. In general, Hong Kong operates on a later schedule than most Americans. Stores don’t open until 11:00 AM, breakfast doesn’t even start until 6:00 AM in most places!

So be prepared for rush hour to be later than you might expect and plan accordingly. If you get out early, at like 8:00 AM, you can avoid most of the crowds but things you want to see might not be open yet. At the same time, if you’re taking an hour train ride to go to Tung Chung to see the giant Buddha or Hong Kong Disneyland, you probably will beat the majority of the crowds.

Use Hong Kong’s late start time to your advantage to get the most out of your vacation. And don’t forget you can keep shopping until 11:00 PM in most cases! 🙂

Miscellaneous tips

Here are some more tips that don’t warrant much explanation:

You might want to avoid speaking Mandarin so as not to be mistaken for a mainland Chinese person, Hong Kong residents aren’t the biggest fans at the moment
Recycling bins are ridiculously hard to find, unfortunately. I didn’t see my first one until Disney.
People walk and drive on the left side, like in the UK. Yet for some reason they stand on the right side of escalators to let people pass. Confusing!
Generally, 10% service charge is already added to your food bill and you don’t need to tip on top of that unless you felt service was exceptional. Even if you can’t read Chinese you should be able to figure it out from the bill (see below).

Final Thoughts

Hong Kong is a wonderful place to visit and a ton of fun for families. These Hong Kong travel tips are just my random observations over my last few trips, but like I said at the top I’m sure many of you have tips as well. Share in the comments and let me know what I missed!

Never miss a post! Subscribe and receive and e-mail for new posts from asthejoeflies. Also, follow our family adventures on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.